Review: Smashbox Custom Color for Light Skin

SMASHBOX!!!!!

This brand have been worn by fabulous faces such as Drew Barrymore, Charlize Theron and Madonna. It's a expansion business from Smashbox Studio to Smashbox cosmetic line.

Honestly, I'm getting addicted with make up from Philippines local brands to branded ones. But since, branded or designer's one is very expensive I'm just buying it when it's a good deal.

I bought mine I guess last six months ago during the Midyear Sale of Chalhoub in World Trade Center. Actually, I brought it impulsively..it's already when I got home when I noticed that this for light skin- good thing I'm not that dark.

The set is very cute- it's in a box in black and have the pictures of what is inside. The make up is fully secured which is wrapped with bubble sheet.

What's inside?

Blush on
Cream Eyeshadow
Powder Eyeshadow
Eyeliner - Black
Lip Pencil
and 2 lip gloss

They're very compact so it's so easy to bring along. And all the products are very pigmented and easy to blend.

When I tried it..this is what I got!!! Not that bad but my foundation is very bad hahahha honestly I didn't bothered to pay attention on blending it well since I'm just at home and wanna try this set..so my apologize for my foundation!!!

Review: Asian Flavors Restaurant

Last Friday, for some reason I'm so lazy to stay in my kitchen and I just told my hubby to try one restaurant I spotted in Damasus Road in Al Qusais which is so actually near to his office. The place was called "Asian Flavors Restaurant" as from it's name itself it caters from Filipino, Chinese, Vietnamese and Thai cuisine.

The place is actually not that big and I guess it can accommodate 50-60 people only but the place is clean and tidy. I love their color coordination and the semi-native motif of the place.

By the way, they have videoke here!!!nice one when you're in the mood to show off your talent hahahhaa...

The menu book is so nice it's like a wood book :)

And since this is our first time, we're not brave enough to try other cuisine aside from Filipino. I'm looking forward to try their Thai next time.

This is a in-house soup. I guess it's Bulalo soup!! Just right after we gave our order they serve the soup.

Here comes the food:

Calamares

Calamares is my all time favorite along with Shrimp tempura. This is always in my order whenever it's in the menu. They serve it with Tartar sauce and some leaves of romaine lettuce. I just wish they use Japanese/Panko Bread crumbs instead of only usual batter. It would make it more cruncher and will look the servings more bigger.

Price: 25.00 Dhs.

Bopis

The Bopis is so perfect in taste not that sour and not that spicy. The only down fall I can say is it's not appetising to  my sense- they should have use atsuete for more vibrant color coz that's the usual bopis  I use to have in most corners of the Philippines. And because I'm OC when it comes to food I just hope they cut the onion same in sizes honestly I'm so distracting with the sizes of the onion hehehhe.

Price: 30.00 Dhs.

Kare-kare

We love Kare-kare!!!! I'd tried Kare-kare from countless restaurant already and I'm so proud to say I cooked Kare-kare perfectly (well that's according to people who have tried it..). If I gonna rate Asian Flavor's Kare-kare I'll give it "8". Mainly because as per  hubby the meat is not that tender (I just eat vege's in Kare-kare, btw) and secondly the sauce look more "sabaw" for me. I like my kare-kare to be more saucy that masabaw.

Price: 35.00

Our total bill is 116.00 Dhs including 2 rice, 1 softdrinks and 1 big bottled water.

The price is reasonable enough for the servings. With the 3 courses we ordered I guess that is already good for 3-4 pax.

And before I forget, they have excellent customer service. The wait staffs are very attentive to their customers. I so love it!!!

Kutsinta Recipe

Kutsinta is one of those famous "kakanin" that is commonly sold along the streets specially early morning. I remember when I was young we used to go out to buy kakanin's for breakfast. Kutsinta is somewhat chewy and sticky and best paired with freshly grated coconut.

This is my second attempt to make kutsinta and I could say it's perfect from the taste to consistency. Even though the first one was not bad at all I just thought I'm not getting the right consistency and I already throw my remaining mixture when I realized that it needs to cool down to make it perfectly set.

Here's a perfect recipe to share:

Ingredients:

1 cup all purpose flour
1 cup brown sugar
2 cups water
1 tsp. lihiya/ lye water
atsuete powder (for coloring)
grated coconut

Procedure:

1. Mix flour and brown sugar.
2. Add water and mix properly making sure that there is no lumps left.
3. Dissolve atsuete powder in hot water then add Iye water.
4. Pour in the color mixture to your flour mixture. You can adjust the color as what you prefer.
5. Place the mixture into individual molds and steam for 40 minutes.
6. Serve with grated coconut on top.

Happy cooking!!!

