Jash Mart

We sometimes make our own sushi at home. Since we ran out of some of the ingredients, we tried going to Puregold to buy some Japanese mayonnaise, Nori paper, crab stick and Wasabi. Unfortunately, they didn’t have the rice vinegar. On our way home we decided to drop by Jash Mart along Wilson Street (San Juan) to check if they have our missing ingredient. When we mentioned the brand “Mitsukan”, the staff immediately knew what we were looking for. The store doesn’t just offer Japanese goods but Chinese and Taiwan products as well.  

They have a wide variety of products: from biscuits, chips and other snacks.

As I checked out the other aisles, I noticed that they also sell my favorite Nissin noodles from Japan which comes in different flavors. (I'll talk about it in a different post). But when I compared the prices, the ones in Jash Mart were more expensive by P 10.00 than the ones in Unimart.  

They have frozen goods if you want to have shabu-shabu and Meiji Ice Cream for dessert.

Jash Mart is your go-to Japanese store. If you're looking for certain ingredients for your Jap meal, or just craving for some Jap Ramen, try this place. 

Too bad they don't have Korean goods. =( 

Dove Intensive Repair Shampoo & Conditioner

I got free sachets of the new Dove Intensive Repair shampoo and conditioner so I decided to try it. We all know Dove is popular for its moisturizing soap so I got curious if it would do the same thing for the hair as well. With the 10ml sachet, it lathers really well. It wasn’t too fragrant like other shampoos but it had a certain fresh scent.  After my first wash, I felt my hair was so clean. The conditioner was also unusually not too ‘greasy’ unlike my current conditioner which takes a while to rinse. I combed my hair while it was still wet and I just let it dry. My hair usually takes hours to dry, and gets all tangled up by the time I get in the office. When I got in, I noticed that my hair was almost completely dry and it only took a few hours. Since I was a bit busy that day, I only remembered to comb my hair by lunch time. Surprisingly, my hair was still soft that I only needed my fingers to fix my hair and the scent also did not fade. After a whole day in the office, I went home with my hair looking I just blow-dried  it. To further test its effectiveness, I decided to try not washing my hair on the second day. As it turned out, my hair was still soft and manageable. By night time it became a bit oily due to my naturally oily scalp but it still looked good. I think I will buy the whole bottle once my current shampoo runs out. I just hope it won’t lose its effectiveness with prolonged use =)

Toast Box

I thought this resto only offered bread and coffee but apparently they also offer Singaporean dishes as well and I tried their Nasi Goreng (P 170). I’ve always wanted to try it ever since I saw its picture at Hawkers 101. I knew Toast Box was a Singaporean franchise but I believe Nasi Goreng originated from Indonesia (probably it’s also popular in Singapore =P ) Anyway, the plate was so full that I think it’s good for 2 people. It wasn’t oily like other kinds of fried rice and it had the perfect level of spiciness.  I didn’t touch the shrimp paste (aka bagoong) on the side because it might make the rice too salty. It already did have a strong flavor so it was not necessary. The fried egg was perfectly cooked and it went well with the rice. (I felt like I was having breakfast =P) The chicken was tender and the rice was not overcooked. However, I think it would be better if it had prawns.  I took home half of my meal since I was so full. Overall I liked it, the price was reasonable for its serving. I would love to try their toasts with their coffee because I heard it’s good, I’ll definitely be back.

Magnum Craze

If you can’t beat them, join them =P

Everyone is going crazy about this newly launched ice cream and I got really curious if it was really that good. I had the original one since the one with almonds was out of stock. At first bite, I felt the crispiness of the chocolate cover, and the vanilla was rich and thick but not too sweet which I really liked. Over all it reminded me of Nestle’s old ice cream from the 90s – the Mega Ice Cream Classic (remember this?).

