Your candy display can be started with a pleasant and clean table cloth. After which, you need to wipe and clean the glass containers that you will use to display your candies in the table. Remember, you have to use half hot water and half methylated spirits solution to make the glass glowing just before putting the candies in them. You then need to figure out what would be the look of your candy display.

To be able to know what specific design I should do for a birthday candy buffet or perhaps a candy table, I find out first whom it should be provided, his or her age, and for what celebration. By doing this, it would be easy for you to figure out regarding the best concept to use for your candy table. Essentially, white candies are for weddings, while pink ones for girl celebrants. Nonetheless, there are no specific rules for the colours for certain occasion. Funerals can also be displayed with a glass jar filled up with candies.

Your candy display could be more worth cherishing when it is used beyond its usual uses. There’s a video tutorial over the internet of my Candy Corner package in which I used martini glasses to store candies in the candy table. In addition, I have used green apples in a tall glass cylinder as my decoration on the candy table. Even though kids may tend to ignore green apples when there’s candy around, serving it with the candy is a great idea still.

A candy display would be great if it’s simple. Consequently, if you already thought about the ideas on the candy table and also the framework, think carefully on how do you want it to look like. As stated earlier, think of a simple design mainly because it can make your candy display great no matter if it’s a small or elaborate and comprehensive one. For instance, if you are planning to put several jars that will serve as the candy containers, then make certain that you have ample amount of candies so that each jar would be filled.

In my Candy Corner package I also feature a White Christmas candy table tutorial by which I use a certain kind of white food to imitate snow all over the candy table once it is completed. My video package has actually three candy buffet tables. These include how-to videos on a White Christmas candy table, Peach Sorbet Wedding candy table and a girl’s pink birthday candy buffet. These video tutorials can offer tips and inspiration for you to be successful at making your own candy table ideas.

Only to be safe, you should use plastic as an alternative for glassware if you would like make a birthday candy buffet for the celebration of your child. There are many great shops today that offer a good range of glass or clear plastic containers in an variety of sizes and shapes. These are normally very affordable and are not only useful for candy table ideas, but double as vases and for other purposes, so you get more bang for your candy table buck.

I want to explain further about the 2 other video tutorials -the Peach Sorbet Wedding candy display and also the girl’s pink candy display. For the first video, I made use of 2 feet tall over-sized wine glasses. In these glasses, I put peach colored hard candies to display a romantic atmosphere perfect for the event. On the other video, the glass containers were filled with bright coloured candies. In addition, a pink table cloth is put in this candy table along with a large pink lily to make the atmosphere of the occasion more feminine and fit for the occasion.

So what ever your occasion, with a few guidelines here you can amaze your guests effortlessly. Whether it’s a birthday candy buffet or Halloween candy display your candy projects can be stunning and mesmerizing (or ghoulishly ghastly) depending on your creative imagination, or perhaps inspiration you receive from the candy table experts. To get additional tips on candy display… Visit this link.

St. Peter’s is enormous! There are markings on the floor to show how many of the world’s other large churches would fit inside this one. The dome inside is the largest in the world, reaching nearly 450 ft in height!

Entrance to the basilica is free, and Noah and I did a Rick Steves’ walking tour while inside to learn all about it. Afterwards, we walked to lunch, passing through Piazza del Popolo:

Lunch was something I have looked forward to for approximately 2.5 years. No kidding! About that long ago I went to Italy with my fabulous besty for a fun-filled 10 day tour. While we were in Rome, we ate lunch at a vegetarian restaurant that had THE MOST DELICIOUS BUFFET IN THE HISTORY OF THE WORLD. Part of our obsession with that lunch may have been due to the fact that we were super hungry when we got there. Nonetheless, I have thought of that restaurant ever since, and it was probably the #2 thing I was looking forward to on my visit (after seeing Noah, of course).

The restaurant: Il Margutta RistorArte.

Could the lunch buffet live up to my idolized memory of it?!

Why yes, yes it could. So good! I wish this restaurant lived in Minneapolis. Or maybe I don’t…it would probably put a dent in my wallet. And have the opposite affect on my waistline.

After lunch, we decided to check out the Rose Gardens.

We sat on a bench in the garden for a while talking and enjoying the beautiful weather/surroundings. Look what we found – a beautiful heart!

tots.adorbs.

