Noritake Salt and Pepper Shaker from Gourdo's

After purchasing the Essence wax warmer, I discovered an As Is Where Is store by Gourdo's. It sells damaged items, and some product overruns of the stores. And lo and behold, I was able to spot some quality products that were obviously unappreciated, but worth so much.

I saw a salt and pepper shaker set from Noritake's Opulence collection:

Now my mother raised me to have a keen eye for the finer things in life, and she practically brainwashed me that the china of choice for the dining table is Noritake. 

Noritake used to have a factory here in Manila, hence purchasing fine china back then was quite easy. Ever since they pulled out, however, the Noritake fix had to come with the expensive price tag that it is well-known for. 

We used to have Noritake dinner service from its Valhalla collection. But then, that was years ago, and the gold edges have already faded. There are some pieces that are still usable though. 

If you were to look underneath the china, you would see which country it was manufactured in. Most of the Noritake plates sold locally are now manufactured in Sri Lanka, however the more expensive ones are those made in Japan. 

This salt and pepper shaker set that Gourdo's put on sale at such an affordable price of PhP 300.00 was made in Japan, so I had to snatch up a set before anybody else discovers it. Definitely a treasure trove of Noritake pieces in that store! There's actually another Noritake salt and pepper shaker set from the Gourmet Harvest Royal Orchard Collection, which I definitely plan on buying. Maybe, I should start a salt and pepper shaker collection?

Introducing the A-List Manila Characters

I brought up the idea of the blog with my friends, and they liked it. Of course, to protect their identities, and in true A-List NY fashion, they will be taking the personas of the A-List people.

Manila Derek is a 10th generation oligarch.

Manila Austin works for a company bringing in expensive laptops, phones, tablets, and mp3 players.

Danny is, well, Danny!

I'm sorry guys, I'm really not good at coming up with a storyline for the characters in A-List Manila. But these are the personas of my friends, I will try to improve on the characters pretty soon as the blog and story-telling progresses.

Had merienda with Derek today at Go Gourmet by the Plaza in Rustan's. I often stay here while waiting for Danny to finish at Rustan's and to my surprise, they now offer free wi-fi! Love!

I love this coffee-shop more than the others sprouting in the Metro, and their latest offering just sealed the deal for me. I ordered a Cherry and Berry Pie:

Derek, on the other hand, ordered Caviar Pie:

The Caviar Pie inspired Derek how to prepare it for our Christmas Party. I did tell him that the presence of the onions in the cream cheese is the same recipe for the Caviar Pie being sold in Makati Shangri-la. Guess what?! The dessert was only PhP 50.00, and the Caviar Pie was PhP 170.00. It's so cheap!

After Danny finished, and after a little window-shopping in Rustan's (and a little shopping on the side in Glorietta 5), we met up with Austin and Richie for dinner at Heaven and Eggs, in Glorietta 5.

I started eating ahead of everyone, since I wanted to try their Unlimited Steak offer, for PhP 799.00++. The steak wasn't bad. They made a mean medium rare, and the steak was soft to the slice. Had to put a little pepper and salt in the gravy, and the mashed potatoes, as observed by Austin were from actual potatoes 'coz the skins were still in them.

Here's the steak I ordered with a slice cut off already:

I ended up having 3 servings of steak.

Derek and Austin split a Jeproks Slammer, which was a sampler platter of Filipino breakfast fare. The picture is just half of the platter, as the waiter had split it for Austin and Derek already. This was the bestseller meal for the evening, as everybody ended up tasting snippets of the meal.

Danny, so dismayed with his order, ended up eating a predominantly rice dish of Nasi Goreng. We helped him out by giving him some of our ulam. Obviously, the Nasi Goreng is just a plate of rice good for 2, and not an actual Nasi Goreng which should be a complete meal in itself already.

Another great evening with A-List Manila. Will keep all of you posted for more of our dining and shopping adventures!