July 19 is Free Museum Day

I got this information from my sister, which is kinda funny, seeing that I'm the one working for Ayala, so I should be getting first dibs on this.

Nonetheless, for those who are free, this is worth checking out.

I for one will be heading there after my morning section council meetings and elections.

See you guys at the museum!

Candle Warmers in True Value

I first purchased an electric oil burner back in 2006, and it was a better alternative to oil burners lit by tealights. They're less of a fire hazard, you can leave them on overnight, and they slowly diffuse the scented oil - you don't run the risk of drying out the water quickly.

I grew to love these and they soon became beautiful accent pieces in my previous condos. In one of my recent trips to True Value in Trinoma, I saw a nice owl-shaped oil burner. 

candlewarmers.com

It was being retailed at PhP 795.75. I did a quick search online and stumbled upon their website - candlewarmers.com. Online, these were retailing at $16.99. They were actually designed to melt scented wax - which are also readily available in Mia Maison stalls. For my purposes, I wanted to use it to diffuse essential oils, my favorite scents being Citronella and Water.

I didn't buy the owl candle warmer right away, instead choosing to wait a good 3 weeks, and lo and behold, my patience was rewarded as it was put on sale at 30% off. I only paid PhP 558.00 for this pretty owl candle warmer/oil burner. 

As usual, my limited photography skills do not do justice to the product at all, hence, let me share more pictures of the owl candle warmer from their website. 

Owl

As soon as I'm able to find a nice spot to place the cute owl in, I'll take a picture and update this post. 

Purchasing the candle warmer wasn't as easy you'd think. Although I had resolved for quite some time already that I'd be getting the owl, when I saw the other options in True Value, I got a bit distracted. Now their website lists about 39 Illumination Fragrance Warmer designs, and True Value carries 5 of these:

Live, Love, Laugh

Vintage Turquoise

Tuscan Cream

Cayenne

I was choosing among Vintage Turquoise, Tuscan Cream, and Owl. However, since there were only 2 pieces left in stock for Owl, I opted to purchase it instead. Anyway, the shape of the fragrance diffuser was unique - I haven't encountered an owl-themed oil burner aside from it.

I was about to buy a 2nd candle warmer, my mom wanted one also, but since I was with Kim, being the economist, he dissuaded me from doing so.

So, I will purchase another candle warmer from True Value perhaps when Kim isn't with me. Who knows, hopefully by that time, they might be on sale at 50% off already!

If you want to know more about Candle Warmers, feel free to visit their website: www.candlewarmers.com

They have an interesting video there of their products. They actually started by warming candles - a safer alternative to burning candles. I'm actually short of convinced to buy their original candle warmer. 

Should you feel the urge to contact True Value in Trinoma to check on the availability of the other candle warmers, because I know I want to purchase the other 4, here is their contact details:

True Value Trinoma

Level 1, Trinoma Mall, Quezon City

0932.629.1658

Honestly, these are quite affordable compared to how much Mia Maison would sell their oil burners. If I were you, I'd buy one while they're on sale. 

A-List is Back with Paintings

I know it isn't an excuse - that I've been busy the past few months. I recently opened up the blog again, and realized I am still getting a steady influx of views. So It is quite unfortunate that I haven't been updating. What drove me further was when I received a text message from a good friend of mine, Len Bayas, who had just recently discovered that I had this blog.

As I said, being busy isn't really much of an excuse, I mean, I still was able to eat out the past few months, right? I was able to go out of town at least once in the past year. The characters that will be accompanying me in this portion of my journey may have changed - haven't been able to keep in touch with the original characters of A-List Manila, to whom we really owe the inspiration of my having started this blog to begin with. And, is A-List still showing in the US anyway? If in which case, let's push this further to new heights.

Moving forward, you won't be hearing that much anymore about Derek and his friends, we seldom see each other anymore, save for the occassional accidental encounter in BGC. My partner in crime now is Kim. So A-List Manila readers, I'd like everyone to meet Kim :)

I underwent so many changes in the past year. Many of you must know already that I am a collector. It all started with stamps back when I was in grade school. Then, I got into collecting Coca-cola memorabilia in high school. Now, I collect paintings. I try to paint also, but that's a different story which deserves another post. Yes, I got fascinated with paintings, and it all started with an art exhibit that I organized in One Serendra.