My second day in Italy wouldn’t be complete without….

Gelato! Gelato is seriously EVERYWHERE in Italy. Every other storefront seems to sell it. So, obviously, by the end of the day, it’s pretty hard not to have some. Noah and I found a great little gelato place near the B&B where we were staying that had a wide range of flavors (listed in English as well as Italian), plus some interesting gelato pops and balls:

We went to this place several times during my visit and always tried different flavors:

Mollie: “I feel guilty eating gelato twice in one day.”Noah: “That’s okay. One time I had gelato twice in the same lunch period.”

Other Italy Posts
Italy: Part 1
Italy: Part 3
Italy: Part 4
Italy: Part 5

The twelve member Silverwood Clarinet Choir located in upstate New York, USA.

Hundreds of years ago, the rooms and ceilings were larger and higher respectively. For these reasons, antique Dutch furniture can be massive and weighty; also, antiques were usually constructed from heavier solid wood. Plywood and MDF are modern, cost-effective alternatives, but they were not options until the 20^th Century.

Antique Dutch Oak Arm Chair

Flanders (now North Belgium), Antwerp, Amsterdam, Bruges, Brussels, and Holland’s artisans boast beautifully carved furniture as well as stunning cathedrals and community buildings that originate in the Gothic era of European styles. Italy’s Renaissance traveled across Europe and eventually flourished within the Netherlands. Art, design, architecture, and all things related were influenced by such a golden age. As citizens grew richer, wealthier people’s furniture became more comfortable.

The reigns of Charles II and James II saw a significant increase in the presence of Dutch furniture and design. William and Mary’s reign saw abundant Dutch influence on English design because he brought many leading families from Holland to the UK. The Grandfather clock, chairs with cabriole legs, flatly shaped back splats, and non-square seating represent Dutch influence or design.

Antique Oak Dutch Buffet Sideboard Server

Dutch furniture features massive wardrobes, armoires, sideboards, and chairs. Scrolls and trees carved by hand are common Dutch motifs. Larger pieces are frequently thick and straight-fronted with paneling. Oak has always been a popular choice for woodworking and cabinetry materials, but rarer woods like mahogany and ebony have been used as well.

Look for these Foo Lion statues in Iron Man 3 (now in theaters):

Bronze Chinese Guardian Foo Lion Statues

1. People who are born in a rich family
2. People who are really lucky and win a lottery or some thing.. (Sheesh…Lucky raskals)
3. These are people with great discipline in spending their money.

Now being among the first two group is far from our control, so the only option left for people like you and me is  to try and be on the third group (Ya I know the that you, like me are not fortunate enough to be on the first two group otherwise you wouldn’t have Googled on how to be rich!! Would you )

So lets get to the real thing, “having disciplined spending habits”, one of my B-School professor Mrs. Rihana Changi once told that “Your income is not what you earn, but it is what you save from that you earn”. I thought for a while and it made perfect sense for me, even if you earn 1 lakh rupees per month but you have uncontrolled spending habits and blow Rs.95,000 per month, you would still be poor right ( Oh! Ya and that thing about spending Rs. 95,000, if you think it’s impossible, give me the money I will show you how easily such a small amount could be spent in this vast world)

Remember when you were in school having 100 bucks as your pocket money made you feel rich. When you reached your college a salary of 5k from you part time job made you feel rich and now when you are considered a an earning member of your family a salary of 20k also makes you feel so poor.

As you start earning more and more your lifestyle also changes along with it, things you considered as a luxury at some stage of your life becomes a necessity. So you end up saving same or less money than you saved at early stage of your life.

So the more simple lifestyle you have or the more satisfied you are with your life the more you become rich and more you live to enjoy your richness, yes you read it right, because the more you struggle to earn more and more money to meet your never ending needs the more stress it puts on you and more stress you take the lesser you live and you end up spending all your life in struggle and never enjoying your richness.

The key to life is striking a perfect balance giving equal importance to all aspects of your life, Identifying your core requirements and acting upon it.

Mr. Warren Buffet is a perfect example of a rich person, he had a passion to earn money and he followed it.

Warren Buffet resides in a five-bedroom home brought in 1958, these days worth around $700,000. At present, nearly ten per cent Indians are staying in a place higher in price compared to that.

