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Diplomat’s Wife

in Diplomatic Incidents, Personal Musings

Just a short update: Touring The In-Laws

November 11, 2014

It’s been a couple of days since my last post and I was pretty bummed to break my one-post-a-day-for-three-days streak but wife/tour guide duties had to come first. My in-laws are in town until the 20th! 🙂

I’ve been taking them around the city by myself during weekdays while my husband is working at the embassy then he joins our ‘tours’ during weekends. It’s been great so far. My mother-in-law spoils the hell out of me. Just a little more and my husband might just get jealous for real. 😛

However, I do miss my alone time when I actually do get to write (it’s usually a weekday thing while my husband is at work). Or maybe, I’ll have one of those free days. You know, a day where I don’t have to go out at all and I can just sit on our couch while I watch Madam Secretary and The Newsroom episodes and I munch on Ruffles Sour Cream & Cheddar chips. Sounds really lazy and not me but hey. Maybe it’s fun to try doing nothing for a change. Haha! After the 20th, I intend to have that much needed break.

Huuuuuuge buddha statue at the Chin Swee Caves Temple near Genting Highlands. It was so cold that day! Not to mention windy. I was freezing my butt off while we were taking photos! LOL.

So far, they’re happy to see that life in KL is good. It’s an extremely expat-friendly city after all. Wowed them with my baking skills on they day they arrived, even. #WifeIt, I say!

I mean, really. Why do people always assume I can’t whip up something edible? LOL. Well, it’s prolly because my grandmother has been peddling the story that I was never the domesticated type. But really, Alvin and I have been doing pretty well on our own and the folks are pleasantly surprised (or should I say relieved?). 😉

My husband, being extremely OC and all, drew up the perfect itinerary which has been very helpful. So far, we’ve been going on a slow pace but the in-laws are definitely enjoying themselves. We go to one to two places in KL that are near to each other per day – just enough to see a chunk of the city without tiring them too much.

The slow pace is something that I’m not really used to, actually.

Alvin and I travel efficiently when we do it together. We’re not the type to loiter in one place or the kind of tourists that take too many pictures (even repeating some shots over and over and getting in the way of other tourists– ugh). We’re actually able to cover a lot of places during most of our travels which is just one of the things I love about travelling with him. He plans everything down to the train routes and stops, while I’m more of a wanderlust/anything-goes/smell-the-roses type who still walks and moves quite fast so we achieve a perfect balance by being together. He tends to go too fast at times, though and I’m the one who reminds him to chill for a sec and enjoy more. Typical me.

Mornings are spent with heavy breakfast (Rice or if no rice, a tonne of white bread!), a Filipino practice which isn’t really healthy and I’ve been trying to avoid for Alvin and I by serving cereal, wheat bread, yogurt, and some milk or fresh juice during mornings. But alas, it’s impossible to stop Filipino mothers from taking over the kitchen.

My father-in-law took a photo of Alvin and I outside Istana Negara, the old palace of the Agong which was turned into a museum. Such a luxurious home! Btw, yes. Those are red Keds. The Taylor Swift kind. 😉

My mom-in-law’s also cooking lunch today! Woohoo! Though I love cooking as a hobby, I can’t imagine myself cooking meals 2-3 times a day. That makes it a chore already and would take all the fun out of it! So I welcome all the help and am letting her have her fun in my kitchen for the next couple of days more. Heehee. I’ll just put Alvin on a diet once they leave. 😉

We’re off to Singapore again this weekend and will be welcoming Alvin’s aunt and uncle from Canada on the 17th so we’ll be having a pretty full house till the 20th and I’ll prolly be busy hauling them from one tourist spot to another. Tour guide practice, anyone? 😉

More later.

Love,

Carol

in Diplomatic Incidents, How-Tos, Recipes

Food: Career Girl Cooking Series – Ham, Bacon, and Mushroom Alfredo

November 5, 2014

First things first – a disclaimer.

I’m a career girl through and through. Went to college, worked long hours, partied hard, and lived on take out and my grandmother’s cooking for 25 years.

To be honest, I’m really not that much of a cook. Though I always knew that if I do try it, I will do great in it – and I did, if I may say so myself. On the rare occasions that I was found in the kitchen, I’ve been told that my dishes were actually pretty good. And no, my guinea pigs weren’t paid or threatened to say such things. I promise. 😉

Now that I’m married, I’ve been trying to cook more often but my husband and I love eating out. We love restaurants and hate doing the dishes (though SOMETIMES it can be therapeutic). So I cook at least once or twice a week as a way of being sweet to the husband. After all, the best way to a man’s heart is through his tummy and showing him you can handle stuff on your own. 😉

Western comfort food is my specialty and I recently got into baking while trying to learn how to cook Filipino food. Yes, it’s kind of a shame not knowing how to cook Filipino food when you’re married to a Filipino diplomat. It seems my Danish side is stronger, food wise.  But the good news is I was able to make some adobo recently and it was also good. My husband ate a lot after all. 😉 I’ll put up posts on that later on so that you can try it too.

