things to do
Thursday, March 12, 2026
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| Starbucks Year of the Horse 2026 Assorted Crepe Dentelles |
If you’ve ever visited Taipei, chances are you still dream about its iconic pineapple cakes, milk tea, and bustling night markets. There’s something about Taiwanese snacks and café culture that lingers long after a trip ends. The good news? You don’t have to fly back to Taiwan just to satisfy those cravings.
Enter Night Market, an online specialty store that brings a little slice of Taiwan straight to your doorstep in the Philippines.
Night Market offers a thoughtfully curated selection of Taiwanese delicacies, premium teas, instant coffee, and stylish lifestyle finds. It’s the kind of online shop where you can browse for a box of authentic pineapple cakes and end up discovering beautifully designed mugs, aesthetic home items, or trendy collectibles that capture Taiwan’s modern design culture.
One of the highlights for collectors and Starbucks fans are the limited-edition Chinese Zodiac merchandise releases. At the moment, the Year of the Horse Starbucks mementos are especially sought after—unique items that you won’t typically find in Philippine Starbucks stores. For those who love rare coffee merchandise or culturally inspired collectibles, these pieces are definitely worth adding to your collection.
Beyond the products themselves, what makes Night Market especially appealing is its accessibility. No matter where you are in the Philippines, the store offers nationwide shipping, making it easy to enjoy Taiwanese treats whether you’re in a big city or a quieter province.
So the next time you’re craving Taiwanese milk tea, nostalgic pineapple cakes, or beautifully designed lifestyle pieces, you might not need a plane ticket after all. A quick visit to Night Market could be the next best thing to strolling through Taipei’s vibrant night markets.
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| COVERME Double Zipper Shoulder Bag |
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| Oolab Ice Cream Bar Series Ceramic Tumbler |
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| Red Sakura x Gudetama Pineapple Cakes with Egg Yolk Gift Box |
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| Oolab Stay with You Straw Cover |
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| Barista 2-in-1 Instant Coffee Latte (100 packs) |
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| Sunny Hills Pineapple Cake |
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| Earl Grey Milk Tea |
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| GIANT Momentum- iNeed Latte 24 |
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| SADOMAIN Enamel Saucepot |
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| Biore Marshmallow Whip Facial Wash |
Friday, February 27, 2026
Artificial bouquet
Celebrate the freshness of the season with a curated selection of spring‑inspired finds from IKEA Philippines (the world's largest), featuring soft pastel textiles, nature‑themed décor, light wooden accents, and vibrant pops of greenery that bring an airy, uplifting feel to any space while capturing the simple warmth and renewal of spring.
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Duvet cover and pillowcase
Tuesday, February 17, 2026
If money were no object and time moved slowly instead of in deadlines, I would happily get lost for hours on the Anthropologie website. Not to frantically add to cart. Just to wander.
Because browsing Anthropologie online feels less like scrolling a retail site and more like flipping through a beautifully art-directed magazine. Every product photo is styled like an editorial spread. Every collection feels curated with intention. Even the way categories are presented feels thoughtful — like you’re being invited into a mood, not pushed toward a checkout page. There’s a softness to the imagery. Warm, golden hour light. Cozy, layered textures. Rooms that look lived in but impossibly charming. Dresses photographed mid-movement, as if caught in a breeze. It doesn’t feel transactional — it feels aspirational. Almost like a digital museum of beautiful things. And then there are the collaborations.
Lately, I’ve been quietly obsessing over the Damson Madder x Anthropologie collection. That Brit-cool energy translates perfectly online — playful florals, gingham with personality, oversized collars that feel both nostalgic and modern. It’s:
- London girl on a countryside escape
- Vintage charm with sustainable sensibility
- Feminine silhouettes with a slightly rebellious wink
What I admire most is how the website makes even window shopping feel intentional. You can click through categories — home, fashion, kitchen — and each section feels like stepping into a different mood board.
I don’t even buy anything.
I just gather inspiration.
For how I want my dream home to feel.
For how I want to dress on slow Sundays.
For the kind of softness I want in my everyday life.
And maybe that’s enough.
Because sometimes browsing isn’t about spending. It’s about remembering that beauty can live in the details — even on a screen. If money weren’t an issue, would you fill your cart with: romantic dresses, dreamy home décor, or those hand-painted mugs that look like tiny artworks?
Tell me what your Anthropologie weakness is.