And so, would that imply that Warren Buffet is a miser? With more than $50 billion in fortune, he continues to reside in a 55-year-old property that too with “just” 5 bedrooms. He certainly has to be bluffing regarding his riches, since we definitely know he is actually not bluffing with regards to the home. Or is he? Certainly not. His identified public fortune is $53 billion and increasing.

So just why should the world’s 4th wealthiest guy choose to stay in this kind of a modest residence?

Absolutely no, Warren Buffet is not stingy or even miserly in any respect, not everyone who donates $30 billion to cause could be. Rather, he has perfected the art form of making riches.

Fortune is not made by simply making an investment, but additionally by keeping away from unwanted expenditures. It really does not make a person stingy; as opposed to, it makes a person frugal. This frugality seems to have facilitated this man expand his riches year on year.

His logic is straightforward: An additional ten rooms in the home just cannot make any kind of significant difference to the man. But, the equivalent funds, when invested correctly — which he is definitely an expert in — could be made to grow to possibly 10-11 times the similar amount of money.

Of course, it is certainly not simple for most folks to be similar to this man. Other people could state that he can “afford” to be frugal simply because he at the moment possesses a great deal of fortune and also absolutely does not have to bother about other things. Correct, however he has remained the similar manner even while he was poor.

When Warren Buffett is capable of doing it on such type of a wide scale, we could at the least do so on a lesser scale. The key lays in falling deeply in love with increasing riches. If you are able to be in love with the happiness and joy that a person obtains by witnessing fortune get bigger, you may instantly begin repelling the wicked twin: spending.

At first, it might be very hard therefore you might not perhaps be ready to pursue. However when you get used to it, you understand that the trouble of restricting present expenses is a lot lesser compared to the excitement of making long lasting fortune. The Rs. 20, 000 put aside by choosing a basic mobile phone may in the approaching time expand into Rs. 200, 000 as well as provide you with the ability to be a giver.

The fundamentals would be to ensure we offer top priority to the requirements in addition to reduce the desires.

Thank You.

Jeo Thomas

Image courtesy of Graur Codrin / FreeDigitalPhotos.net

Penang Laksa

Prawn Noodles

Rojak

Char Kway Teow & Fried Chicken Wings

Popiah

Satisfied, we headed home- to laze for the rest of the afternoon.

We haven’t had the nightmarish little bastards yet and we won’t. Remembering back to my days in school when I had them EVERY year I can’t allow my kids the same horror. So, I hacked off all my boys hair and today Miss Willow went and got all hers cut off too. She looks like a little boy- pixie- elf.  I bought her some make up (gentle colors) to make her feel like a girl. We’re going to rock the lice free zone one way or another.

Aside from hair cuts and much discussion about the mini horrors we avoided we went to dinner. ME (my husband was at work) and 4 (yes 4) children under the age of 11 all went to Golden Corral . If you don’t know, it’s a buffet, a huge freakin buffet with oodles of food and crazy people trying to pretend they’re nice while trying to get to the buffet before some senior citizen loses their dentures in the salad bar.    ( a nightmare I had, I’m sure)

I juggled all the kids in 3 rounds of plates for a whopping $36 and we saw the “chocolate wonderfall” as advertised on TV. Yes folks, my children were in the presence of greatness, or so they thought as their little eyes widened in wonder at the cascade of chocolate sauce. But, we didn’t partake.   Moving on….

Next to fish. We bought fish already but our tank is round and perception sucks so more fish! We picked up a frog and 3 fish to go with our 4 current residents and viola! We can now see fish… oh, and some crazy moss ball too.

We traversed Walmart (my version of hell) in search of Yukon Jack (booze for my father) only to learn they were out and waiting on their supplier. Boo, as we moved on in search of hamburger my 6 yr old son asks very loudly “But what about the ALCOHOL?!”  Apparently someone wasn’t keeping up with the tour group and I got to look like a shoddy parent. EPIC. *sigh*

All in all, they’re home safe and sound, tucked in as snug as bugs in rugs and the fish are acclimating quite well. Tomorrow is another day… Pray for me?

