Michi Photostory

June 18, 2013

Mabuhay Miles Shall No Longer Expire

I was so happy when I received this email update from Mabuhay Miles.

“Good News!! Miles shall NO longer expire for active members.

Who is an active member? Active members are those with the following valid Mabuhay Miles activities, within two (2) consecutive years, starting 01 January 2014 - 31 December 2015.

Earning flight Miles on PAL/PAL Express or code-share partners

Conversion of credit card rewards points earned from Mabuhay Miles program partner banks

Mileage accrual from hotels/resorts, car rentals, and other lifestyle partners

Flight and non-flight mileage redemptions

Buy Miles, Transfer Miles, and Bonus Miles transactions

Reinstatement of Expired Miles

Don’t worry!! If you have Miles scheduled to expire between 01 June 2013 to 31 December 2013. Miles will no longer expire and will be carried over to the first review period on 01 January 2014 - 31 December 2015.”

Yehey! No mileage expiry. I hope all reward points have no expiration date kasi sayang talaga if you cannot use it. I experienced this last year, I was not able to use my miles because we have no plans to travel yet.

June 13, 2013

DIY Scratchpad

Green living is part of my lifestyle ever since I was a kid. I’m a fan of 3 R’s which is "reduce, reuse, and recycle" so making a scratch pad is one of my things. I always reuse papers because I know that we need to help in saving trees.

Making a scratchpad is not difficult so if you have spare time you can do this. Like yesterday, it was a holiday so I got my folder where I keep used papers and started making scratchpad. I saw the old calling card of my husband and put some padding glue too.

What do I need:

Used paper

Scissors or Cutter

Padding Glue

Clamp

For calling card, I just put clamp and padding glue.

For used paper, fold and cut the paper according to your preference.

Arrange the paper, put clamp and padding glue.

Let it dry for a few hours.

A repost from my old blog Michi's Home Sweet Home

June 10, 2013

Tootsie’s Tagaytay

We always see Tootsie’s whenever we visit Tagaytay. It is hard to miss the restaurant because it is situated along the Highway. Like I said, we went to Tagaytay last Wednesday without a definite destination so my husband just drove from Tagaytay Rotonda up to the market looking for a place to eat then he drove back to Rotonda and we settled in Tootsie’s Tagaytay. #weirdnamin.

Actually, it was our first time in Tootsie’s. It was Wednesday so the place was not crowded, only three tables were occupied including our table. Without looking at the menu, I already told my husband that I wanted Lengua. My husband ordered Rice P45 (per cup), Bulalo P460, and Lengua P495.

may laman yan sa loob. =)

cute!

I’ve been reading many good reviews about Tootsie’s Lengua so I want to try it. Not to mention I really love lengua estofado so I was so sad when I tasted my order. It is not my type because I dislike olives and I can really taste the olives. The taste is not that bad but I wanted a creamy lengua. Bulalo is just okay. The food is good for 2-3 people so we take-out our leftover.

In fairness, the service was fast.

Tootsie’s Tagaytay Restaurant

J.Abad santos cor Aguinaldo Hi-way

Silang, Crossing West, Tagaytay City

Tel. (046) 483 4629 09178668743

June 08, 2013

Healthy Living

I always mention that I’m trying my best to practice healthy living but as usual I always fail. I can’t stick to it and let me quote.

“Dear Diet,

Things just aren’t going to work between us. It’s not me, it’s you. You’re tasteless, boring and I can’t stop cheating on you.”

I’m not really following a diet plan but I try to reduce my meat and sweet intake but it is not working. I still can’t live with vegetables and fish alone.

Second, I’m too lazy to exercise. Last year, two of my winnings are related to healthy living which are One-week Unlimited Yoga (P1,200) and 1 Drop-in Anti-gravity (P1,500).

I was looking at www.yogaaccessories.com yoga mats, checking for the price, color, and other stuff but I decided to give out my winnings because I know I can’t do yoga yet and the location is too far.

My supposed to be running routine every weekend did not happen too and I haven’t bought my running shoes yet. Yes, I know I have so many excuses. But lately, I’ve been hearing positive comments from my husband that I look slim already. I don’t know if it is a joke or what because I still feel that I’m fat.

Then I just realized, I’ve been walking every day for 15 minutes from house to tutorial class then back to the house. That's six weeks already and indeed there are real benefits in walking.

