A Warm Hug

By She Said, she said

We've just reached an important milestone. This is our 100th post. Yay!!! 

It might not seem that much of an accomplishment, but for beginning bloggers like us, it's really a big feat. To find the time, the discipline and the words to write on a regular basis was quite a challenge for us, and we are happy to be able to get this far.

To celebrate this milestone, we originally wanted this post to be about a fancy hotel restaurant we have been meaning to try. We still owe you two more restaurants from our 23 Restaurants list, but something always comes up every time we plan to go. 

We were all set to try the lunch buffet at the Spectrum, Fairmont Hotel in Makati but had to cancel our reservation at the last minute. 

So, seeing that we had a free day, we decided instead to do what we love doing most. Spending some time with kids for our acts of kindness project.

                                    

We love interacting with children. We're always surprised and sometimes amused by their reactions whenever we sing for them and read them stories. One little boy had his ears covered the whole time during the song number. I guess the noise we were making proved to be too unbearable for him. Heehee.

 During the storytelling part of our program, we passed around a stuffed toy and likened doing an act of kindness to giving someone a great big hug.

                                                             

Andres, 4 years old, after hugging the bunny- "My heart feels so warm."

His remark  touched our hearts as well, and gave us more reason to keep doing what we're doing.

Celebrating our 100th post with Dilly Bars. Simple joys : )

Thank you to our dear readers and friends who continue to inspire us to write our stories. Our little blog is turning a year old in a few months and we can't wait to share with you all the exciting plans we have in store. Here's to the next 100 and one thousand more!

Kitchen Stories- One Pot Pasta

By She Said

We love spending lazy Sundays at home. Bianca and I were eager to spend the day just relaxing and catching up on the week that just passed so I wanted to prepare a meal that wouldn't require me to slave over the stove then spend more time cleaning up the kitchen after. 

If there's a meal I can cook that's simple, easy and delicious, then I'm all for it!

I found this recipe online, and this is going to be a keeper in our kitchen, that's for sure. No complicated ingredients or preparation needed. just throw everything in one pot.

You'll need:

500 grams linguine or fettucine
40 grams cherry tomatoes, quartered
1 medium onion, thinly sliced
4 cloves garlic, finely chopped
fresh sprigs of basil, plus more for garnish
2 tablespoons extra virgin olive oil
coarse salt and freshly ground black pepper
4.5 cups water
grated Parmesan cheese

Combine pasta, tomatoes, onion,garlic, basil, oil, salt, pepper and water in a large pot. Bring to a boil over high heat, stirring and turning pasta frequently with tongs. Cook until pasta is al dente and water has nearly evaporated, about 10 minutes.

Divide into pasta bowls and garnish with basil. Serve with Parmesan cheese.

Serves 4-5

You can also use chicken stock or some white wine and water. I think ricotta cheese would be good with this pasta dish too!

If you have any recipes that are simple and delicious, please share them with us : )

Inspiration Board: Getaway

by she said

We don't go to the beach often, which is quite ironic because my mom grew up right next to the sea. She often reminisces how she would wear her bathing suit under her school uniform so all she had to do was take it off and jump right into the warm blue waters as soon as she got home. I heard stories from my classmates and teachers who were able to enjoy the sun, sand and surf over the term break, and it occurred to me that I'd like to have my very own beach getaway (hopefully soon!). 

Here's an inspiration board I made that includes visuals of how I imagine to spend a day on the beach- sunglasses for enjoying the sunshine, an Instax for taking polaroid photos, and a mixtape of my favorite songs, among other stuff. : )

 American Apparel Sunglasses, Tibi Color Block Silk Cami, Calypso St. Barth Paisley Printed Short, Samudra Tulum Wave Pouch, Burt's Bee's Peppermint Lip Balm, Zara Metallic Block Wedge, Miss Selfridge Gold Digi Watch, Mauro Grifoni Fabric Bag, Monki Frida Sweatshirt, Fujifilm Instax Mini 7S 

Fully Booked Day

By She Said

One of the most fulfilling parts of our acts of kindness project is being able to reach out to children. Their receptiveness, and most especially their sweet, smiling faces gives us such a warm and happy feeling inside that can't be beat.

We are so grateful to Fully Booked for giving us the opportunity to share our project with more children. Our activity was scheduled the day after Typhoon Yolanda and we were worried that the kids couldn't make it. And although the typhoon left so many of our countrymen in the south devastated just the day before, the sun was curiously shining in Metro Manila on Saturday, November 9th, the day of our event.

We took this as a sign that this day was meant to be. We sang for the kids, read them a book about how to be kind and led them in an art activity- origami hearts that we stringed together to symbolize kindness for one another.

 

 

 Our special guests from SOS Children's Village Manila.

Some dads enjoyed our origami activity more than the other kids. Haha! Thank you for coming ; )

Thank you so much for spending the afternoon with us! 