Now this is Part 2 page of my affordable buffets in Metro Manila. After having a great experience from our recent food trip at Yakimix, we searched for more affordable buffet, and again, we did not fail. We found City Buffet at the Robinson’s Galleria. We read quite a lot of good stuffs about it, and to our curiosity, we visited their place.

Our first impression, they have a cozy place too. Actually, I like their resto better than Yakimix, for some reasons, I am not sure why.

The exciting part, Eating Time. The good news, every Saturday is their Sea Food Day. We were so lucky to get the first serving of their best tasting and mouthwatering crabs, I so loved them! They are actually the reason why we keep coming back to City Buffet. Their shrimps? Lovely! We can’t get enough of them. The thing is after refilling the crab and shrimps, they are no longer available, so you guys better hurry and always get their first servings, so you can try them.

They do not have a griller in their table, but you choose from the variety of fish, and ask their good chef to grill them for you. Tip: Try the grilled salmon, It’s perfect!

Other than that, they also serve different cuisines like Korean (more of bread and noodles, kimchi), Japanese (sushi, makki and tempura) and Pinoy dish ( sisig, shanghai, beef stew, orange flavored chicken and more).

Let’s not forget about the sweets. They have an area where you can experiment and do your own halo halo. Ice creams are of different choices, they have strawberry, mango, cheese, chocolate and vanilla. Mallows and candies are available to sprinkle on your ice creams. There is also have a separate area for cakes, pies, cookies, tiramisu and snacks.

City Buffet practices self-service, you need to refill your own drinks. Prices? 500 pesos per head. You need to pay separately for the bottomless drinks.

But the whole City Buffet experience is ★★★ Check my Gallery for City Buffet Photos

The food is of an excellent standard, with decent portion sizes. Particularly liked with Chicken Tikka, Aloo Chat, Chicken Buna, Lamb Buna and the Chana Masala.

The points that let the place down were that they were very reluctant to give us the bottle of wine initially accompanied by a few excuses, but eventually the bottle of wine arrived. However, the 10% NHS staff discount was never provided even though it was confirmed when booking and also with the restaurant staff at point of ordering; we were dining with guests we had not seen for 1yr, so we did not want to make a deal of this and paid the undiscounted bill. So, check your bill to ensure it is correct at the end of the meal if you are entitled to the NHS or Student discount.

Overall, a great Indian restaurant and we would recommend visiting.

http://www.newregencyindiancuisine.com/

JMcuisine อาหารความคิดสร้างสรรค์ต้นตำรับเพชรบุรี

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Why does every Chinese restaurant in existence have that round glowing neon sign?

THE EXACT SAME ONE???

Yo acostumbro a cocinar más comida de la que voy a servir. En el momento anterior a terminar el plato, aparto en un tuper esas raciones extras. Dejo que se enfríe y lo guardo en la nevera.

En los siguientes días ese tuper, con un mínimo de creatividad y en muy poco tiempo, me salva una guarnición o un par de lunch rápidos a golpe de microondas. Y si tengo la suerte de tener dos o tres tupers, me soluciona una cena gourmet en plan degustación.

En las fotos: cena para cuatro de noodles de huevo y pollo, salteados al curry, con huevo frito. Y cinco días más tarde, convertidos en un lunch rápido para uno. (Reciclado: hidratar con aceite de maiz, agregar unas gotas de jugo de carne, calentar al micro. Topping de cebolla dulce y pimiento verde con sesamo tostado negro, o cualquier verdura fresca).

Y otra transformación: de couscous de cordero a gelatina de garbanzos en jugo de comino y cordero. (Reciclado: cocinar los restos con agar agar).

Ingredienti
Poolish:
75 gr fecola di patate
75 gr farina di riso
150 gr di latte intero tiepido
13 gr lievito di birra
50 gr zucchero a velo

Impasto:
Poolish
100 gr fecola di patate
125 gr farina di riso
125 gr amido di mais
100 gr burro
170 gr latte intero
2 cucchiaini e mezzo di sale fino
10 gr spinaci lessi
80 gr formaggio tipo quark

Prima preparate il poolish e mettete a lievitare per 40 min in luogo caldo. Appena pronto versatelo in una planetaria e con la foglia iniziate a mescolare aggiungendo gli amidi e la farina di riso biologica alternando con latte tiepido. Poi inserite il formaggio gli spinaci ed infine il burro ammorbidito e il sale. fate lievitare coperto da pellicola in liogo caldo fino a raddoppio.
Riscaldate il forno a 210 gradi e formate i panini. A questo punto spolverate con un pò di farina di riso ed infornate per 20 min (dipende dalla grandezza).