June 07, 2013

Chocolate Buttermilk Cake + The Best Frosting

Chocolate Buttermilk Cake is the first cake that I’ve ever made. Since it’s been years since the last time I made a cake, I decided to use this recipe even my husband just wanted a banana cake. =)

Sharing to you the recipe that I’ve got from a magazine long long time ago.

2 cups all purpose flour

1 cup unsweetened cocoa

1 ½ tsp baking soda

Salt

1 ½ cups buttermilk

2 tsp vanilla extract

1 ¾ cups granulated sugar

¾ cup butter, softened

3 large eggs

Choice of frosting

1. Preheat Oven to 350F. Grease two 9-inch round cake pans. Line bottoms of pans with waxed paper. Grease waxed paper, dust with cocoa, shaking out excess. (In my case, I used 1 9-inch round cake pan and the rest I put it in muffin tray for the cupcake)

2. On a sheet of waxed paper, combine flour, cocoa, baking soda, and ¾ tsp salt. In 2-cup liquid measuring cup, mix buttermilk and vanilla; Set aside.

3. In large bowl with mixer on low speed, beat sugar and butter until blended. Increase speed to high; beat 3 minutes or until creamy. Occasionally scraping bowl with rubber spatula. Reduce speed to low; add eggs, one at a time, beating well after each addition.

4. Beat in flour mixture alternately with buttermilk mixture just until blended. Beginning and ending with flour mixture. Scraping bowl occasionally.

5. Pour batter into prepared pans. Bake 30-35minutes or until toothpick inserted in center of cake comes out clean. Cool in pans on wire racks 10 minutes. Invert cakes onto racks to cool completely. Carefully remove and discard waxed paper.

6. Assemble cake. Place 1 cake layer. Rounded side down on cake plate with narrow metal spatula, spread 2/3 cup frosting over layer. Top with second layer, rounded side up. Spread remaining frosting over side and top of cake.

For the frosting, I copy The Best Frosting Recipe from Tasty Kitchen site

At first, I was hesitant to try this because there’s flour in the recipe and no powdered sugar but I took the risk and the result was good. The only thing that I dislike is, the frosting is not that stiff, I don’t know if I should beat it for so long to make it stiff but I like it because it is not overly sweet.

5 tbsp flour

1 cup milk

1 tsp vanilla

1 cup butter

1 cup granulated sugar (not powdered sugar)

Bake your favorite chocolate cake and let it cool.

In a small saucepan, whisk flour into milk and heat, stirring constantly, until it thickens. You want it to be very thick, thicker than cake mix, more like a brownie mix is. Remove from heat and let it cool to room temperature. (If I’m in a hurry, I place the saucepan over ice in the sink for about 10 minutes or so until the mixture cools.) It must be completely cool before you use it in the next step. Stir in vanilla.

While the mixture is cooling, cream the butter and sugar together until light and fluffy. You don’t want any sugar graininess left. Then add the completely cooled milk/flour/vanilla mixture and beat the living daylights out of it. If it looks separated, you haven’t beaten it enough! Beat it until it all combines and resembles whipped cream.

June 03, 2013

Kuse + Uncle Cheffy

One of our tipid tips is eating meal before going out to avoid eating in fastfood or restaurant. So before going to church we did not forget to eat our lunch. After the church service (1:30) we immediately went to Festival Mall for my follow up check-up and to our surprise, we’re hungry again so balewala ang pagtitipid.

Kuse + Uncle Cheffy are the new restaurants in Festival Mall so we gave it a try. Like I said, we had lunch already but we’re a little bit hungry so we ordered Pinakbet with Bagnet P385, Rice P90 and Chocolate Parfait P125.

Upon seated, the staff gave us two menu, one for Kuse and one for Uncle Cheffy. You can cross order so the chocolate parfait is from Uncle Cheffy Menu. We were satisfied with our Pinakbet with Bagnet but my son did not like the Chocolate Parfait, the taste is just ok.

What I don’t like is there’s a small booth in the middle where they prepare drinks and other stuff. I don’t like the idea because you can’t eat peacefully. You can hear the noise while they prepare the drinks, wipe the plates, spoon and fork and wash the glasses. We were seated beside it so I can hear and see every movement of the staff.

May 31, 2013

How to Check Broken Links

I’ve been blogging for more than 2 years now and I started with zero knowledge because all I wanted is to create a post and publish so until now I’m still learning. Yesterday I’ve learned about broken links, actually I have no idea about broken links and how it will affect my blog so I search for more details and here’s what I found.

What is broken link?

