Milk Tea Love

Bubble tea shops have been around for a long time but they're weren't as accessible as now, I remember having to troop all the way to Megamall or The Block just to satisfy my craving.

It's only quite recently that the craze caught on. The only downside is having to queue for a really long time. I remember Rhommel and I getting frustrated at how bad the queue is being handled at Happy Lemon Trinoma with us having to wait for almost 45 minutes just to get our drinks. 

My first real bubble milk tea experience here in Singapore was with Monica, she introduced me to Koi Cafe and I loved it. 

I then noticed the long queues at Happy Lemon Ion that I decided to give it a try. I found the Green Tea with Rock Salt and Cheese to be a bit weird but found myself craving for it a day after.







I've tried a few other bubble tea places and I more or less liked them except for Share Tea. I don't know why but I just didn't like it.



Back in Manila, Chatime is pretty popular and I loved their place in Pioneer. The bubble tea shops back home are better because they upped it a bit by having sitting areas.





Moonleaf is fairly new in the business but it is one of my favorites. I loved their Wintermelon drink plus their interiors are nice looking. The pic below is their Sgt. Esguerra branch.





With so many choices, my ultimate favorite remains to be Bubble Tea in Megamall. I always felt that they've struggled to find a crowd then but they're still there. They've become a full service restaurant now, I don't mind as long as I still get my milk tea fix with the small bubbles as before. 

On Losing a Job

I have been getting daily spam comments delivered straight to my phone that I guess served as a constant reminder that my personal blog has been neglected for more than a month now.  One day, I'll finally get to posting most of what happened this December, just let me get the elephant on the room addressed (well, at least for those who know me).

2011 has been very challenging for me and some of my friends. I, along with more than 100+ employees received one of the most shocking news last August when we got to work and found our office locked. I won't go into details as to what happened cause I don't want to get sued.

I'm very thankful for my friends here in Singapore for being very helpful and supportive. Several people from work also created a couple of Facebook groups to help each other out in securing new jobs.

The first month went by pretty fast. I mostly spent them eating out, having desserts and looking for jobs while having coffee with a friend. Don't get me wrong, I'm not burning money. I just feel that its easier to be with friends than being alone and wallowing in depression.









The rare moments when I'm at home, I spent it chatting and Skyping with friends. Some of my college friends also reached out to me and it was a great feeling to be connected to them once more.



After nearly four months, several interviews, a job offer, a denied work permit application, a rejected appeal, I finally landed a job. I got word that the work permit has been approved as 2011 was coming to a close.

The question I've been asked the most is what have I been doing all this time. I focused on our little endeavor, The Little Mermaid. It was time consuming, stressful and most of all, surprising at how slow the tickets have been selling for a children's musical and a Disney feature at that. I guess 2011 was just not the time to be making a little extra. But again, I am very thankful for my friends who helped out.



It wasn't really all that bad, every cloud has a silver lining. I had 4 trips to Manila, I went to a couple of beaches and the land of class A Northfaces without having to worry about filing for leaves or being exhausted from a trip and having to work the next day.







I leave 2011 behind and started 2012 fresh taking with me all the experiences and the learnings from it as well as the rekindled relationships with friends and family as well as the new relationships I've formed the past quarter.

First Week Back in Manila

This is, I think, one of the last photos of me in the office before they officially closed it down.



My first day back, after taking a quick nap, I met up with Oliver for lunch and Razon's halo halo. Analyn happened to be here visiting so she tagged along together with Badette.





I tried to pass the time at the mall while waiting for Oliver to finish his shift so we can head out to catch the Little Mermaid preview. Contact me for tickets. I'll give you a hefty discount.





The preview was a success and if I hadn't been so preoccupied, I'm sure I would've enjoyed it as well.





The next day, after another Mermaid meeting, I then met up with Rhommel. We picked up Gavin and met up with Willie who wanted to show us Ayala Triangle all decked up.







Sadly, all the restaurants were extremely crowded so we headed back to Paseo. We ended up at Yellow Cab and Willie introduced us to Dear Darla, a unique pizza experience.







Willie then dropped me off at the Fort where I met up with my college friends. We all had a great time that we barely noticed that it was already 4am.



The next day, I met up with Willie, Pau and Rhommel. We all went to church to pray and then headed out to Eastwood for dinner and Happy Lemon.









The next day was spent with my family. We went to church and then went crazy with desserts at Becky's Kitchen. Sadly, I wasn't able to take photos. We then passed by Banawe for me to try Chatime.





