Singapore Airlines' Book the Cook for Kids

Let's take a quick trip down memory lane. Well okay, it wasn't that long ago but it sure feels like it. This photo below was taken almost 2 years ago on-board Singapore Airlines on our last flight out of Singapore heading to Manila when we decided to relocate back home for good. I was a little more than 3 months pregnant with my twins then but to be honest I just looked really bloated and chubs and my baby bump clearly showed itself about two months after that.

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Birthday surprise up in the air -- this is one of the many reasons why I love flying @singaporeair ✈️ aside from the comfy seats, the amazing entertainment library and good food, they have the best in-flight service too. Yesterday, our flight attendants surprised me with a birthday cake and a specially made card! Thanks to @maddawg_world for tipping them off too. It was one of the best flights of my life as we were moved to the front row giving us so much leg space, I was given a pair of their limited edition bears and lastly, this birthday surprise! 🎂 Thank you Singapore Airlines! 🙌🏻 * * * #singapore #makansg #eatpraylove #instafoodie #sgfood #singaporefood #burpple #singaporeinsider #foodiesg #foodstagram #foodiesofig #whati8today #vsco #foodporn #foodcoma #igsg #foodiechats #sgeats #kaintuloggang #thektg #stfoodtrending #eatingforthree #singaporeairlines #inflightfeed #upintheair #angsinsg #pftravels #birthday

A post shared by Frances Ang (@frannywanny) on May 31, 2017 at 6:19pm PDT

Anyway, it was probably one of the best flights that I've had in my life. From the time we got the VIP check-in as we got Business Class seats and me being pregnant to the delicious hot dishes at the lounge and to the full Business Class experience complete with the super comfy seat, our personalized Book the Cook meals and their birthday surprise for me! It was indeed a memorable flight. I still have the pair of SIA boy and girl bears that they gave me which was like a foretelling of what the genders of my twins will be which we found out 2 weeks after the said flight.

In my many years of blogging here, I'm never the type to blog using press releases and stock photos as I really want to share my personal experience about every single thing that I have wrote about. However, this one was just too awesome to let it pass or to just be given a social media feature.

Japanese BBQ All You Can at Gyu-Kaku, Shangri-la Mall

One thing that I noticed when I first relocated back home was the growing popularity of eat-all-you-can Korean BBQ restaurants and they're priced really affordable too! It seems like every mall would have long queues leading to these restaurants that offer a buffet of Korean bbq meats and cooked dishes for less than P500 only. Before I left the country, the buffet has been on a rise and it came to a point when hotel buffets and restaurant buffets are charging fees somewhat close to each other. Classy interiors, impressive buffet line-up, that was the food trend back in 2012.

Filipino love to eat. There's no denying there and this is probably why buffets and eat-all-you-can promotion will always be well received by the eating public. Anyway, I remembered my first eat-all-you-can KBBQ experience. I was close to my delivery date then thus I was literally heavily pregnant with my twins and we entered this popular Korean restaurant where we were led to the second floor dining area. One thing I noticed was how the flooring was so slippery that I was so scared to slip and hurt my babies inside. The tables were also really sticky and oily and sadly, there wasn't a single interesting item on the buffet table not to mention the meats were obviously of lower quality. Needless to say, that first experience was enough reason for us to stay away from dining at all the famous eat-all-you-can barbecue restaurants for a year. That and well, being new parents of twins didn't really gave us the luxury of time for pretty much their first year of life.

Over the recent holiday, Paul and I, together with our twins, headed to Shangri-la Mall to dine at Gyu-Kaku with some of our food-loving friends. They recently launched their eat all you can promotion and one thing that made this the exception to the rule is that we are familiar with Gyu-Kaku having dined at their Singapore outlet located across IKEA Alexandra. They're serving Japanese-style bbq majority of which is beef as the name gyu means beef in Japanese.  Also, Gyu-Kaku is definitely one of your upscale Japanese barbecue restaurants so you are assured of getting good quality meat in every order.

For only P799 (for adults) and P599 (for kids 3ft and above), you get to choose from a wide selection of appetizers, salads, soup, meats, side dishes and of course, dessert. I was actually so glad that they have dessert as a lot of restaurants running these type of promotion normally would omit dessert out of the menu.

