Rurok ng Ikapitong Gloria (tagalog for Orgasmic)

I just discovered something recently since I started doing this blog, It seems that most major events in my life have revolved around food. Not just your ordinary, run of the mill food, but sinfully decadent & utterly scandalous GOOD FOOD!!! We were 9 very blessed individuals who got to be invited to savor the cooking & enjoy the great company of Bonbon & Loy Jimenez at their home. A few days before, Loy emailed us & we were each assigned to bring something to the dinner party, vinaigrette from the Goldmans, bread from Jigs, dessert from Melanie, chocolates from Sockie and some bubbly from Jackie. I was really looking forward to Sunday all week long, I even skipped the Nights of Fine Wine & Dining at the Mandarin on Friday since I had a feeling I would be over indulging myself on Sunday. D-day finally arrives, I met up with Jackie at her place & we proceeded to Terry's in Makati where Jackie bought this huge bottle of champagne. We also got 2 kinds of pate (pork leg & foie gras) with crackers & some chocolates & this lovely garlic appetizer that was recommended by the manager. We got to the Jimenez home by 5:30pm (invites said sunset), and were the first to arrive, but that did not stop us from starting on the pate's and garlic which we devoured with gusto, Loy also prepared a yummy spread made with tinapa & cream cheese that was also very very good. I did not even notice what time it was before Jigs & the Goldmans arrived, meanwhile Loy & Bonbon were busy preparing the evenings main meal, the heavenly smell of foie gras was already penetrating our senses. So finally we eat. What can I say... the "Almost Millionaire's Salad" (salad greens, fresh pan fried scallops,lobster, grapes & foie gras) was truly fantastic as most of us thought, Bonbon's foie gras skills were truly world class, the best part was we could even have seconds! Next we had the Penne pasta which Loy had tossed with Truffle oil before adding the mushroom & blue cheese sauce- recipe courtesy of Melanie (I proudly admit that I was able to bring the leftovers home hahaha), then for someone who doesn't really like fish I really enjoyed the Baked Tilapia fillet with lemon, olive oil & capers - the fish was cooked perfectly! Loy also surprised us with this Caviar Pie which she had ordered from a lady in Forbes, it was so good!! I did not know how I was going to make room for dessert. Lemon Sponge Cake with Whipped Cream frosting and HOMEMADE Strawberry Ice Cream on the side courtesy of the Dessert Goddess Melanie was our special dessert for the evening! Everyone was in such high spirits especially with the lovely champagne that we had to go with the magnificent meal, it was orgasmic bliss from beginning till end! Click here for more pics!

Here's Judy savoring Caviar Pie, need I say more?!

Vanity Fair

I went out and did all these girlie things today. I was out of the house by 9:30 AM and headed to my dermatologist for "diamond peeling" (talk about vanity huh!)on my face. After that I had lunch with Levs & Mel and since I had time to kill before my 3PM appointment with Eric Pineda, I decided to go & have my hair cut at Piandre. I love going to the hair salon on a weekday, I was the only customer there so I enjoyed full service & attention plus the best thing is NO WAITING! It was truly a vainly productive day. I should do it more often.

Having my eyebrow waxed courtesy of Vina

Having my haircut by Ahbii of Piandre

Having my hair rinsed after the cut

Blow dry & styling by Jolina of Piandre

The New Greek Goddess!

I was finally in the mood to start tackling my bridesmaids dress for atsi's wedding. I took the day off from work & met up with Eric today at his house/shop in Quezon City. Eric was in his usual accomodating & welcoming self, I was actually 30 mins. early for our appointment, I kind of had the feeling that he would be there already, he is a true professional. We immediately tackled the most important issue of the dress, which would be the color. Since I was the one who would basically carry the color scheme of the wedding, I felt that it was important for me to really work just within that colors my sister had chosen. So I was so lucky when eric's assistant brought out swads of this silk chiffon that was exactly the color of atsi's wedding - burgundy & gold, with gold being the dominant color. The material was just perfect for a Hawaiian garden wedding. Next came the design, I don't know why the one shouldered gown kept sticking to my mind, I mentioned this to Eric & he readily agreed that it would suit my body type & would also work beautifully with the material, so on he went designing my gown. Any thoughts?

