My Favorite Starbucks Drink

After ten years (exaggerated) of not having my favorite Starbucks drink, I got to taste it again and guess what--it's for free!

Last September, I joined Ang Trip ni Rizal's blog contest (view my post here) and although I didn't win the grand prize, the top 3 - 10 picks [which includes me :) ] were given a token each--either a Ang Trip ni Rizal coffee mug or a 200 pesos gift certificate to the coffee house of our choice. Of course I chose the gift certificate with Starbucks on my mind.

Come October, I received this package on my office address.

from Ang Trip ni Rizal via LBC

200 pesos worth Starbucks gift certificate

Finally! A few weeks after I received the GCs, when we went to SM North one Sunday to buy Mia's milk and other grocery items we dropped by at Starbucks and got a Vanilla Frappuccino and Chocolate Cream Chip Frappuccino. 

this is happiness :)

These two cost more than two hundred pesos (I had to add to the amount) but the happiness--priceless :)


What's your favorite Starbucks drink? Share :)

snack diaries #2

 i don't even know how it's called (either in tagalog or english) but i like it very much! any reader who can identify it? [thanks in advance :)]

anyway, its a rectangular bread usually three inches in size, purple on all sides but yellowish inside and sprinkled with dessicated coconut. yum! i had it when we went home in the province. strange, i don't see much of it here in the city. 

snack diaries #3

Nothing beats a hot and satisfying snack during rainy days and when you say hot and straight from the pot, lugaw or rice porridge or rice congee comes into mind. One afternoon we had lugaw with hard boiled egg and fried tofu (of course with the usual vinegar+soy sauce dip). No, we didn't cook these... we just bought from the nearby lugaw vendor in our area :)

How about you? What food do you cook or buy during rainy afternoons? Share :)

snack diaries #1

Hello there my dear readers! I know I haven't posted that much lately more so about food so now with a little time, I tried to post some food related posts but please bear with the blurry shots i'm just using my phone's camera okay... Let's start:


One afternoon at the office here's what I got for snack from a 711 store near our office: Mayfair Pralines, Zest-O orange juice drink, Cloud 9 and chocolate and marshmallow topped Mister Donut twist (sorry, can't recall how it's really called). Did't cost me much but made me satisfied for the rest of the afternoon.

office snack

Stay tuned for some more food related and of course happy posts... thanks :)

FAHT: Weekend Blog Follower Caravan # 28

Here I am again joining the Weekend Blog Follower Caravan. For this week it is again Google Friend Connect following. First I must admit I am guilty that I posted two a post each for two of my blogs for week 25 anyway I would like to apologize for that. Well, nowadays that karma is digital I can attest to that--I got very few followers for that week that's why I joined again this week. This time just for this particular blog.


Here we go, follow me thru GFC--my Google Friend Connect is on the sidebar on the right just below the links to my other blogs (you can visit them too and thank you for advance!).

Many thanks to this week's sponsors: Travels and Familia Wanderers. Visit RUBZonline.com for the complete list of directions for this week's task. 


Note: If I am not yet following some of the participants yet, that is because I only have limited internet time, I will when I get back online again--and that's a PROMISE! Okay :)

FAHT: Weekend Blog Follower Caravan # 25

When I found out that this week's Weekend Blog Follower Caravan is Google Friend Connect following, I decided I'll post one for this blog. It's my first time to join this meme for this particular blog. All you have to do is follow all the participants thru Google Friend Connect. It is on the sidebar. Thank you to this week's sponsors: Techie She and GEORYL: Welcome to Our World. Visit OnlineBiz and Resources for the complete mechanics. 

Weekend Blog Follower Caravan is a simple online blogger-helping-blogger weekly meme. It was designed for bloggers to help each other in terms of blog followers either through Google Friend Connect and email subscribers.

Trip to Rizal

I am from Quezon City but I am also a proud Rizaleño. A few days after I was born in Manila, my parents brought me at my mom's hometown (Rizal) then back. Two weeks after I started grade three, me and my sisters were brought home (in Jalajala, Rizal) for good and transferred school there and then mainly because of asthma. Imagine that was more than ten years ago and the air in metro manila was already that polluted to cause our ashtma what more now? Clean air was the reason why we moved in Rizal and until now, it is the reason why once in a while we must be there--to breathe in fresh clean air. I finished grade school and high school in Rizal and spent my holiday and what have you vacations there. My friends and barkadas are from there. My husband is also from Jalajala, Rizal.


