Frannywanny

Tomorrow, we say goodbye to the Year of the Earth Dog and welcome the arrival of the Earth Pig. I managed to take a quick peek at my horoscope and things seems to look positive and rosy for those born in my year (ha! I'm not disclosing which year haha sneaky sneaky huh?) . I'm sure there'll be lots of Chinese New Year prediction going around tomorrow so better keep a look out for yours and I do wish that your 2019 will be filled with happiness and prosperity too. Anyway, despite receiving a good forecast, I still like to play my cards right. It doesn't hurt to take extra steps to bring in more luck, after all. On the foodie front, here are 8 dishes that should be part of your Chinese New Year spread tomorrow night: 1) Dumplings This is probably one of the most popular dishes every Chinese New Year. This tiny yummy bags of pork/minced veggies/seafood symbolizes wealth . Shaped like ingots which are the olden day representation of money, thus it's believed th...

February has officially rolled in and the festivities haven't ended yet! After we have celebrated Christmas and New Year, it's now time to bring out all of our red outfits (mental note: look for Chinese costumes for my twins)  and adorn our table with all things round, red and lucky as the Year of the Pig is just around the corner. Which, by the way, will happen in a few days time! Our family has been extra busy lately as my sister recently gave birth to a healthy baby boy and so prior to that, we've been helping her prepare for the grand arrival of the newest addition of our growing family. Anyway, with all that frenzy as well as with our jam-packed schedules, I feel like we wouldn't have time to spend half a day, more so, the entire day in the kitchen. However, I will never allow that the Chinese New Year will just go by quietly so a celebration is definitely in order. Luckily, I have my go-to home delivery service -- China Mommy ! Remember how they have filled ...

My goodness! Where did the time go? Can you believe that we're already halfway through March and this means, the 1st quarter of the year is almost over! What's more shocking is the fact that I haven't shared a single #Frannycooks recipe with you all this 2017. I seriously have to start catching up! To make up for the delay, here's sharing with you one of my favorite creations as of late. Since watching the Travis Family on YouTube for more than a year now, one thing that I look forward to is seeing the Dad, Benji, cook up a storm in their beautiful kitchen. He's an amazing cook! So amazing that I make it a point never to watch the vlog late at night just in case he cooks something so mouthwatering and I'd end up so hungry. One thing that he loves to make is Sweet Potato with Miso Scallion Butter . I've never had this before nor had I ever paid much attention to sweet potatoes before learning about this. Luckily, I was able to buy a bottle of Organic White...

The Chinese New Year season here in Singapore has always been extra special for Paul and I. Wanna know why? It was when we opened a new chapter in our lives as we moved to this beautiful country a couple of years ago. I can still remember flying in on the 1st day of CNY and we both noticed how unusually quiet the whole city was. Apparently, it's tradition here that shops close to allow people to go attend their family gatherings for two full days. Days after that, we had our first try of the lo hei and we got to try a couple of traditional snacks that's really new to us too -- pineapple tarts, countless types of nuts and chips, bak kwa and more! It's interesting to see how different a particular holiday is being celebrated in this part of the region. The Year of the Rooster is just around the corner and we're starting to have our fill of our favorite CNY snacks. Not to mention, we're both looking forward to doing numerous rounds of lo hei all throughout t...

HELLO 2017!!! Just like that, 2016 has made its graceful exit and in comes the start of another year. How has been your 2017 so far? For us, it has been really fun as we got to spend a lot of quality time with family. Well, the festivities is definitely far from over as we're all anticipating the coming of the Fire Rooster in less than 3 weeks time. That right! It's time to stock up on round fruits, fill up our red packets with money (and hope we'll get a lot too) and toss for luck and prosperity. Next to Christmas and New Year, the Lunar New Year is my next favorite holiday. It's also the time where we get to eat, eat and eat some more! Since moving to Singapore, one thing that I look forward to every Chinese New Year is the Lo Hei . I really love it! I enjoy the whole process of saying all the well wishes while adding in each ingredient and tossing it all up for luck. I also love the sweet tangy taste and most of all, the fresh salmon slices and the crunchy chip...

