Got an exclusive VIP invite to Iza Calzado's Beauty Talk that was held at the Pond's Institute Pop up Store at BGC on May 21.

Iza was a sight in white and gave a fun and informative talk about the secret to her beautiful skin, the Pond's Age Miracle line. 

She gave the attending Pond's girls a breakdown of her skin regimen:

First, CLEANSE with Pond's Age Miracle Cell ReGen Facial Foam, MOISTURIZE with Pond's Age Miracle Day Cream with SPF 15, TREAT the delicate skin around your eyes with Pond's Age Miracle Eye Cream and lastly CONCEAL skin imperfections with Pond's Age Miracle BB Cream.

Iza also gave us a tour of the Pond's Institute.

First, you have to register at the counter.

Next, you will use the Skin Analyzer to find out the biggest problems of your skin. It will give the stats of your pores, wrinkles, UV Acne, UV Spots, Roughness, Spots ans Sensitivity.

Next, you will be brought to the product recommendation area where the Ponds Skin Expert will recommend the best product to suit your skin problems.

Next, you can try out the product at the product demo station. Iza looked for a volunteer and she picked me! :D

Lastly, you can buy the product that you want at the counter. ^_~

Iza was so nice. ^_^

Me and Iza Calzado after the Beauty Talk of Pond's

Also got a free goodie bag of Pond's products from the Pond's Team.

After the talk, I tried the Skin Analyzer for myself. The results show that my pores are huge and my wrinkles are going out of hand. Well, I didn't really need a skin analyzer for that but thanks to MJ, the Skin Expert who assisted me, I found that I can use a serum to help minimize the size of my pores and a cream to moisturize my skin and help repair the wrinkles. 

Good thing the goodie bag already covered these things! I got a Pond's Dewy Rose Gel Moisturizer, Pond's Age Miracle Facial Foam, and a Pond's Age Miracle Serum. 

It was a pretty awesome day for Pond's Girls. I'm definitely looking forward to the next event! ^_^

Thanks to the Pond's Team for the invite and the free goodies!

Uber Manila is trying out a new vehicle class this January, and they're calling it UberHOP.

UberHOP is almost similar to Uberpool in the US. Uberpool is where one or two riders can book the same uber car. Then as long as they are going in roughly the same direction and they'll split the cost of the fare. For UberHOP, the main difference is that there can be up to 6 total riders and each rider must have their own Uber account. If you want to bring a friend, you'll have to get them to sign up with Uber and request for the same trip. :)

The idea is pretty simple. Here's how it works:

The app will group riders coming from the same origin and who are going to the same destination.
Each rider needs to walk to the suggested meet up spot
The fare is flat: each rider will pay P75
The driver will only wait the scheduled time provided in the app
You won’t be able to contact your driver to make alternative arrangements

Just watch the GIF below and you'll see how it works ideally:

Imagine it like a super expensive Jeepney ride limited to just 6 passengers.

I think this should be a great way to help lessen traffic, by having up to 6 riders take 1 car as long as they're going to the same location.

Noticed a few issues right off the bat tho:

You won't be able to contact the driver. Which means, the driver will be the one contacting each rider. Imagine having to wait for 5 other strangers to show up. That's going to waste some time.

There is a suggested meet up spot. Good luck with finding the driver/ubercar if you can't contact him.

You'll be riding the UberHOP with strangers. Yes, you also ride with strangers when you ride a bus or a jeepney but that beats the point of getting an Uber ride. The slogan says "Your private driver". You can't call it private anymore.

Limited availability, Makati Only. Is the area limitation, based on the GPS of the app or the discretion of the driver? Or are there predetermined pickup or drop off points in the city? There should be more information about this, I think.

That's that. I do hope they have plans in the future for people going north bound or south bound along EDSA.

