Frannywanny

Dear readers, Just like my favorite cup of tall, non-fat, no foam, toffee nut latte, I really had a wonderful time reading every single comment that you all have patiently and creatively left on my message box. For the entire month of November, I look forward to opening my inbox to be greeted with warm and delightful messages that has surely made my day s . My planner contest is coming to an end and since you all have been so kind to us, Paul and I would like to spread more Christmas cheer to not only ONE but THREE lucky readers who will win special Starbucks prizes from us! As mentioned earlier, One (1) lucky reader will be able to get a Limited Edition Starbucks Coffee 2010 Planner . The 2nd reader will receive a P400 Starbucks gift certificate (as we would love to help you complete your card too!) . While the 3rd lucky reader will receive a cute Starbucks demitasse cup for you to use as you enjoy your espresso drink. We will close the contest in exactly 3 hours and we will be sp...

This year, I'm thankful for wonderful surprises and opportunities that came my way. I'm also thankful for being showered with love and being able to share them with others too. Lastly, I'm thankful for all these good food... Yesterday was Thanksgiving Day and while this is still not widely practiced here in the Philippines as much as it is being done in the USA, I was fortunate enough to be invited to an intimate Thanksgiving Dinner at M Cafe which was hosted by the United States Potato Board . Together with my favorite colleagues, we arrived just in time to hear Chef Sau del Rosario's welcome remarks and a brief introduction on the dishes that will be served that evening. Basically, that night's menu consists of potatoes, potatoes and potatoes. Our dinner began with a warm platter of Potato Dill Sourdough . It has a salty, filling flavorful that was highlighted by the dill leaf on top. Up next was the Crispy Seabass with root vegetable floss, parsley brandade an...

I can't believe that it's finally here! I can hardly believe my eyes when my hardworking colleague Mile handed me a warm obviously hot off the press copy just a couple of hours ago! Presenting, the 2010 Yummy Planner ! Featuring 24 delicious recipes, handy shopping lists and more!! I'm seriously so excited about this and I hope you'll enjoy using this as much as we all had a blast creating this for YOU ! This will be on sale for only P250 in all newsstands, bookstores and supermarkets! Stocks are limited to GRAB ONE NOW !!!

Here's an early Christmas treat for me! Getting invited to guest blog once again for one of my favorite food blogs and being able to feature my latest addiction! What a wonderful treat indeed! It was during the last week of October when I received a message from my fellow blogger Franco of Table for Three, Please if I'm game to blog for them again. The theme was Taste Contradictions and I was asked to talk about that one food item that has a mix of flavors that I truly love. By the time I reached the end of his message, I already have 2-3 options in mind. Of course, there was the well-loved Tom Yum soup, my mom's favorite spicy tamarind or the highly indulgent Royce Chocolate Potato Chips. It was when I attended the Ultimate Taste Test that I found the perfect food item that I would like to write about -- my Singapore buddy, Erica Paredes' Happy Bacon! Taste Contradictions : Happy Bacon Thank you to Table for Three, Please for inviting me to guest blog! Till next t...

It has been a month since our visit to beautiful Singapore and I still have a lot of stories to tell! If you may have noticed in my earlier entries, I was only able to tell you about my lunch at IKEA and barely wrote anything more about the infamous Hainanese Chicken Rice , my Singapore discovery -- a $1 Ice Cream bar and more! Well, the wait is finally over and I assure you that this is truly Worth the Wait . Allow me to share with you my Singapore food story as published in Yummy.ph beginning today. Worth the Wait Enjoy reading! :)

This is also posted over at Patay Gutom . Times have really changed. Imagine back then, cereals were just part of breakfast together with a good serving of cold milk and a teaspoon of sugar. Back then, the only choices that we have were corn flakes, chocolate pops, rice krispies and fruit loops. Today we have whole grain cereals, honey or sugar coated flakes and a lot more! I was amused and excited as I chance upon Cerealicious in Greenhills and actually in most commercial areas near high schools and universities. With names that sound like a movie title, they have at least 27 combinations that combines our well-loved cereals with fruits, nuts, chocolates and their homemade milkshake. We tried the Jumango after going with the recommendation of the server. This is a combination of Cornflakes, Mango and Honey Crumble. I also ask for a scoop of vanilla ice cream to make it extra yummy. The smallest bowl is only for P50 which I think is worth it. I watched at the server carefully piled...