Having completely gorged ourselves on Thai food we were ready to say goodbye to Thailand and move on to our next new country. From Chiang Mai bus to Chiang Rai then the next morning bus to Chiang Khong where we crossed the border. This is where we got to see the Mighty Mekong River for the first time. Its strange and disorienting to cross a river and oh hello new country! New Zealand is so far removed that to get to another country takes 3 hours flight minimum and thats just Auzzie. All of a sudden we had a new language, new people, new beer and new currency which all takes getting used to!

Visas cost $30 US each and was super easy, fill in a form and give them a photo. Done. Huay Xai In Laos is a cute little border town but we decided it would be better to jump on an overnight bus and go straight to luang Prabang thus saving ourselves the accommodation cost. What a bumpy ride this was, but we did get beds in the sleeping bus – that was a first!

Luang Prabang

We really liked Luang Prabang. Beautiful french architecture everywhere making a stark contrast from the concrete cell blocks of Thailand. I have a thing for windows with shutters, I just think they are awesome. They give a building character. This plus FRENCH BREAD, something we have missed lots is good bread and Laos has it in abundance!
We found a great guesthouse, one of the nicest we have had for a while and just a street away from the Mekong River where we could go watch the sun setting over the hills.

There is a night market that takes up a whole street in the centre of town, it is beautiful! I took great joy walking down the aisles of the market each night, Simon less so but the best food in town was right in the middle. There are millions of things we would love to buy here! Handmade scarves and fabrics, jewellery, paintings, spoons made brom bomb casings, wooden carvings, printing on handmade paper and lamps. In a handcraft paper shop there were beautiful cards and photo albums and so cheap considering they are all handmade, I could look in this shop (although it was tiny) for hours. Dreams are free right… just because I can’t fit it in my backpack doesn’t mean its not possible to pretend it could be mine one day hahaha.

We cycled out to Kwang Si Waterfall 25Kms and because we are cheap we wanted to pay 20,000 Kip for bikes not 80,000 Kip and this of course gives you a city bike… not a mountain bike. So we lugged these heavy no geared beasts up and down for 25 kms to the top sweating and swearing. The thought of a swim kept us going to the end and the scenery of farms and rice fields made up for it. Another fee of 20,000 Kip each for entry ($8 for us both) but some activities are worth it and this sure was!

..

Right in the middle of the night market is a backpackers haven! BUFFET! All vegetarian and all yum, this guy had it sorted. 10,000 Kip each ($2) and you can fill your plate as much as you want: 4 types of noodles, rice, tomatoes, pumpkin, potato, fried stuff, cucumber salad, papaya salad, fresh spring rolls the list goes on. You can get it all heated with some stock (not oil) also. Very Yum. It was full every night with what felt like every backpacker in town! We came here 4 nights and then another on our way back through after visiting Nong Khiaw.

Nong Khiaw

We wanted to explore some of Laos North of Luang Prabang before heading down country and it was so worthwhile. In Laos so far travel is actually cheaper by minivan than by bus which does make it faster and easier being picked up from your guesthouse. Feel like a slacker taking the easy way out but it needs to be done at times, after all if its cheaper then why not! Nong Khiaw is 3 hours by minivan from Luang Prabang and situated on Nam Ou river under picturesque limestone cliffs. Bungalows with a river view had to be searched for but we found a great one in our price range. It came with a hammock so we set up simons also and had one each. Bliss!

A chilled out area that doesn’t get much action. Other than catered tours: kayaking, caving, rafting and mountain biking the only thing you can do on your own is walk 3 km km out of town to the Tham Pha Tok caves. This is where villagers hid out during the second indochina war… 300 of them living in the cave. Great indian restaurant on the main street!

