OuterBanks, North Carolina Adventure

Family Adventure at OuterBanks, North Carolina

Hello Everyone!

Wohooo! I'm back from my awesome vacation, back to work, and back into the blogging world. Indeed I missed all of you! I wish I could take you with me and experience all the fun stuff that me and my family enjoyed.  It was truly a very fun vacation, relaxing, and just feel great being with my beloved family. We went to Outerbanks, North Carolina. Yes! As you may remembered my first blog post about my Outerbanks experience back in 2013 and then followed by Outerbanks escapade in 2014.

Packed with excitement I'm taking you with me as we unfold all the fun stuff Outerbanks, NC has to offer! Started off by hitting the road at midnight. O Yea! we drove overnight along with my in-laws. Had a delicious stop for breakfast at IHOP. ( blink together everyone) Viola! we reached our final destination Outerbanks, NC. Yippee!!We stayed in a private condo with easy access to the beach, indoor pool and very close to stores, restaurants and gift shoppe (same place that we stayed last year and the year before that:)

Let's get going and start our fun Outerbanks Adventure!:)
- Note: We hangout in the beach and pool everyday! -:)

  

Sunday Fun Outdoor Cookout

We all hit the beach with full BLAST and EXCITEMENT!  when I say (WE I meant all 16 of us that includes the adult and the kids) and to make this vacation super fun and exciting! We had fun Outdoor Cookout. It was DELICIOUS! We had brats, burger, hotdog, beans, chips, and all tasty food. Yum!

Monday- It's Granny Helen's Birthday

After spending time in the pool and on the beach. We had delicious dinner at Miller's Seafood and Steakhouse in celebration of Granny Helen Birthday. The ambiance of the place was inviting and relaxing. The food is EXCELLENT- they served us with hush puppies as we waited for our order. I had Grilled Mahi-Mahi with tropical salsa, rice and steamed vegetables. It was delicious and impressive food. We head home to finished off the celebration. We had strawberry cake and ice cream for dessert.

Tuesday- Sweetness Overload

This is the DAY were we spent our time with our family. So Me, hubby, Reese and the kids head out to have dinner at Applebees. I ordered baby back rib with sweet fries on the side, which is by the way delicious. Then, we went to shopped for souvenirs and had long sweet walked on the beach (holding hands! char!) and watched the sunset. Awesome!

Wednesday- Bonfire and Smore's Experience

We had fantastic dinner that includes meatloaf, baked macaroni and cheese, chicken, and corn prepared by Mom Cheri, Emma, Abbey and Reese. It super TASTY! and had amazing Bonfire and Smore's experience at the beach. We sang, talked and had fun with sparkles. It feels great to hear the waves splashed and smiles on everyone's faces. Amazing!

 

Thursday- Dolphin Tour and Quinn's Birthday Celebration

In celebration of Quinn's birthday. We all went to see Dolphins and YES! I saw Dolphins up close. It was very exciting moment and unforgettable. The whole Dolphin Tour experience is phenomenal. 

Then- we had dinner at this restaurant (which I totally forgot the name) I had Caribbean Tuna with rice and beans on the side, and Mango Colada for drink to compliment my super tasty dinner. We continue the party at my sister-in-law's place and had cake and ice cream. Yum!

Friday- Seafood Adventure & Jockey's Ridge Escapade

Before heading back in Ohio we had an awesome seafood adventure . As you all know me, I'm such a huge seafood fan! We went to TAPHOUSE and I ordered Seafood Platter which compose of steamed crab legs, shrimp and clamps. Yum! It's like Seafood galore adventure- so GOOD!
Then, we went out to experience the giant sand dune at Jockey's Ridge Park. Loved seeing my kids, nephews, nieces and in-laws enjoying the sunset and the scenic view.

 

Saturday- Virginia Beach, Jollibee Experience!

Jollibee is a famous fast food in the Philippines kinda like Mcdonald's here in the US. So, We stopped by for lunch before heading home. I was totally impressed with whole experience. It just feel like I'm in the Philippines! the crowd, the food and the feeling!! Wohoo! It feel great to have Chickenjoy meal, Halo-Halo and Spaghetti after 3 years! LOVE! LOVE Jollibee!!

