Tous les Jours

I love bread. I could probably live without it but that would be a droll and sad life wouldn't it? But, thankfully, the world is still filled with doughy goodness. It's actually not that hard to find places here in the Philippines that sell good bread. At least, that's the case from where I live. In fact, there are a number of local bakeries near my home that sell good bread. There are about four that I know that's about walking distance from my house. Earlier, we tried one that was located inside a mall close by. It's a small shop called Tous les Jours.

(Got this pic from the store's facebook page)

Here's a small excerpt about the store:

"Tous Les Jours" brand was launched in Korea in 1996 to give consumers a totally satisfying bakery experience. It launched an on-site production system for each store, which guarantees the quality of our fresh, delectable cakes made from the finest ingredients. Also, as a domestic leader in the bakery industry with over 1,700 stores, Tous Les Jours established Korea's first, Internet-based Total Information System (TIS) for franchise operations; first bakery mileage card system for consumers; and modeled the development of multi-bakery shops to maximize the reach of its outlets. Through these and other services, Tous Les Jours continues to be a step ahead in technology and service in the domestic Korean industry.

Curious and hungry, my brother and I decided to check it out. 

With all that delectable goodness. We just couldn't resist buying some. And so, here is our lovely take-out.

After making a detour at Starbucks to use one of those small coupons from my planner, we finally went home to eat the stuff we bought. Here they are:

Milk Bun 

Too bad I don't remember much about the descriptions of the bread we bought. This one, from what I remember, has custard cream inside. My brother was the one who bought this and he said the taste kinda resembles Bread Talk's Hokkaido Bread. He said it was pretty good. 

Apple Pie

Another one of my brother's purchases. I had the fortune of tasting it before he finished it off. I'm not usually one for food with fruit in it but this one was actually really good. The apple pies I've eaten before were a bit heavy in regard to taste but this one was pretty mild. It helped that it wasn't too sweet either. 

Classic Roll

Simple bread. The type that's good with butter. I bought this one. It looked tasty so I wanted to try it. Soft and airy. Loved it.

Cream Cheese Pastry

The words 'cream cheese' was temptation enough. However, a little halfway through eating this made me feel a bit iffy. Then again, I'm lactose intolerant. The cream cheese was a little too thick for me to enjoy it completely. This would work well with coffee though. Too bad I don't drink coffee.

Sweet Black Rice

This one was also filled with cream cheese. My brother and I bought one for each of us. This one's worse than the cream cheese pastry. The cream cheese was extra thick. Just not something I could handle in one go. 

Custard Cream Bread

I don't like custard. My brother loves it though. He said this was good. Not something he'd recommend though since he said he's had something better. Bread to eat with black coffee. Not too sweet. If you buy this, try eating it with the drink.

Hungarian Sausage

Hungarian sausage inside a piece of bread topped with mozzarella. Yum :-) Good snack to kick off the hunger. By this time though, after all the bread I've eaten, it's a great finale for my dinner. It has that spicy kick that removed all the queasiness I felt after all the cream cheese I had. Hmmmm.

Thus ends our first foray to Tous les Jours. It's worth a repeat someday. Glad we took a chance to check it out. There may be others better but the fact that it's so close to home is enough to put this on top of my list. Now that we know that their bread is actually good, I'm planning to someday have a go at their cakes. 

Though I don't really mind if I never get to taste any. They look real pretty but that doesn't guarantee taste does it? It looks nice to gift someone though. A definite possibility. A nice time as any to try it out :-)

We're obviously not food critics but I hope I hope this entry is good enough to tempt you to check out the place. This Tous les Jours branch is in SM Southmall. I heard they have a branch in Alabang Town Center too but I don't think it's open yet. If you're in the area, go ahead and check it out. 

Oh, and before I forget. A big thank you to my brother! He was the one who took the pictures. :-D

Staples!

Originally saw this here.

Like!

