365 Days of Gift Giving: Marks & Spencer

 Christmas may be over but the gift giving spirit is here to stay. And with our culture having an extended holiday celebration, there are still late Christmas parties and gatherings here and there to attend to. For those who had no time to shop for presents, Marks & Spencer got your back. 

Hello, Marks & Spencer. 

Marks & Spencer has always been a reliable brand for those last minute impressive gifts. From its fragrant body care products, comfy garments and mouthwatering snacks, each and every present I've bought here are well appreciated. 

Love at First Bite: Single Origin

It's rare when I get to roam around BGC in the afternoon on a weekday and when I do get a chance, I make sure I get to eat something yummy. And a few weeks back, I got to visit... Single Origin. 

Hello, Single Origin.

Dark hues of brown greeted me as soon as I stepped in. With predominantly wood interiors, this place exudes a warm and welcoming ambiance.

I wasn't exactly hungry when I visited and after seeing that the dishes offered do not exactly fall under the "wallet-friendly" category, I opted to just order a a pot of Black Onyx using Hario V60 Pourover (PHP165) and Cappuccino Lava Cake (PHP295).

The server warned me that it takes roughly 20 minutes for the cappuccino lava cake to be ready. Since I was not in a hurry, I still ordered the bestselling dessert. 

In less than 10 minutes, my pot of coffee was served.

The Hario Pourover version is the cheapest among the coffee methods but it was also the one the smallest serving at 12 oz compared to others at 15 and 20 oz. 

Familiar with the taste of Black Onyx as I ordered it before when I visited Refinery, I took a sip without any sweetener. But my unsophisticated taste buds found the coffee slightly bitter despite it being one of the sweeter coffees available (as it highlights deeper caramelized sugars and notes of dark chocolate). In short, I ended up adding sugar. And it tasted a lot better.

After a couple more minutes and half pot of coffee gone, the lava cake finally arrived and... it was so mouthwatering. 

Central Park Favorite: Wafels & Dinges

I feel so guilty knowing that I haven’t blogged for quite some time. Frannywanny has been telling me to blog as well. And now I am baaaack! Hello again, blogger me! I have a lot of yummy dishes and interesting places to share with you all and first would be something that I went gaga over… Wafels & Dinges.

It was one chilly, wait, really cold Wednesday morning in New York City when we planned to visit Central Park to skate and feel like we were part of the movie Serendipity (only our version was rather clumsy and full of violations—I’ll share that in a bit!). J, our wonderful host, joined us and got excited over this food cart outside Central Park. I’ve heard her rave about this cart days ago so the foodie in me can’t help but drool (in the inside of course!).

Since I wanted to try several toppings, I decided to go for the plain waffle (liège wafel, $5) and got the unlimited dinges (WMD—wafel of massive deliciousness, $2) and chose bananas, strawberries, nutella and belgian chocolate fudge as my toppings. Oh sweet waffle goodness!