Maple Restaurant @ East Wing Shangri-la Mall

They say breakfast is the most important meal of the day. Well, I have no objections to that. In fact, breakfast food is like comfort food to me. Filipino breakfast food like tapsilog, longsilog, tocilog and all the ‘silog’ out there aren’t just right for breakfast but any time of the day. Pancakes are also comfort food to me. Our maid makes the right kind of fluffy pancakes, which starts my day right when I eat that for breakfast. One Saturday, I had to miss out on breakfast to prepare myself for a lunch I knew I’ll be eating a bunch. From the menu, I didn’t want to stuff my belly with too much food. Preparation for my stomach was the game plan. I just didn’t risk the chance of not trying the best dishes at the newest comfort food restaurant at the new East Wing of Shangri-la Mall called Maple. 

 ”Comfort is at the core of Maple menu.” They limit their menu to dishes that will define comfort to your bellies. From its name Maple, obviously the key ingredient they use is maple syrup. Through the use of their primary and main ingredient, maple syrup, customers of Maple wouldn’t leave the place without experiencing high-quality type of maple-based comfort meals. 

 Blueberry and Cream Cheese Pancake Tower (Php 450) - Can you try guessing how many layers of pancakes this is? This tower of pancakes are layered with blueberries and cream cheese in between. Every piece of pancake is loaded with flavors of blueberry and cream cheese. The batter of pancakes itself is way better than the famous franchise pancake people are raving about. According to Maple, they way they cook their pancakes is similar to how you do souffles. That makes their pancakes stand out. Oh, the answer to how many layers of buttermilk pancakes is 6. 

 Maple Buttermilk Pancakes (Php 275) - Simple layers of light pancakes with powdered sugar dispersed on the plate. The distinct ingredient that will make this simple pancakes turn sophisticated is the pure maple syrup, which you can get at Maple as well. Just add Php 75 for a small container of pure maple syrup. After trying the pure maple syrup, my standards in eating my pancakes went up one notch higher. I now know the difference of eating over-the-counter maple syrup and pure maple syrup on my pancakes. 

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Bonfire @ Greenhills Town Center

What I love about where I work is the fact we have mandatory leaves. It is always the best time for me to travel, enjoy looong sleeps and certainly scout more restaurants. My mandatory leaves were scheduled last April, just in time for my mom’s birthday. Middle of the week after my Kuala Lumpur trip, I was scheduled to visit Bonfire, a newly opened restaurant at Greenhills Town Center. The location is exactly where Sumo Sam was placed before. Without any hesitations, the location was convenient and the schedule was perfect, I dined at Bonfire with Oliver, together with other foodie friends. 

 We were welcomed at Bonfire by choosing our preferred beverages. I didn’t choose anything special or unusual, simple fruit shake is good enough for me. As a matter of fact, water alone is the best drink I could partner with any dish. Often times, I like to experiment with different beverages to partner with my meals. Let’s just say, depends what the mood is.

 The Shrimp, Mango and Alfalfa Salad (Php 185) - Starting the dinner with a plate of salad sets the mood right. Shrimp, mango, crab stick and alfalfa all mixed up sounds good and tastes good as well. The ingredients are all safe for a plate of salad, nothing edgy and new. One plate could feed about 2 persons. 

 Bonfire Grilled Chicken Pizza (Php 295) - Compared to CPK’s bbq chicken pizza, I’d still hit the button for CPK. But that doesn’t mean I’m not cheering for Bonfire’s version. I love the sweet and smoked barbecue sauce lightly scattered on the thin-crusted pizza. The chicken barbecue chunks on top of mozzarella cheese absolutely got me wanting for more. For its price, a casual dining over sangria and pizza is not a splurge at all. 

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Honest Tea - Refreshingly Healthy

Honestly, it’s hard to say NO to Food… Do you agree? 

My love for food cannot be simply ejected from my system. It is innate. It is unstoppable. Just like other women on earth, I also have my ideal body system, which is “Eating A LOT without getting fat!”. Oh well, I don’t think it’s possible for me. But I have to accept that fact that uncontrollable eating could lead to harming not just my body but my health. It’s not just about getting fat, it’s about being a good steward of the body God entrusted me - “Do you not know that your bodies are temples of the Holy Spirit, who is in you, whom you have received from God? You are not your own. (1 Cor 6:19)”

I believe that I am responsible for my body and health. And being a food blogger doesn’t exempt me from eating whatever I want. I must be conscious while I’m young. Besides, prevention is better than cure.  

Knowing my love and passion for food, I make sure exercise is part of my lifestyle. Before, I used to run around the village or at the treadmill 3-4 times a week. Now, my exercise drifted toJump ropes. I fell in love with jump ropes recently. It started when laziness attacked me to go outside the house due to dehydrating summer heat. I thought I needed a new exercise even if I’m just inside the house. So… POOF! There goes jump ropes as my new exercise best friend! 

