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Sisig by Aysee

Sisig is a Filipino delicacy that originated from the province of Pampanga located on the northern part of Luzon. It is made from parts of pig’s head and liver, usually seasoned with calamansi and chili peppers. It is normally served as pulutan (finger food to go along a round of beers or other alcoholic drinks), but can also be eaten as a viand with steamy rice as a side dish for lunch or dinner and can also be used as toppings for pizza and nachos.

Sounds tempting? Aysee’s, a humble hole-in-a-wall carinderia type restaurant near the Philippine Sports Complex and Valle Verde Country Club offers probably the best ones in our country.

Their sisig is absolutely perfect. Served on a sizzling plate with a generous helping of butter or margarine, hot sauce, soy sauce and calamansi, it looks and smells how it tastes like: delicious. The meat is crunchy (unlike most others that are chewy because of the fats), the calamansi balances out the taste and the onions, egg and other ingredients are as mouthwatering. Every spoonful is fulfilling. You will love how this dish is so budget friendly and is good for two! Besides sisig, you can also order their papaitan (beef bitter stew), pinaputok na pla pla (St. Peter’s fish cooked in banana leaves), buntot ng tuna (tuna’s tail) and a lot more. After paying for the bill, they sometimes give away Judge chewing gum in exchange for your loose change (most probably, to help take away the smell of onion in your breath).

One goes to Aysee not to enjoy the ambiance but their food. While eating, you have to expect the sounds of cars driving by, people singing along karaoke and the people around you talking since the place is relevantly quite small and is not air-conditioned. It is also advisable not to ask for tap water and check your meal before eating because other reviewers say that sometimes, the people cooking can be careless. Despite all these, the food is great and the service is good.

The food trip here is definitely worth the calories, the cholesterol and the smell of sisig in our clothes after leaving. It’s a good place for cheap thrills. We recommend that you order anything just make sure to order the pork sisig or tuna sisig (for people on diets) because it is to die for. After a long day of working, studying, exercising or partying, reward yourself with a satisfying meal that will keep you asking for more.

Gelato Over Ice Cream

Fiorgelato is an ice cream stand located in a few places in Dumaguete City. The most popular would be the one located in the first floor of Robinson’s Place. They sell many flavors of Italian ice cream; otherwise known as Gelato. Along with their many flavors, they also have a variety of cup and cone sizes that range from regular sugar cones to giant Belgian cones, small to big cups, and even sundaes.

I believe this brand of ice cream is better than most brands because it sells Italian ice cream – Gelato. Besides the fact that foreign ice cream is much sought after, Gelatos are fuller in taste and has little or no air, which makes it a whole lot more desirable. This soft ice cream can have all kinds of flavors. And in Fiorgelato, I get to choose from about ten unique flavors like Bubblegum (my favorite) and Mint. They even put at least two scoops per cone. What’s more impressive, to me, is that they also serve low fat and no added sugar types of ice cream.

Although, the actuality that it is fuller and richer than most ice cream, makes it more expensive. They also tend to serve it in smaller portions so that they may not meet any shortfalls. And by limiting its service as simple stands, in just a few spots, makes yet another con. But it’s jam-packed, creamy texture, along with its sweet and delectable flavors are triumphant. Fiorgelato’s selection of sugar-free and low fat ice cream very much impressed me. They use sugar-cones instead of simple wafer cones, which are also more popular. And I can even add any topping of my choosing, like nuts and chocolate syrup.

I would definitely recommend my friends and family to choose this over the ordinary, air-filled ice cream. It may be a little more expensive, but at least we won’t get a deficiency on its quality. Other ice creams may serve more but it also has more air and space inside; meaning less ice cream. If you’re a health freak with a sweet tooth and a love for cold desserts like me, then I suggest you go for Fiorgelato’s low-fat and sugar-free Gelato instead of having one of those fatty-laden ice cream.

Spice Up your Day with the new McDonald’s McSpicy

A few days back while scrolling down and reading tweets on Twitter, I noticed how some of our local celebrities like Ramon Bautista, Jessy Mendiola, Luis Manzano and other celebrities were tweeting about a new item added to the McDonald’s Philippines’ well-loved product line. Being a sucker for the latest trends of anything, I checked this out.

First spotted in neighboring countries such as Singapore, Hong Kong, Thailand and Australia, the McSpicy has finally been introduced to our most loved country the Philippines last June 13, 2013. A burger made of 100% whole chicken that is so juicy with just the right amount of spices, crunchy lettuce and delicious dressing, finished with toasted sesame seed buns and it only costs P80 (ala carte) but if you’d love to enjoy this with regular fries and drink, just add P35 and P55 for medium ones.

Intrigued by its offers, I told my food trip buddy-slash-boyfriend Sean how much I wanted to try one. Last June 18, five days after its release, Sean and I headed to Glorietta to have lunch. Strolling around looking at our choices, we found ourselves in McDonald’s. Going all the way to Makati from Pasig, usually, we would agree that our trip would have been a waste of time if we ate in a fast food restaurant considering there are lots of McDonald’s branches around our area but we both thought that that day was different. Entering McDo, the McSpicy ads were everywhere so why would anyone think that one could have missed that? So judging by what I’m telling you, your guess would be right. We ordered two McSpicy’s—one for me and one for him. We also ordered two other sets of meals just in case we were expecting too much. Sean lined up while I looked for seats.