Our festive 4-day weekend has just ended but that doesn't mean it's the end of the Chinese New Year. In fact, it has just begun as Chinese New Year in Singapore runs up until the 15th day where we would get together again as a family and have bowls of tang yuan (sticky glutinous rice balls). This also means that you get to have more days to toss up for luck and prosperity with my ever-favorite Yu Sheng Salad ! One of my favorite Chinese seafood restaurants here in the Lion City, Red House Seafood , has prepared a delicious line-up of dishes to enjoy this festive season. Given that most of the celebrations are done at home, they have very thoughtfully put together a Reunion Takeaway Tiffin Set which comes with 3 dishes of your choice. I remember Mommy and my Kongkong using these tingkats back then whenever they would take home food from any of our favorite restaurants. Seeing it again today has immediately brought back some good childhood memories. Should you prefer to g...

Crystal Jade Singapore  is celebrating its 25th year this 2016. Since I used to live in the Philippines, I've come to know about the brand barely 6 years ago. However, I will never forget how I immediately fell in love with their signature  Dan Dan La Mian and that's really a big surprise given that I used to have extremely low tolerance for spicy food. To this date, Crystal Jade will always be my go-to place whenever I'm craving for that mouthwatering spicy and peanut-y noodle soup. In a week's time, most parts of Asia will be welcoming the Year of the Red Monkey and we're already feeling the festive season here in Singapore. There are a few things I love about celebrating Chinese New Year here -- tossing our luck in the air with the traditional lo hei , enjoying all of the best ingredients in a pen cai , receiving some hongbao  (red envelopes with money) and lastly, having an abundant supply of mandarin oranges. Back in Manila, we would also eat all the tik...

Three years ago, there was a couple who arrived here in the Lion City with pretty much their entire lives packed in three huge suitcases. It was right in the middle of all the Chinese New Year festivities and as they thought they knew everything there is to know about this particular holiday, they were proven wrong within the span of a week. Walking around the hawker centres, they were startled by the sudden shouts and scenes of people standing around the table tossing shredded vegetables up in the air. It was madness! "What on earth are they doing? ", they'd ask one another. While this sight was very new to them, this couple was quick to adjust and have imbibed all the new customs and traditions that they have learned in their new home called Singapore . Above is a real, true to life story of Paul and yours truly. This was our first experience of the Singaporean-style Chinese New Year and having close to a dozen yu sheng salads, tossing veggies up in the air countless...

After checking in at F1 Hotel Manila for a quick overnight staycation, Paul and I, together with my MIL and FIL headed down to the 3rd level for lunch! I love that the restaurant is named F All Day Dining  as you all know that F  is my favorite letter! :) It's the hotel's main restaurant that offers all-day buffet from breakfast to dinner. They also have a little spread during afternoon tea! How cool is that? Anyway, the theme during the time that we went was Chinese New Year so the buffet has predominantly Asian/Chinese dishes to celebrate the occasion. Our lunch also fell on a Friday which means all meatless dishes for me. Normally, this is the only day in the week where I'd avoid eating out much less going for a buffet. Well, I trust that F will have a good variety to still make my lunch satisfying.  Let's go through the different stations and dishes that caught my eye: Of seafood, sushi rolls and sashimis!

Huat Ah! This is probably the first Singlish phrase that I've learned when we moved to the Lion City exactly two Chinese New Years ago. As half of the city went overseas and the other half were busy visiting families, we took this time to make our visit to IKEA to quickly furnish our new place. All around us, people were tossing shredded vegetables while screaming " Huat Ahhhhh!! " I had no clue what they were doing then but who would have thought that this would be one exciting practice that I always look forward to every Chinese New Year -- Lo Hei . Paul and I loved it so much that we even brought back packs of Yu Sheng Salad to share this "veggie-tossing" practice with our families in Manila.  This is just one of the many things I love about Singapore and the Singaporean culture. Another thing we love (and we're pretty sure the rest of the world do too) about Singapore is the yummy hawker heritage . Many have been saying that hawker centres won'...

