Michi Photostory

In our home, we usually eat early so we can sleep early. So whenever there is a dinner invitation, alam kong gutom na kami sa meeting time pa lang so usually, we will eat dessert first. Hehehe!

I had my lab test and a doctor’s appointment last week. After check-up, instead of going home, I told my husband to go straight to Alabang Town Center so I can look for Christmas Gifts. We had lunch first at Amici. It’s been years since the last time we ate here, sa dami ba naman kasi na restaurant sa Alabang Town Center ang dami ko gusto kainan. Most of the time, we will just buy gelato here.


I remembered our first dining experience in Amici Don Bosco Branch, 7 six years ago self-service pa siya but now, you don’t need to go to the cashier to order and pay your bill. Our old favorites here are Tutta Carne Pizza, Spaghetti alla Carbonara, Pollo Arrostito, Sansrival, and Gelato.

Amici serves pasta, pizza, and gelato. While browsing their menu, I noticed na ang dami na nila food choices, may option sa pasta if you want regular or grande size and may rice meals na rin. My husband and I ordered Spaghetti ai Tesori del Mare P420 (Regular), Margherita Pizza P345 and Oreo & Blueberry Cheesecake Madness P210.

The staff offered Gusto Privelege Card where you can get a discount for every visit but we declined since we seldom visit ATC or dine at Amici. While waiting, they served complimentary hot bread and it is good. Sana pwede refill, hehehe!


After finishing our bread, they served our pasta, ang bilis ng service nila. Spaghetti ai Tesori del Mare is a mildly spicy feast of spaghetti, tomatoes, scallops, clams and chili oil. I’m not fond of spicy food but I liked this pasta because the spiciness is really mild.


I ordered Margherita pizza and while eating, my husband said bakit wala ko malasahan na toppings. I just laughed and I told him, Margherita lang order ko so cheese and basil lang yun. Hehehe! Nasanay siya na Tutta Carne order ko.


For dessert, I initially ordered Ferrero-Chocolate Overload but it is not available so I ordered Oreo & Blueberry Cheesecake Madness. Combination of an oreo cookie and blueberry cheesecake gelato topped with caramel syrup, brownie chunks, whipped cream, and cherry. We liked this gelato and it is good for sharing.


We are satisfied with our order and also the service is really good. We already have a bottled of water on our table but the staff kept on refilling our glass. Bawal ba ang half-filled glass? So never kami naglagay ng water sa glass namin. Lol

December 20, 2018

We fetched our son in school and off we went to Alabang Town Center to buy his gift, we were so busy with so many things and we forgot to buy stuff for ourselves. We just ate at Amici last week but we decided to eat here again, this time with my son. We ordered the same pasta which is Spaghetti ai Tesori del Mare P420 (Regular) because we liked it. My son ordered Ham and Two Cheese Pizza P368.


While waiting, they gave us complimentary bread, one stick of bread per person. The staff gave a Kiddie Sheet and crayons to my son. My son read the note “Present this completed Kiddie Sheet to your server and get a Free Junior Scoop of Gelato” so he immediately colored and answered the page.




My son likes pepperoni pizza but it is not available so he chose Ham and Two Cheese Pizza, it has ham, mozzarella, and cheddar cheese. Mukhang corn or pineapple yung cheddar cheese.


We only ordered pasta and pizza but still, we did not finish our food. May take-out pa rin kami na pizza to think na tatlo na kami kumain. But of course, we won’t leave without eating gelato. We showed the Kiddie Sheet and asked the staff kung totoo ba na may free gelato yung anak ko and she said yes. So my husband and I ordered Junior Gelato Cup too P60 each.

The staff informed us na maliit lang yung cup but we still ordered the junior size because the last time that we ordered Oreo & Blueberry Cheesecake Madness gelato, nahirapan kami ubusin yung order namin. My son chose Ferrero, my husband chose Pistachio and I ordered Blueberry Cheesecake again.


While waiting for our gelato, the staff served a slice of cake on our table. Sasabihin ko na sana na hindi kami nag-order ng cake but the staff already said na FREE daw yun. Wow, may free gelato and free cake kami that day. The Midnight Dream Cake is layered decadent chocolate chiffon with caramelized cashews, chocolate, and cream.