A broken link is a link on a webpage that is no longer working. It is considered a dead link because it encounters errors, maybe because the link is no longer working or they attached an improper url.

As a website owner, we need to “Check for broken links and correct HTML”. That is one of the 35 things that Google wants us to do to avoid a bad reputation that could decrease your page ranking. I do understand that because I always use Google in searching for information and I felt so disappointed if I will be directed to a dead link. It is such a waste of time.

How to check your broken links?

There are free broken links checker and as of now I’m using this http://www.brokenlinkcheck.com/

It is so easy to use; just type your URL and click find broken links. After few minutes you will get the status. On my first check, I’ve found out that I have 70 broken links out of 3000 pages. You will see bad code, 404 error and bad host.

I spent hours in removing those broken links and until now I’m not yet finished because after I removed the links, I will type my URL again and there are still more broken links. I know that it is a tedious task but I have to do it.

May 29, 2013

Ginataan

Ginataan is one of my favorite merienda but the only ingredients that I like are banana, bilo-bilo and langka. I always feel disappointed whenever I order Ginataan and I can really count the bilo-bilo and banana, most of the ingredients are camote and sago which I’m not fond of so I cook my own version of ginataan.

I can’t give you the exact measurement because I can’t remember how many bananas I used basta inubos ko ang isang piling na saba. =)

2 cans of coconut milk

1 cup of sugar

Banana

Bilo-Bilo (glutinous rice flour + water)

Boil the coconut milk + sugar.

Add the banana and cook until half-cooked

Then add bilo-bilo. If it floats it means it is already cook.

Serve.

Even there’s only banana and bilo-bilo, it was an instant hit to my family.

May 22, 2013

Lunch at Razon’s of Guagua

Yesterday, my husband picked us up after his office, and we went to the hospital for another lab test, but the medical staff did not allow me because, according to her, morning pee is needed for urine culture. My UTI is not yet clear, and it seems that the antibiotic that I took last week did not work for me, so a urine culture is needed. We just went to SM Sta Rosa to have our dinner.

We’re looking for a restaurant, and we saw Razon’s. We tried Razon’s for a change because, according to my husband, masarap ang pork binagoongan and kaldereta nila, but too bad, it is not available in Sta Rosa branch. So he ordered Sizzling Sisig meal P158, Dinuguan P98, and Ensaymada P45. Extra rice is P25.

If you notice, most of the time we have bread or dessert because that’s the order of my son. He’s not fond of eating rice meal, so we just allow him if we’re outside to avoid tantrums, but if we’re at home, he has no choice but to eat rice meal.

Anyway, we liked the food, and my husband even ordered additional rice. He suggested that I should try Razon’s Halo-Halo because it is good, but I told him I tried it before when we went to the Hot Air Balloon Festival, and I didn’t like it. He said, “kiosk lang kasi yun kaya di masarap, dito pino yung ice nila”. So I ordered Halo-Halo P96, and I agree that this Halo-Halo is really good. Now, I love Razon’s Halo-Halo. =)

Razon's of Guagua Pase de Sta Rosa

June 19, 2015

We’ve been eating at Razon’s of Guagua at SM Sta Rosa since 2013 because we love their halo-halo. Last Sunday, we were in Paseo de Sta Rosa and decided to eat lunch here. My usual order here is Dinuguan with Puto P160, but since it was lunchtime, I added Plain Rice P28. My husband ordered Lutong Toyo with Ebun (egg), P130, and my son ordered Tocilog, P160.

As I mentioned, I always order dinuguan, and I don’t know why their dinuguan was so bland that time. My husband’s food is just ok, he even said, mas type pa niya luto ko. In fairness, when we tried the tocino, it was good.

Since we’re not satisfied with our meal, we just ordered our favorite Halo-Halo P105. I was glad that the taste is still the same. I love the very fine crushed ice and flavorful ingredients.

Razon's of Guagua Mall of Asia
October 29, 2019

We went to the 4th World Travel Expo last weekend. We visited different booths, and we couldn’t decide kung saan kami magbabakasyon and kung anong package ang kukunin so we decided to eat lunch first. There are food stalls at the World Travel Expo, but the options are limited, so we went to Mall of Asia. It was time for lunch, so halos puno lahat ng restaurant.

I don’t want to eat heavy meals, so I suggested Razon’s of Guagua so I can eat their Halo-halo. So we ordered Sisig Meal PHP199, Tocilog PHP168, and Halo-halo PHP120. I just noticed na sa dami ng meals ng Razon’s, ito lagi ang order namin. Hehehe! The only thing na nagbago is yung presyo. As usual, nakalimutan ko kunan ng picture ng sisig meal at kinain agad ni hubby.