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Georgia Monogram Stoneware Trinket Dish
Damson Madder Doll Dish Towel
Damson Madder Gourmand Earl Grey Ceramic Pedestal Candle
Damson Madder Rene V-neck Stripe Sweater
Sunday, June 2, 2024
Perfume is magic. It's mystery. We recreate the smell of a flower. Of wood. Of grass. We capture the essence of life. Liquefy it. We store memories. We make dreams.
-M.J. Rose
Fragrance is evocative and powerful in distilling old, buried memories, feelings and sensations. It could remind you of a favorite person, place or moment you hold close to your heart.
I spent a friend's (a kindred soul) belated birthday celebration with a perfume making session at La Luz Essence, a homegrown artisan business specializing in hand poured scented soy candles and small batch customized fragrances.
I already had a fragrance concept in mind before walking into the cute and cozy craft studio of Miss Eva. I recently returned from a trip to Kyoto/Osaka and I was inspired by the fresh, invigorating atmosphere of Kyoto's zen gardens. Think yuzu citrus, green tea, hinoki, azalea and cedarwood. I gravitate towards woodsy, citrusy scents so voila, Kyoto in Late Spring is born! Kyoto has bergamot as top note, Japanese honeysuckle as mid note and cedarwood blanc as base note. The sillage (or drydown) evokes a walk through a cedarwood forest on the cusp of late spring and early summer.
Miss Eva introduced us to the fragrance pyramid as well as the fragrance profile associated with top, mid and base notes. I love singular scents like pine, vanilla and rose but it is the alchemy of notes that makes a scent complex, memorable, and unique. We loved how our perfume creations turned out! After mixing our concoction with a glass stirrer, we distilled the perfume into a Chanel No. 5 inspired perfume bottle. We also designed our own label sticker to make our creation truly ours! We enjoyed our perfume making class and we hope to come back again soon to concoct a new personal scent and try La Luz Essence's candle making workshop!
The inspiration: Kennin-ji Temple's zen garden in Higashiyama, Kyoto
Our perfume creations: My friend's Covent Garden (originally titled Chelsea Flower Market) and my Kyoto in Late Spring
We were served by Miss Eva petite bowls of berry fruit tea while we were concocting our fragrances
La Luz Essence
MacArthur Drive, Tabuc Suba,
Jaro, Iloilo City
Monday, April 15, 2024
“When tea becomes ritual, it takes its place at the heart of our ability to see greatness in small things. Where is beauty to be found? In great things that, like everything else, are doomed to die, or in small things that aspire to nothing, yet know how to set a jewel of infinity in a single moment?”
Coffee, tea or milk tea? Ilonggos are not obviously big tea drinkers as you can see by the zero number of teahouses in the city. However, most of the coffee shops here offer token hot tea drinks for those who are not caffeine inclined. I love coffee but I would prefer tea any given day.
I've always been a tea aficionado, collecting Royal Albert teacups or whimsical teapots. I love the sound of a red enamel kettle humming on the kitchen stove and the aroma of homemade sable cookies. I prefer the peace and serenity that a fragrant cup of Earl Grey or Jasmine tea offers. Sipped in solitude with a good book in hand, a cup of tea soothes an anxious mind or warms the heart on a cold, rainy day. In solitude or in the company of good friends or acquaintances, tea retains its ceremonial, ritualistic attributes requiring proper etiquette and decorum. So when the Etiquette School of Iloilo offered a Bridgerton inspired afternoon tea etiquette class at Mrs. Whartons London Bakes and British Teas, I excitedly jumped at the opportunity! I love themed afternoon tea parties as I have hosted my own Alice in Wonderful tea birthday parties in the past and they were so much fun! As the Madhatter says, "It's always tea time!"
So ten ladies including myself gathered for the afternoon tea class last Sunday in the hopes of becoming more refined, genteel and confident in the art of tea drinking. I loved the Bridgerton theme as I gravitate towards shabby chic, modern vintage stuff. Honestly, I have yet to see a single episode of Bridgerton on Netflix. As a historical drama, Bridgerton transports us to Regency England, a time where novelist Jane Austen wrote about the landed British gentry as well as the food, fashion, courtship and social customs of the era. No better place to hold a class than in the gated courtyard of Mrs. Wharton's Cake Shop and Cafe at Casa Riviera in Oton, Iloilo. Ms. Ann De Jose, host and etiquette consultant of the Etiquette School of Iloilo gave a hands-on demo and lecture of the rigors of British afternoon tea etiquette. We learned how to properly hold a porcelain teacup as well as how to partake of the sweet and savory finger foods that are traditionally served such as bite-sized sandwiches, scones with jam and clotted cream as well as petite tea cakes. Knowing the basics would definitely give the participant the confidence when drinking tea at Savoy in London, TWG Salon in Singapore or maybe at the Peninsula Manila! A lady can dream, can’t she?
