Welcome to the Century Tuna Kitchen Stadium

It was a warm rather lazy Saturday afternoon when Paul and I arrived at The Stock Market in Bonifacio High Street. Even though we arrived on time, the restaurant was already filled with bloggers and friends who were invited to the Century Tuna event that afternoon.

An earlier email informed me that I will be part of the Iron Chef-like competition that will be held that day. I sent my confirmation not knowing that they have also included Paul in the list. Hooray! Between the two of us, Paul is really the more talented cook as he can whip up a new original dish within minutes! I was so excited because I know we'll both enjoy this event.

The 12 chosen bloggers were divided into two groups and Paul and I were lucky to be placed in the same group. We were part of Team A together with our team leader Melo, and fellow chefs Sire, Alex and Karla.

As soon as the mechanics were given, Melo called us in a huddle to discuss the two dishes that we're going to prepare. After surveying the table, we have decided to make Century Corned Tuna Canapes and Century Tuna Fusilli ala Aglio Olio style. Both recipes are easy to make and it greatly highlights the use of the themed ingredient which is the Century Corned Tuna.

We were assigned a chef from Century Tuna who guided us all throughout the way and who gave us the confidence to keep on going with her thumbs up sign and big smile.

As the clock started ticking, Melo, Alex and Karla began to assemble the canapes while Sire, Paul and I brought out the pans and began to cook our pasta. It's a good thing that I've been reading a lot of food magazines that I have learned to pick up a thing or two about food styling. Using the plates provided by The Stock Market, we neatly presented our two dishes complete with garnish and the right toppings too.

Century Corned Tuna Canapes
Century Tuna Fusilli ala Aglio Olio style
The competition was fun and truly a friendly one. At times I would even playfully peek over the shoulders of AJ who's from the other team as he was busy working on their pasta dish.

Finally, our one hour was up and it was time for our judges to try our masterpieces. The judging team was composed of fellow bloggers DocGelo and Ariel, Century Tuna models and executives. I can feel my heart racing as I truly believe our dishes stood a change but just like in every competition, after giving your best, you leave the rest up to... luck. :)

Just like in any competition, you win some and you lose some. My team may not have been that lucky in bringing home the prize but we sure had a fun time while preparing these two yummy tuna dishes using Century Corned Tuna.

Congratulations to Team B! :)

photos by Paul Ang

Frannywanny's Holiday Gift Idea : Nuts about Allies' Nuts

I used to be an early Christmas shopper. For years, Paul and I have successfully completed our Christmas shopping as early as September. You can just imagine the shock on my face when I realized that we are only 44 days away from Christmas and I haven't prepared anything yet. Nothing. Nada. Zilch.

So last night, I brought out my Christmas gift notebook and began listing down the names of the people dear to us. The ones whom I want to thank for making this year a lovely one.

Today marks the start of my search for the best Christmas gift for the ones on our list. It will be a crazy race against time but for some reason I am pretty excited about it. Looks like I've just been bitten by the Christmas bug, a bit late this year but still, it's there.

Let me share with you a couple of possible gift ideas that I have listed down hoping that this can also help you as you complete your own Christmas lists.

Nuts about Nuts!

Paul and I are huge nut fans and we would even bring a pack of nuts into the cinema instead of a big bucket of popcorn. We particularly liked Allies' Nuts that we have to get up north. Well, luckily for everyone, my ever hardworking fiance, Paul has decided to be Allies' official distributor here in Metro Manila and this means unlimited peanut supply for everyone!! Yahoo!!!

Why do I love Allies Nuts

It's not oily or greasy.

It has less calories.

It has huge Garlic Chips that for some reason doesn't give me a nasty bad breath after wards.

It's simply addicting.

It's very very affordable. Selling for only P140 for 450g!!

Sharing the Love

Let Paul help you complete your Christmas list by contacting him at 09175388125 / 09233597155.

Free delivery for a minimum order of 10 cans.

A new Pasta player in TOWN!

It's no secret how much I LOVEEEE eating Pasta! Browsing through my past entries such as this, this and this, it can be seen how much I love a wide variety of pasta dishes from fusilli pesto to your good old salmon creamy pasta.

