If someone gives you apples, make some apple pie

You don't have to travel the world, get lost in an alleyway or travel for hours to find something good to eat. In fact, one of my favorite desserts in the world can be found, well, anywhere the world.

Something as simple as a McDonald's apple pie crushed and mixed into a plain sundae can turn into an awesome apple pie a la mode.

The Morning After: Pancakes

It's within reason to assume that given my love for beer and my keen interest in alcohol chemistry, that I do go through a fair amount of hangovers after a good night out. If I'm lucky, the morning after starts off with a blaring headache that subsides after a good session of YouTube karaoke, but failing that, I turn to food.

Food as a hangover remedy must be carefully selected. You don't want to feel more sick than you did when you woke up, and depending on the severity of last night's alcohol enjoyment, you don't want to eat anything that even remotely resembles your late night offering to the toilet, the sink, or the floor from point A to point B.

So today, the hangover felt like pancakes, and once that headache wore off at brunch time, I was off in search for the most perfect one.

I ended up at this place called DiBella's Social Roasting Warehouse off Raglan St. in North Melbourne (my 'hood) after my resident pancake provider was closed for ANZAC.

Beat that Anna Wintour

Ruth Reichl, the current editor-in-chief of Gourmet magazine, is officially my girl crush. I adore her. I love her. I wanna be her.

I recommend you read her book Garlic and Sapphires--about her time as the New York Times' restaurant critic. It's a joy to read. I only wish I could dress up in disguise everyday---genius idea!

xx Bear

White Rabbit Dark Ale: Tastes Like Crafty

There's just something so transformative about a public holiday. My favourite bit is when a Sunday magically turns back into a Saturday and I'm left with an extra day to lounge and loiter about in the City. Well, today was ANZAC day (don't ask me what it is) and I decided to celebrate by cleaning my room and doing laundry.

My hunger and need for an insane amount of laundry coins lead me to the city. After lunch at KFC, I decided to go into the next-door bottle shop for a good helping of Canadian Club until I realised that beer is my one true love and was much more my speed (and price range). Onto the beer fridges, I happened to chance upon this pretty little thing.

You call it obsession, I just call it love

It's no secret to most of my close friends, even maybe a few acquaintances that I love beer. If it weren't such a douche-y thing to do, I'd think I'd even call myself a connoisseur; but that's overstepping a little bit, maybe an apprentice of beer knowledge would better suit.

Now, a beer connoisseur (okay, beer apprentice) at nineteen seems a little intense, even a bit alarming. Rest assured, alcoholism is far from a concern. It's simply an active appreciation of the art that is beer, and since I'm using art metaphors, I'd like to introduce you to a masterpiece. If this is not the pride of Spain, it should very damn well be. Ladies and gentlemen, meet Rosita.

Can drunk people even fiddle with this?

How to Program a Message on Your MEDEA Bottle from Medea Spirits on Vimeo.

Things to take away from a drunk text-er
1. Mobile phone
2. Vodka bottle

original article

xx Bear

The odd find: kangaroo burger

Every time, I get up in the morning, I promise myself I'll head into the city---do what I have to do---then head back to bed. But the thing with Melbourne street shops and cafes, they always make you take a second glance. Today, I went for a house inspection along Smith St (one of my favorite areas in Melbourne). After, a little bottle shop I used to always pass stopped me in my tracks. 

So while you kiddos hooked-up, I did this.

I'm very fortunate to always be shuttling back and forth Manila and Melbourne. In my first year in Melbourne, I went home thrice. And, every time, It hits me that with more than 7 thousand islands---Philippines is a lot to stomach in. But once you do, it can be quite delicious and surprising. 

One of my favorite places to go back to is Boracay. Imagine, crystal blue water and fine white sand. Some say it has been trashed by teenagers like me and polluted by commercial shops like Starbucks. But still, crystal blue water and fine white sand!! Enough said. 

So here are a few of my favorite hook-ups:

That first bite

            My friends and I love to eat. Starvation is never an option. We would rather be naked or homeless. So starting a food blog is a brilliant idea! But somehow, there's a lot of pressure in writing a 'first' entry. It's like that first bite of a perfectly constructed cheesecake. That forkful goes down your throat so smoothly. Your body gradually tingles. And then at the end, you get that surprising texture of that little piece of graham crust. That first bite can leave you speechless. A good family friend of mine coined it as a 'food orgasm'. Great theory! I don't know if I agree though. How about a 'food stutter'? So before I stutter further, have a cheesecake. Happy eating and reading! If you ever have anything mouth-watering, feel free to contribute. (fatpeopleatheart@gmail.com) xx Bear/Bea 

Note: 

To Katz Caloy Coco Sam, you can start blogging now! :) Our eating habits will now be justifiable. 

To Adrian and Diane, thanks for helping us with setting this up! 

Photo: Cafe de Sol's cheesecake in Boracay 

The caramel sauce is the perfect finishing touch to a classic cheesecake.