I started wearing heeled shoes to work frequently due to the status of my organization. It can be quite harsh on the feet. I do have a comfy pair of Footglove from Marks & Spencer, but those are wedged sandals. I can wear them on casual days, although they are allowed in the office. I just figured I still need to have something more formal looking. Good thing there are a number of malls on sale this month.

A and I met at Shangri-la Mall after work. After having 2 days full of heavy reading in the office, A obliged in taking me on an aimless walk around the mall.

I saw a Naturalizer shop and decided to take a look inside although I don't have a purpose to buy a pair at that time. Selected shoe designs were being sold at 30-50% off. I was pretty much grabbing a design and flipping it over to check the sale price. After a number of grabs and flips, I stumbled on a pair of peep-toe slingbacks. It came in 3 colors: red, black, and white. Thinking that since it's the same design with a different color, price would be the same. I grabbed the red one and saw that it's being sold for Php2k. Not bad, considering it's a Naturalizer. Then I returned it to the shelf and accidentally hit the white one and it fell on its side. Then I saw the price tag - Php1k. I thought, at first, that I was just tired from work and couldn't read properly anymore. So, I took it off the shelf and looked at it again at close range. Still 1k. Then I called the staff to confirm the price. After she said that it's 1k, I asked if there are still sizes available. Lucky me, she found one that fits me!

And so, here I am, tired and really sleepy, but still very much excited (on the inside) over my new pair of Naturalizer =)

A and I went to DEC in Wilson St. Greenhills to buy a bottle of Pei Pa Koa for my cough and for A's loose tea leaves. After getting what we came for, we went around the store to see if there's anything interesting that we'd like to buy.  This is one of those places where I tend to buy things with packaging that I cannot understand and yet willing to try them out to find out what they are.

We found this pack in one of their chiller displays. It's a pack of jellyfish. I like eating jellyfish when I'm in a Chinese restaurant, but they do tend to be costly and served as part of a dimsum package. Only time I've been able to encounter a restaurant that serves it ala carte is when we went to North Park. Not bad for less than Php200.

Anyway, this jellyfish pack was being sold for only Php58. I thought of trying it out since it's a good price for something that we may potentially may not like. There were 3 variants, but since the picture on the packets all look the same, I couldn't really tell the difference.

The pack contains 4 items: the jellyfish, sesame oil, spicy chili oil, and seasoning. I've read on the internet that it takes a while to prepare a jellyfish. Good thing this one is ready to go onto the plate. After straining the water from the jellyfish, I just added in the rest of the items and ended up with this:

It's surprisingly good actually! Good to know that this dish is now more accessible here for home consumption.

I've had my Melissa shoes for about a year now. I bought it because I wanted a red shoe. 

I got to appreciate them more when the strong rains started kicking in. I didn't have to go through the icky, squishy feeling of wearing shoes in the rain. Well, I had to pat the insole with a tissue first of course, but it dries up easily because of the hole design of the shoes. Although Melissa's serving me well, I thought I still need something that would keep the water out while under the pouring rain (plus, I need an alternative for the red shoe).

So, I started my search for a pair of rain boots. This isn't actually an easy thing to find if one intends to be fashionable about it. Reason being that most of the rain boots usually have rounds ends. I'm in search of the slim, pointed-ended ones. I found some on Loeffler Randall.

These boots sell for $195, but are currently on sale for $136.

Jeffrey Campbell's Marsha Rain Boots looks promising also. It's on sale also at What A Pair! for $68.99.

JC's Voom Rain Boot is also a contender though it's the glossy type. I like it because of the wedge heel like LF's. This one sells for $69.

Cheapest one that I found is this Capelli New York Matte Solid Knee High Body Rubber Rain Boot. It used to sell for $42, but there's an entry in Amazon that sells it for $29.99.

With these options and the rainy season officially starting, it may be a good idea to invest in one.

How about you, what's your rain gear?

I've been searching for another pair of dark denims for a while, but my cheap switch has been on lately and opted to just wait for a good find. 

I was killing time at Robinson's Place Ermita. There was a Rustan's outlet there and decided to check out the store, see if I can find something for a friend's wedding. Unfortunately, I didn't find one, but found these instead:

Some tems were on a red tag sale up to 80% off! I was able to get myself my denim pants for just Php399 (original price Php1,350). I'm not a fan of the ribbon detail on the back pocket, but I think I can pull off the style (I was looking at the discount price more that time hehe). I found a pair of slacks for A for the same price too.
My sister got a dark denim pair also, but a different model. I tried to get one for myself, but I didn't fit the pants hehe. She got a better deal that I have because the pair that she bought used to sell for Php2,450 and she got it for Php499. She even managed to get a pink leather belt for Php99 from Php499.

Now who wouldn't love those price drops?

I found several on-sale items that would expire end July at Rustan's Supermarket in Glorietta. I just picked the ones that I know will be consumed at home before expiry date. One of those I grabbed was Lawry's Garlic Spread. 

It originally sells for almost Php200, Rustan's was offering it as Php96. Should be easy for A to finish since he likes garlic in almost everything. Today, I'm using it to marinade local wagyu beef and make salpicao.


Salpicao is one of the easiest meals to prepare. For the marinade, I just blended worcestershire sauce, garlic spread, and freshly ground black pepper. Rub over the beef and chill. Allow for the flavors to sink in overnight.

When ready to cook, heat up the pan and pour some olive oil. When the pan is hot, add in the meat and let it brown. Add some butter and mushrooms. That's it! Simple and easy to make, but rich in flavor.

