Freebie: Love Print

To those who believe in fairy tales...

Fonts: Gill Sans Ultra Bold, Pea Olson
Print: Lilly Pulitzer's "A Thing Called Love"
Heart: Adobe Photoshop stock image

Freebie: Lilly Pulitzer Wallpaper Prints (Part 2)

I'm still crazy finding inspiration for my daughter's Lilly-inspired birthday party -- and what a treat I got when I looked at the Lilly blog. Once again, they are giving out free -- yes, free -- wallpaper prints. Download them from this link.

I haven't finalized my daughter's invitation yet. But it's looking like the print I chose is finally having a couple of contenders. :p

A Thing Called Love
via Lilly blog

Mariposa
via Lilly blog

Spritz
via Lilly blog

Food: Korean Fried Chicken & Buffalo Wild Wings

It wasn't love when I first had my Korean fried chicken from BonChon several months ago. It was okay. The second time I had it was a month after, and it was reheated BonChon to-go. I swear it was better than eating at the resto.  I finally gave it another chance yesterday. I still couldn't figure out why people love it. Maybe it's just me missing my Buffalo Wild Wings! :P

I came across a blog that claims to have a better Korean fried chicken recipe than BonChon (well, indirectly). I must try it.

Korean Fried Chicken
from Talentadong Chef 


Chicken Seasoning
(Chef's notes: Most recipes just call for salt and pepper for the seasoning, but for me, it is better if you season the chicken well so that you will have a succulent piece of chicken wing even without the sauce.)

• 6 pieces chicken wings, drumstick and wing part separated (12 pcs total) 
• 1/2 T minced onion 
• 1/2 T minced garlic 
• 2 T soy sauce 
• salt and pepper to taste 

Breading

• 1/2 c all purpose flour 
• 1/2 cup cornstarch 
• 1/2 cup rice flour 
• 1/2 T chicken powder 
• salt and pepper to taste 

Directions:

1. Season chicken with onion, garlic, soy sauce, salt and pepper. 
2. Marinate for at least an hour or overnight. 
3. Prepare the breading by mixing well all the ingredients. Set aside. 
4. Heat enough oil to deep fry wings in a pan (or large sauce pan). (Most recipes call for 350˚) 
5. Working in batches of 6-8 pieces, toss flour mixture into the wings to evenly coat each piece. 
6. Deep fry chicken until golden, 6–8 minutes. 
7. Drain on paper towels and rest chicken wings for 2-5 minutes. 
8. Re-fry chicken until crisp, about 6–8 minutes more. 
9. Drain again. 
10. Toss chicken wings in sauce.

Sauce
(Chef's Notes: Of the recipes I found online, there are basically two types. The Soy-honey glaze and the ketchup-chili sauce. I’m not really a fan of spicy food so the ketchup-chili sauce is out of the equation already. But then again, I love fried chicken with ketchup (better than gravy!) So I had to somehow include it in the recipe. It was a pretty bold risk for me to combine the soy-honey glaze with ketchup coz I really do not how the two flavors would combine. The risk paid off well coz the result was amazing!)

• 1/4 cup soy sauce 
• 2 T honey 
• 2 T brown sugar 
• 2 T Chinese cooking wine 
• 1/4 cup water 
• 3 1-inch wide ginger coins 
• 1 T finely minced garlic 
• 1/4 cup ketchup 
• 1 T hot sauce

Directions:

1. In a bowl, mix soy sauce, honey, water, Chinese cooking wine, and brown sugar. Set aside. 
2. In a small saucepan on medium heat, saute garlic and ginger for 2 minutes. 
3. Pour in soy sauce mixture and simmer for 10-12 minutes until sauce thickens. 
4. Remove from heat and add in ketchup and hot sauce. 
5. Stir to evenly mix the sauce.

Love: Amanpulo

Copyright Aman Resorts

Amanpulo is a private island resort in the Philippines. It means peaceful island. I've been there once, during my honeymoon, but I'll make sure I get to visit again sometime.

Amanpulo has a private airport lounge in Manila.

