Red Mango

I'm addicted to frozen yogurt and so far Red Mango has the best frozen yogurt. The small size sells for Php80, Medium at Php115 and the large one for Php150. That is for the original flavor and you'ld have to add another Php5 for the green tea flavor. One topping costs Php20, two for Php30 and three for Php40. The only thing with Red Mango is they have a limited topping selection compared to White Hat, Iloveberries and Yoh-gurt Froz.

Red Mango is at the 3rd level of Trinoma, infront of Toys-r-us and Fitness First.

Korean Beef Stew

I first saw the receipe from jane's site. She got it from pinoycook. I have been craving for korean food and since she said it was easy to do, I tried it today.


She was correct at saying that it was easy and a must try. It was delicious! I never thought I could cook something that tasted sooo good. This was my first try in cooking and it was a success.

Here’s the recipe from the site.

Ingredients :

1 kilo of stewing beef with bones (short ribs, neck or shank), cut into serving pieces
1 whole garlic
1 whole onion
a large piece of ginger (about the size of two thumbs side by side)
3-4 chili peppers
1 bay leaf
3/4 c. of dark soy sauce
3/4 c. of white sugar
salt
12-15 stalks of sibuyas na mura (onion leaves)
1-2 tbsps. of sesame seeds

Cooking procedure :

Place the beef in a casserole. Cover with water. Place over high heat and, before the water starts to boil, remove the scum that floats on the surface. Add the whole garlic, onion, ginger, chili peppers and bay leaf. Pour in the soy sauce and stir in the sugar. Simmer gently for two hours or until the meat is very tender. If you’re using short ribs, the meat will be falling off the bones.

Halfway through the cooking, taste the broth and add salt. Do not be tempted to add more soy sauce instead of salt; otherwise, the broth will turn too dark.

While the beef simmers, toast the sesame seeds. Place them in a small frying pan and set over medium-low heat. Shake the pan often for even toasting.

Slice the onion leaves finely.

To assemble, place two to three pieces of beef in individual soup bowls. Ladle plenty of broth over them. Sprinkle with toasted sesame seeds and sliced onion leaves. Serve at once.

Good News!

Received good news today...woot! i have been feeling down the past few days because of the problems/delays we are encountering with regards to securing our authenticated marriage contract. But all that is forgotten after the good news.

im soooo excited for June!

*note to self: blog about cebu, bohol and palawan!

Cute Blogger Award

Jody left me a tag in my other blog, but just decided to do it here. Thanks, Jody!


1. Each blogger must post these rules.
2. Each blogger starts with ten random facts/habits about themselves.
3. Bloggers that are tagged need to write ten facts about themselves. You need to choose ten people to tag and list their names.

So, here are my ten, weird, random, little known facts or habits about myself.

1. I can eat just junkfood the whole day. Cheetos and Ruffle's are my favorite.

2. I loooove chocolate.

3. If i can have it my way, i can live with fried chicken everyday.

4. I've had a non-professional driver's license since 2000 but im still not driving ( I really need to practice na!).

5. Im not comfortable on wearing shoes--that is why i had to change to flipflops during our wedding reception. Im a flipflop girl!

6. I used to box at Sarreal and that's why i was so happy to see a boxing ring at the hotel gym where i had my wedding prep's (i have to go back to boxing since i have been gaining weight!).

7. I love blogging and i enjoy reading other people's blogs. Been blogging for 5 years now and have made a lot of friends too.

8. I am a graduate of BA in Business Administration major in Marketing and BS in Nursing. Im proud to say I was working and studying nursing at the same time.

9. Im currently addicted to Frozen Yogurt--Red Mango, Iloveberries, White Hat, Yoh-Gurt Froz. love them all!

10. But I love my twee the most.

Passing this tag to: Ajay, Maan, Janice, Carla , Hazel, Katherine, Suyen, Georgia, Mei, Apol

MY RP Encounter

Im a big fan of Richard Poon. Even before going solo, i have been a big fan of U-Turn already. I Was even able to watch a show they had with Side-A at bagaberde in Pasig.

