Playing Pretend With My Little Princess Elsa

The munchkin is growing up so fast. There is no stopping it. A couple of weeks ago, I went home and found her holding a picture of her Elsa dress. It came with the dress which was given to her by Mamita from her last birthday bash.


She went up to me and pointed at the picture as if saying she wanted to wear the dress. Since we do not have a nanny, the house was in shambles most especially her room (oh the munchkin's room, if you could only see it). I had a hard time looking for it. Then I remember this other purple princess dress that she got as a gift (from Mamita as well). I showed it to her and asked if she wanted to wear that one instead. Good thing she agreed. I told her to take a shower so she can wear the dress. And off she went to the bathroom without a protest. I was quite surprised that her bath time took only a few minutes. She usually takes a long time (bath + play time). However, on that day no play time. She was really excited to wear the dress.


While trying to tidy up her room a little bit, another surprise came. I finally found the Elsa dress! Hooray! I showed the dress to her as soon as she came out of the bath. And boy, I just love her reaction. It was priceless. It was pure happiness. She was shouting for joy. Such a precious feeling seeing your little one extremely delighted.


We put on the dress and she went on doing this. Oh my Munchkin! It was her watercolor toy from the Kinder Surprise chocolate that she was using as make up. Her imagination and creativity are now developing. I was beyond words.

. . . mini brush and paint from the kinder surprise chocolate

putting it on as lipstick . . .

. . . then on the cheeks

as eyeshadow . . .

. . . lipstick again

more more blush on hahaha!!!!

At this age, she knows about make-up and how to put it on. Obviously, she got it from her mommy.

. . . checking herself out on the my melody compact mirror from mcdonald's

I think it's time now to buy her a makeup toy set. :-)

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House of Polvoron (HOP)

One payday afternoon, Tapioca brought home some boxes of polvoron from House of Polvoron or also known as HOP. I remember mentioning from one of our casual conversations that I was missing the chocolate covered delicacy. Actually, I had forgotten that I was craving for it until these babies arrived.

. . . house of polvoron - the way polvoron should be

the packaging . . .

. . . in three different flavours

They have so many flavors to choose from and I wish to try them all someday. For now, I am very much happy with Tapioca's choices.

Oh Tapioca, how very thoughtful. You sure are full of surprises. He remembers and he delivers. Thank you so much, my dear!



Love,

Jellybean74170

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Draft Gastropub

Last weekend, Tapioca and I went out on a date.

We were supposed to check out sports bars in Makati Avenue where we can watch the Superbowl. But then we ended up at Glorietta a little past lunch time. It was a hot and humid day. We were hungry and Tapioca was no longer in the mood to go any farther away from Glorietta. We checked out Buffalo Wild Wings. This was where we watched the Superbowl last year.

They told us that they no longer take reservations. Apparently, ABC 5 got the rights to broadcast Superbowl 2018 and it’s not going to be live (read: delayed broadcast) therefore we can just go there on a first come first serve basis. Sucks.

Tapioca was in the mood to drink. I knew just a place to be drinking beer – my kind of beer.

. . . Draft Gastropub

 

Buy 1 take 1 – Whoa!!  Loveettt!!

For starters, Tapioca said I can only get 1. Either a soup or a salad. I wanted both and I prevailed!

. . . clam chowder

I chose the clam chowder and it came in a bread bowl. I was not so sure about the bread bowl or maybe I'm just used to the bread bowl of The French Baker. Anyway, Tapioca liked it and almost finished the whole thing. Talking about the soup, it was thick, creamy and was not deprived of clams – which a clam chowder should be. Yum!

Tapioca chose the salad. He does not like blue cheese so I was not sure what went on his head to pick this salad. I love how fresh the greens were. And the play of flavors from the dressing - sweet, salty, tangy. I kinda wish there was more dressing, though. Somehow the salad photo got lost. Sorry about that. But I have another photo showing that we did order a salad.

See? It's right there in the middle!

I told ya! Just so I have proof. Lolz

For the mains, I was having a difficulty choosing between pasta or risotto or rice meal. I ended up with the Fettuccine.

. . . fettuccine

So earthy from the mushroom and truffle oil. For some reason, it had an aftertaste like I was eating a very savory pancit canton.

cubano . . .

That's the Cubano sandwich for Tapioca.

Well, my guy is a sandwich loving guy. He can definitely live on sandwich alone. He liked this very much including the fries.