After exercising, a cold and refreshing drink is a must. I don’t want to cheat myself and drink sodas or caffeinated beverages like a fish. Just like finding a new exercise, I also found a new healthy drink. Introducing my newest find - Honest Tea. 

Why I love Honest Tea? 

1) Healthy companion after working out. As I mentioned earlier, I don’t have to cheat myself by consuming beverages that are high in sugar and caffeine. You can still fill in your taste buds with some fruity goodness by being healthy.

2) Only 100 Calories per bottle. It’s a worry-free bottle! 

3) Teas are USDA Organic Certified, high in anti-oxidants and of course, low in calories.

4) Refreshing and tastes real. 

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Shiseido - Make-up 101

Seriously… The Food Scout in a Beauty event?! 

To all foodies reading, I wasn’t lost or got my schedule muddled up. I know you are expecting a food or restaurant post from me but this time, I have to allot 1 post for a beauty brand. 

One Saturday, I was invited by my beauty blogger friend, Rowena of Animetric, to her Shiseido Make-up event, Flawless and Radiant Make-up Workshop. She asked me if I was interested to learn basic make-up from Shiseido’s beauty expert. I know I’m not a beauty blogger but as a lady, I’m interested to learn anything about beauty. If you’re a woman, you know where I’m coming from and you can definitely relate. 

 
A 2-hour make-up workshop sponsored by Shiseido enlightened me and made me appreciate make-up even more. Honestly, I’m not a big fan of applying make-up. Normally, I go to the office with pressed powder and colorless lip-balm. If I’m in the mood or I have a food event at night, I use mascara and curl my lashes. For evening events, my flushing red lipstick becomes my best friend. That’s about it. I go for low maintenance make-up routine. My mom trained me to love your natural beauty and simply enhance if necessary. If not necessary, leave it as natural as it is. 

Even though I am not a make-up enthusiast, I am still eager to learn more about it. I thought that there may be things I didn’t know, reason why I couldn’t appreciate make-up. 

Since I’m not a beauty blogger, I couldn’t give you technical terms or specific make-up terms on this post. All I can share with you are the learning and beauty tips from Shiseido. So please bear with me. :) 

 
Beauty Tips from Shiseido:

1) Focus on Skin Care more than anything else. Skin care was mentioned more than 10x at the event. When I heard “skin care” being the primary topic at the make-up event, my eyes got bigger and said to myself, “I’m at the right event!”. Just like Shiseido, I really believe skin care is so so so important that you don’t need to use make-up to cover up your face. With or without make-up, you still look fabulous because of your skin. Concealer can only do its role to cover up your pimples or dark spots but at the end of the day, you remove your concealer, the pimple or dark spots are still there. Putting skin care as the highlight, you remove your foundation, concealer and other colors on your face, you won’t be afraid to show the world the “real” you. 

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Krispy Kreme - Break the Communication Barrier

In my own little world, I confess that I get unconsciously annoyed when I hear people nagging each other, gossiping about people talking like hypocrites or hear negative conversations that can ruin my mood. Often times, I hear loud music from the neighborhood on a quiet evening in my room. There are certain things I don’t want to hear but I hear them because of my ears. Even if I try to ignore, I can’t help but hear disturbing noises around the neighborhood. I try to stuck earplugs, but noise continues to linger. 

Last weekend, my attitude towards hearing unnecessary noises suddenly and slightly changed. I was invited to Krispy Kreme’s ‘Share the Gift of Joy through Read Along Program’ at their Ayala Avenue, Makati City branch. At this event, I had the opportunity to meet special kids, deaf kids to be specific. 

Krispy Kreme launched the Share the Gift of Joy campaign wherein they support 12 partner charities which care for the environment, creativity, lives, our animal friends and of course my favorite, Kids! I am fortunate to experience this Read Along Program by Development and Accessibility Fund for the Deaf (DeAF Deaf) and Support and Empower Abused Deaf Children, Inc. (SEADC). 

 As a hearing person, I can easily order food I desire to eat. In Krispy Kreme, I can order this box of assorted Mickey Mouse donuts anytime without doing any actions. I can simply speak and tell the crew which flavors I like to be included in the box. 

 To describe how sweet, tasty and delectable Krispy Kreme donuts are, I just have to speak my mind to my family friends. My speaking voice is enough for people to understand. 

 On the other hand, not all people are fortunate to have the speaking voice and hearing ears. Just like the deaf kids I met, they couldn’t understand the words I will say. They can only understand the actions and sign languages I’ll be doing. To communicate with deaf kids is way too different from communicating with hearing people. 

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