Frannywanny

This was indeed a big big surprise. It started when I was chatting with my cousin and he casually mentioned Vito's BBQ  as we were talking about Chicken Rice dishes. I didn't thought much about it until I went online and saw a couple of friends from my high school posting about the same thing. "Hmm.. what is this  Vito's BBQ ?", I thought to myself. I was definitely so curious now and I quickly went to their Instagram page to check them out. Oh my! I'll warn you now. Do NOT go to their page at the middle of the night or you'll surely end up hungry and craving for Chicken BBQ. Trust me, I learned this the hard, hungry way.  Apparently, Vito's BBQ is named after the owners' 4 year old and he's so adorable! They started in Libis and recently, they opened their pick-up station in... *drumroll* Ronac Art Center along Ortigas Avenue and is even closer to home! Yahoooo!  Anyway, we celebrated Grandparent's Day last last week and I decided that...

 I guess this is truly the "new normal" . How things have quickly moved online -- paying bills, processing payments, ordering food, sending out courier items and many more. Since the start of the quarantine, our family has heavily relied on our friends who have took their products online. From breads, to fish, from veggies and fruits and even cooked food. I've lost count of the number of deliveries that have been made and with that, we follow a very strict sanitation protocol to ensure that the dreaded virus stays out and away from our home. As you know, we had a scare just a month ago and it was really stressful and horrible. It was so hard to isolate someone much more to isolate 4 people in the family and to adjust how we do things here. The inconvenience was one thing but more than anything, it was the emotional stress that really took a toll on us. The fear that one may be positive and could have possibly infected the rest was one thing we were so scared of. Thankfull...

If there's one thing I realized while feeding my twins is that kids have this great love for anything crispy or crunchy. No matter how hard you try or how long you'd slave away in the kitchen, remember this -- prepare something crispy or crunchy and believe me, your kids will praise you like a kitchen god / goddess. Well, at least, as far as my twins are concerned. Save for the ever-reliable adobo which they love or their all-time fave Baked Spaghetti, my twins are huge fans of fried chicken, corn flakes, crunchy toast sandwiches, crackers and croquettes. This is why I always make sure to have a bag of panko breadcrumbs in our pantry cabinet to make it easy for us to whip up a deep-fry batter whenever the need arises. Don't get me wrong, they get their fair share of veggies and other protein too and we try our best to limit their deep-fried intake on a weekly basis but on days when it just gets slightly tough to satisfy our picky gourmands, well deep-fried crunchy creations...

WOW! Thirteen.  It's like I have a teenager. If you really think about it, Frannywanny.com is my first baby. It was born out of love and passion, somewhat unplanned and based on impulse but how it grew to what it is today is because of the amount of time and dedication that I have poured into it and of course, the immeasurable support that I have been blessed with. If you have been following this blog for the past 13 years, you have been with me through all my ups and downs as I moved out of Manila, started a new life in Singapore, moved back to Manila, became a twin mom and yet, I still want to think that I am still am the same Frannywanny from Day 1 -- a city girl who loves to eat, cook and to write.  I got to admit that when I started this blog, I honestly thought that I was just writing for a handful of my friends to read. Them and Paul, of course. So, it never fails to warm my heart when I would encounter someone who would write to me or would tell me in person that the...

We're living in a world where we're becoming really dependent on gadgets and technology. I got to admit that the first thing I do as I wake up in the morning is to check my phone. After getting the kids ready for breakfast, I then turn on the TV supposedly to play in the background as the reporter from BBC updates us on the latest news in the region but when I hear something interesting, I'd immediately turn my attention to it. After that, I head to my mini office where I start my daily calls with various people in the team. This goes on for the next 4 hours before I go down for lunch. After lunch, I take an extra hour to play with the kids and I go back again to work up until it's time for dinner. If I'm not staring at my phone, I'd be on my laptop and even if I try my hardest to create time blocks to walk around, grab a drink or to stretch, I know that I have been overworking my eyes especially during this quarantine season.  There were instances wherein I wou...