Frannywanny

Sometime last year, the trend of having delicious and truly indulgent chocolate cakes baked in tin cans became a fast rising trend in the country. Suddenly, almost all bakers, restaurants, and dessert shops came out with their own version. One trying to outdo the other and most recently, some even try to experiment with other flavors apart from the usual chocolate cake which I find to be very ingenious. I've featured a number of my favorites here and I still stand by my honest opinion on them. However, if you really want to try the one that I believed started it all..or in millennial speak, the OG , then ladies and gentlemen, I present to you -- Choco Liquor by Maricar Reyes-Poon . I remember sometime back in 2015, I have read blog reviews from fellow foodie bloggers about the actress' mouthwatering dessert creation. "This heavenly decadent chocolate cake won the hearts of our foodies, with its very rich and moist chocolatey goodness. We like that the quantity of wine ...

It's no big secret how much I love dim sum. I can definitely have it at any given time of the day. Case in point, I actually found myself craving for dim sum when I was pregnant with my twins. I remember how happy I would be whenever Papa would come home with a box of Bola-Bola (pork meatball) siopao and as one box would have three pieces, I could easily wolf down two mini siopaos in one sitting. Guess that's alright as I literally have two buns in my   oven  then. He he he! View this post on Instagram A post shared by Frances Ang (@frannywanny) on Jul 18, 2017 at 12:15am PDT Anyway, I wasn't even very picky with the brand of siopao then. For as long as the buns are soft and chewy, the filling was not too fatty and it still came warm and ready to eat, then I'm all for it. One time, my gokopo   (5th grand aunt)  heard that I was craving for fried siopao, she then sent over a dozen of freshly steamed...

I have to say that I'm a pretty detail-oriented Mom. I guess it comes with my natural OC (obsessive-compulsive) personality. When it comes to my twins, I really do not settle for second best. Personally, I don't mind paying a bit more on certain items that my twins will use for as long as I get the peace of mind and security knowing that it won't harm or pose any risks to their health and safety. Education and early childhood learning is also something I value a lot. Growing up, my parents would encourage my sister and I to read and read and read. We would even have assigned classical books every summer break and Mommy would make sure that we get to finish the book/s before our vacation is over. Looking back, I was so thankful that they did this as it has fostered my love for reading and I somehow have learned to speed read because of this. Furthermore, my love for reading has also led to my passion for writing.  You know how there's this age old marketing str...

About 5 months ago, my dad had a bad fall. Actually, he missed a stepped and slipped in the bathroom. Perhaps for any ordinary person, one could easily just stand up and recover with probably just some minor bruising that an ice pack could easily fix. Unfortunately, as we age, so does our bones and for my 70-something Papa, this led to him damaging one of his hipbones. It was so bad that he felt so much pain and given his high tolerance for pain, we knew that something was just not right when he began complaining of the pain even with just very short distance walks. Anyway, long story short -- Papa had to undergo a partial hip replacement and that posed so much risk whether he can recover a.k.a. walk again. Thankfully, his surgery was a success thanks to his dream team (a.k.a. his team of doctors headed by my brother in law E). After surgery, he had to stay in the hospital for a few more days despite his wishes to go home right away as they wanted to get him started on his therapy. Fin...

I got to admit that among all the cake flavors, Black Forest is one of my least favorites. Why? In the past, the versions that I've tried just have this off-balanced flavor of the dark chocolate cake together with the bitter cherry filling plus that diabetic-inducing heavy cream frosting. For my younger self, it was just too... weird. Since then, I've stayed far far away from ordering Black Forest in whatever occasion it may be. This may be one of the most classic cake flavors in the display case but I'd often go with the fruity kinds or the good ol' Mocha Chiffon Cake if I want to play safe. So, when I recently received a beautiful box of Black Forest Mille Crepe  (Php. 2,000) from Paper Moon  for Valentines Day, I proceeded with a bit more caution. First things first, I tasted with an open mind. After all, my last recollection of having Black Forest was 20-something years ago. Things do can change and they can definitely change for the better. I took one small b...