Home Care Talk : Best Ever Joy Dishwashing Liquid

I got to admit, I'm not really good in doing household chores. In fact, I really had to learn things that hard way when Paul and I relocated to the Lion City a few years ago. With no helper with us, we were pretty much left to do things on our own. It was hard at first. We've dealt with stressful days, mishaps, burnt food, ruined clothes and more. Eventually, we got the hang of things and learned some tricks here and there.

By the time Paul and I decided to get our own condo unit, we got our designated household assignments down pat. He took care of the laundry -- washing, drying, ironing, the works! He became so good at it that he even have his own washing/ironing schedule done on a weekly basis. As for me, I took care of anything in the kitchen. Cooking, preparing Paul's breakfast and lunch to be brought to work, cleaning every single corner of the kitchen, doing the grocery and dishwashing.

Given my very OCD nature, you can just imagine the things I'd do to keep our kitchen super clean. Every day, I'd make sure that after I cook, I would wash all my pots, pans, utensils and dishes. I'd also scrub our gas range and walls to ensure that no oil splatter is left untouched overnight. Even our fridge gets a good scrub regularly and this also includes the oven, the rice cooker and basically everything that I use on a daily basis. Our kitchen in Singapore was my sanctuary. I enjoyed cooking and trying new recipes there as you can see in this link. Every night, after dinner, I'd happily take on the responsibility of washing our dishes. For me, it's my way to de-stress and my time to think and reflect. Also, I really make sure that our plates are grease-free and squeaky clean.

TEN-riffic Deal at Tenya Tempura Tendon

Today marks the 12th day of being yaya-less. Well, Yaya M was scheduled to come back yesterday and we have agreed on that. Then suddenly, she could hardly be reached almost all day yesterday and just managed to call me late in the afternoon to tell me that she wasn't able to get a bus ticket because the ticketing office was already closed (well, duh..). I had to do multiple deep breaths to hold my peace and patience as my MIL even called to tell me to just take it easy and be patient with her. Don't get me wrong, I rarely get mad at any of our staff or helper but I really do value agreements and word of honor. I just don't get how some people can make promises which they'll eventually break later on. So. Not. Cool.

Luckily, my twins are much bigger now and they can play on their own. They can also take simple instructions so we still can have a bit of breathing time here and there. Paul and I have also attempted to go to the mall without a single nanny and we have survived. Physically exhausted but very happy inside as we got to spend more time with out kids. Even when Yaya M was still around, Paul and I would take the kids to the mall to eat and play just so they won't feel too restless at home. During one of those mall days, we decided to satisfy my craving for tempura and perfectly so, we spotted Tenya Tempura Tendon at SM Megamall!

Shake Shack opens in BGC on May 10!

Well, look at that! I can't believe we're now at the 5th month of the year and pretty much 59 days away from being halfway through 2019. I'm officially yaya-less too and so far, Paul and I are still okay and surviving. Thankfully, the twins are easier to care for now...that is if you don't count the hours spent running around the room/house/hallway/wherever in different directions and the times I've screamed "get down from there!", "don't climb up the chair" and many more.

Anyway, enough yaya woes and on to the best news that has hit the food scene in Manila this month of May -- Shake Shack will finally open its doors on May 10 at the BGC Central Square!

I got to admit that it was my first time to try Shake Shack as Paul and I chose Luke's Lobster Roll (which I really regret doing so) over dining at Shake Shack when we were at Tokyo back in 2016. Also, Shake Shack is said to have this permanent waiting line in front of the restaurant up until today and since we didn't had much time then, we opted for the one with the shorter queue. Well, now I truly understand the reason for the long waiting line.

I guess 2019 is my year to try Shake Shack and so, together with some of my favorite foodie friends, we got to try some of Shake Shack's best-selling items during an exclusive preview session a few days ago. What probably is not known to many, Shake Shack started with hotdogs and shakes. Yes, it was actually just a hotdog cart in New York and is now on of the most popular fastfood chains not only in the US but all over the world. Here in Southeast Asia, Shake Shack is only available in Singapore, which recently also just opened, and here in Manila. We started our fun tasting session with the Shack-cago Dog (Php. 250), which if you say really fast sounds like "Chicago Dog" I guess there's a story behind this creation which links this to the "Windy City". Anyway, this one is topped with pickles, onions, cucumber, tomatoes, sport pepper, celery, salt and mustard. I can imagine this being a favorite during baseball games just like how we see it in the movies. The hotdog has a nice smokey flavor and it's topped with a generous portion of veggies. I just had to remove the sport pepper as I was scared that it might be too spicy for me and I happily ate the rest with the soft hotdog bun and the meaty hotdog.