It was day before the wedding and I went to Fix Salon galleria for threading. I was waiting for my turn when I saw Richard Poon walking to the counter from inside the salon. I just had to stand up and say hi to him. He said hi back and then i sat with my cousin again and told her i had a camera inside my bag and that she has to take my picture with richard poon. I approached him again on his way out of the salon and here's how our conversation went...

Macy : Can I have my picture taken with you?
RP: Sure
Macy : And I'm getting married tomorrow....Can you sing at my wedding? (kapal ko diba!)
RP: Wow, you're getting married tomorrow? Congratulations. Where is your wedding?
Macy: Blue Leaf my reception. Punta ka ha!
RP: Sosyal!
Macy: No. Im not sosyal.
*picture taking na kami
Macy: Thank you ha.
RP: Sure...tingin ako ng picture natin.
Macy: here (showed him my camera). Punta ka ha. Thanks again.
RP: You're welcome and congratulations ulit. bye.

pic taken @ fix salon Jan 5,2009

pic taken @ eastwood April 15,2008

pic taken @ bagaberde August 15,2004

Valentine's Day

Everyday is valentine's day but my honey made sure to make it extra special. Before he left, he left a gift for me to open on valentine's day.

love you so much, baby! hope you liked my gift too *wink*.

One Month

Yup, we have been married for a month now. I have promised myself i will have my suppliers rating ready on our first month of marriage, and finally here it is. I think i still lack a few things but this should do for now.

I do miss the preps i admit, but not the stress that came with it. I love how our wedding turned out. It was a celebration! Not everything went well according to plan but it was still an AWESOME day. I have more pictures posted at my multiply account. Add me up as the pictures are for friends only.

The suppliers rating is something i owe my co-w@wies. I hope this helps you guys as you prepare for your wedding day. Something I have learned from all of this is it's not important on who you get as suppliers for you wedding, it's how you (the couple) make this day special.

I still owe everyone my wedding day kwento. Happy reading and happy preps! :)

HMUA

Bride's Make-up : Mica Tuano (PreNup & Wedding Day)
Bride's Hair : Sherlyn Talactac (PreNup & Wedding Day)
HMUA for family members, ento, etc : Sherlyn Talactac, Ms. Rose (from watercolors) & Mike (from david's salon)
Contact numbers: Please PM me.
Peso Power: Priceless!
Rating: 10+++

Prenup Make-up

Mica made me beautiful on my wedding day, enough said. Same goes with the PreNup and she was my assistant and back-up photographer on that day too. She's been doing HMUA for wedding, commercials, events atbp. While she does make-up, It's Sherlyn (trained under frank provost) who does the hair. She did make-up for a lot of my family members too. Ms. Rose is a friend of my Aunt who we hired to help out and then I asked Mike (from davids) to help out with the Hair-do. They all did great! Take note, wala ako picture of what i wanted for my hair. I just told Sherlyn that i didn't want a tight hair-do.

I got them all at a special rate so just let me know if anyone is interested to get them so I can refer you to them. You can visit mica's website for her portfolio.

Back-up Photographer: Atty. Raymond Fortun

Contact Number: PM me
Peso Power: Php5,000
Rating: 10

We had so much fun shooting with Atty. Fortun. My kwela family had fun posing for him and he had fun posing with everybody as well. Super bait, quiet at work but very dedicated to what he is doing. We booked him mga 3 weeks before the wedding and I even thought I won't have a back-up photographer na because it was not really part of the budget. My mom then asked me if I want, she'll ask our trusted photographer Mang Domeng to take pictures during the wedding. Not that I don't like Mang Domeng, but mas madami na new photographers and his style was really old school. I told my mom about Atty Fortun and she said yes.

I requested him to go early since the call time of the smartshot team is at 1PM, and he arrived early talaga. He brought with him an apprentice so i had 5 photographers in all. Night before he informed me about the apprentice and told me not to worry about her as he'll take care of her food. But since i did order extra, I told him not to worry anymore and that it's ok for him to bring her along.

He worked behind the Smartshot team but he got equally cool photos. He was able to post photos immediately which was nice since a lot of relatives and friends abroad got to view the pictures a day after the wedding pa lang.

OTD Coordination: Fab Occasion

Contact Number: 09176032211
Contact Person: Camille Yamio
Peso Power: Php15,000
Rating: 9.75

Camille and her team were great. They truly made my wedding hassle free. I'm glad I got her as coordinator when my other preferred coordinator was no longer available (hi, jody!), i started checking with other coordinators na. The only one I met out of all I called was camille. When I met up with her, my parents were with me and my parents liked her too.

During the preps, their were times I'ld call/text/email her and she would not always reply. Understandable naman kasi i'm not the only client and for me no fuss naman yun. On the day of the wedding, they were super early and immediately started working. Even very much pregnant na si camille, you won't see her just sitting down or delegating lang to other coords. The team that was assigned sa church got there late due to traffic but that was ok. The coordinator assigned to me was super alaga din talaga. At one time I was having pictorials sa pool side ng hotel and she had to check my train sa room. She gave me instructions not to leave or go with the photogs without her and to just wait doon, teehee!

Everything was very organized and we have been getting the same reviews from guests. Two thumbs up talaga for the whole team.

Reception Host: Len Oliver

For contact info just message me.
Peso Power : Priceless!
Rating: 10+++
Len Oliver aka DJ Billie, a former w@wie herself and a blogger friend. We have met through our blogs. She has hosted a w@w Christmas party already and tons of events. I never even looked for any other person to host our reception party. When I messaged her about it, she was more than happy to do so. We met up twice, the second one a few days before Christmas with Camille. She helped a lot with the program and with what games we are to play.

She is really good and it's really nice to get a host who somewhat knows you. Even if we only got to meet personally during the planning of the wedding, since we have been blogger friends for so long parang magkakilala na din talaga kami ng super tagal. I'm super happy for getting Len to host our reception program.

Shoes: Abbylyn Shoes and Bags

Contact number: 911-2274
Peso Power: Php1,050.
Rating: 7


I got my shoes in one week so that's really good service. I gave them a good size of the cloth of my gown and just picked a really simple design. no beadwork na din as it's amonn who'll do beadwork on my shoes. The shoes was ok lang. I was expecting that they give it to me at a lesser rate since i provided for the cloth naman but that's ok.

I wore my shoes up to the church ceremony only. Inside the car, I took them off at hindi ko na talaga kaya mag shoes. Im really not used to wearing shoes plus what I thought was really comfortable shoe are turns out to be not so comfortable pala.

Bridal SUV: Elegance

Contact Number: 0918-9282002
Contact Person: Ms. Cristina
Inclusions: We agreed that they will pick me up from my hotel, bring me to church and then reception. Walang specific number of hours.
Peso Power: Php5,000
Rating: 10++

Bridal cars are expensive. I wanted an SUV for my bridal car even if I have been getting a lot of comments that I might have a hard time going up the car in my gown. This supplier i found through the w@w yellow pages. At first I didn't want to inquire kasi range rover, baka expensive. But when Ate Cristina texted me back, within budget pala.

I met up with her at Boni High and when I saw the car, i knew i found my bridal car. It has hydraulics too! What made it really cool was that my driver for the day was Ate Cristina, the owner mismo. When I met up with her, it was her husband driving but I think the husband is not available on the day of the wedding kaya si Ate Cristina ang driver. They dont't let a driver drive their car. Weeks before the wedding, she'ld always text me to remind me to let her know on when namin gusto mag practice. yup, may ganun. from hotel to church to reception venue. For me, kahit wala na nun but they were insistent. It was really cool to have her around on the day of the wedding.. She kept me calm and super chika lang kami sa loob ng car.