I often tell my friends that cooking is easy. I read a lot of recipes and just like in most things you learn in school, once you know the basics, you can actually try and be adventurous, adding a little bit of this and that or deviating from the instructions to make a certain recipe your own.

A lot of career girls these days disregard cooking and other skills attributed to a domesticated woman and just end up focusing on their work all the time (guilty of this for the past couple of years) but the thing is, once you try it, it can be addicting and a great stress reliever. Cooking gives me a weird high and when people love what I make it just doubles up.

So, I decided to start Career Girl Cooking Series. A series of posts containing recipes of dishes or baked goodies I recently made with the promise that they will always be quick and easy cos we’re all busy girls after all.

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in Asia

Travel: Langkawi Island Pt. 3 (Kilim River Cruise)

November 3, 2014

Doing a bit of backtracking today to share with you one of my favourite parts of our anniversary trip last October – the Kilim River Cruise. Personally, I think it’s a must see in Langkawi.

The sights are just too beautiful that it will literally make you stop for a bit and appreciate mother nature.

So to make this quick, here are a couple of snaps from that leg of our trip:

The Kilim River Jetty.

You can take a cab from anywhere in the island to get to Kilim Geoforest Park where the Kilim River is. The River Cruise is a great way to see the sights around the park. It’s also lovely to sit on a boat and go through calm waters while breathing fresh air and taking in all the sights, don’t you think?

You will be asked how long you want your tour to be – 1, 2, 3, or 4 hours. You will be given your own private motor boat (for your group of up to 15 people) with the guy operating it as your tour guide.

The river and the mountains surrounding it are just so picturesque. Make sure your camera’s memory card has a lot of space.

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in Asia, Malaysia, Penang, Travel

Travel+ Food + Photos: Getting to Penang, Penang Hill, and some Food Worship

October 26, 2014

Hello from Penang! 🙂 It seems we haven’t been spending a lot of time at home in our condo in KL. When my husband told me that he’s got a conference to attend on this island and that he’ll pay for my fare if I wanted to tag along, I was actually having second thoughts about going.

Yes, really! Carol, with the crazy levels of wanderlust and the constant travel whims! I guess after going to Sabah then to Langkawi (we even have a scheduled weekend trip to Singapore a couple of weeks from now!) in just a span of weeks then attending events in between, I just felt like we were never home anymore (and I am honestly in love with how cosy our condo is) and I know I have a ton of posts to write (all the traveling has given me quite a backlog). I honestly felt that I wanted to just stay still for a bit – preferably on our couch, watching  Gossip Girl re-runs or baking.

But hey, I couldn’t pass on the chance of seeing Penang with my husband. I knew I would be jealous if I was left at home. And though I’m missing the ASEAN Ladies’ Circle Coffee Morning this week (one of the events I’ve been looking forward to for a while!), I’m glad I went with him. Penang is just so beautiful! From the moment we spotted the island from the air, I knew I’d have a special relationship with this place.

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in Beauty & Fashion, Diplomatic Incidents, Events

Republish: Albert Andrada wins ‘Most Connected Designer’ award at Asia Fashion Week

October 24, 2014

(An article I wrote yesterday, originally published on Rappler.com.)

MOST CONNECTED DESIGNER. Filipino Fashion Designer Albert Andrada (2nd from L) is named Asia’s Most Connected Designer at the Mercedes Benz Stylo Asia Fashion Week in Kuala Lumpur. The award was presented by Mercedes Benz Malaysia CEO Roland Folger (L), Bloomberg TV Malaysia CEO Michael Chan, and Stylo founder Datuk Nancy Yeoh. All photos by Carol Ramoran

MOST CONNECTED DESIGNER. Filipino Fashion Designer Albert Andrada (2nd from L) is named Asia’s Most Connected Designer at the Mercedes Benz Stylo Asia Fashion Week in Kuala Lumpur. The award was presented by Mercedes Benz Malaysia CEO Roland Folger (L), Bloomberg TV Malaysia CEO Michael Chan, and Stylo founder Datuk Nancy Yeoh.

KUALA LUMPUR, Malaysia – It was a night of glitz and glamour with designers all over Asia coming together to showcase their latest creations, and it came as no surprise when yet another Filipino stood out among the talent pool.

Filipino fashion designer Albert Andrada took home the Most Connected Designer Award, one of the three awards given at the Mercedes Benz Stylo Asia Fashion Week held in Kuala Lumpur from October 17-22.

