Frannywanny

Are you a bowl or plate person?  I'm actually more of a bowl person. By this, I mean, I like to eat in a bowl. It must be because, when I was growing up, my yaya would create a nice rice bowl for Pan and I making it easier for us to eat especially when Mommy and Papa had to work late and we get to have dinner in front of the TV. On nights when we get to eat as a family, I would still swap out my plate with a bowl especially when we're having a sauce-filled viand like adobo, curry or Mommy's specially -- Pickled Chicken. *drool* I somehow carried on this eating habit all the way to adulthood. In fact, it took Paul some getting used to when I would put bowls instead of plates when setting up our table for dinner. So imagine my joy when I discovered Glambue  and all of its beautiful bamboo bowls, salad tossers, and serving trays. Let me tell you why it was love at first sight:

I just broke a new record last Tuesday. That is the fastest overseas trip that I've ever taken in my life. The record time : approximately 12 hours. Yup! I flew out of Singapore for Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia in the morning and was back at Changi International Airport 12 hours after. I have to say the trip left me so exhausted and almost in the brink of collapsing but looking back, it was still a nice adventure all together. Since I had a bit of time before my scheduled meeting in Kuala Lumpur, I decided to head to my favorite shopping mall -- Pavilion as this is one place I know I won't feel lost and can easily hail a cab to my meeting place right away. Pavilion is located along Jalan Bukit Bintang, the shopping district of Kuala Lumpur. It houses a lot of luxury brands so you can tell immediately that this mall is rather upscale. I like it though as I try to avoid overly crowded malls and walking around Pavilion never fails to give me that sense of peace.

I once said that my Papa is a creature of habit most especially when it comes to his dining preferences. Well, I guess the apple does not fall far from the tree as I would catch myself going through certain routines once in a while. Take for example every trip I make to Cebu City. Three things are for sure: First, I get to eat lechon (lots of it!). Secondly, I have to hoard on bags of chicharon to take home with me. Lastly, I always have to visit La Marea Pastry Shop in Crossroads, Banilad. Such was the case again during our recent visit to the Queen City of the South last December. After having a nice romantic dinner at Maya Mexican Restaurant , Paul and I walked over to La Marea Pastry Shop for dessert! Of course, after all those years hearing my raves about it, it's finally time for Paul to have his own taste of La Marea's Warm Brownie Cup .

When our friend A came to Singapore for his regular business trip, we all cheered! Aside from the fact that we all love A (and his other half D) very much, his visit also gives the Normanton Kids the reason to eat out especially on a weeknight. You see, weeknights for us normally means heading to the gym after work, having home-cooked dinners or putting in more hours at work (yeah, we're all workaholics like that!) . Whenever A visits us, we make sure that we get to go out for a nice meal together. During his recent visit, we decided to check out Bistroquet Pizza & Grill  at Alexandra Retail Centre. This is because we got a 1-for-1 deal with the Entertainer App and the restaurant is located very close to home too. To be honest, I've seen Bistroquet since we moved to Singapore but never thought of giving it a try because the restaurant always seems empty whenever we pass by. That evening though, there were two big groups of students for dinner. While waiting for the o...

It's no big secret how much I love ice cream. Served on a cone, cup or on top of a freshly baked waffle, ice cream has been my favorite meal-ender since I was a kid. I'm also glad that my office somehow has a steady supply of Magnum Ice Cream, thanks to all those who got confirmed and/or promoted, making it so convenient for me to just grab a pack when I need to de-stress or to end my lunch on a happier note. It may not be the healthiest dessert on the planet but hey, it makes me happy so I'm sticking by it. :) Gelato is the Italian's take on ice cream. What makes it different from it's American counterpart is the use of less cream and more milk. Thus, if you think about it, gelato has less fat content vs. any ordinary US-made ice cream. There's a whole lot of science that goes into making a gelato which Paul was trying to explain to me all evening. Things like the speed of churning the gelato, the sugar content, the freshness of the ingredients and so on. ...

