Frannywanny

2020 was supposed to be a special year for Paul and I. It's the year of our 10th wedding anniversary and we had BIG plans. Plans such as taking the twins to Hong Kong to visit Disneyland for the first time, plans for a week-long beach getaway to celebrate our anniversary, plans to eat out and to celebrate this special occasion. Well, I guess life is indeed unpredictable. Who would have thought that the entire world will be hit by the biggest pandemic known today and we're still battling it as we speak. It's been a year and a month since our first lockdown and the fight is far from over.  Sure, it was a bummer that all our plans had to be put on hold but if you're going to ask me now, it's okay. My only wish since 2020 is for all of us to stay healthy and safe. Travelling can wait, eating out can happen once the pandemic is over and yes, that beach trip will have to be rescheduled to a much later date.  However, Paul and I didn't let our special day go by with...

It was a rainy evening and I have just completed one of the hardest course in my GM Bootcamp so I took a short break from studying and spent last night going through my blog files. Oh, there are just so many photos and stories that I have yet to tell and I hope that I'll be able to blog about them one by one soon. Let me start with one of my favorites last year.  Since the country went on lock down, I gotta give props to restaurants who were so quick on their feet and innovated their products to give foodies and their loyal patrons the chance to "dine out" within the safe confines of our own home. A few months ago, I received a brown box from Your Local  and upon opening it I was so happy to see cleanly packaged ingredients that will help me recreate their signature Chili Crab Buns  for me and my family to enjoy.  Everything was prepared so well! The crabmeat in chili sauce, the mantou buns and the veggies. Looking at this, I was so excited to give it a try and see ...

Experts often say that the secret to losing weight is to remember the 80/20 rule. Well, okay, there are several variations to this -- 90/10, 75/25 and it goes on and on. However, it all points to the same principle -- losing weight is a mix of 80% diet and 20% exercise . I learned this the hard way and I am still learning about this now. No amount of slaving on the treadmill will ever be enough without a healthy and balanced diet. That doesn't say though that you shouldn't exercise. Exercise improves your blood circulation, it burns off all the unwanted fat and it makes you feel young and happy. We're all for eternal youth and happiness so yes, do not forget to exercise.  Okay, now we talk about DIET . This is something that has been quite a challenge especially for food bloggers and lovers like me who believes that the secret to happiness is to eat like there's no tomorrow. Okay, that's an exaggeration but a quick browse through my social feed will tell you that...

"The great gift of Easter is hope." – Basil Hume Happy Easter, everyone! Time is zooming by so fast and as the number of COVID19 cases continue to rise, my only wish is that we get to end this fight against the virus soon. Let's all do our part, shall we? Stay home, practice social distancing, sanitize sanitize sanitize and go and get the vaccine when you can .  I'd also like to add one more tip too -- let's continue to support local businesses as believe me, our economy has been hit so badly and it is just too painful to see one restaurant/retail outlet/business close down after the other. Along with its closure means people losing money, jobs and a livelihood.  With that, allow me to share with you one of my favorite home food business whom I have been supporting since late last year -- Salmon HQ . I first tried their fresh salmon sashimi and sushi bake sometime in December when I prepared my sister's going-away lunch. I know that they will most probabl...

Yesterday was a happy day for our family. After a year of staying at home and trying our hardest to adjust our lifestyles to adhere to the safety protocols to avoid getting and spreading the virus, my parents got their 1st dose of the vaccine! I think a lot are curious how it all happened so allow me to tell you all about it from registration down to immunization .  We first got wind of the registration sometime in February and while I know that my family's still undecided whether or not we're getting the vaccine, I decided to just register to secure us a slot. Yes, I am kiasu that way but I figured out that it's better that we have a slot and that we are given the chance to choose than not getting any slot later on. I assured my parents that this will give us time to slowly decide by doing our own research and getting first hand information from others who will be immunized before us.  Cut to last weekend, I found out that the form that I have filled up back in February ...