Frannywanny

Well, hello there! Missed me? This was definitely the longest break that I've took since this blog was created 10 years ago. Well, I got a good excuse reason. The day after my previous blog entry was posted, I gave birth to my adorable twins J and L. What happened after that were days filled with non-stop feeding, burping, diaper changes, sleepless nights, random playtime and more. It has been 60+ days since and I'd say, we've pretty much mastered the art of not-sleeping-at-night-or-ever. Haha! Kidding aside, I'm so in love with my twins and while never in my wildest dreams would I thought that I can change diapers in 3 minutes or less as well as turn into a human milking cow, my dream of being a Mommy has finally became a reality and I'm just so so so happy. I have yet to share with you the highlights of my year but I guess you all know what will sit on top of my list. 2018 is looking very bright for our family and I really can't wait to see what's in ...

Question: What happens when the world's top coffee chain teams up with the world's most-sought-after notebook/diary brand? The answer is ...  THIS. Yup, this Christmas was made extra special (and more classy) by our friends over at Starbucks Coffee as they launched the 2016 Planner in partnership with Moleskine . Paper fanatics will surely go crazy over this as we all know how amazing Moleskine notebooks are. I could hardly use mine though as I don't want to waste any page with my scratchy handwriting. Moleskine notebook paper has this touch-worthy smooth texture and that distinct "dirty white" shade with grey lines on every page.

Tonight, I was able to have a nice long chat with Mommy. I really love hearing her voice as this is enough to brighten up my day. She told me that Manila is scorching hot at the moment that being outside is starting to feel like an ordeal to many. Not even the cool blast of the car's air-con is enough to make one feel comfortable. Meanwhile, I told her that it has been raining erratically here in the Lion City. Mornings are almost always warm and come lunch time, it would start to rain non-stop. It's not a big surprise that a lot of my colleagues and their kids are falling sick due to the rise and drop of temperature. Regardless if it's rainy or sunny, summer is officially here and there's one thing that I love about this season and that is being able to indulge in cups after cups of refreshing ice blended drinks! Take for example, last Sunday. Paul and I spent a quiet morning at Starbucks Coffee while waiting for the NKids to arrive at our lunch venue and we tried ...

Pardon the cute-sy play of words but I just can't help it!  Ever wonder why coffee is normally linked closely to love and romance? Girl meets boy in a coffee shop. Girl and boy getting to know each other over coffee (and cakes, sandwiches or pastries!) Boy professes his love to girl also in a coffee shop. ... and they live happily ever after with more cups of coffee shared along the way! For Paul and I, Starbucks Coffee surely has played a valuable role in our very own love life. Here's where we've spent a lot of hours after our dinner date be it just the two of us or with our groups of friends. Starbucks Coffee has also been our permanent venue when we were meeting up with our wedding suppliers some time back and up to today, it has been our third place -- t hat one place where we feel most at home from the exact type of drinks that we want ( eg : Signature Hot Chocolate in Kid's Temp for him and a Non-Fat Hazelnut Latte , no whip in Kid's Temp for me...

Oh boy, time has been flying extremely fast! Another year has gone by and just like that, here we are again celebrating another blog anniversary. I can still remember that afternoon when I opened this blog account and there was that blinking cursor button waiting for me to type in my blog name. I paused for a few minutes then just wrote the first "what-I-thought-sounded-witty" name that came into my mind -- Frannywanny . A cutesy version of my real nickname. When I first started this blog, all I wanted was to have a more organized place for me to document my food discoveries as I used to just write it on my Multiply account. Paul and I have been eating out quite a lot then and he would take really nice photos while I just love to tell my friends about it. No marketing strategy, no serious business objectives. Frannywanny.com is simply and will be...   a girly-girl's guide to the best things in life .  Back then, I would get all giddy and happy whenever friends wo...

The temperature outside has been rising at such lightning speed! Almost everyday, we would complain of how hot it is outside and to cool down, all the more I start craving for ice cream, shakes and I've been entertaining thoughts of going for a nice relaxing swim at the pool or in the beach ( I miss you Boracay! ) It's THAT time of the year wherein I'd happily swap my staple Caramel Macchiato with a tall cup of Frappuccino any given time of the day. That's exactly what Paul and I did over the weekend when we had our regular coffee date. Instead of going for our usual orders (CM for me, Caramel Hot Chocolate for him), we tried Starbucks Coffee's newest drinks -- the Caramel Ribbon Crunch Frappuccino and the Banana Mango Frappuccino . Don't they just look so yummy and refreshing?