It was a very hot, humid Sunday to have an outdoor tea party but we gamely obliged. We enjoyed the delicious Earl Grey tea that our seatmates poured for us as well as the scrumptious egg and tuna savory sandwiches. The scones were baked right although they could have been rounder (I’m very picky about scones!). The mini chocolate buttercream cupcakes and mango cake were perfect. After all, it’s Mrs. Wharton’s cakes!
The best part of the class is that we made new acquaintances with kindred spirits who also love the fine art of tea. I’m also delighted to learn that the cakeshop and cafe is opening a Peggy Porschen inspired floral tea wing for Scones and Clotted Cream by Mrs. Wharton next month!
Interested in joining the Jane Austen society? Check out the next afternoon tea etiquette class of Etiquette School of Iloilo. In the meantime, keep calm and drink more tea!
Thursday, February 15, 2024
“We love films because they makes us feel something. They speak to our desires, which are never small. They allow us to escape and to dream and to gaze into the eyes that are impossibly beautiful and huge. They fill us with longing. But also. They tell us to remember; they remind us of life. Remember, they say, how much it hurts to have your heart broken. -”Nina LaCour, Everything Leads to You
I’ve always been a movie buff since my college days in UP Diliman. Most of my vacant time was spent watching free or twenty peso movies at the UP Film Center which was just a 10-minute walk from my dormitory. I had a penchant for obscure, subtitled foreign movies, experimental or cult classics. Given my choice of movies, I would always find the theater either empty or find two or three lonely souls strategically dispersed in the 800- seater movie theater.
I knew that despite the communal nature of cinema, we still tend to view movies as a highly personal, guarded experience hence we draw an invisible line between ourselves and other movie goers. Yet, the vicarious emotions that cinema allow us to feel are all too well universal. So we laugh, cry or feel intense bursts of rage and ecstasy while a visual narrative plays before our eyes. Whether it’s pathos, pain, pleasure, or parody we share in the same thematic unfolding brought about by the human condition. I enjoy watching movies on streaming media but there’s still nothing like cinema to bring our splintered, emotional selves together.
My Film 100 (Intro to Film) elective class under Prof. Rolando Tolentino also deepened my love for film analysis which has its roots in literary criticism. I remember the agony of having to sit through Citizen Kane, Gone with the Wind and other notoriously long movies with nary an eye blink or a bathroom break with the fear of missing a critical subtext. Film 100 introduced me to starter kit movies that encompassed all cinematic genres and subgenres.
On the homefront, one of the pleasures that an Ilonggo cineaste can enjoy is an occasional, free Sunday movie at the 77-seater UPV Cinematheque-Cinema Exmundo at the UP in the Visayas Iloilo campus. A fellow cinephile friend who particulatly loves bygone Hollywood films always send me invites. Schedule permitting, I would trade a Sunday afternoon otherwise devoted to bottomless laundry or ironing to a few hours at UPV Cinematheque to screen a classic film noir I haven’t seen before. Compared to a commercial movie house, the crimson walled cinematheque has a ceiling with tiny strobing lights reminscent of a constellation filled summer night sky and vintage lacquered chairs upcycled from the now defunct Allegro Theater. Of course, the heavy red velvet drapes add an authentic vintage ambiance to the cinematic experience. In the theater, I sit quietly like an old soul in the company of senior citizens who long for bygone love, life and romance like a sweet rewind to the ardent days of youth. Only cinema can transport you to another time, another place.
Just this Sunday, I got invited to attend a cinema themed 100th posthumous birthday celebration of my friend’s father, a war veteran who loved the movie Fiddler on the Roof when he was still alive. Sunrise, Sunset taken from the soundtrack of the said movie along with You are my Sunshine were two of his favorite songs and the guests fittingly sung them at the end of the screening. The family also prepared a special snack box for the guests filled with nostalgic treats with home baked cookies and chips. It was my first time to witness a posthumous birthday celebration done in very memorable, heartwarming way. To celebrate the 100th birthday of a dearly departed loved one with his favorite movie and songs while trading memories and reminiscing good times is probably the best way to celebrate a life well lived.
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