New Food Items from Muji

Muji is known for their cool household products. I for one love their storage boxes and their bedroom and bath textiles. Another favorite is their Cedar Wood Bars.  But they also sell food products like green tea, marshmallows , and even sauces.

They recently announced some new products and I dropped by my favorite branch at Robinson's Magnolia to try them.

I bought a pack of Rice Snack in Soy Sauce flavor.. The rice balls are crispy and the soy sauce flavor is very apparent.  It's a bit salty for my taste but I have been limiting my salt intake so perhaps for some of you, it will just taste right.  It's a very light snack and will not make you feel guilty for indulging.
 

 

 

 Another new food product I've been wanting to try is the Mini Ramen.  Actually I planned to buy this one during the long weekend but thanks to the typhoon and heavy monsoon rains, I had to hold my plans until this weekend. 

 

 

 

This comes in three variants but I chose to try the Kimchi.  The sales clerk told me that there are three ways to enjoy this ramen.  You can eat it as it is like a crunchy snack or you can put it in a cup of hot water.  But you can also  cook it with vegetables and other stuff for the complete ramen experience.

 

I haven't tried it in any way but I will update this post once I get the chance to taste it.

 



My Starbucks Card

I finally got my Starbucks card last week. It's a prepaid/loyalty card that you can use to purchase your favorite drink at Starbucks and earn points to get rewards.  It was the last day of their promotion where you load PhP1,500 and you get an additional PhP300 load free.  I have to thank the girl at the counter for convincing me to do so. 

 

It took me awhile to get the card because I read a lot of rants online about how hard it was to register the card on their website,  True enough, the girl at the counter told me to wait for a few days before I register my card because their website has been experiencing, ahem, technical difficulties.  Oh yes, I told her, I read that your website crashed all the time,

 

 I took her advice and registered my card just last night.  It only took me some minutes to register since the website was still going crazy.  I just wonder why a big company like this launched a promo without totally preparing their system.  Like, didn't they know how many frequent customers they have that would want to avail of their card?

 

Anyway, after getting the confirmation for my registration I got the message that I am entitled to a free grande size of any handcrafted drink of my choice. All I need to do is show my Starbucks card to the cashier on my next visit.

I didn't waste time and went to my favorite Starbucks café this afternoon to redeem my gift. Guess what the cashier told me.  The guy at the counter told me that their system was still a little loopy and I need to wait a few more days for my card to appear in their system.

 

I really showed on my face my disgust with his comment.  Poor guy told me that he will still try to see if my card works.  Wonder of wonders it did and I got my free grande size drink.  I chose a hot café mocha and shared it with my tiny mustachioed friend below.

So I am off to a good start to get my first reward.  I only need 11 more stars to receive a complimentary grande drink.  Or I can buy 10 bags of Starbucks coffee beans using my card to receive a free bag of beans.

for more info visit starbuckscard.ph. This blog is not associated in anyway with Starbucks Philippines.

Muji Pens and Cat Clips

I love Muji products. I actually visit their store in Robinson's Magnolia every week.  I especially love their desk and stuff organizers.  I also bought some bedroom linen from them because of their simple, no-frills style.

Recently I bought a pen from the store and was surprised to see how smooth it writes on paper. I've heard about people who actually collect these pens and now I know why. I bought another set of three pens and might buy more. They cost more than ordinary pens but they actually are worth the price.

While buying the pens, I also discovered some paper clips shaped like cats.  I like cats and these clips are so cute.  I am not sure if they can hold some of the paper stuff I have at work but I think they will look nice on my table and in the Muji desk organizers I have on my desktop.

Next time I visit the store, I will get the dog clips too!

Video Comes to Instagram

I just finished downloading the update of Instagram, the hugely popular photo sharing/social network app. The biggest update of course is video.  Users can now post 15 seconds of video to share among their friends.

 

It's so easy to use. Open the app then tap on the camera icon.  You will get to another screen with a video camera icon.  Tap on it and you're ready to go.  Press the record button and record anything you want: your new puppy running around the house, the kids playing basketball or even your partner cooking your favorite food. You don't have to shoot everything in one take. Lift your finger and the recorder automatically stops.

You don't need to worry about camera shake since Instagram incorporated an image stabilizer feature they named Cinema.  For now, it only works with iPhone 4s and higher.  Don't worry Android fans, it's coming to you soon.

 

Instagram also created 13 new filters exclusively for the video feature.  You can choose one of these filter and instantly preview its effect during play before sharing you post the video. Sound is instantly on and all posts are in square format, just like the photos.  Also when you post a video you can chose a scene as a “cover shot” which will be displayed while the rest of your video plays.

Super Moon Rising Tonight

Weather permitting, tonight we will see the moon rise from the east and become 14 percent bigger than usual.   No, the moon will not grow bigger instead it will be at its closest point to Earth - what scientists call the perigree.  On the average the moon  is 383,024 kms away from the Earth. On Sunday, it will be just 356,991 kms away -- or 26,023 kms closer than usual.

from space.com credit:Tim McCord 

Science.com says that supermoons occur about once annually, and this year, the supermoon is closer than it has been in a little while.  It added that the difference in size can mean as much as a 30 percent change in the brightness, so this will be a particularly bright supermoon.

If you want to see the largest full moon of the year, you just need to step outside and look up at the sky,  To take pictures of this event,  science.com offers the following tips: use a tripod, a zoom lens about 200mm and fast shutter speed.

As a final word, let me assure you folks that this event does not portend anything sinister.  It will not bring earthquakes or volcanic eruptions.  NASA says that the supermoon has very little effect on the tides, that even those who live in coastal areas will not notice any change in the height of water.  

UPDATE: As expected, it was a cloudy night so the super moon was not visible at all.