A 1/2 fresh lemon a day...

...keeps the doctor away!

It's been quite some time since my last post, but I would like to share something with you today which I've been practicing for the last weeks and feel like this is an accurate information to share with you!

My advice to prevent getting colds, which might rain on your (christmas) parade:

A few weeks ago, I read about something called "The 5 Tibetan Rites":

What I read was that you should start your day (literally before breakfast) drinking a glass of the juice of a half squeezed fresh lemon mixed with water (I like it best with cold, still water) and then NORMALLY you're supposed to do some "yoga-ish" exercises (which I don't do... ain't nobody got time for that! But you can look up the exercises here, if you feel like getting your move on in the early morning).

The result is: I feel pretty energized! 
Plus, I forgot to drink the juice for a few days in a row and immediately I started getting a runny nose, but now that I picked it up again I'm "healed", so I guess the juice does its job pretty well!

So, I can only recommend everyone who is attracting colds in the worst moments (such as christmas time or during exam phase) just like me to follow this (I admit) tiny part of the whole Tibetan Rites to keep your immune system up and running!

...and if you leave out the exercises it literally only takes a minute to start your day right (with the exercises I think it takes about 15 minutes).

Stay healthy and enjoy christmas time!

x J.

Act the way you feel :)

Before you start reading, I was initially thinking about writing from both the male and female perspective, but I cannot tell for sure that men feel the same way, so I've basically decided to mainly write from a female perspective... then you guys -in case there are any male readers ;) - know what we might feel!!

...but enough of the blabla! Enjoy this blog post! :)

----------------------------------------------------------------------

*bzz bzzz*

A message from the guy you're into!! WHAAAHHH!!!

Ok, now wait at least 2 hours until you respond, or else he might think you have nothing better to do than to wait for his message.

Wait, what?

I think it's a real pity that nowadays you cannot really express the way you feel towards e.g. that guy you're interested in.

How easy would it be, if one could just say "I enjoyed our last dates and would like to know if you're feeling the way I do and if you also want to be exclusive?" or even before that "Hey, I would like to get to know you better.. let's meet up for coffee soon!"

Then the guy knows exactly what we think about the whole thing and he can express himself too and ideally it's the beginning of a beautiful relationship! However, it is also important not to come on too strong, for this might as well scare him away...

In my opinion it would be so nice to just act the way you feel, meaning: If you like the guy, why not be flirty and just write him if you feel like it and think of him, without the thought of "Oooh, should I really write him, or will he then think I'm too clingy or desperate?"

If you think about it rationally: What is desperate about a person who wants to get in touch with a person he/she likes?

And why shouldn't you sort of "cling" to that person you like and can imagine a romantic (AND SERIOUS, not just one-night-only-ish) relationship? If you'll pretend you never think about that person, and then the moment the person writes, you're like the QUEEN OF BUTTERFLIES (or KING of course), but then you're back to your "ok, calm down, just keep it cool and wait at least 2 hours until you reply"...

Where does that lead you at the end of the day? Exactly! The other person will think (after a few repetitions of you purposely "keeping it cool") you REALLY don't give a damn and will also not give a damn about you in the future. Or it's the start of the typical "Ok, it took you 1 hour to answer, I'mma top that and make it 2 hours", then you receive the message (while of course already secretly desperately waiting) and you're like "ok, hey, if he doesn't care that much, I'll wait three hours" until you basically end up responding to each other slower than people answering letters and at the same time starting to think that this won't lead anywhere anyway.

That really makes me sad. The "I don't want him to know that I care"-game is not the way it is supposed to be, if you ask me!

Why not make it a mutual conversation after having had a few dates, finding each other attractive and all that and really write the person whenever you feel like it! Doesn't it make everybody happy to have someone thinking about him/her? I know it always made and still makes me happy! (YES, I ADMIT IT! :) )

I think the problem is, we don't want to give people -who we might not know that well- the power to know that much about that one really private thing which is ours to share (or to keep to ourselves): our feelings.

The consequence of sharing your feelings of course is, that the other person knows how you feel (well, duh!) and then doesn't have to respond, or might not feel the same way and even has the power to "purposely" hurt our just expressed feelings. Another problem is in my opinion and from my experience, that the beginning of dating is a battle of the nerves. I always felt like one has to be prepared to immediately shut down the whole system, in case the person you're interested in doesn't feel the same way towards you. Then you "must" find a way to get out of the whole situation responding something maybe just as hurtful to that guy, I mean: He hurt your feelings, right? 