Here's when it'll be available:

WHEN: Weekdays (excluding non-working holidays) between 6-10AM and 4-9PM
WHERE: Using real rider data, uberHOP is able to determine the locations where rider demand is high. uberHOP is currently available within Makati and BGC.
PRICING: Introductory flat fare of PHP 75

If you want to try out UberHOP, there will be free rides from January 25 to 29!

All photos from Uber Manila's Blog: https://newsroom.uber.com/manila/uberhopmnl/

This is supposed to be another Wonderful Weekend Adventure post. But I'm afraid it wasn't as wonderful as I'd planned. Sad face.

Vyne is a modern bar and resto found on the 8th floor of W Global Building in BGC. If you've partied at Hyve before, Vyne is just right across it. This is the resto that people can grab a classy and expensive dinner before blowing the rest of their cash at Hyve afterwards.

Before going to the resto, we went to SM Aura first for the Blogapalooza event. I think, I'll write a blog post about that in the distant future.

This is me and my sister just posing in front of the fountain at Serendra. 

So first things first, why are we even at the resto? Well it's all thanks to Deal Grocer. I got a voucher from them worth P1000 for around P600. I bought two vouchers and got P2000 worth for just P1200. So it's a 40% discount, not bad right?  But the food was really pricey, so we only got to try four food items plus drinks.

Me and sis have to take a selfie of course. :D

We're not hipsters but yes, we like taking photos before we eat. Problem? ;D

Oh, just wanted to point out that all the Tapas (Appetizers) were served on a piece of slate instead of on a plate. It's so cool!  

First Tapas: Sisig Empanada P250

When we were done taking our photos and selfies, that's when we started eating. We ate the Sisig Empanada first. That was glorious. It was hot savory, the crust was flaky and soft. And I loved the filling so so much. That was the best thing I've eaten ever. well of course at that time, I was also quite hungry then. You can dip it in the vinegar or in you can put some of the sauce on the slate. But wether you dip it or not it's awesome all the same. Just one small complaint is that there is only 5 pcs on the plate.

Second Tapas: Beef Wellington Burger Sliders P495

The next one we ate was the Beef Wellington Burger Sliders. Those were okay. It's just three small pieces of mini burgers. I wasn't too happy with that fact. But they tasted okay. Juicy and flavorful all the same, but the bread layer is a little hard. Might be because they made it in Wellington style. So yeah, needs some improvement.

Third Tapas: Korean Fried Chicken P380

The next thing we tried was the Korean Fried Chicken. These were pretty good. On the plate were 6 pieces of wings (or 3 whole wings) that were deep fried and coated with a sweet glaze and  sprinkled with sesame seeds. They tasted okay and the dip was pretty good too, but gawd the serving size is small.

Our drinks: Lychee Martini P280 and Maitai P220

The drinks were delish too. I loved my Maitai. It was sweet and fruity and oh so alcoholic! XD My sister chose the Lychee Martini, but she wasn't too happy with her choice. haha. I'm glad the waiter knew the drinks menu well enough to recommend a decent drink to me.

Now on to the last part of our meal. the main dish. This was supposed to be the best thing from the items we ordered because it's a friggin MAIN DISH! Like a Main Event in a boxing match, every other fight is not even worth watching, you're there to see the Main Event.

But this Main dish was a serious disappointment. *Sigh*

Main Dish: Chicken Roulade P420

At first look, the chicken roulade looked pretty good. It was served on a large white plate this time and had swipes of sauces on it and mashed potatoes as base. You gotta admit it looked like a pretty darn good dish. I'd like to think that the Chef of this resto is quite proud of their presentation of each dish. And I totally agree. The presentation is amazing. But you have to have decent ingredients. And this one didn't.

Here's the thing, I know what old chicken smells like. I've stocked chicken as well and forgot to cook it until weeks later. When I actually cooked it (Well not me, my sister did) it smelled bad and this dish smelled way worse. Chicken Roulade is basically chicken breast that is rolled with cheese and then baked, not fried. And baking doesn't hide the smell of old chicken at all. I'm also thinking that the old stock of chicken used in the Korean Fried Chicken is the same stock of chicken used for the roulade. But since the KFC was DEEP FRIED, the old chicken smell and taste was totally masked. Therefore it was delicious.

