Frannywanny

As we ignite our entrepreneurial spirit, Paul , my sister and I will be at the Candy Fair 2010 selling our ever-famous hotdog poppers, chicken nuggets and more! It will be a fun event as all visitors will be able to join the games, engage themselves in the fun activities lined up, watch cool performances and enjoy our yummy food!! Look for the Big Bite booth on Saturday, September 4, 2010 at the A.Venue Hall anytime from 10AM - 5PM. Bring a copy of the September issue of Candy Mag to enter or pay the P100 entrance fee (but I promise it will be worth it!)!!! Hope to see you there!! :)

It's that time of the year again when the moon is at its fullest, Chinese families will give each other boxes of mooncake and relatives and friends gather around the table throwing 6 pieces of dice into a glass bowl to test their luck. Last September 22, it was the 15th day of August in the Lunar Calendar and for all Chinese families in the world, this marks the Mid-Autumn Festival . Next to our birthdays and Christmas, we all look forward to this particular festival as our family gets ready for the annual Mooncake Dice Game. This year, it was I, my sister and Paul's turn to host the much-awaited event. Sharing our luck for winning an overnight stay at Dusit Thani's Presidential Suite , Paul and I invited both families (his and mine) to have dinner and to play the game in the suite. This got everyone excited as we normally would just have it at home. A room meant for Royalty Just a couple of months ago, I swooned and raved about our stay at the Swissotel Stamford ...

After enjoying our filling dinner at the newest branch of Charlie's here in San Juan, I sweetly asked Paul if we can hop over to the next store for dessert. I have heard quite a buzz about this new yogurt place from blogger friends and fellow club members Rowena , Richard and Carlos and I've been itching to try it since July. I am a big fan of frozen yogurt and I find joy in trying all of the brands that has been sprouting like mushrooms since last 2008. At the moment, I love Red Mango and Yoh-gurt Froz for their yogurt that's not too sweet yet not too tart either. I've tried a number of self-service yogurt places as well but none has made me go back after my first visit. Enter Yoggle , a hip-looking yogurt place along Ortigas Avenue in San Juan. It offers a total of 8 different flavor ranging from the Plain Tart to Sweet Vanilla. The charging is P20 per ounce. While this might be pretty tricky as you get a big cup at one end of the store and you make your wa...

Back when I was a kid, I always thought and believed that I was somehow a princess living in my own fairy tale. My world back then was filled with happiness that for me, life was simply a bed of sweet-smelling roses. That, I have my dear parents to thank for. Growing up, obstacles and heartaches were thrown my way but I still continued to keep my head up high as I know I will be able to surpass them all and deep inside my heart I know that someday... someday my prince will come . Then you came along like my knight in a shining armor, silent yet sincere you stood by me and never left my side. Through the good times and bad you lent me your shoulders to cry on while wrapping me in your arms to give me the comfort that I needed. You were like the son that my parents' never had and the older brother that my sister has been hoping to have. In other words, you were the missing piece to my small and loving family. My life has been more colorful for the past 7 years. It is because o...

Life before 1998, the phrase “Hello, ASL please” meant nothing to me. I didn’t even know that ASL was a conversation starter. Then the Internet took the Philippines by storm, we find every household owning at least one modem connected to their personal computer that’s linked to a phone line. We began with a dial-up connection that had very limited access that we even had to list down our usage to make sure we won’t go beyond the allotted hours. Back then; all we did was to create an email account, surf via Yahoo.com and to log on to mIRC where we met online friends here and abroad. Thus, we learned that ASL actually stands for Age, Sex and Location -- the first three things you ask someone in a chat room. When our dial-up connection would frequently become intermittent, we would buy a handful of prepaid cards from our neighborhood convenient store to make sure that we can still connect to the Internet especially when our homework would call for some research. Little did we know tha...