 And that's how I spent my amazing summer vacation! Truly an experience to remember forever!


Home Sweet Home- After long hour of driving we finally HOME. I hope you enjoy reading my Outerbanks Adventures. And that's how I spent my amazing summer vacation together with my beloved family Hubby, Reese, Reyna, Garyn, Granny Helen, Mom Cheri (mother in-law)

Sister in-laws (Tacy, Kindra, Emma and Abbey)

Nieces (Sophia, and Quinn) 

Nephews (Vincent, Xander and Phillip) 

- Thank you so much for super fun week, I love you all!-

 
Share me your thoughts and fun escapades this summer  or even your latest recipes experience on the comment below. Stay pretty and gorgeous everyone! Enjoy the rest of the day and I'll see you in few days for more delicious and fun foodie adventures and recipes.

xoxox- Melgie

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Tryazon: Summer Birthday Party

Celebrating Reyna's 6th Birthday

Virtual Hug Everyone!
I'm super excited to share with you how fun and amazing my week had been. Oh yes! full of fun memories that forever be treasured in my heart. We celebrated our 7th wedding anniversary Saturday, followed by my daughter's 6th birthday celebration Sunday. It was a blast! As my daughter enjoyed all the summer birthday party goodies that we got for free from Tryazon. Yippeee! Another awesome party sampling opportunity that I'm so grateful to be part of, and able to share this experience with my family and friends feel so great.

 So what is Tryazon? "Tryazon is the newest way to try out innovative products. Host a party and get free stuff!"  This is my second time to host a party from Tryazon and It felt amazing! As you may all remembered my first post HERE. All the great products they offer to try out are pretty impressive and its FREE. Yes! you heard it right- totally free. All you have to do is SIGN UP. Just simply apply for sampling party that interest you, get selected, received the product for free and host the party. Then, share the experience with your family and friends and enjoy.Super easy right? I think so too!:)


I'm super excited to share what's inside my Tryazon Summer Birthday Party Kit! Join me as we discover what's inside. :)

Tryazon: Summer Birthday Party Kit Includes: 

Happy Birthday! Game from NortStar
Cupcake Creations Cupcake Papers
Cupcake Creations Assorted Cupcake Papers- for game winners
Fun extras including a Happy Birthday Banner, party steamers and noisemakers
Exclusive coupons for my family and friends
Party Host Guide- to help plan and carry out the best party!

Thank you Tryazon for this awesome #summerbirthday party kit!

Getting all the products mention above for free felt so great! and it gives me motivation to make my daughter's 6th birthday party an unforgettable one. I'm inviting you- to join me as we unfold Reyna's 6th Birthday celebration.

-Starting off with Party Decor then CAKES and Cupcakes-

I used Morocco/Lavender and Pink Paisley Cupcake Creations Baking cups as requested by birthday celebrant. The best thing about Cupcake Creations baking cups are "No Muffin Pans Needed" grease proof, easy peel, bakery quality, extra strong natural paper and it fits standard baking tins. As you may noticed that I didn't used muffin pans to make this perfect cupcakes.

Now that we have a perfect cupcakes for the guest, let's move on to the food. Yum!

-Easy Party Food Ideas-

Tips: Always prepared your party food menu ahead of time for relaxing and fun party experience.

We had Lumpia Shanghai, Pansit, Pork Barbecue, Rice, Cheesy Potato, Chip and Dips. Yum! Also we truly enjoyed cake, cupcakes, cookies and ice cream at the end.

 After we had our amazing meal, then we head off and play Happy Birthday Game- it gets the kids and adult laughing as soon as they open the box. It's about surprising each other with great gifts. 

How to Play? It's super easy! Distribute 5 cards to the players.  Then, everybody gives you a gifts from their hand. You pick the BEST and the WORST birthday gift card and whoever card get pick get a point. Whoever get the first 5 point WIN! 

