Monster Campus

As the orange red sun slowly descended into the diminishing horizon, melting slowly into dusk, I ran to our roof top with my dad's camera phone to photograph the new addition to my personalized shoes collection. Monster Campus. This new pair actually hails from several different visual and auditory light bulbs in my head - but for most part, I got my inspirations from two songs shared to me by a dear friend: Matchbook Romance's Monsters and Vampire Weekend's Campus. I do like to acknowledge that the look was also helped by my brain-dead staring at the Globe Tattoo flyer I found in one my shopping bags.


This is the fourth pair I've designed and the third to be added to the collection. The other pairs I've designed are: Butterfly, #2 and Rhapsody in Green.


Like Rhapsody in Green, this pair was completed at the Manila Memorial Cemetery in Cavite last Sunday, December 27, 2009. Though thematically, the shoe's idea does not seem relevant; it is another tribute to my grandmother who, with her own little way of communicating to us, patiently waited for me to complete this artwork before permitting us to go back home. This can be attested by my dad, who blamed me for our late return, but on the other hand, as my grandfather had also pointed out, I can still experience how much my grandmother loves me, despite her physical absence.

Assessing my shoe collection, I noticed a growth in my style as I begin to incorporate and play with more colors. I've never really been a fan of color, and would sometimes think of them as unnecessary clutter. Curiously, as I progress I find that color helps to enhance images and add contrast when used properly. I won't be delving too much on the artistic aspect of the pair, but all in all I believe
there is still much for me to learn and experience, I am just at the tip of what could still be accomplished in this hobby.

My friend sent me an SMS earlier saying, "Art is never perfected, only mastered." Surely, there is still a long road to be explored.

To see more photos of Monster Campus, click here.

Lickqueur Adult Ice Cream

In celebration of Anne's birthday, my friends and I decided to try something different. Earlier last week, my friend, Christel, organized an ice cream taste testing get-together for the occasion - quite unlike your regular Chocolate, Vanilla and Strawberry store-bought flavors though, we got to try ice cream with an alcoholic twist.

Christel touch based with Ms. Pinky Jacob-Ileto, one of the five founders of Lickqueur Adult Ice Cream to arrange the said ice cream taste test at their crib in Greenhills.



Adopting an innovative idea from their travels, five friends: Arnel Bondoc, Patricia Gana, Pinky Jacob-Ileto, Mimi Manalo and Earl Yu banded together to come up with Lickqueur Adult Ice Cream - the first premium alcoholic ice cream here in the Philippines. Their name, Lickqueur (pronounced as li-‘kur), was derived from the French word, "liqueur" and incorporated with “lick” to suggest that it's alcohol you can actually lick.

It was pretty interesting to learn that the company had just launched their products a few weeks earlier and quite impressively, have been receiving a lot of orders and publicity in such a short span of time.

My first impression of the product, after "What a cool idea!", was: Isn't ice cream and alcohol a dangerous combination that could lead to stomach revolutions? I raised this to Ms. Pinky, who knowingly answered that alcohol has long been combined with cream, as in the case of Bailey's. And what better answer than allowing us to actually try the products; and I can attest that I haven't experienced any bad stomach as of yet. LOL ;)

There are 8 flavors available in half gallon sizes divided into two groups: Premium and Standard.

Premium Flavors:
1. Margarita Passion (Margarita)
2. Sinfully Butterscotch (Butterscotch Amaretto)
3. After Midnight Mint (Choco Mint Martini)

STANDARD Flavors:
4. OMG!!! (Screaming Orgasm)
5. Strawberry Kiss (Strawberry Martini)
6. Paint The Town Orange (Choco Orange Martini)
7. Cuban Fever (Mojito)
8. Amaretto Scream (Amaretto Orange)

Below are some of the photos of their ice creams:

Margarita Passion


Strawberry Kiss


Amaretto Scream


Paint the Town Orange


Cuban Fever

In the end, my friends and I opted to get the Margarita and Butterscotch Amaretto, which topped as the group's favorites. The other flavors were good as well though; Choco Mint was another favorite, BTW. One thing I learned in trying out alcoholic ice cream is that: it's better to try the milder ones first, before going for the more daring flavors. By trying the stronger variants earlier on, your tongue may not recognize the alcoholic intensity of the milder flavors thus not giving you full appreciation of the experience.

After trying out all the flavors, I found them to be generally satisfying. The ice cream was such a mouth pleasure with its rich, creamy texture that melts gradually on your warm tongue. The mix were all true to the taste of the cocktails, complete with the alcoholic zing that could lead to subtle intoxication when taken in large portions with its 3-7% alcohol content. A perfect ingredient to a fun get-together celebration.

So below is the photo our non-alcohol drinking friend as she blows her candle (Yes, I'm the last person on earth to be assigned to prepare the candle) and takes a bite of her "cake".


And us? We happily savored our ice creams.

For those who want to try Lickqueur Adult Ice Cream out, below are their contact details.

Pinky Jacob-Ileto
lickqueur@gmail.com
0917.850.2702
(02) 502.2700
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