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Feb 24

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Tine Tine

By Heart2Heart | Tributes, Velada 2012 | 2 Comments

2 years ago we had our Velada ( Oct 2012 ) A few months after that I heard about the news of Tine’s gastric cancer. And last Thursday God called Tine to join Him in heaven. I felt that no one could really accept the fact including Tine who fought to live till the last moment. Christine Syjuco Aurelio

This is what she wrote about herself in our Silver Linings Book published for our Velada in 2012Tine was the Mother Marie Eugenie awardee of our batch

A simple, kind, cheerful and holy person. Though she left and lived in NYC for 20 years, she was very present in our batch. She is a highly respected batch mate by everyone. Even if she was not physically present she was a silent worker and lead the batch behind the scenes. I will never forget when one day I received a private email from her kindly advising me about something I had said in our group email and that is when I knew that though she’s very quiet, she was watching over our batch and making sure we were united. That is a true leader and a person with pure intentions and a pure heart. So up to this day I remember Tine always in everything that i do and make sure I will not do anything to put our batch on the line. Tine Tine was a very private person and I knew she avoided me for that reason! 🙂 She also did not want me to take her photo alone and she would always pull me beside her!! Which I am so glad now because as I was looking for photos of her – I was always there!!! haha!!

I am so grateful that God gave me one last lunch to be with Tine Tine when we had our AC ( Assumption) East Coast reunion in New York last May 2015. That was the last time I saw her.
Tine always giggling and always with rosy cheeks. This is how I will forever remember her – a friend full of happiness

I love you Tine! You will forever be in our hearts! like you have always been even when you were miles away! Pray for all of us 🙂

Feb 23

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Manam Now Open in BGC

By Heart2Heart | Foodie | No Comments

So happy to try the new Manam @manamph in BGC! They opened January 15 and now on soft opening

I LOVE Manam! And I love their new branch! Now at the Net Park Bldg 4th Ave corner 27th street LOVE THIS SIGN! The chefs behind the malinamnam Manam @manamph – Corporate Head Chef of the Moment Group Chef Robert Bolanos and Executive Chef of Manam Chef Ernz Owera. Mana now Open in BGC (7) Love all the shakes!!!A MUST! So we tried as many as we could!

Mango+Pomelo+Coconut Cream+Sago shake
Strawberry+Kamias shakeUbe+Sago shake
Gabi + Black Sago Still my favorite menu that gives you choices for size – It’s like Chinese restaurants but even better 🙂

We came for merienda but ate like it was lunch and dinner combined 🙂 So many yummy things on the menu!!House crispy sisig – Signature dish at Manam. They have to have XXL size for this 🙂 Manam in BGC_Menu (14) Watermelon Sinigang – 0ne of their best sellers Manam in BGC_Menu (3) Turon of Mango and Kesong Puti Not So Dirty Ice Cream – Queso! YUM!Many of the items in the All Day Menu are new and only in BGC for now so come on over to try them! TWIST – Caramelized Patis Wings – Each restaurant of the Moment Group has a chicken wing version 🙂
Crispy Pancit Palabok – YUM! Sugar glazed corned beef belly silog! Bibingkang ube Bibingka de Leche
Click below to go to their Facebook page

Mana now Open in BGC (21)

Feb 23

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Pinoy Birthday Celebration

By Heart2Heart | Celebrations, Gourmet Garage, Proud to be Pinoy! | No Comments

Love the theme of this kiddie party!! Pinoy!!! This is my first time to witness a Pinoy kiddie party and I love it!!
Paint you hat or fan

Feb 22

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The Niseko Supply Company

By Heart2Heart | Niseko | No Comments

As if Aprés ski at Steve and Lindy wasn’t enough!! We just wanted to try this place before we leave! You won’t miss it because it is in the corner of the intersection of the two main streets in Niseko Hirafu Village Bakery as you enter Go inside for seating Very cozy seating – this is it The gang that wanted to have cheese fondue and raclette!Read the sign carefully on FREE WIFI 🙂
They only had fondue at night for dinner so we really had to squeeze this in since all dinners were booked already! It’s unlimited for 4,000 yen per person. If you are 2 or more, best to get both so you can have both and share It comes with lots of salad! Cheese fondue and raclette! The server was shocked every time we would ask – tip she realised later and gave us a plate with much more cheese than she was giving initially! 🙂 Dessert comes with the dinner! The Niseko Supply Company (5) Pay a little more if you want more toppings

