The Thrifty Closet

I cooked dinner last night. My dish was Cream Dory with Mango Salsa [check the recipe here]. It’s basically fish fillet with mango salsa. I loved it (not just because I cooked it, ha!). 

I made about 6 servings of this. I shouldn’t have put the salsa over the top. It looked messy! Err.

I tried to perfect my plate presentation. But I think I failed. Boo.

Here’s the other side of the plate. This view looks better.  

My customers (aka family) said it was delicious, especially the combination of mango with fish. So yay! Go try this recipe. It’s very easy and it only took me less than 30 minutes to prepare and cook. Bon appétit! 

Since I’m talking about food anyway, let me share with you my afternoon snacks awhile ago. 

BBQ Beef Tacos (Php 150) from Hermanos Taco Shop. I like that they use soft tacos because the hard crunchy ones are messy to eat. They do have a Facebook fan page! Celebrities like Troy Montero, Ira Cruz, Mylene Dizon and Epi Quizon were spotted eating here too (as shown in the fan page).

And the famous Arny-Dading’s Peachy Peachy (15 pieces for Php 90). I never liked peachy peachy before, but ever since I tried one from Arny-Dading’s, it all changes. Their version oozes with cheese! I can’t help but fall in love at first bite! Like their Facebook fan page, too. 

That’s it! Time to burn those calories. Not. 

Hey Hey Hey! It’s the best month of the year to shop ‘til you drop! But before you spend your moohlaas on anything else, I would just like to say that I’m selling what I called maARTee shirts. These are printed tees with various cute designs available. Only Php 249.00 each and limited stocks only. Grab yours now! CLICK HERE to see the entire collection. I’ll be forever grateful if you get one :)

I said yesterday that I’ll be putting up a mini contest, so here goes. Get a chance to win a tee from me. Yes FREE!!! All you have to do is spread the word about MaARTee and don’t forget to link my tumblr blog (hazelnot.tumblr.com) on your blog/twitter/facebook and invite people to buy my tees. Comment below (or email me at hazelnot@yahoo.com) with the link where you mentioned my blog (on facebook, twitter, tumblr, where ever!). Be as creative as possible! It won’t hurt to follow me on Bloglovin and Tumblr as well. I’ll choose the winner on December 25 and announce it here. EASY, RIGHT?

YAY! Goodluck guys! And Merry Christmas ;)

EDIT (Dec. 7) / My blog has been down for almost the entire day yesterday. It sucks but I can’t really complain much since Tumblr is just a free blogging platform. Anyway, stay tuned for I will post a contest soon (maybe later when I get home). /END EDIT.

Yesterday (un)officially ended my three years and two terms in college. It was our thesis defense and it went out surprisingly well. Nominated or not for best thesis, at least I know my thesismates and I gave it our best shot. We were so happy to have the support of our company rep, panelists, friends and family.

Everything still seems surreal to me. I can’t believe that the most dreaded thesis + defense has finally come to an end. And we are now awaiting graduation on February next year. The world will welcome yet another unemployed fresh grad, I guess? Nooo! I hope not! Hahaha!

Here’s a little sweet treat to myself. Nomnomnom! <3

Well, hello there, December! The most festive month of the year is here! Hooray! Anyway, today my sister asked me to accompany her to a nearby nail salon, just walking distance from home. I gladly obliged and came with her since I feel my hands and feet need pampering as well.

The name of the nail salon is Must Luv Nails and I found out from my manicurist that they just opened 2 months ago. As any nail salons, they offer mani/pedi, waxing, spa, massage, among others. The things I love about this place (aside from being very close from home) is that it is clean and well-kept, has nice couches, accommodating staffs, and best of all affordable service. For just P250.00 I got a mani-pedi combo! My sister got the foot spa and pedi combo for only P400.00. 

 
(Source) Instead of taking a picture of my hands and toenails, I got pictures from the net. For my hands, I chose the Bubble Bath from OPI. It’s the right shade for me because I’ll be presenting our thesis already this Saturday and I don’t want the attention on my hands. Simple and clean is what I want and this shade achieved that look. 

I also found out that Food Network’s Giada De Laurentiis’ choice of nail product is OPI’s Bubble Bath as well. I love love love her show and always wonder why her nails are amazing despite all those cooking! Now I know why! 

