Traveling: Philippines (Part 2)

Next up was a flight to Cebu.  Now for a side note; everyone in line to board the flight got a pat down.  There was a women's line and a men's line, you stood on a little platform and got patted down, back of the hand under the boob and all.  It wasn't a big deal and Americans need to quit whining.

Cool machinery

We headed to factories straight from the airport and by the end of the day I was ready to crash at my hotel.  Luckily it was pretty great, it was a resort on Mactan Island and I was greeted by a girl in a pretty dress with some yummy fruit beverage and sent up to my room.

View from my room

The next day had a lot of factory tours and the beginning of me being sick.  I have never loved proper sewage/water treatment more than when I came back from this trip.  Let's just say I was very familiar with the hotel clinic by the end of the trip.

Another factory

The next day I had a fairly free day, and it was super unfortunate that I wasn't 100%, but I did get to snorkel, and lay by the beach and the pool for a couple of hours.

 The beach at the hotel, white sand, warm water, amazing!

Remote control picture at the beach in the morning

 Wow, check out that awesome cell phone self portrait, yeah sunny squinty face with random lines on my face from snorkel gear, rock it.

What the hell is this thing?  They put a child inside, inflate it and have a handler walk them around on a string so they can play around in a hamster ball.  Has anyone seen this before?

Then I went to my room and after laying in bed for a while I rallied enough to walk to a nearby plaza.  I was determined to see something outside of my hotel.

 There was a lovely tower in the center

 A beach with some locals hanging out

 An abandoned boat on the shore

 And some place that I assume is used for festive occasions

Nice

And if I ever get my underwater camera pics developed from the snorkeling I'll put those up.  But that was pretty much it for the Philippines.  The next day I hung out on a delayed plane for a few hours praying that I wouldn't miss the flight from Manila to LAX.  Luckily (?) the plane with the engine problems that was flying from Cebu to Manila was the same plane going from Manila to LAX, so they couldn't leave without me.

Traveling: Philippines (Part 1)

Mabuhay! (That is the only tagalog I was able to pick up, and it's a very formal version of  'welcome'.)

Back in October I was sent to the Philippines to check out some furniture manufacturers (not a bad gig).  All I can say is that it was quite an experience.  It's the poorest country I've ever been to, and the traffic is unimaginable to me, even though I live in Los Angeles, but there is some lush, tropical beauty as well and the people are as nice as can be.

It started off with a 13 hour flight over there, oh and there was a typhoon happening while I was flying over, but it was fairly cleared up by the time I landed.  Needless to say, parents were calling and telling me to cancel my trip.  I left late Sunday night from LAX and arrived early Tuesday morning in Manila.  It was grey and rainy, but the worst of the storm had subsided, so I just crashed at my hotel room until I had to meet our buying agent later in the afternoon.

Views from my hotel room in Manila

Afterwards I went to the furniture show (Manila FAME show, meh) and met up with our buying agent so that we could go around and meet some of the manufacturers.

Then we headed to a showroom in Manila, it was in an old house and the courtyard was fantastic.

The lush greens and that blue door slay me, I was so in love.

The next day we headed north to some of the factories, and I got a full of idea of just how crazy traffic in Manila can be.

 Lanes are completely an option

 And there are so many modes of transportation: horse and carriage...

 Trikes (motorcycles with a sidecar, up to 6 people can be on these, I swear I saw it)...

The jeepneys, are old American jeeps that are elongated and turned into a jitney, Philippines style...

 And, of course people just walking around amongst the cars, motorcycles, bikes, trikes, jeepneys, and...

The funniest looking armored car I've ever seen.  This thing seriously looked like it was made in someone's backyard metal shop, but it gets the job done.

Then I saw some countryside on the way out to the factories, it was pretty and tropical, but slightly flooded from the typhoon in places.

One of the manufacturers took me out to dinner with another buyer (might have been where I got sick, but oh well) and I had the best drink in the world.  It was some sort of cucumber, celery, apple, parsley and a-bunch-of-other-green-things drink and it was amazing.  It wasn't thick like a smoothie, it was juice-like and I wish I could replicate it.

The next day we saw more of the furniture show in the morning and then I had a massage, body scrub and facial that evening at the hotel.  It was fantastic, and though not cheap because I was at a nice hotel, it was totally within my price range and I went for it.

Then I flew to Cebu (on a Cebu Pacifc flight, the ones who created this, but I sadly didn't get to see it), and I got to stay at a beach resort.  Stay tuned.

Faves: The ArchAndroid

I don't claim to know a lot about music, but I'm in love with this album.  Easily my favorite of 2010, Janelle Monae's The ArchAndroid is awesome.  There are so many genres on there, from dance pop and orchestral moments, to Simon and Garfunkel-esque folk songs, and a collaboration with Of Montreal that is just fun.

source

And the fact that it's partially based on the German Expressionist film, Metropolis just adds to the awesomeness.

Handmade: Spritz Cookies

Some time ago (when I moved to my first apartment), I stole the cookie gun shown below from my grandma (love you Grandma).  And now, every Christmas, I make spritz cookies at least once over the holiday season.

The worn pink box and the shiny, aluminum glorified-caulking-gun inside make me super happy every time I look at them.

I use the spritz recipe from Williams Sonoma: Cookies but I add some food coloring and peppermint extract (I tend to crave all things minty during the holidays).

Spritz Cookies
adapted from Williams Sonoma: Cookies


1 c. unsalted butter, room temp.
3/4 c. sugar
1 egg
1 tsp. vanilla extract
1/2 tsp. peppermint extract
3-5 drops red food coloring
2 1/4 c. flour
1/4 tsp. salt

Colored sugar or sprinkles for decoration.