Mega Ice Cream Classic

For me it was just ok (3/5), but I think I expected a lot. I guess I just really wanted the one with almonds. What caused the hype was that the chocolate layer was made of Belgian chocolate and somehow it made it look luxurious. (So as their marketing tag line goes, “for royalty”). For only P50 you can have a good sophisticated dessert. I'm thinking if they were able to create a huge Ferrero Rocher Ice Cream Ball/Bar with all its complex layers. That would definitely be unique and I’m sure a lot of people would love it =)

Bye-Bye Britannica =(

Back in the days when the internet was only limited to MIRC chats and google was not yet existing, I used our encyclopedia to do research. I still remember the old smell of the pages and how heavy it was to carry a 'book' which only covered subjects starting with letter A. I still remember how fragile the pages were and how my mom would always remind me to slowly turn the pages so as not to tear them. I kind of miss the days when I was in our elementary/highschool library to do school work.

I recently saw an article saying that Britannica will no longer print copies after 244 years and they will now solely be digital. I'm quite nostalgic about it since it was a huge part of my student life. Also, it still feels different when you have it on hand than seeing it on your monitor. Everything's being replaced by the internet now but it's also nice to look back on how it was before. I'm thankful that we have our own copy. I will truly treasure it even though a lot of people think it's obsolete. Our encyclopedia will now be antique. =)

Lotte Double Bianco (Strawberry)

On a hot summer day, it’s nice to have a cold treat. As I was strolling along the streets of Makati, I dropped by this small Korean store and decided to try their ice cream. I was a bit hesitant to try it since most of them had characters I don’t understand, but upon seeing the different flavors and feeling the scorching heat outside, I decided to give it a shot. I tried the Lotte Double Bianco. The strawberry ice cream was not too sweet and it had enough syrup to give it flavor. Since ‘bianco’ means white in Italian, I thought it meant ‘double stuffed’ as the cup was really full. But upon reaching the bottom part of the cup, I slowly realized what ‘double bianco’ really meant. It’s not just a simple vanilla ice cream topped with strawberry syrup, underneath it is another layer of apple sherbet.  I really didn’t notice it at first since the apple sherbet was also color white, but upon tasting it, it had a strong flavor of apple and the consistency was also different. Thus the name of Double Bianco – it really meant 2 white treats =P I also loved the packaging. The foldable spoon hidden under the cup was very convenient. Also, it had a very reasonable price (P 58) considering it’s imported from Korea. I’ll definitely repurchase and try their other products.

Ingredients:

Corn syrup, sugar, mixed milk pd (imported,milk), strawberry syrup (korea), high fructose syrup, vegetable fat, processed butter, apple concentrated juice, whey pd, citric acid (source: Lottesamkang.co.kr) 

Bangkok meets Manila - 4th Thailand Trade Exhibition [2012]

While walking around Makati, I saw this poster about the 4th Thailand Trade Exhibition (March 1-4) @ SMX Convention Center, MOA. Since this would be a sneak peek of  my 'dream trip' to Bangkok, I decided to go.

There were a lot of booths that offered different products like food, beauty commodities, and arts and crafts from Thailand. There was the Tong Garden which is very popular for their nuts and the manufacturer of Lactasoy which offered different flavors of soya milk.

In order to showcase Thailand's culture, there was a live demonstration on how they cook steamed rice flour dumplings or Khao Kreab Pak Mor which I was able to taste and a demo of the ancient art of Kae Sa Luk (fruit carving). [Trivia: Pak Mor means 'pot lips' in Thai]. The dish probably got its name from how it is cooked. A cloth is placed on top (lip) of the pot to cook the rice flour batter. Once the batter starts to solidify the filling is placed on top and the skin is lifted from the cloth to wrap the filling covering it. At first I couldn't recognize what the filling was made out of since it was already rolled into small balls. According to the local that I asked, it was meat. Upon tasting it, I think it had sugar and some nuts since it was quite sweet and tasty. I really loved it and I actually wanted more. However they were not selling it and the line was getting long for the free taste.

I really adored their glass rings and their accessories. They were very colorful and crafty. The glass rings were sold for P350 each while the others varied in prices according to its design. I was looking forward to see their fisherman's pants but they only have hand-painted dresses.

Good thing we were able to catch the cultural show featuring Thai Classical Dances.

It was a fun and interesting visit. I'm hoping that there would be a fifth one and I'm expecting more food haha. 

I wonder if there would also be trade expos for other countries as well. I'll try to find out and I'll keep you posted =)