I think it is a shame that this is a quite common attitude. Why not have the courage to express your feelings no matter what will happen afterwards? At least you put it out there! If the other person will then laugh at you and feel powerful or whatever, just because you expressed your feelings, then the person is probably not the person you thought he/she was. But at least you tried and "did your part" to make way for that maybe possible future together (not necessarily meaning forever, but for at least some time!).

To be honest, I think we should all try to put up less walls, especially when dating/wanting to date someone. Wouldn't it be a waste of our beautiful life to be on a constant look-out when dating someone and always be ready to fight back, where there might be no reason to put up a shield? 

And wouldn't it also be a waste to be so busy holding up that shield up to the point that no one even makes a move anymore and it all comes to nothing in the end, just because of your fear to get hurt? Dating is supposed to be FUN and not FEAR FACTOR!

So: Try to leave your shield at home, be courageous, just get in there and at least give a hint of what you feel. Don't let that shield -which you initially put up to protect your feelings- be the reason to hinder the start of a beautiful relationship.

If you feel like there is a risk of being the "loser" in case the other person does not feel that way, or maybe even laughs at you... let me assure you: you're not! The losing party is the party who just leaves without having had the possibility or courage to express what he/she really thinks, for you'll probably keep it to yourself forever once that "battle" is done.

Furthermore, I am actually sure that at some point in his/her life -especially if it did not end in a relationship- he/she will think of that moment when you just laid your cards on the table and think of it as courageous and a good thing to do, and might even adapt it for his/her future.

Love is a risky thing, so just embrace this fact and make the most of it... or at least do your part! :)

x J.

Jerry Oppenheimer's "Front Row" - A book about Anna Wintour's life

Bom dia!

FINALLY, after having taken over 2 years to read the book, I can write my brief review about Jerry Oppenheimer's "Front Row"!

Let me first tell you why I wanted to read this book so badly at first, and then took two years to finish it:

1. I am the #1 Fan of Anna Wintour, the editor in chief of the American VOGUE magazine.
2. I am the kind of person, who does not see her for the "icy" person she is often described to be, but I admire her iciness and success in the fashion industry, and her, just doing whatever she thinks is right.
3. I am the kind of person, who screams "ANNA, I LOVE YOU!!", when she walks past me at fashion week (and this is what I actually really did after the Chanel show...).


What I thought I would read about, when I wished for this book:

I thought
- I'd get an insight on how Anna Wintour achieved to be the editor in chief of the American VOGUE
- I'd see all the hard work she had to put into her career
- I'd read about the struggles she had to set her foot in the publishing industry and how she overcame them

What I REALLY read about, once I had the book in my hands:

To summarize the reason for her success:
It is not (only) hard work, but her father -who himself was a big chief editor in London- helped her a lot along the way, and stemming from a wealthy family certainly didn't hurt and might have made things easier for her.
Networking was also not a problem, for her dad had a lot of connections, and people who have money often have some kind of influence somewhere. Since Anna's family was quite wealthy, she was automatically moving in the "high society". Thus, there is no big achievement from her in the sense of her trying to get into the world of glamour, for she was already born into it.
Of course her character helped her a lot to stay in there and to get to know other people who could help her along the way, but most people first have to get their foot in there, before they can make things happen.
She had different men in her life which was pretty interesting to read about, and a lot of them were "bad boys". However, she ended up marrying a reasonable man, the psychiatrist David Shaffer, who is also the father of her children Bee and Charles.
Eventually, she ended up cheating on him with another bad "boy", and that was basically the end of the book.

What I think now, after I read the book:

I am a little disappointed.

Anna did not really have the big struggle to get in the industry, she was basically introduced to whoever she needed to proceed in her career by her peers.
What I read was a story about a woman who got a good head start on fulfilling her dream career, and hence, I cannot really relate haha

However, I still really admire her inner strength to ignore negative comments about her, which seem to be made quite often.
Moreover, to my knowledge, she made VOGUE what it is today: The world's most influential fashion magazine. This most definitely required hard work and commitment to the job, which she definitely brought and still brings to the party.

Anyway: As a "normal person", I feel you do not get a lot of insights on how to land a job like hers. If you are interested in her life anyway, you can read this book, but beware, for I have the impression the negative things Oppenheimer wrote about her are sometimes a bit over the top, and the content of the book may be not entirely true.. This is just a gut feeling though.

