Estate Sale ! Estate Sale !

My friend Zsa Zsa emailed this lovely invitation to an Alabang Estate Sale (below) a few days ago. She said that anyone, and most especially members of the HCC, are welcome to attend. Who knows? You might find something beautiful for your home or the perfect unique Christmas gift for your mother or anyone else you may love to bits.

To repeat the information, the Sale is on October 1-3 from 9am to 7pm at 104 Ilang-Ilang Street, Ayala Alabang Village. Hope to see you there!

The Confectionery Around The Corner

The TOTAL gas station complex at the corner of Don Jesus Blvd and the West Service Road went from talahib(wild grass)-city to a little town center of sorts. One of the more interesting shops at the Citiarcade building (where BPI and Mercury are located) is this little shop on the second floor with a yellow sign and twirly font that spell out "Le Doux Atelier Sweet Shop".

I explored the little store one day with my 4 year old and was surprised to see it stocked with various items any self-respecting home baker and super mom may need. My daughter's particular favorite were the bags of foil wrapped chocolate ladybugs and elephants (perfect party favors). Here are other items you can find at this little store with the yellow walls:

(Photos care of Nina Bautista)


Bulk snacks like cookies, pretzels...

Baking needs like packaged nuts, cake decorations, boxes, tins, cupcake molds...

If you're out of molasses, corn syrup, Crisco, glycerine, glucose, etc., you don't have to cross Alabang Zapote, just visit Le Doux Atelier:

Sprinkles, sprinkles everywhere! My daughter enjoyed choosing a cup of sprinkles to decorate the brownies we were going to make (Le Doux's brownie mix is delicious).

Pillows filled with semi-sweet and milk chocolate chips are also available:


Blocks of unsweetened, semi-sweet, milk and sugar free chocolate:




Owned by young mom Nina Bautista, Le Doux carries baking supplies, baking/party packaging, bulk snacks, cake decorations, chocolate blocks, delicious brownie mixes, etc. etc.

It's also where you can order/pick-up many of the delicious cakes, breads, cookies, and even Bicol-style laing (yum!) that Nina offers. Simply leave your mobile number in their guestbook and she'll text you once or twice a week for orders.

LE DOUX ATELIER is at: Unit 12B, 2nd floor, Citiarcade Bldg., West Service Road, Cupang, Muntinlupa City. You can also call them at 0916.553.0330

Take your kids to the theater...

Support the Arts and get your kids away from the TV at the same time...

Theater Down South presents "The Princess and the Red Carp", the oriental version of the Cinderella story, which features a beautiful girl, an evil stepmother, a handsome emperor and yes... a magic red carp. Directed by Michael Williams and featuring memorable original songs, colorful chinoiserie costumes and silly characters, the this fairy tale looks to be a hit for children of all ages.

See the play on August 29, September 5, 12 & 19 at the Insular Life Theater, Insular Life Corporate Center, Filinvest, Muntinlupa (still HCC territory : )

Tickets are available at Ticketworld outlets http://www.ticketworld.com.ph/ or by calling 891-9999. You can also log onto http://www.theaterdownsouth.com/

The Best Animal Hospital In Manila?

The first time I walked into Cassandra Care Animal Hospital, I must say that I was impressed. Very impressed. Having had pets most of my life, and now, live with 3 dogs, 3 cats and a turtle in our Alabang home, I was pretty much used to the (lets be honest here), less-than-great vets and pet clinics in the area. Since the terrific Dr. Mike Velhagen went on a sabbatical a couple of years ago, we've had no choice but to take our menagerie to the closest clinic - a smelly, cramped affair, where the personal service was close to nil.

But then, on Good Friday, we had no choice but to try out Cassandra, which seemed to be the only vet clinic opened during the holiday weekend. Our beloved elderly basset was suffering from heat stroke and not only did they take her in for the night and make her well, but they very kindly released her without payment even if they had no idea who we were (we were at the beach and weren't home until Monday). The vet also called continuously for a few days to ask how she was and to give our maid instructions. Something that rarely happened at the other clinic.

I finally visited the place some days later to settle the bill and bring my dog for a check-up. My driver wasn't kidding when he said "Mam, and ganda! Parang hospital ng tao". It was modern, spacious, immaculately clean, tastefully decorated, fully air-conditioned and best of all, smelled pretty good. The same vet was there (hooray!), and with another junior vet as well as an assistant, they took us to a consultation room, which was really not dissimilar to what you'd see at Asian hospital. No kidding. She needed an x-ray, so while waiting for my dog to get back, I was served a cold drink in a tray. Can you believe it? For someone used to sitting in a hot, crowded, stinky waiting room for ages with "wowowee" blasting from a small tv, this was fantastic. I peeked around the place a bit, and saw some comfy looking kennels, a large play room with toys and a snazzy grooming area encased in glass where a shitzu was being pampered. Wow.

