My SPECIAL CARBONARA Recipe

Hi everyone! How's your morning? Me, I am quite inspired to cook for breakfast today! :)
And I will be sharing this to you, of course. *wink

Let's start with the ingredients for the version I created. And while preparing these, you can boil 3 liters of water for the pasta and follow the packaging instructions.

Ingredients (Sauce):

• McCormick Creamy Garlic Perfect Pasta Sauce Mix- follow the packaging instructions on how to prepare
• 1 big can of Alaska Evaporated Milk 
• Alaska Crema all purpose cream
• Kraft Singles (Cheddar) - 6 pcs
• 1 can of tuna- do not drain
• 250 grams of ground pork
• salt & pepper
• garlic & onion - minced
• 2 tbsp of cooking oil
• 1 cup of water

Note: The ingredients above will make enough for a kilo of pasta.

Let's move on to the procedure:

1. Heat a large pan with 2 tbsp of cooking oil
2. Put-in the ground pork, stir and cook until brown
3. Add the garlic and onion, saute for a minute
4. Put-in the tuna with oil, simmer for 2 minutes
5. Pour the McCormick Creamy Garlic mixture (sauce mix + evaporated milk + 1 cup of water)
6. Stir and simmer for 3 minutes
7. Put-in the cheese singles
8. Stir until the cheese has melted
9. Add salt and pepper according to your  personal taste preference
10. Put-in the Alaska Crema all purpose cream
11. Stir and simmer for 5 minutes
12. Place the sauce on top of the cooked noodles
13. Serve hot and enjoy!

Try this yourself coz you'll definitely love it! :)

Mini Haul

Hi everyone! How's your day so far? Hope you guys are all doing great! :)

I've been reading raves about the artist studio brushes so when I've got the chance to check them out last Friday at Landmark Trinoma, I was thrilled to test them out! True, there are a lot of super affordable makeup brushes at Landmark but I have to focus my attention to artist studio. *grin So, when I headed at their counter, I checked first the sample brushes and indeed, they were so soft and dense enough! 

I decided to purchased a big powder brush and a blending brush (both are synthetic) since I really need a replacement for my current ones coz they were natural so when I've washed them, ugh! the bristles became so scratchy and their shape became disgusting! By the way, the big powder brush costs Php139.75 and the blending brush costs Php59.75, quite a steal right?

The Artist Studio big powder brush (synthetic)

The Artist Studio blending brush (synthetic)

It's always overwhelming to visit Landmark, admit it... Or am I the only one? haha. There are tons of items to choose from and they are all affordable!!! So, I've got these stuff ...

I've got this powder container mainly to store my Ben Nye banana powder coz there's nothing we can do about the packaging *huge holes that dispenses a lot of product. This way, I can transfer some of the powder here so I can carry it with me whenever I go out plus it has a small puff making it so convenient to use! Great solution, right? By the way, this costs Php34.75!

And since I wanna try using false lashes myself, *this will be my third time using one, I purchased a pair! This costs Php39.75 and it comes with a glue already :) The other item, it's a false eyelashes applicator that I've got at Vente store for only Php20.00!!! Amazing, right? :)

Ellana Minerals: FREE SAMPLES

Hi everyone! Hope you are all doing great :)

Today, I'm gonna talk about the free samples that I got from Ellana Mineral Cosmetics. I just learned last week that they are giving away free samples for quite a long time now so I didn't hesitate to take advantage! :)

All you have to do is visit their website http://ellanaminerals.com then just click free samples on the menu bar and there, you will see their Free Sample request form! Just be notified that shipping fee is not included. Fair enough! :)

So, when I've sent the request form..I received an e-mail telling me that I will be receiving 2-perfect blend foundation, 1-concealer, 1-translucent finishing powder and 1-blush (1/4 tsp each in zip lock bags) that will best match my skin color/undertone. Courier fee within Metro Manila is Php50 and I can either settle the payment through  bank deposit or Gcash. So, I opted to send the payment through Gcash since that method is convenient for me then I e-mailed them  for payment verification purposes. And since according to them, order processing and delivery usually takes 3-4 days, I was not actually expecting that I'll be receiving the package 2 days after the payment. YAY!