By the way, why am I talking about Rizal anyway? I am joining Ang Trip ni Rizal's blog contest and I decided to post it here on my food blog rather on my personal blog because I would like to choose the Food Trip package if I will win the contest so that I can eventually post about the trip and the food here on my food blog. Actually, I am torn between the food trip package and the Eco-Nature trip package because although I grew up and spent half of my life in Rizal I was not able to travel there that much and enjoy the nature and the food because I am still a student that time and I am not the type who asks for money from parents to use for lakwatsa. 


This is my official entry to Ang Trip ni Rizal - Trip Ko 'To! Blog Contest. If you want to have a taste of what it's like to be in Rizal province, just click on the link for the full mechanics.

the Foodie in us

Isn't it obvious? Mia and me are foodies hence the title of this blog. On the picture above, I am mixing Mia's Jolly spaghetti with the sauce. Mia's so excited, she grabbed her fork and helped me. Jollibee being so popular among Filipinos specially with kids, I wasn't surprised when it also became one of Mia's favorite too. She loves Jolly spaghetti and chickenjoy (chickenjoy not in the picture) while my all time favorite is their palabok fiesta (that's the reason why there's calamansi on my plate :)). This is just one of our favorites will post again soon when i have time :)

Join Certified Foodies’ First Anniversary Giveway where you can win gift certificates, food gift packs, cash prizes and even a food trip date with the foodie siblings! To join, click on the banner above. And we’d like to thank their partners…


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vanilla milk shake and a donut

First time I tried Seattle's Best's Vanilla Milk Shake and I liked it... I loved it! I really like milk shakes though I don't like milk as drink.

This photo was taken last February 2011 when Mia was admitted at the hospital and you can't blame me, I have to cope up with stress and all that time. We stayed at the hospital for a week so I have to eat and regain my strength (haha excuses excuses).

I paired it up with a Country Style glazed donut. I know i know, sweet for sweet but really, I can't help it they're both tempting. Good thing Cardinal Santos Medical Center have food concessionaires right inside their compound/within the hospital building, you don't have to go out of the hospital just to get some snacks/early morning snack for this matter :)

my happiness!

I just want to share with you who makes me HAPPY in every second of my life--my FAMILY!



Mia, Ipe and me



taken at Crosswinds Tagaytay



Max's Chicken All You Can is back!

For all those fried chicken lovers out there who weren't able to catch this promo last year, now is our chance to try this. Unlimited serving of fried chicken available from 6-10 pm daily only for 199 pesos. And for every 200 pesos spent during the promo, they're giving away 20 pesos money coupons that can be used within a year after the issuance.

Promo starts today, June 10 until July 10, 2011 so we may have a month long chicken-all-you-can celebration at any Max's Restaurant nationwide.

Jollibee day

Here's one of our family's typical Sunday evenings. After hearing the mass, we usually dine at a Jollibee store along the way.

Here, Mia evidently happy with her Jolly Spaghetti with me.

Plato Wraps

This is my first time to try Plato Wraps. At our company's canteen, aside from the main food concessionaire we also invite other food concessionaires which changes twice a month. There will be a new food concessionaire next week so I have to try Plato Wraps this time.

At 42 pesos ($ 0.97), I got the ham and cheese variant with a regular crust. They offer three types of crusts: regular, wheat and pesto. For me, the filling is just enough, the taste just right. Just one comment I would like to add, readers please don't get mislead by my comment as we all have different taste preferences okay and maybe I just expected the ham to be the ham that I used to know (you know the ham that we're used to have for sandwiches)--for this one, the ham was more like meat loaf but it tastes good so I don't have a problem with it.

Yeah I know, I am not that good in doing reviews for food but I am trying my best here and I know I still have lots of things to learn so please bear with me for this post. I'm a newbie at food reviews :)

Plus as I have said on my previous posts, I am using my cellphone camera so please bear with the pictures too. I thank my readers so much for your support and understanding, I know as we go along with this blog, in time, this will get better and better and even better--of course with your help and comments and suggestions which are very much welcome. There is also a chat box on the right side of your window, feel free to drop a line or two :)

Chocolate

I love to eat Chocolates and I can never hide that :) Actually almost all kinds of chocolate be it a milk chocolate, white chocolate or even dark chocolate but one of my favorites is Hershey's Milk Chocolate with almonds. During my high school days, I remember I would buy one every Friday from the allowance that I've saved.


an officemate who came back from the states gave us each of this bundle :)

Nowadays, due to very limited budget I only get to buy chocolates for my own consumption only if the budget permits :)

my favorites: Hershey's Milk Chocolate and Hershey's Milk Chocolate with Almonds

Mia's new shoes

As I have promised here, here now are the pictures of Mia's new Hello Kitty Custom Clogs by Crocs, courtesy of Smart Parenting magazine. She likes it so much and couldn't help but wear them even if they're still big for her.

