Month: July 2013

Coffee’s Tale

*I wrote this entry last July 4, but didn’t post it then because my sister didn’t know until Sunday that our dog was shaved. Forgive the rambling. A few days ago, our dog went to the pet spa kicking and howling, and came home two hours later bald and defeated. Our dog is a Siberian husky, turned six last June, and is the prince of the house. He has doors opened for him, owns his personal electric fan, and he stays in air-conditioned rooms longer than most of us do. We named him Coffee, after the family favorite beverage, and only because the name Cappuccino–Cino, for short–ended with the syllable “no”. According to the dog trainer, that would be negative reinforcement. Or some other psychological mumbo jumbo.

Perfect combination #2

Published by Marian Bartolome

Brewed Blasercafé coffee + a homemade choco chip cookie dough cheesecake bar = ❤

Saint’s Alp Teahouse

Published by Marian Bartolome

While coffee might not be the first thing you’ll think of when you say Saint’s Alp Teahouse, it definitely shouldn’t be overlooked. Call me weird for ordering coffee in a self-proclaimed teahouse, but Saint’s Alp has become one of my go-to places for good, reasonably priced coffee. (Besides, I hate tea.) Saint’s Alp Teahouse is a Hong Kong-based chain that boasts of authentic Taiwanese dishes aside from its popular teas. I’ve never actually tried the food there, though, save for one of their pastry bars. I just go there for their coffee.

Starbucks Dark Mocha White Chocolate Pudding Frappuccino

Published by Marian Bartolome

Yessiree, today’s the day! I woke up extra early to finally apply for my Social Security I.D. card, a process that took me about an hour. Surprising–in a good way–considering the other stories I’ve heard. As a reward to ourselves for completing our morning agenda, my mom and I stopped by Starbucks on the way home. She knew that I’d been waiting for this new drink, and since she was a fan of Dark Mocha Frappuccino, she was happy to oblige my requested pit stop. One of the first things that I noticed when I approached the counter was the announcement about the buy one, take one promo for the new drinks from 2 to 5 pm today. Of course, my initial reaction was: “Dang, should I just come back later?” (That was past nine in the morning). Then I figured it was too much effort. Besides, I wasn’t about to drink two of those drinks in one day when I hadn’t even tried them to begin with! And there’s the GERD factor to consider. So …

To Making It to the Finish Line

Published by Marian Bartolome

Last January first, I promised myself that this would be the year that I’ll finish and submit my first novel. You see, I’m pretty good about starting new things…it’s the part about finishing them that I can’t seem to get a hang of. I can’t count the number of notebooks and diaries I have that are half-full of ramblings and chapters of different stories that have since then been left unresolved. The finishing part also applies to the actual notebooks themselves–sometimes I get tired of a specific notebook and switch to another one even when there are still a lot of clean pages remaining. I know. Deplorable. Thankfully, I’ve switched to Evernote since getting a smartphone so there’s no need to waste any more paper. Anyway, the reason for this post is that I now have four–FOUR!–unfinished novels sitting pretty in my laptop. The first of the bunch, the story of Matty and Ty, was the one I started last NaNoWriMo and was what I was supposed to finish this year. Then I joined this …

Achievements and Rewards: SBC Sea Salt Caramel Javakula

Published by Marian Bartolome

Achievements Unlocked: Complete Feature Writing Workshop Revised resume Started Zumba-ing again Went to the dentist Yes, I do consider going to the dentist an achievement. I’ve mentioned my fears of hospitals before, but I don’t know if I included dentists there. I do have my reasons to dread dentists, count ’em: two tooth extractions in preparation for my braces, braces for almost four years, one surgery to remove an impacted wisdom tooth, one root canal which led to one apicoectomy (but not before I had one heck of a swollen upper palate–I’ve got pictures but I’ll spare you the sight of ’em). Toss in a gross number of cavities, and you’ll understand my trauma. If there’s one thing I’ve learned from all of that, it’s that I shouldn’t delay going to the dentist when I feel something aching–though surprise, surprise, I still delayed it this time. I finally sucked it up and went earlier this afternoon. My appointment took two hours, and it involved a dental cleaning, five new pastas–and I don’t mean the delicious Italian kind–and …

Things that made me smile

Published by Marian Bartolome

So I had this whole serious blog post planned for tonight, but since my eyes are bugging the heck out of me (time to visit the doctor again for my abnormally dry eyes), I’ll keep this short and sweet. Here are two things I spotted in Makati today that made me smile. Should you even be surprised that both of them have something to do with coffee? I don’t think so. One of the things that made my day–a photo teaser of Starbucks’ third quarter feature drink: Dark Mocha White Chocolate Pudding. The white chocolate bit alone’s enough to get me excited about this drink, and the dark mocha’s a plus. Not too sure about the pudding part, but I’m game to try unique coffee concoctions. Could this be the Frappuccino to restore my liking for blended coffee drinks? Watch out for my review next week! Monday Tuesday can’t come soon enough ❤