Update: June 2026

A few months ago, we visited IKEA and the Mall of Asia. We had already eaten brunch at IKEA, but before heading home, we decided to grab some light snacks at Razon’s of Guagua. We ordered the Halo-Halo Junior (PHP 135) and Dinuguan with Puto (PHP 298).

While waiting for our food, we were busy browsing our phones. After a while, I started wondering why our order was taking so long. Halo-halo and dinuguan shouldn't take that much time to prepare. I was even more surprised when the food of a newly arrived group of diners seated beside us was served before ours.

When we followed up on our order, we discovered that the waiter had never submitted our order slip to the kitchen. Grrr.

What we thought would be a quick snack before going home ended up taking much longer than expected. Anyway, I also feel that Razon’s meals have become quite pricey. On the bright side, they now offer a junior-sized Halo-Halo, which is perfect for me since I often struggle to finish their regular serving.

May 21, 2013

Revisited Enchanted Kingdom

Last week, I was checking my husband’s phone and I read a message from my MIL (mother-in-law). Yes, from time to time I do check my husband’s phone not to spy but to delete my messages and other messages because he has this habit of not deleting messages for months.

Anyway, on our way to my MIL to pick her up for our flu vaccine I asked my husband why he didn’t reply to his mother.

Hubby: E hindi naman ako pwede, weekdays yun.

Me: Hello! May 13 is holiday so we can go to Enchanted Kingdom.

Hubby: Oo nga no! Sige, tanung ko mamaya kung meron pa.

My MIL was asking if we wanted to go to the Enchanted Kingdom because she has 4 complimentary tickets that are valid on May 13, 14, 20 and 21. Luckily my SIL and BIL were not interested in going to the Enchanted Kingdom so we got the 3 tickets.

Fast forward to Election Day, I thought we couldn’t make it because we voted in the morning and I had my ultrasound in the afternoon too. Ang tagal ng waiting time dahil wala pa yung doctor. My husband didn’t want to go because it was raining on our way home but I told him “sayang ticket”, so we went straight to EK and God is good because the rain has stopped when we reached the theme park at 5PM.

My son was indeed excited because he really wanted to go back to HK Disneyland but of course no budget for that. I don’t know if he remembered that we’ve been in Enchanted Kingdom when he was three years old because looking at him parang first time lahat.

Since it was a holiday, I was expecting a crowded theme park but it wasn’t. I was so delighted because no long lines or queues and we were able to experience Enchanted Kingdom in less than 3 hours compared to our last visit. See my post here.

My son was able to try the rides that we were not able to ride during our last visit because of the height requirement.

We had fun in less than three hours. We were all tired, so we went home early, and again no more fireworks experience.

Last Saturday, my son cried because he thought we would visit EK agai,n but sorry makikita lang siya sa SLEX on our way to Victoria, Laguna. I did not promise anything.

To save money, buy your ticket at Klook
Read: How I Purchased my Tickets at Klook

Klook.com

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May 17, 2013

Birthday at Dads, Saisaki and Kamayan

Dads, Saisaki and Kamayan is one of our choices if we have a get-together or reunion because we need a place where we could share stories while eating. #kwentuhanatkainan We are all aware that it is an “eat all you can” restaurant and they really have a wide array of food choices but most of the time we chose Kamayan only because it is cheaper.

I finally tried the Crossover, thanks to my SIL (sister-in-law) who treated us last Saturday. She decided to celebrate her birthday in Dads, Saisaki, and Kamayan so after our flu vaccine off we went to Glorietta.

Lechon, Steak, Lamb Chop and Turkey

Our sore arms did not stop us from eating the ultimate buffet. Since we always avail Kamayan, I focus on Dad’s and Saisaki stations. Enough said, let me share the few photos that I took because I became busy eating.

My first plate. Obvious na carnivore. Lechon, steak, lengua estofado, roast porkloin and paella.

Grilled Salmon. I tried sea urchin too, not my type.

May 15, 2013

Kiddy’s Arts Town

I mentioned in my other post that I spent Mother’s Day waiting for my OB-Gyne and to kill time we went to Kiddy’s Art Town. Actually, we always see this kiosk but never dare to try this activity because we’re always in a hurry to finish our errands which is grocery and bills payment.

