Yves Rocher: My BB Cream Alternative

A few days ago, my mom asked me to try this free sample she and my aunt got from the Yves Rocher store in Trinoma. She knows I rely on my BB creams too much, and as impressed as she was with the functionality of BB creams, she can't help but try new beauty products, especially if they're given for free.

The sample she gave me was for a botanical liquid foundation. They got two kinds of sample, one with a matte finish, the other with a more supple-looking finish. I tried the latter -- the Yves Rocher Flawless Finish Fluid Foundation.

Beauty in Every Cup: Caffe Bene

I don't really know the difference between American coffee shops and Korean coffee shops. For me, coffee is coffee no matter where you are. I enjoy drinking it in Manila, I enjoy drinking it in China. I enjoy drinking coffee from the US, I enjoy drinking coffee from Columbia. I enjoy drinking it from a recyclable cup, I enjoy drinking it from a glass cup. I just love drinking coffee and I pretty much don't care where it came from, as long as it's good and clean. :D

But of course, there are times when we just want to relax, enjoy our surroundings with a hot cup of delicious coffee in hand. Sometimes, we just need to get away from our beds to finish projects or study for exams in peace. At other times, we just want to meet up and catch up with friends over a good ol' cup of joe. For these different reasons, we tend to rely on the nearest coffee shop we know and enjoy our coffee there.

The usual coffee shops we go to are the more well-known establishments here in the Philippines, those that have built their name in the country. But for those people who are willing to try something new, I suggest you visit this new coffee shop in Eastwood City called Caffe Bene.

Caffe Bene is a famous coffee shop in South Korea. A few months ago, they opened their first branch here in the Philippines. As I mentioned earlier, I don't really care where I get my coffee, as long as it's good and clean. I've never tried Caffe Bene's products before since I haven't been to South Korea, but friends have been praising it so I had to try it out myself.

The first thing that will catch your attention when you visit this coffee shop is it's wooden interiors. It gives you a different feeling, nothing less of relaxing, but it is something refreshing. It's like being one with nature.

Yen Yen: A Taste of Taiwanese Street Food

Since we've been planning to visit the hometown of the ageless F4, we decided to pay Yen Yen another visit to get a taste of authentic Taiwanese street food. We are really looking forward to trying out different Taiwanese street food once we get to Taiwan so we decided to familiarize ourselves with some Taiwanese street food made available here.

For those of you who are not familiar with Yen Yen, it is a small hole-in-a-wall type of snack house. It used to be located beside a car wash along Ortigas Road, but they've since transferred to a much bigger location along P. Guevarra in San Juan. They boast of authentic Taiwanese street food, a first in the metro (as far as I know).

The first time we ate in Yen Yen, Gus ordered one of their most famous dishes, Pork Chop Rice. But since we are planning to visit the home of beef noodle soup, we decided to try something different this time.

I ordered a bowl of their Taipei Beef Braised Noodle Soup. Since the first stop on our itinerary would be Taipei City, I decided to try their beef noodle soup so I can compare it with the real deal when we get to Taipei. As for Gus, he'd been craving for pork kidney so he decided to get Stir-fried Pork Kidney with Rice.

When we got our orders, we were so surprised. My beef noodle soup was in a very large bowl. There was a lot of beef, huge carrots and radishes, and a lump of noodles. I had already eaten half of the noodles but it still looked full after.

Welcome back, Popsi!

A few weeks ago, our beloved son, Popsicle, had to be sent to the hospital. He was losing all his fluff and was starting to lose weight. :( Gus and I tried to look for a place where we can have him fixed. Unfortunately, the Philippines isn't really a teddy bear country so there aren't many places where you can have your teddy fixed.

Loose fluff :(

Food Find: Uncle Moe's

Last night, Gus and I decided to eat out after work. I saw this post on Yahoo about the many hidden gems of Pasig City, and it piqued my curiosity. I told him about the different places that were featured on the article, and we decided to try out one of these places. At 11 at night, it was the only place from the article that was open so we really had no choice.

Uncle Moe's is (apparently) a famous kebab house in Pasig City. For those of you who have been to Mister Kebab (usually after a night of booze and dates with the bathroom sink), you'd find Uncle Moe's menu quite similar, but simpler (no yogurt shakes, but they did offer ice cream in cups) than Kebab's. We didn't have a hard time choosing since we wanted to compare the two kebab houses.

We got Uncle Moe's Beef and Chicken Kebab combo. This platter comes with two sticks of chicken kebab and two sticks of beef kebab with the usual butter-on-top-of-steaming-white-rice, and.. Salsa. Yes, salsa. Unlike Mister Kebab's, Uncle Moe's plates come with fresh tomato salsa instead of grilled tomatoes and onions.

So, what did we think of Uncle Moe's kebabs? We're definitely coming back for it! The chicken kebab was very tender and flavorful, not the rubbery kind some restaurants serve. Gus loved it! Since I'm more of a beef person, I liked the beef kebab more. This was perfect since we both got what we really liked after the first try. The beef was not hard and chewy, it was grilled just right. The beefy flavor was preserved so all I could taste was pure beefy goodness.