Basket case

During my grocery run yesterday, the person in front of me had a very eye-catching basket of groceries.

Two of our clients were in her basket - Gardenia bread and Nestle Yogurt.

In that case, it really deserved to be photographced.

Orange you surprised?

I've written about Jooz a couple of times here. It's that instant orange juice kiosk in SG that's been a staple and stop every time my travels take me there.

And surprise, surprise. Look what they have in One Ayala?

It's the same product, same format, almost the same price in SG. The name is similar, using "juice" as the inspiration. But this one drops the "i" and just says "Jucebox."

Was in a hurry, though, so wasn't able to try it.

But I'm definitely trying this the next time.

Meals with Mark: Follow the Curve

One of the activities that Mark and I decided to do more this year is to try restaurants in the South. 

After our trip to Aizu a few months ago, one realization is that there are a lot of interesting places to eat around his turf.

Yesterday, we tried one of his go-to places - Curve Coffee Collaborators.

Primarily, it's a supplier of coffee beans that also hosts roasting workshops. So, they have an intensive coffee selection. But they also have food, like pasta, sandwiches and rice meals.

We decided to have the chicken pesto and scampi pasta, plus the grilled cheese sandwich. They were all flavourful and filling, and worth the price.

There's still a lot of items on their menu that's interesting, so that just means we'll be back here soon.

FMM: Lead the (high)way

On today's Friday Magic Madness episode, we have one of those songs that made me exclaim: "What?! This song is 35 years old already?!"

It's a hit from Tom. Cochrane from 1991 called "Life is a Highway." We were in college when they released this song, and some of my schoolmates would play it in the CMC walkway on lazy afternoons. That's why this song always reminds me of college.

But for today's generation, they're more familiar with this ditty because of "Cars." It was remade by Rascal Flats and was used in the soundtrack, which made the song gain more traction.

I'm a fan of the song either way.

Virali-tea

So, there's a viral video about a HK Sprite iced tea recipe.

It's been passing by my feed for days, and even my friends are sharing the recipe with me.

As a former HKG resident, of course I had to try it.

Following the recipe on the video, the iced tea turned out a bit pale and light on the black tea flavour. So, I modified it and used 3 tea bags, and it made a world of difference.

The black tea taste is more pronounced, and the fizziness of the Sprite keeps it light and effervescent. Then, there's the kick of lemon after.

Some viral vids are worth paying attention to.

To calamansi is to believe

There's a potted calamansi tree at home, and since it's a fruit tree in a pot, I didn't have high hopes for it.

But lo and behold, seeing it this morning, it turns out that it's bearing a lot of fruit!

Now, we can just go out of the gate and pick a few if we need calamansi for juice or toyomansi.

Unbelievable!

Island living

The rains have been pouring non-stop the past few days, even Megamall has turned into an island.

Hope this lets up soon. I'm missing the sunshine.

Living the dream(er)

I've seen this video quite a few times already. It's an audition from the 2018 edition of "The X-Factor UK." Gosh! It means this video is already 8 years old.

This audition features a 50-year old singer named Jancie Robinson who did a rousing rendition of a very danceable ditty. (Two alliterations in a row!)

While she was being interviewed, there was a backstory about that song that she sang. Apparently, it was a hit song that was part of the soundtrack of both Robbie Williams' and Louis Tomlinson's lives. After doing research, it turns out that the song - "Dreamer" - was a song from an American group called "Living Joy." 

And guess what, Janice Robinson was the lead singer of that group.

The song reached number 1 in the UK charts, which explains why Robbie and Louis are very familiar with it. Looking at both videos now, Janice hasn't lost that beautiful voice and commanding presence on the UK stage. Whether it was "Top of the Pops" in 1995 or "The X-Factor UK" in 2018, she still has that power and presence.

No wonder her dreams - and dreamer - are still going after more than 2 decades.

Meals with Mark: Easy Aussie

In the continuing saga of "Where do we eat in One Ayala." 

 We've passed by Panco a few times, but haven't tried eating there. Panco is an Australian-inspired cafe that serves Australian coffee and Pinoy meals. Tried this at The Podium once, but haven't eaten here with Mark, so we decided to have lunch here last Saturday. 

 My go-to order here is the Salmon Cream Dip with pandesal.

This never disappoints. The creaminess and savoury salmon pairs well with the crunchy and soft pandesal. We also tried their rice meals - Mark having the charred longganiza and me having the fish tartare. They're both really good! 

 Looks like we have another winning discovery!

Send me one line

No, this ins't a Spyro Gyra post. But it feels like I'll have one of their songs as a Friday Magic Madness song soon.

This is about Toni's bazaar at One Ayala today.

Dropped by after school, and got there around 11am. And as early as that time, they already had this long line of folks wanting to try Sweet Tones cakes.

It's actually like this in a lot of the bazaars that she joins. And it's not surprising since the cakes are really good. Especially the Ube Bibingka Cheesecake.

Way to go, Toni!