My son chose robot for P150 and we gave it to the staff. After few minutes, he gave us the materials including paint, cotton buds and tissue. I just hope they provide apron without even asking. I thought there was no apron but one girl requested for it but I did not get apron anymore because my son was already busy.

Since this was our first time, my husband can’t help but try this activity too. I kept on reminding him “do not help my son” and if he wanted to paint get his own stuff. =)

April 30, 2013

Lunch at Sumo Sam

I was about to blog this yesterday but I felt so weak when I saw our electricity bill. Did you receive your bill already? I expected that there will be a tremendous increase but I still can’t accept it. I’ve been married for 7 years and this is the most expensive electricity bill that I’ve received. Well, it is better to pay electricity bills than hospital bills because of heat stroke.

Moving on, we ate our lunch in Sumo Sam before going to Fun Farm. I called my sister and she’s running late so we decided to eat here instead of fastfood. It is one of the new restaurants in Ayala Pavillion Mall so we tried it.

Since it was our first time, we took our time in checking the menu and I could say the price is not affordable but when our order arrived, we were surprised because the meal is good for two persons so I guess the price is worth it. We ordered Meat Kamameshi P249, Katsudon P268 and Tofu Miso P68.

Tofu Miso

Katsudon

Meat Kamameshi

As I mentioned, they have generous serving so we did not finish our meal. I was satisfied with the taste and flavor but according to my husband, taste is just ok. Well, taste is subjective.

April 26, 2013

7 Things that you Can Do in Fun Farm at Sta Elena

I read about Fun Farm at Sta Elena on Daphne’s blog last year. I wanted to visit this farm, but I thought the location was really far. It was only last month that I learned that this Fun Farm is located in Laguna. Waah! It is approximately a 30-minute travel time from our place without traffic. That’s what happened if you did not consult Google immediately.

Click here for video

Last month, I suggested this place for our last gala with my mom, but they chose the Station of the Cross at BHS. I’ve been meaning to visit the place because I want my son to experience different activities on the farm. Not the usual activity that can be found in the mall. I asked my sister if she wanted to visit the place, and she agreed, so she made a reservation and we finally visited Fun Farm at Sta Elena.

Upon arrival, we paid the entrance fee, which is P300 per person, the same rate for kids and adults. Then we immediately explore and enjoy the place.

Things that you can do in Fun Farm at Sta Elena

1. Fishing – my husband caught a small fish, but no photo.

2. Boating

3. Animal Feeding - rabbits and guinea pigs

4. Horse Riding

5. Carabao Ride – meet “Choc-nut”

6. Picnic – we brought our own food and drinks because there’s no restaurant inside.

7. Play

We enjoyed our farm experience despite the extreme heat and the kids didn’t want to leave the place, but we had to say goodbye because we still needed to visit my grandmother. My son was really happy, and he had a lot of first-time experiences that I’m sure he will never forget.

How to get to Fun Farm at Sta Elena:

Exit Cabuyao/Sta Elena. After Tollgate, make a right. About 500 meters is the Sta. Elena Village Gate. Enter there and drive straight to the Fun Farm.

Commuting Directions to Fun Farm at Sta Elena

April 15, 2013

Lunch at Resorts World: Crisostomo

I mentioned in my other blog that I won in Rica Peralejo’s Giveaway and after getting my prize, we went straight to Resorts World to have our lunch. For the longest time, I’ve been bugging my husband to bring me here but he always says “Wala naman magagawa dun”. Then last Saturday, I told him that he promised us that we would go to Solaire after we pick up my prize then bigla nagka-amnesia, nagging Resorts World na lang.

Anyway, at least I finally visited Resorts World and it reminds me of our Hotel-Casino hopping in Macau. There are casinos, expensive boutiques, cinemas and theatres where you can watch events.

We checked the available restaurants and settled in Crisostomo. I’ve been reading good reviews here and true enough we went home with happy tummies.

While browsing the menu they gave us complimentary cornick. We ordered Bagumbayan Lechon P285, Paella P395 and Extra Rice P60.

Actually, this is the first time that I’ve tasted Paella though I included it in our wedding menu; I wasn’t able to taste it. #diakonakakainsawedding. Anyway, the serving and price are very reasonable. The service is good and they even gave us souvenir pictures. Definitely, this won’t be our last visit.

Crisostomo Newport

Unit F &B3A 2^nd Flr Newport city 100

Andrew Ave. Brgy 183 Newport City

Cybertourism Pasay City

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May 29, 2013

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May 17, 2013

May 15, 2013

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