Guess what? Frannywanny.com has been around for 8 years already! I'd say time flies when you're busy blogging. It's always fun to reminisce as I would go through my old posts and read all about the food and travel adventures that I've had with Paul and the friends we're so lucky to meet along the way. After all, eating is a communal activity and it's always a good thing to meet like-minded individuals who share the same passion such in my case, that would be eating and writing. During our visit back home over the holidays, Paul and I met up with a couple of our favorite Filipino food bloggers whom I have to say are one of the best in the country. These guys do take food seriously and they have been my gurus when it comes to keeping myself updated with the yummiest food find in the metro. Meet Jeng , Richie & Rina , Jane & Jeff , Jaz & Eric , Spanky , Joan & Abet , Ray & Lynne . These are the guys and gals behind some of the food blogs...

Do you remember this totally adorable 7-second line? Indeed, the world went crazy over little Agnes of Despicable Me and her cute ways that this winning one-liner totally stayed on longer than the movie itself. Case in point, I suddenly had this line in mind the moment Paul and I walk into Fluffy Dessert  in Tanjong Pagar Road. Fluffy Dessert specializes in Taiwanese ice desserts and it was just perfect timing for Paul and I to chance upon this little store as we were walking around the area in search for a place to have dessert one evening. I always give great importance to first impressions and I immediately liked what I saw.

After checking in at F1 Hotel Manila for a quick overnight staycation, Paul and I, together with my MIL and FIL headed down to the 3rd level for lunch! I love that the restaurant is named F All Day Dining  as you all know that F  is my favorite letter! :) It's the hotel's main restaurant that offers all-day buffet from breakfast to dinner. They also have a little spread during afternoon tea! How cool is that? Anyway, the theme during the time that we went was Chinese New Year so the buffet has predominantly Asian/Chinese dishes to celebrate the occasion. Our lunch also fell on a Friday which means all meatless dishes for me. Normally, this is the only day in the week where I'd avoid eating out much less going for a buffet. Well, I trust that F will have a good variety to still make my lunch satisfying.  Let's go through the different stations and dishes that caught my eye: Of seafood, sushi rolls and sashimis!

It's really amazing how one learns to time manage most especially in moments when we clearly do not have that much allotted free time to spend. I guess this is the classic case of "so little time, so much to do." Such is always..and I repeat, always the case whenever we fly back home. No matter how much time or days we've allocated for a certain visit back to Manila, we always end up feeling like we should have stayed longer. I guess, that's because time spent at home with our families will never ever be "long enough" . So, I was pretty amazed that Paul and I have managed to sneak in a quick overnight staycation at F1 Hotel at Bonifacio Global City. I guess it's because this was specially prepared by my fellow blogger J and dear friend T whom I can never ever say no to. :) F1 Hotel is the first hotel in Bonifacio Global City and I do remember having lunch there not so long ago . We're finally back at F1 Hotel , this time with my MIL and...

Paul and I got to try the new  Vikings  at the SM Megamall Fashion Hall a couple of months ago to celebrate the birthdays of Ahia J, Achi M and our cutie nephew and godson, Jairus. We started planning for this dinner months in advance as you know, early notification is necessary for the *ahem* OFW members of the family as our schedule is always crazy hectic and given that, we somehow managed to still arrive half an hour late and almost everyone were on their 3rd 4th 5th plates already! Even my favorite (she's my one and only) niece, Julia was busy enjoying her plate of marshmallows and chocolate too! Let us go on a quick tour around Vikings : Start your meal with some of these bite-sized appetizers Salad corner with a selection of hard cheeses

I guess I've mentioned quite a lot of times before how happy it makes me when friends come to visit. Much more when they do come to visit and make time for me and Paul! Being travelers ourselves, we know how crazy one's trip itinerary can be so we don't normally demand people to meet up with us as we know they'd rather spend those hours exploring beautiful Singapore. So, when friends would message us and ask us if we're free to meet up for a meal, we'd make it a point to say yes and would go through great lengths to ensure that they'll indeed have a good meal. It's the least that we can do for their thoughtfulness and love, right? So, when my favorite foodie friends Dedet and Cyrene flew to Singapore over the weekend, we agreed to meet up for dinner. Dedet's only request was to have something uniquely Singaporean. I don't know why but the first thing that came to mind was Ah Hoi's Kitchen , our go-to place for delicious crabs and their mo...