I just received these last night. Hmm.. kinda wondering why are they not in zip lock bags as stated on the e-mail. Anyway, who am I to complain? Hey, I got these for free (I mean, shipping fee isn't), right? LOL

Here are the samples with the respective swatches. By the way, I have a medium skintone and warm undertone so, these are the shades they sent me (from left to right) : Caramel latte - foundation perfect blend, Espresso con Panna - finishing translucent powder, Lust- peach pink blush, Macchiato- foundation perfect blend, Smile- concealer

I don't know yet when am I going to test these out but honestly I'm just kinda bothered with the packaging, samples are placed in a paper envelope so some of the products are wasted when you try to open it. Aside from that, the packaging just makes them quite difficult to store properly! Honestly, "zip lock bags" as what they stated on the e-mail would be better.

Anyway, thank you Ellana Cosmetics for the samples :) Hope you guys would try these out as well! :)

Nachos with Cheese Sauce

Hi everyone! I will be sharing with you a very easy yet so yummy recipe of my nacho dip. Hope you'll like it! :)

Nachos used: Doritos Sweet Chili

Cheese Sauce Ingredients:

• 1 cup of cheddar cheese (you can grate it but I used kraft singles ,12 slices)
• 3 tbsp. cheese pimiento spread (I used Magnolia cheezee squeeze pimiento)
• 1 cup water
• 2 tbsp. of cream cheese (I used kraft cream cheese)
• salt and pepper 

Procedure:

1. Pour 1 cup of water in a medium-sized pan and bring it a boil.
2. Add 1 cup of cheese (grated or sliced)
3. Stir until the cheese is dissolved
4. Add 3 tbsp. of cheese pimiento spread
5. Stir
6. Add 2 tbsp. of cream cheese
7. Add salt and pepper to taste
8. Stir and serve! 

Voila! So easy to prepare, right? :)

Encounter with a SCAMMER

Hi everyone!

Remember yesterday I was thinking of upgrading my iPhone 4 to either iPad mini or Samsung Galaxy Note 8.0. In the contrary, I don't have enough budget right now so, I decided to dispose first my iPhone before taking the next step. To make the story short, I have posted an advertisement on www.sulit.com.ph last night. 

I woke up today and checked the ad and I've got a personal message. A girl named JULIE MIGAY, a non-member, left a message including her email address.  I am not new to online transactions like this so, It's in my nature to verify every detail first before jumping into conclusion. 

The message goes like this:"Sound Good,I want this send to my friend who is recently out from oversea. I will pay you $323 and extra $150 buck for shipping fee am so sure the Philipost EMS postmail won't charge more than that for local shipping so let me know if my offer sound okay with you?.Thanks " 

Quite confusing right? Too good to be true actually.

I replied using my yahoomail account since she's not member of www.sulit.com. I clarified where exactly "the friend" is right now, if he/she is having a vacation here in the Philippines. If yes, I advised Julie to send me the details of her friend like Name, Address and Contact number. I don't know but I have this instinct that THIS IS A SCAM. First, I checked if she's on Facebook and found out that she has an account but most of her friends (she has only 50 friends) or almost all are Filipino. Also, I googled her name and to my surprise, I've found the CONFIRMATION on my hunch. 

http://www.junkmail.co.za/blog/the-top-10-scam-types-in-south-africa/6897

Ha! this is the answer. Right in front of my eyes.

