Silver Vine Powder - Daiso Find for the Cats in your Life

The cats have demanded I write about one of their favorite kitty treats or else they would climb my window screen every night and meow incessantly until I lose my mind. Oh, wait that's what one of our new cats, Bandit, has been doing for almost a month now. Crazy cat thinks screens are scratching posts. Yes, I am now naming our cats after Neko Atsume cats based on their fur color.

I first learned about silver vine powder from Lady E. She mentioned in a post a cat scratch pad available at Daiso. Said scratch pad comes with powder to be sprinkled on it. At Daiso Trinoma I found this.

The magical, fun-times inducing powder. Cat Silver Vine Powder.

Inexpensive Meals at Amelito's Grill and Sizzling House Plus Unli Rice, Soup, Gravy - Food Thrift

The uproar on the net in the last couple of days following alleged plans to ban unli rice should be enough of an indication that Filipinos love rice. While Mang Inasal may be synonymous to unli(mited) rice, there are other restaurants and eateries that cater to the Filipinos' penchant for this meal staple.

With a branch at Albatross St., Francis Subdivision, Pandayan, Meycauayan, Bulacan, Amelito's Grill and Sizzling House offers unli rice, unli soup and unli gravy with its super affordable grilled meats and sizzlers. The entrees are served on a sizzling plate with a scoop of buttery rice, a bowl of nido soup and another of buttery gravy.  Pay additional for softdrinks or iced tea. The meals do not come with them but you can ask for water.

And you can have as much rice, soup and gravy as you want, just signal the servers and they will give you a refill. No it's not a rice, soup and gravy buffet where you can just go to a table and take as much as you want. It's Mang Inasal unlimited (rice) not KFC unlimited (gravy). IMHO, having someone serve refills is better to avoid wastage. The servers during our visits have been attentitive and kept the refills flowing so while there was control, no scrimping was happening.

Green Cross Hand Sanitizers: Total Defense Antibacterial Sanitizer/Hand Spray and Sanitizing Gel

In the Philippines, although classes start in some schools and universities in January and August, the school year usually starts in June. In some schools, students, mostly those in elementary levels, are required or encouraged to have a hygiene kit. You know, for them to be able to observe proper hygiene, for emergencies (usually the bathroom kind) and to prepare them for when they grow up and the hygiene kits evolve into kikay/grooming kits. Hygiene kits usually include toothbrush, toothpaste, alcohol or hand sanitizer/alcogel, soap, comb, tissues, face towel and extra clothing. 

Green Cross may be well known for its alcohols but for years now they have been carrying sanitizing gels and antibacterial sanitizers/hand sprays.

While most alcohol ingredients are just water, alcohol (ethyl or isopropyl, 70% or 40%), sometimes fragrance and rarely a moisturizing component, most hand sanitizers contain the last two plus other ingredients to keep their form and for additional benefits. This is the reason why they cost more. Hand sanitizers are not simply alcohol.

Daiso ER White Medicated Cosmo Whitening Milk (Emulsion) and Essence Review

When I went off the grid about two years prior, a lot of stuff I have written for the blog didn't get posted. I decided to post this review since I have been seeing Daiso ER White Medicated Cosmo products being sold online.

Years ago whilst in SG, I ran out of facial care products and since I happened to be at Daiso IMM then, I decided to get some there instead of Watsons / Guardian. Before anyone freaks out about the thought of using a dollar store product on one's face, I have used a couple of Daiso products over the years and haven't had a problem with them. Also,  I trust Singapore to be stringent in regulating cosmetic products. Also, this is Daiso, not some store selling counterfeits. It was a good time to try facial care products I haven't tried before.

Chowking Halo-Halo Ingredients

The local weather bureau has declared the onset of the rainy season a few days ago. Before we say good bye to clear skies and flood-free streets at least for now, how about chasing the last summer heat with a bowl of Halo-Halo?

Chowking Super Sangkap Halo-Halo & Milky White Halo-Halo

Halo-Halo is a cold sweet treat of milky shaved ice topped with sweetened fruits, beans and/or confections such as flan and purple yam paste. It's somewhat similar to the Korean bingsu. One of the more popular version of halo-halo is that of Chowking, a local fastfood chain whose identity used to be Chinese, now a mix bag (Bring back congee!). The popularity may be partly due to the fact that there's a Chowking branch in almost every municipality in the country. And because the blend is just right.

I've come across a post on a thread in Chowking's facebook page identifying the ingredients and the amount of each that goes into Chowking's Super Sangkap Halo-Halo, the current version of Chowking's original Halo-Halo. The earlier version had garbanzos and kaong, I believe. J K Osano indicated on his facebook profile page that he works at Chowking. Of course, like everything posted in the net, best to take this with a grain of salt.

1 Tbsp pandan jelly
2 pcs langka (jackfruit)

1 Tbsp langka (jackfruit) syrup

3 pcs (I think he meant slices) saba bananas + banana syrup 

1 scoop macapuno (sweetened soft coconut strings)

2 scoops ube (purple yam) paste 

1 ladle bean mix

1 Tbsp red sago (tapioca pearls)

leche flan (milk flan)

milk mix 

pinipig (toasted flattened glutinous rice)

(not mentioned but it's there just the same)

shaved ice

ube ice cream 

There were no instructions on how to layer or which ingredient goes first then next. I guess it's also up to us to figure out what's in the milk mix and ube paste. Or how to get the right tastes of the syrups.

Now there are two halo-halo variants in the store. A few years back, Chowking introduced its Milky White Halo-Halo which seems to be it's answer to Razon's Halo-Halo. It's much simpler than the original Chowking halo-halo. The Chowking website lists sweetened saba bananas, macapuno, leche flan, custard pudding, pimipig and caramel as its ingredients. Unfortunately, there was no mention on ingredient portions for this Chowking halo-halo in the thread on the Chowking facebook page.