CRISTINE FARINAS

As a professed afternoon tea lover, any idea of an afternoon tea really excites me. So when my friend Amor invited me to a private afternoon tea party at their house for her 25th birthday, I was very delighted that I, without hesitation volunteered to bake scones even if I knew that it could possibly go horribly wrong. That's how excited I was. Haha. When the day came, I didn't know what to expect as I haven't been invited to an afternoon tea party in a house before, but my first reaction when I entered the dining room was "wow". The room was beautifully decorated, complete with  pink and purple motif and a very simple table setting.  It wasn't long until everyone was ready for our much awaited afternoon tea. I particularly loved the tea selection. I think none of the girls actually thought of French macarons. Luckily, the only thorn among the roses (Darren) brought some. And then we just added some chocolate truffles. I wasn'

The lack of Filipino restaurants in the city and my limited ability to cook Filipino foods compelled me and my foodie friend Eirenne to travel 40 minutes by bus to Lower Hutt a week ago. It was a very pleasant journey as bus 91 from Courtenay Place took us directly to Centre City Plaza where The Great Tasti is located.  However, I was perplexed when we arrived at the cafe.  I personally thought that we were misled because the cafe didn't have any Filipino food on display and there was no obvious sign that they served Asian food. I was ready to leave the place very disappointed when Eirenne saw photos of Filipino dishes at the bottom of the menu board. Phew. So we told the lady at the counter that we were there for some Filipino food and she obligingly instructed us to take our seat. And then our Pinoy food adventure began. Eirenne and I got really excited when we saw the menu. Unfortunately, they only had selected dishes available during that time. But it was okay because

It's that time of the year again when all I can do is stare at the beautiful photos of my angel  and imagine what could have been   .  My beautiful, talented and kind-hearted boy would have been 16 today.  When I woke up this morning, I told myself not to cry anymore because I know that Keith is now in a better place. But as soon as I lit up the candle, played his song and started praying, tears started rolling down my cheeks. The pain remains no matter how long it has been. I cried even more when I saw Keith's friend's post on facebook. X never fails to remember Keith's birthday and this means so much to me. I am very blessed to have known his friends and play the "Tita" (sometimes Mommy) role to them virtually. Keith lives through them. And then my cousin posted a very touching message which I greatly appreciate. Back home, they're celebrating Keith's birthday with some family and friends while I am enjoying the blue

Honestly, I crave for plain scones more than I crave for Filipino foods. In  London, I would regularly have cream tea at two of my favourite cafes, The Muffin Man in High Street Kensington and High Tea of Highgate . And so when I arrived in Wellington, one of the first things that I looked for was plain scones. Unfortunately, all I could find were savoury scones. I am not a fan of savouries you see. But at one point I became quite desperate for scones that I almost bought the spinach ones. I had to suppress my cravings and baked  banana bread instead.   And that is why it took me six months before I finally had an afternoon tea in Wellington. It was basically my  birthday and I wanted to do something nice with my first ever friend in Wellington, and a fternoon tea has always been on my mind.  Originally, I wanted to go to Hippopotamus Restaurant at the Museum Hotel but unfortunately, they were closed for refurbishment. So we went to Martha's Pantry in Cuba

We finally flew to Auckland in June. It was our first plane ride since we got to Wellington and it wasn't a particularly good experience. Our flight with Jetstar got delayed for 6 hours without notice. There was no announcement whatsoever. I must say that Jetstar customer service at that time was very poor. They didn't seem to know what was going on either. I understand it's a budget airline, but the delayed flight and how the staff handled the situation are enough reasons for us to avoid Jetstar in our future travels. But apart from the not-so-good flight experience, the rest of our trip was wonderful. We arrived in Auckland just after 1am (on Saturday) so we didn't get to see anything obviously. We stayed at the  Rendezvous Hotel  in Mayoral Drive. Although we literally just slept at the hotel, we had a very pleasant stay. The staff was nice and helpful and the room was very clean. Overall, the hotel is beautiful and the location is perfect, so I would