As I settled the bill (and it was way less that what I would normally pay), I saw a list of their great services which had things like hydromassage, an incubator, a fully-equipped ambulance and so on....but their "vision" was even better:

CassandraCare will be known for its heart of compassion as well as its abilities and skills. No pet needing urgent attention will be turned away without due cause.

How lovely is that? Yesterday I sent my persian cat to try the grooming service and he came home looking fab with a nifty chart on what was done, so that I can properly keep track. Oh, and a mini calendar with the cutest photo of his face on it, free of charge.

Cassandra Care is located at 209 Aguirre Ave. BF Homes. Telephone: 568 0347

Contact GK's Ating Balai for your employment needs

From secretaries to messengers to household help and caregivers, Ating BALai (Building Abilities, Life skills and Independence) can provide your home or business with employees that were personally trained by the good people at the Ating Balai Gawad Kalinga Center in Taguig.

For more information or to post your job vacancies, simply email them at atingbalai@gmail.com

Ditch your "trash" at ATC this Friday!

The Ayala Recyclables Fair will be at the Alabang Town Center parking lot this Friday, 19 January 2010. Now's your chance to get rid of those old and outdated bits of technology (appliances, mobile phones, PDAs, etc.) that you have lying around the house but were too hesitant to just toss in the trash.

Here's a more comprehensive list of items that you can dispose of or sell at the Fair:

• Used lead-acid batteries: Genset, UPS and motor batteries
• E-waste: Non-working electronic and electrical appliances, obsolete CPUs and monitors
• Paper waste: Used paper, old newspapers, cartons, magazines, obsolete books, posters, tetra pak cartons
• Plastic and metal waste: VHS and betamax tapes, cassette tapes, bottles, containers, sando bags, plastic furniture, aluminum cans, tin cans and other materials
• Printer cartridges: Toner and ink cartridges
• For proper disposal only: Tarpaulin streamers, household batteries, polystyrene packaging, mobile phones, batteries and chargers
  

For more information, please call Ayala Foundation at 752-1084.

The Recyclables Fair will be at ATC every 3rd Friday of the month during the whole year. So if you miss this one, catch the next one! You'll feel much better getting rid of all your excess garbage this way.

PAEZ Shoes - Free Delivery in the Alabang area!

Unless you've been under a rock the past holiday season, you've most likely heard of the latest imported brand of super-comfy footwear that's now in Manila -- PAEZ shoes. Taking the lowly alpargatas and modernizing them with soft foam soles and fun prints, PAEZ shoes are the cooler cousins of the traditional espadrilles.



You can find PAEZ shoes at Rustan's and Shoe Salon... but since the owners of this business are based in the South, they offer FREE delivery in the Alabang area (this includes the HCC of course ; )

Simply call the following numbers for questions/orders: 211-4789, 215-9778, and 0917-8007674. You can also order online from heywhereyou.com

Check out PAEZ' great styles and their price list:

Watch out for their adorable line of kids' PAEZ coming in March 2010!

Cyma Alabang Town Center -- disappointing!

This is the first restaurant review for the HCC site but I just had to share how awful our food experience was at CYMA in Alabang Town Center a few nights ago. My husband and I decided to have some "delicious Greek food" and were happy to hear that Cyma was now open on the 2nd level of the Corte de las Palmas (where Good Earth used to be).

The place was small but looked nice, the wait staff very friendly and attentive but the food... YIKES! We ordered basic Greek food that no Greek resto should be able to screw up and they failed on all basic dishes. To start, we ordered a Greek salad - usually a no-brainer that anyone can make at home due to its only having 5 ingredients. Our Greek salad came with farfalle (bowtie) pasta, (??) and hardly had any cucumbers nor tomatoes, and worst of all, the dressing was a brown creamy vinagrette that looked like HP sauce. Tasted bottled and I think it was.

Then the Kalamarakia - deep fried calamari - tasted like rubber dipped in flour and fried, with no seasoning whatsoever. My favorite Spanakopita - spinach in filo pastry - was pretty tasteless but at least the pastry was lovely. My husband's chicken dish was the only ok thing we had but then again, we could've ordered roast chicken from S&R and eaten that at home. I also looked at the table next to us and their "saganaki" dip looked like pure thousand island dressing. Yikes yikes yikes.

I was so so disappointed. I love Greek food and grew up having it from Greek friends' houses so maybe I'm being picky but please save your money and stay away... at least until they get their food right. Maybe it's just that they've only been open less than a month.

For my money, Cafe Med is a way better bet. Happy New Year!