Ayala Triangle Gardens Lights and Sounds Show 2014

Before the year ends, I was able to fulfill my yearly tradition of watching ATG's Lights and Sounds show. This year's show is brief and forgettable but hey, the pretty lights are worth the trip to Makati.

More photos after the cut!

HAVE AN AWESOME 2015 AHEAD! :)

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CHOCOLATE 101 WITH CHEF ROMAIN RENAUD IN SINFULLY CIRCLES

Learn to make chocolates! #ACHIEVEMENTUNLOCKED

I love learning new things (and I love chocolates!) and being able to join a Chocolate 101 class in Sinfully Circles, Shangri-La Makati was one of the most fun experience I had this year. :)

 

Talk about stoked! 

SHARKMAINE FACT: I get migraines from chocolates but that doesn't stop me from eating one.

 

 

We were taken to the basement wherein the chocolate class was held and voila ~ what surprised us was a chocolate buffet table! Sweet!

 

 

Sinfully Circles' Executive Pastry Chef Romain Renaud - this guy know his chocolates! He's truly passionate about it and he's a fun teacher!

We started off with our first chocolate treat - HOMEMADE CHOCOLATE MILKY JAM!

 

 

Chocolate-making requires a lot of patience but it will be all worth it in the end. Trust me! There were a lot of information to intake but it wasn't overwhelming as well. It just made me more excited to start making my own chocolate treats. Now, where to find an oven~

 

I'm all about that (chocolate) paste. No kiddin'

 

  

Next up was the CHOCOLATE COOKIES AND FLEUR DE SEL. I could say that this was my favorite (aside from the Nutella treat we made) ;)

 

Sweet and salty, who would've thought that they are perfect for each other. ♥ And you know what, champagne makes it a whole lot better. 

 

 

We also whipped up some LIGHT CHOCOLATE MOUSSE and HOMEMADE NUTELLA, both of which are heavenly. Also, the Nutella we made was better tasting that the ones in the market. ;)

 

Chocolate tempering - more patience necessary.

 

And believe it or not, we made our own version of the well-known chocolate treat, Ferrero Rocher.

 

Popping the hazelnut into the truffle shells

 

 

Filling it in with chocolate!

 

 

Rolling the shells in crushed hazelnuts

 

 

Letting it dry before covering it again in tempered chocolate *drools*

 

Our last creation for that afternoon were CHOCOLATE MARSHMALLOWS. I've been dying to make these again, probably next year! :)

 

 Marshmallow blocks rolled in cacao with gold powder

 

Yep! Gold! Look at my golden-laced gloves!

 

Packing them up and ready to be taken home!

 

 

The Chocolate 101 Class with Chef Romain

 

The Chocolate 101 class felt like an item ticked off my bucket list! Thank you so much, chef Romain for the wonderful time! Me and my sister (@catsmille) enjoyed so much that we kept on gushing about the chocolate treats we bought home with us. :D If you're interested to join one of Makati Shangri-la's awesome workshops, follow their Facebook page at http://www.facebook.com/MakatiShangrila. They offer various workshops all-year round so watch out for their announcements! 

 

 

Learn something new today! :)

What workshops do you want to attend?

 

 

 

CHOCOLATE 101 WITH CHEF ROMAIN RENAUD IN SINFULLY CIRCLES

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The Ayala Triangle Gardens Lights and Sounds Show 2012

Indeed. Life is really awesome. :)

It's that time of the year again!

I still remember the good memories I've had while watching the lights and sound show in Ayala Triangle Gardens ~ with my MIMS friends, my family and with D last year. The yearly lights and sound show is something I always look forward to every December (it became a tradition already) and I always wonder what their next spectacle would be. 

The Enchanting Angle

(it would be too geeky for me to explain why I've said it's an enchanting angle -__-'')

This year's show is dubbed as "Enchanting Lights and Sound Show" and features a whimsical play of lights designed by Voltaire De Jesus, accompanied with the music of Jazz Nicolas and Mikey Amistoso. I've read that they've used over 1 million (yes, million!) of LED lights on this masterpiece. 

I loved last year's show with all the ginormous stars and the dark color theme of the lights but this year has its own charm as well, I went giddy over the sparkling trees (you'll see what I mean when you see it) and the giant floating orbs! They are like big bokehs and reminded me so much of what the Oods are carrying. :D More smoke and laser effects this year and the sound mix is more fun and playful compared to last year that felt soulful. But somehow, I felt this year's production is quite short. Maybe it's just me. 

I've found out though that there is a Filipino and an English version. We've seen the Filipino show so that means I need to go back to see the other one! :)

More photos and a video coming up! 

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FOOD: Hawker 101

If you've been following my gluttony food adventures, you already know by now about my love for Chicken Rice/Hainanese Chicken (par my love for Paella).

I've been hearing about Hawker 101 for some time now and their Hainanese Chicken.
Ever since I started working in McKinley, Makati became distant to me when in fact 12 months ago I was a true blue Makati yuppie. Times I visited Makati in the past 12 months: Maybe less than 30 or 20.
Good thing D works in Makati thus it's a good excuse to go there and have lunch with him on weekdays or days when I just plainly miss him. Before we were contained on the establishments around Jupiter area, but Makati offers a lot of food places and we just need to try them -- under 1.5 hours of D's lunch break. Impossible? No. Crazy? Borderline maybe.

Hainanese Chicken Bowl (Php 100)

Best thing about Hawker 101? They serve affordable food in big servings -- and really good too.

No wonder when we arrived there at noon time, the place was already packed.

Hainanese Chicken (top) and Cereal Prawns (Php 370/ 8 pieces)

The Chicken Rice verdict -- it was gooood. But I should say Wee Nam Kee still has my heart. But for a quick, cheap Hainanese fix, Hawkers is the place to get it.

As for the Cereal Prawns, I was surprised that they served medium-sized prawns and 8 pieces of it for that price? It sure is a steal. Plus it was yum! Next time, I'll try their Chili Prawns!

Nasi Goreng (Php 120/set)

Boy, they do have big servings. I eat, A LOT. And I really mean a lot, sometimes I can go up to 4 cups of rice (no shame!). We ordered a lot since we expected we can chow them all, someone from the next table actually wondered if we can finish all that we ordered (D overheard him asking his lunchmate, haha!)

Char Kway Teow (Php 100) -- it literally means "stir-fried ricecake strips"

I wasn't able to eat much of the Char Kway Teow because I'm too full already -- but was able to take several forkfuls of it and all I could say that it was good but a tad salty.

Our damage ended up at Php 715. But it was well worth it and we ate too much!

Also included with our meal was their botomless juice, nothing special I think.

Overall, I enjoyed our fully-loaded lunch and I can't wait for my Singapore trip on September to try their dishes especially the Hainanese Chicken Rice that Anthony Bourdain boasted about!

Until our next food trip! :)

Hawker 101 Food House

Unit 102 Campos Rueda Building; 101 Urban Ave., near corner Buendia and Ayala Ave., Makati City

Monday to Friday: 6AM to 10PM

Saturday: 6AM to 3PM

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