Another thing to note is that the chicken looked raw. It looked raw and gross and disgusting and I didn't want to eat it at all.

Gross looking Chicken Roulade

I told the waiter that the chicken was gross and looks raw. And they said it was fine and that it's cooked properly. So I just thought "I guess, they don't accept returns?"

Raw looking Chicken Roulade

What started as a pretty good night out ended a bit awkwardly. I wasn't hoping for a refund or anything but I was hoping they'd use fresh chicken or otherwise warn people not to get Chicken Roulade. Oh well. *Shaking head*

I left them the feedback that the chicken wasn't fresh, and they were like "Thanks." That's it. :(
Aren't you going to do anything about it? You're just gonna keep using old chicken aren't you?

Overall, I think Vyne is Okay. The place looks fantastic and it can be a cool hangout for friends. The service is quick. I quite liked the drinks we ordered and the food is okay too, but if the ingredient isn't fresh, I'd rather not order it. Another complaint is that this place has a very small serving size of the food. And this is common throughout all the items we ordered. I guess you're paying for the presentation. But yeah, if you ask me if I'm going back to this place, Hell No. The food is too pricey and I'd rather just cook my own chicken roulade at home than pay almost 500 for old stock chicken roulade.

Vyne
Eight Floor, W Global Center,
9th Avenue Corner 30th Street,
Bonifacio Global City,
Taguig City

Food Explorers: +Ana Carla Pagulayan +Ma.Elissa Pagulayan

Visited: October 2014

For this Weekend Adventure, the Food Explorers visit Marmalade Kitchen in The Forum @ BGC.

This is probably the 3rd time we went to The Forum to eat at a resto. Which is awesome. Just shows how many restaurants there are in the place. I've counted at least 8 restos, well including Mcdonald's. :)

Marmalade Kitchen is on the second floor of Forum. It's cutesy cafe/resto that has a lot of quirky deco..

 There are also a lot of food items for sale on display.

While waiting for our order, we took some more selfies.

Their menu had soups, pasta, sandwiches, and best of all cakes! For drinks you can go for their healthy smoothies or you can choose from their coffees.

Grilled Eggplant and Mozzarella with Pesto Spread on Focaccia Bread

Southern Spicy Wings and rice

Freshly pressed juice

 Green Apple, Celery and Spinach Juice. (I just wanted to try their fresh pressed juice, and the waitress said it was one of their best sellers but when I tasted it...)Eeewwllllcghhgggg 

Fallen chocolate cake and vanilla ice cream topping

The spicy chicken wings were not that spicy nor were they any good. The fresh juice was just awful I absolutely hated it. But thankfully the Eggplant Parmesan sandwich and the Fallen cake was awesome. So overall in the four items we ordered, only half taste good. The other half were not that good. Well for me and my sister at least. You'll have to try the food yourself, but you reaaally have to try the eggplant parmesan sandwich! :D

I guess, the place is an okay spot to grab a nice snack. I also noticed some groups just buying coffee and pastries. So it's a pretty cool place to hangout in. The service is quick, the crew was friendly and accommodating. It's just that the food is hit or miss. Will come back for the Eggplant Parm and the Fallen cake. :)

Marmalade Kitchen
The Forum,
7th Avenue Corner Federacion Drive,  
Bonifacio Global City, Taguig City
02 6229196


Explorers: +Ana Carla Pagulayan +Ma.Elissa Pagulayan
Visited: February 23, 2014

Going to Ristras on December 28 is one of those things that can't be helped. I got the voucher from Deal Grocer and it was supposed to be redeemed well until the end of February 2014. But due to some unknown reason, the restaurant has to close down and the last day to claim the voucher is on December 31st. And since the last Saturday of the year is December 28, that's when we went there.