ASIA’S MOST INFLUENTIAL. This year's Most Influential Designer, Joe Chia (L), in a light moment with last year’s winner, Avel Bacudio

ASIA’S MOST INFLUENTIAL. This year’s Most Influential Designer, Joe Chia (L), in a light moment with last year’s winner, Avel Bacudio

Andrada’s collection was composed of soft-colored, whimsical pieces that – in true Andrada fashion – celebrated the female silhouette.

He says he drew inspiration from “under the sea,” bringing to life patterns that call to mind the gentle movements of waves, with flowy skirts taking centre stage.

Well-known shoe designer Jimmy Choo was also at the event and sat up front to watch Andrada’s show.

For about two decades, Andrada worked as a designer for the royal family of Fujeirah, one of the seven kingdoms of the United Arab Emirates before he made his way back to the Philippines.

His designs are coveted not just in Manila, but in different parts of the world. His work has also caught the eye of hotel heiress Paris Hilton, who wore a sequined ivory dress that was a part of his Chinese Empress collection, featured in Philippine Fashion Week 2013.

This isn’t the first time a Filipino has made waves in the fashion industry in Kuala Lumpur and Asia. Just last year, Filipino designer Avel Bacudio was named Asia’s Most Influential Designer at the same event. Winning the award, he said, changed his life.

FILIPINO PRIDE. Philippine Consul General and Charge d’Affaires Medardo Macaraig pose with Filipino designers who participated in the event

FILIPINO PRIDE. Philippine Consul General and Charge d’Affaires Medardo Macaraig pose with Filipino designers who participated in the event

Before the 2014 winner was named, Bacudio showed his latest collection of ready-to-wear fashion both for men and women featuring digital prints of church interiors. The crisp lines of Bacudio’s clothes paired with intricate gothic designs make for wearable yet elegant pieces that can be dressed up or down.

Despite all the success, the Filipino designer’s feet stay firmly planted on the ground. Bacudio thanked his friends, family, and the crowd that supported his designs, ending by saying “And lastly, I am very proud to be a Filipino.”

Bacudio also dropped by the Philippine Embassy in Kuala Lumpur for a courtesy call to Consul General and Charge d’Affaires Medardo Macaraig. During the meeting, the designer expressed his interest to promote Filipino talents further while helping his fellow Filipinos abroad in whichever way he can.

WINNERS. The awardees pose with designer Jimmy Choo, the organizers of the event, and the models wearing their creations

WINNERS. The awardees pose with designer Jimmy Choo, the organizers of the event, and the models wearing their creations

This year’s Most Influential Designer Award went to Malaysia’s Joe Chia who also won the Asian Industry’s Choice Award last year while Taiwan’s Chung Ting Liu was named Most Promising Designer.

This year’s Mercedes Benz Stylo Asia Fashion Week was held within the inaugural Malaysian Fashion Week. The endeavor is backed by the Malaysian government and is seen as a significant partnership in promoting Malaysian and other Asian designers to an international audience.

Other Filipino designers who were also featured during the event include Jeffrey Rogador, Rosenthal Tee, Roland Alzate, and Noel Crisostomo. – Rappler.com

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in Asia, Travel

Travel: Langkawi Island Pt. 2 (Oriental Village + Cable Car)

October 21, 2014

Here’s a quick post while I wait for my homemade cheesecake to chill. 😉 Still from our anniversary weekend, I wanted to share with you a couple of photos from the Oriental Village and the Cable Car ride to the highest point in the island.

Short side story first: When I first told one of the people I knew back in college that my husband was going to be posted in Malaysia, her first reaction was “Aww. But there’s nothing to see there!” While I told her that my husband’s gonna be going out of the country for work and not just sightseeing (and Malaysia, a neighbour country, is a great assignment where my husband will be trained extensively by the amount and importance of work here and his extremely smart bosses), I could also have told her of all the islands we could visit here but I didn’t waste my time anymore because I knew was talking to a girl who wore heels for a sight seeing/shopping trip in Hong Kong and Taiwan so she was clearly an inexperienced traveller and not that well-read. 😉

So. One of the islands to visit in Malaysia is of course, Langkawi. To all my Filipino friends, it’s like their version of Coron+Boracay. Beaches, rivers, and a long list of attractions.

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MAC, Nouvelle Vogue, Lipstick, The Matte Lip, Matte,
in Beauty & Fashion

Beauty + Review: MAC Cosmetics’ Nouvelle Vogue Lipstick

October 17, 2014

My latest squeeze. MAC’s Nouvelle Vogue lipstick from The Matte Lip collection. <3

I AM IN LOVE! And no, this isn’t the anniversary high talking (though admittedly, it’s still there). This is the lipstick-crazy, MAC fanatic me taking over my whole persona. I know, I know. I’m known among my friends as the girl having way too many bold red lipsticks.

