Frannywanny

There's really something so calming about watching the sunset by the beach. It could be the relaxing sound of the waves crashing into the shore or feeling the sand on your feet or just watching the sky turn from blue to golden yellow to orange to pitch dark. It's just so magical. Growing up in a country that's pretty much surrounded by huge bodies of water, I've learned to love the beach life. It's that one thing that Paul and I would make it a point to do at least once a year. For us, heading out to the beach means taking a break from work, from city life and just allowing ourselves to relax. Sadly, it has been years since we've had our annual beach getaway but as they say... "you can take the girl out of the beach but you can't take the beach out of the girl." The sun, sand and sea will always find me and here in Singapore, I found it in Sentosa. For the past two weekends, Paul and I has been heading over to Sentosa to catch the sunset an...

While eating is a fun experience on its own, I personally find greater excitement when I get to cook and eat at the same time. This is the reason why I'm such a fan of shabu-shabu (hotpot) restaurants or those that have table-top grills where we can cook our choice meats to perfection. To be honest though, Paul is a greater cook than I am. So, more often than not, I leave the cooking to him while I happily chew away. He's such a natural with a spatula on one hand and a pair chopsticks on the other. One evening while trying a new restaurant called Taza Mix with some members of The Food Club , I was so lucky to be seated beside Paul and Irene , two of the more talented cooks of T he Food Club (this special category also includes fellow bloggers Carlos , Jane and Joan -- you should really try their kitchen specialties!) . Just imagine how Richard and I were enjoying having our plates filled with delicious shabu shabu balls, strips of lamb and chicken, kani sticks, veggi...

Remember my search for the best Ribs in town ? It's funny that I first found my favorite rib places in Angeles, Pampanga and as far as California, USA but none yet close to home. My search for the best rack of ribs never stopped though as I am determined to find THE ONE. That perfect ribs place that will allow me to go back to over and over again. Wonder when will my luck strike? Ever since Paul and I tied the knot a year and five months ago, we have been planning to have dinner with our every talented wedding coordinators and host . Since we all live extremely hectic lives, this has been pushed back a million times until last Wednesday when we finally found time and met up for dinner. Jerome , our host, is also a foodie. This is also one reason why we instantly clicked as he's a great fan of the magazine that I work for and our pre-wedding meetings would also end up with us talking about food, food and more food. He was the one who suggested that we try Rub Ribs ...

To celebrate our 1st wedding anniversary , Paul treated me to dinner last Saturday. He asked me to choose where I want to eat and since we were already at the Podium Mall , my stomach and heart led me towards YakiMIX .. (that is after considering Cantinetta, House of Wagyu and other classy restaurants at the ground floor of the mall..kidding!) . Actually, Paul tried to throw a number of other restaurant suggestions my way even mentioning my favorite Arya but I was dead set about trying YakiMIX that evening. We got to YakiMIX at 6PM as we know that it can be pretty difficult to get a table knowing the popularity of this restaurant. I went with very little expectations as I've heard quite a lot of mix reviews from the terrible ones to those who truly had a great YakiMIX experience. Luckily, we didn't have to wait and were quickly ushered to our table nearest to the door. I loved the interiors as I was not actually expecting for it to look like a high-end Chinese restaura...

On the 1st day of July, I was lucky enough to be invited to a celebration that was held at the US Embassy in Manila. It was a dinner hosted by Ambassador Harry Thomas as the United States of America celebrated their 235th Independence Day . I arrived early as requested in the invite and my car underwent very strict security check (I think the most strict that I've have ever seen in my life so far) . I was dropped off right at the front door where it was filled with security personnel and ushers ready to assist you. Not knowing where to go next, I just followed the long line which they called the receiving line . In my mind, I thought this would lead to a registration table where I will be meeting J, my fellow blogger who invited me to this very exclusive celebration. Little did I know, as we inch our way closer to the ballroom, I would reach the welcome committee headed by no other than Ambassador Harry Thomas himself. He was a very nice man that I was initially speechless ...

Paul and I are such big fans of ribs ! We enjoy the tender, falls-off-the-bone type that was perfectly marinaded in yummy barbeque sauce and grilled to perfection. Sure we have tried a number of rib dishes here and there but we are still in the look-out for that perfect ribs platter that will make us lick our fingers clean and leave our stomachs happy. I've been looking forward to this year's Valentine's Day simply because Paul told me he got something planned already. You see, for probably 350 days in the year, Paul will just leave me to choose which restaurant to dine in and to plan our entire day's itinerary. For the remaining 15 days though, which includes Valentine's Day, my birthday and our monthsaries and anniversaries, then he would take charge in doing so. He told me that we will have a fun romantic dinner in Makati and left it at that. The suspense was killing me as I was dying to find out where exactly our Valentine's dinner would be. Despite consta...

Twas the night after Christmas and despite our hectic schedules, my friends and I all agreed to meet up to have a better-late-than-never dinner to celebrate the holidays. I guess this is what makes real friendship works, nothing will stop us from seeing each other no matter how far, how late or how short the meet-up would be. Following last year's fun and successful Christmas dinner, we agreed to have it at Tong Yang but this time in their Jupiter branch. We were all so excited to spend an evening cooking, eating, talking, laughing and just having a great time. Since we were a big group, we were given a private room. Their servers were very attentive that it wasn't difficult at all to ask for assistance. With our stomachs growling loudly, everyone headed to the buffet table the moment we arrived. Paul and I began with the appetizer section where we filled our plates with yummy sushi, siomai and kimchi! It was truly a mix of all things we like! Korean, Chinese and Japanese! I e...