It has been quite a busy week for me, I just have to meet up the rest of my friends soon before I run out of juice. :p

Little Mermaid Manila - A Success

The reviews are in and everyone who has seen the production is in agreement that the musical is simply amazing.



Erik Santos is a dashing Prince Eric and Rachelle Ann Go is just perfect for the role. To watch her sing live is just divine.



The web is buzzing with positive tweets:

Lea Salonga
Just got home after seeing @MermaidinManila. @gorachelleann and @therealeriksantos are superb! Jinky Llamanzares brings the house down.



MaiaYucca
2 days in a row full of magic. Thanks to @mermaidinmanila @gorachelleann @realeriksantos for giving me a great weekend. See you next week:)



gabstopper
back from under the sea. Atlantis Prod unleashed another world-class performance with @MermaidinManila... you have to see this!



Abs_dls
@MermaidinManila The Little Mermaid is truly magical! Full of Disney magic! @atlantisprod did an excellent job on this one. Enjoy!



ThisIsMeNikkiD
From the musical scoring, to the costumes and the powerful vocals... Hats off to @mermaidinmanila for a wonderful production.

clownbel
Having a bad day but then I came to see @MermaidinManila - Al the bad vibes disappeared. Disney's magic is trully potent! I love this show!

wickedtin
Ok, sorry Twilight fans, but Edward, Bella, Jacob can wait. Life under the sea is better than anything they got up there! @MermaidinManila

Get your tickets now before it's too late! 

Special discounts offered for the following dates:

November 27, 8PM - 0917-8480043

December 4, 8PM - 0917-3501377

Maria Aragon sings holiday cheer as the Voice of SM Christmas

It’s Christmas time once again, and what better way to celebrate this joyous season than by spending it with your family and friends at your favorite SM Supermalls! This year shopping for the holiday season will be a breeze because all of your favorite things are found at any SM Supermalls. And as part of making this Christmas extra special, SM Supermalls chose Maria Aragon, the international YouTube sensation, as the official Voice of SM Christmas.

The 11 year old, Maria Aragon has come a long way ever since she uploaded a video of her breakthrough acoustic rendition of Lady Gaga’s song, Born This Way, back in February of this year. This video has become a viral hit after Lady Gaga herself saw and promoted this video urging her fans to view it, and at present the video already reached more than 43 Million views worldwide. After the rise in popularity and fan-base that the video had generated for Maria Aragon, she was invited by Ellen DeGeneres to perform the song at her show. She eventually was invited by Lady Gaga to perform with her during her Monster Ball Tour leg in Toronto. Maria Aragon was also given the opportunity to perform for dignitaries including Canadian Prime Minister Stephen Harper, and for the Duke and Duchess of Cambridge during their 2011 royal tour of Canada.

In the Philippines, she was signed by Star Records and has since released her self-titled album consisting of seven tracks including her rendition of Lea Salonga’s “You’re My You” which was used for the movie, “Way Back Home”. She has appeared in several local TV shows and even lent her voice to sing the theme song for the local version of Junior Master Chef. Her singing will again be featured as she has been chosen by Manny Pacquiao to sing the National Anthem on his upcoming fight with Manuel Marquez on November 12, 2011, and being chosen as the Voice of SM Christmas as she will sing a remixed version of SM Supermalls’ official holiday tune, SM Christmas ChriSMs Bop.

So this holiday season, spend time with your friends, family and loved ones at your favorite SM Supermall, and together hear Maria Aragon as the voice of SM Christmas.

Latte Art

While we were trying to pass the time at Orchard, Ronald had this idea of going to a coffee shop other than Starbucks and Coffee Bean. He suggested we go to a coffee place where there's latte art.



My first actual encounter with it would have to be when we went to Spinelli and Ronald was served his green tea latte below.



I honestly don't know where to go so we Googled it up and saw that Jones the Grocer at Mandarin Gallery serves their coffee that way.







Liking what we saw, we looked up several latte art places and found out that the owner of Oriole at 313 was Singapore's best barista for 2010 so we headed there when Ronald went back to visit.







We weren't that impressed.

Ronald lucked out one time when he and his friends had coffee at Robert Timms. He sent me a photo of three coffee cups with the cutest teddy bears. We went there the day after, unfortunately, we were told that the barista was not familiar with complex latte art.





We went to the one at Wheelock on Ronald's last night here and was lucky that the barista there knows how to make an angry bird.



This photo was taken at Robert Timms at Somerset when I went back there this time with Em-J and Phoebe.



I certainly love coffee but the best part for me would have to be dessert!



Do any of you know where else to get latte art?