Christmas is just around the corner . While I got to admit that this is really one of my favorite seasons as I look forward to going home to spend the holidays with my family, I can't deny the fact that there's a bit of sadness in my heart as I continue to think of the victim of Typhoon Yolanda who continues to remain homeless up until this day. I just hope that their conditions will improve in the coming days and as a nation, we will be able to help them rebuild the city that they've lost and their lives that has been greatly disrupted. When it comes to Christmas, we also talk about sharing the joy and celebrating traditions. In order to bring a little cheer to everyone, here I am continuing another tradition as I present this year's Starbucks Planner giveaway!!! This year is extra special because I'm not reviewing not one but TWO cool planners which are available in the two markets very close to my heart -- Manila and Singapore . My two homes. Let me sta...

I've always been a loyal Starbucks fan ever since they opened their flagship store in 6750 in the Philippines back in December 4, 1997. A good amount of time of my college years were, in fact, spent hanging out at Starbucks Pearl Drive where I'd cram for the next exam, work on my papers or bond with new found fellow Starbucks loving friends. It's funny though that despite spending so much time in the store, I've never drank a single cup of coffee. I've tried all the other products though -- Frappuccino, Iced Tea, Hot Tea, Hot Chocolate, food items.. you name it, I've most probably tried it. I really don't know why but I never really found the "calling" to try a cup of java...till that fateful day in May 2006 when I officially became a Starbucks partner and THAT changed my love affair with the Green Siren forever. I began drinking coffee (in moderation of course) and eventually got my Coffee Master certification too! It has been almost half a d...

It's no secret how much I love the Green Siren . After all, what's there not to love? The coffee, the happy and friendly baristas (whom we call partners), the relaxing vibe... indeed Starbucks Coffee has been my 3rd place since it opened its doors in Manila years ago. That said, it was a dream come true for this Starbucks baby to land a job as part of the Green Siren's marketing team back in 2006. We were a group of 7 girls and while others may think we would end up squabbling and pulling each other's hair, we luckily all got along pretty well. Of course, there were bella  days, as we would call our monthly grouchy days but if there's one thing we all love then it would definitely be FOOD. I tell you, we would have breakfast, lunch and afternoon snacks together. Once in a while, we'd also go out for dinner and drinks too! I got to hand it to our very cool boss who was indeed the best leader in the land. She loved us all equally and would take the extra effort...

As much as I love spontaneity and change, I also do value traditions. There are just some things in life that are best left untouched . These are the ones that you can always count on to happen at the exact same time of the year, every single year. These include mine and Paul's week-long birthday celebrations, our wedding anniversary dinner date, our summer and 3rd quarter ("autumn") travel getaways and collecting the Starbucks Planner . Readers of this blog must have noticed what a big Starbucks Coffee fan I am . This began way before I actually became a Starbucks partner myself. From the time Starbucks Coffee first opened its doors in 6750 fifteen (15) years ago, I've began collecting mugs, tumblers and have been a frequent visitor most especially during my university years. Friends who couldn't find me around the campus know exactly where to go. Thus, being able to be part of the Starbucks Coffee Philippines team a few years ago was just like a dream come tr...

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...

The Green Siren did it again! Just when you thought they did everything they could to coffee from the basic espresso-based drinks to the cool and refreshing Frappuccino Blended Beverages. Well, they're not yet done! This time, Starbucks Coffee reinvents how we see and taste coffee by introducing two cool drinks called the Starbucks Refreshers Beverages with Green Coffee ! There are two flavors to choose from: Very Berry Hibiscus and Cool Lime . At first glance, you might seriously doubt if these two drinks really do have coffee in it but it does. What is Green Coffee after all? I was reminded of a trip I took to a coffee farm down South that showed me how a coffee goes from the ground to the roasters to our cup. It's amazing to see colorful coffee berries get sorted and roasted to perfection until it looks like the coffee beans that we see everywhere. A green coffee bean is found at the center of a coffee cherry. What makes it different from the regular coffee bea...

The weather here in Manila continues to get more and more unpredictable. Extremely sunny and hot in the morning and later raining like there's no tomorrow in the evening. What's up with that Mr. Sun?! While we will soon bid goodbye to June and July will surely bring in more gloomy clouds, the cold wind and rains, it's nice to know that you can still enjoy a bit of summer right at the comforts of your favorite Starbucks Coffee store! Bringing a touch of Japanese in their drinks, the fun crew behind my favorite coffee store now introduces two new drinks that I truly loved and I'm sure you will too! Meet the Hojicha Tea Jelly Frappuccino Blended Beverage (Php. 155/165/175). Hojicha is actually a type of Japanese roasted tea and this is perfect for all milk tea lovers as it is a mix of the Hojicha Tea, your choice of milk and Tazo Earl Grey tea-infused jelly! While I find the Hojicha a tad too sweet for me, I still enjoyed this sweet tea drink which makes a good al...