When we got to blueleaf, her husband and kid were there waiting for her too (they live in alabang). After our introduction nung reception program, I was asked by my coord kung nasaan ang bouquet ko. Naku! i left it sa bridal SUV. We had to borrow the bouquet of my mom during the picture taking. Ate Cristina naman saw it when she got home and she rushed back to blueleaf. Super bait. She is one of the first suppliers to text me and congratulate us after the wedding.

If your like me who wants a different car for your wedding day, I highly recommend Elegance.

flowers: Sonny's Flowershop

c/o my mom
Peso Power: 6K
Inclusions: Bridal bouquet, 1 bouquet for mother of the bride, 5 bouquets for the ninangs, 2 for maid of honor, 3 for bridesmaid, 3 for secondary sponsor, 2 for flowergirl.
Rating: 9

Early pa lang sa preps, my mom said she'll take care of the flowers. Since I don't want her to feel I don't appreciate her help, I agreed to it. My mom knows a lot of florist and the florist who did our entourage flowers did also my cousins wedding, our flowers ng debut and almost all the functions sa office ng mom ko.

My bouquet was super heavy. I never thought it was going to be that heavy. Everybody who tried carrying it said the same thing. I really wanted white roses and nasunod naman. With the entourage, kahit ano na lang. My instructions sa mom ko with the flowergirl was pomander. Yun ang hindi nasunod. I didn't want to stress out and dahil hindi naman kami ang nagbayad, ok na din. The flowers naman were all nice so that was enough. I gave them ribbons to use para uniform kami sa lahat ng color and that's what they used and even returned the ribbon na hindi nagamit.

Photobooth: PartyPics Live

Contact Number: 09228231721/5272711
Contact Person: Nadia
Peso Power: Php10,000
Inclusions: 3 hours of service, unlimited 4R prints, customized picture layout, customized backdrop, free use of props, DVD gallery as proofs, Online photo gallery
Rating: 10
Everybody loved the photobooth! Nadia is a darling. Just met up with her once and then all the other times we would just call each other or text. We were only able to give her our backdrop design, Jan 2. Jan 4 ko lang na send ang picture for the layout. Jan 5, she texted me that she sent me the layout. I didn't have time to check with it so it was Dino who took care of it. I think he requested for some changes but everything was followed kahit na night before the wedding na. I don't even know if they really just operated for 3 hours kasi feeling ko longer pa.

Gallery is available here.

Wedding Rings: Matus

Contact Number: 09189021154
Contact Person: Allain
Peso Power:Php 43,800 less 15%=Php37,230
Inclusions: Wedding Ring with free: diamond inside, mock rings and silver unity coins
Rating: 10++

Dino & I decided that we just want simple rings, not much bling. We both wanted rings that we could wear everyday. We loved a design they had at Tiffany's and when i saw the same design during a matus bridal exhibit, I knew I found the one. I saw simillar designs with other suppliers but the rings from matus seemed heavier and Allain was super nice. Actually, everyone over at Matus is bait. Other than our rings, they gave us a lot of freebies *weebee*!

Entourage Barong: EAS Bridal & Barong Shoppe

Contact number: 2510443/ 09189356420
Contact Person: Tita Sol
Peso Power Php 12,000
Inclusions: 10 Barong Tagalog, 2 Barong Tagalog for kids, 12 Inner Shirts, Hanger & Plastic for each barong, tiarra's for the FG.
Rating: 8

This supplier I got from Edz (thank you!). I had 2 trips to divisoria already before meeting Tita Sol. My mom and I even considered getting the barongs from kamuning but after I read Edz's post about them, I went again with my mom and dad.

