Frannywanny

One thing that we love about staying at Seda Nuvali is it's proximity to a wide variety of food and retail establishments. You can literally walk over to Solenad or if walking is not your thing, it's literally a quick 2-3 minute drive. However, if you'd like to just stay in the hotel and enjoy a full R&R weekend, then you surely won't go hungry as they got Misto at the ground floor. Misto is Seda's in-house F&B outlet and it's actually not unique only to Seda Nuvali. You can see Misto across several Seda hotels all over the country. To try Misto  out, we decided to have breakfast, lunch and dinner there during our staycation weekend. Right after checking-in and resting at our room, Paul and I headed down to Misto  for lunch. They're having an on-going Bento Box promotion . It's actually a dinner promotion but we were so lucky to be given the chance to try it out at lunch. Before we got to our main dish though, Paul also got to try the...

One thing that I love about living in the Philippines is how you have a lot of places to go to should you just want to take a quick breather away from the city. Take Metro Manila for example, you can either go North or South. For my family, we've always preferred the South and we would make the most of almost every 3 day weekend to head to our favorite weekend spot in Tagaytay. For the past decade though, we have noticed how Sta Rosa, Laguna particularly Nuvali has fast been developing. It started with several residential villages followed by three commercial establishments by the Ayala Group and recently, there's Seda Hotel , which is operated by the same group. In addition to that, they've also developed an ecozone where sports fanatic would head to for some wake-boarding action or if they just want to go boating.

I've probably mentioned a couple of times before how much my family loves...as in LOVESSSS Tagaytay City . Growing up, we would frequently drive up to spend a night or two here. In fact, my parents love it so much that they've been talking about investing in a small lot there to turn it into our family weekend home doubled as their mini herb garden. Well, I do hope we can make that a reality for them someday. At the moment though, we would constantly keep ourselves updated on possible hotel accommodations in the area. Recently, I chanced upon Wilson's Place  after browsing through a couple of my fellow bloggers' pages. Wilson's Place is a family home turned into a Bed & Breakfast place in Tagaytay. The location is not really so central but it's a quick drive in from the main road provided you do not get lost. We relied mostly on Waze all throughout out trip. So, during the Christmas - New Year break, we decided to head to Tagaytay with Kong Kong and A-I...

During the recent Christmas break, my family and I headed up to our favorite weekend getaway, Tagaytay . Since we left the house close to lunch, we decided to stop over at Nuvali for lunch. I was tasked to take care of our dining itinerary so I had to do a thorough research given that we're quite a big group of 8. Luckily, I chanced upon Mama Lou's Italian Kitchen 's Facebook page and then remembered that I've been wanting to try it out after seeing how my fellow bloggers have been raving about their delicious risotto. I was so happy that they actually have a branch at Solenad 2 and their sister-restaurant Nonna's is located at Solenad 3. Two choices just in case one is really packed! Seeing that we got Kongkong with us, the very efficient server quickly ushered us to a long table with a couch on one side. We let the seniors ( heehee ) sit inside to make it more comfy for them. Of course, Papa refused to be counted as a senior citizen and insisted to sit on on...

 Meet my first ever guest blogger. A man of few words yet his name is often times mentioned here in my blog. He would rather work behind his camera than to write up a storm like what I normally do. Between the two of us, our word ratio is probably around 5:1 but that doesn't make him a lousy story-teller. In fact, our days are filled with non-stop conversations with one another and I believe this has made our relationship grow and be more stronger. Meet my husband Paul as this is his blog debut here in Frannywanny.com and expect to hear more from him in the coming days, months and years! When Fran asked me if I want to join a group of bloggers to a trip to visit the Gardenia Plant , my first question was "who will be there?" While my wife is truly an extrovert where you can just let her go anywhere and expect that she'll make friends in a snap of a finger, I am rather shy and can stay quiet the entire day. I guess despite our differences, this is also where we ...

AFC's Next Celebrity Chef Do you love to cook? Do you have what it takes to be a celebrity chef? Well, here's your chance to stand out and be discovered as the Asian Food Channel is looking for the last man/woman standing who can withstand all the kitchen challenges thown his/her way! This is actually a first in Asia as AFC will conduct a region-wide search consisting of 5 countries -- Hong Kong, Indonesia, Malaysia, Singapore and the Philippines. Auditions will run from August 3 - August 16, 2011 in the five participating countries. The prize is an exclusive one-year contract as an AFC Celebrity Chef with the Asian Food Channel. In addition to that, the winner will be awarded the opportunity of a year-long employment contract with the E&O Group, taking on the mantle of Creative Director and Head of R&D for the E&O Gourmet Group. Sounds amazing huh? For more information, log on to: http://www.asianfoodchannel.com/nextafcchef . Who knows, you might just...

Pasalubong is the Tagalog term for presents given by someone who just came home from a trip. A pasalubong is normally a native product from a province or a keepsake from the visited destination. Before leaving Tagaytay City , popular pasalubongs would include Buko Pie, Pineapple, Guyabano, Espasol and Langka. On our drive home during our recent visit to Tagaytay, we chanced upon a brighly lit pink signage that says Kesong Puti and Fresh Milk for sale. We have heard raves about Mr Moo's Carabao Fresh Milk and Paul was determined to give this a try. Visiting the store, we found out that they are selling more than Carabao Fresh Milk. In fact, they have a huge blackboard filled with their items such as Pastillas de Leche (Milk Candy), Feta Cheese, Yogurt, Cottage Cheese and even Goat's Soap! Making it an interesting pasalubong stop. We ordered two bottles of Carabao Choco Milk (P36 / 200ML) to share with my sister. Since the ride home will take us a little more than an ...

Enchanted Kingdom is known to bring your fun and thrilling rides! From the Rio Grande Rapids to the Anchors Away and of course to the Space Shuttle. This year, in partnership with the Yupangco Group of Zoobic Safari all visitors will be able to meet Zoori the White Lion! It was my first time to see a while lion up close and it looked perfectly harmless I guess because it was properly trained :) Inside Zoori's Adventure, visitors will go through different sections that will teach everyone about lion and their living habitat. Expect to go through a revolving tunnel and balancing room that gives us a glimpse of how the lion feels while walking inside the jungle. Test out your balancing skills as you go through a narrow path similar to how a lion would as they carefully go through their daily path in the wilderness. Here's another reason why your summer plan should include a trip to Enchanted Kingdom ! Enchanted Kingdom is located at Sta. Rosa, Laguna. Regular...

It was a great way to celebrate Easter! At exactly 930AM last Sunday, I together with Paul , my sister Steph, our cousin A and a couple of friends boarded the special Enchanted Kingdom shuttle that will take us directly to Sta. Rosa, Laguna and back. We were with our fellow bloggers and a couple of friends from media. The ride was really short as I just remembered taking a short nap and when I woke up, I immediately saw the ferris wheel from the window. My sister and cousin were excitedly clapping and preparing their bags already. Enchanted Kingdom is definitely one place every local and foreign visitors should visit! It has a wide array of rides and attraction suitable for every member of the family! Everyone in our group was so excited to explore the park. Paul was our designated photographer while our friends C, J and P were the brave souls who really tried almost all of the thrilling rides. I was just looking forward to the water rides while my sister and cousin just went ...