A bit late for the new year, but I hope I can still greet you guys an advance Happy Chinese New Year!

Looking back, I've been away for quite awhile because of personal responsibilities and was not able to be as active in writing as much I was want to. Hopefully, I could post more for this new year. I'm not going to list it as a resolution because most of the resolutions I make are only good until half of the year. haha. So let's see where this goes.

My new year so far:

BAKE
Desserts with lemons on them are not on my top list, I'm more of a chocolate/cheesecake/mint, bitter-sweet kind of girl. I was looking at our fridge during the new year's eve and I saw a lemon staring at me. Yes. STARING. Inviting me to slice her off, use her juices and do something with it. Pardon my craziness. Then I remembered we had a leftover condensed milk from our fruit salad and a bag of crushed grahams. So I just went with it and made this.

You can make one too if you're into tart desserts.
Here are some recipe I found online:
http://www.eaglebrand.com/recipes/lemon-cream-pie-3977
https://www.verybestbaking.com/recipes/134716/no-bake-lemon-cloud-pie/



CAFE
Here's a known cafe for those who frequent Maginhawa street, Artsy Cafe. It was one of the coffee places I want to try out, but I rarely get the chance to be in the area so it was really great when a friend suggested we go there.


Here are some of the desserts we've tried (shown below). We also had their Chocolate Cake, House Iced Tea and Cafe Latte. They're arranged based on what we liked best. The sponge of the chocolate cake is a bit dry and on the crumbly side, so if that's how you want your cakes, you might like that better than we did. The Iced Tea was good, a little on the sweet side - nothing your good ol' water can't remedy. I wasn't able to try their Cafe Latte, but my brother said that it was quite good. More on the coffee-taste rather than the creamy ones others have.

Cheesecake Crumble

Espresso Panna Cotta (jiggly, smooth texture)

Banana Crepe (this crepe is a lot smaller than what we're used to ^^;)

They also offer meals, like pasta and rice dishes. I can't say anything on them since we haven't tried those out yet. All in all, if you're looking for a new and nice place, artful decorations and pretty ambiance, you can check it out.

Artsy Cafe Facebook page: https://www.facebook.com/artsycafe1?pnref=lhc

*Dessert photos by Tope

FASHION
My family and I have this custom where we buy new clothes for the new year. We usually buy our clothes at the mall, but I tried a different approach and I was browsing though online shops and came across Zalora. Zalora Philippines rounded up the best items in their 2015 Chinese New Year page: http://www.zalora.com.ph/chinese-new-year-sale/ and you should definitely check it out if you're looking for great discounts!

Here's one that I really like and I might get it before their discount ends. ^^


I'm also debating on whether to try out their blushes because I've been looking for a good one but don't know where to start. They have different brands, I'm just not sure which one works well on oily face. Do you have any recommendations?

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These are just some of the "new" experiences that made me smile at the start of the new year. Listing them out made me more thankful for another year of experiments and adventures.

What are some of the things that made you smile this year? =]