Pork Sinigang

This is one of my favorites and almost always cooked in our household, I would like to share to you my friends my shortcut version of Pork Sinigang. Why shortcut? Less ingredients and with use of instant souring ingredient without the hassle of going thru the manual way of cooking tamarind and having to mash it then separate the skin, etc...

All you need is half a kilo (500 grams) of pork, Knorr Sinigang Sampalok Mix (Original)(i used the smaller pack)--for those who are not in the Philippines, you can find this in a Filipino Store or the like, one medium sized onion and a bunch of kangkong leaves.

Sauteed Malunggay with Ground Chicken

I haven't posted here for a while now... I have a couple of posts I've been meaning to write but then i'm thinking about the pictures I have on my mobile phone. For a change, I'm trying to develop my topic through the pictures I currently have. Yes, unlike on my other blog which I am migrating to a new one, I am posting more pictures here--a must have for a FOOD and HAPPY blog. One thing that caused such delay is because my sister temporarily lost her memory card adapter that's why we couldn't transfer the pictures from my memory card to the computer. As I type this, my sister has already found her adapter but it's not the way I transfered my pictures for this and the succeeding posts--the genius of my cousin allowed me to have internet access through my mobile phone, thanks to you cousin!

Enough for such introductions, I would like to share to you my husband's experimental cooking :)

With the ingredients we have at home, he was able to whip up a healthy dish which at the same time is easy on the pocket. Oops, this is my first attempt to post a recipe on this blog so please excuse me for not having the exact measurements of the ingredients and before and after pictures--I only have here the finished product.

My cellphone camera didn't do any justice on the photo up top which is actually Sauteed Malunggay with Ground Chicken.

The Ingredients:

3 cloves garlic, crushed

1 medium onion, chopped

25-50 grams ginger, thinly sliced

200 grams ground chicken

1 cup malunggay leaves, rinsed

1/2 tablespoon cooking oil

1/4 cup water

salt and pepper

a pinch of sugar*

How to cook:

In a medium sized pan, saute ginger, garlic and onion in cooking oil. Add the ground chicken, salt and pepper to taste. Add the water and let it simmer for 5-10 minutes. Add the malunggay leaves and a pinch of sugar and cook it for another 30 seconds.

Easy to cook, budget friendly and most of all healthy recipe. A cup of malunggay leaves only costs 10-15 pesos ($ 0.23-0.35). You can also use canned tuna in place of the ground chicken.

* My husband and I use sugar instead of MSG (monosodium glutamate), I read/heard somewhere that it's a healthier alternative...

Sinful Combination?

[As posted last October 31, 2010 on Tumblr]

Got this at the grocery the other day…

a very simple celebration

I tried to cook spaghetti for the first time, all by myself when my baby turned two years old last March 9. Unlike on her first birthday celebration where we had balloons, hotdogs, spaghetti, cake, favors and guests, this time we celebrated it with just me and her daddy. 

on her first birthday: spaghetti, pancit sotanghon, maja blanca, bico and hotdogs with  marshmallows

for a happy you

I am having my daily dose of Jennie Epperson's blog and I thought of reposting this right away because this is a happy blog and I definitely believe.

  

happy woman with happy Feet :)

Shoes makes a woman happy. I am a happy woman because i now have a new pair of Crocs shoes :)

I am actually ready to give up and accept the fact that I am not going to own a pair of Crocs just yet but then again who would do just that when it’s FREE and free things, giveaways and the like are my weaknesses nowadays specially that I’m having financial difficulties but I will not talk about that here because this is a happy blog.

Next Up: A Happy Post

I am so excited, i had to post even a short update here that i'll be posting a HAPPY post soon! I just need to accomplish one thing and that is to go to the mall if not today, in the coming days. After that, I really really hope I can tell you the story of how i became happy :)

My Favorite Drink: Magnolia Chocolait

What more to start a food (and happy things) blog but with food of course which makes me oh so happy!

I would like to share my favorite drink since childhood--Magnolia Chocolait. One of my alternative source of calcium as I do not like to drink milk. Now my Mia loves to drink it too--second genaration of Chocolait lovers :)


the new look of Chocolait 

 I also did a post regarding this on my other personal blog.

* Image from http://sanmiguelpurefoods.com

Welcome Readers!

Hi! I'm Jackie! Since my original blog contains more of my serious and most of the time negative side of me and my life and my other quite new blog contains alerts for contests and giveaways, i thought of creating yet another personal blog which will show the world the shallow, lighter and brighter side of me.
Here i'll have what makes me Happy--FOOD and ... of course other things, even the smallest one for you to see.
Happy comments are very much WELCOME. Thank you!