A perfect summer birthday party indeed! My daughter loved every minute of it. As a Mom, seeing my daughter smiling and happy is best thing ever. The whole experience is so FUN! I hope it inspires you on your next party events. I'll see you in few days for more fun recipe ideas. Stay gorgeous everyone!

Thank you so much to my beloved family and friends for being so generous and loving as always. I love you all! Also, big Thank You to Tryazon for such an amazing summer birthday party kit that my family and friends enjoyed.

xoxox- Melgie 

Disclosure: I received this awesome Summer Birthday Party Kit for free courtesy from Tryazon to try out. Opinion is 100 percent mine. Thank you! #tryazon, #summerbirthday #northstar

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Easy Taho Recipe

Super Easy Classic Taho Recipe

 Hello Everyone!

How you all doing this week? I hope you get so excited seeing TAHO recipe on the menu for today. Yup! I am a super TAHO fan. I can literally eat this, almost everyday if I want to. It also reminds me of my childhood memories where I ate this scrumptious merienda with my family and friends.So FUN!
 It's pretty popular snack in the Philippines because its very affordable and just simply delicious that satisfy your sweet cravings.Typically the TAHO vendors carries two big aluminum bucket and usually seen on the streets in the Philippines. If yo want to try this delicious treat in the Philippines, you know what to look for.. wink:)

To my avid readers wondering what TAHO means- It's a Filipino snack made with fresh  soft/silken tofu, sago pearl or similar to tapioca pearl with hot caramel sauce made of carmalized brown sugar. Best serve when its WARM. Yum!

And to those, whose far away from home and missing TAHO. Well, I got a super easy recipe that you can make at home. Oh! not to mention that you'll only need 3 ingredients to make this classic marienda. Yup! only 3, how cool is that?  So, are you a TAHO fan? What's your favorite memories behind it? Bring those sweet memories by making Taho at home. Come on, Join me in my kitchen as I made this classic Merienda.

Check out the recipe below!

Super Easy Taho Recipe

* NOTES- Used whatever tapioca pearls on hand. Adjust the recipe for larger crowd.

 

Ingredients:

1 cup of tapioca pearl- I used small size tapioca pearl

2 cups brown sugar

1/2 cup water

1 (16 oz) Nasoya Organic Silken Tofu

Directions:

1.) In large pan, boil 3-4 cups of water. Add the tapioca pearl and cooked until its cooked. It should take about 30-40 minutes depending on how big your tapioca pearl. Keep on checking just in case you need to add more water.

2.) Meanwhile, In another pan. Add 1/2 cup water let it boil. Add 2 cups of sugar ( adjust the taste according to your preference) and let it caramelized. Set aside

3.) When Tapioca is done and the caramelized sugar is done. Make sure that everything is warm. Heat the Tofu in high heat for 2-3 minutes.

4.) Get your favorite cup/serving glass. Scoop a little bit of tapioca, tofu, add caramel sauce. Repeat the process until your cups is full. Add more caramel sauce on the top. ENJOY!

--- Ask your friends to come over and have fun eating TAHO together---

My very own taho, cook and served with LOVE-- delish! A perfect snack for friends coming over and best serve when its warm. I hope this recipe make you excited for the rest of the week. Don't forget to share the super easy and delicious recipe to your family and friends. Until  next time everyone! Be inspired and have some Taho this weekend. Leave me any comments below on what you think about Taho. I'll be reading them all. See you in few days for more awesome recipe and have sweet bite everyone! wink

xoxox- Melgie

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Strawberry Granita Freeze

Sweet Greetings to all of you!

Its officially summer at Campbell's abode, Wohoo! We are totally enjoying the hot summer this year by cooling it down with this awesome Strawberry Granita Freeze. Yum! why don't you grab something to drink and let's chat. I'm just excited to share my little story on how I came up with this delicious drink idea. I'm a member of Crowdtap for over 2 months now and loving it. What you do basically on the site is just simply participate on quick hits, challenges and mission. Then, you will get invites from crowdtap to try the product for FREE! yeah you heard it right totally free!  Make sure to grab your spot quick and do short survey. Then, they'll notify you if your qualified for the product. Easy huh? I think so too. Last week, I got accepted to try this Sweet'Low calorie sweeter. The package arrived around 2-3 weeks but I think its quicker than that. The package was filled with drink recipes, sweet'nlow zero calorie sweetener sample and coupons to share with friends, 1 package of 50 packets of sweet'n low wrapped very carefully with pink wrapping paper. See my snapshot below! Then all you have to do is submit some photos on your social media sites and report that you will find on crowdtap website. You also get a chance to win gift cards which is prrettty awesome!!