One of the artists that we featured was Ediefer Gutierrez, and I fell in love with a painting of his. It was an untitled nude of a woman he met in Puerto Galera. It spent several days in my office (as some of the paintings was temporarily stored there prior to the exhibit), and I couldn't stop looking at it.

It's a bit difficult posting pictures of paintings, because, really, pictures will never do these works of art justice, regardless of whether I use an SLR. I love the androgynous look Ediefer's model had about her. So after countless thinking and re-thinking, and after consulting my good friend (who also happens to be a painter), Franco Melendres, I took the plunge and bought it.

From thereon I was hooked. I started looking up paintings online, systems in which a collector can use to record their collection, and have even considered taking up Masters in Art Studies in UP Diliman - this one I'm really quite intent on pursuing.

My next purchase was sometime April this year after I received my performance bonus from my company, and was a Mediterranean seascape from a European artist. This work of art I purchased from Gintong Sining in Glorietta 4.

Most of you are probably realizing now that most of the paintings I like have texture and are more impressionistic.

I visit a lot of art galleries during my spare time, and have visited museums in Metro Manila. Kim and I even went on a sojourn to Angono, Rizal, and visited Nemiranda's Arthouse and the Blanco Museum. Really awesome, if you guys are looking for something to do during a Saturday that doesn't involve going to clubs.

I also commissioned a painting from my friend, Franco Melendres. I'll dig up some pictures of his works and post it here soon so that you guys can see how brilliant an artist he is.

I also recently discovered contemporary artworks. My recent proud acquisition is Jaime Gubaton's House series from Gallery Big in LRI. If the watercolor looks familiar, it was recently featured in an article entitled 14 Artworks Under PhP 5,000.00, link of which I am posting below the painting.

http://manila.coconuts.co/2014/02/13/10-artworks-under-php5000-art-all-manila

I often frequent the Future Market in Escolta, sponsored by 98B, where I discovered works from Anjo Bolarda all at really affordable prices. Anjo Bolarda has recently concluded a show in Vinyl On Vinyl called Sorry for the Inconvenience.

I purchased two of his acrylic painting on wood blocks and made them into a diptych, which was then hung in our guest room.

Pardon my hideous looking comforter, was so proud of them, so soon as I got home, I just had to take a picture of these two. Will share photos later on of how I had them framed and how they're faring in the guest room.

From Future Market, I also met the lovely Sheila Ledesma whose paintings were another case of love at first sight for me. She called these her ectoplasmic series, and I just love how she was able to make the acrylic colors swirl.

As you can see, my iPad and its Capdase casing photobombed the picture.

These are how the paintings looked after I had them framed in FramePlus.

I'll be coming up with an article also on this lovely frame shop I drive to for my framing needs. They are so affordable, and with an expensive addiction such as paintings, you really need to know where to get your artworks framed without denting your wallet.

Hope everybody's up to speed on what's new in A-List Manila. I am so looking forward to indoctrinating the readers to the art galleries and exhibits that I'll be visiting pretty soon.

If you're interested in any of the artists whose works I featured, please feel free to leave me message and I'll give you their contact information.

When Uan Met Sally

Yes, that's the name of the store/coffee shop that Derek and tried out last Saturday night. Sorry it took so long to upload the pictures and the experience, have been pretty busy. Had it not been for the typhoon and the holiday, I might have waited a few more days before I uploaded them.

Last Saturday, Derek and I met up to have dinner in Don Day in UP Village. The food was good, but the place was something else. It's a Korean restaurant where you can grill meat, and have a field day with the Kimchi and other Korean delicacy buffet in the restaurant. When we arrived, there were quite a lot of patrons, and the staff found it hard to keep out. We ended up eating on a table next to an area that had recently been vacated, and with piled used dishes.

Too bad, since I enjoyed the food in Don Day. After dinner, Derek and I drove around UP Village to look for a nice quaint coffee shop, and we chanced upon this store.

I was initially drawn to the colorful clothes on display in the store, and when we were inside, ended up discovering that they had food and coffee as well.

The clothes were quite unique, and the attendant informed us that the owner of the shop purchase the clothes from Bangkok.