For years being a blogger, nothing brightens my day more than receiving comments from you, dear readers. Be it a simple message on how much you've enjoyed the dishes mentioned in a particular entry or a heart-warming note telling me to continue blogging -- all these really gives me the encouragement to blog, blog and blog some more. As a blogger, I am also a reader. I love reading other food and travel blogs and I also look forward to Thursdays as two of my favorite broadsheets have Food as the feature in their Lifestyle Section. I have my own list of favorite writers too. I look forward to reading about their latest food and cooking adventures and yet I have remained to be a silent reader, never letting them know that I have been following their section for years. This habit changed yesterday when I was reading the online version of the Philippine Star's Food section and I began reading a section called Food for Thought . This is a relatively new section written by m...

Christmas is less than 85 days away and it's time to bring out your Christmas list and to start shopping for your friends and loved ones! The best way to get the most out of your shopping budget is to be on a look out for bazaars, sales and great bargains! Announcing the Warehouse Sale of the Robinsons Retail Group including brands such as Dorothy Perkins, Topshop, Topman, Toys R Us, Warehouse and a lot more! See you there! :)

I've always called myself Daddy's Little Girl. This is probably because I grew up thinking that Papa has always been on my side while Mommy would always be there to protect my younger sister. Whenever my sister and I would have petty fights on who gets the best part of the chicken, who should have more TV time and a lot more, our parents would play referee and it was Papa who would give in to my whims while Mommy has remained to be my disciplinarian, which in my eyes as a kid equals to a villain in any fairy tale. Papa would shower me with every little thing that I asked for. Be it a weekly supply of my favorite chips and cookies, never-ending purchase of my favorite pocket book, a trip to the amusement center and a lot more. For me, Papa was my knight in a shining armor who showered me with so much love every single day. Back then, Mommy and I never saw each other eye-to-eye. How she limits my fried rice intake made me feel like she was depriving me of my favorite food. ...

Who would have thought that you can enjoy your favorite cup of Starbucks coffee even when there's no Starbucks store nearby? You can literally take your coffee with you up to the top of the mountain or to the farthest point of the island and you can still enjoy the same Starbucks experience minus the jazz-y music and the sound of blender going on and off every other minute. At first, I thought it was a joke when I heard that there will be a Starbucks instant coffee. "How can that be possible", I thought. After working for the Green Siren for more than two years, my mind was set to think that Starbucks will always be about freshly brewed coffee or fragrant espresso-based drinks handcrafted by your favorite barista. However, the news is true and the Starbucks VIA Ready Brew has arrived here in the Philippines following the first market launch in Japan. It comes in three flavors: Italian Roast , Decaf Italian Roast and my personal favorite, Columbia . I was excite...

While planning for our trip to Kuala Lumpur months ago, I got a comment for a reader to try Nando's Peri Peri Chicken . Unfortunately, due to time constraint, we were not able to go with the recommendation but this got me craving for peri-peri chicken the moment we got back from our honeymoon trip. Thanks to our ever supportive friends, we scheduled a dinner at Peri-Peri Grillhouse at the Greenhills Promenade one Sunday evening. We arrived a little past 7 and the place was already packed. I love the cheerful greeting that you'd get the moment you walk into the restaurant. Who doesn't love chicken? While people would have a wide range of food restrictions due to religion, dietary requirement or allergies, rarely have I encountered anyone who is not allowed to eat chicken. Thus, this has been a common choice when dining out in groups. Peri-peri Grillhouse has been around for a while already and they have even undergone one major renovation thus the big change in their...

F is for Frannywanny and Facebook ! Continuing the celebration of my 3rd blogniversary , the official facebook page of Frannywanny.com has now been created! There, followers can expect frequent updates on my latest entries, special contests just for my Facebook friends and more! Show your love and click here to be part of my Facebook page ! :)

Looking back at the past 8 months when Paul and I were busy preparing for our BIG day, I remember that among all things needed for the wedding, I was most excited working on our invitation. I enjoyed the brainstorming session that we had with Soph , our invite maker (and my talented make up artist too), and her sister -- who took care of our layout. From the type of paper stock to the different accents to make our invitation unique, I enjoyed running my fingers through the different paper types available. I remembered how I squealed in delight upon seeing our final product. Our wedding invitation left me speechless. I really have a long running love affair with paper and I guess this is why I am in the industry where I am right now. While going around Greenbelt 5 last night before heading to Mr Jones for that much-awaited girls night out with K and B, I chanced upon a cute pink store at the Basement 1 that's called the Invitation House . I entered the store expecting to see ...

