Sunnysideup Thank you series: My love affair with Milk Tea

When I was in high school, I began to drink teas as Iced Teas. I used the concentrated powdered version of Lipton and added Kalamansi. I never was a fan of the Nestea ready to drink teas even then because they were too sweet and sugar was the only thing I tasted. I was then introduced tea leaves when one of my mom's closest friend offered us tea after dinner. From then on I always drank tea leaves - Oolong, Black or Green Tea etc.

As I learned more about the various teas, my love for milk tea also grew. It started with my first sip of Red Pearl Milk Tea in Easy Way, Sta Lucia branch. I believe I am one of the few early fans of this then new beverage trend in Manila and was truly sad to see it close shop.

Quickly was the next brand I began to enjoy but the in the next few years, their menu focused
more on sweet options like shaved ice Taro, Chocolate and other flavored juices so my favorite Milk Tea is now only available in a handful stores. By the way, I also tried Chowking's Nai Cha but it too is just too sweet for my taste.

Here's a few of my Milk Tea Moments

In the next years for my life, our move to China gave my tastebuds a greater appreciation for Milk Teas :) Our 2 year stay offshore allowed me to taste different brands like EDO and AH-2 in the Mainland, Comebuy in Macau, and other brands in Hong Kong.

Needless to say, I am hooked on Milk Teas. Now that we are back in Manila I am glad to find Serenitea. Finally I am able to enjoy the same quality of Milk Teas I used to enjoy in China. After several tries of their milk tea variands - Royal, Assam, Hokkaido etc - I now know my favorite. For now it's the brown sugary taste of Okinawa with pearl sinkers and 0% sugar. Kudos to Serenitea for their growing number of branches. My go-to branch is Eastwood. I am truly addicted; just last week I think I had 3 large orders of milk tea. Imagine if I had one branch next door? Oh Oh :P

By the way, I also like Bubble Tea in SM Megamall. I've tried their Royal milk tea and it's also good.

Will always LOVE, LOVE, LOVE tea, especially milk tea!

Sunnysideup Thank You Series: My Top 10 Happy Food Thoughts

As I mentioned in my post a few minutes ago it's harder for me to smile and be amused but just a few minutes after posting I realized that there are food brands that do make me smile. These are my favorites. These are food brands that I can't get enough of and look forward to visiting. Truly the best way to get to a man or woman's heart is thru their stomach.

(Note: These are my personal favorites and I was neither paid or coerced to write these. :P)

10. Thin sliced Pizza Margherita (Pizzeria and Deli in Ya Hao Fang, Zhongshan, China)
9. Jamba Juice California
8. Hotpot near Scenic Hotel in Zhongshan. Unfortunately I don't know the name I only know how to go there.
7. AH-2 (My Milk Tea shop in Zhongshan China. I usually go to a franchise in Hua Bai Xi Chang owned by a very nice lady and her fiance.)
6. Comebuy (Milk tea shops I never fail to visit when in Macau or Gong Bei)
5. Korean Restaurant in a mall in Xing Wa, Zhongshan, China.
4. Sambokojin Eastwood
3. Chicken Bonchon Libis or Ayala Triangle (Medium or Small Combo of Wings and Drumstick. I like it Spicy!)
2. Serenitea Eastwood (I am addicted to Milk Tea)
1. Starbucks (My third place and home away from home)

Thank you series: Homemade Pizza

My hubby and I love to eat! If you see our current body and compare it with our wedding photos a year ago, you'll agree! :)

And so, I have so much fun cooking here in China. I just think that food is a lot cheaper here as compared to Manila. I just can't get enough of the fruits and vegetables. I also think I've adjusted perfectly to the food choices here: Noodles, Hotpot, Seafood, Fresh Fish. Fresh Vegetables and Fruits.

Once in a while, when we do miss donuts, fastfood and pizzas, we create our own. Thing is the fastfood, pizza or pasta's sold here are not quite the same. Here's a sample of our homemade (none oily) pizza!