Thinking of what to prepare for dinner....again? Check out Yummy.ph , Yummy Magazine 's official online portal. This site gives readers more easy-to-do recipes, additional cooking and baking lessons and they can also read blogs and stories written by the Yummy editors, contributors and guest chefs. At present, my browser automatically opens to this site as I get daily recipes that I can prepare for dinner tonight. Since my trip to Singapore last month, I have been craving for IKEA's Swedish Meatballs and I was sooooo happy to see that today's recipe is actually a dish called Swedish Meatballs and Pasta from Chef Carina Guevara. I'm definitely printing this one out and will prepare this during the weekend! Visitors should also watch out for their cool online contests!! Remember the recently concluded writing contest that sent one lucky reader and his companion to Hong Kong for the HK Food and Wine Festival ? Right now, they're giving away 5 sets of Yummy Books to w...

I Love to Eat Chicken. On several occasions, these are the three choices that I would give Paul whenever we're deciding on where to eat: KFC... Max's... Savory... Obviously, which ever he chooses, one thing's for sure. we're having Chicken! Last Saturday, Paul and I had to grab a quick lunch before the start of his photo shoot. With only thirty minutes to spare, we decided to just choose from the restaurants nearby and not wanting to just end up with a fast food lunch, we decided to go to Savory Chicken which was perfectly located in front of the event site. Paul frequents Savory Chicken more than I do and so he took care of ordering for us this time. Browsing through the menu, Paul finally made his choices and ordered the following for our quick but delicious meal: Savory Combo A (Php. 295). This meal is good for two as it comes with two cups of rice, Lumpia Shanghai, 1/2 Fried Chicken and Pansit Canton. We both love Savory's gravy which is why we immediately ...

Paul asked me if I can be his model for an assignment for his class... Of course, I said YES . Inspired by the 191 (and still counting) comments left on my on-going Starbucks planner promotion page ...here I am with a couple of my Starbucks collection that consists of the city mugs and the super cute Bearista bears! Of course, I just had to be in my Starbucks outfit too! Not really a Starbucks fan, am I? Looking forward to reading more comments in the coming 15 days!! :)

Sunday is usually the day when Paul and I would laze around the house and would only go out to hear mass or to make a quick run to the bank. Needless to say, we look forward to Lazy Sundays where we try to recharge and prepare our body and mind for another crazy week back at the office. However, after receiving an invite from fellow blogger and Cabalen (for Paul), Spanky Enriquez , to try more than 30 up and coming food suppliers from lechon to fruit juices to the heart-stopping chocolate bacon and more, we didn't hesitate and later found ourselves at Fort Bonifacio on a warm Sunday morning together with more than a hundred food lovers for the Ultimate Taste Test !!! This event is the brainchild of one of my favorite couples, Anton and Rache Diaz who made this a fund-raising event wherein the P150 entrance goes to supporting the causes of St. Michael Church in Fort Bonifacio, Taguig. Not bad huh? You get to make both your tummy and heart happy by trying out the great tasting fo...

The Biggest Consumer Electronic Show is finally in TOWN! Enjoy Free Wi-Fi... Great discounts on cameras, laptops and more... A very informative talk from the country's top bloggers such as Noemi Lardizabal Dado , Aileen Apolo , Mica Rodriguez , AJ Matela and Anton Diaz ... This is one show that we all should NOT missed. See you all at the C onsumer E lectronics L ive! November 13 - 15 , 2009 at the World Trade Center! Bring any Summit Media November issue for FREE ENTRANCE ! See you there!!!

It was a warm rather lazy Saturday afternoon when Paul and I arrived at The Stock Market in Bonifacio High Street . Even though we arrived on time, the restaurant was already filled with bloggers and friends who were invited to the Century Tuna event that afternoon. An earlier email informed me that I will be part of the Iron Chef -like competition that will be held that day. I sent my confirmation not knowing that they have also included Paul in the list. Hooray! Between the two of us, Paul is really the more talented cook as he can whip up a new original dish within minutes! I was so excited because I know we'll both enjoy this event. The 12 chosen bloggers were divided into two groups and Paul and I were lucky to be placed in the same group. We were part of Team A together with our team leader Melo , and fellow chefs Sire , Alex and Karla . As soon as the mechanics were given, Melo called us in a huddle to discuss the two dishes that we're going to prepare. After survey...

