Frannywanny

Summer in the Philippines means having to survive the warm weather. We're talking about having temperature in the high 30s with real feel in the 40s. In fact, I'm typing this with two electric fans blowing on my face with warm air coming out. This is the perfect season to cool down with a bowl of ice cream and by that, let me talk about one of my favorite local ice cream brands -- Merry Moo ! I've been a huge fan of Merry Moo  back when they started at Mercato Central . I would always go for their Sea Salt Caramel while manning my own stall then. Just recently, I discovered that they also sell lactation ice cream which were equally as yummy too! This summer, I tried two more flavors -- Scandalously Chocolate  and Avocado . Not together as they taste so different from one another but as a good after meal treat every day. The Scandalously Chocolate  is every chocoholic's dream. Made from 65% dark, single origin pure chocolate from Davao. It has a velvety smoot...

Back before I had my twins..even way before I got pregnant, I got to admit that I would scroll over photos of friends sharing their milk and would wonder to myself what the fuss is all about over one's ability to produce milk. It was on my 3rd day post partum when everything just made perfect sense and that was when I finally entered the world of breastfeeding. I got to admit that all throughout my pregnancy, I never really prepared myself for breastfeeding. Paul and I kept an open mind that in case I won't be able to breastfeed my twins, then we are willing to give them formula. I didn't even bothered to join any lactation classes and I barely educated myself about it. In fact, I still remembered that day when I had to ask the NICU nurse to help me express my colostrum as that's one thing that I was determined to give my twins. Luckily, the NICU nurse was super helpful and encouraging. As I tried to express my first amount of liquid gold she told me that I was doing ...

Look what I found! While driving along J. Abad Santos on our way to grab some milk tea, Paul and I chanced upon this new specialty shop that took the former location of Ristras . Seeing that they got jars of cookie butter and other interesting looking spread, we decided to check it out first before satisfying our milk tea craving. Welcome to Spice Island Trader . A nice catchy name, I must say.  Inside, you can see a mix of imported and local food finds that will surely make every foodie squeal with happiness. Well, it had that effect on me! Paul literally had to pull me out of the store as I just want to stay there all afternoon and to go through each and every product.  Here are some of my finds:

Since launching my 5th Blog Anniversary Giveaway last week , I've started to receive a number of cool entries from you, my readers. It really warms my heart to see the effort and time that you guys have put in in creating your signages or in thinking of such creative poses for your entries. Please send more in! We still got 3 weeks to go and I'm really excited to give out all these great prizes! I always tell people that Frannywanny.com cuts across all ages, male and female, from various careers and interests. However, what binds us all together is our love for food and for discovering new restaurants here and abroad. Agree? *slowly nods*  Well, last week two "readers" in particular extremely made my day. Though they are obviously too young to follow the mechanics to the very last detail, they just sent in their entries to wish me a Happy happy Anniversary! Sweet! Meet my niece Julia and godson Brandon! Aren't they the cutest toddlers on earth? :) Like wh...

Aside from being busy with my professional career (a.k.a. day job) and being a food and travel blogger, I am also an amateur entrepreneur where I wake up early every Saturday morning to head to Mercato Centrale at the Bonifacio Global City to assist Paul in manning our stall. Despite the never-ending yawns and the struggle to keep my heavy eyelids open, I enjoy each market day as I get to interact with our customers who are simply amazing. In addition to this, what makes us enjoy being part of Mercato Centrale is the fact that we have been lucky with a lot of great food finds from our neighboring stalls. Let me share with some of my Mercato Centrale favorites: 1) Mochiko Ice Cream Owned and operated by one of the coolest couples I know, Mochiko has been in business for more than a year and they still continue to come out with amazing flavors that never fails to tickle your taste buds. I stay loyal to two particular flavors -- Caramel (which has my favorite FIC Caramello Co...