If there's one thing that excites me is when I get to dine at a restaurant that retains the good ol' tradition in terms of their quality and taste yet one that is also bold enough to break the stereotype and continues to surprise their patrons with "something new." Take the Japanese cuisine for example. Immediately, visions of delicious and comforting bowls of ramen would come to mind, right? How about if I tell you that recently, I tried one that's served in a sizzling bowl. Yup! It's one thing that probably not a lot of people would imagine to have in a traditional Japanese restaurant setting. Thus, this is precisely what sets Kureji  apart. Situated along Malakas street in Quezon City, I immediately fell in love with the beautiful interiors of this restaurant. It has kept the structure of an old traditional Filipino bungalow-style home with rooms in split-levels and an old-school bodega  (storage room) situated at the back of the house with a few step...

Wow 2019 is zooming by so so so fast, don't you agree? Look at this, we're half way in February and before we know it, we're halfway through the year and 2020 will start making its way through. Don't you wish that time would slow down a lil bit allowing us to breath, relax and have a bit more fun? As I was going through my blog archive, I realized that I haven't shared any recipes with you guys for the past 2 months. A lot of things have happened in 60 days that sometimes I feel like I just can't keep up! Anyway, let me have a good start to this exciting week by sharing one of my favorite easy-peasy recipes with you. This one can be done in less than 30 minutes and one that I love to do when I'm literally in a rush. That said, I apologize in advance for the awful photo qualities that you'll see below. No glamorized shots, no proper lighting, no stylized plating. I was seriously rushing to make dinner as I got stuck in traffic and came home with less th...

"Dear xxx, You'll always have the biggest PIZZA my heart." "To my one and only, I PEPPERON-ly have eyes on you." "My love, you had me at PIZZA." Sounds cheesy? Well, you are allowed to be as cheesy as you want this Valentines Day (all the way up to this weekend) and surprise your special someone with a box of pizza too! That's what I did as Paul and I opted to stay home with our twins on this special day. 

Two weeks ago, I literally spent the entire weekend shopping at Baby Company's Grand Baby Fair . If there's one baby fair that all moms should be present in, then this would definitely be it. It happens twice a year but the biggest one happens every January. Most of you may know by now that I'm definitely not the shopping fanatic kind, so in order for me to brave the crowd just to score a number of great deals, that equates to a lot of energy and thus I ended up feeling super exhausted but very satisfied as most twin mom will definitely agree with me that with more kids.. every peso counts. Spot me and my little J! This year's fair was definitely much better in terms of logistics and variety as compared to the last. I was so happy with this thus making all the effort to go all the way to SM Megamall so worth it. We went both on the first and second day. The first day was spent shopping for all of our babies' necessities and the second day.. well I went there f...

Tomorrow, we say goodbye to the Year of the Earth Dog and welcome the arrival of the Earth Pig. I managed to take a quick peek at my horoscope and things seems to look positive and rosy for those born in my year (ha! I'm not disclosing which year haha sneaky sneaky huh?) . I'm sure there'll be lots of Chinese New Year prediction going around tomorrow so better keep a look out for yours and I do wish that your 2019 will be filled with happiness and prosperity too. Anyway, despite receiving a good forecast, I still like to play my cards right. It doesn't hurt to take extra steps to bring in more luck, after all. On the foodie front, here are 8 dishes that should be part of your Chinese New Year spread tomorrow night: 1) Dumplings This is probably one of the most popular dishes every Chinese New Year. This tiny yummy bags of pork/minced veggies/seafood symbolizes wealth . Shaped like ingots which are the olden day representation of money, thus it's believed th...

February has officially rolled in and the festivities haven't ended yet! After we have celebrated Christmas and New Year, it's now time to bring out all of our red outfits (mental note: look for Chinese costumes for my twins)  and adorn our table with all things round, red and lucky as the Year of the Pig is just around the corner. Which, by the way, will happen in a few days time! Our family has been extra busy lately as my sister recently gave birth to a healthy baby boy and so prior to that, we've been helping her prepare for the grand arrival of the newest addition of our growing family. Anyway, with all that frenzy as well as with our jam-packed schedules, I feel like we wouldn't have time to spend half a day, more so, the entire day in the kitchen. However, I will never allow that the Chinese New Year will just go by quietly so a celebration is definitely in order. Luckily, I have my go-to home delivery service -- China Mommy ! Remember how they have filled ...