Yes, hard to believe but we are already on the last few days of February! So what are my favorite things, places and happenings during this month ?
Here is my monthly round-up of favorites, TSM’s Favorite Things for February 2015 :
Triple Chocolate Chunk Cookies from Aly’s Cookie Bar
I’ve had a lot of chocolate cookies in my lifetime, but this one from Aly’s Cookie Bar refreshed my memory and reminded me that not all cookies are the same. Her Triple Chocolate Chunk cookies made of Callebaut chocolate are her best ones yet. It’s rich, deep and dark — the way I like all my chocolates and cookies to be!
Her other best sellers are : Salted Caramel Chocolate Chip and Bourbon Butterscotch Pecan. Aly’s cookies are all freshly made with premium, quality ingredients. They are addicting to say the least — so don’t say I didn’t warn you if you find yourself not stopping after your first bite! 🙂
Aly’s Cookie Bar
To order, call Aly at 0917-895-1015
Instagram : @alyscookiebarmnl
Lafite Wine Collection Launch at Nobu Manila
I was recently invited to attend the Domaines de Barons Rothschild (Lafite) collection launch at the newly opened Nobu Manila, City of Dreams.
We had an amazing 7-course meal prepared for us by no less than Nobu Manila’s Chef Zach Hillberry, all paired with different bottles of Lafite. Amongst the many different kinds of wine we tried that night, the highlight for me was this bottle of Chateau d’Aussières 2010.
This bottle of red was rich, aromatic and full-bodied and yet not a hint of heaviness in it. It had a nice and delightful finish that blended very well with the meaty and flavorful dish of the Rack of Lamb that went with it.
And the star of the 7-course meal : Lamb with 12-hour cooked Peruvian Anticucho Miso sauce.
Everyone agreed that this was the best dish of the night! The meat was tender and literally falling-off-the-bone, that there was no need for us to use the knives and forks provided on the table. All we had to do was bite them all off from the bone! 🙂
The Collection of Domaines Barons de Rothschild (Lafite) is now available through Artisan Cellars.
For inquiries, call Roxanne Lee at 0920-921-8870
(Artisan Cellars also carries the excellent Australian Blackmore Wagyu Beef and Mosswood wine collection, which I recently wrote about here.)
Nobu Manila, City of Dreams
Aseana Boulevard corner Macapagal Avenue, Paranaque City
For reservations, call +632 691-2882 or +632 691-2885
Fäe Handcrafted Candles
I have always believed in the power of scented candles. Scents can transform, heal and transport you to a different time and place.
As soon as I wake up in the morning, I light a scented candle when I do my meditation and morning prayers. In the afternoon, when I go to my home office to write for the blog (as I am doing now), I light another candle to let my creative juices flow. At night when I take a shower, I light a candle in the bathroom to relax me. And when I am in bed right before I sleep and as I read my book, I light again my favorite scented candle.
I probably have more than a dozen scented candles lying around the house bought from some of my trips and some given to me by friends. But if there’s one candle that I myself buy : it’s Fäe Handcrafted Candles. I am literally obsessed with them, so I have all the 4 scents at home all the time : Silvergil, Winter’s Evening, Riverbank and Wistful. That way, I can have different scents for different rooms in the house!
Fäe Candles are all handcrafted and made of beeswax, instead of the usual soy wax present in most commercially available candles. It is the beeswax ingredient that produces a “clean burn” (yes, this is a candle that is smokeless!) and gives off a “clean scent” that lasts longer. These candles are also made to be environment-friendly. Once lit up, they emit negative ions that help clean the air around you!
*Fäe Handcrafted Candles
Available in Cura V, Philux Rockwell & Megamall, SM Kultura
(I first wrote about Fäe Candles here.)
Shanghai Trip
For those of you who have been following me on Instagram, you would know that I just came back from a quick trip to Shanghai (#TSMinShanghai). This was my third time in the city, the last one was during the World Expo in 2010. So yes, it has almost been five years and that is why, the moment I stepped foot in the city, I immediately felt that a brand new experience was waiting for me.
The view from my bedroom (as seen in this photo) was just beautiful. At the onset, the city’s skyline shows you a rich, cosmopolitan city filled with a hundred and one tall sky scrapers in different shapes and sizes, built by some of the world’s best architects. And yet as you get to know Shanghai a little bit more, you would also feel that steeped within the alleys of these modern buildings are a people, a culture, who are still believing and living through their old, rich history.
As with any holiday, there were so many things to do, too many places to visit, a lot of delicious food to eat, and yet so little time to do it all! So as much as I could, I did all that and yet at the end of our trip, I still felt that there were still more to discover in this vibrant, ever evolving city in China.
Shanghai is indeed a place rich in history, culture, excess, glamour and yes, mystery… I will write about the details of this trip in my next travel post. So stay tuned!
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What are your favorite things from this month? Share them here with me!
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To go back and see my favorite things in January, you can click here.