Umami experience

The first time I heard the term "umami" was when I watched a cooking show hosted by Chef Rosebud Benitez - she would always say that umami was the fifth taste together with sweet, sour, bitter and salty. Umami is a loanword from japanese which means "pleasant savory taste". People taste umami via receptors for glutamate which is commonly found in it's salt form as the food additive MSG.

We're in Al Ghurair Center for a lunch in Liwan Restaurant when we saw this Umami store with a lined of people - a sign of a good food. Hubby and I agreed to come back the following day for his ramen session. Hubby is a ramen sucker and I'm a maki addict so we're really excited and looking forward for this.

Look at the plastic food menu!!!isn't so tempting???!!

This was our order the following day:

For him: CRISPY PRAWN TEMPURA RAMEN

Hubby ordered the Prawn Tempura Ramen because he knows I love prawn tempura..I can eat this for the whole day alone.

For me: CHICKEN CUTLET KATSUDON

Here comes the verdict: Are we satisfy with our meal??!! the big answer is NO. Both of us are disappointed in these 2 meals we had. The prawn tempura is not crispy at all not as what they're claiming to be "CRISPY PRAWN TEMPURA". And the noodles itself looks like the instant noodles we used to cook at home plus the vegetables are already soggy but to be fair the soup itself taste good enough.

And with my Chicken Katsudon the chicken was so thin and the vegetables were soggy as well, I'm expecting it to be fresh and crispy coz that is japanese food known to be.

My Umami experience is not umami at all or probably we just gave too high expectation for this.

Total bill of : 68.00 Dhs. with 2 small bottle of water.

Lunch Date @ Liwan Restaurant -Al Ghurair Rayhaan & Arjaan by Rotana

 Al Ghurair Arjaan & Rayhaan is part of the Rotana hotels. It is nestled in the heart of Deira and is linked to the new extension of the renowned Al Ghurair Center. You will never missed it when you're in the vicinity of the mall. And by far, you will notice a two building with one with "R" which stands for Rayhaan and one with "A" by Arjaan itself.

This lovely piece caught my attention when going to the 3rd floor wherein the main lobby is located.

Let's stroll around the lobby!!!

I got a chance to purchase a discount voucher for a International Buffet + unlimited mocktails  in Liwan Restaurant, it is their all day dining place...for only 89.00 Dhs!!!!what a good bargain...and believe me this is a great deal. And so far this is one of the buffet I enjoyed so much!!

Upon arrival I gave my printed voucher  and my name to the reception of the restaurant (btw, a reservation is required prior to your visit) and immediately a wait staff guided us to our seat and right after we seated a welcome drinks arrived.

Enjoying my "welcome drink"

Here's the simple yet cosy table set up.

And the menu for the mocktails was given for our drinks...I have mentioned it's "unlimited mocktails" right??!!just for the price of the mocktails..89 Dhs is such a steal!!!

Yes!!! we had two rounds of mocktails. They're freshly made with real fruits. For our first round, I had Chuck of Berry and he had Banananas. And before we left, we ordered for our second round which is Peach Pinacolada and Strawberry Nohito.

our lovely and yummy drinks

Let's start with the main event!!! THE FOOD

Cheese Counter

I'm not so happy with the cheese counter..the chooses was limited and there's no Brie on it :(

THE APPETIZER BAR

which includes all of these...

This is love!!!!

Honestly, with the appetizer counter itself + the mocktails I'm already solved with these goodness. I was telling my hubby I hope I still have room for the second round of maki's hahahhaa!!!

California Maki Roll, Spicy Tuna Roll, Sweet Potato Tempura Roll and Spicy Salmon Roll

My salad plate with baguette bread. The vegetables are fresh and crispy and btw, the corn was a winner not the thawed one nor the canned and the dressing was the best ranch dressing I ever tasted. I also took a sliced of toasted baguette with half cheese herb and half cheese salmon spread - and I loved them both :)

While I was enjoying my salad..hubby is having a seafood feast.

Fishing in a ice box

He enjoyed it a lot. I had tried a piece of prawn and a mussel and both are good - they tasted sweet which only proves that they're fresh and it also complimented the dressing which I guess is thousand island.

It's time for the main course.

Asian Counter

Creamy Spinach Soup

I didn't touch anything in the Asian Counter except for the soup. Aside from I'm already half full most of the dishes are not familiar to me or probably not just so appetizing to my sense.

This is where I got my main course meal. They do live pasta cooking  and Tempura but unfortunately they don't have Prawn Tempura that time. But what makes me happy was the "STEAK"!!!!! They have a corner for the steak which you can choose with different sauces and condiments and a pudding to compliment the meat.

In every buffet,  I was always looking forward for the dessert station. But since the place is already full when we finished our main course only few chooses were left in the station.

It was already past 3:00 pm when we leave our table. Imagine an almost 2 hours of satisfying our tummy and taste palette.

My overall experience is superb. And I'm looking forward to come back again soon. This one of the buffet will retain on my list.