I love to cook. I even like chopping vegetables and slicing meat. But what I don’t like is cleaning up after! Blech! All the measuring spoons, knives, chopping boards, plates, and pots that need to be washed! Arrrghh!

So when I saw this Mini Measure cup at Bed, Bath & Beyond, I saw more than just a cute kitchen accessory! It meant less measuring spoons to be washed!

And unlike measuring spoons that just measure by the teaspoon…

and tablespoon…

The Mini Measure cup measures by ounces and milliliters as well!!!

No more guesswork! It retails for $2.99, but since I had a 20% off BB&B coupon, I only got it for $2.39! And hey, let us not forget savings on water and dishwashing liquid! Hehehe!

Now isn’t this a pretty sight? Hello Kitty snacks all in a row!

These fruit flavored snacks are made with apple and pear juice and are a good source of Vitamin C. Each bite size piece is bursting with a refreshing fruit flavor that kids will surely love! Best of all, each piece comes in fun Hello Kitty shapes!

A box of 10 Hello Kitty Fruit Flavored snack pouches sells for $1.99. Not bad at all! I’ve bought small packs of Hello Kitty marshmallows and candies for much more!

Here’s another one to add to my virtual collection! Hahaha!

This is a more modern and funky Hello Kitty design, check out her ribbon and the black and pink checkered graphics! Very Avril Lavigne don’t you think?

This came together with the May 2008 issue of my Vanity Fair subscription…

I really wasn’t too excited about opening it, after all, I’ve learned not to expect much from magazine freebies. So I was pleasantly surprised when I opened it and saw this…

What a pretty shopping tote! Looks exactly like my Baggus, but with a nice graphic print! Looks very sturdy too! Thank you Target and Vanity Fair!

If you like to eat palitao, or the bilo-bilo (rice balls) in guinataan, you would love eating Japanese mochi!

According to wikipedia, “Mochi is a Japanese rice cake made of glutinous rice pounded into paste and molded into shape. In Japan it is traditionally made in a ceremony called mochitsuki.”

“Many types of traditional wagashi (Japanese traditional sweets) are made with mochi. For example, daifuku is a soft round mochi stuffed with sweet filling, such as sweetened red bean paste (an) or white bean paste (shiro an).

Kusa mochi is a green variety of mochi flavored with yomogi (mugwort). When daifuku is made with kusa mochi, it is called yomogi daifuku.

This Yomogi Daifuki is smaller than the palm of my hand…

…and has a red bean filling inside…

But don’t let that small size fool you! Like our “kakanins” back home, they are very heavy on the stomach! Very sticky too! Actually, elderly people are discouraged from eating mochi. In Japan, many elderly people have died from choking on mochi! Gasp!

What I want to try next is the ichigo daifuku, a version containing a whole strawberry inside! Sounds yum!

Another cute sticker set! This time found in Target’s stationery section!

If I bought all the Hello Kitty sticker sets I’ve seen and posted in my blog, I would have a pretty great collection by now don’t you think?

Hmmm, which makes me think, is sticker collecting still “in” as it was in my younger days? I think kids these days are more tech savvy and would rather go on the internet or to the malls for fun. Would they find it quaint to be collecting stationery and stickers (remember the Panini sticker collections? Hahaha!)?

When I was little there were those cute checkered band-aids that made me want to get a cut or scratch, just so I can run to my mom and ask her to put ointment and a band-aid on my wound. Weird huh? But I just thought it looked so cute and I wanted an excuse to have band-aid on me! Hahaha!

If my mom bought this when I was a little girl…

…consider me all cut up and bloodied all the time! Bwahaha!

But seriously, these are so cute! I really spent some time in the Band-Aid section deciding if I should buy it. But wouldn’t my husband and I look weird if we had a Hello Kitty band-aid on us?

Stumbling through the pharmacy and health aisle of Target led me to this:

A Hello Kitty Ice Pack for bumps and bruises! How sweet it that! Makes me want to get a little bump or bruise just so I have the excuse to buy this! Hahaha!

When Bargain Boggart wrote about the Hello Kitty rectal thermometer, little did I know that there really are Hello Kitty themed medical related items as well!

So amusing! Strangely, even if I do not have kids yet, and even more so that I am in my 30s, I still feel the compulsion to buy these “health-y” Hello Kitty goodies! Not only are they useful, they’re cute too! Practical doesn’t have to mean boring right?

I can’t wait for Spring to finally kick in! I’m craving for red bean ice cream from…

But since it has been so cold these days, I would rather reach out for hot chocolate or a tall vanilla latte than get a scoop of ice cream!

But boy oh boy, once the warm season kicks in, I’m going to Chinatown Ice Cream factory for my flavor of choice, plus another scoop of green tea ice cream!

Let me tell you, if you are in the mood for creamy ice cream “with a Chinese twist” then this is your go to place. They have ice cream flavors like taro, lychee, almond cookie, black sesame, chocolate pandan, even wasabi and durian!!! Oh yes, going here is liking embarking on an adventure in the world of ice creams! While they have regular crowd pleasers like vanilla, strawberry and chocolate, thrill seekers will revel in the fact that CICF makes ice cream flavors that they cannot find anywhere else that’s for sure!

Address:
65 Bayard Street
Manhattan Chinatown
New York, NY 10013
Phone: (212) 608-4170

Store Hours:
Sun-Sat: 11:00am - 10pm or 11pm
(Depending on weather.)

When our friend Jens invited us to check out a newly opened burger joint (February 2008) that served old-fashioned style burgers in Manhattan’s Financial District, I wondered what sort of burgers these Wall Street types would be so into.

Turns out there was indeed reason to rave about Burger Shoppe burgers! They were really good! I had this (please ignore the scrunched up bun on the right, I was so excited to take a bite, but put it down to take a picture for posterity, heehee)…

Shoppe Plate two char-grilled beef burgers with cheese, lettuce, tomato and shoppe sauce, served with fries

While Dear Hubby had this…

Bar Room Burger char-grilled beef burger topped with gruyere, braised pork belly, sauteed mushrooms and onions, served with fries

Paired with frothy chocolate milkshakes, it was a YUMMY dinner indeed!

But how I wish we stayed at the diner at the ground floor! Because the burgers there were cheaper ($4 for each Shoppe Burger), never mind the old school diner ambiance. We took a table at the Bar Room upstairs and prices there were way more expensive boohoo! We ended up paying more than $50 for our meal! Ick!

Oh by the way, they had on the menu a $150 burger! Its called the Richard Nouveau Burger and it consists of prime kobe beef, grilled and topped with aged gruyere, shaved black truffels, foie gras and golden truffle mayonnaise. Sounds decadent huh?

30 Water Street, (212) 425-1000.