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...

I just had one of the yummiest breakfasts a few days ago. It was in the form of these interesting looking bread that's generously filled with cream cheese and herbs. What makes it so good is the slightly sweet buttery crust that it has. I discovered Lola Ester's Bread and Pastries  through my friend L who shared with me this family secret of hers. Apparently, Lola Ester has been baking empanadas and breads for years and finally, they're allowing the public to have a taste of her specialties. The delicious bread that I was talking about is Lola Ester's Herb Cream Cheese Pull Apart  (Php. 250 for 2 pieces) which took inspiration from the famous Korean Cream Cheese Garlic Bread  which I've never came across with in our neighborhood Korean bakery. Anyway, I'm glad that Lola Ester introduced me to it as it's soooo good! Even my twins loved it that I literally had to put on my Mama Bear cap and willingly share this with them (even if I know I just want more mo...

I got to admit that if you make me choose between sweet or savory, I'd choose savory in a heartbeat. I have a very sensitive taste buds that what could be just a hint of sweet, sour, spicy or salty flavor notes for others, is already incredibly heightened for me. This is also probably because I grew up accustomed to having rather clean tasting or mildly flavored dishes here at home. My Mom, as you may know by now, is very conscious with the food that we eat. She ensures that we stay away from anything too salty, too fatty, too oily, too sweet and more due to genetic and medical reasons. How ironic right that I still end up loving food so much. That said, you can really count with your hands the type of dessert that I personally love in my life. I've always been an ice cream person in particular fruit flavored ice cream. We also love fresh fruits and there has never been a day in my life that we do not end our meal with fresh fruits. My sister and Papa are choco lovers and P...

I've never had a sweet tooth. When I was growing up, there were only two types of desserts that I love -- Ice Cream and Crinkles. I don't even like cookies that much..well not as much as my sister who can totally beat cookie monster any day for as long as she has a bag of her famous cookies on hand. I also do not crave for cakes or pastries as majority of which I find to be way too sweet for me. I guess, loving ice cream is a no brainer. It's the best comfort food and you can have it at any given time of the day. After a meal, in between meals, while watching TV or movie, while nursing a heartache and so on.  I also do not have a particular favorite ice cream flavor as I love trying a variety and my choice also depends on my mood. So why crinkles? For some reason, I've always correlate crinkles to Christmas -- my favorite time of the year. Perhaps, that's when we would regularly get to receive a box or two of crinkles. I love the kind that's moist and gooe...

Hello 2019!  I honestly can't believe 2018 just flew by so fast. Just like that, my twins are now 14 months old (wow!) and they've literally went from them being tiny, fragile newborns to active, super talkative toddlers. Over-all, 2018 was a good year for us. It's this year that we've learned so much as new parents, as freelance professionals and as start-up entrepreneurs. I got to admit that at first, it wasn't easy. I've been part of the corporate world for more than a decade and I'm someone who loves schedules, routines and specific job scopes. It took a while but I feel like I'm slowly getting there. For one thing, I do value the time that I get to spend with my twins. I know this is considered a luxury and I am forever grateful to have the opportunity to be at the front row as I watch them grow. I face the New Year with a lot of optimism. I hope that it will be a bigger year than what 2018 was to us. I pray for good health and safety for everyo...

Oh man! Since when have I turned into a serial snacker? For the past months, I've been snacking all day long! From chips to cookies to cakes and even to a glass of cold milk. I am forever hungry especially in between feeding the babies so after nourishing them, off I go to the dining room to feed myself. I sure hope that I can maintain this weight even after breastfeeding as I seriously am eating like there's no tomorrow. Anyway, here's the fun part though. Discovering new snacks and goodies along the way. A few months ago, I stumbled upon Milk Box PH  while browsing through Instagram and was instantly lured by their Hokkaido Cake. I messaged them right away and well, what do you know?! I got two boxes of Hokkaido Cakes delivered to my doorstep the very next day which coincidentally were the #AngTwins' 3rd month celebration. Thanks so much R for the very very efficient service. Each box holds 6 cups of Hokkaido Cakes each and it sells for only Php. 380. So what ...

So, for Mommies like me who's up at the wee hours of the morning while feeding a sleepy and hungry baby...what do you do? Stare at your baby's face? Stare into space? Surf the internet? I've done all of that and even once attempted to blog but I was just so scared to squish my baby which will surely wake her up in the process. Believe me, a startled baby who suddenly wakes up because of sudden movements is not a happy baby and you wouldn't want a wailing, unhappy baby at 3 in the morning. Thankfully there's my phone and Instagram. I normally would scroll through my feed to see what my friends are up to. For some reason, I always stop at my friend Spanky's post who shares mouthwatering "food porn" shots (and random sexy girls photos too for the interest of all the men out there hehe). Spanky has been my dessert guru as of late. Since I gave birth and officially joined the no-sleep club, I love seeing Spanky's photos of cakes, cookies and wha...

Not so long ago, I received a message from my former colleague K asking me if I'm game to try her Lolo (grandfather)'s sans rival. Of course, I don't say no to cake more so when it's sans rival! This is probably one of my favorite cakes as I just love anything nutty, nougat-y and the butter frosting totally beats regular cream frostings any day. What I just recently learned though is that this particular sans rival has a story that dates back to 50 years ago. Cipriano Sans Rival  (Php. 850) is the recipe of K's grandfather and it's the kind that has been perfected over time. This is definitely not the mass-produced kind. Instead, K's grandfather has been making his sans rival for most of their family gatherings. Each layer carefully crafted, the frosting with its intricate fork design and that generous amount of nuts sprinkled on top to cover any flaws and at the same time works double time to complete your sans rival experience. Today, my friend K has p...

I love it when friends come to visit! Not only does it gives us the perfect excuse to eat out ( not that we don't eat out regularly.. ) but we just love catching up with friends whom we haven't seen for years! Last week, fellow blogger B came to the Lion City to celebrate her birthday. We scheduled to meet up with her for late night dinner and drinks at Pizzeria Mozza .  Of course, when it's someone's birthday, you have to give her a present right? However, the birthday girl was the one who came with surprises for us! It came in the form of this beautiful white box with a very clean (read: OC-friendly) logo type. OMG! It was from The Bald Baker , Cy Ynares, himself! I was so happy, I gave B a big bear hug. You see, I've never met The Bald Baker yet but I've been following stalking him on Instagram for many months now. It all began when I saw my friends posting photos of this delicious looking Banana Bread and you all know how much I love love love these l...

It's really rare for my health-conscious Mommy to crave for something sweet. So when we found out that she has been regularly craving for  Gigi Gaelan's Custaroons since last year, we knew that this must be something out of the ordinary. In fact, I think it deserves an entire blog post on its own. Gigi has been making her famous Custaroons for years! My first time to try it was 5 years ago when I received a nice box from a dear blogger friend . I love the combination of the creamy, cheesy custard and having that good nutty bite similar to a macaroon. During my recent trip home, Mommy and I went to visit St. Padre Pio's Chapel in Libis and after saying our prayers and making a quick stop at the chapel store, we headed towards the parking lot where Kuya M was waiting for us. On our way there, we spotted a tiny retail outlet and what do you know?! It's actually a Custaroonery shop! The only one in the entire chapel compound. Interesting.

Just like that, we're on to the 5th month of the year and that means... 7 months to go till Christmas! :) What makes the 1st of May extra special is it's Pan's birthday ! I feel so sad that we're currently not in Manila to celebrate this day with her. However, we made sure to celebrate this day in spirit! First, we helped "blow her birthday candle" here in the Lion City! This was followed by having a delicious buffet dinner with the yummiest dishes which I'll tell you more about in my next post. For my family, birthdays will never be complete without two things -- a birthday cake and lots of greeting cards. My parents would ensure that we would receive a birthday card every single year and not a year has gone by without it. It's one of the highlights of our birthdays, waking up and seeing a nicely written card by Mommy and Papa. As for the cake, we have our tradition of blowing our the candle and slicing it for everyone to enjoy. Each one has hi...

Last weekend, Paul and I did another ninja-like visit to Manila which lasted for only 4 days. The main objective was to spend as much time possible with family. I'd say, we were pretty successful as most of the meals were really dedicated to eating out with both my side and his. In addition to that, we went home to celebrate the birthday of one very important man in our lives -- my Papa . Despite how infrequent we get to fly home, we make it a point not to miss the birthdays of our parents. We sadly missed my FIL's birthday this year so we have to do better starting next year onwards. Anyway, to celebrate Papa's birthday, K of Sweet Grace Cakes & Pastries was so sweet to send over a box of her famous Pistachio Cake with Strawberries and Cream (Php. 800 / 6 inch and Php. 1500 / 8 inch) .  The cake arrived a day before his birthday so we had an early cake-cutting ceremony as we couldn't wait to try it. Even Papa was so happy when we opened his cake box to revea...

This is a story of a cake that has launched a thousand..messages. *bow* Okay, maybe a thousand might be too much but anyway...  It all began when my friend Sten shared her newest sweet discovery of a mouthwatering Ube Leche Flan cake that got all of us here in the Lion City intrigued and craving for our favorite local sweets namely -- ube and leche flan. The perfect combination of something oh-so-creamy and another with the right level of sweetness and yumminess. Luckily, our friend C was in Manila when we discovered this gem so we got his sweet sister C2 to order some cakes and the S'mores bars for us. Hooray for super supportive foodie friends! We found out that these yummy treats are created by Anghelica's Desserts , a home-based business that specializes in Ube Leche Flan Cake (Php. 500) and S'mores Bar (Php. 450/dozen) among others. They also have Dulce Quezo Mamon (Php. 400), Kasuy de Baklava and Polvoron con Queso de Bola too! I have yet to try the...

♫  It's beginning to look a lot like Christmas...everywhere you goooooo  ♫ Here I am again going around town in search of the yummiest things to give this Christmas! It's not a difficult feat as Manila is literally bursting with so much talented home bakers and chefs thus the challenge actually lies in knowing how to best fill your tummy with all these goodies! As I'd always tell visiting friends, be ready to pack in a few pounds during the holiday season as you'll surely be surrounded by all these mouthwatering creations 24/7. During my quick visit to Manila, a bright yellow box was delivered to my home and the packaging was the first thing that caught our attention. The box was created using corrugated sheets and it was just so cute and innovative. As you must have noticed, my family loves pretty and creative paper creations so even before we got to opening the box, we all ooh'ed and ahhh'ed by just checking the packaging out. Now, the grand unveili...

A lot of you might have been wondering why the sudden silence for the past few days. Well, it all began late last week when I came home feeling feverish. We initially thought it was just stress or lack of sleep. I quickly brushed the panic away and made sure I got more than 8 hours of sleep that night. Well, I woke up still feverish and this went on for days. It lasted for 6 whole days which brought my temperature up to the 39 degrees level and down to 37. I was chilling at some point and sweating so much after. CBC tests were done to rule out dengue which thankfully came out negative. It was a viral case but what made me so sad was the fact that it coincided with my much-awaited visit home. I've been planning for this trip for some time now as I was so excited to meet up with friends, spend a lot of time with family and to try the newest foodie places in Metro Manila. With my fever in the way, the only thing I bonded with during my trip was my bed. *sigh* Well, as they say. If...

Have you catch the latest video that has been getting a lot of appearance and exposure 'round the social media channels? It's a funny skit created by Jimmy Fellon (such a talented guy) and Justin Timberlake entitled "Hashtag." This is what is called a hastag -- &gt ; # Show this sign to most of our parents and they'll say it's a number sign. For phone users, they'll say it's the pound sign. For Instagram and Twitter fans, it's definitely called a Hashtag . I'm pretty guilty of using hashtags in most of my Twitter and Instagram captions. An #example would be something as #classic as this in hopes that using #hashtags would make the word #trend . #yeahimcoollikethat #wishing The video made me think of cookies and speaking of #cookies ( hehe okay I'll stop ), let me share with you one discovery that I had during my short visit home. Meet Happy Cookie !

I'm BACKKKKK!!! *waves* Hello dear readers, hope you're all enjoying your long weekend! Paul and I had an amazing time in Hong Kong and Macau and I can't wait to share our foodie adventures with YOU! Meanwhile, let me share with you another snack discovery especially for all chocolate lovers out there. My colleague Jayjay bakes these wonderful chocolate cupcakes that are so moist, fluffy and totally awesome! It's 100% homemade thus expect that these cupcakes has just the right sweetness level and the frosting on top was just too irresistible. This is the type of cupcake that I used to enjoy when I was a kid. It's a straight-forward, no-frills type of cupcake. It's the kind that I love to indulge on while enjoying my lazy weekend at home. I like how gooey the chocolate frosting is that I find myself enjoying my cupcake with the frosting intact. Normally, I would remove this before taking a bite but this one was just too yummy to discard. This pretty m...

Exactly a month ago, I suddenly had this weird midnight craving for my childhood favorite bakery called La Chesca . That prompted a shout out over at Facebook and Twitter asking anyone to give me leads if La Chesca still exists today. This led to friends expressing their love for La Chesca 's specialties namely their Sapin Sapin, Maja Ube / Mais, Egg Pies and of course their homemade Chicken Pie. That truly showed me that I am not alone... I share my love for La Chesca with hundreds of people out there. I never gave up, even asking my Facebook friends to help me find the owners of the bakeshop. Until one day... my Auntie H told me that she knows the owner of La Chesca and I can possibly text her to ask if she still accepts orders. My heart skipped a beat. This is it. I am THIS CLOSE to being able to enjoy my La Chesca favorites again. I wasted no time and texted the owner as soon as I got her number from Auntie H. One day has passed and no reply... my heart sank. Either ...

My friend Miren is truly talented. I met her a couple years back when we were both selling in this certain female forum . I was selling cheesecakes while she was the reigning brownie queen . From time to time, we would buy from each other, talk about modern-day barter. Since then, our friendship grew and though we rarely get to see each other, she'll always be one of those sweet friends I'm so glad to have. One Friday morning, a dainty-looking red box greeted me as I was about to leave for work. On top of the box is a short note from my friend Miren. What a sweet surprise! I grab a couple for work to share with my colleagues. This generated a lot of raves and inquiries to which I happily supplied them with more info about Miren's Dessert Express . Back home, we continued to enjoy the Gooey Revel Bar (Php. 180/box of 8) which is definitely a lip-smacking concoction of an oatmeal cookie base with lots of melted chocolate which is so good, my sister would end up licking her...