Frannywanny

I scream for ICE CREAM ! Well you would too especially when they start giving away Free Ice Cream Cones for the entire day ! Ben & Jerry's is one of my favorite ice cream brands. I love the fun flavors available and the names that goes with it. For instance, have you ever tried Maple Treehugger, Clusterfluff or the Scotchy Scotch Scotch? These names will definitely get you to laugh as you wonder what makes up these creations. We love having pints of Ben & Jerry's ice cream at home with the Strawberry Cheesecake as our top favorite. During the weekends, Paul and I would also drop by the Ben & Jerry's store in Vivo City for our ice cream fix.

Do you know the nursery rhyme that goes like this: Jack Sprat could eat no fat. His wife could eat no lean. And so between them both, you see, They licked the platter clean. Sometimes, I feel that Paul and I are just like Jack Sprat and his wife. We can be very different yet at the end of the day, we know that we're truly perfect for each other. Those who knows us both would say that I could talk and talk all day while he can go about a day without uttering a single word. I'm definitely an extrovert while he's Mr Shy Guy. At the same time, I got to admit that I love the limelight and do not mind the attention while he tries his darnest to stay behind the scenes as much as possible. Still, these opposite traits make us get along so well. As the Law of Attraction has long proven -- Opposite Poles Attract. For Paul's 30-something birthday , he made it pretty clear that he doesn't want a big, highly publicized birthday celebration. All he wanted was to have a s...

Today is #ThrowbackThursday and I'd like to share this photo with all of you: It was actually our first photo together taken during Paul's 22nd birthday exactly 10 years ago. We were not a couple then. "Just friends", as what we would tell suspecting friends and family members. Very showbiz, no? Anyway, it's Paul's special day today and I realized that I haven't actually dedicated a full blog post on him. I know he'd probably strangle me if he knows that I did anyway. He's a low profile kind of guy, shying away from the limelight yet he has always been there cheering me on. In keeping with the showbiz-ness of this blog entry, allow me to end this with my personal dedication for Paul: Dear Paul, Happy Birthday! May our future sons (yes plural) someday not only have your cute looks but may they also grow up to be the nicest, most selfless, ever supportive, loving and caring men too.  Looking forward to a lifetime of adventure with ...

People always have this misconception that girls spend more money in shopping that guys do. I definitely beg to differ. Shopping to girls is like a good diet, yes we do shop more frequently but for most women, we spend less in terms of peso/dollar value than our better half does. Just like eating, we eat more frequently but we take in smaller quantities each time. Paul and I are not major shopaholics as we only hit the malls here in Manila whenever we need  to. It's a different case in Singapore though as we spend more time at the mall to eat, do our grocery shopping and to familiarize ourselves with our new location. Going back to shopping, Paul rarely buys anything but when he does, it's something that he has thought long and hard about it. We all know that he is truly passionate and is talented in photography and that alone is a big investment already. While other guys his age would probably spend money on watches, shoes or toy cars, he has his eyes set on his camera a...

A month ago, I received an email from Dwight Co of 50 Feasts , a new food photography school that's located just a few blocks away from home. He invited me to be part of their first ever Basic Food Photography class and after giving it much thought I emailed him back asking if I can give my slot to my husband, Paul, instead. As you all know, what you see here in Frannywanny.com is a close team-up between me and my husband. I do the writing while he takes care of most of the mouthwatering photos found in this blog . As for the eating, we split that responsibility 50/50. :P When Dwight said yes, I told Paul the good news and in return I got a big big big hug from him. Looks like someone was very excited about taking further food photography lessons. We had our mini countdown and along the way, Paul found out that fellow blogger Leslie will also be joining him in this class, all the more he got so excited that he at least know one person in the class already. I think I have ...

...and the snacking continues! The Food Club celebrates Paul's 30th birthday!!! My husband Paul blew out his 30 birthday candles yesterday! He officially said goodbye to his twenties and gladly welcome the BIG 3-0! Aside from my non-stop teasing; I, together with his family, organized an intimate dinner to celebrate his birthday with our loved ones (his side and mine) and our dear friends a.k.a. The Food Club last Saturday. Despite the short notice, we are really blessed that almost everyone was able to make it. Thanks guys!! ♥ For his birthday, Richard, Irene and Lauren gave Paul a box of Homemade Treasures Ensaymada . It looks really pretty and premium as it's encased in a light brown box and tied with a golden ribbon. Paul normally skips breakfast as he would rather sleep till lunch especially during the weekends. I was surprised when we woke me up early on Sunday and invited me to have breakfast with him. I really wanted to sleep some more but when I remembere...

Looks like we, Filipinos, will be able to travel more often come 4th quarter of this year as we welcomed AirAsia Philippines that flew all the way from Toulouse, France and landed at the Diosdado Macapagal Airport in Clark, Pampanga last August 15. I shall step aside and let Paul tell you about his experience as he was able to witness the arrival of the new low-cost carrier that will definitely add more excitement to the travel industry. It's pretty obvious that Fran and I love to travel. In fact, we have been slowing down with our travel plans lately after a back-to-back vacation to the United States and to Taipei, Taiwan early this year. Traveling, despite how fun and enriching it may be, can really hurt your pocket if it wasn't planned and scheduled properly. Thankfully, as travelers, we get to have more options nowadays to travel within a budget. There are a lot of low-cost carriers that can fly domestic and international at a very cheap rate. Of course, you just h...

 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 ...

I'm stuck at home today. Had to take a leave from work due to a nasty stomachache that kept me up all night. Was it something I ate or is it because of stress? Whichever it was, I'm just upset that I'm wasting a beautiful day doing NOTHING. Going through the folder filled with my favorite photos I came across a couple that made me smile... these things truly make me happy and so I'd like to share them with you. my favorite drink my comfort food a sweet surprise wish I can be a kid again :) a delicious discovery the best set of friends LOVE :) Tell me, what makes you HAPPY?

Paul , you sure know the way to a woman's heart... Happy Valentine's Day and Kiong Hee Huat Tsai to everyone! :)

Let me share with you a simple love story... This story dates back to the evening of May 10, 2003 where 12 girls and guys who initially began their friendship over the internet agreed to meet up again for a short reunion. The venue was set to be at Conggo Grille in Tomas Morato . The head of the group or rather, in internet-speak, the chat room head decided to bring along two of his friends to keep him company. One was his friend from college and another was his high school best friend (HSBF). Over pork sisig and beef kare-kare , everyone was so engrossed in their own small conversations updating one another about college life, high school stories and what have you. The night went smoothly as the girls bonded while the guys made plans for an after-dinner game of billiards. As the evening passed, little did one particular girl know that she had already caught the attention of chat room head's HSBF. The problem was he's a very shy guy and did nothing but to just listen intently...

Here's wishing you and your family a very Merry Christmas and a Happy New Year!!!

Christmas is fast approaching and as more and more people head out to the malls, Paul and I took one Saturday off and drove up to Tagaytay for a short R&R. Tagaytay has been our favorite place and it was actually our first out-of-town destination when we started dating six years ago. Yep! Needless to say, Tagaytay holds a special place in our hearts and not a single year has passed without us visiting this lovely destination down south. We love Tagaytay for so many things... ... the cold weather ... its proximity to home (it's near yet far enough to allow us to take a break from our crazy city life) and best of all, ... the FOOD (from Sonya's to Bawaii's to Buon Giorno's, every trip to Tagaytay brings us to a new food discovery that we happily add to our list of favorites) We drove up to Tagaytay with no definite plan in mind, however we went prepared. Armed with a pack of crackers, a bottle of water, a pack of chips and two cans of Century Gourmet Bangus Fillet...

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...