Next stop, Central Laos

xxx

Sly-Zo

INGREDIENTS

• 480g icing sugar
• 280g ground almonds
• 7 egg whites

A few drops of flavoured food colouring such as strawberry

(Tower Macaron Made in 2010 by Bertrand munier )

METHOD

1. Preheat the oven to 180C.

2. Mix the icing sugar and ground almonds in a food processor until you have a fine powder. Sift to remove any lumps.

3. Beat the egg whites, adding the food colouring as you go. Quickly and carefully add the almond-sugar mixture.

4. With a wooden spoon, mix from the centre of the bowl outwards, turning the container as you go. You want to achieve a smooth, lightly coloured mixture.

5. Using a piping bag with a centimetre-wide nozzle, pipe three centimetre-wide macaroons onto a baking tray lined with greaseproof paper.

6. Cook for eight to nine minutes, leaving the door of the oven slightly ajar.

7. Remove the macaroons from the oven. Pour a little water between the baking tray and the greaseproof paper – this

makes the macaroons easier to lift off when they have cooled.

8. Sandwich the macaroons using marmalade, raspberry jam or whipped cream to serve.

TIP: Leave the finished macaroons for 24 hours in the fridge. This allows the flavours and texture to develop and intensify

a bientot

bertrand

Located at:
231-10 Northern Blvd  Douglaston, NY 11362
(718) 229-8686

Price:
Lunch
Mon-Fri $17.95
Sat-Sun $21.95

Dinner
Mon-Fri $28.95
Fri-Sun $31.95

This is probably the best All-You-Can-Eat sushi places I’ve ever been to. I’m not a big fan of buffets to begin with so this is saying a lot. The place is clean & spacious. They are usually packed come Friday night & for the rest of the weekend. They will not seat you unless your whole party is present. The best thing to do is to make a reservation or go early (5-6pm). Also, there’s a time limit of 90 minutes, but that’s more than enough time to get your buffet on.

Quail Egg Over Rice

As for the food, they have a decently sized sushi & shashimi selection. They are fresh & made well. They even have Uni for you to try, which is rare for buffets. They also have 3 rows of cooked foods, and a row dedicated to desserts. The most popular being the frozen yogurt station. They had mango & vanilla the last time I visited.

Sushi & Shashimi

I’ve been here 3 times & I have developed a game plan. The very first thing you must eat is the Ramen. The station is located in the back. You will ask the attendant (yes, a ramen attendant) to make you ramen. Don’t get fancy by asking for udon or some other noodle/broth. Just ask for ramen with the works (minus scallions, I don’t like scallions). It’s a small bowl, but the broth is some of the tastiest broth I’ve ever had. It’s like crack. You’ll want another bowl afterwards, but you must restrain yourself.

Delicious Ramen

Now you are free to roam the aisles however you please. Please do not grab one of each item. Carefully scope out the selction first, then pick & choose a few things. Find what you like, then eat more of that.  When you are almost at your limit, go grab the churros & some fro-yo from the dessert section. Yes, I said churros. I don’t know why, but I love the churros there & must have some before I leave. And when you feel like you’re about to bust out of your pants, you might go for one more bowl of ramen. You might as well start & end with your favorite dish, right?!? Anyone with me on this? No? You think I’m weird? Well, I don’t care what you think, I love the ramen & I’d want the last thing that I taste to be something I love. It’s the most satisfying feeling ever.

Now go stuff your face with some Ramen!

Unfortunately, last evening’s gamble resulted in the latter.

“Only $16.90 for Ala-Carte Buffet at 4 & A Half Gourmands, Clark Quay – Includes Signature Pizza, Chicken Wings + Squid Ink Pasta + Drinks (Orange / Lime Juice)” screams the headline.  With a “voucher value” of $50.00, I thought hey, this does sound like something decent… was expecting a choice of various types of pasta, inclusive of the squid ink one, and perhaps a variety of pizzas.

lmao, I couldn’t be further away from the truth.  Take a look at the Buffet Menu for yourself.

Yep.  2 types of pasta & 2 types of pizza is all the choice you have, with a handful of finger food.  Ah yes, there’s the one-time orders too.  They need not have worried about repeat orders, frankly.  The fried garlic shrimp and buffalo wings were so mediocre that I would not ordered a second server even if I was allowed to.  The tempura mushrooms?  Uhmm… is there even mushroom in there?  All I taste is bland tempura batter, couldn’t even finish them.  The buffalo wings & quail egg wantons were just o-k-a-y.

