Library Café: Cool Beans Café

Cafes  serve as a venue where you can  study or read a book with the luxury to sip a cup of coffee while munching your favorite pastries or a meeting place where  your friends  get together while imbibing  a frappe or a spot where you can conduct a  group meeting  while savoring a meal that can fill up your mind for a brainstorming- that is what a café is to me until I visited Cool Beans Café.

Cool Bean Café serves the famous Philippine Highland Arabica Coffee. The former are well known coffee  produced in Cordilleras. These coffee are known as Sagada (coffee with high Arabica and has a slightly bittersweet aftertaste), Benguet (coffee that has a bitter taste and very aromatic) and Kalinga (coffee that is made from Robusta beans with good aroma and blended perfectly).  It was said that the owner of the Café fell head over heels with this coffee that when she was planning to have her own café, serving this coffee would be her primary goal.

Aside from Highland Coffee the Café is also the first Library Café in the country. You can choose to read from their variety of books, magazine and comics. They have a stand of National Geograpgraphic , Life and Time Magazine  that can feed your wondrous mind. Marvel comics are readily available for youngsters and those who are child at heart. Variety of books from fiction to nonfiction and history are also available.

Cool Beans Café also offer a wide variety of dishes that you can munch on while reading your favorite book. They have panini, pasta, soups and salads, rice meal and all day breakfast meals. Aside from coffee, you can also indulge yourself with their brewed coffee, coffee based frappuccino and non coffee based, tea and soda.

The interior is homey and very relaxing that you will definitely enjoy having a perfect date with your book on this place and for those who want to escape the hustle and bustle world of internet, this is a great spot for you, for  the so-called WIFI is inaccessible in the four corners of this cafe.

Cool Beans Café is located in 67 Maginhawa Street, Quezon City, Philippines  and is open from Mon - Thu: 10:00 am - 11:00 pm  and Fri - Sat: 10:00 am - 12:00 am.

Chocolate Over Load Cake by Ms. Polly’s

I was about to sleep when my little sister got home. As I was about to close my eyes, my mom opened the door of my bedroom and excitedly told me that my sister bought  a cake for evening snack. Yes, you read it right. My family kinda take a snack before going to the bed.  Well, ever since I was a kid, 3 hours before going to bed me, my sister and dad  are taking a snack while watching the television.

I got up and saw a box…. The box is somewhat familiar. Hmm… I think I always see this box on the internet.  Could it be… could it be the chocolate cake that I always see as one of the best chocolate cakes in Manila?...  Yes it is!

 

The brown box encapsulates a round chocolate cake of  Ms. Polly’s.

 Ms. Polly’s Specialty Cakes and Desserts or also known as  Magallanes Shell Chocolate Cake was created by Ms. Polly who is a  housewife who loves baking.  They started selling cakes in Shell Magallanes and branched out to Robinson’s Galleria where you can enjoy a cup of coffee while enjoying a slice of their cake and other wares.

 

My sister bought a two layered round chocolate cake. The spongy cake layer is divided by a thick  chocolate icing that also coated the entire cake. The icing in the middle is so thick that when you cut the cake the chocolate icing will ooze out from  the sides of the former.  The icing is also made from cocoa that released the strong taste of chocolate. What I love with this cake is it melts in your mouth and it is definitely  a chocolate overload cake.

This is not a typical chocolate cake that you can buy in the market. Polly's Chocolate cake  is a multi- awarded dessert since 2005. Others call it a heaven sent chocolate cake and I would definitely agree to them.

You can grab Ms. Polly’s Cakes and Desserts on it’s home in Shell Magallanes and in Robinsons Galleria in Ortigas, Pasig City.

My Belgian Malinois "Waffle"

Waffle at 4 months and the couch 

she tore when she was bored

Sunday, it’s the day of my week when I stay at home, wear whatever I want to, be as simple as I want to be, no make up on, eat whatever I want and spend time with my family but aside from that, Sunday is also “Waffle” day for me.

Who is Waffle?  Waffle is my 8 months Belgian Malinois. I got her as a Christmas gift from my boyfriend. We named her as such because his Dad (my boyfriend) loves to eat Belgian Waffle and since she is a Belgian and the same color as a waffle, her name became the former. She was 2 months when we got her. I was planning to get a Shih Tzu that day, but when we saw her, I got hooked up with her charm and sweetness and that closed the deal.

