Frannywanny

"Are you turning into the ambassador of the Philippines in Singapore?" This was the SMS that I got from my sister after I shared a photo of myself and an old friend whom I met up with tonight. You see, the past weeks have been quite busy for me as I've been meeting up with visiting friends and relatives over lunch/dinner/breakfast/coffee/etc! While there's no denying how much I miss Manila, having people from home over makes homesickness more bearable for me and Paul. During our first few months here, we were so happy to have friends who really took the time out to drop by to check on us. They really didn't have to but they chose to do so. Aren't we so lucky to have friends like them? Two of them are our dear friends and newlywed couple E and S. They decided to do a stopover here in Singapore before heading to their honeymoon destination so when we got the invite from E to have dinner in Bukit Timah, we cleared our evening schedule to be able to spend s...

Ice cream has been around for decades..maybe even centuries. Growing up, this has been every kid's favorite dessert even before cakes and puddings came into our vocabulary. When Magnum was launched in Manila last year, I joined the millions of Filipinos who hoarded (yes, hoarded is the right word) packs of these yummy ice cream covered in premium chocolate coating in the grocery for my family to enjoy. Then, I was happy with the 3 basic flavors -- Classic, Almond and Chocolate Truffle. When I came to Singapore, I literally went wild upon knowing there there were more Magnum flavors and varieties! From the original size, they also have a mini version which I love very much. They also have more flavors too. Mint, Gold, Double Caramel, Limoncello, Irish Cream, Hazelnut Bonbon, Pistacchio and the list goes on and on. Every trip to the grocery is made more exciting knowing that I'll be taking a new box of ice cream back home with me. Recently, Magnum has launched two new flavo...

It's Friday and it's definitely TGIF! I know it's still a work day but somehow, waking up on a Friday gives me that happy feeling that the weekend is less than 24 hours away. Don't get me wrong, I love the weekdays too but to be able to have two full days where I can wake up later than usual, to lounge by our pool in hopes that I'd finally get a tan, to eat out and to catch the latest movie... who wouldn't look forward to the weekend?  Today, let me talk about one of my all-time favorites when it comes to fun, casual American dining experience -- TGI Friday's . T.G.I.F., as my mom would call it, is the perfect place for groups to come together. Every time I dine there, I see families, colleagues or friends enjoying a big platter of nachos, sharing the pasta or burger and others would cap the night off with some drinks. I can still remember how fascinated I was with the button pins that adorns the uniforms of the server that at some point, I really wa...

A year ago, Paul and I decided to renew our passports at the same time. This is despite the fact that my old passport actually had two years left before it expires. The reason behind this is because Paul wanted us to start having the same expiration dates for most of our legal documents as a family to lessen the chances of missing out on renewals and such. It made sense to me and so, I joined him at the Department of Foreign Affairs (DFA) office one Monday morning. Actually, the DFA has made it easier now to renew ones passport as they've set up satellite offices in malls around the city. The reason why we had to go to the Pasay DFA office was because I also had to change my surname since I haven't done so after getting married. Of all the applications that we had to do for our travels, I'd say that renewing our Philippine passports was one of the easiest. Allow me to give you a step-by-step guide on how to have a stress-free passport renewal too: #1) Make an Appoi...

Given my slight OCD nature, I rarely eat with my bare hands. Yes, somehow I've learned to eat everything with the use of a spoon and fork, fork and knife and at times even with a pair of chopsticks. Friends would watch in amazement (or more like amusement) as I would enjoy my fries with a fork or crabs with fork and knife. Back in high school, I would manage to finish my spaghetti lunch while using a pair of chopsticks without any stains on my white and blue uniform. This talent I've inherited from my equally neat freak Papa. It was when I married Paul that I somehow learned to "loosen up and enjoy life", as he would proudly claim. This simply meant me learning to use my hands to fully enjoy eating a piece of drumstick or to get the itsie-bitsie crab meat pieces out. It took a while, I tell you, but at present I've learned to control my OCD tendencies and to just enjoy my food to the fullest. Perhaps, I still have my hesitations but if there's one food i...

I'll be honest in saying that it took me almost half a year to write about Villa Cafe . More than 5 months of trying to find the right words to say. This is just one of those rare cases wherein I went there full of hopes..too much of high hopes to be exact. I kept my eyes, ears and basically all senses open. Ready to soak in everything to enjoy it to the fullness. Then reality hits telling me that it was terrible. So terrible that I doubt if it's even worth a second chance. This is definitely a rare case because I'm the forgiving type...I really didn't want to relive those painful moments but okay, let me tell you all about it. It was a well-planned Sunday lunch with the family. Reservations were even made to ensure that we got a table ready for our party of 9. As we got to the restaurant at 12PM, it was empty. Too empty that we wonder if they were open as not a single wait staff was in sight. It was a good thing we heard laughter coming from the second floor and ...

Last weekend was probably one of the most relaxing that I've had here in Singapore so far. After all, it was my first time to experience a 4-day weekend thanks to the back-to-back Hari Raya Festival and the National Day celebration. Instead of joining the shopping crowd outside, Paul and I opted to just spend most of our time at home, catching up on our movie list and doing our household chores. Finally, I was also able to catch up on sleep -- one that I've been wanting to do for almost a month now. During one of those days, we woke up at exactly noon and realized one thing: we haven't prepared anything for lunch . *gasp* With all of our meats and seafood still in the freezer and our canned goods inventory running low, we decided to just call for delivery. It was perfect timing also that I got a S$50 voucher from Food Panda Singapore . This is an international food delivery system that caters to more than 25 countries worldwide. Here, you get to order from a number ...