I used to be an early Christmas shopper. For years, Paul and I have successfully completed our Christmas shopping as early as September. You can just imagine the shock on my face when I realized that we are only 44 days away from Christmas and I haven't prepared anything yet. Nothing. Nada. Zilch. So last night, I brought out my Christmas gift notebook and began listing down the names of the people dear to us. The ones whom I want to thank for making this year a lovely one. Today marks the start of my search for the best Christmas gift for the ones on our list. It will be a crazy race against time but for some reason I am pretty excited about it. Looks like I've just been bitten by the Christmas bug, a bit late this year but still, it's there. Let me share with you a couple of possible gift ideas that I have listed down hoping that this can also help you as you complete your own Christmas lists. Nuts about Nuts! Paul and I are huge nut fans and we would even bring...

It's no secret how much I LOVEEEE eating Pasta! Browsing through my past entries such as this , this and this , it can be seen how much I love a wide variety of pasta dishes from fusilli pesto to your good old salmon creamy pasta. I guess I got to credit this to my Oriental lineage and background who has instilled the love for noodles at an early age. With that, how can I turn down an invite that simply says "get to know who's the new pasta player in town, try 12 different pasta dishes in one night! " While it initially sounds intimidating, I immediately sent in my RSVP to confirm my attendance. I wasn't really sure what to expect but one thing was for sure, I arrived with an empty stomach to prepare myself for the numerous pasta dishes that we were told that will be served. It's a good thing though that they trimmed the number down to 7 instead of 12. Throughout dinner, our very engaging host made us guess who this new pasta player was. I just gave it a lon...

Back when I was still a kid, my parents would bring me to this classy Korean restaurant called Arirang. It's a three-story fully carpeted restaurant where we would order plates of Korean bbq meat to grill and later on dip this in their delicious sesame soy sauce before enjoying it together with a spoonful of fragrant sticky rice. As kids, we were pretty blessed as we would frequent this restaurant almost every week. It was definitely sad news when Arirang closed down and later on, bid adieu to the Philippines. Since then, we would try various Korean restaurant in the metro but nothing still came close to our memorable dining experience at Arirang. Then, my dear college friend Sandy came to visit after leaving the Philippines for the US 7 years ago. Of course, her visit was a momentous one as I've been waiting to see her again and to catch up on each other's lives. I sent her a message asking if she has any preferred cuisine or is currently craving for something. Her ...

It has been said before that it is highly encouraged that we eat at least 5 small meals in a day. Therefore, snacks are just as important as breakfast, lunch and dinner. I love taking afternoon snacks! This is when I would allow myself to take in a little more junk food than I really should. Of course, I try to balance this out also by snacking on fruits or a light salad on some days. This week, my mom was my afternoon snack companion and we have discovered two delicious snack items which I think you would also enjoy! Cold Storage Sushi I honestly think I will never ever get tired of eating sushi! If given a chance, I think I can have sushi every single day! However, eating at a Japanese restaurant can be pretty costly and so we were happy to chance upon Cold Storage's sushi selections! For only Php. 150, you can have a small tray filled with 16 pcs. of California Maki! Each piece will give you a plump slice of sweet mango, chewy cold kani all rolled into one and covered with orang...

As the clock strikes twelve, watch as almost everything slowly turns more festive... out comes the reds , the greens and the whites. Just like magic, happy holiday tunes starts to play putting everyone in a better mood as they make their Christmas lists. In a couple of weeks, watch as friends and family exchange gifts over a delicious spread of only the season's best. Best of all, the RED cups are HERE !!!... and they're here to stay up until January 6, 2010 !! This year, Starbucks Coffee is bringing back three of our well-loved holiday beverages namely, the Dark Cherry Mocha , the Peppermint Mocha and my personal favorite, the Toffee Nut Latte ! In addition to these highly sought-after drinks, be sure to try a couple of their plenty holiday food items such as the Creme Brulee Cheesecake , the delectable Chocolate Molten Cake , Paul's favorite the Christmas Turkey Chicken on Cranberry Bread and some returning favorites such as the Peppermint Brownie and the Toffee Nut L...