I guess I got to credit this to my Oriental lineage and background who has instilled the love for noodles at an early age. With that, how can I turn down an invite that simply says "get to know who's the new pasta player in town, try 12 different pasta dishes in one night!"

While it initially sounds intimidating, I immediately sent in my RSVP to confirm my attendance.

I wasn't really sure what to expect but one thing was for sure, I arrived with an empty stomach to prepare myself for the numerous pasta dishes that we were told that will be served. It's a good thing though that they trimmed the number down to 7 instead of 12.

Throughout dinner, our very engaging host made us guess who this new pasta player was. I just gave it a long thought and wrote down my guess. Paul also guessed the same thing and wrote his answer down as well.

Can you guess who this new pasta player is?

The first pasta was the simple yet flavorful Aglio Olio (Php. 99). This is actually my favorite pasta to prepare as it's very easy to cook and it requires just 4 ingredients: olive oil, pasta noodles, garlic and parsley. I love my Aglio Olio with tons of garlic and a bit of chili flakes too!

The second pasta was the Fettuccine ala King (Php. 119). This creamy pasta has chicken chunks and the very festive colored bell peppers! It actually makes a good addition to your Christmas table. :) I took a small bite here as I was trying to stay away from creamy pasta which can easily fill you up.

Paul is a huge tomato-based pasta fan and so he was delighted to see the third pasta which is the ultimate Italian-inspired Pasta Puttanesca (Php. 125). Just like the Aglio Olio, this is a very straight-forward pasta dish with black olives, capers, anchovies, parsley bits, rich tomato sauce.

Next comes my favorite, the Pesto Chicken Penne (Php. 149). I love anything with olive oil and basil, mix them together and out comes my favorite pasta sauce called pesto! This pasta dish has a very subtle and creamy pesto flavor that makes it so delicious! I think I was the one who cleaned off our plate.

Two more pasta dishes were served but the highlight of the night was the grand finale and in my opinion, something really worth trying. The Seafood Supremo Pasta (Php. 239) that comes in a filo paper. Open the pouch carefully and enjoy the sweet aroma while biting on the al dente pasta combined with the generous serving of shrimp, scallop and squid!

Who's the newest pasta player in town?

Do you have your guess already?

After impressing us with their various innovations such as the Lasagna Pizza and the Cheezy Pops that every kid raves about, Pizza Hut is back with their newest line of pasta dishes that will now be permanently part of their menu.

Called the Pasta Perfetto, there will be 12 pasta dishes that will give you a bit of Italy in very bite. I was lucky enough to try 7 of them and I can't wait to drop by my favorite Pizza Hut store in Greenhills to try more!

Pizza Hut has more a total 154 branches (and still counting) nationwide. Click here to see the complete list.

*photo credit: Pizza Hut,

a lovely Korean lunch at Ye Dang

Back when I was still a kid, my parents would bring me to this classy Korean restaurant called Arirang. It's a three-story fully carpeted restaurant where we would order plates of Korean bbq meat to grill and later on dip this in their delicious sesame soy sauce before enjoying it together with a spoonful of fragrant sticky rice. As kids, we were pretty blessed as we would frequent this restaurant almost every week.

It was definitely sad news when Arirang closed down and later on, bid adieu to the Philippines.

Since then, we would try various Korean restaurant in the metro but nothing still came close to our memorable dining experience at Arirang.

Then, my dear college friend Sandy came to visit after leaving the Philippines for the US 7 years ago. Of course, her visit was a momentous one as I've been waiting to see her again and to catch up on each other's lives. I sent her a message asking if she has any preferred cuisine or is currently craving for something. Her answer was short and simple: "I would like to try a really good Korean restaurant if possible."

Without wasting any time, I did my research, thanks to Didi who highly recommended this restaurant to me, I made plans to have lunch at Ye Dang Restaurant along Meralco Avenue in Ortigas.

Entering Ye Dang instantly reminded me of a cozy looking Korean home where it's made of mostly wood and there's actually an elevated area with a low table for customers who would like to have that complete Korean dining feel. We just took a regular table by the window with a griller installed at the center.

Sandy told me to take care of ordering our meal and so while Paul was busy entertaining my dear friend, I was completely immersed in the menu while choosing the best dishes for our lunch.

On our Korean table

Simply because I wanted to make this meal truly memorable for my friend, I tried my very best to order just the yummiest Korean dishes that I know of. Of course, this was with the help of our very friendly server too!