There's really something about cafes that give that nice calming effect. Must be the nice aroma of the coffee or the light chatter of the people around me. During my weekly me-time moments, I always find that sense of peace while enjoying a nice cup of Flat White together with my choice of brunch as I read a new book or simply stare off into space. However, when that cafe would make me want to go back again and again, then I know that it has successful won my heart and it will permanently stay there for years to come. Yes, I'm THAT loyal. After all, I was born on the Year of the Dog.  *arf!* I think I have found my favourite cafe in the Lion City the moment I step inside Symmetry Cafe . How I ended up having brunch there was purely accidental. You see, I was a few hours early for a work-related event and with my growling tummy, I roamed the streets of Kampong Glam  in search of a nice cafe to hang out in. Then I remembered I and C telling me about Symmetry Cafe . A quick ...

It's FRIDAY and I'm in loveeeee! ♥ I know, I know...Valentine's Day has long been over but hey, why not share the love every single day, right? For one thing, Friday always has this effect on me. Waking up feeling extra happy and giddy and despite having to finish off a heavy workload, the thought of being able to enjoy two glorious work-free days after is enough to put a big smile on my face the whole day. Since, it's my (3rd) favorite day of the week, let me share with you one of the highlights of my recent trip back to Manila. For one of our dinners, my family and I decided to check out Crisp on 28th . This has been on my list since last year but since our trips are always so short or packed with our personal errands, it's pretty much impossible to be able to try all the new restaurants starting from the time we temporarily bid Manila goodbye. Truth to be told, I've gave up hoping that I'll be able to catch up with the newly opened restaurants in to...

After two years since my first visit to CnT Lechon in Cebu City, I found myself excitedly walking up the short flight of stairs again towards the big dining hall this time with Paul. For those who remembered, CnT Lechon was my preferred roasted pork due to it's delicious smokey flavor that just showed how authentic it was. Since it was Paul's first time in the Queen City of the South , I made sure that we won't be leaving Cebu without letting him have his first taste of real, authentic Cebu lechon. By that, I just posed a great challenge to myself as we're talking about my true blue Capampangan husband who swears by his favorite sisig, lechon and chicharon with atchara  (all from his hometown in Angeles) . Since we were staying at Radisson Blu, CnT Lechon was a quick 5 minute walk away. Do be ready for some heart-stopping jay-walking action though.  It was our lucky day as there was no queue when we got to the restaurant. This made ordering a breeze as w...

Two years. That's how long ago since I've bid good bye to my family, friends and colleagues in Manila which also means how long Paul and I have been here in the Lion City. It's really amazing to note how fast time flies and the number of things that can happen in just a span of 730 days. I can still remember my first month in Singapore. We were slowly adjusting to the different bus routes from our area to work and we are pretty much clueless when it comes to the new restaurants and the must-tries around. I have to say that we got to hand it to our very helpful friends who have made adjusting in this lovely city pretty much stress-free. I have to admit that we still miss Manila greatly. The people, the food, the culture and even our way of life and comfort back home. However, moving out of our very sheltered world has taught us a bunch of things. Being independent  is one of them and along with it comes a great dose of maturity . These are the two things we will continue...

"France, the lady owner of Monterey told me that Tuan Tuan is really good. Let's go eat there tomorrow night!" That's what Mommy told me when she called me one evening last week when Paul and I were still in Manila. That my food loving Mommy for you! So there we were at 6PM on our last night in Manila in our effort to get to the restaurant early to avoid the long queue. We were able to get a table right away which made it all easy breezy.  The menu was quite simple, it specializes in noodle soup in Halibut stock and a few more Chinese side dishes too. That and some baked rice that I've been wanting to try since friends started posting photos of these on Instagram. The ambiance reminds me of a traditional but extra classy  cha chaan teng in Hong Kong with white tiled walls, a semi open kitchen and restaurant diners talking all at the same time. They even have the famous Black & White Evaporated Milk commonly used in Hong Kong for their nai cha (...