When they served the gelato, ang liit ang talaga but it is enough to satisfy our gelato cravings. Again, we were satisfied with the food and service. Mukhang mapapadalas na kami sa Amici at may mga freebies. hehehe!

Amici - Alabang Town Center 
Alabang Town Center, Commerce Avenue,
Ayala Alabang, Muntinlupa
Mon to Thurs 11AM to 9PM
Fri to Sunday 10Am to 9PM

One of the reasons why I gained weight last summer is because I always eat cakes and ice cream. My mom always bakes a cake every weekend, I already shared my two favorite cakes in Norway, the World’s Best Cake and Pavlova. Not only that, she also buys ice cream because my son and I love ice cream. There are also cake that you need to put ice cream on top para mas masarap. Magdiet ka pa ba?



Yes, even we are freezing cold during our stay, we can’t help but eat their ice cream. Is or ice cream in Norway are really yummy. Though I’ve seen popular brands like Ben & Jerry and Haagen Daaz in their supermarket, we still prefer other brands because it is cheaper din. I can eat those ice cream here in the Philippines but the ice cream of Norway, bihira. As of this writing, I'm missing these foods, so for now, Arce Dairy muna kami. Hehehe!

So if you are going to Norway, don’t forget to try this ice cream. 

Diplom-Is is owned by Tine, a Norwegian manufacturer of ice cream and other dairy products. We tried their Krokan, Vanilla, 3 in 1 flavor and cone ice cream. 

Krokan is a caramelized sugar mixed with butter and almonds, it is similar to brittle that we know here in the Philippines, maybe ito yung sosyal na version. Hehehe! They have Krokan ice cream flavor too and it is my stepdads favorite flavor. 



Sometimes, my mom will buy the 3 in 1 ice cream pero naiiwan lang lagi yung strawberry flavor. So we made strawberry-banana smoothie para hindi sayang.  




My most favorite ice cream brand is Royal (Diplom-Is) because it is creamy and I like their flavor, so far we have tried Vanilla, Kaffe Mocca, Skjokalade and Skogsbaer and Skjokolade flavor. 






My son likes the cone ice cream of Diplom-Is and Hennig-Olsen. Hennig-Olsen Is is another brand of ice cream in Norway. It is a family-owned ice cream factory in Kristiansand, Norway. 




What is your favorite ice cream in Norway?

Our family loves ice cream but we don’t usually buy ice cream because of our limited space in the fridge. If we buy ice cream, we need to finish it as soon as possible so we tend to buy pint or half gallon only. Now, I’m happy to say that we can buy ice cream anytime because we now have space. If you remember my old post, we have new fridge na. Yey!

So when we went to Landmark, we checked their ice cream section. I was happy to see different brands of ice cream because, in our place, I only see two brands so nakakasawa na. I saw Carmen’s Best, Merry Moo and Arce Dairy, we chose the latter because it is cheaper.

Read: Carmen’s Best Malted Milk

Since we have different likes and wants, we chose our own flavor. My husband chose avocado, my son chose chocolate and I chose coffee. I’m not fond of drinking coffee but when it comes to ice cream, I like coffee or mocha flavor.


My son almost finished eating his ice cream in one sitting kung hindi ko lang pinigilan. When I ate my ice cream, my two boys tried it and they liked it too, gusto na nila ubusin yung sa akin. I don’t understand bakit pa kami nag tig-isa isa kung kakainin din nila yung sa akin. I’m sure next time, they will choose coffee flavor na rin. Hehehe!


So far we've tried avocado, chocolate, coffee, ube, pistachio, and mango flavor.  Anyway, have you tried Merry Moo brand? Is it good?

IKEA is not only known for affordable stuff and easy-to-assemble furniture. It is also famous because of the Swedish Meatballs so it is also on my list to taste this popular meatball.


I was disappointed when the Swedish meatballs were not available in IKEA Tachikawa so I was really looking forward to our Singapore trip. 