For my toenails, I chose to be adventurous and picked a red shade also from OPI. Among all the red shades available in the salon, only this stands out. 

(Source) It definitely screams “LOOK AT ME!”. So having this color on my toenails will force me to wear sandals instead of my usual closed flats. 

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I had KFC Double Down for lunch. Too much for my life, srsly! All the grease and fats made me skip dinner tonight! Oh well, there’s always a first time for everything. And I guess this will be my first and maybe last(?) time to eat this heart-attack-causing food. I just really want to try it because of all the hype and Facebook/Twitter statuses I read from my friends.

Waiting time at the Taft branch was just 5 minutes, but the waiter was able to give my order right away. I heard other branches take forever to prepare and serve the Double Down; and worse, some even have these sold out as early as lunch time.

My verdict: It is definitely for those meat lovers and KFC fans who can’t get enough of their chickens! The Philippine version of Double Down is quite small in size and only has a few bacons included. Despite that, I see a strong following for this product. Good job, KFC! 

Finally I was able to eat at Yakimix today! I heard so much about this eat-all-you-can Japanese restaurant from friends and relatives, which makes me want to try it all the more. As early as 11 in the morning, my family and I were already in the parking area of SM Mall of Asia (MOA) in time for lunch. We didn’t have any exact restaurant in mind that’s why we just strolled around until we find one. I totally forgot Yakimix has a branch in MOA — fortunately, my brother saw it! Here’s my little review (well, more of a reminder to myself of what I ate and should be guilty for HAHA). And forgive me for the low resolution camera pictures. I forgot my dSLR in the car. Boo. 

My plate : 1st round. Consists of tempura, different kinds of maki, korean barbeque, and raw chicken barbeque. 

Everyone knows I love maki! I think I ate more than 10 today! 

You can cook/grill right in the middle of your table! Raw meat and fish are available at the buffet table. As you can see here in the picture, we enjoyed grilling our barbeques, pork, chicken, salmon, etc.

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Lately, if I’m not busy doing my thesis, then I am busy shopping like crazy! Here are some of my purchases from different mall trips this week alone. I seriously need to stop! Such a mall rat I am. But the sales are hard to resist, right?

CMG Beige Heels. Last pair on size 7! Good job! 

I know, I know… another pair of heels, right? Well one can never have enough heels, I tell you! Or maybe it’s just me and my little new obsession? Anyway, this one is from Parisian. You got to check their shoes — adorable yet affordable!

I’m a big fan of Maybelline products. One can never go wrong with their liquid concealer (Angelfit) and mascara (Volum’ Express Hypercurl). As for the foundation, I usually buy from Faceshop. This is actually my nth tube from them — that’s how much of a fan I am. 

Since my sister and I accumulated more than P1500 from a single transaction in Faceshop, they gave us freebies as part of their promo. Sweet! The freebies are pink lip gloss and sample sachets of Hydro Splash, which I think is a concealer, cream, and sun protection in one. 

Elianto Navy Nail Polish. Perfect shade for my fingernails! Yay!

Went to Forever21 earlier with my thesismates, unintentionally. Yes unintentionally… just to kill time! But ended up buying something. Good thing I only bought a pair of gold rimmed sunglasses. I said to myself that they’re inexpensive anyway so I might as well get them. And leaving empty-handed in Forever21 is such a heartbreaking thought. 

So there! I’ll post the other pictures soon. I can’t seem to find them at the moment. Maybe they’re in the laundry already. 

Until my next shopping trip… NOT.  

I said over and over that I’ll cut down on food… but food seems to find me all the time. FML! :( 

My sister brought home this Ms. Polly’s Chocolate Cake. The box has a gold medal sticker, obviously showing that this sweet treat is an award-winning one. And yes, indeed it was! Yum yum yum! 

Made a second account here in Tumblr — Hazelnot. My other one, Hazelisnotanut, is still alive! That one is full of reblogs of random pictures, quotes, songs, whatnot. To distinguish one from the other, this Tumblr shall contain more personal entries. More photos of me (to start off, that’s me above). So basically, this is about me, by me, and the things that interest me — cutesy fancy things, shopping, makeup, shoes, clothes, food, etc.

Enjoy ;)