Rebecca Taylor rosette-strapped bubble dress, Celine metallic woven belt, vintage over-oversize bag, 35-peso sandals

After an undeniably long time, I now have the promised summer outfit post. We’re actually bidding summer goodbye here in 90° as the rainy season makes it’s way, accompanied by it’s inevitable downsides (flood, wet pant hems) and quirks (think boots, jackets, great excuse to go shopping for the rainy season). But before I totally kick summer until next year, I have to remember that this is a tropical country and most of the time, the weather is generally hot so clothes have to transition from warm-warm to warm-wet all in the span of 24 hours. Something to that effect. This now translates to summer outfits under trenches, rain coats, boots, and hoodies or the other way around. So for now, I have to focus on the outside, but try to remind myself every once in a while that it’s the inside that counts, in case I get overwhelmed with excitement and bring home a dozen of outerwear (read: faux fur jackets, double-breasted trench coats, short trench coats, military jackets, victorian jackets, windbreakers, full-length coats, a-line coats, cropped sweaters, oversize sweaters, and more!). In this light, I’m glad that even when it comes to dressing up here in 90°, it’s the inside that counts, well most days of the year at the very least and that I still have decades to jazz up on my summer-stylin’ skills because my twenty-something experience isn’t all that well, weather-proof.

Photo credit from http://www.flickr.com/photos/disneymike

This is beyond fashion, but I just wanted to note that with my upcoming anniversary I’ve been thinking of cooking for that special someone. And when I say cooking, it makes me think of myself in all sorts of metal armor, and not the apron or even gladiator platforms. Cooking to me is something waaay beyond glamorous. In my two decades of existence, I have never once decided to cook or become a cook or a chef or even a domestic goddess in the kitchen. I always believed that I should leave cooking to the house cook or whoever wants to cook (moms, for instance). Also, I’ve left the cooking, baking, food experimenting to my brother who in fact, wants to take cooking to the next level by taking classes after he’s done with uni. On the other hand, I’ve just been always left with the eating.

Last week, my mom fooled me into the kitchen and decided that I should cook lunch. It made me all queasy, angry, and to a certain point betrayed. I then cooked, chopped potatoes, threw in veggies in the pan, mixed them - all without the slightest sight of passion or even interest. My eyes were glued on the telly, I was pretending that I hated what I was doing, when in fact I wasn’t. The act of cooking was, in fact, (to me) a bearable experience. I guess that’s a step up from my usual cooking attempts that involve heating pre-cooked meals and frying what-ends-up to be burnt hot dogs. This time, I read one of my favorite sites which actually happens to be a food website and it detailedly narrated a steak experience which left me all drooling and carnivorous after reading the last sentence. This post then led me to Elbert’s Steakroom. I’ve known about this resto for quite some time, but have never had the chance to actually look for it, as it is hidden in a building somewhere in Makati. The “How We Do It” section of their site actually conjured me to daydream of cooking steak (or could I have confused it with thoughts of eating the steak?). At least finally, I have thoughts of cooking. Reading through it though, I realized it’s too unrealistic for me to re-create everything (or a single part, yeah). I mean, I don’t even have a single clue about food and cooking, let alone look for USDA Prime meat, grape seed oil, and Sicilian sea salt. And from the sound of it, I doubt that I’ll find all these items here in 90 degrees (this country) or even have them shipped here just in time for the anniversary, all while learning how to cook the perfect steak. So I guess I’ll settle for something more realistic, say cooking decently fried hot dog or something. Or I can suggest Elbert’s Steakroom just because someone said Outback can’t even compare to Elbert’s and to think I’m crazy about Outback. Oh well, I’m going to the kitchen now in an attempt to cook, and hopefully not accidentally burn myself in the process, all in the name of love.

Other notable sites:

The Next Nigella - been defunct since 2006, but I still like to browse through it

Trainee Domestic Goddess

Cook Almost Anything

Pinoy Cook

Cooking With Amy

Cook Sister

Our Awesome Planet

Eat and Run

Photos source, source, source, source

Sadly, I’m beginning to devote my life to my online shop. Here I am in one of the dresses I’m selling.

I’ve been busy for a while. My apologies for the lack of posts. My attention has gone to my online shop and really business is business. It really takes so much of my time, but I’m happier that it actually does.