So for our third night, we went to IKEA Alexandra to eat our dinner. On the first floor, we only saw few tables and counters. I immediately checked the menu and I was sad because I only saw, chicken wings, ice cream, and hotdogs, hmmm same fate in Japan. I was excited to eat Swedish meatballs and then wala pala. So we just ate chicken wings, hotdog sandwiches, and ice cream. 

If Disneyland is my son’s happy place, IKEA is my happy place. When I was a kid, whenever I visit my aunt’s house, I always checked her IKEA magazine collection. I enjoy browsing IKEA magazine and dreaming that I will have my own house someday. 

Since then, I’ve been meaning to visit IKEA and I even included that in my itinerary when we went to Singapore two years ago. But unfortunately, after getting off the train, I can’t find the shuttle bus going to IKEA Tampines. I don’t want to take a taxi because taxi in SG is expensive so we just went back to hotel ng sawi. 


So I was really surprised when I saw IKEA on our way to Showa Kinen Park, a part of me wants to cancel our trip in the park and just spend our time in IKEA. Hahaha! But I have to fulfill my promise to my son so we went to the park first and rode a pedal boat. 

Read: Showa Kinen Park  


After our trip to the park, even my feet and legs were aching, I will not miss the opportunity of visiting the store. So while my husband and son were relaxing on the couch, I explore IKEA. I wanted to buy a lot like a cabinet, bookshelves and storage bins but I know na mahihirapan ko iuwi yun at baka may tax pa pagdating ng Pinas.





How I wish we have IKEA here in the country, I’ve been checking one local store here in the Philippines that has IKEA products but of course, mahal na siya and medyo malayo din sa amin so I’m just browsing their products online. I will visit if my budget permits. 





 Anyway, I still bought few stuff na maisisingit ko sa luggage. The Kalas spoon and fork, bowl, plates, and glasses are 199 yen per pack lang. The Istad 299 yen (storage bag), Graddsas Cream Sauce is 245 yen, Choklad Ljus (milk chocolate 97 yen and with nuts is 130 yen). The chocolate is yummy, sayang I only bought few pieces. Do the math and you will know that it is affordable.


I’m not prepared so I don’t have an eco-bag with me and nakabili na ko when I realized na di pala uso dun ang plastic, bring your own bag pala ang peg. So I just wrapped my stuff in the paper and pilit namin pinagkasya sa bag namin. Hahaha! Lesson learned, always bring eco-bag. 


After shopping, hmmm, parang ang daming pinamili. Hehehe! I was excited to eat Swedish meatball for dinner so I was really disappointed when I saw that there is no Swedish meatball. Waah! Anyway, we still ate snacks because their meal is very affordable. 


For the last few days, I’ve been buying ice cream cone/cup for 300 yen and I can’t believe na 50 yen lang sa IKEA. The hotdog with unlimited drinks 150 yen lang, Oh my goodness, ilipat nga ito sa Tama Center. Hehehe! Take note, you have to order in their food vending machine, get your food, drinks and condiments and clean before you leave.

IKEA Tachikawa 
6, Midori-cho, 
Tachikawa, Tokyo 190-0014 

7 minutes walk from Takamatsu station for Tama monorail.
Estimated time to Takamatsu station 
25 min from Tama center station 
15 min from Takahatafudo station 
7 min from Tamagawajyosui

My son doesn’t like to enroll in any summer class or activity so we’re just spending our summer vacation at home. Napakaproductive ng summer namin, lol!

April 11 

My friend told me about their swimming plans and asked me if I wanted to join. Of course, I said yes, parang wala pa nangyayari sa summer namin. Nagsabi agad ko na daanan nila bago nagpaalam. Hehehe! I know my husband will say yes too ng makalabas naman kami. I messaged my husband about the swimming plans and he said yes. 

April 14

We woke up early and I asked my husband to drop us at my friend’s house then off we went to my friend’s condo for our outing. When my friend told me about the P200 fee (visitor), I said ang mahal naman parang resort na. Lol. But I realized, the price is worth it na rin because we don’t have to pay for the cottage or corkage fee. 


In addition, the place was not crowded, maybe because it was a weekday and the residents are busy working or sawa na sa pool nila. So if you have a tight budget this summer, makiswimming in your friend’s condo or clubhouse. :) We let the kids swim for a few hours.