I love the theme and the adherence of the store and coffee shop to it. It had a shabby chic vibe going about the store, and obviously, the owner seemed to love birds as a theme. Here's the detail on the wooden placemat used on the coffee tables.

The store's menu was placed on a blue-washed clipboard with a pretty bird medallion detail.

I ordered the Artisan's Coffee, which came with a free cookie. The cup was painted with a bird-detail, and even the cookie was not spared. 

I love the sugar that they used. I should have taken a video of how it melted when I put the lump in the brewed coffee. 

If ever you're in the area, visit the shop and have a lovely cup of coffee or two. I would love to just sit at the store's patio during a rainy day and enjoy their coffee. 

When Uan Met Sally

154-A Maginhawa Street, UP Village, Quezon City

IHOP in Bonifacio Global City

I've been happy ever since I made the big move to manage a property in Bonifacio Global City. I used to be so afraid of the Fort, because I thought it was so magulo, but it turns out, Makati CBD was the one magulo.

I drive going home to Quezon City everyday, and I discovered it would be better to wait out rush hour in the office - get additional work done, and you spend less for gas because you're not stuck for an hour and a half in traffic.

There are times when i would have dinner, thus, in BGC before I leave work for home. Last week, I had dinner with a good friend of mine, Ayi Castillo. I was finishing some stuff in the office, when he texted me asking if I was still in One Serendra. Ayi, by the way, is one of the property managers of Two Serendra, the complex on the other side of Serendra's retail area, developed by Alveo.

We work for the same company and have become really good friends ever since the company's sportsfest last year.

We decided to grab a bite to eat before going home.

We found ourselves heading towards IHOP in BGC. We got a nice round table at the corner of the 2nd floor of the restaurant, which afforded us a good view of the cars stopping in the intersection below. Unfortunately, my very unreliable iPhone wasn't with us because it had to stay in the office in the charging dock - hence my pictures for this post were taken using my Blackberry Torch.

I ordered the Big Steak Omelette as the server convinced me it was the bestselling omelette on the menu.

The omelette's come with a side of pancakes. I opted not to order a different flavored pancake, as I wanted to try their collection of syrups.

Here's a picture of the pancake on the side that was given to me.

They had a selection of syrups that you can put on your pancake.

I sampled all of the flavors, so that I can opine on which had to be my favorite among them. I hated the Blueberry syrup - it tasted like cough syrup, Tempra to be exact. It really is a close fight between Butter Pecan and Strawberry for me.

Ayi ordered the Quick-Two Egg Breakfast, but chose Chocolate Chocolate Chip Pancake as his side. Over-excited Ayi quickly put a dollop of Heinz ketchup on his hash brown.

If you've eaten at the IHOPs in the US, you'd notice that they use the same plates, and syrup cruets. Even the refillable iced tea that they serve is the same mix as the one being sold in the diners there. And yes, IHOP is International House of Pancakes.

Curious to get in on the IHOP craze, 'coz you know us Filipinos - we queue up for the oddest things, then feel free to visit them in BGC.

IHOP (formerly known as The International House of Pancakes)
Ground Level, W Global Center
30th Street, corner 9th Avenue, Bonifacio Global City, Taguig
tel. no. 02.687.5611

Penpen's in Cubao Expo

All the milling around, jumping parking fences, and shopping eventually tired out the A-List Manila team. Derek and I decided to have dinner at this place in Cubao Expo that I've eaten at several times already. 

It was a first for Derek, so I was quite excited at how he was going to react to the Filipino-fusion cuisine that Penpen's served. 

Right at the exit of Cubao Expo, facing General Romulo, you can see the restaurant already. I discovered it because they served their own version of cocktails at PhP 99.00 per pitcher. If you're really depressed and suicidal, you can do drink-all-you can for PhP 220.00 per person here. 

Now the food is not at all that bad. In fact, they serve rather interesting fare, and is best taken after soaking in the vintage shopping experience that Cubao Expo offers. 

Their placemats act as their menus and is printed on newspaper print, to give more of a local-homey feel to it. The columns are plastered with vintage Filipino movie-posters from decades ago, and it is such a treat already to see how many of the old movies you've seen. 

It was pretty quiet also. The restaurant is located at the exit, far from Bellini's and the hipster crowd that frequent the restaurants and bar inside the compound, so you can really be able to dine and wine in peace. 