One thing I love about dining at a Korean restaurant is when we get to enjoy 8 different types of appetizers consisting of kimchi, sweet baby potatoes, beansprouts, fried dilis, sweet peanuts and a lot more! Everything looked so colorful and was so inviting that we all happily dig in trying each saucer after saucer.

Our first dish was the dak-Kui / grilled chicken (Php. 250). After our server put in some hot coals inside our griller, she laid down strips of chicken and quickly turned it every so often. She also gave us a plate of lettuce and mint leaves together with a siding of bbq sauce and garlic to wrap the meat in. Of course, my favorite sesame soy sauce was also present as I enjoyed dipping every single meat into my sauce before adding it into my leaf and spreading a thin layer of bbq sauce and a piece of garlic before enjoying.

Shortly after, our second dish came. The Taegi Kalbi / Grilled Pork Spare Ribs (Php. 250) was really delicious! Imagine enjoying bite size pieces of ribs the Korean way.

Of course, I just had to add in my favorite Korean beef stew otherwise known was Kalbichim (Php. 300). While the serving was pretty small, we all enjoyed the tender cuts of beef mixed with the aromatic onion leeks which pairs very well with our Dolsot Bibimbap / Vegetable hash rice in hot stone bowl (Php. 250).

Lastly, I got an order of Pajon / Seafood with Green Onion Pancake (Php. 300) just in case my friends had too much meat already. This was a light addition to our hearty lunch to which I can see Sandy was truly enjoying.

Over lunch, we chatted and updated each other on the happenings in our lives. I'm glad that I was finally able to introduce Paul to my dear friend and she happily listened as we updated her on our current Big Day preparations.

It's sad that we only have three hours worth to bond but as we parted ways, I was so happy that Sandy had a lovely time and I have Ye Dang to thank for.

See you soon, Sands!!

Ye Dang is located at 88 Meralco Avenue (near Metrowalk), Ortigas Center, Pasig City. Call them at 636-1461.

Snackin' my afternoon away

It has been said before that it is highly encouraged that we eat at least 5 small meals in a day. Therefore, snacks are just as important as breakfast, lunch and dinner. I love taking afternoon snacks! This is when I would allow myself to take in a little more junk food than I really should. Of course, I try to balance this out also by snacking on fruits or a light salad on some days.

This week, my mom was my afternoon snack companion and we have discovered two delicious snack items which I think you would also enjoy!

Cold Storage Sushi

I honestly think I will never ever get tired of eating sushi! If given a chance, I think I can have sushi every single day! However, eating at a Japanese restaurant can be pretty costly and so we were happy to chance upon Cold Storage's sushi selections! For only Php. 150, you can have a small tray filled with 16 pcs. of California Maki! Each piece will give you a plump slice of sweet mango, chewy cold kani all rolled into one and covered with orange ebiko!

This is actually a perfect choice also for those who would like to have sushi on the go!

Lucky Me Mac & Cheez and Baked Mac

Mom and I couldn't decide which one to try first and so we cooked them both! Good thing, Pan and Papa were also game to join our afternoon snack time.

Lucky Me has recently launched a new line of instant macaroni packs for only Php. 14.

Cooking this is easy! Simply boil a pot of water, add in the macaroni and cook for 4 minutes. As soon as the macaroni is ready, take a strainer and remove the water to dry the macaroni. Mix in the cheese/baked mac mix right away.

The Mac & Cheez has a light yellow color and the cheese flavor was pretty prominent. However, I find it a bit too salty for my taste.

The Baked Mac, on the other hand, has a sweet tomato flavor which I feel would be a hit with the kids. My family also liked it because it has a very meaty flavor that has enhanced its over-all taste.

How about you, what's your latest snack discovery?

Let me grant you a wish... a Starbucks Coffee 2010 Planner!!!

As the clock strikes twelve, watch as almost everything slowly turns more festive... out comes the reds, the greens and the whites.

Just like magic, happy holiday tunes starts to play putting everyone in a better mood as they make their Christmas lists.

In a couple of weeks, watch as friends and family exchange gifts over a delicious spread of only the season's best.

Best of all, the RED cups are HERE!!!... and they're here to stay up until January 6, 2010!!