In my opinion, this book deserves 3 of 5 possible stars.
I just hoped to get more insights for "normal people", which is why I had to take away one star. Also, the book had a few really boring parts which made it hard for me to continue reading. Moreover, I sometimes had the impression that people were just rude and wanted to say something bad about her, which did not make the content seem authentic at times. Hence, I had to subtract another star.

From my point of view, this is some put together second hand information, which might even be tainted by the author's views, thus I cannot really recommend this book.

However, I suppose there are worst books than this one!

x J.

Not starving in... THE PHILIPPINES

Bom dia!

Another post about how not to starve, this time in THE PHILIPPINES!


SM MARIKINA:

We went to "Vikings" in SM Marikina.
People who are hungry should really go there, for it's an all you can eat buffet, and the buffet is really RICH!!! There are so many choices, you cannot even try every dish! It's sad I didn't take any pictures of the food, but just check out the homepage!






EDSA:

We were treated to the Japanese restaurant "Senju" by my Uncle Manny.
We ordered different kinds of sushi, sashimi, maki and nigiri as appetizer and
Dom had the Tenderloin Beef Steak, and my aunt Celeste, uncle Manny and I had Gindara, which is black cod and tasted amazing.
Sadly, I didn't take any pictures of the food, but at least you get an idea of the interior there.




Corinthian Gardens:

Afterwards we had dessert at my Uncle's place (which is obviously not a restaurant, but his home) and I just wanted to show you some typical Filipino desserts.

Well first of all we have "Buko" juice, the now so trendy Coconut Water.
This is nothing new to the Filipinos, and on the contrary: They've been drinking it ever since there are coconuts on the Philippine Islands... so that's been like forever.
The difference here is: It's fresh!

Here you see a variety of fresh fruits, from my Uncle's farm, which is about an hour away of his home.

Fresh bananas, papaya, corn, grapes and two kinds of fruit, of which I forgot what they are called (on the lower left) [EDIT: I now know the names, thanks to my Kuya Mark: The round, purple ones are called "Mangosteen", and the yellow-greenish fruits are called "Starfruit"].

Then (beneath the corn), you see some kind of Empanada, and also sticky rice!

in the middle, you can(not) see more sticky rice, rolled in banana leaves, and we tried the green sticky rice rolled in banana leaves on the right. It tastes so good (but it's very, very sweet!)

This is salted caramel ice cream, which also tastes very good!

MAKATI - THE FORT:

This was the food we had, when we were at the club "URBN - BAR & KITCHEN", which is a really nice place, and there are also a lot of "Western people" (as I like to call them).
We had a pizza Margarita and onion rings.

ANGONO RIZAL:

My Kuya Don and Ate Amor took my Kuya Agets (on the left) and Ate Karen (in pink) to "ANGNEWNO" (they don't have a homepage). We mostly took pictures of ourselves, and not of the food, but we had two types of pizza, two types of pasta, sisig (a Filipino dish, which is basically fried pork's ear. Yes, I was also kind of shocked, when I heard about it, while I was already eating it, but it was good!), chicken, deep fried spicy pepper, and probably a lot more!

This was at the "Eastridge Golf Club".
My aunt Mila and Uncle Willie from Australia took Dom and me there, and it was so nice!!
For lunch, you could choose from fresh caught fish/seafood and meat, which then was grilled for us, and it was so delicious!

MEGAMALL:

My Kuya Don and Ate Amor took Dom and me to "YABU" in Megamall, where they mostly serve Katsu.
This is also a very nice place to go, with very good Japanese food!

I ordered Chicken Katsu! You can re-order as much rice, Miso soup and cabbage salad as you want, which I found very good.

In the following you'll see a couple of other "restaurants" (obviously they are mostly fast food restaurants) we went to while traveling to Boracay and Palawan, as well as the food we ate there.


BORACAY:

This is our breakfast we had at our hotel "The Boracay Beach Resort"

The upper plate shows Dom's "American Breakfast", and mine is the lower plate, with the "Filipino Breakfast with Longganisa"

This was another breakfast we had:
The upper plate shows Dom's Omelett with ham I think...
The lower plate is my Filipino breakfast with Daing (dried fish which is really salty)

This was at "I <3 Backyard BBQ" in D'Mall



I didn't really like the food. It was okay, but nothing I would recommend to anyone.

