I took the whole of last week off from Paleo. I am blaming it on the following:

1. My period. Even though it lasted all of three days.

2. The return of my taste buds since I’ve cut down on smoking. Mind you, I haven’t officially quit. I smoked once in France, maybe a little bit more in Sweden but, since I’ve been back in the Philippines, I’ve only smoked once. I’ll still smoke when I want to. It’s just not so often now.

3. New things to try like cronuts (- the bastard child of a croissant and a doughnut, originally created by Dominique Ansel in New York), and the Jack Daniel chocolate cupcakes of a singing surfer from La Union.

Re the cronuts, currently, there are four places in Manila that have them. The “croughnuts” from Dolcelatte are by order only and come in a box of six (P110/piece) and feature five different flavors. They were a bit too thick and doughy for my liking and were more like doughnuts that weren’t sweet. But my friends seemed to like them. We agreed that the almond-flavored croughnut was the best.

The “croissant donuts” at Wildflour are rationed – two to a customer at P120/piece. For me, these tasted more like the bastard child of a kouign amann and an eclair. Definitely a lighter, flakier and, therefore, a better pastry than the ones from Dolcelatte, but a tad too sweet.

I haven’t tried Chatime’s “kronuts” (- call 02-584-7721 to reserve) and Dunkin’ Donuts’ “donut croissants” but, right now, I don’t feel particularly compelled to. It’s an interesting concept, and I’d recommend trying the Wildflour ones once , but it’s not something I’ll be wanting to have again right away.

Re the cupcakes, when a friend announced that Manskee was in town for a few days and was accepting orders for Jack Daniel cupcakes, I was sufficiently intrigued to place an order. I would find out later that not only does Manskee bake the moistest cupcakes in town (with just the right amount of whiskey), he is also a surfer from La Union with a recording career!

How cool is that?

The cupcakes are best eaten cold. I’m on my fourth one for the day…

4. Spending time with an old friend at her father’s wake. And you know how wakes are. Goto/Mamon/Siopao Central. A few new discoveries (- for me, at least): Toasted mini siopaos. They came in brown boxes and had three or four locations in Quezon City, which I intentionally failed to note because I am not supposed to be traipsing around Quezon City looking for mini siopaos.

My other “new discovery” is what, I think, is referred to as a “puto pao”, another mini siopao of sorts that seems to be the love child of a puto and a siopao.

Who woulda thought mini siopaos could be so good? And what is up with all these freak pairings???

Ahahaha!!! Okay, so it’s kinda a stretch from mini siopaos but it’s still funny.

I also realized that I like kare-kare. And jello. (Not together. But only because I haven’t tried it, although I am not closed to the idea.)

And lastly…

5. Goya Dark Chocolate. Yes, this is how far last week’s debauchery has led me.

Stick ’em in the freezer. I’m down to my last two.

I’ve had so much sugar in the past few days, that I’ve started to get headaches – and I don’t normally get headaches. I really feel like I’ve poisoned myself. I feel sluggish and gross.

There is absolutely no way I am getting on a scale.

I went really big. I probably just gave myself diabetes.

I’m putting an end to the madness tomorrow. I want to live on greens and oranges for a while. (She said to herself unconvincingly.)

I really shouldn’t have cupcakes in the fridge.