APPLE – A HOKKAIDO SPECIALITY
Stewed apples cooked with brown sugar, rum and butter. Served with cream or ice cream
LEMON JUICE – ANOTHER TNSC FAVORITE
Simply Delicious
NUTELLA – A SLIGHTLY NAUGHTY DESSERT CRÊPE
A plain Crêpe with the original Alba ( famous for white truffles & nutella) recipe
Jackie and Marco visiting us from the window! 🙂

Click below to go to their website

The Niseko Supply Company structure has been painstakenly restored in 2012 after decades of Niseko blizzard & snowfall damage.

Feb 22

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Apres Ski at Steve and Lindy’s

By Heart2Heart | Niseko | No Comments

Love chilling and thawing in the condo of Steve and Lindy in Vale Thank you Steve and Lindy @lindycas for hosting the best Aprés Ski in Niseko! We love you!!! So sad it was our last night in Niseko We had sake, sashimi, sushi and sukiyaki! The sushi chef made it right there and then in the kitchen of the condo We were so happy to meet Justin Owers @justinowers and his girlfriend Chloe. His students – Carmina @thecrazycook_ph Jackie @jaxcantonio Anna @aangara and Tin @tincmoreno were telling us about how good Justin was as their ski instructor so we were all happy to meet the face behind the name

If you are in Niseko and need a patient and kind instructor look for Justin. Book him thru Niseko Black +81 (0) 136-55-5852 (office #) You can book Justin (and other instructors!) by emailing too! Just send a message to snowsports@nisekoblack.com

Feb 22

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Onsen in Niseko

By Heart2Heart | Niseko | No Comments

When you are in a big group, going to an onsen is the only thing you won’t want to do together!!!! haha!!!! Cherina would announce to the group where and what time she is going to reserve her slot to make sure no one will go there during her time slot! haha!! But onsen is the best thing to do after skiing to relax all the muscles you used!! It can relieve any aches and pains in the body!

I did not ski but I went to an onsen twice in 6 days just to relax and maybe heal my spine problems and it instantly did! Maybe not long term but short term it did! I went to the onsen in Vale ( for guests only while some guests have their own private in their rooms ) which is a small and cozy one with indoor and outdoor. There were not many people so it was good for me! I wish I had exerted more effort to research and go out of my way and really make time for it! Too little time always :-O I am sorry I don’t have a comprehensive feature on this but ONSEN IS A MUST in Niseko! Make sure to find one and go to one! Onsens range from Included in your hotel room to 500 yen to up to 30,000 yen! So it depends on your needs and wants and budget! :-O

Here are photos of onsens in Niseko which we did not go to!! :-O
There are unisex onsens – I don’t recommend this!! haha!! Private is always the best so you can do it at any time at your convenience and secretly 🙂 I wonder which hotel has the best private onsen

Hilton Niseko Village Onsen – WOW!!

onsen niseko

Jose told me that Shiatsu massage in Niseko is good!! But we were not able to go!! When we had a bit of time to do so, we walked in to this place beside Vale and they were fully booked!!

Click below to go to a directory of Onsens -I am sure there is more than this but it could be a start for getting info

Relax, feel the smooth water, and lose yourself in the quiet sound of the water pouring in from deep in the ground.

