They Need New Tiles

I have been to one government office yesterday to visit a friend who is among the agencies middle management and I could help but be dismayed to the flooring of her office. My big mouth became out of control and I told the janitor who was in charge to clean the office to properly mop the floor because it looked so disgusting. 

Can you imagine entertaining official visitors with dirty-looking floor tiles such as those in the image above? The appearance of an office is actually part of the official’s representation; therefore, it should always be clean and free from all visible dirt. Dirt and grime on white tiles is such an eye sore.

While I was there the janitor did mop and scrubbed the flooring but he was not able to remove the unsightly marks. I told my friend to just request of a carpet to at least hide those disgusting marks on the flooring or if they have a budget, they could change them into dark vinyl tiles similar to this basement floor tile so that future marks on the floor won’t be very visible.

He Wants To Wash Cars

My husband had a blast last weekend cleaning his brother in law’s recently purchased pick-up truck. I am not sure if I have mentioned this already but hubby is so passionate with cars and he enjoys spending the weekend doing car wash, putting on wax and buffing the cars. Because of this passion he’s seriously thinking of starting his own car wash business soon. Hmmm…Why not! I have always believed that you can never go wrong by doing the things that you really love. We’ll never know, from a car wash biz, we might eventually venture into an auto shop biz and carry some of those whispbar roof racks which I heard are very efficient and thoughtfully-designed. 

Estrel's Caramel Cake

Last Friday my Dad & Mom celebrated their 49 wedding anniversary and to those who have been following my blog knows that I always get a regular Mango Bravo cake from Conti's whenever there's a special occasion at home. For last week’s anniversary celebration, I decided to try something else for a change.

One of my college friends is a big fan of Estrel’s caramel cakes and it was actually through her that I learned about Estrel’s. I have read good reviews about their caramel cakes saying that these are not as sweet as the other cakes that are available in the market, plus the fact that these are the cakes that we often see in Eat Bulaga whenever one of the Dabarkads is celebrating his/her birthday. There cake designs are also so pretty and dainty so I decided to give it a try and ordered for an 8” round caramel cake for my parents’ wedding anniversary.

I specifically orderes for a caramel cake with caramel icing and with filling as show in the image above and you might think that it too sweet because of the thick, creamy icing and filling, but I tell you it's not! This was the cake that my Mom was able to enjoy without having to worry much about her blood sugar. My Dad is lucky that he doesn't have problems with his blood sugar that's why his sweet tooth is never a problem.

Since I always get a cake the day before the occasion, I ordered my parents' anniversary cake last January 4 and picked it up the following day. Because cakes by Estrel's cakes do not have any preservatives, these are prepared on the day of pick-up and should be consumed within the same day. True enough, the expiry date stamped on the box was Jan. 6 (the day following the pick-up date)!

BTW, Estrel's cake box and cake design are protected by Copyright and this was stated on the side of the box, aside from the TM mark found under the logo. Obviously, this is a warning to those who wants to imitate their pretty and elegant cake design. :)

Charlie Chan Pasta + New York's Finest = Yellow Cab

It has been quite sometime since we last dine at Yellow Cab so when we hit the mall last Thursday to look for cable covers at ACE Hardware, I asked hubby if we could have lunch at Yellow Cab instead. We originally planned to have lunch at Pizza Hut Bistro but while we were doing around the mall, I suddenly carved for Charlie Chan pasta and New York’s Finest pizza so that explains my request to go to Yellow Cab. Actually, these are our faves and have been loyal to these two since day. Whenever we would visit Yellow Cab, it would always be Charlie Chan and New York's Finest so I really don't have any idea if the other pizza that they offer are just as good.

Because we still have to do a little more shopping, we do not want to go around the mall carrying and bag of left-over food so we only ordered for a 10-inch New York's Finest pizza. Guess what? We ended up taking home half of it! So much for not wanting to take home left-overs... ;)

 

I have been wanting to make a home-cooked version of Charlie Chan pasta and when I Googled the recipe, I found out that that it was not as hard to prepare as I thought it would. I have read in one forum that Clara Ole's Kung Pao sauce + chicken + shitake mushroom + peanuts + chili flakes is the easiest way to do it. Others however prefer to use a combination of hoisin and oyster sauce but for my first attempt, I think I will go fot the easiest way and try Clara Ole's Kung Pao sauce.

I will post an update once I have made my home-cooked Charlie Chan pasta.