Now that, you know where I get this delicious drink idea. Lets talk about the main ingredients on the drink, The Strawberry! I always wanted to know more about strawberry even before and never really get a chance to dig deeper, but now that I have a blog, I'm kinda like a new person.. wohoo! etchuz! I do some research, read articles and share the knowledge that I learned to all of you. Let's start!

"Strawberries have the common scientific name of Fragaria, but there are different suffixes for different varieties, such as Fragaria Vesca for wild strawberry, and Fragaria Orientalis for Eastern Strawberries.

 Health benefits of strawberries include improved eye care, proper brain function, relief from high blood pressure, arthritis, gout and various cardiovascular diseases" see the link of the source HERE

DID you KNOW that the regular strawberry have 200 tiny black seeds? Yup! according to my research online..wink:)

Isn't it fun to know some fact about your favorite fruit? Strawberry is probably my 8-10 favorite fruits but it surely a hit every summer. It's not only they make a really good pie filling but they are totally inexpensive on summer time! Grab some strawberry when your heading to the market this week and treat the whole town with this super easy and delicious Strawberry Granita Freeze..

Feeling hot and thirsty? Come on! lets make something to drink!

Strawberry Granita Freeze Recipe 
* Serving- 4 Glass      * 45 Calorie

Ingredients:
16 oz  unsweetened frozen strawberries
2 cups  cold water
1/4 cup lime juice
16 packets of Sweet'NLow zero calorie sweetener
4 fresh strawberries- garnish

Place frozen strawberries, water, lime and Sweet'NLow

6-cup blender container in that

  in the blender container in that order. Cover it tightly ( make sure that the lid is snap and close). Blend 20-30 seconds or until slushy.
 Pour into 4 tall glass and garnish each glass with fresh strawberry. (source:http://www.sweetnlow.com/recipes/beverages/strawberry-granita )                                                                                                           

Strawberry Granita Freeze Recipe

45 cal

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• NUTRITION FACTS Servings Per Recipe: 4
• Amount per serving
• Calories45
• Sodium5mg
• Total Carbs17g
• Dietary Fiber2g
• Sugars10g
• Protein1g

Ingredients

• 16 packets Sweet’N Low® zero calorie sweetener
• 1/4 cup lime juice
• 2 cups cold water
• 1 package (16 oz) frozen unsweetened strawberries
• 4 fresh strawberries

Place frozen strawberries, water, lime juice, and Sweet’N Low® in 6-cup blender container in that order. Cover tightly (if blender lid doesn’t snap on securely, hold lid down with hand). Blend 20 to 30 seconds or until slushy, stopping blender to scrape down sides if necessary. Pour into 4 tall glasses. Garnish each glass with fresh strawberry.

- See more at: http://www.sweetnlow.com/recipes/beverages/strawberry-granita#sthash.ZLtvg50g.dpuf

Isn't it super easy to make? I'm sure it would compliment your summer drink cravings! Let's head outside and don't forget to grab your drink! I hope you enjoy our little chat today. I'll see you in few days for more awesome recipes, drink ideas, sweet tooth cravings and much more. Enjoy the rest of the week everyone! If you get a chance to try Strawberry Granita Freeze. Share your thought on the comment below. I'll be reading them all:)
Until next time...xoxoxo- Melgie

Disclosure: I received FREE package of Sweet' N Low product along with the drink recipe ideas (Strawberry Granita Freeze) courtesy of #Crowdtap #Sweet'NLow. My opinion is based on my personal experience on the product and opinion is 100 percent mine. Thank you, Crowdtap and Sweet'NLow :)

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