Ristras was in Fairway Tower along 5th Avenue. It's actually something I used to pass by everytime we go to BGC because it's on the corner left side when the BGC bus officially enters the BGC area.

We got there on a nice and windy afternoon and we just walked from the "closest" bus stop. So we were a bit tired and hungry. The place looks nice, but empty. No customers in sight. No wonder it's closing down.

Since only the staff is around we took some more photos before we ordered.

We ordered a Wet Chilli con Carne Quesadilla and Soft Tacos. :)

The aircon inside was also faulty, so it was quite warm. We chose to sit outside where it's cool and windy.

The food was delicious. The soft taco was filled tons of lettuce, onions, tomatoes, and cheese. The meat inside was juicy. I think we ordered the soft taco with pork. haha I'm not sure what else was inside the taco, but I know I felt very satisfied after finishing off the meal. We ate everything and we were really full afterwards.

 Explorers: +Ana Carla Pagulayan +Ma.Elissa Pagulayan

Makes me sad that Ristras is closed now.
Ristras closed on December 31, 2013.

For this Weekend Adventure, the explorers traveled to BGC to try the food at Suzhou Eastern Chinese Cuisine.

Suzhou is located on the second floor of the Crossroads building which is just a few meters away from Mercato Centrale. There were a lot of people around when we went there. :) We used Uber to get to the place since it's more efficient. If you haven't tried Uber yet use this link to register and get free 200 peso credits: https://get.uber.com/invite/uberlibre200

When we got there, we took several pictures outside first. :)

Thanks to +Deal Grocer, we got to eat there at a discount.

Once inside, since we made a reservation, we got to sit in a booth which is like a VIP section. It has red curtains to partition each booth from the other, and you sit on a red sofa. Reminds me of Petshop of Horrors somehow. :) And you can close the curtains if you want more privacy. But we didn't do that of course, what for? The design of the place is pretty cool :D

Me and my sister, groufie using the front cam of my S4

Me and my sister, taken with the rear cam of the s4. There's a huge difference in the quality of the the front cam pics and the rear cam pics. haha

Bingotsky

We ordered a few things from their menu:

House Tea

Sour and Spicy Soup P180

Special Xiao Long Bao P125

Sweet and Sour Pork P275

Pork and Vegetables Fried Rice P180, Good for 3

Everything we ordered, except the chicken which was somehow forgotten after we tasted the xiao long bao. bwahaha

They gave us hot house tea while we waited for the food to be cooked. But the wait wasn't too long, In just 10 minutes we got our soup, then a few minutes later the rice, sweet and sour pork, and the xiao long bao. The last thing to arrive was the fried chicken.

The servers were very attentive and you don't have to wave around aimlessly for several minutes just for one of them to notice you, which is great.

The best parts of the meal were the Xiao Long Bao and the Spicy Fried Chicken. The xiao long bao was big and juicy. The sauce really brings out the flavor too. And the chicken? Oh boy, the chicken was fried with a ton of garlic and red hot chilli peppers and it came out absolutely delish! The servings are more than enough for all three of us. Take note that my brother has the appetite of two people and we still had some leftovers for takeout. :)

Pros:
Delicious food: Awesome Xiao Long Bao
Big Servings
Attentive Staff
Quick Service
Good Location, near Mercato and High Street

Cons:
Not all of the food is good: Sour and Spicy Soup was awful

Overall: Great
The price is fairly affordable and the food is delicious. Worth a try!

Suzhou Eastern Chinese Cuisine
Bonifacio Global City
2/F Crossroads Complex, 32nd St
Fort Bonifacio, Taguig
(02) 551-1680

Explorers: +Ana Carla Pagulayan +Ma.Elissa Pagulayan +Renz Pagulayan
Visited January 10, 2015