Category Archives: Great Ideas

My First Seven Years

By | For kids, Great Ideas, Hot Off the Press, Photography | 3 Comments

My good friend, Rina, had a great idea for her son’s seventh birthday.  Heart2Heart would like to share the idea with you.

Rina compiled into a book ( by Picture Books ) some of the art works of Quinto from his first seven years and gave it to his family and close friends.  I am fortunate to have received one and I thought it was a beautiful gift to share and it reflects the thoughts and the growing years of Quinto expressed through art.  

Happy 7th Birthday Quinto!

Sharing with you the pages of Quinto’s book…. 

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Another book by Picture books-not only photos can be made into books but any printed material

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Previous Entries:

 Wee Andreas is 3!  April 4, 2008

Christiana is 1 and Joshua’s 4! March 17, 2008

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Unique Window Displays by Prada

By | Great Ideas, What's New at Rustan's | 3 Comments

The historical Prada store in Galleria Vittorio Emanuele II, Milan presents unique window displays

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For the festive season the Prada store in Galleria Vittorio Emanuele II in Milan presents a unique installation, the first phase of a project involving the setting-up of original window displays that are to be introduced during 2008 as an exclusive in the historical Milan boutique.

 

The idea for Christmas came from an entertaining and theatrical fantasy.

The store window becomes a music box with perpetual motion, whose cylindrical structure, covered with mirrors, rotates by means of a sophisticated mechanism, as do its individual component parts – display columns and mannequins.

 

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The lights and the mirrors of the music box have floral embellishments in hand-decorated and sculpted wood.

The windows display a preview of the Prada collection for the coming 2008 Spring/Summer season, with pride of place given to voluminous dresses and skirts in faille with floral patterns, satin bags with rose appliqués and shoes in suede, also decorated with flowers.

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In the Philippines, Prada is exclusively distributed by Stores Specialists, Inc. (SSI) and is available at Greenbelt 4, Ayala Center, Makati.

 

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Organico

By | Great Ideas | One Comment

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Sharing with you a beautiful lettuce bouquet we received from our friend, Maja.  Maja grows her own organic vegetables from her farm! How artistic and imagine arranging a bouquet of lettuce?  It is a work of art and a work of 2267588638.jpg!  Thanks Maja!

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Belenismo sa Tarlac

By | Christmas, Great Ideas, Travel | 13 Comments

It is amazing what people do to prepare for Christmas.  In the Philippines, no matter what economic situation, everyone makes sure they decorate and prepare for Jesus’ birthday. 

This year, Tita Isabel Cojuangco Suntay and her daughter, Isa, did something really extraordinary.  They started a new tradition in their hometown, Tarlac.  The whole city joined in the endeavor and it is the FIRST ever in the country.  Last July, Father Alex Bautista, Head of the Commission of the Cultural Heritage of the Church of the Diocese of Tarlac, brought up the idea to Tita Isabel.  This is what started the conception of Belenismo.  Of course aside from coming up with a great idea, the key and the hardest part is always the implementation and bringing the idea to life and it was the hard work and dedication of Tita Isabel and Isa to organize the whole city to join.  Many residences, buildings, restaurants, hotels joined including the 17 Municipalities of Tarlac. The categories are:  Monumental, Grand, Personal and Dioramas. Thank you also to San Miguel Corporation for sponsoring the event and making all of this possible.

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Heart2Heart had the chance to join a small group whom Tita Isabel and Isa hosted to view this spectacular sight.    The first stop was the San Sebastian Cathedral which housed the dioramas and a few of the personal categories.  ( Click on the small photos for a larger view of the image )

This was one of Heart2Heart’s favorites because it was unique in the sense that it used an aquarium as the belen. 

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Isa had her own entry to the contest and with the help of her designer Ding Mercado they were able to come up with this beautiful belen:

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Take note, the gift in the Belen is from Rustan’s!!! 🙂

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We were able to tour a few municipalities out of the 17 and visited a few others on the way.  As usual, we were impressed at the  creativity and talent the Filipinos have in designing their belens.  They made use of indigenous materials. 

