Ki Won Korean Restaurant at Friendship Highway, Angeles City

On Good Friday, we also just stayed at home and watched series. By afternoon, Rin-Rin was bugging everyone that she is craving for Chajangmyun or the black bean paste and vegetable noodles being served at Ki Won Korean Restaurant along Friendship Highway or also known as Korean Town. All the food places around Angeles City are usually closed during Maundy Thursday and Good Friday so we were quite hesitant to leave our house. To our amazement, all the Korean Restaurants were open.

Matutina's Seafoods at San Roque, Tarlac City

My baby sister went to Angeles for a visit so yesterday my mom planned something different for us to do. We don't usually do the 14 churches Bisita Iglesia but at least we visit one every Holy Week. This year, we went to Monasterio de Tarlac to hear mass and pray a little. It was our first time to go to this place which is about 3 hours away from Angeles City. They say you get to ask for one wish whenever you visit a new church. It is said that the monastery holds a relic of the cross where Jesus Christ died. 

"The holy cross came to the monastery in 2005 after its former custodian, the Diocese of Essen in Germany, deemed the SRC worthy to watch over the religious treasure.

The relic, authenticated by a papal seal, is said to be part of the cross discovered by Saint Helena, the mother Emperor Constantine the Great.

Religious accounts say Helena found three crosses and, to determine the cross of Christ, asked a dying woman to touch all three. The woman suddenly recovered when she touched the final cross."

-Source

Houcaller Beefsteak

Since we were all tired of eating Chinese food, I suggested Houcaller Beefsteak for our 5th day's lunch. Houcaller is like a fast food chain of moderate quality steaks. I used to eat here a lot when I was still studying in Xiamen. The food is cheap, the serving size is HUGE, and there's a salad bar where you can get endless of fresh fruits and black gulaman!

House Honors Banquet

We celebrated Baby Arian's first birthday or toh-tse at House Honors Banquet Chinese Restaurant located in Rongyi Hotel. It was a simple dinner party because we couldn't really find any clowns or magicians in China to make it more like a children's party. All we could do was get some party decors and make cute loot bags for guests to take home. My sister's husband took care of the dinner menu and he got a lot of EXOTIC dishes for us to dine on.

China Shopping Haul

Happy Tuesday Everyone!

I'm posting all the stuff I got from my recent China Trip. As you can see it's not much because all the clothes being sold there are mostly winter items. I also got a few clothes from H&M. I wanted to get more but because of my frugality, I have computed that the prices of clothes there are the same in Hong Kong but RMB or Renminbi is times 6.57 to peso while HKD is only about 5.26 to peso. Therefore it will cost me more if I buy the same things in China rather than getting them in Hong Kong. So without further ado here's my small haul.

Lu Dao Seafood Restaurant

Good morning everyone! What are your weekend plans?

I might be going to Enchanted Kingdom or watch the Pyro Musical Fireworks Show at SM Mall of Asia tonight. I'm pretty excited about doing any one of those. I'll just update you guys next week to what activity I'm able to do.

Anyhoo today, I'll be posting our yummy, authentic, and exotic seafood lunch at Lu Dao Seafood Restaurant located in Tsio Sai Province.

Cafe Bellagio in Quanzhou Wanda Plaza

Since we were at Quanzhou Wanda Plaza relaxing and WINDOW shopping at H&M, my achi and her husband suggested we have a light dinner at Cafe Bellagio before going home. This restaurant is the same as Lugang Cafe found here in Manila. When we arrived at the place, it was packed so we had to wait for about 10 minutes to be seated.

Tuscany Grill Bar Cafe, Xiamen

For our first meal in Xiamen, Tuscany Grill Bar Cafe was our top choice! We wanted to start our vacation with an Italian meal rather than the yummy Chinese because the food is THAT GOOD! The freshly made pizzas and steak here are absolutely fabulous!

Glutinous Rice Balls or Tangyuan

"Falling on the 15th day of the first lunar month, Lantern Festival is the first significant feast after Spring Festival, so called because the most important activity during the night of the event is watching various wonderful Chinese lanterns. And because every household eats yuanxiao / tangyuan (a rice ball stuffed with different fillings) on that day, it is called Yuan Xiao Festival. For its rich and colorful activities, it is regarded as the most recreational among all the Chinese festivals and a day for appreciating the bright full moon, and family reunion." - Source

I was FORCED to make Tangyuan last February 24. My parents told me they paid my tuition fee at ISCAHM so I have to show them what I have learned. What I did was I got packages of Glutinous Rice Balls from Walmart, followed the instruction on how to cook them and added a couple of more ingredients to make it extra special. Easy as one two three! :D

Amber Lights Laguna Soya Candle: White Tea

As you all, I'm quite addicted to scented candle. I have finished all the ones I got from Bath & Body Works when we vacationed in USA last year. Sadly, I didn't think of blogging them then. Anyway, I got this sweet candle Amber Lights Laguna from SuperSale Bazaar at the World Trade Center which happened last December. Here's my short review about it.

Sephora Makeup Haul

When we were vacationing in USA last year, I didn't get a lot of cosmetics from Sephora. I was into Japanese drugstore make up such as Canmake and Kate then so I was not interested into trying expensive American ones. But lately, I am slowly converting into using this kind. I find that the cheap Japanese ones tend to finish fast. Another is I have no pending trips to Hong Kong or Macau so my make up stocks are slowly running out. 

Destination: QUANZHOU & XIAMEN (Part 3)

( Continuation of my Destination: QUANZHOU & XIAMEN photo diary Part 1 and Part 2 )

Destination: QUANZHOU & XIAMEN (Part 2)

( Continuation of my Destination: QUANZHOU & XIAMEN photo diary Part 1 and Part 3)

Destination: QUANZHOU & XIAMEN (Part 1)

Last February 23 to March 1, my family and I traveled to Quanzhou, China to celebrate my niece's first birthday. How SOSYAL?! :D As many of you know, my achi ( eldest sister ) and her family is based in China. The flight we took was super early as PAL only has one flight per day to Xiamen. Xiamen is 2 hours away from Manila. Quanzhou is 2 hours away from Xiamen by car and 45minutes away by bullet train. Here's my photo diary of our one week relaxing vacation trip.