Feb 21

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Lucky Fingers

By Heart2Heart | Niseko | No Comments

After dinner, we went to Lucky Fingers in Annupuri
Tina’s friend owns the place So nice to meet friends of Tina @tinatimeofficial Matt Naiman and his wife Yuriko. They own Annapuri Lodge and LuckyFingers Bar and Restaurant which opened 2 years ago in Niseko. Matt is an American and came to Tokyo as a furniture designer. He is into the Nightclub business and has two – 10 yr old Ruby room in Shubuya, Tokyo and in 13 yr old Club Pure in Osaka. Yuriko on the other hand is a Food editor, a Sake Somelier and does high end, in house private dining. More power!!! Joint celebration at LuckyFingers. Thank you Tina @tinatimeofficial for organizing Happy Birthday to the January and February celebrants – Jackie (Jan 25 ) @jaxcantonio Kim ( Jan 30 ) @kimm_stagram Raffy ( Feb 3) @dondurian Pat ( Feb 4) @spatysy and Tin ( Feb 9) @tincmoreno
The non drinkers had these 🙂 I am included there 🙂 Our favorite bar chow at LuckyFingers – Fried Asparagus coated with crackers. Don’t ask what else we did with it 🙂 Cheese sticks – YUM! All you can drink and eat for 2 hours! Anna was making it sulit! haha!! After this night, some of the group left so this was officially our last night all together. How sad! Special birthday cake It was so big we could not finish it but some of us ate more strawberries and cream from the cake! YUM!! Bumping into Yuriko in the streets 🙂

Feb 21

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Niseko Ramen

By Heart2Heart | Niseko | One Comment

Again just a hop and skip away from Shiki in the same street as Ezo is Niseko Ramen 🙂
No reservations They have another restaurant in case you do not want to wait! We just got whatever tables were available so we were not all together Spicy miso ramen Their gyoza is different – it is fried 🙂 I love the cheese rings!!!! YUM YUM!!! Onion rings looked good – the table beside us ordered it 🙂 Niseko Ramen!!! YUM!!!! This is now my number 1 favourite ramen. Some liked it and some did not so it is a matter of taste. This is a bit creamy which is why maybe I like it I wish I had ordered it with Hokkaido butter and corn!!! NEXT TIME!!

Feb 21

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Milk Kobo Dairy Farm

By Heart2Heart | Niseko | No Comments

Milk Kobo is our favourite Dairy 🙂 We went to the dairy itself! Of course they have the complete line of everything they produce

Ice cream in many flavours! The yogurt drink! Yum Yum! They have nice gift packs in different combinations! Leave it to the Japanese to package them so beautifully Cheese Tart is cheaper here by 50 yen! 🙂 Carmina bought some of this pudding and it was so good!! Cream puff seems to be one of their bestsellers too Cream puffs Baking in the oven
Kai tried one and she said the inside cream was super good but the outer pastry was not that great. I am guessing it was not a fresh piece. Always make sure you eat them always freshly bakedWe signed up for ice cream making lessons. It was 1,300 yen per person. No one there could speak English so they showed us this! haha!! 🙂 I have a feeling that in the summer they may have a tour of the dairy but since it was Winter, we were not able to tour the farm, the cows etc Bonding while making ice cream 🙂 Just mix and mix and you have to help each other because one has to hold the bowl and one has to mix – it’s teamwork! 🙂

And we all got a cup of the ice cream we made! Strawberry ice cream! Next time maybe you can just buy the ice cream made! haha!!! The ice cream making was just mixing 🙂 So with 1,300 yen maybe better to use it to buy and try the products being sold there With the 1,300 yen came the ice cream we made and another choice of ice cream – whether soft serve or in a cup or coneYUM YUM YUM!! Milk Kobo soft serve The hoarder! 🙂

Click below to go to their website ( the website is in Japanese too :-O)

Feb 20

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Ki Niseko and Niseko Landmark View

By Heart2Heart | Niseko | One Comment

One morning we explored two other hotels/serviced residences in the area. Just like Vale and Shiki, the units are time shared.

The first one is Niseko Landmark which was recommended by our friends Barbee. It is a very short walk from Shiki so we just turned left from the main street and walked all the way till we saw it Beautiful too 🙂 It has a nice view of the mountain and surrounded by trees. It is a bit further away from the main village restaurants and stores but Hirafu is so small that everything is so near each other anyway We were not able to see any room because it was fully booked. This was the lobbyClick below to go to their website

Niseko Landmark View features contemporary, luxury condominiums and a full service reception desk to make your stay in Niseko perfect.

Walk up some more and you are in the slopes and by the gondola Nearby is a one year old hotel called Ki We were not able to see the rooms since it was fully booked as well. Love the artwork in the lobby