Frannywanny

Tonight, L and I celebrated the start of our real vacation here in the US. She's heading to the east to bond with her siblings while I will be joining Paul as we explore cool and laid-back California. Taking the recommendation of our business partner here in the US, he told us not to miss out on visiting Fashion Island in Newport Beach . This area is part of my list as I would love to check out the setting of the hit TV series, The O.C . Although, I'm not a fan nor a viewer of the show, I'd still like to see the place myself. As Irvine is purely a business district filled with tall office buildings, Newport has a different vibe. With huge houses and lush greeneries, it definitely looks and feel like this is the upscale part of the Orange Country. Fashion Mall is HUGE! I'm simply amazed that major retailers would really acquire a huge piece of real estate as most shops in this part of town is almost of the same size as our average supermarket back home. This, I...

I always have a liking for neighborhood restaurants where I, more often than not, discovery a number of yummy finds. Take the case of Metro Cuisines for example. We found this along N.S. Amoranto street (formerly known as Reposo to most QC residents) one Sunday lunch, where it was almost full except for a small table which we immediately got. What we didn’t know then was Metro Cuisines has a buffet promo every Mondays, Wednesdays and Fridays and the whole day of Sunday. This is the time where residents nearby would go to Metro Cuisines to enjoy their varied buffet spread with the entire family. As part of Manila’s Signature Dishes by Unilever Foodsolutions, we started with our own bowls of steaming Cream of Mushroom soup. The texture was smooth and the flavor was subtle. It was quite refreshing to start our meal with this. This was followed by Mushroom Aioli with French Toast . I liked this dish a lot as I can taste the paprika which was added in. The toast was crunchy ...