Food: Bean Boozled Challenge

Hello beautiful earthlings!

How have you all been? I hope everybody is having a fantastic week so far!

For this post, my sistars and I did the Bean Boozled Challenge! I bought the Bean Boozled at Candy Lab here in Dublin for €3.95.  I bought two boxes since I am going to share the other box to my fellow SFLs (shoutout to any of you reading this haha)

I actually bought two boxes to increase our chances to get four beans of each colour/flavour since there were four of us who did the challenge.

We enjoyed filming this challenge. I was quite lucky to get 5 nasty ones however I did not mind the 3 flavours except for one or two! It was skunk spray! Moldy cheese was not that bad but it tasted like Cheese Pimiento which I do not enjoy that much.

I was really curious on how they made the flavour.  I have mentioned in our video that when a company wants to create a product, they normally go through intensive research and development.  I wonder if the people in the R&D team had to eat boogers (or any of the nasty flavours) just to capture the taste and put it in their bean.  They probably got paid a lot to eat those! Haha

My sister told me to name this gif "Four different fan girl reactions"

See our video at why our reactions are like these!

I hope you enjoy watching the video and laugh a lot okay?!

Peace and Love!

Being Superwoman

Hello beautiful earthlings~

This  post is not travel or beauty or food related.  This post is something personal that I want to share with you beautiful earthlings.  You have the choice to close the tab you're in right now or continue reading.  I pray constantly that God will use me as His instrument to bring happiness and inspiration to others and to let me show people the love God has for us.  I hope that you find happiness, inspiration in this post and most importantly I pray that you may feel God's unconditional love for you.

As the photo and title suggest, this post is being or trying to be Superwoman by another superwoman wannabe A.K.A. ME!

You see, I want to become a superwoman.  I wanted (and still do) to do everything and do well in every aspect of what I do from being a student, an employee, future career woman, daughter, sister and friend.  I was never really the "I-MUST-BE-BETTER-IN-EVERYTHING" (Let's abbreviate this as IMBBIE) type of girl.  I did not care but being one of the top students last year in my class brought so much happiness and pride to my parents.  That feeling stuck with me.  Nothing beats the feeling of making your parents so proud of you.  I let that feeling drive me into becoming this IMBBIE person.  I wanted to make my parents happy and proud of me.  I wanted to compensate the years of doing so bad in college for three years to being one of the top now.

There is nothing wrong in wanting to become a superwoman in every aspect of what you do in life (well, that is what I would like to think).  I wanted to fulfil the roles I mentioned above in a superwoman level 99 way that I forgot to be a superwoman in the number 1 role I have in this life: a  daughter of God.  How come I forgot? You see I thought that by trying to become like Superwoman or any awesome heroine in a Final Fantasy game, I would become invincible.  I thought I would not tire at all.  But boy I was wrong,  Unlike any strong female video game character (I wish I was though cause they're so pretty), I am human.

"To err is human."  - Alexander Pope

Unlike Superwoman who has no known weakness, I have a couple of my own and I make so many mistakes.  First, I am very temperamental.  Another is that I have this bad habit of not saying no to people.  I want to please the people around me and because of my superwoman mentality, I thought I'd have all the energy in the world to do all the favours people ask of me, to do well in college and do well at work and be a filial daughter to my parents to be an awesome sister and friend. This then put so much pressure on me.  And one of my biggest weakness is NEVER telling people what I really feel especially when I feel something negative.

This overwhelmed me so much that I felt like I was about to break.  Our sistar Bianca saw my tweets and said that it is IMPOSSIBLE becoming superwoman or any other fictional heroine.  We are human, we tire all the time.  I was so tired at the end of the day that I did not have the energy to even pray.  How bad was that?!  How can I not have a conversation with the One who created me?  How can I not pray to the One who died on the Cross for me to be saved?!  But it did happen.   I became unhappy that my sisters Nikki and Steffi and even my mom noticed it and asked if I was going through depression.

I realized why becoming a superwoman two/three weeks ago did not work for me and made me unhappy.  It was because I did not pray for it.  Nowadays, no matter how exhausted I am, I try to force myself to walk to and from college/work everyday because it is the only quiet time I'd get to have a one-on-one with God.  For the past week, I have been praying to become a superwoman in terms of being a filial daughter of God, a filial daughter to my parents, a loving sister to my siblings, a hard working student, a hard working staff at work and career woman.  For the past week, the weight of the world on my shoulder has lighten a bit.  It is still a challenge at times but it became better.

I don't know if you are still with me in this post but basically what I'm trying to say to all my fellow superwoman wannabes is that it is okay to take off your sexy, superwoman heels and take a breather and just do things that relaxes you or do nothing but rest.  Also, know that prayers make things better.  It might not get better instantly but it will happen in God's perfect timing.

"I can do all this through Him who gives me strength." - Philippians 4:13

I hope your head is not hurting from all the words I have written but I have this feeling that God wants me to share my story.   To my fellow superwoman wannabes, may you find the strength to continue being awesome. God loves you so much so don't forget to thank Him today.

Peace & Love!

Walk with Me

Happy Paddy's Day my fellow leprechauns

Hello beautiful earthlings~ In this blog post, I will show you the landmarks I walk pass every day to and from college/work/home in commemoration of the biggest Irish festival here in Ireland - St.Patrick's Day.  (No I am not at the parade due to the cold weather. I'd rather stay at home and watch it on TV instead. Maybe next year?)

