time for a coffee break!

Thanks to my 9 day vacation I am now swamped with work! I've been having 12 hour work shifts for the past week... yes i know i work from home but still! anyway, took a few of my friends and headed to the Coffee Bean and Tea Leaf for a well deserved coffee break this afternoon. There's always time for coffee... right? haha! :) Btw, talking to your toys is a clear sign that you definitely need to take a break!we're here!one cappuccino please!an oatmeal raisin for meand a yummy bran muffin for...... mr. giant bot!whoops! i think it's time for a refill!want some more, mr. yellow?mr. red poses by the window!

this is my coffee bean and tea leaf story

Wishing at the Fountain of Wealth

I have always believed in wishing wells, lucky coins and the like so i was really amazed when Erman and I visited the Fountain of Wealth in Suntec City, Singapore. The Fountain of Wealth is the mother of all wishing wells! I found out that it is even included in the Guinness book of records as the largest fountain in the world. Cool, huh?

The fountain is located at the basement of the Suntec compound. Visitors can make a wish by going around the main ring 3 times while touching the water with their right hand. It is best to visit the fountain in the afternoon and then stick around until 6pm when they turn on the water for the big ring. It would have been cool to make a wish again (and get wet!) when the main fountain is on but unfortunately they close the visitor entrance at this point. Aaw! Anyway, let's just wait and see if the lucky fountain works :)

the fountain with the water on!The building inside the ring (photos by erman and meow)

Lunch at Metro Club

Dining at the Metro Club in Makati is always a pleasant experience for us. Aside from the good food, the prices are unbelievable! Can you believe that they have desserts for as low as P6.00 (chocolate eclair) each! Wow!
pool pic from here

Their pumpkin soup is a winner at p 23.00. It comes with a dinner roll and butter too! That's cheaper (and definitely healthier) than Jollibee's creamy macaroni soup at p27.00!

We also ordered Pinakbet p78.00, Grilled Fish Fillet p110 and Crispy Pata p 300. The Crispy Pata is the most expensive item in the menu but is really worth the price because it is good for about 3 to 4 people. But I think everyone during our lunch had a serving of Crispy Pata (well, except for me because i don't eat pork) so in our case it was able to serve 5 people. With high cholesterol food such as Crispy Pata, it's best to just get small servings... unless you want to get a heart attack or something! haha!


The Metro Club is at Estrella Cor. Amapola St., Bel-Air Village, Makati City (members only)

LOVE by Robert Indiana.

i remember being fascinated by this LOVE design ever since i was in grade school. i had a huge stamp collection and among my favorites was a USA stamp that had this image printed on. It was only in college that i found out that the artist behind this work was Robert Indiana. we were discussing copyright laws then and this LOVE artwork was used as an example. Apparently, the design was first used for MoMa (Museum of Modern Art) Christmas cards in 1964 (tagal na!) and then was used for several sets of postage stamps. the LOVE became so popular that it was reproduced several times in the form of shirts, mugs and other items without permission from the artist! all of this happened because Indiana had failed to copyright the design (sayang!)

anyhoo... i've been really intrigued by this artwork and was really happy to finally see one in the flesh! This LOVE sculpture in Singapore is 1 out of 22 installed all over the world! hopefully i can visit the remaining 21 :)



Robert Indiana © 1992
1/3
(i wonder where 2/2 and 3/3 are!)

singapore is cat country.

Singapore is definitely cat country! i mean, what other country has a cat (um, merlion pala) as its symbol? me-ow!
i was able to spot a few wild meows too unlike in Hong Kong where stray animals are nowhere to be seen (except birds). in the grocery i saw a few cat adoption ads complete with cute photos. i really hope those kitties get adopted soon. anyway, here are a few meow sightings in the Lion city :)

giant merlion at Sentosa














water spitting merlion in the city

















wild lion at the temple in little india
















a green temple lion (still in little india)





a meow themed resto at glutton bay (near the esplanade)






















an ad for neutering






meow sightings at the Singapore zoo and the night safari!

all set and ready to go on a vacay!

finally finished a few last minute requests from my clients. argh. my stress level has been on high this whole week! haha. now i have about an hour left to pack for my 9 day vacation. yey! my luggage will contain the following items:

1. 1kg frozen hotdogs (for a friend)
2. 1 huge can of tuna (for a friend again)
3. 5 pairs of pants (only 3 are mine)
4. 3 books (2 photoshop books for Tye and my Love in the time of Cholera by GGM)
5. my clothes and toiletries
6. cameras (i plan to bring 3)
7. a few bots and...
9. NUGGET (i wish!)

all set!

journey to the center of the HEART now showing.

i love jules verne! i remember reading Around the World in 80 days when i was in grade school :) i hope to do the same soon (but not just 80 days!)... i would like to take as much time as possible. btw, Jules Verne's Journey to the center of the HEART - er, Earth pala is now showing at the cinemas. hahaha :)

red hot.

