Mom stumbled upon another article saying that dark chocolate is a good source of antioxidants and that adding it into one’s diet can really be beneficial.  Mom then asked me if there are any dark chocolate variations of M&M’s, her ultimate chocolate indulgence.  I answered yes since I remember Mons bringing a couple of them home before.  To prove it further, I searched it on the net:

During my search, I stumbled upon a game from M&M’s called 50 Dark Movies, Hidden in a Painting.  You’re supposed to name 50 movie titles using the visual clues in the painting.  If you’re the type who’s really into movies, then I think you won’t have any problems with the game.  As for me…well, I’m not even going to tell you how many of them I managed to figure out.  Suffice to say that my first try was an epic failure! Hahaha!  Go ahead and try the game yourself by clicking here. Have fun!

P.S.: I love the creepy music in the background while you’re playing the M&M’s game, I have no idea why.

Since the release of Sims 3, I’ve been having trouble detaching myself from our computer.  I’ve already made two households, one for each of the two towns I have in the game.  I primarily play the family I have in Riverview as part of my ongoing Sims story.  Not a lot of people know that one of the reasons I love playing the Sims series is because I make up stories involving the Sims I create.

Now, I’m not going to continue talking about my amateur attempts on Sims storytelling, and would rather introduce to you one of the best Sims 3 stories I’ve read on the net.  It’s entitled Alice and Kev and was made by a Games Design student in the UK named Robin Burkinshaw.  The story focuses on the lives of Kev and his daughter Alice, both of whom are homeless and struggling to go through their daily lives.

Alice and Kev is very popular among the Sims community and was even featured in the Sims 3 news section.  It’s really very well written and there will be a number of times when the story will touch your heart.  I suggest you try reading it yourselves.  Click here to go to the site.

Look at what I received yesterday:

Neat, huh?

I’ve been waiting for the release of Sims 3 since it was announced last year and I tried very hard to contain my excitement when my brother, Pointyman, called me up yesterday afternoon and told me that our pre-ordered copy was already in his hands!  As of now, we’ve already installed and registered the game, downloaded all the freebies that came along with the pre-ordered Collector’s Edition and have already tried our hand at the CAS (Create a Sim).  My head is swimming with ideas right now and I’m enjoying creating a Sim too much to actually explore the game itself, but will probably get on it later today. I’ll try to get back to you guys once I manage to distract myself from playing Sims3.  Until then, I suggest you grab yourselves an original copy of the game too!

Hello girls and boys, I do apologize for not being able to update this blog for the past few weeks.  There were days wherein I was feeling under the weather and then there were days when I was just busy preparing for an out of town trip my friends and I had last week.

Anyway, enough with the mindless chatter.  I haven’t been able to cook and/or dine out at any amazing restaurants for the past few weeks so I’ll just show you some of the goodies an Aunt of ours brought us from Canada.  My Auntie Julie is my mom’s best friend since high school and she’s living in Canada for the past 23 years.  She does come home to Manila once in a while to visit and she’s always been the one to introduce us to delightful snacks that would eventually find their way to our own supermarkets’ inventories (a good example was a nougat product from Canada that was nonexistent in Manila until The Landmark started selling them in their grocery; I apologize for forgetting the name of the product).  This time around, Auntie Julie brought us the following items:

Walkers Pure Butter Shortbread, Breton Whole Wheat Crackers, Milkfuls caramel candies with milky centers

Planters salted Macadamia nuts and Dare’s Vinta crackers

We have yet to try each of these items and see which ones become our favorites, but I have to say that Pointyman and I are taken by those caramel candies simply because they come in the cutest packaging!

And of course, who can forget about the stuff for the girly girls in the family?

Victoria’s Secret Love Spell hydrating body lotion and La Senza’s Heart Song body butter

My Mom and I love the smell of these lotions and we’ve started wondering where we could score these in Manila.  I have to tell you that I’m already satisfied with using my handy Jergen’s Original Scent lotion for everyday, but sometimes I admit on going a little extra and these two products from Auntie Julie’s definitely fit the bill!  The only problem is once they’re both emptied, where will I be able to get them?  I don’t see the Love Spell when I take a look at Victoria’s Secret products and I haven’t seen the local La Senza shop sell anything else apart from lingerie and pajama sets.  But who knows? I might chance upon them one of these days!

Thank you very much, Auntie Julie!

Just a little over a month of waiting and Sims 3 will be available for purchase here in Manila!  Grab your original copies from DataBlitz.  They’ve informed me that both Windows and Mac versions will be available on the said date.

The Sims3 Collector’s Edition is also available online for pre-orders, just visit the Sims 3 official website.  The Collector’s Edition includes The Sims 3, exclusive 2 GB Plumbob USB Drive and carabiner, exclusive European sportscar download, new Sims 3 theme music and Prima Hints and Tips Guide.