A and I were in Rustan's Shangri-la checking out the grocery as he was in search of his dollar chocolate. Unfortunately, there was only one left. 

I was going to meet someone in Glorietta earlier and I thought of passing by Rustan's Supermarket to kill time and try to search for A's chocolate. They didn't have them also, but what I did find are these:

Galler Chocolate Mini-Bars originally sells for Php130 for a 70g mini-bar, it's on sale for just Php32! Expiry is still 23 July, so lots of time to consume the chocolate mini-bar. Plus, chocolates are still good for about 3 months after the indicated expiry date (should be a useful info to sweet-tooths out there).

There are 3 variants on sale:

café liégois 
dark chocolate filled with a coffee-flavored light mousse

praliné lait
milk chocolate filled with dried fruits

manon
white chocolate filled with coffee mousse and roasted hazelnuts

It still doesn't beat A's chocolate dollar based on weight and price, but this is definitely a good treat!

A eventually remembered that I still have some cupcakes to claim from Cupcakes by Sonja's. So, off to BHS we went and gone flat-hunting while we're at it.

Unfortunately, I'm not a fan of the brand. I just like looking at it. I find it too sweet for my taste (and I'm a known sweet tooth...so I guess that doesn't make me a hardcore one).  A was able to finish 3 before we left the shop. I'm just not sure if he really likes it or his stress-coping switch is on. Just the same, I enjoyed my visit there because I was in good company. Plus, I only paid for half the price since I was able to buy a voucher from a group-purchase site  =)

For some reason, decision-making becomes more difficult when you're given an opportunity to go on a free shopping spree. I was able to get a gift certificate from a US online store for the amount of a 3-digit figure (in US dollars). It was much worse than being a kid in a candy store. I lose my impulsiveness to buy things and end up analyzing the product against its value.

As I was going through the items in the store, I ended up choosing more items for A than for myself. That, plus the fact that the ones I was looking at would deplete more than half of what I could spend already! There's also shipping cost to consider as the items will be coming from the US.

A is a tea and coffee person. I learned how to drink hot tea from him as he would usually make one at home. There's a tea for drinking before a meal. Different one after a meal. Another one for a cold beverage use. As for coffee, it's an ongoing learning process for him.

He has these toys to play with:

The one on the right is a tea press that was given to us as a wedding gift. He'd use the whole thing for loose tea leaves and use the carafe only if he would brew one in a sachet. He would use the carafe for coffee before wherein he would buy ground coffee and transfer the amount he would consume into a sachet.

I'm particular about the things that he would look at when we would go out. We were in Dimensione at the Fort before when I saw him going through Bodum's line. Next thing he knew, he already has a coffee press. No need to buy the sachets anymore.

I'm not much of a coffee drinker, but I do like the taste of a freshly ground one. One time we were in Starbucks, A asked me for a quick lecture on the impact of the grinding date to the taste of the coffee. We wouldn't buy ground coffee in Starbucks because we don't consume much coffee as well and the smallest pack that they have is 400g. So, I've introduced him to Rustan's coffee line. This way, he can try different flavors without having to buy a large quantity. Though I've noticed that it would still take him weeks to finish off 100g.  The flavor's become ho-hum by that time. I figured that buying coffee beans would be better and just grind a certain amount when needed. So I got him a KitchenAid coffee grinder.

As I continued to browse more items to purchase, I bumped into this one:

I've seen A grab this item a number of times in Dimensione, but wouldn't buy it. I've offered to buy it for him, he wouldn't let me. I think he's waiting for it to go on sale. At least now, we don't have to wait for the sale and would get the item for free. I also got one for myself. Cost of shipping to Manila for the 2 travel press is just the same as buying 1 here.

Now for the pièce de résistance:

As my support to his coffee exploration journey, I've added this DeLonghi espresso/cappuccino maker in the cart. I think that would cover it for him. 

So what's the thing about about going on a free shopping free? I ended up buying things not for myself. I don't mind anyway. As long as A's happy with it. Well, I still have some amount left to spend. Maybe I'll get myself that stick blender that I've been salivating for years.

All in all, i feel so blessed for being able to get these items for A.

I've always been more particular about my hair when it comes to body maintenance. I give it a monthly hot oil treatment and even purchased myself a thermal cap so that I can do it at home.

I've tried another technique which basically just uses shampoo and baking soda. It's something you'd do once a month to cleanse your hair from chemical build up. Outcome of which would bring back the shine to your hair.

So here's what you do: put half the amount of shampoo that you regularly use and add baking soda to it in the same amount. Lather and shampoo on your hair. Best to use warm water first to wet your hair then rinse with cold water.

Now that's definitely not "shampoo lang yan" =)

While waiting for my blood test result to come out, I went to the Rob Place Ermita to kill time...about 7 hours of it. Anyway, so I was doing a LOT of window shopping when I saw that Beauty Bar has a sale nook. So I took a peek.

As expected, most of them are make-up. Am not a make-up person, but I do have my basic set. As I was going through the sale rack, I saw some items from their own line - hand lotion, shower gel, body butter, I think there were some scrubs too. There were 3 variants to choose from - lavender, orange ginger, and grapefruit & dewberry.

I really didn't have a requirement for any of those items, but when I saw the price, I figured that I could stock some up as emergency gifts should a need arise. The shower gel was on sale for Php100 from the original price of Php450. Hand lotion was around Php80 (forgot the original price though). Rest, I wasn't able to checkout as I was about to go hungry then (I turn green when I'm hungry). So I just purchased 2 bottles and left the store. 

Sometimes, good things come along when you're not looking =)