All the Lovers

Nope, this isn't a post about Kylie Minogue's song.

But you know me, I'm a huge Kylie fan.

What this post is about is XTine's pasalubong.

She brought me this bag of Cherry Lovers jelly beans from Jelly Belly.

They're heart shaped jellies in different cherry flavours like black cherry, cherry cheesecake, cherry cola, bing cherry, sour cherry and wild cherry. And as a cherry fan, this is just divine!

It's so, so, SO good, that I've already finished the bag.

Now, where to find this in MNL.

Come to my Ade

 Two things caught my eye after seeing this product at No Brand:

1. Cherry Lemonade!!!

2. The retro-esque packaging

This product is SO GOOD! It has the right amount of tartness and the cherry flavour is very pronounced but not overpowering.

Looks like this product will be coming home with me more often after today.

Make and Bake

Well, I did say I'd make something, right?

And that "something" was Cherry Cheesecake brownies!

Honestly, it's been years since I last baked from scratch, so there was a bit of hesitation. But since the ingredients and baking implements were there, my mind and heart said: "Go for it!"

And my first foray back into baking wasn't that bad.

One down. More baking goodies to go!

Cheery cherry

As a self-confessed cherry fan, it's quite frustrating that fresh cherries are few and far between in the Philippines. Makes me miss living in HKG where there were cherries in almost every street corner.

To make up for that longing, I usually check out "cherry derivatives" in the supermarket. These are any cherry-flavored items - be it candies, snacks or drinks.

And these are the most common cherry drinks I see in the supermarkets.

First is Cherry 7-Up. I remember trying this almost 10 years ago in Mexico, and found it wanting in cherry flavor. I wonder if they reformulated already?

Second is Cherry Coke. Among the flavored Coke variants, I find this the best. And I'm not biased due to my cherry obsession. Although you have to drink it super duper chilled, or else it tends to be super sweet.

But since my stomach doesn't really allow me to drink soda, good thing there are more natural and zero carbonation options. And my favorite is the Tipco Cherry Berry juice drink.

It has cherries, blueberries and raspberries, in a natural juice form. Whenever I buy this, I have to control myself, though, since I tend to finish one pack in one sitting. So far, there are no other juice brands that offer cherry, so this is the one I buy each time.

Now, if The Berry Company has a cherry drink of their own, that would be a definite must-try!

Cherry Crazy

Nope, this isn't about the recent "Cerise" collection by Louis Vuitton. Though I must say, it's one of the better designs they've come up with. Much better than the Murakami bag which looks a tad bit too fake. (Even the original one looks like a knock-off.) Oh well, i'm not into LV anyway.

I'm talking about real cherries. The "freshly-picked-from-the-tree" kind.

Since i've discovered that neighborhood fruit stand that sells fresh cherries, I've been like a rat drawn by the Pied Piper. I find myself walking towards that stall, pretty much like a zombie, and buying a pound of cherries. They have a new batch, a bit more expensive than what I usually buy, but it's much bigger and juicier. Needless to say, it's worth the extra $8.

Now, whenever I don't feel like eating a full meal, I substitute a pound of cherries for that meal. Sometimes, I have half a pound of cherries for lunch. And what do i wash it down with? Dark Cherry Snapple. (Only available at City Super, unfortunately.)

If my color turns dark red anytime soon, I'd take that as a sign that I should lay low from Cherry living.

Cerises Frescas

I miss eating fresh cherries.

The last time I did, it was in Amsterdam. I'd buy them at Albertcuypstraat, along with our usual ration of oranges, strawberries and grapefruit. Once, I bought a bunch of raspberries, thinking that it would taste pretty much like the Sconza Raspberry candies.

Boy, was I wrong. The taste was horrendous! I remember rushing to the trash bin to throw them away.

This morning, while walking to Wellcome to buy bottled water, I chanced upon a hole in the wall fruit stall. Aside from the usual Dragonfruit, and the mangoes which are described as: "Philippine Mangoes, the sweetest in the world', there was another fruit that grabbed my attention.

Fresh cherries!

Yes, they were a bit pricey, $38 per pound, but it was well worth the price. They were sweet, crunchy yet juicy, with very small seeds. The moment it touched my tongue and after I bit into the first piece, it was ecstacy! Needless to say, I was one happy guy come lunchtime.

McDonald's meal + Fresh Cherries + Oprah re-runs = happy guy!

I hope the cherry season here lasts long.