For my Mom’s birthday three days ago, the family and I decided to have dinner at Cyma at Trinoma.  You’ve probably read so many times how much we enjoy dining there and here’s one of the reasons why: their Greek roasted potatoes.  I wanted to try making those potatoes at home, but I haven’t really thought of the right way to go about the process.

Lucky for me, I turned the television on at just the right time to catch Chef at Home at the Asian Food Channel two nights ago, and Chef Michael Smith was preparing Greek Potato and Spinach Salad (click on the link to get the recipe off his microsite at Food Network Canada).  After watching him prepare the dish, I decided to use Chef Smith’s recipe as my guide in trying to make a home-made version of Cyma’s potatoes, and here’s what I ended up with:

I followed most of the things Chef Smith did, but I didn’t prepare the potatoes with spinach.  I also minimized the amount of butter and salt used in the recipe to make it a little healthier for my Mom to eat.  The verdict?  It didn’t taste exactly like the ones they serve in Cyma, but it was pretty close!  Everyone enjoyed it as part of our family dinner, but Pointyman did say that he found the sourness of the lemon a little too sharp to his liking so I might have to do a little adjusting here and there when I prepare this dish again.

I know it’s been a while since I last posted items we ordered from restaurants and so here I am with one for you lovely people! *grin*

My family and I decided to have breakfast at Conti’s Trinoma this morning after Mons said that their Malunggay (Moringa in English) Omelette was very good.  This was the first time that I actually had breakfast at Conti’s since I normally just have lunch there with family or friends.  Let me show you what we ordered:

Malunggay Omelette with Toast (Php145).  You can choose to have rice instead of toast.

French Toast (Php105).  This is what I had.  Pretty tasty and filling.  My mom loves the sausages!

American Breakfast (Php105).

Hot Chocolate (Php55).  Definitely a winner!

I must say, the food is pretty good and yes, that Malunggay Omelette is yummy.  By the way, the entrees that you order for breakfast will NOT include drinks, so you do have to order coffee, tea or hot chocolate.  I really enjoyed the hot chocolate since it was very rich and it kind of reminded my of the drinks I had when I was younger.  Mons’ coffee came with a one-time complimentary refill, so for Php55 I guess that was well worth it.

I have to admit though, the food was really good but what really made our breakfast delightful was the good conversation.  I hope we have more breakfasts outside the house in the future.

**Conti’s can be located at Trinoma Mall, Serendra, Connecticut Street in Greenhills and at BF Homes Commercial Center in Parañaque.

I spent the last few days of the Holy Week in Subic with The Boyfriend and his family.  I had a great time at the beach as there were not a lot of people during our stay and it was a newly opened resort.  My companions also did a bit of shopping here and there, purchasing souvenirs and clothing.  There was one pair of shoes at the Freeport that I really liked, but they didn’t carry my size.  =(

However, things took a turn for the better when I managed to buy these delicious chocolates at The Royal Subic Duty Free.  They cost a bit less than what I would’ve paid if I bought them here in Manila, and since I was already there in Subic, I just couldn’t resist!

Note: That Swedish chocolate Daim (red bag) is my personal favorite!

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I would also like to share that Open Game Table: The Anth0logy of Roleplaying Game Blogs, Vol.1 is now available for purchase.  It costs $22.95 if you purchase it through Amazon.com.  I’m just not entirely sure if a bookstore or a hobby store will be selling the book here in Manila.

Congratulations to my brother, Pointyman, whose article is featured in Open Game Table Vol.1.  One of your other literary pieces was in Philippine Speculative Fiction, and now this?  You make us proud.

One Sunday a couple of weeks ago, I went to Starbucks with my brother Mons, and The Boyfriend.  We spotted this tumbler, which resembled a Venti container for Starbuck’s iced drinks, that were for sale.  I wanted one for myself just because I found it ridiculously cute (okay fine, and because I’m in love with their iced caramel macchiato).

The three of us went back to the same Starbucks branch last Sunday and I noticed that the tumbler was no longer on display.  We thought they were already sold out, and I felt a little sad.  No more tumbler for me.

Guess what?  Mons surprised me with a package this morning and it contained this:

Nyahahahaha!  The Starbucks tumbler is now mine!  It looks a lot like the regular ones they use to serve the iced beverages, but wait until you actually hold it between your beautiful hands….this tumbler is seriously way better than those!  Look at the screw on lid:

Thank you for this, Mons!

…..Oh, the glorious perks of having older brothers!

I was having a great time in the kitchen since being able to purchase fresh parsley from the market the other day, and after using some of them in my corn chowder, I decided to try making my own Shirazi Salad. It’s a salad made primarily of cucumbers, tomatoes and onions.  I remember reading somewhere that this type of salad is a favorite in the Middle Eastern countries.  Here’s a photo of the final product:

I ate the salad during lunch with my pan fried tangigue (Spanish mackerel), which I have pictured below, while Mom and Pointyman had it with rice and steamed shrimp.

I really enjoyed the salad, especially since the lemon juice I used gave it just the right amount of tanginess.  The rest of my family will definitely being seeing more of it in our future meals together!