I had a grilled catch of the day Tuna, with garlic rice, grilled veggies and an egg, sunny side up. Don't know what the brown sauce was, and I also didn't like it.

Dom had the same like me, except he had a pepper steak.

Afterwards we both had a frozen yoghurt at "Pancake House", which I was kind of sorry to order in the end, for they almost set up the machine from scratch AHHAAHAHAH I thought that the frozen yoghurt was their thing, but apparently no one has ordered it in a long time... It was very good though!

 We also went to "Olé" in D'Mall, which might be the best restaurant you can go to.
It's open 24h a day, and they serve HUGE dishes!!


I ordered a "Chicken Burrito"

Domi ordered "Beef Fajitas"

This is a small meal we got at "Andok's Litson" in D'Mall which looks pretty poor, but it tastes SO GOOD!!!

It's just steamed rice, a fried chicken (WHICH WAS SO GOOD!!!!) and gravy. LOVED IT!!

And there's a small ice cream stand right in the corner of this Andok's, where they have VERY GOOD ICE CREAM!! It's so delicious!!! We went there twice in one day, once we found out about it on our last day.

This was also a very good restaurant: Valhalla, also in D'Mall (they apparently don't have a homepage.. too bad!)

Dom and I both had the same dish, but I cannot remember the name. It was linguine noodles, with a cajun sauce I think and a garlic bread... I also had prawns on my noodles!

We also went to "Epic", but I cannot find my pictures!
I had a "Crispy Pork Belly", and Dom had the "Epic Burger", which both tasted very good, but it was not a lot.. :(


NAIA:

First visit to Shakey's

"Belly Buster"



"Shakey's Special"





PALAWAN:

Breakfast at our hotel: "Hotel Fleuris"

My Filipino breakfast with fried pork meat (I forgot the Filipino name for that dish) [EDIT: Thanks again to my Kuya Mark, I now know the name again: Pork Tocino! :)]



Dom's American Breakfast with scrambled eggs, bacon, cucumber and toast.




Filipino Breakfast with Chicken Adobo




This was "Pancake House" in Robinson's Mall in Puerto Princesa.



I ordered a seafood linguine, which was a big mistake, for I was done eating after only 3 Minutes TOPS! ..and I didn't even eat quickly!
Left me sitting there still hungry... So don't order that, except if you want a small snack!

Dom's burger and fries was a little more to eat, and it tasted good!

 At "Shakey's"

Pizza Bianca

 Pizza "Manager's Choice"

Our dessert was a chocolate smoothie!! YUM! :)

At "Chow King"

Dom ate "Fried Chicken - Chinese Style", with steamed rice and crab chips, and I had a wantan soup

At "Hap Chan"

The upper plate is Dom's order of "Sweet&Sour Chicken", and I had "Fried Squid"




At "We Be Sushi", the only sushi place in Puerto Princesa, which was also the place we always had our breakfast hat (it kind of belonged to our hotel). They don't have a homepage though

This was our appetizer, and I don't know what it is! It looks like small fried chips (and they were tiny!)

Dom's chicken curry

My other appetizer: Miso Soup, no biggie! Tastes as good as any miso soup (except the one from Planet Sushi, which is disgusting, but that's another story..)

This was - NO KIDDING - my sushi plate! I was soooo overwhelmed, for it was WAY TOO MUCH for me! I mean: Look at this! This could easily feed two people!

At first I felt soooo ashamed, for I thought it was a dish to share... but no: It was really meant to be for one person only HAHA ... Geez, I was so full after eating this (Dom doesn't like Sushi that much, that's why I basically was all on my own)

This was the cute teapot and the bowl with our green tea ice cream!

If you ever go to the Philippines (and you really should!), I hope you now have an inspiration of where to go when you're hungry :)

The dishes are affordable and masarap (= tasty)!!

ENJOY YOUR MEAL! :)

x J.

Not starving in.... LONDON

Bom dia!

I planned to write about the food I ate when I was in London a while ago, but I never made it up to now...

Let me present to you: Restaurants I went to when I was in LONDON!

There is no chronological order... 

I'll also link the places I went to, but I didn't eat out all the time for I also cooked a lot at home... and here's proof :) 

(This is me cooking the German dish "Spätzle mit Geschnetzeltem", which is basically the "Spätzle" noodles with diced chicken in a cream sauce)

We went to "Janetira" before clubbing, when we met Dom's friends!

