Love Chic

After “Ligaw,” we’ve been getting requests to do videos on a more regular basis. Since we do everything ourselves with the help of friends, doing a video like this takes weeks of preparation, shooting and editing. But yes, a follow-up to “Ligaw” is in the works!
     

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Happy Sinulog to our Cebuano friends! Because we can’t be in Cebu tonight, we’re bringing Cebu to us instead with our dining diary of Ilaputi, the amazing Asian and fusion restaurant of Chef Jan “Puti” Rodriguez. (Ilaputi translates into “At Puti’s place.”)

Ilaputi is located at the IT Park in Lahug, and we happened by the restaurant during our recent visit to Cebu. We were looking for places to check out and have been hearing nothing but good reviews, so we headed there with our photographer friend Lea after doing a couple of school talks that afternoon. We were pleasantly surprised to find out that despite its decidedly upscale ambience and sumptuous dishes in big servings, none of Ilaputi’s menu items go above P300. Now that’s bang for your buck.

Our drinks! Blended Pink Lemonade, Citrus Sunburst, and Strawberry-Kiwi Slush. The right blend of healthy, refreshing and yummy in each tall glass.

Our starter: Phoenix Mandarin salad. It has diced grilled rosemary chicken breast fillets, diced apples, onions, almonds and mandarin oranges with sweet creamy citrus dressing. It was enough to have us work up an appetite without taking up a lot of space in our tummies.

Saigon Adobo. Lemongrass tenderloin tips with garlic shrimp fried rice and nuoc-nam (Vietnamese fish sauce dip). After tasting this flavorful dish, it was easy to see why this adobo is one of Ilaputi’s classic bestsellers.

Dragon Chop. Overnight marinated grilled garlic pork chop with garlic-cilantro yoghurt, spicy mango chutney and butter-raisin fried rice. Think marinated pork chop with sour cream and atsara, but with an interesting and mouth-watering twist. One word: yum!

Shai’s favorite: The Stroganov. A creamy plate of tenderloin tips in rich sour cream mushroom sauce with garlic stir-fried rice. It’s one of those comfort foods you’re always in the mood for, no matter what time of day.

Seph’s favorite: Grilled Chinese Chicken Jambalaya. Hoisin-glazed chicken breast fillets tossed with Hungarian and Chinese sausages on top of Oriental stir-fried rice. For fans of rice toppings and fried-rice dishes with lots of stuff mixed in.

It was already dark and drizzling when we got out of Ilaputi, our tummies filled with good food and our souls filled with comfort. And as we’re both fond of rainshowers, it was definitely a nice way to cap an amazing day. ♥

Ilaputi is at I2 Building, Asiatown IT Park, Lahug, Cebu City. Open 24 hours Mondays-Saturdays, closed 7am-4pm Sundays. For more, follow them on Facebook and Twitter.

Cebu is filled with young and creative entrepreneurs, one of the things we’ve come to see first-hand when we came to visit. Here, a date at Sprockets, owned by Rachel Arandilla, a fresh grad and college prof (yes, she teaches part-time at the College of Architecture and Fine Arts of the University of San Carlos—see what we mean about young and creative?). More about her and the café in this video!
         

See that still shot of a cheesy pizza? It’s just one of the many awesome things one would be delighted to find at Sprockets.

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You know how much we love the Korean aesthetic of effortless adorability—be it fashion, beauty or interiors, it’s simple and charming and gets the job done in a way that makes you go, “That’s basic yet functional and pretty… why haven’t I tried that before?”

Neither of us have ever been to Seoul (at least physically)—but in the meantime, we’ve been on the lookout for little pockets of Korea wherever we are.

We found a couple of them when we visited Cebu: a hair and nail salon called Secret B, and this café called Sunday 2PM.

According to the owners, it’s called Sunday 2PM because it’s that time of the week when things are most relaxed and chill for most people. They gave the café this name to evoke that cozy feeling of being at home.

We just had to film the cutest stuff in Sunday 2PM for another video diary!
  

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After going blonde and trying out all sorts of hair colors, we recently settled on darker, less shocking (and damaging) ones. It’s a good thing, too, for easier maintenance. We’ve been quite busy with non-blogging stuff lately that our last trip to the salon was weeks ago, during our visit to Korean hair and nail salon Secret B in Cebu. Because “Before” photos aren’t quite as fun, check out our little video diary above. Below are our resulting “After” looks, as well as shots of the salon.

Binkydoodles floral top, The Catwalk drape shorts, Martina-Martina necklace, Asian Vogue mary jane wedges, Fab Manila bag, Hobby Loft bracelets. Hype on Lookbook here.