Finally got my facebook like button on my blog like a good friend of mine suggested. Took me a bit of time to find an easy enough tutorial to understand that explains how to put the like button in the place I want it to appear.

If you want of your own, here is the link of where I got it from: http://www.bloggerplugins.org/2010/01/facebook-like-button-for-blogger.html

(For blogger users only)

Sadly, if your connection is slow, it takes a while for the button to show up. Boo.

Little Gibberish

What up!? Haven't posted in a while. I feel bad about it. As the days pass by without me writing anything, I feel more antsy until finally, I'm here typing down this entry. Since it's February and Valentine's has now come and gone, what is there for me to talk about? Well, originally, I thought of posting something for Heart Day but ultimately decided against it. Why? I think it would have seemed to be a bit contrived. Or maybe I just couldn't find the words to write about anything. Just one of those days I guess.

In hindsight, I should have made more of an effort to write at least an ode of thanks to the guy friends I cherish in my life like a friend of mine did in her blog -> http://thepinksuitcase.wordpress.com/. But, no. I really should have taken advantage on the 14th to write something meaningful, insightful, and incredibly heartfelt but then I started to think why it mattered that I had to wait on the 14th to write something like that down. In the midst of thinking about it, I persuaded myself not to bother and so I didn't.

I'm going in circles and I don't think I'm making sense. Moving on.

Found something interesting today.

That's the top view picture of the Bamboo forest in China. Isn't it just lovely? I read somewhere that this was the place where that famous fight scene in Crouching Tiger Hidden Dragon was filmed. Gorgeous. Just epic.

Anyway, back to Valentine's. For the sake of posting something related to it, here is this year's Google logo and video. Hope you enjoy watching it!

Sophie & Howl

Sophie and Howl as they should be :-D I wish I knew who drew this.

Charger for the ♡

Earlier, when I was eating lunch, I was watching Ellen introduce a seven year old who is a genius pianist and Albert Einstein fan. When asked why he loved playing piano, he said something like this:

"Because it's my heart. You know when you charge a phone? You charge it to make it work, right? That's what happens when I play the piano. It charges up my heart."

Though he didn't really go around and say it, the boy clearly meant that playing the piano was his driving force in life. It made me pause and think about my own life. What is it exactly that drives me? Growing up in a Christian household, I was always taught to act a certain way and follow certain rules. Looking back, I think the only real act of rebellion I ever did against my parents was being stuck in daydreams instead of focusing on my studies. I'm a reluctant social drinker, never smoked, always called my dad if ever I'd be late getting home, and my parents knew all my friends.

I remember the times when people who didn't know me found out I was a Christian, they'd automatically think I'm a heavily religious person and probably boring to be around with. Let me just say this. I don't believe I'm religious. I am a spiritual person though. I believe in God, Jesus, and the Holy Spirit. He made the world, created man, sent His Son, and gave us salvation through the death of Jesus Christ.

With all that said, you'd probably think that God was the driving force of my life. Sadly, He isn't, For me, it's a constant struggle to put God first in my life. It's so easy to be selfish. To say me, me, me. No matter how much I read the Bible, I still find myself wanting to go my way.

Why do I even bother? I just can't help it. His love for me calls for a response from my soul. It's a drive to please my Father. Even with that, my selfishness tends to get in the way. It's a frustrating cycle that keeps on repeating itself. Kind of redundant but, in light of the topic, apropos.

Now, I return to the question. What is it exactly that drives me? What is it that charges up my heart? Right now, it's the relationship I have with friends and family. I constantly thank God that I have a close-knit family and I've even been blessed with great friends. For the past couple of years, I've grown closer to many people that it's somewhat daunting especially since I'm not known to easily talk with others. The bonus point to all this is, these people I'm getting close to are as hungry for God, or
even more so, than I am.

During this part in my life, the charger for my heart is my relationship with friends and family. I'm sure that someday this will change. In fact, I'm hoping that it would lean more to God in the near future. But for now, I feel blessed for being given the opportunity to be surrounded by a great number of amazing people to care for.