After weeks of consecutive weekend getaways, Paul and I found some downtime this weekend where we were able to wake up later than usual, have longer meals with the family and go out to watch a movie. Given our busy weekend schedules, believe it or not, going out on movie dates doesn't happen that often anymore. *sigh* Which is the reason why I totally get ecstatic whenever we get to really go out on a date...just the two of us spending more quality time together. Yesterday, we headed to the Powerplant Mall to watch a movie. I totally love my husband for giving up watching Dark Shadows over the very girly romantic comedy movie What to Expect When You're Expecting as he knows that I've been wanting to watch this movie since I learned about it months ago (..and after hearing me say, "this movie got an all-star cast in it!" probably a dozen times) . Yay! Thank you Paul for spoiling me. ♥ It was indeed a fun movie with a couple of my favorite Hollywood stars like...

I'm starting the week right! After having a really tummy-filling hotpot dinner last Saturday and a gastronomic buffet lunch yesterday, I'm giving my tummy a break by having something light and healthy today. Just a quick trip to my favorite Starbucks Coffee store and I get to choose from four of their new salad offerings namely: Southern Chicken Salad, Mediterranean Tuna Salad, Cold Chicken Soba Salad and the Moroccan Chicken Couscous Salad . I was actually able to try all four salads a week ago when my friends over at Starbucks Coffee sent me a few samples to try. During lunch one weekday, I started with the Southern Chicken Salad which gives a twist to the regular Chicken Salad. Served with crunchy wheat bagel crostinis, this one has all-natural chicken chopped and mixed with diced celery, onions, hard boiled eggs and pickle relish. It reminds me of what my Mommy would usually make at home only its served with assorted greens and sprinkled with lots of cheese. I e...

My US trip last February was really memorable. For one thing, it was my first long-haul flight and I was so proud that I've survived! You see, I easily get airsick that a short flight to Hong Kong or Singapore would normally make me want to throw up. My Dad found a great solution by giving a pair of ear plugs as the high cabin pressure makes me dizzy. Still, I wasn't so sure if my ear plugs will work wonders all throughout our 12hr+ flight....well, it did and I had a great time enjoying the food and walking around the plane from time to time. Another thing that made my trip memorable was that it started as a business trip and ended as a fun 1.5 week long personal trip for Paul and yours truly. We were able to reunite with our California-based relatives and to bond with them given the short vacation time we have. Nothing beats spending quality time and catching up with family. Lastly, it was also the first time that I've experienced what 9 degrees Celsius feels like. I...

Once again, we have reached the -ber months where people start to make their Christmas list, families decorating their Christmas trees and for avid Starbucks Coffee fans like myself, we head to our favorite store to collect enough stickers to bring home our very own Starbucks Planner ! This is really the start of the countdown as on November 3, 2011 ; Starbucks Coffee will begin giving out stickers for every drink purchase for customers to collect to be able to redeem and get one of the five planners available. Yes, you read that right! From having three attractive designs last year, Starbucks Coffee Philippines now has FIVE for you to choose from! Last night, I was lucky to be able to see the Starbucks 2012 Planner up close and to be able to lift through the pages, run my fingers through the wooden cover and go through each month by month as I read the opening pages. I know you're all dying to see what Starbucks Coffee has in store for all of us planner fans so read on a...

One thing is for sure... blogging with an empty stomach can be hazardous to your health. I'm typing this before having breakfast and I can literally hear my stomach growling like a mad lion. To torture me even further, I am about to share with you something so delicious that the thought of it can really make my mouth water (and my stomach rumble louder). Yes, I'm such a sadist. *sigh* Last Monday, Paul and I were invited by my former colleagues of Starbucks Coffee to try a couple of new lunch sandwiches that they will be launching soon. I was so excited as knowing my talented friend C, who takes care of R&D for our local Starbucks food items, these sandwich are sure to be delicious! I remember back when I was still working for the Green Siren and C was working on those breakfast sandwiches , oh how I enjoyed hanging out with her at the training room as I watch her heat up samples after samples of sandwiches and she would generously share them with me. Now you know...