Preheat oven to 375 degrees F.

In large bowl, cream butter and sugar on high speed until sugar is no longer grainy.
Add egg, extracts and food coloring, stir until blended.

Sift flour and salt together onto waxed paper and add to butter mixture by spoonfuls until blended.

Follow your cookie press directions to place cookies onto ungreased cookie sheets (I use silpats on mine).

Sprinkle with colored sugar or sprinkles.

Bake for 8-10 minutes until edges are golden brown.

Let cookies cool on pan for 1-2 minutes, then transfer to wire racks.

Makes about 5 dozen cookies, keeps well for a few days.

Handmade: Throw Pillows

Last weekend, some of the girls from my office came over so that I could teach them how to make pillows.  We all got some pillows made (after figuring out how to work with zippers) and below you can see my end result.  I made 2 of each kind and now I've got an itch to make some more.  Such a simple and fun project.

Mmmm, shiny.

My First Time: Framing

Until now, I've always used pre-matted, cheap frames from places like Bed, Bath and Beyond or Pier 1, but now I've dipped my toes into the (expensive) world of professional framing.

While heading home from a business trip in Europe I happened to be on the same flight as David Lynch, who happens to be one of T's favorite directors.  The only reason I knew what he looked like is T decided on a documentary about David Lynch to watch sometime before that.  Well, since I'm an amazing wife, I went up and told him how much my husband loved his work and asked for an autograph.  He was very nice and obliged me.

So our anniversary came around (November 21st) and I thought that framing this autograph would be a fantastic first anniversary gift (paper, check).

I also had some lovely nudes done by a friend of mine in Seattle, she wanted to find some good homes for her artwork and I was more than happy to take some off her hands.

I went to FrameStore in Culver City, because it was convenient, but I was really happy with the quality of the work and the assistance from the shopkeeper, Nancy, in helping me pick out so the frames and mats.

Here's a close up of the autograph with a snapshot of the director that I took at the Charles de Gaulle airport. It's sort of floating in a shadowbox frame with a black suede mat.  T loves it.

And here are the nudes by the lovely Heather Haws.  They are the perfect amount of sketchiness and softness, and the colors are just amazing.  They're our first 'real' pieces of artwork and I can't wait to add more to our home.

After getting over the sticker shock of custom framing, I have to say I'm hooked.  I think I'm going to have to try and keep myself in check by only framing things that are important to us, but I keep thinking about what I can get framed next.  The one tip I've got if you're going to get something framed is to give yourself some time at the frame store.  There are tons of mats and frames to choose from and it takes a little while to pick something perfect.

My First Time: Whoopie Pies

T bought me Baked Explorations recently, there might have been some heavy hinting on my part, but I'm still grateful.  It's fantastic, the photography is beautiful, the graphic design is cool and the recipes are delectable.

I was immediately drawn to the two whoopie pie recipes.  I had never made whoopie pies and I felt it was time to see what all the fuss was about.

I used the Chocolate Whoopie Pies recipe (p. 108) for the cookie portion and for the filling I used the cream cheese recipe from the Red Velvet Whoopie Pies (p. 117).

Chocolate Whoopie Pies
-adapted from Baked Explorations.

3 1/2 cups flour
1/4 tsp. salt
1 1/4 tsp. baking powder
1 1/4 tsp. baking soda
3/4 c. dark unsweetened cocoa powder
1 cup hot coffee
1 cup firmly packed light brown sugar
1 cup sugar
3/4 cup vegetable oil
1 large egg
1 tsp. vanilla extract
1/2 cup buttermilk

Preheat oven to 350 degrees F. Prepare baking sheets with parchment or silpats.

In large bowl, whisk flour, salt, baking powder, baking soda.

In another large bowl, whisk the cocoa powder and coffee until cocoa is dissolved.

In a medium bowl, stir the sugars and oil together.  Add to the cocoa mixture and whisk until combined.  Add the egg, vanilla and buttermilk, whisk until smooth.

Fold dry ingredients into the wet.

Drop by large rounded tablespoonfuls onto baking sheets about 1 inch apart.  Bake for 10-15 minutes, until cookies are set and a toothpick inserted into the center comes out clean.

Cool cookies completely.

Makes about 4 dozen cookies (2 dozen whoopie pies).

Cream Cheese Filling
-adapted from Baked Explorations

3 cups powdered sugar
1 stick of unsalted butter, softened
8 oz. cream cheese, softened
1 tsp. pure vanilla extract
1/4 tsp. salt
food coloring (optional)

Cream butter and cream cheese together.  Add vanilla, salt and food coloring.  Add sifted powdered sugar in batches until filling reaches desired consistency.  I made these for Halloween (just felt a need to explain the haz mat suit orange).

Assemble the pies.  I started out by matching up cookies that were similar size and shape so I wasn't left with a weirdly paired pie at the end.  Then scoop on some filling and sandwich them up.  Mmmmm.

These cakey cookies came out great, they held together well, but were still soft and delicious.  I tend to hate coffee in desserts, but the coffee in this recipe just makes the chocolate better, no more no less.  Paired with cream cheese frosting (always a winner) these pies just couldn't be beat.  I will have to make these again as soon as I have a chance to give them away, or else I would absolutely eat them all.

Oh, I wish I could eat my screen right now.

Miraculously, these lasted a couple of days.  They were still fantastic the next day, but the day after that, they were on their way out, still good, but not as good.  So eat 'em quick, tough, I know.