Waking up my Neighborhood : Kanto Freestyle in Greenhills

Rise and Shine, Manila!

I've been meaning to write this entry all throughout Holy Week but the farthest I've went was to edit and upload the photos. We've also been taking the twins out for quick trips to the supermarket, to my Kongkong's place, to the playground..anywhere just to spend more time with our little twin stars before Mommy and Daddy goes back to work. True enough, as soon as Monday rolled in, we've both been so busy catching up with all the backlogs and meeting endless deadlines. What do you know?! It's Friday already and I'm honestly not looking forward to the next two weeks as Yaya M will be gone for her holiday and it means we will be yaya-less for 10 whole days.

Don't get me wrong. My twins are adorable and they're so much easier to manage now but when you have a full time job and a million things needed to be done, it's really hard to find time to juggle mommyhood, your career and everything else in between. So, if I suddenly disappeared after next week, you all pretty much know what happened. :) Catch me on social media though as I will try to update that more since I can easily be on my mobile phone.

Speaking of backlogs, I tried to organize all my photos and pending blog line-up and I realized that I have about 2 months backlog on my food stories and 4 YEARS worth of stories on our travel adventures. ACCCKKK! I haven't even told you guys about our trip to Japan which happened back in 2016. Oh dear...oh dear! I'd better start now!

Anyway, before that. Let me tell you about a new restaurant find here in San Juan. It was upon the invite of my sweet friend Mareng J who asked us if we're game to check out the newly opened Kanto Freestyle branch. Since it was very close to home, Paul and I said yes as we have been so curious about Kanto after hearing lots and lots of good things about it from friends and fellow food bloggers. They have branches in Mandaluyong, Quezon City and Makati but since our mornings are always so packed with Mommy and Daddy duties, we never had the time to go out for breakfast or brunch. Finally, with Kanto Freestyle located along Annapolis street, we do not have any reason now not to go out for our family brunch.

Auntie Arnie's Ready-to-Heat Food Pack is here to the Rescue!

Question: Do you have that particular person in your life who has been known to prepare the best meals ever? 

I do and I actually have three! First is my Mom, for me, she makes the best fried rice in the world. So good that I would crave for it regularly when I was living in the Lion City. She also makes really good ma-wan (pork meat balls) that I would ask her to pack me some whenever I visit Manila and yes, I'd bring a container filled with fried meatballs with me every single time. Of course, that also includes her bringing over more meatballs for us to enjoy whenever she and Papa would go and visit me in Singapore. Second, my Kongkong. I guess I've shared how much of a foodie he is that I totally credit my food-loving personality and spirit to him. He is the Masterchef of the family and boy, does he make the best Amoy Fresh Lumpia and Kiam Peng (among many others). I remember how we would always host parties in his house as everyone in his side of the family would always request for him to cook. He's 93 yrs old now and has long retired from the kitchen but to this day, he would take him out and he would unbashfully express his thoughts on every single restaurant that we would visit. Lastly, I also have Paul's Manang. His doting nanny of 35 years. She can cook so well and she would always make sure that we have food to bring home whenever we visit my in laws which is more than twice a week. There are times when Paul and I are just so tired of preparing food for the twins that we would call her and ask if she has food that we can get. My twins love Manang's cooking that only with her food, L would gladly eat rice. Other than that, she would forever be on a no-rice diet.

Now, this-is-why-I-am-Fat. Haha!


Kidding aside, recently, I was invited to the launch of Auntie Arnie's. It's a new brand serving ready-to-heat food packs and the best part is, it's currently available at La Contessa Deli which is literally a stone's throw away from my home. Talk about having an extended kitchen just a block away. Over lunch, my fellow mommies and I were treated to a wide array for dishes and products.

We started with the cheese and charcuterie board which has Auntie Arnie's Dips and Spreads. I love how she has different flavored butter, my favorite is the Chorizo Butter. I love the pesto sauce too which I can't wait to bring home and try on my next pasta dish.