For starters, Derek and I ordered Gabi Chips, which was freshly fried, and became even more crispy after waiting for it to dry. 

It was very reasonably priced at PhP 70.00, which I suppose is what you will end up having as pulutan for their various cocktails. 

I ordered their very sinful Pinggoy's Pasta Aligue. It was delicious! And very affordable at PhP 170.00!

Derek ordered the Malunggay-Quesong Puti in Pili Oil Pesto, which was only PhP 148.00. It really got me thinking how easily this can be made at home, but I would make it using olive oil. 

It was such a filling dinner, with their own Pandan Iced Tea. Will definitely go back to try their other pasta dishes. They also offer rice meals, all Filipino-fusion. 

Should you wish to visit them, their details are below:

Penpen's 

Unit # 15A, Cubao Expo, General Romulo Avenue, Araneta Center, Cubao, QC

tel. no. 02.330.1933

Rediscovering Cubao, Cubao Expo

On this boring Saturday afternoon, Derek sent me a BBM message wanting us to meet up. Knowing that the horrid EDSA Saturday traffic should be non-existent, I asked him to meet with me in Gateway, as I wanted an alternative place to visit and go to for window-shopping. Bored with the same old mall experience, I was thinking, maybe we can visit Cubao Expo.

Derek picked me up from Gateway, and we made a beeline for HMR Surplus in Araneta first. There were so many cheap finds there. I ended up buying a documentary DVD on Obama for PhP 15.00, an Ashlee Simpson CD for PhP 50.00, and a soul music CD for PhP 9.00. Derek bought the same stuff, and two belts.

Afterwards, we headed for Cubao Expo. Now, this isn't really the first time I've been to Cubao Expo, as growing up, we would visit this place, then called Marikina Shoe Expo, whenever my mother would need custom-made boots for her trips abroad.

The old shoe shops were still there: Janylin, Valentino, Russ. However, there were a number of vintage and curio shops that have opened as well. They sell LP records for PhP 50.00 each, CDS, cassette tapes, Coke memorabilia (heaven!), figurines, vintage clothes... well, basically everything!

Here are some of the shops that had interesting displays:

 This shop had a lot of books, LP records, military memorabilia.

The shop above had categorized their items according to niche. There was a section for Coca-Cola memorabilia, a section for Beatles items, a section for cat figurines, and imported mugs.

I've read up on some of the shops in Cubao Expo online, and I visited the Reading Room.

I wanted to check out some of their vintage clothes, in their Sandy's closet corner - because online you can see that they sell some Uniqlo and Cacharel items, all at PhP 100.00 each. I ended up buying my sister 3 dresses. Of course, my mom stole the 3rd dress and claimed it as her own.

Another reason I wanted to visit their shop was to get a Ninja Plushie. I'm sure this isn't a craze, but I just fell in love with the Ninja Plushies from when I was reading about them online. I think I saw them in The Reading Room's Facebook account. I noticed that no two ninjas are made of the same design. I suppose the makers engage in recycling and make the ninja plushies out of left over cloths, so definitely, no two ninjas will have the same design. Really, I so wanted to adopt one, and promised myself that when I find myself in the area, would look up the shops.

It wasn't difficult to choose which Ninja Plushie I was going to take home. In fact, he was practically jumping off the shelf when he saw me enter. It was love at first sight really. I guess people know already what to expect for Christmas from me.

So everyone, I'd like you to meet Chanel Ninja. Here he is proofreading this article before I post it.

I love The Reading Room's products. Most of them are found items that they recycled. Some are old pieces of clothing that they converted to be useful items again. There was a bag being sold there for only PhP 75.00 and was made of old neckties.

Please feel free to visit Cubao Expo, it still has an old world charm to the place, amidst the redevelopment of Araneta Center. I certainly do hope that they maintain the place, because anybody who grew up in the 80s and 90s would definitely have fond memories of the complex.

Visit The Reading Room. I spoke to the person in the shop, and they're open until 11:00PM. Would love to adopt more Ninja Plushies, they're priced at PhP 125.00 each.

The Reading Room
Shop # 39, Cubao Expo, Gen. Romulo Street, Araneta Center, Cubao, QC