The first landmark I always pass by everyday is the Spire. If Paris has Eiffel Tower, Dublin has its Spire.

This landmark is often used as a meeting point of most people if not the General Post Office (GPO).  How do I know this? Well I do it way too much when meeting my friends.

This is Henry Street - one of the famous shopping districts in Dublin City Centre.  According to my Sustainability lecturer last semester that Henry Street is the most walked on street in all of Europe during Christmas season and I think I would agree.  This street gets insanely crowded during the summer months and especially during the Christmas season due to market-like stalls installed along this street.

The Ha'Penney Bridge is a bridge that I can never get its pronunciation right!  Tourists and locals are trying to make this bridge look like Namsan Tower (Seoul, South Korea) or more like Pont des Arts (Paris, France) due to the plenty of padlocks attached to the bridge.  However, the city council does not like the idea of it so they take the locks away but it still does not stop people from doing it.   This bridge was so pretty during Valentine's Day where they decorated the bridge with red roses. I felt like I was in a fairytale too bad I had no significant other that day.

Merchant's Quay to Temple Bar. Temple Bar is a top tourist spot for its restaurants and pubs.

I don't even think that this is a landmark but my lecturer last year mentioned that there is cravings up that building and it has been preserved.  I think it is such a beautiful piece of art.

I always take this route to college, and this is no easy path since it is a hill.  It was quite the cardio.

This is what the other side looks like.

And the last landmark I walk pass everyday is St. Patrick's Cathedral.  I enjoy walking around this spot when the clock is about to tick to the actual hour and you could hear the beautiful bells ringing. I also made a vlog for this post so please check it out when you have the time and I would appreciate it!
Thank you so much for taking the time to read my post. I appreciate it so much! Wishing you a very Happy St. Patrick's Day! Peace & Love!      

Food: Tippenyaki Restaurant, Rathmines

Hello beautiful earthlings!

It has been a very long time since I last posted anything that is solely food related so here I am posting my very first Tippenyaki experience so feast your eyes or shield it if you are reading this with an empty stomach at 1 AM!

Beware that this is yet another photo-heavy post! I have 30 of them in this post! Yes I counted them since I have to put a watermark in every single one of them! (-_- #)

My friends invited me to have dinner on Thursday the 12th since the last time we have seen each other was at the airport on our way home back from London!  We went to Tippenyaki Restaurant in Rathmines.  It is just 15 minutes away from Dublin City Centre by bus (140, 15B and maybe a couple more that is unknown to me).

We made reservations the night before and requested that we wanted to be seated at the Tippenyaki bar.  Lucky for us that we went on a weekday since they said they are not that busy compared to Fridays, Saturdays and Sundays.  I am guessing that it is going to be difficult to be seated at the Tippenyaki bar area during busy hours.

The place looks great with a fancy yet comfortable atmosphere (Do I make sense? Yes? No?) The place is very clean and spacious so you are guaranteed that you are not gonna hit someone when you move your chair a little backward to go to the toilet! Haha

Oh yes the infamous V-sign pose most (if not all) Asians do

And speaking of toilets, THEIR TOILET IS SO CLEAN! Well I can only speak on behalf of the ladies' toilet.  Men's toilet is probably going to be a lifetime mystery to me unless... I am kidding (I am pulling a funny here I know).  I have watched somewhere that you would know if a restaurant is clean if their toilet is clean.

The staff seated us right away.  We told them that we are still waiting for one more person in our party so he let us wait.  When our friend got there, he then gave us their menu.  Their student deal was for €15.95.  To be honest, this price is quite steep for students.  I looked at their standard menu and it is quite expensive but then again you also pay for your entertainment when you get there.

My sister's starter: Siomai made with chicken. I was delighted it was not prawns

I got the vegetable spring rolls for starter and it was good. It is not greasy compared to what you would normally get in a Chinese take out (or take away as we say it here in Ireland).

The highlight of this foodie trip was seeing the chef cook your food in front of you and does a couple of tricks and creates fire (he must be a fire bender!)

I ordered the Duck Teriyaki for my main course and it was served with bean sprout salad and crispy potatoes.

The chef made a heart with the rice and put it on fire and said "Heart Burn".  It took me a couple of seconds to get it and my friends laughed at me for it.

Girls' always have room for dessert!  The price range of their dessert is about €5-6.

Their selection of ice cream - vanilla, chocolate and strawberry

Sticky toffee crunch bombe

I had the banoffee pot.  It is a toffee and banana ice cream topped with toffee and hazelnuts.  It was good. The banana ice cream does not have that creamy, banana milk taste to it.  It was not that a big of deal to me but maybe others would find the taste weird since banana ice creams have that creaminess.

Hennessey plus a little fire from a lighter equals chef acting like he was a firebender. Haha  It was always fun whenever he would start a fire.

Look at those Firebending skills hahaha!

This impressed me so much (well everything impressed me like a little girl).  The onion rings were on fire like a volcano! The chef did Tippenyaki tricks here and there but the fire was the definite highlight.

I took a photo of the restaurant's business card just in case any of you might be interested.  I suggest that you should make a reservation to get yourselves seated in the "good seat" which was at the Tippenyaki bar.  You could just walk in the restaurant however, it is not always guaranteed that you would end up seating at the bar area.

I also made a vlog of our night there so please check it out when you have the time! It would mean a lot to me! Thank you!

I hope you guys enjoyed this post and do check the restaurant out!

Peace & Love!