My first muffins: Boracay Calamansi Muffins

I have always wanted to make muffins for myself and since my husband got me an oven - I can now make my dreams turn into reality. hahaha

My husband bought a convection oven for my birthday, you can read about it here. But I can't start yet, I have to find the perfect muffin/cupcake pans that would fit my cute oven. I finally found one in Landmark Makati - it was a myKitchen 12 cup muffin flower pan which costs Php200+ each.

My friend also gave me a EuroPro 12 cup muffin pan and cookie tray but unfortunately the muffin pan was too small and the cookie tray was too big. My husband was able to make alterations to the muffin pan, he bended both sides a little bit and voila! it now fits. My husband is really so supportive. (",)

Anyways, we recently just went to Boracay and we tried the famous Real Coffee Calamansi muffins and it was delightful and I would love to be able to do one for myself. So after searching the

How to Apply for Philippine Passport

Did you know that you can now apply for your Philippine passports in malls? If this is your first time hearing this then read on.

Getting a Passport is now made easier and more accessible as we can now schedule for an appointment online and make our personal appearance in their satellite branches located within malls! Yehey!

My passport has two more years left before its expiration but my husband insisted on renewing it to update my last name to my married name so that we can apply for a US VISA. So here's the steps on

Product Review: Imarflex 3-in-1 Convection & Rotisserie Oven

My husband recently just bought me one of my dream stuff in the whole world - my very first cute li'l oven! Well, actually I was the one who ordered the oven but he paid for it. hehehe

The 30L Imarflex 3-in-1 Convection Oven costs Php 4,999 in malls, but if you order directly in their warehouse branch they will give you a discount. Plus you can also order from them another rack for Php 370 only - this way you can place two cookie trays at once to save on electricity. I have mine delivered to my doorsteps at no extra cost! Such a great deal! (But I think they now charge a certain delivery fee depending on the area)

The oven's temperature is in Celsius and can be adjusted up to 250C. It has 5 function selectors: (1) Upper Heater, (2) Lower Heater, (3) Up & Down Heater, (4) Rotisserie + Convection + Upper Heater, and (5) Convection + Both Heaters. I have only tried using function 5 to bake some goodies which I will be writing on a separate post soon.
Your oven should come with the following parts: Rack & Tray holder, Skewer, Grill Rack, Baking Tray and a Crumb Tray. Mine came without the Crumb Tray so I called up their office and they came back to my house the next day to deliver the missing item. Two thumbs up for the really great service.

I have already used my oven twice to bake a Calamansi Graham Pudding and Calamansi Muffins (both recipes can be found in Pepper.ph) and the results were great! There were no problems so far. As for its energy consumption, I would still have to wait for my next electricity bill.

Happy baking everyone!

UPDATE: They now charge delivery fee. Please log your inquiries to know their delivery fee.

UPDATE 7/28/2015: I have been informed that there will be a price increase of php500 effective August 1, 2015 which makes its SRP to Php 5500.

Resto Review: Kichitora of Tokyo

We were looking around SM Megamall for a place to eat and I was as usual indecisive of what I'd like to eat. After some time, we decided to try out Kichitora of Tokyo found in the 2nd floor of the Mega Atrium.

We ordered their set meals which had a side dish and a portion of their dessert. It price depends on the type of Ramen you choose to go with the meal.

My husband ordered one of their best sellers, the Paitan Ramen Zenbu no Se (Php 300 small). Honestly I am not fond of Ramen but when I tasted this one I instantly fell in love with it. The soup was so delightfully flavorful, its meat was so tender and noodles was just right. No wonder this is a best seller.

My husband's set meal came with Chicken Karaage (Php 150 single) which you drizzle with lemon juice. The breading was crispy but the meat was not as flavorful.

My order on the other hand was soy-based, the Hokkaido Miso Ramen (Php 290 small). It was also delicious but after some time it became quite salty for my taste. I do love the grilled meat - it was tender and added a smoky taste which complimented the overall dish.

My side dish was their Gyoza (Php 150) which I can attest was one of the best Gyoza I have tasted so far.

As for our dessert, we were served with their Almond Jelly (Php 150) which also came with some strawberry sauce to add sweetness. This was nothing special but I was still delighted because I just love jelly.

Overall, their food was delicious and was served fast. The only downside was that their staff were not friendly and attentive to their customers. But still, I would love to eat here again if we have the chance.

Loom Bands Galore

I just got myself a set of Loom Bands and I was so excited to try it out.

I bought my set at 1StopBiz for Php150 but for a limited time it's now sold at only Php100! This set is perfect for those who just want to try it out first before investing on those expensive ones.

The set consists of 600pcs bands, 24pcs s-hook, loom board, multi-purpose crochet, and instruction manual.

The instruction manual only had instructions on how to make a single loom band which in my opinion is not so nice to look at. I suggest you start your loom band adventure by making the basic fishtail.

But don't fret, youtube is overflowing with lots of loom band tutorials that you'll never run out of projects to do.

Warning: This is a very addictive hobby. I ended up doing 3 more projects for 3 straight days since I got the kit. Heheheh I really had a hard time doing the Star Burst pattern. I had to start over 3 times! But nothing beats the feeling of satisfaction once you complete it.

Fishtail and Star Burst

The making of the Hexafish