The host served us a Filipino merienda or a snack, and fresh dalandan juice while waiting for the private plane.

Copyright Aman Resorts 

The private plane.

Copyright Aman Resorts

This is the view from above. That's an airplane landing strip on the left.

Copyright Aman Resorts

Upon landing, we were greeted by our own personal host who knows us by name already. They gave us some kind of flower necklace, toured us around the island and left us with our own golf cart. Every single one of the staff wherever we went knew our names. I swear.

Happy us.

At the beach club --

Copyright Aman Resorts

The lagoon club --

Copyright Aman Resorts

The dining hall --

Copyright Aman Resorts

The pool where you have unlimited merienda.

Copyright Aman Resorts

The picnic grove --

Copyright Aman Resorts

With our limoncellos --

and our strawberry pizza --

This is the casita we stayed in. Every night there's a little gift to munch -- yema, pastillas, or some other kind of Filipino candy.

There was always fresh fruits or merienda waiting for us in the afternoon. It was like having our own Harry Potter elf. Magic. (Holy moly, wait, I can't believe how many times I said the word merienda here. I'm such a food junkie. Heehee.)

Part of the casita bathroom. I fell in love over again.

Copyright Aman Resorts

We had our own sundeck.

Copyright Aman Resorts

Wash basin and ladle to wash our sandy feet and slippers --

Our own hammock on the way to the beach --

Copyright Aman Resorts

The island itself is the main attraction. This is Shark Point. We didn't get to see sharks there though.

Copyright Aman Resorts

Another lovely part of the island --

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There were a lot of things to do like water activities --

Copyright Aman Resorts

Copyright Aman Resorts

You can go to the gym if you wanted to --

Copyright Aman Resorts

 Or do pilates --

Copyright Aman Resorts

We took an evening massage at their treetop spa.

Copyright Aman Resorts

Copyright Aman Resorts

Copyright Aman Resorts

We also had a private picnic during our stay. We just went to the picnic spot on top of the hill on the set schedule, and food was ready -- surprisingly, it was still warm. Forgive my super suntanned skin. Eek.

Other private dining spots around the island --

Copyright Aman Resorts

Copyright Aman Resorts

At the end of our stay, the tub was filled with rose petals, and candles were lit. I was so sad to go home. One week was not enough. Until we meet again, Amanpulo.

Copyright Aman Resorts

Freebie: Custom Mood Board (and How-to)

Freebie Alert:
I miss doing mood boards. I haven't done one in ages. I know I should do one again soon. I'm just lacking the right room inspiration. If you like the mood boards I did, and have a room that you want to redecorate, I welcome requests. I'll do one for you for free if the room idea you have inspires me. :) So send some suggestions my way, and help me rid myself of some mood board craving.


Mood boards I did before:

A navy and mustard nursery

A Reader's Bedroom

A Paris-Inspired Bedroom

A Bright and Bold Nursery

A Gender-Neutral Nursery

Anyway, back to my real post. A reader requested that I post a tutorial on how I do mood boards. I am by no means an expert, but I think it's a great idea to share with you how I do them. The way I want my mood boards to look is to make it feel like a real room so you can visualize it without clutter.

I usually use Photoshop, but Keynote works too.

Okay, here we go.

For a sample image, I am using West Elm's Slipper Chair (so pretty).


STEP 1:
Scour for images of your selected pieces. Images with plain backgrounds are easier to manipulate. If you can find one with a white background, the better.

STEP 2:
Clean the image so that only the piece that you want is left. Erase even the white background. Keynote's "alpha" or Photoshop's "Lasso" will do the trick. You need to delete the background even if it is white.

Using Keynote: Click and drag out the color/s you wanted to make transparent. Do this over and over again. See what I mean if your photo is not clean?

Using Photoshop: Use the lasso tool to select the chair, then ctrl+shift+i to invert the selection, then hit delete.

Cleaned up image using Photoshop.

STEP 3:
Layout your mood board. Add text or numbers to identify the pieces. Here I used my Reader's Bedroom mood board and replaced the swivel chair with this one.

Here's the before photo:

STEP 4:
Share the love!