Chemistry plaid button-down, Bench distressed denim jeans, Skechers boots, SM Accessories. Hype this on Lookbook here.

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Another day in Cebu! The best thing about this city is everything’s within walking distance. On this day, we went for a walk to Ayala Center and dropped by the Cebu branches two of our favorite stores here in Manila: Complex and Skechers. 

Outfit shots. Style Hub top, Chemistry belt, shorts and bag, SM Department Store socks, Skechers Go-Runs, Quirkypedia hairband and bracelet. Hype this on Lookbook here. 

Elevate Apparel top, cap and wristband, Hang Ten shorts, Skechers Go-Runs, SM Accessories bag and watch. Hype this on Lookbook here. 

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Here’s one giveaway you wouldn’t wanna pass up! An ultra-chic @Mandaue_Foam set of armchair and footrest, plus five Fantasy pillows up for grabs and it’ll only take minutes to join. Read on for details.

This couldn’t have been a more serendipitous circumstance: as you may have read in our previous posts, we recently got ourselves a condo unit which is to be our future home/office. Being genuinely interested in interior and industrial design, we’ve not only been familiar with Mandaue Foam, but have actually been planning to go to their Quezon Avenue showroom for our home furnishing needs. Needless to say, when they invited us, we were beyond excited.

It started out as a foam manufacturing company in Mandaue City, Cebu in 1971 by entrepreneur Rosita Uy. With affordable quality, excellent workmanship and great customer and after-sales services, Mandaue Foam has grown to become one of the biggest and most preferred furniture companies in the country today.

Their approach to finding the perfect mattress and pillows for you is a combination of scientific and emotional: you can actually make like Goldilocks in the Mattress Testing Area and try on the different beds. An assistant could give you a run-through of the different materials under each one and help you decide which suits you best.

Form and function—the vast showroom also presents various suggestions for designing your bed space.

Among all the beds we saw, this is by far our favorite…

Yes. It’s the Sofa-bed Transformer. *REE-RAWT-ROW-RA-ROOT*

Perfect for condo-dwellers who don’t have a lot of rooms for family or friends sleeping over. Especially for us two, because we don’t really like the traditional foldable ones that are obviously sofa-beds.

Other couches that caught our fancy. The best thing is you can have yours customized or made-to-order. Your own design, your own choice of upholstery, fabric and accents.

These stylish pieces are proof that outdoor furniture don’t have to mean stainless steel tables and monoblock chairs.

Guess how much these beautiful lighting fixtures are? Believe it or not, most of them cost less than a summer trip to the beach or a complete head-to-toe outfit. They make for great accent pieces! We are definitely taking those light bulbs home the next time we come here.

Even if you’re not that big on furniture, you’d still enjoy a shopping trip to Mandaue Foam. From pillows and curtains to clocks and mirrors, the showroom carries inexpensive statement pieces to suit your personality. Emphasis on “inexpensive,” because when you’re used to department store prices of similar items, it’s unbelievable how affordable the ones at Mandaue Foam are. 
   
Special thanks to Jonver David, Thysz Estrada and Mandaue Foam Quezon Avenue manager Sir Jojo for the showroom tour :)
   
On to our giveaway!

• Open to Love Chic followers on Twitter and Facebook residing in the Philippines.
• Follow Mandaue Foam on Twitter and Facebook.
• Leave a Disqus comment below about why you should win the armchair and footrest. Where will you place them in your home? Be honest and creative with your answer! Don’t forget to include your Twitter username in the comment.
• Tweet this and tag two friends: “I joined @sephshai’s blog giveaway: @Mandaue_Foam armchair + footrest! http://lovechic.com.ph @friend1 @friend2”

That’s it! Deadline for entries is midnight on Saturday, May 5. Make sure you follow the mechanics because we’ll be checking! We’ll choose the winner of the armchair and footrest based on their answer, while the five (5) Fantasy pillows will be raffled off via Randomizer among the remaining entries. Winners will be announced the next day at 11AM.
Best of luck!
     
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UPDATE 05/05/12: WE HAVE WINNERS!

It wasn’t easy choosing from 57 wonderful entries, but @danzendear wins the armchair with footrest for an answer that was well-designed, straightforward and practical—qualities that Mandaue Foam products are also known for. 

     
     
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Next, we drew five (5) winners of Mandaue Foam fantasy pillows via electronic raffle: @chubxyden, @tetrice, @Seven12Seven7, @hollowedevil and @crystahal. 

   
Congratulations to the winners! Please send your full name, address and contact info to lovechicmail@gmail.com :) To those who haven’t won yet, keep posted because we hold giveaways from time to time. Thanks to Mandaue Foam for providing the prizes and thanks to everyone who joined!