However, contrary to popular belief, I also wear different shades and own a lot of them actually. From pale nudes to electric pinks down to shocking purples. Okay, I think I have way too many lipsticks already but it’s my only vice. So let me have this one, okay? And I declare – on this day, 17th of October 2014 – that my favourite pink lipstick ever is MAC Cosmetics’ Nouvelle Vogue! As soon as I saw it on display, I knew – we were meant for each other.

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in Asia, Travel

Travel: Langkawi Island Pt. 1 (Getting to the Island + Sunset Dinner Cruise)

October 16, 2014

I’m still on an anniversary high despite the worst possible kind of flu I had to live with the past couple of days. I was at my worst last Tuesday but the good news is I’ve been feeling a lot better since yesterday due to my husband’s care. Still coughing and sneezing though.

So. Langkawi island. One of the top tourist spots here in Malaysia. My husband kept our anniversary weekend getaway a secret for weeks until the night we had to leave.

We had dinner at home, exchanged gifts, and left for the Puduraya Bus Station at 10:30pm. Our bus left at almost midnight (It was originally scheduled to leave at 11). My husband booked our tickets in advance through Easybook.

The journey via the Sri Maju bus was rather pleasant. It’s an executive coach that costs RM 90 (Php1235, EUR21.73, USD27.55) for two people to the Kuala Perlis Jetty. The seats were roomy and my legs did not feel tired at all because of the leg and foot rests the seats were equipped with. However, if you plan to take the same bus, do remember to bring a jacket as it can be very cold.

We arrived in Kuala Perlis a little past 7 in the morning and boarded a ferry to Langkawi at 8:15. The ferry ride took about hour and 15 minutes and we arrived in the Langkawi Jetty. It was pretty crowded despite October being part of their low-season.

The side entrance to Jetty is lined up with private cars and cabs that can be hired to take you to your hotel.

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in Beauty & Fashion, Skincare

Beauty + Review: GoodSkin Labs Circleplex-2 Dark Circle Specialists for Eyes

October 7, 2014

GoodSkin Labs’ Circleplex-2 Dark Circle Specialists for Eyes.

I don’t remember how many times I’ve said “The bags under my eyes are Givenchy (or insert other designer brand her)” in my lifetime, followed by either a sly smile or sarcastic laugh. Maybe around a thousand?

The dark circles under my eyes and the puffiness that comes with them when I’m tired or lacking in sleep has been the bane of my existence. Pair that with my ultra-white skin (MAC NC15/NC20 – pale!) that only enhances the dark colour… Well, you get the sleepy/tired-looking picture.

While I don’t get much skin problems like blemishes or too much oil, my under eye circles have been enough of an annoyance. Though I can hide them with concealer everyday, I’ve often toyed with the idea of just making them go away and skipping a step in my morning makeup routine. So it’s one of my many missions in life to get rid of them – permanently. I’ve tried a good number of eye creams due to various circumstances.

Friends and brands (back when I was working in the media) giving skincare stuff to try, samples being included in makeup and skin care products I buy, and sometimes just out of curiosity and giving in to cute packaging or what new ingredient is written on the box. Lately, I was given GoodSkin Labs‘ Circleplex-2 Dark Circle Specialists for Eyes to try out and since I was already about to finish my sample-sized Benefit It’s Potent Eye Cream which was also very helpful in reducing the dark circles, I was fairly open to trying out a new product before deciding on which one to purchase next.

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in Asia, Travel

Travel: Sunday walking tour in Kota Kinabalu

October 5, 2014

Hello from KL! We are finally back from our two-week stay in Sabah for the consular mission that my husband led. The past two weeks were so hectic and enlightening. Aside from the consular mission, we were also able to get to know undocumented Filipino kids who only have access to education through alternative learning centres.

But I’ll write about those things next time.

For now, I wanted to share with you photos of our walking tour of Kota Kinabalu’s (KK) main district which we did on a Sunday – our only break during the mission. We couldn’t go far even though I was dying to see the fireflies at the Kinabalu National Park because the following day was expected to be hectic.

No time for the beach either (insert sad-faced emoji here) so we decided to just explore the city and not go too far – make do with what little time we have there. KK’s main district is filled with budget hotels/hostels and restaurants that offer great food at very low prices. My husband and I actually gained weight there from all the eating we did.

It’s great for those who wish to go backpacking. When visiting KK, I suggest you make sure your visit falls on a weekend. That is, if you want to see and experience how Southeast Asian locals get their shopping on.

Gaya street on its busiest day – Sunday.

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