Julie replied immediately with the following information: 

"there is my friend address
Receiver Name: Adam Cole
Address:Petunia 329 Jorissen street
State: Pretoria
City:Sunnyside
Zip code:0002
Country: South Africa
Contact number:+27746742732

do get back to me with your paypal email address so that i can make the payment right now okay"

I can't help myself from replying to her (I can just ignore her actually), and guess what, I don't even have much control over my SARCASM either. 

"FANTASTIC Julie! I've seen your facebook account and it seems like you got a lot of Filipino friends! Hmmmm... and why do you want to send the package in SOUTH AFRICA? and WHAT'S ADAM COLE doing there?

I don't transact through PAYPAL Julie, I've LEARNED about A LOT OF SCAMS going on there. 

so, BEWARE!

PS I'm not an idiot like OTHERS okay?!"

*devil's laugh

Julie replied:

"HEY what do you mean look are you selling yes or no"

I decided not to reply anymore. Such a waste of time. 

Guys, please be cautious on your online transactions. :)

My Techie Persona

Hi everyone! :)

How's your day going so far?

I woke up today thinking of upgrading my gadget which is the iPhone 4. I want something that is bigger but not as big as the iPad :)) (not to mention it's HEAVY).

 photo from www.digitaltrends.com)

So, while searching for the ideal one for me, I came across with these two. The iPad mini (on the left) and the Samsung Galaxy Note 8.0 (on the right). I have watched couple of reviews on YouTube but I'm not convinced yet! Hmmm....

Tell  me what you think on the comment box below. :)

My Artistic Side

Hi everyone! Just wanna show you my few pieces of art. Hope you'll like it! :)

**sorry about the reflection, I've covered them with plactic coz I don't want them to get dirty :) dust proof :p

"Origami Lucky Star in the form of a Rainbow"
I've been into origami early this year and after watching a lot of video tutorials on how to make variety of designs/forms, it lead me on making my own project. Lucky star is one of the easiest to do and it's somewhat enjoyable to create little paper folds on boring days. I've completed this at the end of Holy week.

"Pacman loves Mrs. Pacman Pixel Art Origami"
I just couldn't control my artistic side so, there...I've decided to make this pretty unique and challenging piece! :) I've also learned making tiny origami boxes on video tutorials but this one is kinda complex coz I've combined the pixel art on it. First, I had to do A LOT of paper folds/cut-outs in order to create ONE tiny box per color. So, patience & determination is very much needed in doing this. :) I think it took me like 4-5 days on these boxes then another day to do the cute pacman ghosts borders (I used styrofoam here and covered it with magazines). Took me another day to complete the background/other designs and of course assemble the tiny boxes to form this image. I am truly proud of this specific project.:)

These projects are hanging on the wall beside the window so I do apologize about the white cast on the left. So after completing my pacman-challenging-project, I just couldn't stop myself from making MORE! :)

I'll start with the "Pointillism- LOVE*LOVE" hanging side by side. It's like crayon art but you have to melt a crayon and create dots/points to create an image. So first, I had to trace the bold letters L-O-V-E on each and start creating crayon dots. I don't know if you notice, the colors should not be pure red, for example, I've combined red, orange & pink. Finally, I used tissue to do a paper mache for the letters so I can do corrections if in case the melted crayon go beyond the letters.

At  the center, that's the "crayon art - origami" which is another challenging project for me. I had to melt the crayons using a blow dryer and make sure that the colors will look good, coz on my first attempt, the melted crayons combined. And by the way, the heart shape at the center, that's the result of wrapping each crayon with colored paper & sticking them before you start melting the crayons so even after they have melted, the shape of the heart will stay.:) The heart inside the heart is made of paper ribbons. It took me 3 days to do the crayon art and another day to create the colorful borders with spiral stars origami which are so cute!

Last but not the least, at the bottom is the "Yarn Art - JOELES".
JOELES is actually the result of combining the first 3 letters of my boyfriend's first name plus mine:). This project is really simple, I just had to cut out the name then used a yarn to wrap around it (depends on your desired thickness).

Hope you like it guys!