I am a very stylish cat

Do you like my hat?

I have another one in purple :)

Cool down with lemon grass

It's been really hot lately! So hot that instead of half a day, it only takes 1-2 hours for our laundry to dry. Amazing, huh? To cool down, I've been drinking water non stop. I also like taking super cold iced tea but it's not so good to drink this often because of its high sugar content. I was quite alarmed when I read that 1 glass (16-20 oz) of instant iced tea can have as much as 50 grams of sugar! Yikes! Imagine how much sugar you drink every time you get bottomless iced tea in restaurants! Anyway, to satisfy my iced tea craving I've switched to drinking lemon grass tea. I love that lemon grass has so many health benefits such as detoxifying the liver, aiding digestion and lowering uric acid. I also love how simple and cheap it is to make a batch :) Buy a bundle of lemongrass (tanglad) at the grocery or market. This bunch only cost me P9.27. Wash it well and make sure that you get rid of all the soil.There are many ways to prepare lemon grass tea. Some people cut the leaves and soak them in hot water but for me I just put the whole bundle in a pot filled with water and leave it to boil for a few minutes.

The water will turn a bit brown. Let it cool for a bit.

and then serve with ice :)

Where's my Nugget! (part 2)

Can you see Nugget in this photo?There he is! Haha! That tail is too cute!He likes hanging out under this bench during the day. Maybe he doesn't want to get too orange :) But there are days when he looks for the sun spots! He sleeps for hours! But I guess that's pretty normal for a cat.I like watching him sleep. He has a cute black birthmark on the lower part of his mouth that I've been trying to photograph for years... but have failed to do so because he always goes wild on me every time I try to open his mouth :D

Summer Sun

It's officially summer with the temperature reaching up to 36 degrees Celsius during the day. Unlike my solar powered cat, stepping out without sunblock would be very dangerous for us humans! The sun's UV rays have a lot of health benefits such as vitamin D but too much of it can be very dangerous. Always have put on sunblock just to be safe :)

Biggest Burger Ever!

We had a nice family dinner at Holiday Inn Galleria Manila’s Fab restaurant last night. My sister told me that they served big burgers but I did not expect to see something this huge! The burger has 2 pounds of beef, veggies, bacon, cheddar cheese and eggs (!)

We also ordered the fish and chips platter which I found a bit bland.

So I ordered a veggie pizza! I love that it had olives, baby corn and broccoli!

On our way out I saw the Burger ad. Apparently its called the Big Buns Burger :)

They weren't able to finish the Burger for dinner so it went home with us

and was served again for lunch

along with some really huge Korean bean sprouts

the seed is the almost the same size as a peanut!

FAB is at
4th Level Holiday Inn Galleria,
Manila One Asian Development Bank Avenue,
Ortigas Center, Pasig City

633-7222 local 7313

Where's my Nugget!

It was another hot and lazy afternoon for Nugget todayAs usual I found him sleeping under the bench outside... hiding from the sun. He spends a few hours each day under this bench and then he moves back inside to continue his sleep. He looked so sleepy that I didn't expect him to move when I called his name. I just wanted to see his face but here he is running towards me.I love you orange cat!

Strawberry Mini Cakes

I had big plans for the strawberries I brought home from Baguio last February. I originally wanted to make butter cupcakes topped with whipped cream and fresh strawberries but because of my heavy workload I never really got around to baking. I put the strawberries in the freezer and sort of forgot that they were there. Yes, I've had them in the freezer for almost 2 months! Eeks.

I finally had some free time this afternoon to bake! I still made the butter cakes as planned but decided to make something different for the topping. The strawberries were too mushy to use as is so I just tossed them in the blender with the icing. Yum!

I think it worked out well in the end since the cakes were really yummy :)

Coffin Exhibit at the Muzium Negara

We originally did not have plans of visiting the Muzium Negara (National Museum in Malay) during our trip to Malaysia but we all changed our minds when we saw the ad for the Coffin Exhibit! Entrance fee to the Museum is 2 ringgit (P 28) for adults and is free for children 12 yrs and below. I love that fact that they allow the guests to take photos inside. For the Coffin exhibit, we paid an additional 2 ringgit each and a 3 ringgit camera fee. The exhibition features 39 coffins from Malaysia, Thailand, India and the Philippines. Aside from coffins there were also displays on burial traditions and rituals.
Carabao shaped coffins from Indonesia.
Intricate coffins from India (left) and Thailand (right)
Glass urn and a burial jar (with a creepy hand sticking out!). The see through glass urn freaks me out though. I don't want to imagine how it looks when it has something inside...
A tree coffin with a wrapped body (but head is exposed!). This is something that I do not want to see in the forest at night!
a wooden coffin with a lizard carving for a child
A stone slab burial was common in Perak, Malaysia during the Metal Age
Coffin on wheels!
This artistic coffin called Lungun was reserved for the Aristocrat class in Kelabit, Malaysia. The body is arranged into fetal position before being placed inside.
And finally, our very own Manunggul jar (well, a replica of it). The boatmen on the cover symbolize the soul's journey to the afterlife.

They also featured the rattan burial chair of the Kalanguya tribe.

"The corpse is left to rot on the rattan chair until it is reduced to a skeleton by the tribe, one of dozens of mountainous indigenous people living in northern Luzon, Philippines. "The fluid from the corpse drips into a basket under the chair. It is then dabbed on the bodies of family members for blessing. The skeleton is stored in a crock known as Tempayan Manunggul"

quote from Yahoo news

You're Invited

You're invited to a very special tea party at the Suria KLCC mall near the Petronas towers!

We were very excited when we chanced upon the Alice in Wonderland movie display at the Suria KLCC this morning. They had a couple promotional dioramas set up in the mall.

The Cheshire cat and the White queen

the Red Queen

and of course the Mad Hatter

Let's play cards!

They're all waiting

I love you Cheshire cat!

I want some of that cake :)

Don't be late!

Kuala Lumpur day 1

We spent almost 3 hours waiting for my brother while he queued for his F1 tickets. The line was really long and to make things worse the computer at the office broke down. Good job Windows!

While waiting I watched these ladies make Pratas at the food stall outside.

I ordered a chicken and cheese prata for myself. Yum!

On our way to the hotel we spotted Mr. Silver. Btw, can you see the Petronas Towers in the background? :)

I also saw this sign. Yes, I will be careful of the "snatch thief"

We were hungry so we went to Isetan to have dinner at the food court

My little sister got an oyster omelet. Look at all these egg shells! I wonder what they do with all of these after...

I had a yummy plate of Thai Nasi Goreng (tom yum flavored) rice for 7.25 Ringgit (only P100!). I shared some of this with my mom since the serving was huge!

While walking home we saw these guys performing. They sounded really good so we put some money in their hat.

The store in front of the hotel had these crazy dolls on display. When I went inside to inspect I saw that they had cute tiger-cat dolls!

I got 4 of them. Yay :P