I just had two major goals for the long week...first was to get a full body massage with my sister which we did last Saturday at The Spa and second was to watch Despicable Me . I saw the trailer but initially it didn't appealed to me thinking it will be all about villains and lots of fighting in animation involved. It wasn't until my sister showed me the trailer once again when I fell in love with the cute little girl who went gaga over a stuffed unicorn. We agreed to watch it last Sunday and initially I was hesitant to buy the ticket as the 3D version in Greenhills was priced at P320 . I want to watch the movie but to pay three times more than the average ticket cost..I paused a bit and even considered backing out. Finally after 5 minutes worth of non-stop prodding from my sister, there we were in front of the movie counter buying three 3D tickets to watch Despicable Me . This ticket came with a bag of popcorn and your choice of drink. Honestly, I hope they would make ...

In contrast to both my parents who grew up somewhere near Chinatown in Manila, I was a Quezon City girl. Exploring the different food spots along Tomas Morato at a very young age was my weekly past time. Even my husband was a Manila boy. Oh how I enjoy it as I listen to their simple childhood stories of them walking around the safer streets of Manila. When I think of Manila I remember my history class teaching us about how life was back then during the Spanish colonization. Pretty ladies in frilly clothes and men in white coats fill my imaginative mind. I remember how my mom would tell us that two horse carriages would bring her to school and back. She was considered privilege by having this type of luxury. It makes me realize how colorful our history really was. Having a mix of Chinese, American and Spanish influences, life back then was more simple, fun yet very colorful. A visit to the Manila Peninsula hotel for a surprise date with my husband just a month after our weddi...

Thank you to all those who have submitted their really creative portmanteaus!!! :) Enjoying cup after cup of the Nestle Fruit Selection Yogurt with Jelly is just as fun as coming up with the wackiest word creation as those submitted by my dear readers in this entry . I am pleased to announce that we have 3 winners for this contest. CONGRATULATIONS to...GLENN ONG, KARNIE and MARITES QUITORIANO!!! Kindly expect an email from me in a short while on instructions on how to claim your 15 cups of Nestle Fruit Selection Yogurt with Jelly each!! Till the next contest!! :)

I can't imagine a world without garlic. No Aglio Olio, no garlic bread, no 40 cloves garlic chicken and a lot more. Perhaps half of the the world's gastronomical masterpiece will become bland without the use of this powerful herb. Enter Krazy Garlik , the newest go-to place for garlic lovers in the Metro. It's brought to us by the Bistro Group , the same company who owns Italiamnis , Flapjacks and Fish and Co . Barely a month old, you'd be surprise to see the restaurant filled with happy customers even on a weekday. I guess this is a good sign for a new business that is actually just a local concept. We arrived a little past 12 and there were just two tables available. As the server led us in, I marveled at the cute Alice in Garlic-land mural on the wall. Very whimsical and clever. To start off our meal, we had Creamy Garlic Fondue (Php. 255) which had a couple of garlic bread slices and a bowl of cheezy, creamy garlic dip. It's light and definitely a p...

My dear readers, I can't believe another year has passed and I am now blowing out three candles on Frannywanny.com 's birthday cake! Looking back at the time when I started this blog, I simply just wanted an avenue to share my thoughts on the different dining experiences that Paul and I had plus a few photos, some of which were even taken using my mobile phone. Year after year, I have been blessed by meeting a couple of great blogger friends, restaurant-owners-who-eventually-became-our-good-friends and of course my treasured readers. Nothing warms my heart more by hearing all of your kind words and encouragement that makes blogging truly fun each and every day. Blogging has been and will continue to be my passion. A week is not complete without allowing my tiny fingers to type away as I share our latest food and travel finds. This blog has played a huge part of my life, it has seen me at my worst and definitely has been there at my best . As I enter my third year, I...