As you can see, they didn’t even bother about food presentation.  The above are the fried quail wantons & tempura mushrooms.  Well… the weird yellow color is probably due to my iphone flash, but trust me, I was totally unimpressed when I was served.  The buffalo wings (below) looked slightly better.

Let’s see… what else was served – I pretty much took a single order of everything on the menu.  Apologies for the lack of photographs.  The lighting was bad, and the food presentation wasn’t interesting enough for me to unearth my phone from my pocket.  Even Instagram couldn’t help how ugly the food looks ~ LOL

Garlic Bread – alright, wasn’t bad but wasn’t good either

Hand Cut Fries – tasteless potato strips would be a closer description

Soup of the Day – mushroom soup that was diluted and way too salty!

Grill Mushrooms – grilled, really?  Looks more like sautéed mushrooms in some oriental sauce & it’s covered by heaps of garlic… for the dish to have a semblance of taste perhaps?

Garlic Mash Potato – oh, this one is fine, no complaints here

Vietnamese Chicken Wings – normal deep fried chicken wings that I can pretty much prepare @ home by dumping the pre-battered stuff bought from any supermarket into a deep fryer

Grilled Mediterranean Vegetables – didn’t eat them, but friend said it was “quite nice”

Beef & Bacon Pizza – the crust was lousy, instant pizza bought from 7-11 is nicer than that

The highlight of the night would have been the Squid Ink Pasta!  I am a fan of squid Ink pasta… love it to bits!  Hence I thought that hey, at least I can eat my fill of pasta to make the voucher worthwhile.  Until the dish came.

Like everything served before it, it looked terrible.  A mass of black stuff with raw onions on the top.  Uhmm… who the f**k serves raw onions with pasta?  O_O  Poking into the lump of pasta felt weird.  The linguine was clumped together – makes me wonder if it’s even freshly prepared.  Taste wise?  /sigh.  Let’s just say this is the first time I didn’t manage to eat more than 2 bites off a plate of pasta.  I just left the entire plate there despite the place supposedly having a fine for ‘wasted food’.

I walked off w/o anyone asking me to pay the fine though.  Not that I’d have paid.  I’d have shoved the pasta back to them and asked them to taste it themselves if they had the gall to demand payment.

Pffftttt…. Nothing about this place is worth going back for.

The service could have been much better too.  I made a reservation, a day before, and when I arrived, the staff gestured for us to sit outside… or to squeeze at the corner with another group of 4.  Seriously – no table set aside?  Then why in the world do we need to make a reservation in the first place?  This wouldn’t be an issue if I was a walk-in tbh.  Food and even the drinks (which was a one-time order too) took forever to arrive, and required a further reminder after a >20min wait.  Yes, it took that long to pour 2 glass of juice into the cup.  Not that the place was busy too… which brings me to my next point…

The place was small, and NOISY!!  omg.  There was a large group of guys where were talking at the top of their voices & playing drinking games – and it was so bad that I had to shout for my friend seated right across me to hear what I’m saying.  Jeez!  Even after the bunch of guys left, it was only slightly better.  The place is just not conducive for any form of conversation.  At all.

The conclusion?  4 & A Half Gourmands… LOL more like 4 & A Half FAILS.  The food quality fails, the service fails, the ambience fails, value for money fails (yes, even at $16.90 per pax it ain’t worth it)… well, the seating arrangement half fails – table too small, but chair was comfortable enough.

Will I ever return?  Definitely NOT!!!!!

4 & A Half (Failed) Gourmands 

Location: 20 Hong Kong Street #01-03

One time on a normal Saturday, we realized that we missed all the enjoyment of trying other cuisine or dishes that now exist. It seems that fast food chains suddenly tastes boring. Maybe because that’s what they are made for, easy order and nicely prepared, but still, we crave for something new. We searched the internet for affordable buffets in Metro Manila. Yes, affordable buffets. To our surprise, we didn’t fail as there were several alternatives that was there for quite some time already.

As Part 1 of this affordable buffet page, let’s start off with Yakimix.

We visit Yakimix branch in Trinoma one Saturday. I think that 11am is the best time to come over, because you don’t need queue that long later on. I was amazed upon entering their resto, amazed because I didn’t know that affordable buffet can also have a cozy dining area. There were dining tables that have their own griller which is a great thing because of the grill your own dish.