This year, Starbucks Coffee is bringing back three of our well-loved holiday beverages namely, the Dark Cherry Mocha, the Peppermint Mocha and my personal favorite, the Toffee Nut Latte!

In addition to these highly sought-after drinks, be sure to try a couple of their plenty holiday food items such as the Creme Brulee Cheesecake, the delectable Chocolate Molten Cake, Paul's favorite the Christmas Turkey Chicken on Cranberry Bread and some returning favorites such as the Peppermint Brownie and the Toffee Nut Loaf.

There are actually 14 holiday food items according to Celine Clemente, who's a dear friend and Starbucks Coffee's ever-talented R&D specialist. It's a good thing that we have more than a month to enjoy them one by one as all of these items were carefully created to complete your coffee drinking experience at Starbucks.

The 2010 Planner

Of course, the highlight of celebrating Christmas at Starbucks Coffee here in the Philippines is the one and only..or shall I say, the three and all so pretty looking planners that are available beginning November 4, 2009!

Yes, beginning today, you can now indulge in your favorite holiday beverage, munch on one of the yummy food items and earn a sticker or two to be a couple of steps closer in bringing home one of the three Starbucks 2010 planners!

The planners comes in three lovely designs that features the different stages of the coffee bean. Browsing through the inside pages, you'll see the different things that I love about Starbucks Coffee: the beverage, the history, the partners, the innovations created and their global responsibility towards the environment, education, culture and the arts.

As an additional treat, this year's planner comes with a small booklet of coupons that you can use in certain months throughout the year!

The planner promotion is from November 4, 2009 to January 6, 2010. One sticker is awarded for each Starbucks beverage purchase. Customer must accumulate a total of seventeen (17) stickers (nine (9) Christmas beverage + eight (8) core beverages except bottled drinks) to redeem (1) Limited Edition Starbucks Coffee 2010 Planner.

Of course, for every redemption of the Limited Edition Starbucks Coffee 2010 Planner comes a donation to the continuous relief efforts for the Typhoon victims and to SparkHope – Starbucks flagship program for early childhood care and development in partnership with UNICEF.

Pretty easy huh?

A Wish Granted : Frannywanny's Christmas Treat

Christmas is truly just around the corner and as my way of saying THANK YOU for all the support and love that you have sent my way, I would like to give out ONE (1) Limited Edition Starbucks Coffee 2010 Planner to a lucky reader!

The mechanics is easy, simply leave a UNIQUE comment below and tell me why you truly deserve to win!

Contest will run from November 4 to November 30, 10PM. I will announce the name of the winner no later than December 5, 2009.

Of course, we just have a couple of rules:
1) Readers can only leave one UNIQUE comment in a day. This means, you can leave a comment ONCE every single day provided that you have not posted the same thing before. Submitting one UNIQUE reason per day will give you 26 chances of winning!

2) Please include your name and email address in every comment. This is the only way where I can contact you and tell you the wonderful news at the end of the contest period!

3) Unleash that creative spirit in you! Post a link of a photo, an artwork or your very own blog entry!

4) I will be choosing the best comment at the end of the contest period.

ENJOY and GOOD LUCK!!!
*planner shot (three designs) courtesy of Starbucks Coffee Philippines

All girls dinner out at Arya Persian Restaurant

We all just got back from our respective trips abroad ... one came back from her exciting F1 trip in Singapore, another gave birth to her second baby after staying in Canada for 8 long months and I'm still experiencing a major hangover from my Uniquely Singapore Trip.

Thus, despite the fact that Metro Manila was declared to be under typhoon signal #3 this didn't stop us from meeting up for a relaxing night with good food and a wonderful company.

It was a unanimous decision to meet at Arya Persian Restaurant that evening with both friends declaring how much they love Arya and I just couldn't agree more.

I love Arya's lamb dishes and the moment the menu was handed to me, I knew right away which page to flip to. It was a toss between the Bareh Koobideh and the Bareh Shish. I would also have wanted to try the spicy Lamb Biryani but since I was coughing that night, I opted to just skip the spicy dishes so as not to worsen my poor sore throat.

Finally, I made my choice and it was the Bareh Koobideh (Php. 375) for that evening.