And the beer that won my heart - Hoegaarden Rose.

. . . hoegaarden for me and stella artois for him

We had a lovely time at Draft. We enjoyed our lunch paired with our beer of choice. If only it wasn't a workday for Tapioca, we could have stayed a little longer and watched the match between Germany and South Korea.

Australian Open 2018 on multiple TV screens . . .

. . . baked cheesecake to cap our lunch

destroyed!!!

Perfect ending. And the best part, I didn't have to choose between blueberry or strawberry. I got 'em both.

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Family Day Sunday at SM Aura

We went to the mall yesterday to buy Munchkin a new sippy cup. The one she's using was old and worn out and in dire need of a replacement.

A few months back, I remember getting her a sippy cup made from bamboo which we bought at Baby Company. The design was cute and girly but what really sold me was how easy peasy cleaning the cup was because it has less crevices. Less crevices means less scrubbing time. Less scrubbing time means more time spent doing other important things. Every Mom knows time is important and very very precious.

. . . baby company

Alas, that sippy cup only lasted a few days. Not even a week. Because it was made from bamboo, the thing still breaks and cracks. Munchkin dropped it and it cracked. The poor thing, 299 pesos went down the drain.

So we took a gamble and bought the same sippy cup again. Just because I love how it’s so easy to clean. Period. Can you tell how I hate cleaning? You bet. Actually, I have a love and hate relationship with cleaning but that's another story to tell.

the sippy cup . . .

We decided to go to SM Aura because that's where we originally got those Mom & Baby bamboo sippy cups. But first things first, we have to eat.

We only had one agenda for the day (which was to buy the sippy cup) therefore we didn't have any plans on where to eat. Luckily, there's plenty of dining options at SM Aura. For peeps like us who's on a budget, our best bet was at the food court - Food on Four.

I haven't had Pepper Lunch in a while so I got a Beef Pepper Rice with egg. Tapioca got the same thing with an addition of mozza cheese. He likes it cheezey, ya know.

. . . beef pepper rice

Yum. But I needed more ziinggggg. I forgot we were dining at the Pepper Lunch express which means we did not have our own set of sauces and condiments. :-(

Munchkin had her usual fare - burger and fries from The Great American Burger Joint.

the munchkin sticking out her tongue for the burger eerr I mean, the family photo . . .

Then I saw the Poke Poke stall. I haven't tried poke poke and I'm curious so I got myself a regular bowl.

. . . poke poke bowl

It has raw tuna and salmon, diced veggies, sauces and spices and rice. The bowl looked small but it was very filling. It tasted fresh, clean and healthy - in a good way. Though, it would be better if the tuna and salmon pieces were chunkier. I would prefer bigger pieces and not the itsy bitsy tiny ones.

Still, I would love to order this again. Next time I will replace rice with quinoa or maybe just the mixed greens. Then I will order a soup from the other healthy stall right next to Poke Poke.  Then I will have a complete healthy balanced meal. Healthy-healthy-han lang peg hahaha!

We were full but I was determined to get dessert. I was craving for some cheesecake and I thought of UCC Cafe. When we got there, these were on display.

cake display . . .

No blueberry cheesecake. Sigh.

I wanted to get the halo-halo cake but Tapioca doesn't like the halo-halo cake. I do not like mousse cake but Tapioca was interested to try it. Guess who won.

. . . our take out bag

At home we were like this . . .

excited to try a new cake  . . .

. . . looks so good!!!

And the verdict: I told ya, I do not like mousse cake and this totally failed. The only good thing was how it looks and the strawberry bits and pieces. Other than that, it was a disappointment. Tapioca agreed.

Will skip this next time. Never again. #notworthit

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Tapioca’s Aoili Pasta

It is one of those rare moments when Tapioca would whip up something in the kitchen so we can have a decent hot meal.

Tapioca used to cook a lot. When he’s at home on a day off or whenever he feels like it, he will always cook something. But because we didn't have a yaya for over two months, our days off were mostly spent taking care of the Munchkin. That's number one priority. Anything else takes 2nd place. Including sleep and taking a shower. Lelz.

But on this day, he was in the mood to cook. He cooked something quick and easy but still feels special. It only needed a handful of ingredients already available in the pantry. Pasta, olive oil, garlic (lots of it) and cheese (tons of it). And of course, salt and pepper.

Pour yourself a glass of vino and voila! Fine dining at home. Home cooked with love.

. . . aoili pasta by Tapioca

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