Now let’s talk about the Menu. As a food lover, I always get excited to find out what they are serving for that day. To start off, they have variety of raw stakes, which you can grill yourself on your table. Their stakes comes with black pepper, beef, chicken, angus and more. I also find an area of different delicacies from different counties interesting, like an area for Korean (kimchi, noodles) Thai ( more on noodles), Japanese (all time favorite suchis and makkis)  and Pinoy cuisines.

Let’s not forget about my favorite area, their dessert area. I think just by taking photos of their sweets, I already felt happy and full. It was an unlimited choice for cakes, muffins, pastries and candies, but watch out for your diet.

When it comes to the staffs, they are very accommodating and friendly.

What about the price? For only 660 pesos per head, you can enjoy their yummy dish, but you have to pay separately for the bottomless drinks.

We enjoyed the meal and the experience so we rank it ☆☆☆We will definitely visit Yakimix again. Please check my gallery for Yakimix photos

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Our first annual Mother’s Day Brunch was a great success! Thank you to all of those that supported the event. Looking forward to next years brunch!

For more pictures, please check us out on Facebook: http://www.facebook.com/pages/Harbor-View-Center/300882850015909?fref=ts

“Stay invested in equities. The break to all-time new highs in many stock markets suggests that the recent pullback is complete. We believe the higher lows in many markets speak to the strength of the medium-term bull trend that has been unfolding since 2009.”

What was just experienced was a hiccup, not a ‘pullback’. For the most part, I am in agreement (and wrote about it back in 2009, rather than in hindsight) that we are in a long bull trend – both global economy and markets. However this does not mean you should ‘stay’ with any asset class. Advice from large financial firms is always suspect. This quote is from A Maverick Investor’s Guidebook:

The larger banks and insurance companies, most now owning their own investment dealer subsidiaries, would like nothing better than to have your investments less volatile and secure even if they don’t grow at all. If your money just stays put, they can consistently charge you fees, forecast their revenues based on those fees, and invest revenues in real estate and other assets that will make more money for the firm.

I am not being critical of these companies, just realistic. All the services they provide (consumer and corporate banking, mortgage lending, international funds transfers, and so forth) wouldn’t be available if they weren’t in business, and to be in business requires them to behave as businesses.

Now that there is market activity after years of disinterest from the investing public, no financial services business wants it to end.

If the FED really is considering unwinding its quantitative easing (QE) program, then higher interest rates will impact the value of your investments; their fees will decline, but revenues will surely decline much more if you get out of higher margin securities…..i.e. equities. But as I outlined in an earlier posting – Rising i-rates: More than bonds will get hammered! – it is in your best interest to avoid danger when it’s imminent.

Put another way, you wouldn’t attempt to drive along the Pacific Coastal Highway in a straight line. Similarly, a buy and hold (‘staying’) approach in the markets is likely to end badly.

Why send up the warning flares I mentioned earlier? Over my career I’ve learned to expect trouble when:

Summer is coming!

Interest rates could begin to rise!

So don’t hesitate, if you feel the need to slow down and lean into the curve (sell stocks) it may cost you some commissions but ultimately save your bacon.

]]> http://thegreedygeorgian.com/2013/05/14/rich-cashew-nut-herb-spread/ Tue, 14 May 2013 15:40:04 +0000 thegreedygeorgian http://thegreedygeorgian.com/2013/05/14/rich-cashew-nut-herb-spread/

100g Cashew Nuts

100g Mature Cheddar (finely grated)

2 Handfuls of Fresh Basil

2 Handfuls of Fresh Parsley (curly leaf)

4 Cloves of Chopped Garlic

Juice of 1 Lemon

120ml Extra Virgin Olive Oil

Sea Salt

Ground Black Pepper

Place the Cashew Nuts, the Grated Cheddar, Basil, Parsley & Garlic into a blender and pulse until the mixture resembles coarse bread crumbs.

Then whilst wizzing, slowly pour in the Juice of a Lemon and the Extra Virgin Olive Oil.

Add seasoning to taste.

Once combined, place within a refrigerator to set.

This is a very rich spread, so this recipe will go a long way.

Serve on toasted plain pitta bread with the garnish of your choice.