This dish comes with two long sausage-type of ground lamb seasoned with spices and onion and accompanied by a generous serving of flavorful basmati rice (or it can also be served with jasmine rice or persian bread as well).

Didi and I both love the special tomato salsa that they can easily whip up for you using the two huge grilled tomatoes that comes with each dish. Without wasting any minute, I requested our friendly server to prepare this for me the moment my plate was laid on the table.

I'm a huge fan of lamb dishes provided that it was cooked properly and does not in any way omit any weird smell. So far, Arya has one of the best lamb dishes in the metro.

In addition to our individual plates, we ordered a basket of pita and some Hummus (Php. 135) to share. Sab who's not really a fan of chickpeas was still adventurous to give it a try! Hooray!

I love Persian dips especially Hummus and Motabal which goes perfectly well with warm pita bread. It's was a perfect way to start our meal while we were busy catching up on each other's lives.

With Arya's laid-back ambiance, it perfectly suits spending quality time with your wonderful girl friends. I will always look forward to the stories, the laughter and the experiences that each of us shares about our respective married and soon-to-be-married lives :)

Arya Persian Restaurant has branches at Unit L-9 Promenade Mall, Greenhills, San Juan / GF Podium Mall, ADB Avenue, Ortigas Center / 2nd level Robinson's Manila (Midtown Wing), Ermita, Manila.

Falling in love for the Third Time : Orchard Road

If there's one road that would undoubtedly be mentioned when discussions about traveling to Singapore arises, it would be... Orchard Road.

This is Singapore's biggest shopping and entertaining district where malls after malls line up the street and a lot of activities are happening here and there. Just imagine seeing a huge Louis Vuitton store to your left and a glamorous outlet of Cartier to your right. If Becky Bloomwood would find herself in Singapore and right at the heart of Orchard Road, she would probably feel like she's in retail heaven!

Getting to Orchard Road

Traveling around Singapore is a breeze! Getting to Orchard Road may be done either via bus, MRT or taxi. There's actually an MRT station that brings you directly to Orchard Road and from the there you can choose which mall you would like to visit first as almost every mall in this road is connected via the underground walkway. Talk about convenience to the highest level!

Shop until you drop

Years ago, I would remember taking multiple returns to Orchard Road as it's impossible to be able to visit every single mall in one day. Be armed with a comfortable pair of shoes and a bottle of water to rehydrate yourself in between shopping. We only had 4 hours to roam around Orchard Road and Paul and I were able to map out our shopping itinerary in order to maximize our alloted time.

Luckily, the bus that we took stopped right in front of Takashimaya/Ngee Ann City which was our first stop that afternoon. This is one of their high-end malls so be prepared to see signature stores from the ground floor up to the top level. One thing that I liked in this mall was their huge bookstore called Kinukuniya. With a lot of books to choose from and a big space to browse through these, I can probably stay here the entire day!

Moving on from our first stop, we walked further down Orchard Road towards the new ION Orchard. This mall was just opened last July 2009 and it has a total of 8 floors including the 4 basement levels that has a link to the MRT station. This mall is really HUGE! Do remember to drop by the 4th basement level and check out their food court! I love Singapore food courts as it really has a wide variety of choices from sweet desserts to Japanese takoyaki to spicy noodles and a lot more!

We were amazed with the food choices that we got a Street Sausage to share. This snack is not for the weak-hearted! It's actually a corn dog coated in crispy deep-fried french fries! Talk about cholesterol and calorie overload. Well, we figured out that we will be walking a lot during this trip that we allowed ourselves to indulge just this once.

After getting myself a cute pink sweater from Uniqlo Singapore, we headed out once again for our last stop for the day.

Wisma Atria has been a childhood favorite of mine. The mall that houses my favorite brands such as Aldo, Dorothy Perkins and a lot more, it also has the famous Din Tai Fung and of course, their noisy but amazing food court called Food Republic.

While shopping in this mall, do also drop by Isetan, which is a Japanese department store where you might be able to find the cutest and most comfortable pair of shoes to match your style.

I can't believe our four hours were almost up and we barely had enough time to grab dinner before heading back to our hotel. I will definitely make sure to allot at least two days in Orchard Road on my next visit. Nonetheless, I'm glad that Paul had a great time during his quick visit to my favorite place in Singapore!

*some photos were taken by Paul Ang