McDo & Distrito

The mister and I have a simple love for McDonalds. Whenever we do not much cash, we opt for the good ol' McDo. We do appreciate that its always there and always open. There are times where I do dislike them, when I have midnight cravings for Pasta or looking for a late Ice Cream dessert and they stop servicing them after 10 PM. McDo does give satisfactory and yummy food, I think everybody does love 'em some fast food.

But as we crossed the main road to the other side, we stumbled upon a Night Market named "Distrito". I had instantly regretted choosing Mcdo. Especially when the mister had dragged my ass to a booth with a wide variety of MACARONS, my favorite!

We had tried Triple Chocolate, White Chocolate and Hazelnut. The hazelnut lacked the taste of chocolate, since they do have a bottle of nutella on their tag which is hazelnuts + chocolate basically. The white chocolate was slightly too sweet. But the triple chocolate was very nice. The cookies were crisp on the outside and chewy as you bite on them, which is perfect. They also had some flavors I haven't tried and would like to, such as Milk Tea, Strawberry and Cookies & Cream. They were priced P35 a piece, and P90 for 3 pieces, as I recall.

What caught me off-guard and grinning like a child given candy was this Gelato Truck! Mio Gelati also has a wide range of flavors, which the hubby and I had quite some difficulty choosing which we wanted. We ended up choosing Red Velvet and er... I forgot actually, something chocolate based. The Red Velvet was simple and nice, but the chocolate one lacked something. And when it melted, it wasn't tasty at all. D: Their gelatos are quite pricey, but worth having once in a while, as long as you know which flavors you should get.

Unfortunately, I think Distrito has ended. But you may check their Facebook page here.

P.S: This is an uber late post. Oh, and HAPPY HOLIDAYS TO YOU AND YOUR FAMILY! With much love, from Dessert Darling. :)

Secret Recipe, Oh Serenitea...

Phew! Hello again. I have a few blog posts to uploaded, as long as I get to them.. but the past week have been so so busy! One of the best things happened a couple of days ago. A friend had agreed to share her booth with me at her office, Intercontinental Hotels Group located at RCBC Plaza for the benefit of saving the trees at La Mesa Eco Park. Being a nature lover myself, Oh how this would be the perfect opportunity to get a booth... with a cause! You can read Meki's blog about it here. Don't forget to follow her Messy Kitchen as well!

Anyhoo, back to the matter at hand. Our trip to Secret Recipe happened some days before the booth day. I know, I'm late! But heck, here it is anyways!

Hubby and I shared Vietnamese Beef Noodle Soup. For less than P300, it was enough for two! Actually, two and a half since the little one had a share. The soup was nice and beefy, best eaten while hot. While the meat balls were soft but had a nice bite to them, which we both liked. It was a bit peppery, but I'm sure there are many who like that.

Secret Recipe is memorable for me and my husband. We have loved their cakes for quite a long time now. Before this little one was even conceived. More than three years. He would purchase slices of their cheese cakes to share with me, and we would spend time there talking. Our most favorite cheese cake is their Chocolate Cheese (Pictured above). I think it is my most favorite cheese cake so far. Unfortunately, we weren't able to order a slice that day.

Here is my daughter, savoring her milk tea while waiting for soup to cool a bit.

Serenitea... Oh yum. We had a quick visit at Serenitea before we went to Secret Recipe. I missed this place so much. Most of our times are spent here, as Hubby and I absolutely love their milk teas. We had our time trying out other brands... but we both firmly agree that Serenitea is our favorite. Not to mention, the little one's as well. :P Hubby bought me my... third? copy of White Oleander. Its one of my favorite books. Ha! A day of Favorites. It was a nice day. :)

I love the new designs... perfect for the Yuletide Season!

Have you tried Serenitea yet? Mm... I'm actually craving for some right now.

You can find Secret Recipe via Facebook here.

Serenitea on Facebook here.

BC Bloggers, Uniting Busy Bloggers!

As you may have probably noticed, I'm a busy person! Or not. Well, yes, most of the time I am! Juggling daily life, being a wife and mother of one adorable and very hyper-active daughter (or so I think) is a handful.. If you add a job, time for blogging and some side line activities... Oh wow, how do you even have time for yourself!

As much as  you think gaining followers is easy, its not. We aren't the only busy people out there! And I'm pretty sure we all can't pay to advertise our blogs.

So when I found BC Bloggers and read up on it.. I was interested. A blog group for busy bloggers? Why not? Uniting us, helping us make things easier. Looking for people who have the same interest that you have? They'll provide it for you. Hell yes, I am joining this group. And I think you should too! Well, unless you don't have a blog... but you can always start one, right? :P

If you aren't piqued yet, just visit Mommy Diary. I bet you'll end up registering as well.

December 9, 2011

This day had been a very eventful, and equally stressful day. It was an epic day, otherwise, as I had made the first official Pasta orders under Dessert Darling. It was stressful as it began pouring rain, and it took us such a long time to have these delivered. They ended up wet with the rain (good thing we had covered them with plastic, always have to be extra sure that they are secured), and so were we.

The little one had helped, and not helped in a way. I think she had become so curious with everything I do... Most especially what I do in the kitchen. This means alot to me, as it makes me think she would be someone like me in the future. As long as she ends up pursuing her dreams, I have nothing against it. I wish that to be so well because, her mother is a disappointment. :P

The trip to the destination (Ortigas) was a long and tiring one. We ended up having to look for a taxi for an hour, and another hour inside it. It was a disaster.