Close up

Full view of 1 slice ( we were able to make 2)

The Crust (we bought from the grocery for 3RMB or 21Pesos or 46Cents).

The bread we got was superb! One thing, I've noticed here in China is that their bread is always good. So far, I've never been disappointed with all the bread I've eaten.

As for our sauce, it boiled a bowl of tomatoes with onions, spring onions, garlic, pepper, and a little tomato paste. The tomato paste is use for thickening the sauce. I no longer added salt because I'm sure the cheese would contribute enough saltiness to it.



Note: For donuts, we just stack up and buy during our trips to Macau and Manila. Unfortunately, we don't know how to maje this yet. If you have the recipe, do drop us a note and share it with us :)

Thank you series: Our Korean and Chinese dinner dates

As you've read here recently we just celebrated our wedding anniversary, and as always we celebrated events with dinner. For Valentine, we decided to eat in our favorite hotpot resto. It's a 20 minute walk from our place and is near the Scenic hotel. It was great exercise too because the resto was on the side of a hill.

Then for our anniversary we ate at Korean restaurant, located in the 5th floor of the Century hotel here in Zhongshan. Unfortunately I could not tell you the exact name of both restos simply because I can't read the signs :) but I can share the food photos with you.

The food was great! My hubby had his fill of beef and balls in the Hot Pot resto.

'The Regular and Spicy soup to cook our food in. The one on the right is very spicy'

'Thinly slice beef'


'My Fave'



'The Sauce mixture. I think this is the secret'

At the Korean place, it was veggies galore. What I love about this restaurant is the superb service and freebies. Our attendant was very attentive indeed and I never had to ask for anything. All the veggies were free and we even got a choice between free ice cream or coffee before we left. The beef and the pork were a bit pricey but I'm sure that compensates for the great service and free stuff we got :)

'Our table full of Veggies'

'Pork, Beef and some Crepe Veggies'

'Free Vanilla Ice Cream'

Thank you series: Back from Manila!

Hello everyone!

I'm back from a 3 week blogging hiatus and there's so much to share. From Manila, I was only able to post about my new hair cut and the wedding I attended. I enjoyed every moment I spent there and really wish I could have stayed a little longer. I just love spending time with my family and friends.

By the way, we arrived here in China on a Saturday. The next day we had to go to the market and grocery to stuck up on food since our fridge and cupboards were empty. In the market I stumbled upon a crustacean I loved to eat as a child. In the Philippines, we call it 'Alupihang Dagat'. I searched the web for it's English name and I found this. Apparently it's called 'Mantis Shrimp'. This animal looks a bit weird but it sure does taste good.

Excitedly we went home to cook it. I made a soup called 'Sinigang' in Filipino. In the soup I added tomatoes, onions, garlic, ginger, orange juice/concentrate (instead of tamarind or guava), cabbage, salt, pepper, and of course the 'Mantis Shrimp'. It was yummy! Actually it was my hubby's first time to try it in a soup and I'm glad he liked it. Well except for the fact that it was quite hard and inconvenient for him to unshell :)

still hot in the pot

served hot

what's left

Thank you series: Macau becomes our second home

As Filipinos, my husband and I grew up with a strong inclination to the western ways - specially for (fast)food and entertainment. Although I have adapted more to the food and culture here in Zhongshan, my husband has more difficulty. He still craves for the food and environment he has grown into and although we pledged on eating healthy, a once in a while a fastfood meal is always a treat.

There are several McDonalds and KFC branches here but it doesn't taste the same. As expected the food they served has been slightly modified to appeal to the Asian/Chinese taste. For example:

• KFC's chicken is still good but is served without the gravy. (Again what is KFC without gravy?)
  
• KFC's gogo sandwich sauce has been updated to take on the chinese taste.

Also I have still yet to find a Starbucks store here in our area. Although there are a lot in Shanghai or Beijing, I have not found one here in Zhongshan. The nearest branches are in Macau or Guangzhou.