Waffle at 6 months and her
favorite toy "BALL"

Waffle belongs to the Belgian Malinois breed of dogs. They are working dogs that usually aids in detecting explosives, narcotics, and use in tracking and rescuing people. Basically, they are police or military dogs. Their color is from fawn to mahogany and tan with black mask. My waffle’s coat is mahogany and she has a good looking black mask.

Malinois are very intelligent, active, alert and hard working. The first time we got Waffle, she is very attentive to the sounds of her new environment. She would always look for the source of the former. At 2 months she also learned a few tricks like sit, stand, up and down. By the time that she was 3 months she learned how to fetch and catch the ball in the air. She also learned how to roll and play dead by then.

My little girl loves playing and she has a whole lot of energy for it. Her drive  usually comes with her toy- BALL. Yes, she loves playing with her toy ball….. Whenever she sees her toy ball, she would definitely want to bite it or catch it.  

Every day  Waffle and I follow a routine for her exercise. Belgians are known to be destructive if they don’t have one and I myself saw the things that Waffle did when she don’t have exercise,  that’s why I strictly follow this routine of ours. I keep her mentally and physically exercised.  Since her drive comes from her toy “Ball,” I use it as a tool for her exercise. We always play hide and seek, wherein I will hide the ball on different  spots in the garage and her task is to find it. We also play catch, but with a little bit of a twist.  I toss the ball in the air and she will catch it, after she does she will go up to her pedestal and go down and go up again to give me the ball. The drill will end once she’s tired  because as they say “tired Belgian Malinois are Happy Belgian Malinois.”

The good thing about having a Belgian Malinois as well is that they are one of the dog breeds that have lesser health problems. They likely have a good health record compared with their other working breed counterparts, but to be sure I give Waffle vitamins  that will surely give her the nutrients that she needs.

Having Waffle in my life is such a blessing. Yes at times she tests my patience, but she definitely gives me her  100% unconditional love.  Every time she excitedly  greets  me when I go home, all the stress that I have  during the day vanishes. Walking and exercising with her is so much fun. Teaching and seeing her learning a trick makes me proud and satisfied. 

Waffle is my baby girl, my not so little baby girl that I love so much.

MA MON LUK

When it is raining and you want to savor a hot soup, there is one place that you can visit and definitely love.  Wonder what restaurant that is? The former is the famous MA MON LUK. 

Ma Mon Luk   is  the 4^th oldest Chinese restaurant in Metro Manila since 1886 and  known for their siopao or steamed pork dumplings and chicken noodle soup.  Ma Mon Luk was named after the founder of the restaurant itself, who is Ma Mon Luk.

Ma Mon Luk was born in China and was a grade school teacher at the former. It was said that he migrated to the Philippines to earn  a fortune. His famous chicken noodle soup started in the streets of Manila where he peddled it and soon became famous to students within the University belt.

The chicken noodle soup success led to the opening of his first restaurant in Binondo where he introduced his famous siopao. Even though he has his own restaurant Ma Mon Luk still peddle his chicken noodle soup, give samples of their goods and advertise his restaurant in the streets of Manila. His hard work paid off and his restaurant later on became a hit to Filipinos.

Siopao and chicken noodle soup is Ma Mon Luks specialty. The two complement each other and I definitely love them, especially during rainy season. Aside from the former and the latter I keep on coming back to this restaurant because of their  Chicken a la Ma Mon Luk, Sweet and Sour Pork and Ma Mon Luk Special Fried Rice but since this restaurant is very popular there are a lot of times that their dishes are easily sold out. So as a suggestion visits them 3 to 4 hours before their closing hour.

The Interior of the restaurant shows every visitor how popular it is. Pictures of celebrities that visited them as well as articles written about their wares  are posted on the walls. Cool stuffs like old landline phones serves as an ornament as well as a reminder that the restaurant was founded during the heydays of  Manila.

Currently Ma Mon Luk has two branches that you can visit. If you are near Quiapo you can go to their branch at 545 Quezon Boulevard Corner Raon Street, Quiapo, Manila but if you are near Quezon Avenue you can go at Quezon Avenue, Tatalon, Quezon City.

GAYUMA NI MARIA (Potion of Maria)

After a tiring day in School, all I want to do is eat, since I haven’t taken lunch yet and relax. On my way home I pass by a restaurant that absolutely took my attention because of its name.   Who would not  bother to stop and wonder what a restaurant named GAYUMA ni Maria (Love Potion of Maria) can offer and of course who will not be  curious  about the latters
 interior.