As soon as I sat down, Sean followed bringing along a tray with our food. After setting it up, we argued on whether we’ll eat the burgers first or our the other ones first. He was so excited to finally take a bite out off the McSpicy he didn’t want to let me win this time so we finally went to a decision. The burgers were in boxes, and as soon as we opened it, we were glad it did not disappoint although it wasn’t as big as it was in the advertisements (as expected). As soon as we took a bite though, it left us quiet. I guess we were both thinking if we told each other it wasn’t that spicy at all, our money spent and our appetite would’ve been a waste so we kept our mouths busy while taking our first bites.

After awhile, we talked about its taste: it was spicy, but not as much as we hoped it to be (a good thing for people who don’t like spicy food). It is definitely a burger made for the mass, but nevertheless satisfying. The excellent advertising is probably why most people think that the McSpicy is such a delicious and outstanding burger. Clearly, they haven’t tasted KFC’s Zinger yet.

Glam Works Wax Strips: Goodbye unwanted hair!

Available at all Watsons stores, Glam Works Wax Strips enticed me to purchase for my unwanted hair problem like all women do (especially if you’re Asian like me but with Spanish-American bloodline). By sticking it on my skin, it removed most of the hair by quickly pulling off to the hair’s opposite direction after rubbing each pair together and the one on my skin several times until I felt it warm which marked the wax has melted and has become stickier.

Both enriched with aloe vera extract, it has two packages in different size: Body Wax Strips for legs, arms and bikini line, and Facial Wax strip for face and underarm. Unlike other wax strips like Veet, it’s cheap for it does not exceed PhP 200 even after price change. Now, I don’t have to go to waxing salons like Lay Bare to have my underarms waxed for PhP 150 and my legs for PhP 300 or 500 every after 2-3 weeks or a month. I could easily apply it on myself or ask for assistance if needed. Both packages contain 12 pcs. of strips and 2 pcs. of wax finish wipes.

It’s really practical because it is safe to reapply a body strip many times until it’s effective and less sticky. It certainly removes the hair follicles. Despite thick hair strands and spread, two pairs of wax strips is enough for my lower extremities. I use two strips for my underams but as much as possible I reapply a strip twice only for it will develop irritation and redness on my skin. And then, I use a tweezer to pluck the excess hair.

NEVER shall I ever again stick a strip to my underarm and leave it there for minutes then it pull it off. Its effect? Major redness like some sort of body identity mark or scar. Horrible. It does smell like the common unscented candle wax but I really don’t mind because I’ll have to wipe the wax residues afterwards which is aloe vera scented. The wipes are reusable as well but if you run out, just use baby oil. BUT I highly suggest tea tree oil or sun flower oil cause it lightens skin according to studies.

Costing PhP 99, you might want the Glam Works Hair Removal Soothing Lotion as well for anti-bacterial, exfoliation and easing up the pain with its eucalyptic features like I did. I got this idea from Lay Bare using Gigi hair removal anti-bacterial lotion. It’s really a lot of work and pain. But, hey! No pain, no gain. Right? Beauty is pain. This brand is cheap, effective and safe. So, say Hello to Glam Works Wax Strips and Good bye to unwanted hair!

Image courtesy: makeupandbeauty

The iScreamist: The Philippines’ Liquid Nitrogen Ice Cream Boutique

If you’re looking for something you haven’t tried before, a small shop in UP Teachers village called The iScreamist might be able to offer you something you can’t refuse.

My best friend Sean and I decided to skip classes one day to go on a spontaneous adventure. (No, I am not encouraging anyone to do the same) We decided to meet up at Megamall from school. After arguing about where to eat, we decided to get a bite at Katipunan so we can also check out the ice cream parlor everybody who’s anybody is talking about, The Iscreamist. Though it was very far from where we were at that time, we decided to just go with the flow and let our spontaneity take over the vibes.

After eating lunch in Katip, we took two jeeps + a tricycle going to Maginhawa. Upon arriving at the store, we both thought how the ice cream parlor looked like it was a computer shop from the outside. When we entered the premises, we couldn’t believe how much people there was! There were barely any seats and the line was so long. But nevertheless, Sean told me that instead of complaining about how far we came from just to wait in line, it’s better than leaving without getting to taste what we came there for. I agreed so while in line, we were just talking about the most random things to kill time. As soon as a group of people rose up from their tables, fortunately, Sean landed us one. When we finally got to order, the ones we wanted weren’t available. Instead of crying over spilt milk, we ordered what was available instead.

Sean ordered the strawberry cheesecake ice cream for me and he had the red velvet one. We also tried their specialty, Dragon’s Breath. The ice creams tasted exquisite. It was sweet and the presentation was nice. What made the experience fun was the Dragon’s breath. It’s smores: cut graham crackers with a marshmallow, wafer and chocolate syrup jammed in between stuck on a popsicle stick served with a cup of liquid nitrogen.

The key method to enjoying your Dragon’s Breath is to do the following:

Dip your choice of Dragon’s Breath snack into the liquid nitrogen for approximately 15 seconds
Allow 2 seconds before eating the snack
Pop the whole snack in your mouth in just a single bite
Close your mouth and keep on chewing. Because of the liquid nitrogen, once you dip and eat your chosen snack, it will sizzle then freeze up then you will see smoke coming out of your mouth and nostrils.

This happens because the liquid nitrogen evaporates so quickly that it turns into gas. It may seem scary but as long as you don’t break any of the rules posted in the store, it is safe. To smokers, this would be a fun opportunity to showcase some tricks and to those who aren’t, this is also a fun opportunity for them to pretend that they are. If you’re going to try this out, one must have a camera with them for a complete experience.

Despite the wait, the lack of space for other customers and the poor service, I can’t wait for this business to grow so its full potential may be unleashed. It will test your patience but they will prove to you that it is worth the wait.