Frannywanny

I'm back! It's been a really busy month and yet every time I remind myself about our upcoming trip to the Lion City, I get this sudden surge of adrenaline rush and excitement. Finally, after two long years, Paul and I went back to our second home and what made this trip extra special was having our twins with us too. I knew that we will be back (for a visit at least) and I was really determined to take my twins with me in order for them to meet their aunties, uncles and playmates who were like family to us when we were still based there. No yayas with us so it was just me, Paul and our twins. I knew also that it will be extra tiring and physically draining but I was up for that challenge. This is probably one of the rare times in their young lives that J & L got our undivided attention for one full week. In fact, a week is indeed to short to meet up with everyone and to go to all the places on my list. Also, I realized that it's the first time that I'm visiting Si...

I've never been a big shopper all my life. In fact, I like keeping the number of clothes on my closet and shoes on my rack at a very minimal number. Paul would often tease me that he actually has more clothes and shoes than I do. That's just me. I never liked shopping and I only do so if I need to. However, things have changed since I had my twins. I've lost count on the number of times I went to the mall and every single visit, I always end up with a bag or several bags of clothes, bottles, toys for them. In fact, I do enjoy shopping for my babies more so when I get to avail of a good deal. So, when SM Store launched their October Baby & Kids Fest , I dragged Paul all the way to SM Aura to do a little shopping. It was also perfect timing as we really do had to prepare for our upcoming family trip so I stocked up on diapers, travel essentials and even more eating utensils. We got a box of Pigeon Magmag set which I thought was a good find as L is starting to learn ...

It's no secret how much I love love love ice cream! In fact, it's the best thing to end a meal with and I try to find all sorts of ways and reasons just to have ice cream everyday. So, when my best friend L came to visit, I thought that it just made perfect sense to take her to enjoy some ice cream which, at that time, wasn't available in Manila yet . Of course, L, being my very good and supportive friend was so game to check out Honey Creme  at 313 Somerset which has been having long queues for months. Luckily, we got there at the right non-peak time that there wasn't any queue at all. Honey Creme opened in Singapore last year and it has paved the way for the craze for silky soft Korean ice cream topped with all sorts of toppings. From the classic Dark Chocolate drizzle or a shot of espresso for Affogato to the much sought-after honeycomb and head-turning, attention-catching cotton candy! 

I told you about our first meal in Manila when we visited last June, now let me tell you about the last meal that we had before flying back to the Lion City. Don't worry as I will be telling you all about the meals that I had in between. :) Since our flight was at 8 in the evening, Mommy suggested that we go to SM Aura to have coffee and maybe some snack since we didn't avail of any in-flight meals. As soon as I heard "SM Aura", I took out my trusty Evernote as I checked my list of restaurants to help me make a choice on where to eat. Aha, I saw Mentore Coffee + Bar . Finally. I've been wanting to try this since late last year. Mentore Coffee + Bar is part of the UCC Coffee Group and this was just perfect as my family is a big big fan of UCC. Sitting was quite limited as there was just an outside al fresco sitting and an "outside-the-restaurant-sitting". We chose the latter which entailed a bit of a waiting time. It's a good thing that we ...

When my SIL told me that we will be having our family lunch at COCA which is a Thai restaurant at SM Aura, images of Pad Thai, Thai Iced Tea, Takoh and Catfish Salad starts coming into my mind. I was really excited as I'm a fan of Thai cuisine. We got there just in time for our reservation and I was surprised that the restaurant was empty on a holiday. How odd... Where did all the people go? Well, SM Aura was fairly new when we went so maybe the foot traffic is still quite low. Scanning the menu, both my SIL and I were quite confused as it doesn't have any of our Thai favorites. Asking the server, we found out that COCA is apparently a Thai-Chinese restaurant and there seems to be more Chinese dishes than Thai. No problem then, we were hungry and were pretty much agreeable to anything edible. Thankfully our server was very helpful as he gave us a couple of recommendations. First on the list was the Suki Steamboat Platter which was COCA's signature dish -- Each tabl...