Food: Hap Chan Beef Brisket Noodle Soup

I'm an ultimate noodle soup lover, be it a Chinese noodle soup, a Japanese ramen, a Pinoy mami, an instant noodles in a cup or what have you. I just love noodle soups, nothing can fill me in with comfort and warmth as much as they do. So aside from the cheesecake series, I'm also planning a chain of noodle soup reviews to honor my favorite comfort food.

And let me begin with Hap Chan's Beef Brisket Noodle Soup.

I was thrilled when I saw a Hap Chan Tea House branch at Shopwise, San Pedro, Laguna. The location is perfect, just 30 minutes away from where I live and 2 jeepney rides away to fix sudden and frequent Chinese noodle soup cravings.

Food: The Palms Deli Blueberry Cheesecake

It was Valentines Day. We were strolling at Festival Mall in Alabang when I saw a stall selling the felicitous food for the season: cakes and chocolates. The name of the stall was The Palms Deli. I scanned past the chocolates and other baked goodies, and zeroed in on their blueberry cheesecake, the lone cheesecake inside the glass stand. A slice costs P100 and the whole cake, I think, is P720. I bought a slice only and put it inside the paper bag that my husband was carrying for me, along with the bouquet of flowers and box of chocolates that he gave me that day.

When we got home, I immediately took out the plastic box that encased my favorite dessert. The slice looked small, the whole cake itself is only about 8" in diameter and not more than 2" in height. I placed it on a small saucer plate, the one we use to serve liquid condiments (soy sauce, patis, etc). It's that small.

But the size was indirectly proportional to how good it tasted.

Product: Human Heart Nature Moisturizing Shampoo and Conditioner

I've read about Human Heart Nature before, but thinking that it's just another product-oriented brochure-advertised MLM company (such as Avon, Natasha, etc. ), I wasn't exactly thrilled to sample their product offers. I've nothing against those type of companies, but sometimes their products turn out to be more expensive and not as effective as store-bought counterparts.

But one can't always ignore good reviews. Human Heart Nature products continued to pop up in forums whenever the topic skewed to effective and affordable natural beauty products and I thought to pay attention.

One, if not my biggest frustration is my hair. I remember mentioning this rant in my Opal Conditioner review. But rather than seeking another chemical-laden hair product, I thought that my hair would benefit more from products that are natural and have less chemicals. This hunch was confirmed when I started using Ilog Maria Honey & Propolis Shampoo. Hairfall was lessen, scalp itchiness was gone and my hair simply felt healthier.

My only complain was my hair remained coarse and unmanageable. It didn't lose it's buhaghag texture at all. And I blamed it on not being able to find a natural hair conditioner, which means that I wasn't using conditioner on my hair everyday. I felt that using a non-natural conditioner would just defeat the purpose of using a natural shampoo, so I only use a hair conditioner when I have to go out of the house, which was not very often. If only there was another natural hair conditioning product that can go tag-team with the Honey & Propolis Shampoo. Unfortunately, Ilog Maria doesn't carry such item.

Human Heart Nature does though, which made me decide to try their hair product line up. The more popular ones are Human Heart Nature Moisturizing Shampoo and Conditioner. And from the name itself, it sounds exactly what I need.

Food: Cheesecake Melliza Caramel Walnut and Oreo Cheesecake

I love Cheesecake. It is the only dessert that I have a craving for; the only dessert that I won't probably get tired of eating. So expect that this will be the start of the many reviews that I will make on my favorite dessert. The idea is to create a series of posts, reviewing different cheesecake brands, and maybe picking out the bests (I'm sure there won't be only one) among them. And first on the list is Cheesecake Melliza's Caramel Walnut and Oreo Cheesecake.

Cheesecake Melliza is not my first cheesecake, but it is the first that I took photos of, hence being the first to be reviewed.

During those monthly prenatal check-ups, we (husband and I) would always wind up at the nearest mall, Robinsons Place Ermita. That's where I saw a stall selling various Cheesecake Melliza baked goodies. They have different cheesecake toppings, and I remember standing in front of the booth for a long time, having a hard time choosing which to get. They all looked delish.

Food: Pepper Lunch at Robinsons Mall, Ermita Manila

I normally don't write restaurant food reviews. The reason? I always forget to take pictures of our food whenever we eat out. But I resolve to change that and try to document and review as much of our eating adventures as possible.

So lemme start with our lunch last Tuesday at Pepper Lunch in Robinsons Mall Ermita. The first time that we ate here was courtesy of Standard Chartered. We came from my prenatal checkup at UPMC. And since it's already near Robinsons Ermita and I had two P4,000-worth credit card receipts, and not to mention that I needed the exercise then, we gave Pepper Lunch a go. It's free lunch for 2, why wouldn't we?

Anyway, we ordered, or perhaps the more proper term is "claimed", Teriyaki Pepper Chicken with Egg and Beef Teriyaki with Egg (both included in the Standard Chartered promo). We also ordered an additional Pepper Rice while we have one dish served with steamed rice.