Thankfully we are blessed with the visa and capacity to travel to Macau regularly. Most of the things we crave for is just 2 hours away from us. Everytime we visit Macau we feel better and less homesick. We get to have the once in a while treat of eating fastfood we crave for. Just this week I got to eat Mcdonalds breakfast meal and my husband also discovered donuts that tasted the way he wanted. We have yet to find a nearby Dunkin Donuts or Krispy Kreme but the patisserie in Macau Tower is good enough. The bread and food they serve is really superb!

Thank you series: Australian style Burger and Pizza

My hubby told me that he just had his best burger here in China. It's a burger made by an Australian resto based here. Unlike most burgers we've tried this one had was a little more healthier and big. It wasn't oily and meat seems fresh. This burger does remind me a little of the one I had in IN and OUT, another burger joint in the US , but I think I like this one better.

The owner of the restaurant seems to also highlight this as one of his strengths. I think they own a farm in Australia so they have full control of the process and quality of the meat.

It was a good meal, especially if you are dying for western food here in China.

Note: The cola float was not as good though. I think the ice cream they used was not creamy enough for us.

Thank you series: Best Korean Restaurant for me

Thursday night, my husband's boss asked us to join him for dinner. He took us to a Korean Resto located in one of the malls here in Zhongshan, China. My verdict... it is the best Korean resto for me. I loved the veggies and the dressing. It was simply superb!I ate so much that I had to literally loosen up my pants. Uh-Oh need to get back to my diet this week. Tsk Tsk!

Note: I love it that most Korean restaurants offer the veggies for free but this one even offered free ice cream for dessert!

Don't know the name of the resto. This is my only clue.

'The Menu'

'Food feast'

Cooking Beef with onions and mushrooms.

Not sure what this is..but it was good.

'Greens'

'Our Apron or Bib?'

'Group pic'

Thank you series: The Revolving Restaurant in Zhongshan, China

As I mentioned in my earlier blog, we went out last weekend and had dinner with friends. This time we tried 'The Revolving Restaurant'. It's located in the upper floor of the Fuhua Zhongshan hotel, also very near the Sun Wen Xi Road.

Food was good and the view was great. It took two hours to make a complete revolution and it was just enough time for us to enjoy the food and the company.

One small reminder: In case you will be eating here soon, don't leave your bag on the side. The glass walls are steady but your floor isn't :)

"My view from the restaurant."

"The walls."

"My favorite Pearl Milk Tea."


"Our salads, Caesars and Chef."

"Meat and rice galore."

Sunnysideup finds: Dunkin Donuts hammered Starbucks

My hubby is a lover of Dunkin Donuts while I am a Starbucks fan. I simply love Starbuck's Green Tea Frappe, Ice cold Caramel Machiatto and hot Cafe Mocha, he loves Dunkin Donuts Butternut Munchkins.

Last night while surfing the net we found this site of Dunkin Donuts (dunkinbeatstarbucks.com)
While I am a huge follower of Starbucks, I cannot but applaud Dunkin for this campaign. Great marketing work really. Starbucks is having a tough time lately, especially with the economic crunch affecting the purchasing power of their consumers, and Dunkins is clearly using this to their advantage. Here's one of Dunkin's commercial.



I just wish Dunkin Donuts Philippines Franchise would also offer more donut choices on their menu. Our flavors are not at all as varied as the ones offered in the US. I also hope that Dunkins will open a branch here in Zhongshan, China. We miss donuts!

Thank you series: Barbeque party, China style!

Saturday, my hubby and I attended a Barbeque party hosted by his bosses. It was for the entire R&D department of their company.

Here in China, Barbeque parties are so much for for people like my hubby. Similar to their hotpot tradition, they also gather around a grilling table for 'barbeques'. Although the only difference is that they also grill green leafy vegetables, crab sticks, meatballs and bread. One thing is sure, he enjoyed immensely. It was because of the access he had to all the food being cooked.

Here's a quick snapshot of our barbque table last Saturday.

"Starting to grill - beef, crab, chicken wings and corn."

"Hubby and I share a corn while Noel, behind me, is busy grilling."