I didn't take a picture of my food (although it tasted really good), because I just had a tiny dish.. I wasn't hungry the time we went there

Here you can see the food (a bit blurry, sorry!) you get in the "Tiger Tiger" club, if you book a table. The club is pretty nice and near Trafalgar Square. We had the salami pizza, chicken wings and quesadillas, as well as nachos with guacamole, sour cream and salsa sauce.

Those were DELICIOUS pizzas we ate in the "Strada - West India Quay" in Canary Wharf
Domi took the pizza "Vesuvio" and I took the "Cotto"... SO GOOD! (although it doesn't look very nice in the picture..)

This was my yummy dish when I ate in the Cuban restaurant "La Bodeguita" with Domi and his flatmates Carlos and Isabella.
I had "Salmon Latino - Grilled salmon in a rich spicy tomato sauce topped with prawns and served with rice and cassava chips". This was the first time I had cassava chips, and I LOVED IT!!!

Domi and Isabella had "Steak Pimienta - Sirloin steak in pepper sauce, served with rice, potatoes and hot vegetables"

Carlos had a typical Cuban dish "Cazuela de Mariscos - Seafood stew served with rice and fried green plantain"

These are the Phô soups, when Dom and I ate at "Phô" in Westfield mall in Stratford.
Phô is a typical Vietnamese dish and it tastes really good!

Dom's soup (at the back): "Pho Bo Combo" - with steak, brisket and meatballs
My soup: "Bun Tom Hue" - hot and spicy tiger prawn soup
(To be honest, I liked Dom's soup better though...)

Our burgers at "GBK - Gourmet Burger Kitchen" Soho.

I had "Avocado Bacon - Avocado, crispy bacon, house mayo, relish, salad"

Dom had "The Taxidriver - American Cheese, onion ring, cajun relish, smoked chili mayo, dill pickle, salad, brioche bun"

This was at "Walmer Castle"

Dom had a chicken curry, and I had "Pad See-Iew - flat rice noodles stir-fried with choi sum, carrots, bean sprout, egg, light and dark soy sauce and white pepper" with "Goong", which means Tiger Prawns.

This was at "Yokoso", which is a restaurant right in the building Dom used to live in.
The waiters and the atmosphere there were SO NICE!!
We had an all you can eat, and seriously: What you see here is all we ate, and we COULD BARELY FINISH!
I can't believe it.. normally I used to order HUGE dishes, and I'm good in "All you can eat".. but that night was... I don't know.

However: The food tasted amazing!

The second time I was there, we went to....:

...ok this was my little snack while I was waiting for the arrival of the shuttle in Luton airport
I forgot the name of the burger, but it was one of the "special" burgers they don't have all the time..

This was my dish, when Dom and I walked through "Bloomsbury" (and Clerkenwell for that matter..) at "Hare&Tortoise".
The food was not too good, and I was very hungry.. so that was not so nice.

I ordered "Yaki Udon - wok fried smooth white udon noodles with prawns, squid, char siu pork, naruto, crab sticks, Chinese mushrooms, carrots, onions and bean sprouts" (at least I think so... cannot remember eating all these ingredients haha)

Dom ordered "Beef Chilli & Black Bean Lo Mein - stir-fried beef with onions and peppers in black bean sauce, with a touch of chilli oil, served with steamed noodles"

This was when we went to "Wahaca" in Canary Wharf. We ate here twice: Once with Isabella and Carlos, and once just Dom and me. These pictures only show what Dom and I ate.. the other time I had exactly the same dish, so nothing has changed for me haha
By the way: THIS IS MY FAVORITE PLACE TO EAT!!

These are our appetizers:
"Tender, marinated chicken Taquito - with shredded lettuce, Lancashire cheese and fresh tomato salsa" and
"Black Bean Tostada - special re-fried beans topped with avocado salsa, crema, Lancashire cheese and fresh tomato salsa"

This was my dish: "British Steak Burrito"

Dom's dish: "Marinated Grilled Chicken"

This was the food Isabella prepared for New Year's Eve!

Roasted potatoes, apple salad (which I couldn't try, due to my apple allergy), ham and a nice mix of pepper bells, tomatoes and onions, as well as nachos

I hope you now have an inspiration where you could go out to eat when you're in London!
Most of the restaurants are affordable and I can really recommend the "Wahaca" restaurants, which you can find all over town, and also "La Bodeguita", which is near Elephant&Castle!

ENJOY YOUR MEAL!

x J.