In the end, I was not able to arrive in time for the Dinner set as a prize for the hard work me and my team has done doing something for a client. I don't really have the right words to say, and there is no use crying over spilled milk. Looks like I have ended up not being compensated for it... due to the unfortunate circumstances.

Wham Burgers are my most favorite burgers in the world. It is fully of yummyness I can't even find the right words for it. Haha! I give up my usual pasta cravings in a snap whenever Wham is mentioned. Wham, Oh I love you. And my little one absolutely loves your meaty (without the meat of course) fries.

The hubby did some damage control and had to treat us to Wham! Burgers. It lifted up my spirits a bit. To be honest, Wham! is my favorite burger joint. They have yummy burgers that are worth every penny you give them. You should try it... And you should try my spaghetti as well. :P

Home-made Vanilla Bean Ice Cream with Chocolate chunks

If you knew me personally, you would have known that I have been raving about making my own ice cream for months. And as a special ocassion came that required a soft of gift from yours truly, I thought, why not just make Ice Cream so everyone would have their share? Well, honestly, I just made an excuse to finally get to make one! Haha!

I had made these babies without an ice cream maker. Can you believe it? Yes. Although they ended up not as creamy as I wanted them to, I believe it was because I wasn't able to break up the ice crystals before it became fully solid (meaning, solid enough to eat!). I had made it very late and I had work the following day. I only got to mix the batter a few times.

It was too late for me to take a picture, I had feared that everyone enjoyed it too much! But thank goodness, there was still some left for me to photograph. I was at work, but I've heard raves about it. My sister-in-law even enjoyed it, and my hubby's little cousins couldn't get enough!

My verdict? I was won over. I don't think I want to purchase any store-bought vanilla ice cream anymore. This was divine, despite my personal disappointments about its consistency. It was yum-oh!

You can see recipes about how to make your own ice cream here:

David Lebovitz' Vanilla Ice Cream (with egg on the recipe)

David Lebovitz' Chocolate Ice Cream (no egg)

The thing about ice cream is that you can change it the way you want it! Just follow the basic ingredients, edit or add some, and viola! I did not get to follow the recipe EXACTLY, as I've wanted an eggless ice cream. But you can do that, as well.

I think everybody should just stop purchasing store bought ice cream and try home-made ones. I can't wait to make some more in the future, I think Pistachios are actually calling me to mingle them with the rich custardy heavenly frozen cream.

What is your favorite Ice cream flavor? Share! :)

Annyeong from Dessert Darling!

Well hello, dessert and food monsters! I know I have promised the release of Dessert Darling for 2012, but alas! I am in the mood for some blogging. I hope this gets you, yes you, my lovely reader, in the mood to get some writing done as well.

I know, I know. This is not a HOW TO post, unfortunately. But we'll come to that in due time. Since life is about experience, let me share my life experience with you as well. My life with my family and our love of food and other things.

It was a good day, although the morning (yesterday, since I am writing this at 4 AM) had started with a rough start. I am back and now in the mood to take pictures of pretty things and what I love most, food.

The hubhub, my love of my life, and myself had gone all the way to Ortigas to run some errands. And have dinner while we were at it, at this tiny store named "Kimbob" at St. Francis Square, beside the huge outlet for Daiso. I had initially wanted to try out their korean ice cream since my cousin, Ate (a term of endearment to say to someone older than you) Torose loved them. But hearing our stomachs grumbling and mumbling, we took it as a sign to have dinner as well.

If you had spend daily life with li'l ol' me, you would probably know that I have been dying to try out Ramen. I meant, the real deal, and not the packaged ones you could buy at the groceries. And Kimbob's ramen was yummy, although too spicy for me. Not to put you off, we were accidentally given the spicy bunch, when we have really ordered the mild type. But for someone who does not like spicy food, I've enjoyed this one.

We've ordered an additional Beef Bulgogi, with the vegetables and egg. The vegetables were flavorful, in fact, I had enjoyed eating them better than the beef. The thing to it is that you have to take some beef, and add some of the vegetables with the rice and it is much much better than eating them one by one. Ofcourse, it could be just me.

We had to order two servings of Iced Tea, because of how spicy the ramen was. We were literally sweating!

Korean Ice cream is slightly different than the usual ones we have here in our country. The pinipig that the mister had ordered had the usual chocolate & pinipig (which tasted very much like real nuts) coating... but when you take a bite out of it, you could see the vanilla filling, which is usual here. And, wait for it... another chocolate filling inside the vanilla one. It won him over. Unfortunately, we had devoured it before realizing that we were not able to take pictures.

But being the slow ice cream eater that I am, I had brought the Melona Strawberry I was eating all the way to Megamall. And here is a photo of me with it! Haha! Don't mind my pimples. :P

Aaaand here's a little outfit of the day.

Long polo dress: thrifted | The Ramones Band Shirt, Hubby's | Pale Blue Shorts, Landmark | White Heart Bag, thrifted

Look at these boots. Finally got to have a pair of awesome buckled boots, after I had to sell the platform (non-buckled) boots I had before.

We only had a few moments left before we needed to come back home, but we just had to double check whether the Anita Blake comics were still on sale at the nearest Comic Quest. Of course, being the Anita collector that I am, I had to buy all the ones I didn't have a copy of yet. For P200, they were a steaaal.

Aaaaand, to end the day right. Milk Tea. Its like a habit whenever we go out.

So, how about you? Any food adventures you've got up your sleeve? Comment me with your blog's link, I am always open to making new friends.

See you next time!