The restaurant is homey thou with a twist. It feels like home… but….. You are in your room and you are planning to seduce your hubby or wife, I guess I should blame that feeling of mine to the lighting of the restaurant, the curtains and the heart shaped paper lanterns that you can see everywhere. They also have a place where you can smoke or just enjoy the feeling of eating while you are on the veranda of your home.

Their Menu is cool!  The menu will take you back to the times when love is just about to kick off on two people.  And as Gayuma Ni Maria narrates it, the story begins with a simple Attraction (appetizer) then followed by Courtship (soup). When love is finally there, Between the Sheets (sandwiches) is hmmm… let me say a little bit expected and when the two love birds want to be with each others arms forever, Commitment (main course) will take place and Union (merienda) will happen. But not all love story can surpass the witches curse of the wicked Kabit (add ons).

The name of the dishes is also based accordingly  to the restaurant's name. Some of which are Kiss Sabay Hug,  Peek-a-boo, Me on Top, Secret Lovers  and Please be careful with my heart.

I had a little chat with one of their staff and she told me that their best sellers is Rock me Rock Baby, which is pork BBQ  that is slowly roasted in the oven,  Please be Careful with My Heart, twice baked chicken in garlic and olive oil and No Boyfriend Since Birth, pasta with shellfish and pesto and cheese blended on it.

 

Since I love pork I ordered Rock me Rock Baby. The pork BBQ comes  along with macaroni salad as a side dish. The macaroni salad has a lot of pepper that it almost tasted like creamy pepper. The pork BBQ also has a lot of pepper, but it blended perfectly with their BBQ sauce. The pork on the other hand is so tender. One of the staff told me that the pork is so tender because they put the pork first in the steamer before they place it in the oven.

The prices of their dishes is not that affordable.  It ranges from 200-600+ pesos. Rice and drinks are also on top of the dishes that you order.

Gayuma Ni Maria is located at 123 V. Luna Extension (near Maginhawa st.) Sikatuna Village, Quezon City, Philippines. They are open from  Mondays to Saturdays at10:00 am - 12:00 am and Sundays at 10:00 am - 10:00 pm. Though, according to the Father of the owner of Gayuma Ni Maria if you want to relax and enjoy your meal without a lot of the crowd, you can go to their place before lunch time. During weekend, especially at night the said restaurant in jam-packed.

Healthy Nails by Nail Craft

My feet loves to wander the hustle and bustle metro, travel the peaceful and jaw dropping scenery of the countryside, go to where the hype is, lead me to places where I can satisfy my taste buds, show me the places where I can shop unique  stuff and land me on places where I can sit, relax and calm my senses. But before my feet show you the latter, let's start by giving it a nice and relaxing treat….

First stop- NAIL CRAFT.

I was on my way to XOCOLAT in Katipunan when I saw this Nail Salon and Day Spa and upon seeing it my dear feet instead of leading me to the former, headed to the Nail Salon while murmuring that she needs to relax.

When you are looking for a place where you want to calm your senses  and forget even for an hour your errands and have your nails  perfectly done, Nail Craft is the spot.

The place is so vibrant  and cozy that once you enter the former you will forget that you are within a hectic place known as Katipunan .One problem  with their location thou, is the parking space since  2 cars can just park on their area.

The pedicure chairs are so comfortable, but what caught my attention was the water basin that is made of wood and the water outlet and  shower that is connected on  another one.

Nail technicians are friendly and they will treat your beloved feet with utmost care.

 

Another A+ to this Salon is they are using Formaldehyde-free, Toluene- free, Phthalate-free or also known as Carcinogen-free Products.  Carcinogen such as formaldehyde, toluene and Phthalate disturbs  the cellular metabolism process and exposure to it might  cause cancer.  

Carcinogen Free Products are safe for children and expecting Moms and as for Nail Craft, it is “the healthy alternative to beautiful nails.”

Photo from https://www.facebook.com/nailcraft8

Nail Craft offers manicure, pedicure, hand and  footspa  not just for adults but for kids as well. They also have waxing and threading services and you can extend your nails and eyelashes with them too.


Nail Craft is located in 172 B Gonzales St., Loyola Heights, Quezon City -beside XOCOLAT.

Relax and enjoy  healthy nails at NAIL CRAFT.