Sweet, Sweet Romance with Angel's Pizza Pasta Combo

I've been busy and feeling under the weather lately so it was a nice surprise to get a delivery from Angel's Pizza Pasta Combo this Valentine's week. And when I say sweet, I mean really, really sweet. I mean I got a lot of love. So thank you for the big hearts, Angel's Pizza!

Angel's Pizza Pasta Combo is giving out a sweet treat this whole month of February! Get three Cadbury chocolate bars in Dairy Milk, Fruit & Nut, or Cashew & Cookies for every Family-sized Heart-shaped Thin Crust Pizza (P599).

Pet-Friendly Chili's at Alabang Town Center

Making the most of the cool weather a few weeks back, Jericho, Justice and I went out to take Mr. Wiggles to run around Molito for a bit of exercise and to work up an appetite. As it turned out, by the end of it all we were the ones that got hungry, so we trooped over to the nearby Alabang Town Center for an early dinner.

Since we had our furbaby in tow, we sought out the pet-friendly restaurants in the area, which are mostly the new, free-standing restaurants, and Chili's seemed to be a nice place to hunker down for a few hours and enjoy a couple of plates of good grub. Plus, the waitstaff weren't afraid of the bouncy fluffy puppy, and even went so far at to play with the little guy, which was a great sign. A table outside for three and a half, please!

Unboxed: Nude Audio Studio 5 Bluetooth & Lightning Dock Speaker

I thought somebody had sent me a rice cooker when the courier arrived with a big square box in his hands. Too light to possibly be a rice cooker, I was surprised to discover this was the new Nude Audio Studio 5!

After getting over the initial shock of having a what I expected to be a portable speaker, this has turned out to be one of the most gorgeous and best-sounding speakers I have ever tried. I'd give this three thumbs up, as the sound from the Studio 5 nicely fills up my studio apartment - it sounds like I have a home theater system installed when I use this to watch movies or play music.

Tasty Dumplings - a Binondo Favorite!

My good friend, Jericho, and I celebrated the first day of the Year of the Wooden Horse in Binondo for the first time ever. Maybe it was because this year's celebrations seemed to be one of the most festive we've had these past few years (up yours, Lim!), but we just had to come out to Manila to see it for ourselves.

And of course, with all the walking comes all the eating, and my form of comfort food (and what seems to be turning into tradition) when in Binondo is having a meal at Tasty Dumplings. Aside from the food being pretty good - with Taiwanese-style pork chops the size of your head - it's also quite friendly for people on a budget. Or people who want to order a lot.

Quartz Hunting at World of Crystals, Binondo

When I was working for JP Morgan, a clairvoyant-healer friend of mine gave me a small crystal shard as a gift. "Keep it in your wallet so it will never be empty," he said. I really didn't believe in it at first - I mean, it was just a piece of semi-precious stone as far as I was concerned - but true enough, I always had money in my pockets. He forewarned me that once the crystal was done helping me, it would either break or just disappear, and again, after a year of keeping it in my wallet, it just disappeared one day. Whether it fell out of my wallet or got misplaced, I don't really know, but that gift opened my mind to the wonders of keeping and nurturing these shards of powerful energy.

Over the next couple of years I came across many other gifted and awake friends who either help educate people about crystals, clean crystals, scry with them, or use large crystals to help with meditation, and energy flow at work or at home. I took it all in, but have never yet thought of owning another quartz crystal until Chinese New Year in Binondo. After taking a shortcut and getting slightly lost around Ongpin, Jericho and I came across World of Crystals, and something in me just said I had to go in. I was like an Indigo kid in a crystal candy store!

A Tasting & More at Olive Tree Kitchen & Bar

Chef Rob Pengson has done it again. After his very successful venture with The Goose Station and his wife's Shine Bakery in SM Aura Premier, Rob opened Olive Tree Kitchen & Bar late last year, and I have been itching to try it ever since I accidentally salivated all over their Christmas menu.

So when Richie invited the rest of the foodie fambam and I to check out their degustation menu and more, I was counting the days 'til I would step foot into the new restaurant! We ended up having such a marvelous time (it was a really long dinner!), and after that awesome night of experiencing OTKB's tasting menu and then some, I've been left to guessing what ingredients went into what, so pardon me when I start a sentence with "I think this is..."

With flavor combinations that are almost an art form with the way everything comes together in harmony, no wonder this place has turned into another of chef Rob's overnight successes.

8 Reasons Chinese New Year in Binondo Reminds Me of NYC

Kung Hey Fat Choi! Xin Nian Kuai Le! Gong Xi Fa Cai! Xing Ni Ju Yi! However you want to say it, Happy Chinese New Year!

I had a blast on Friday as Jericho and I headed to Binondo, both dressed in bright red, to ring in the Year of the Wooden Horse with the Filipino-Chinese community. This would be the first time I'd be celebrating Chinese New Year, and what's a better place to do it than at one of the oldest and biggest Chinatowns in the world. Roaming around Binondo, Ongpin, and the nearby side streets, I was pleasantly surprised to see how very like New York this small city-within-a-city actually is.

Here are eight reasons why I think celebrating Chinese New Year in Binondo reminds me of New York City: