start the new year with a bang ...

... or in my case, BANGS!

{so yes, i'm making a weird face in the pic. please ignore that!}

maybe it was cause the weather suddenly turned cool.

or maybe it was cause i was hating my hair with each passing day and regretting the trip i made all the may to this small salon in manila thinking i got a great deal on hair rebonding when in fact (1) it was expensive and (2) it ruined my hair.

maybe it was cause i was embarrassed when the girl who colored my hair struggled like crazy combing my hair after washing it ... yeah, it was that damaged.

whatever the reason, last friday, i asked M (my unofficial photographer and my new hair's #1 fan) to go with me to Shine Girls.

now, Shine Girls sort of has a cult following among the korean hairstyling fanatics. and the stylist, jina, almost didn't cut my hair cause i didn't make an appointment prior to going there. but i guess she took one look at the sad state of my hair and decided that if someone needed her magic, it was most definitely me.

since there was most definitely a communication issue (apparently, the only english she trusted was the english of one of her helpers there), my instructions were simple: i don't care what you do to my hair, as long as you take away the damaged portions. 

and oh, i wanted bangs.

she did warn me that my hair was going to end up short and that bangs would required blow-drying in the morning but i threw all caution to the wind. after all, what have i got to lose at this point?

so she cut. and cut. and cut. and cut some more. there was lifting and texturizing and other stuff i couldn't begin to understand. what there wasn't any of was talking. so while i was glad for the language barrier (at least no chit chat) i was afraid of the outcome.

for a while, i was, cause it seemed like my hair was going to come out all kpop-like. then she worked her wonders with a straightening iron, and in a matter of minutes, she made my hair pretty.

i mean, look at that detail!

{screen capture from @dred_fabian's instagram feed}

needless to say, for a P400 haircut, i was one happy, if not overjoyed, customer!

proof here:

{yep, more pics, and all from my official photographer!}

is it shorter? yup, but on bad hair days (translation: when i don't have the energy/patience to fix it) i can put it up on a ponytail still and look decent.

it it difficult to maintain? nope, not at all. i won't lie and say it's wash and wear cause it requires the "making" of a couple of curls with a straightening iron to bring out the nice layers. but, doing all that is super quick (less than ten minutes) with my favorite revlon straightener. easy peasy.

the biggest plus of all though is that the damaged/easily tangled/dead portions are all gone, and my hair seems  much, much healthier. and if only for that, i am so glad for this impulse trip to get my hair cut.

(and if you can't see it, well, look real closely cause i do indeed have bangs ☺)

let's give the birthday boy some bacon love!

{don't be distracted by the new polka dot dinnerware -- this is a really good hearty soup!}

you all know my food twin, right? after all, he IS way more popular than i am! and you all know how much he loves bacon, so much that family bring him bacon as pasalubong! so, in honor of his anniversary (yesterday) and his birthday (today), i'm writing a second post for today and it's all about today's dinner which i made in his honor:

pototo, cauliflower, corn, and BACON chowder*

*recipe adopted from here! notes from me!!!

cauliflower, chopped (1 big head, or several small heads)

1 large potatoes, diced (the smaller the dice, the faster they'll cook)

chicken stock (2 chicken bouillion cubes in around 1.5 liters of water)

1 can of corn kernels, drained

crumbled bacon (a lot, like around 250 grams. btw - purefoods actually has this now!)

3 to 4 cloves garlic

1/8 cup butter

1 large onion

salt and pepper to taste

method:

1. in the pan where you'll make the soup, fry the bacon. no need to make it crisp, just cooked! remove from pan, set aside.

2. melt the butter in the same pan (which will have a bit of fat rendered from the bacon, yum!). add garlic and onions and lightly fry till onion is transparent. DO NOT BROWN.

3. add the cauliflower and the potatoes. add enough chicken stock till the cauliflower and potatoes are covered.

4. bring to a simmer and allow to cook until the cauliflower and potatoes are cooked.

5. using an immersion blender, blend the soup. OR, allow to cool a bit then transfer to blender to mix. 

    * now after blending, you'll know whether your soup is perfectly thick or too thin. mine was, so i made roux with butter, onions, and flour and added it to the soup. it thickened a bit!

6. add corn and bacon. season with salt and pepper. simmer for 15 minutes.

7. serve warm! to make the soup a bit more special (and since i had a lot of it), i sprinkled parmesan cheese on top which became a "soft crust" that you can break into.

let there be light*

(*ang corny ng title, i know!)

since i ended 2012 as a domestic diva (with the help of my amazing cleaning lady), i've been trying to keep my house in tiptop shape despite marathon cooking sessions, purging sprees, and my short stint as a vegetable dealer. so far, i've been pretty for the first four days of the new year, and, as a way of embracing my inner martha, i told myself i was going to spend the first saturday of the year doing errands.

well, not real errands, but you know, the let's-pretend-i'm-domesticated-but-all-i-really-want-to-do-is-shop-so-i-will-look-for-house-stuff kind of errands. and thanks to KR, i chanced upon these:

{lamp number one}

{lamp number two}

for quite some time now, i had my heart set on this lamp with a glass base from SM, but since i divorced henry sy, i've avoided my ex-favorite mall like the plague. and, while it was on my christmas wish list, my friend wisely picked the ottoman + 2-gallon drink container, both of which are getting way more mileage than what i would've gotten from the lamp.

i guess i ought to blame that lunch we had at a co-worker's beautiful condo unit.

{photo collage from @dred_fabian's instagram feed}

the hour and a half we spent there was so inspiring that it jolted me once more back into martha stewart territory. it began with me and my boss running over to get the last two pieces of the louis ghost chair (and bringing it back to the office, walking through a very crowded mall + walkway) that same afternoon. and then today, i totally junked my puny (they were too tiny for the place) lamps and replaced them with these beauties.

there was way too much eye candy from today's trip, and my credit card thanks me that i exhibited fiscal restraint when i decided not to buy some of the other stuff that were on my cart as well. i guess it's a good thing that i'm saving up for two major items (not to mention a trip this month!), otherwise, i would've come home with more than two gorgeous lamps - i had my eyes (and heart!) set on a number of candle holders, this gorgeous artichoke vase, polka dot plates, and several serving dishes.

so not a good idea, right? especially after i had just purged a whole lot of stuff from my kitchen!

i AM going to go back ... after putting up the lamps and re-organizing some parts of my home (again!) i realized that i do need some of the stuff i saw over there. or maybe not. but then again, i am a girl who really loves to shop. sometimes, i don't really need a reason except that i want to. ☺

today

today is the birthday of a really good friend.

{birthday boy}

we met in 2007 ... i was a new lawyer and within minutes of meeting him, i pre-judged him as this guy living of his parents simply cause he was in jeans on a weekday and was driving an innova. i couldn't have been more wrong in my assessment of him. haha!

almost six years later, we're still friends. last night, when my turn came to tell the group something nice about him, i shared how he's always been there to figure out how to get inside my locked house, come in the middle of the night to repair pipes that burst, and to bring me to the airport when the flight is at some ungodly hour. he attempted to bill me for services rendered, until i reminded him that i've basically been his on-call lawyer. we have a mutually beneficial relationship (and hopefully he doesn't realize that i benefit way more than he does!).

happy birthday, KEf. i hope you never get tired of having us around you.

well, hello there 2013!

{happy new year!}

If today would be any indication of the rest of the year, then 2013 will be drizzly, will have minimal traffic, and will make me horribly fat with all the amazing food that passed through my mouth.

To my five (and hopefully more in 2013) readers, may your 2013 be filled with all things good and wonderful.