Tita Sol is easy to deal with. We immediately picked the patterns for the barong. One of the barong tagalog's I got was for a ninong so his was a Pina Callado, all the rest were Pina Jusi. I was very particular that the bestmen would have the same pattern, same with the groomsmen and secondary sponsors. After 2 weeks, I got a call that the barongs were ready for pick up already. To my disappointment, the barongs for the bestmen and groomsmen were not of the same pattern. I don't know what happened and Tita Sol can't explain either but they did offer to change it. They did and called me back a week after.

All the measurements were just sent to me via email and i just told them that the measurements were exact and that they just need to make adjustments as barong is not to be fitting. Only one bestman who arrived 2 days before the wedding had his barong altered, but he had it done in an alteration shop at galleria. All the other barongs were perfect fit.

Gown & Barong : Amonn Velasco

Contact number: 09175751604
Contact person: Amonn and Danica
Peso Power: Php50,000
Inclusions: Bridal gown, bag, veil, 2 pillows, garter, cord
Groom's Barong - Pina Orig
Father of the Groom Barong
Mother of the Bride Gown
1 Principal Sponsor Gown
2 Maid of Honor Gown
2 Bridesmaid Gown
3 Secondary Sponsor Gown
2 Flower Girl Gown
Rating: 8

I honestly didn't want to spend that much for my gown. My reasoning is, I only get to wear it once. After the wedding, wala naman na so feeling ko sayang ang pera. I was willing to find a supplier in divisoria but none of those I met really impressed me. I went to a couple other suppliers like Noe Reyes and Bridal Factory. I was suppose to get Noe but it took him 2 weeks to provide me with the initial sketch of the gown tapos my mom was not really impressed by his work. With Bridal Factory naman, the quote given was higher of that than Amonn's pero feeling namin parang we would get a better deal with Amonn kaya we booked him. Amonn has his share of very bad rating at w@w. All this came out after I have booked him. Pero, I have this attitude of thinking positive and trusting my suppliers kaya I went ahead with my transactions with him. Plus the fact that I NEVER had a bad experience with Amonn. Most of our visits sa shop nya, we would have to wait talaga kasi dami customers.

Most of my ento are based abroad kaya email lang ang measurements. Only 2 of my ento, my mom and i ang sinukatan talaga ni Amonn. Unlike all other brides, I only had 1 fitting of my Gown and that was a month before the wedding na ata. If your a bride na gusto mo lagi fitting ang gown, hindi ka for amonn. The next time i fitted my gown, 3 days before the wedding na. To be honest, it did cross my mind na matatapos kaya ang gown ko considering i booked him August. But since his dealings with me are all nice and he would always send me assuring messages everytime I'ld text him, I knew that he would deliver well. Major stress pa that one Secondary Sponsor backed out 2 weeks before the wedding. I had to find a replacement who was atleast as big as her. Problem pa that the cut for her gown was empire since she was preggy. Dito ko din talaga na stress ng todo si Amonn. Good thing that one of my cousins was a perfect replacement.

Most of my entourage had adjustments sa gown nila. Depends din talaga kasi on who did the measurement abroad. Pero after the initial fitting ng Jan 2, we were all able to get the gowns by Jan 4. Not at all bad. In 2 days natapos lahat ng adjustment and beadwork. I think major problem lang was one Secondary Sponsor who's gown was super sikip sa bust area. We all know that it's easier magsikip ng gown that magluwag. Dino had his barong measurements when he arrived Dec 21. With barong's naman it's easy to make so we just waited for him to get here to be measured kasi I want a perfect fit for his barong.

I love my gown and everybody says na maganda talaga sya. I never expected it to be like that but it turned out to be really nice. Same goes with my mom's and ento gowns. Both Dino and my Dad loved their barong. Included with the barongs are their pants.

Both Amonn and Danica (his assistant) went to the hotel for the preps. They arrived medyo late which stressed out a lot of people since they had with them the mannequin and they still had to iron my gown. Ako, deadma. teehee. They helped us out a lot during the preps and super assist din sila during my pictorials, in preparation for my march and before the reception.