Famous designer Eric Pineda sketching my bridesmaid dress

Here is the preliminary sketch of my one-shoulder gown

Foie Gras Overload

When Jackie called me to say that Mandarin Oriental's Tivoli was having it's annual Foie Gras Festival, I'm pretty sure she knew I would immediately say yes to trying out this years offering, I really love this very sinful yet delicious delicacy. Bon Bon & Loy Jimenez, close friends of Jackie and fellow Foie Gras fans also joined us last Saturday night. This years event was also joined by the mushroom festival, which is also celebrated annually. For starters we all had Millionaire's salad, with a name like this you knew that you were in for something special, aside from lovely fresh greens, there was also lobster, scallops & a generous piece of pan fried goose liver all tossed in a light vinaigrette dressing (Really really good!). Since Jackie & I were sharing the salad, I opted to order the soup, capuccino of morels with sesame encrusted foie gras, this was the first time I had ever tried morels which are considered to be among the most prized of the wild mushrooms and frankly speaking it tasted just like ordinary button mushrooms to me (hahaha), the soup was very flavorful but I was disappointed with the sesame/foie gras combination that was served on the side, It just did not work for me at all, the sesame was too overpowering for the delicate taste of the liver, you couldn't even tell what you were eating anymore. For our main course, Jackie ordered the Rabbit stuffed with Polenta & Mushrooms (also my first time to have rabbit - tasted like chicken),Loy & Bon Bon both had steak, while I the fanatic opted for the Pan fried Duck Liver. I wanted to see the difference in taste between the goose & duck liver. I am no food expert but after my first taste I found that duck liver isn't as rich & intense & has a milder flavor compared to that of goose liver. People who aren't accustomed to the taste of foie gras will probably like duck liver more. We ended our meal with complimentary chocolate truffles from the super nice & friendly Tivoli staff. The shock of the night though was when the bill came & we saw that they charged us Php 260.00 for my glass of hot calamansi juice. At todays market price of 20 pesos per kilo, I could buy 13 kilos wortrh of calamansi with what we were charged with. I could have supplied a whole battalion with calamansi juice at that rate!!!

The Millionaire's Salad

Close up of my pan fried duck liver

Rabbit stuffed with polenta and mushrooms

Cappuccino of morels with sesame encrusted foie gras

LUSHious soap

I ran out of my favorite soap a few weeks back & for some reason couldn't seem to make it to the mall. So when Jackie said she had to pick up some requests for her niece Tintin (who lives in Cag de Oro) at LUSH before we could head off to our dinner at Mandarin, it was like music to my ears. I generally buy only 2 products at LUSH, the Demon in the Dark soap - it's sharp peppermint scent gives me that boost I need to wake me up during my morning shower & the Trachomania shampoo (comes in bar form & is great for travelling) which is actually meant for people with dry hair but it smells so much like hawaiian tropic suntan lotion that I couldn't resist using it, it's a scent that instantly transforms me to the beach.

Bridget Jones 2 "Edge of Reason"

Finally! The release date of the new Bridget Jones movie "Edge of Reason" has been announced - November 19 (at least for North America). I'm so excited. Although I don't know if the movie will have a world premiere, if not then I may have to wait a little bit longer before it gets here. I just saw the trailer at Yahoo Movies and it's hilarious. Renee actually looked like she gained more weight for this sequel. Yehey! There was even a scene in the movie wherein she talks about not eating carbs! Sounds so familiar! Colin Firth (my favorite Mr. Darcy) still looks as yummy as ever! Hahaha!

Hi I'm Janice and I'm a Chocaholic!

It seems that the older I get the more obsessed I am about chocolate. Just recently my dear friend Elena who now lives Down Under sent me a can of these lovely chocolates from Ballantynes. I have been digging into it almost everyday as soon as I come home from work, and I'm about halfway done (Yes, I'm a PIG!). The chocolates come in different flavors, theres dark, milk & white (which I have been setting aside for Christiane)and they all have nuts in them. I never used to like nuts in my chocolate but it seems that I have been learning to like them more and more, although nothing beats just plain dark chocolate. I have this one super favorite chocolate that I can only seem to buy at Singapore's Changi Airport, it's a Nestle Finest Swiss Chocolate - Dark Chocolate Bar. It comes in only one size 400 grams (that's almost half a kilo or a pound of chocolate) and I'm not complaining, the bigger the better. Anyone planning to go to Singapore?

The pen gives you an idea on how huge that bar of chocolate is.