 

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Asiaten Hotel

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A Chinese restaurant had their own version of a Belen with Chinese characters:

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Municipal of Capas:

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Our last stop and one of the finalists in the GRAND category:

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The Department of Tourism will include Belenismo in the Official list of Festivals of the Philippines if they do this for three consecutive years.  Tita Isabel said they definitely will and she will try to arrange a week wherein people from different cities can come over and see the belens and maybe even purchase some belens.  So Heart2Heart is looking forward to next year’s Belenismo.

Thank you very much Tita Isabel and Isa for bringing the christmas spirit to Tarlac….. and to the whole world.  You have contributed something which all of us will remember and for giving Jesus a reason to always want to celebrate his birthday in our country.  GOD BLESS YOU!!

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Cupcake wishes!!

By | Celebrations, Great Ideas | 2 Comments

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My sister had a great idea for our mom’s birthday.  She told me to go buy some cupcakes..so i went to Gonuts Donuts to buy some.  They had many fancy designs. 

Instead of the traditional birthday cake, each of us made our wishes for Mom and gave a cupcake to her to blow.  It was a nice and unique way to greet her…..

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By Crix

By | Great Ideas, Yummy! | No Comments

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I love sharing GREAT IDEAS!!!  I am so glad I have my camera to always capture them.

My cousin, Crix, prepared a wonderful buffet spread which was so pretty…and I am sure yummy too!!!!  It was an after dinner buffet and it had mini sandwiches, mini cakes and pastries.   

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Baby Blossoms

By | Finds, For kids, Great Ideas | No Comments

lavenderbouquet.jpgWhat a unique gift for babies!!!  My friend, Valerie, now creates these beautiful floral baby bouquets.  Baby bouquets are great gifts for baby showers or for friends who have just delivered. What’s unique about it is, the flowers are made up of baby clothes, wash cloths, mittens, booties, bibs, burp pads and hats.  They come in different sizes from small to extra large.

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For more information, please contact Baby Blossoms, Valerie Villar: 0920.923.4662val.jpg

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Panini

By | Foodie, Great Ideas, Recipes | No Comments

695769773503_0_bg.jpgAbout a year ago, we bought our first panini maker.  It is such a great machine because it is so easy to just pop in any sandwich inside and make it into a panini. 

We even prepared a panini buffet lunch in one of our Sunday family lunches that we hosted. It is easy to prepare plus everyone gets to make their own panini. 

Our panini station had:

Vegetables:  lettuce, mushroom, salad tomato, grilled red and green peppers

Spreads:  reduced fat mayonnaise, regular mayonnaise, pesto, garlic anchovy butter, garlic parmesan butter, butter, olive oil, Nutella

Deli:  bacon, pastrami, turkey breast ham, chicken ham, country ham, prosciutto, Jamon de Cagayan, Swiss bacon ham

Cheeses:  Gruyere, Fontina, Provolone, Mozzarella, cheddar and quesong puti

Bread choices:  whole wheat slice bread, plain slice bread,  foccacia, pandesal, ciabatta 

Other fillings:  tuna flakes, corned beef, adobo flakes

potato chips or french fries for sidings

I was not able to take photos of my buffet but my sister in law, Tina, also had her own version of the panini buffet and these are her photos.

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Skies the limit what you would like to offer in your panini buffet.

I scouted around also for Ciabatta bread and these are my finds: Le Couer – P 25.00 each, Deli France -P 125.00 for a pack of 5, S & R has it for around P 70.00 for a pack of 5 and in Salcedo market, a bread vendor sells it for around P 70.00 also for a pack of 5.    I recently discovered in French Baker mini ciabattas ( P 54.00 for 16 pcs. )  which is perfect for me because I like my sandwiches small.  They even have it in whole wheat ( P 60.00 for 16 pcs. ) .  Their regular ciabatas are square in shape and not rectangular like the others.

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I also pirated a panini recipe from my cousin, Ria.  She made for us this Pesto Panini which had pesto, pecan nuts and gruyere cheese.  So simple to make and so yummy. My pesto version – chopped fresh basil then add olive oil, parmesan cheese and salt. Spread a lot of it on the bread, add the pecan nuts ( a few pieces scattered ) and then add the gruyere cheese.  I particularly prefer gruyere as suggested by Ria.  TRY IT!

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