The Modern Mom

With my birthday coming up, I decided to splurge on a hair makeover. I've been hearing a lot of good things about Jing Monis so I decided to give him a try. I first called their Greenbelt 1 branch to ask if Jing himself will be there but I was informed that he was at their Resorts World branch that day. I figured that since I will be coming from the office in Quezon City, I might as well go to where he is so I booked my appointment at 1:00pm in RW. The traffic was light so I reached there at noon, giving me enough time to grab a sandwich and iced tea from Starbucks before heading to Maxims Hotel, where the salon is located. The salon was smaller than I expected but very well lighted and clean. I was early but I only waited around 15-20 minutes before I was ushered to my seat then off for shampoo. Acer was assigned to me and he was very attentive. He was very gentle with my hair and even gave me a nice head massage. Afterwards, I was back to my seat and was offered drinks. T...

We recently just finished conducting our Munchkin Baking Class last Friday. We had four (4) students! Pink Chocolate Chip Cookies Day 1 consisted of Cookies! We first made a batch of very girly Pink Chocolate Chip Cookies. They were crunchy outside and chewy inside.  The perfect cookie consistency! Sugar Cookies Next, we made the sugar dough for the sugar cookies so we can let it rest before cutting. The girls had fun cutting the different shapes. :) Sugar Cookies with Fondant We used fondant to decorate the sugar cookies. They were tired from all the colouring and kneading! We also made Pub Cookies loaded with candied peanuts and salty pretzel and Cinnaman Roll Cookies. :) Day 2 was Strawberry Day! We made four (4) different kinds of strawberry desserts and drink. Strawberry Jam Tarts! We're so happy the girls loved our homemade strawberry jam! They were all licking their spoons after filling their tart shells! Strawberry Ice Cream Milk Shake These...

Reg and I finally had time to try out the dimsum buffet at the Shang Palace in Makati Shangri-la Hotel last week. My mom has been raving about it and being dimsum (and food) lovers ourselves, we decided to go check it out. For Php888++ per person, I think we ate more than our fair share of dimsum. Order Form Hongkong Style Order Form Sweet Corn Soup with Shredded Chicken  This soup had just the right amount of sweetness and the chicken matched the sweet corn perfectly. Honey Glazed BBQ Pork This dish was just so-so. The meat was tender but a little bit dry. I would appreciate more glaze on the sides. Steamed Crystal Skin Shrimp Dumpling We loved these Hakao. The shrimps inside were plump and sweet. The rice wrapper was thick enough to hold what is inside but thin enough not to hinder the taste. Shanghai Xiao Long Bao These dumplings were good. They had broth inside and the minced meat were tasty. My only complain about this is that the ginger sli...

Reg and I spent labor day at the mall because we wanted to finish our checklist. I was happy to find that almost all the shops in Trinoma were on sale! We first went to a shop called BaseKamp because I was there last week and their Vasque Hiking Shoes were at 50% off. When we got there, I was really turned off by their staff. I asked what were the sizes and colour available and they acted as if we were such a bother. I asked where the shoes are so I can show them to Reg and they were so rude in answering us. Apparently, the shoes are at their warehouse downstairs and are scheduled to be pulled out to the main office but according to the saleslady, they can still be sold. Their salesman there especially was making irritated faces. My eyebrow was already up when I asked him to get our sizes. I mean, c'mon, do not be in the service industry if you do not want to serve. While waiting, I wanted to check out the store beside it, called Mountain Hard Wear. We tried getting the saleslad...

UPDATE: We went up Mount Pulag with BACKPACKERS UNITED. Vagabond Pinas is an incompetent and unprofessional group. We are currently filing a case against them. I met with the girls, Nina and Ayn, over brunch last Holy Thursday because we have not seen each other since Joyce came for a visit. Tin had to go to Bulacan for the holidays so she was not able to go too. We met at IHOP in U.P. Town Center because we were all craving for pancakes. Sorry, we were all so hungry that I forgot to take pictures! :) We got to talking about where our next trip would be when Mount Pulag came up. I'm not really the hiking type of person but I have been reading a lot of blogs that documented their experiences in Pulag that I felt that I had to go at least once in my life. Since I am always the unofficial planner of the group, I asked Nina to give me the contact number of Vagabond Pinas, the company who is going to help us with the necessary preparations for the climb. It takes quite a while for t...

It has been a long time since I've posted anything in this blog. Life has given me a lot of unexpected new things so I have been pretty busy! First things first, I am now a proud owner of a pastry shop called Joanie's Cupcakes. We opened on October 2012 and has now gained a bit of a following. After more than a year in the business, we are currently focused on providing our clients with beautiful customised cakes for their special occasions. We mostly get our clientele from our IG and FB pages since all our pastries are made-to-order. :) Shameless plug, please like and follow /joaniescupcakes! Here's a sample of one of our cakes: Summer Olivia's Kate Spade-themed Cake My mother and our close family friend, Hazel, have also partnered up to open a small restaurant called, Green Pigs Kitchen. It is located in front of our shop. They serve delicious entrees like Baby Back Ribs, Grilled Pork Belly, different pastas and sandwiches as well as shakes! I'll go t...