we have 3 kinds of pepper growing in our balcony: the one used for sinigang, a fat small one and the normal thin pepper used in sauces. i love having a mini garden of edible plants. although my friend, grace is always warning me that peppers are highly toxic to meows! waah. good thing nugget only has a fixation on grass (the lawn variety) oh, and also saba. haha!
* * *
so far we have the following fruit/vegetable bearing plants:
1. ginger
2. squash (still waiting for it to come out)
3. small red pepper
4. big red pepper
5. normal red/green pepper
6. calamansi (still a baby)
we also had an eggplant -plant (hahaha, sounds funny- eggplant plant!) but my cat, cubi killed it.

btw, peppers in the photo were from yesterday's harvest :)

spot the meow!

i can see you!gotcha! meow meow meow.

i need an extra hand... or maybe five :)

this week will be very tiring for me... i am swamped with client requests, deadlines and errands. actually, i think i'm busier now that i am unemployed! ironic, huh? oh, on top of all that i have to clean my room pa pala. growl.

btw, our group Kaeskwela is organizing another shoe and bag drive for Wawa High School in Montalban. Please PM me for donation pledges or for more info on this. will write a more detailed post about this tom.

my lola wants to clean my room :(

my room has been messy all my life. i would have like 1 or 2 cleaning sprees within the year wherein my room stays orderly for say 3 to 5 days... and then after that it goes back to its normal messy state. i love my room the way it is. i am comfortable and believe it or not i know where everything is. but my messy room is not to be mistaken for bad hygiene! i change the sheets often, empty out the trash and sanitize my keyboard and mouse almost everyday :) most of the stuff on the floor are composed of paper-- fliers, postcards, magazines, RECEIPTS, greeting cards and the like. i put the word receipts in all caps because i am hoping that i will be the next BIR millionaire. i have a whole collection of receipts still waiting to be texted (you text in the number, tin, amount...). will get around and do that this week.  I keep finding random things in the mix.  I do wish though that i found full extension drawer slides so I can dump all my stuff inside :D
* * *
yesterday, my grandmother came in and said: "kate, i love you. i don't mean to disrespect but do you think i can clean your room?" NOOOOOOO... i better do my own cleaning NOW or else i am dead! i will be on a 9 day vacay to Singapore next week and i'm so worried that she will sneak in while i am away. (Btw, my lola just got back from San Francisco after about 15 years) oh, i won't be locking the door since my little sister wants to sleep in my room during that time. waa! 

spaghetti days.

i love spaghetti! for me it's the easiest dish to cook (aside from grilled chicken. hehe.) and everybody loves it! start with nice ripe organic tomatoes!
and then just dunk everything in... olives, capers, garlic, onions, basil, salt...
hmmm! yummy!

cupcake drawing by meow.

i made this drawing at work last night :) yes, cupcakes na naman! i've been thinking about them the whole day -- the ones at Tiendesitas were horrible kaya i think i am still craving. i want a banana pie cupcake from sonja's. yum. yum. yum.

i heart cupcakes.

i love cupcakes... always have and always will :) i remember hoarding from a bus mate who sold mini cupcakes at p2 a piece when i was in grade school. this was waaay before the Cupcake by Sonja's craze. during that time the "in" cupcakes were the clown shaped ones from Gateau de Manille or the beehives in Sugar house. yum yum yum.
* * *
this afternoon i bought a box of 4 sugar free cupcakes (p30 each) at a the KG Kitchen and Cakes stall at Tiendesitas. the cupcakes look yummy (and photogenic too) but are a disappointment! the chiffon is dry and has absorbed the smell of the cake refrigerator... sobrang "lasang ref!". sad. maybe its because the stall does not get a fresh batch often but still-- this is not an excuse to sell stale cupcakes! i checked the receipt and found out that they have a main store at Whiteplains... maybe i'll drop by soon and buy there to compare freshness. will also drop by Gateau de Manille (since it is in the area na naman- haha!) and check if they still have those clown cupcakes :)

all the way to Montalban.

after weeks of preparation, we finally made it to Montalban last Saturday, June 28. our initial shoe delivery was scheduled last June 22, Sunday but was postponed due to the typhoon.

the road leading up to macabud elementary school is long and rough... i cannot imagine how some of the kids are able to walk for hours in bare feet! i felt really happy that we were able to collect a lot of footwear for them-- thanks to all the generous donors! aside from the shoes we were able to collect umbrellas, raincoats, clothes, bags, school supplies and food! yey!

all lined up!waiting for the goodies!
each kid brought home a pair of shoes and or slippers, socks
an umbrella or raincoat, a school bag, a pencil, 2 shirts or pants
and a plastic bag containing 2 cartons of milk and 2-3 milo sachets! Feeding time!
a yummy plate of spaghetti or pansit, pandesal and chocolate milk Yummy!