Let's all be kind and generous. It's what our country needs most right now.

*Please visit our Facebook Page for more photos!

Let's Do Our Part

By She Said

By now, I'm sure many of you have already responded and sent help to the victims of Super Typhoon Yolanda through the numerous charities and organizations providing relief operations to our brothers and sisters in the Visayas and Mindanao.

For those who wish to help some more, we would like to make an appeal in behalf of SOS Children's Village in Tacloban, Leyte. Let's all join hands to rescue and relocate the children as well as to send assistance to help them rebuild their homes.

The following article is from their website:

SOS Children's Village Tacloban suffers damage in typhoon

Nov 09, 2013 07:35 PM

 

Following an update from our office in the Philippines, we can report that our Children's Village in Tacloban, on the badly affected island of Leyte, has suffered damage in Typhoon Haiyan. All SOS families and Village staff are safe.

Tacloban is located on the island of Leyte, which is currently cut off in the wake of Friday's storm. Despite poor communications, our Children's Village in Tacloban was able to establish contact with our head office in the capital Manila.

We are pleased to report that all SOS families and staff remain unharmed. However, the Children's Village was damaged in the typhoon. Due to the poor communications, we have scant information on the scale of the damage.

 

Help on its way from other Children's Villages

In spite of the severity of Typhoon Haiyan, all other Children's Villages in the affected region emerged from the storm unscathed. All children and mothers from our locations in Calbayog, Cebu and Iloilo are all safe inside the Villages.

Staff from our Children's Village in Calbayog are currently making the four-hour journey to Tacloban to provide support in Tacloban, as are staff from our Village in Cebu. Tacloban remains largely inaccessible, and all flights between Tacloban and the capital have been cancelled. However, our head office is planning relief so that help can be provided as soon as access is restored.

  

You can send your donations, monetary and in-kind, to:

SOS Children's Village National Office 

Mindanao Drive, 

Ayala Alabang Village, 

Muntinlupa City, M.M.

You may also deposit your monetary donations to any Bank of the Philippine Islands branch.  

Account Name: SOS CHILDREN’S VILLAGES INC. 

Account Number: 8293-0178-41 (Savings)

Please do not forget to send a copy of the deposit slip through fax number 850-9654 for proper acknowledgment.

For more inquiries, please contact:
MS. ALEAH B. ORTIZ at 807-0764, 799-3475, 0917-8520189 
email: home@sosphilippines.org or aleah.ortiz@sosphilippines.org

Inspiration Board: Prom!

by she said

I hear that Junior year is the most crucial year in high school. This is scary, because a lot is riding on my performance this year. But it's also pretty exciting because it's the year we get to experience Junior-Senior Prom! YAY!!!! (And no, mom, I don't have a date yet.)

I've been making some sets on Polyvore lately, and I noticed that all of them include the color grey. This is one that's prom-inspired.

J.Crew Gem Collage Necklace, Zara Cotton Tank Top, Topshop Organza Skirt, Whistles Barbara Ballet Flats, Marc Jacobs Daisy Eau de Toilette, Marc by Marc Jacobs Sloane Black Dial Quartz Watch

I recently got Rookie Yearbook Two, and when I saw this dress, I was so in love. I created this inspiration board based around that dress. If you have any suggestions on dresses for prom, please let me know - and I'll be putting up the next boards soon, so watch out for that : )

On another note, school was suspended today because of the super typhoon Yolanda. Let's all continue praying for our country. I hope that you all stay safe and dry this weekend. ♡

Hello, Monday!

By She said, she said

Term break ends today! It was a short vacation and we both wish it was longer, but Christmas is just around the corner, so we'll be counting the days 'til then!

We spent last week eating way too much macarons. It made us remember all our posts about macarons and we are slowly accepting that we might need some help with this addiction. haha : D

Here are some posts you might want to revisit:

The Way We Ate- J.Cuppacakes

The Way We Ate- Bizu Patisserie 

cupcakes & macarons

12/23 Sweet Bella

 5/23 da.u.de Tea Lounge

The Way We Ate - Wildflour Cafe + Bakery & Chez Karine

The Way We Ate - TWG Tea Salon & Boutique

 

Macarons from J. Cuppacakes

Bronuts at the Baker's Dozen, Power Plant Mall

We've never tried the much talked about cronuts up until this weekend. These are from Bronuts. They are so, so good! We cannot wait to try their other flavors.

Belgian Chocolate with Salted Caramel- dark chocolate coating topped with toffee crunch, filled with salted caramel.

Strawberry Yogurt- filled with a tangy strawberry jam and yogurt mix.

And some exciting news!

 

This coming weekend, we will be bringing our acts of kindness to Fully Booked in Alabang Town Center. We're looking forward to sharing our music, art activities and storytelling sessions with all of you. Hope to see you there!