A fetish for Vanilla…

By far, the best desserts that I’ve tasted have been topped with creamy, pure and innocent looking vanilla ice cream! I was more of a chocoholic before but now, I’ve discovered the utter delight of vanilla ice cream—whether on a cone, as a drink or topped in some devilish dessert!

Here are some of the vanilla ice cream topped desserts that keep my mouth watering..
1) Apple Fritters topped with Vanilla Ice Cream from Lush Life restaurant @ The Orchidarium.
---the warm, sweet and fried apples combined with cold and creamy vanilla ice cream keep you asking and asking for more. You can even request for as many scoops of vanilla ice cream you can afford, to boot!

2) Flourless Chocolate Cake topped with Vanilla Ice Cream @ The Dome
---the warm and slightly dark chocolate in the moist cake is absolutely to die for! What more with the creamy, freshness of vanilla ice cream to complete the contrast of tastes in your mouth… mmmmm, this dessert sent me to chocolate heaven!

3) Choco Lava @ Samina’s Resto in Jollibee Center, Ortigas.
---rich, brownie dough straight off the oven topped with a dollop of vanilla ice cream. The ice cream is a must since the dough is a bit sweet without it but the combination still made me close my eyes while savoring the dessert.

And then here are my other vanilla favorites…
1) Vanilla Ice Cream Cone from Mini Stop – a simple but delicious treat only for 10 pesos!

2) Pure Vanilla Ice Blended Drink from Coffee Bean and Tea Leaf – a drink that tastes of pure vanilla ice cream from McDonalds’s for 150 pesos hahah! It’s worth it coz no other place does it that way :)

Since we’re on the topic of ice creams, I’ve discovered that Fruits in Ice Cream only sells for P15 a scoop in the UP Shopping Plaza! Yes, P15 a scoop, unbelievable! It’s around P35—40 a scoop in Ateneo and P55 a scoop in Rockwell PowerPlant Mall. Wow! My favorite is Raspberry Passion (?) coz it has swirls of chocolate to enhance the strong flavor, delish! :)

I was able to discover this because my college friends and I went to school to get our yearbook last Saturday (Aug 27). Then we had lunch in UP at Mashta, a Korean Restaurant in the mall that didn’t taste bad at all. We had tempura, kimpab (sushi like), bulgogi and a sotanghon like dish and the food was really good and tasty! :) Cool!

I can go on and on about food…

I’m not sure if I’ve already divulged Drich’s and my favorite staple order at Teriyaki Boy. When we get seated, we don’t really need the menu anymore. It’s straight up, two orders of Teriyaki Boy Chicken Don, an order of California Maki and Spicy Salmon Gunkan, Bottomless Iced tea for me and Rootbeer for him, hehehe :) Is it a surprise that I’ve gained weight? Hahahaha!

Recently, I’ve finally tried out eating at Kimpura for the 2nd time in my life. The resto is famous for teppanyaki that’s cooked right in front of you by their chef and the food did taste better the second time around! My brother treated us to oysters, beef, chicken, shrimp, and bean sprouts and fried rice all fresh from the pan! They also serve an appetizer of chili anchovies and miso soup. After the appetizer, then the chef will arrive and whip up the teppanyaki dishes and you’ll be absolutely taken by the smell while the food is cooking. Hmm, this is not really recommended for the health conscious coz you’ll get to see how much oil and butter goes to the tasty dish that you’ll be eating in a few minutes, hehehe.

Let’s now shift the gears to healthier talk, my take on the Fitness First vs. SlimmersWorld competition based from experience.

In all honesty, the only edge that SlimmersWorld has against Fitness First are the free training programs given to you and maintained by fitness instructors in the gym. Fitness First has more comfortable and easier to use equipment, better ambiance, entertainment and facilities. Let me get down to details:
1) Weights machines are padded and not rusty
2) There are easy-to-use Yellow buttons for all adjustments to the equipment – a must for weaklings like me
3) They have this ab-machine that you lie down into and makes you really crunch off the fats in your ab area
4) There are lots of cardio equipment to choose from which are all wired to around 10 TVs in front of you
5) The lockers all have their own lock and key, no need to bring your own padlock
6) There’s a sauna and steam bath area
7) There’s a huge locker room with lots of lockers, mirrors, hair dryers and shower rooms equipped with shampoo and liquid soap!
8) Free banana and VCD rental
9) There are stretching machines too

Hmm, that’s about all the perks I can think of in FF. As for Slimmers, I guess there’s a homier feeling. Once you sign up, they’ll assign a trainer to make you a fitness training program and you can always go up to them and ask for help in case you forget how to use a machine (happens to me a lot of times). After about 1 and half months, they’ll update your program and you can always ask them for any fitness advice or questions. Fitness First also gives you two ‘power packs’ as they call it where an instructor will show you the ropes around the center and give you a workout but everything is verbal. They won’t give you a written down detailed program unless you sign up for personal training.

Since I’ve been working out for 5 years on and off and had about 6 training programs, I think I can already handle working out in Fitness First on my own. Well, professional training is definitely better but hey, I don’t have extra cash for that, hehehe :)

Going to the gym is one of the plans that I’ve laid out for my upcoming birthday this Saturday! Yes, it’s my birthday and Drich is far away…awww. To take my mind off the distance, my birthday’s gonna be a pamper myself day to make me feel really special :)

Here’s my Birthday Plan

1) Watch the movie SKY HIGH – a light comedy, adventure on the school for mutant children. Cool!
2) Have pesto pasta and chocolate cake for lunch! I’m not yet sure where but these dishes are a must since I’m craving for them and my birthday’s an excuse to enjoy myself.
3) Have a good workout in the gym + sauna
4) Avail of my 1 and a half hour Body Scrub and Massage from Fitness First Plus! – I bought this coupon for P666 about a month ago from an ex officemate. It’s good I haven’t used it!

That ought to keep me busy for the day :)

Before I end this post, I want to show the graphic that I made for Drich on his birthday last Aug 24 :) I sent this to everyone in the project including ex project mates so they’d all greet him a happy birthday :)