My dear readers probably know by now how big a fan I am of discounts and 1-for-1s. Of course, this is truly the best way to dine out as we get to try more dishes for a fraction of the price. After all, I've come to accept the hard truth that money doesn't grow on trees so being hardworking, frugal and smart about saving and spending money is truly the way to go. Don't get me wrong, I would still indulge and splurge once in a while but nonetheless, I think real hard before going for it. So, I just heard about the latest lunch promotion that Hotel Jen Tanglin  recently launched. It's called 12 at 12 at Ah Hoi's Kitchen and this just got to be the best promotion that I've ever heard of! Imagine being able to have 12 different viands plus complimentary drink, soup and rice for only $12 nett! The promotion runs during lunch hour which is at 12 noon sharp. The best part is, for groups of 12, the 12th person gets a free meal!

Huat Ah!* In the spirit of the Chinese New Year (yes, the celebration never ends!) , let me continue my story-telling on how my family and I celebrated this special occasion back in Manila. After tossing our Yu Sheng salad to bring in all the good fortunes, happiness and luck, we headed out for a family dinner at Huat Pot , a newly-opened hotpot restaurant in San Juan . Stepping inside Huat Pot , we were led towards our table that the far corner of the restaurant which was quite cramped and definitely could not comfortably sit 5 people. Oh dear! Sadly, the entire restaurant was filled to the brim so we had to make do with a little adjustments here and there. As soon as we were all seated, Paul, Pan and I were tasked by our parents to take care of getting the food. The set-up reminds me of our favorite hotpot restaurant in Taiwan where all the meats and veggies were neatly stored in a huge chiller and there were a lot of drink options and the best part of all -- free ice cream!...

The celebration continues! For the past years, celebrating the Chinese New Year for me means wearing red on that auspicious day, sharing a delicious meal with my family and receiving ang paos (red money packets) from the elders. I have to say that living in Manila, the celebration normally just lasts for two days max. After that, life pretty much goes back to normal.  When Paul and I moved to the Lion City a year ago. We arrived exactly right after the Chinese New Year and one thing we noticed was that the celebration seems to last longer than what we were accustomed to. We would still hear the dragon/lion dance trucks in almost every corner, office buildings would have those huge kiatkiat plants, people would be in red and restaurants are still busy hosting CNY lunches/dinners. I had my first taste of what CNY was like here in Singapore during my company lunch wherein I had my first Lo Hei.  "What's a Lo Hei?" I still remember asking my colleague K about ...

The Chinese New Year celebration goes on and on here in Singapore. It's pretty much similar to how us, Filipinos, celebrate Christmas! People would take time out from work to go on long vacation leaves, others would go home to their hometown, others would just stay in town and spend time with their family. However, what we notice is that in most of the Chinese restaurants here, even in small neighborhood eateries, families would gather around the table to toss shredded vegetables and seafood as they shout out their wishes for the coming year. This is called Loi Hei (in Cantonese), Yu Sheng (in Mandarin) or Prosperity Toss (in English). This is a practice commonly done in Singapore and in some parts of Malaysia. Last Monday, I had the chance to experience my first loi hei with my new colleagues. We headed to a Chinese restaurant in Clarke Quay and were presented with a plate filled with colorful vegetables like carrots, radish, red peppers and a lot more. The highlight of the Y...

Tonight, we bid the hopping Rabbit good bye and welcome the fiery Water Dragon at the struck of twelve midnight. While last year was a pretty happy and prosperous one for us, we are filled with more optimism and good wishes for the coming New Year!! :) For our family, we have scheduled our annual Chinese New Year celebration tomorrow as it is also my dear Mommy's birthday! My sister, Paul and I have been busy completing our lunch menu and we are just soooo excited for it! Truly a double lucky day for my Mom, don't you think? To make it extra lucky, our menu has 8 different variants : Cha Misua, Crunchy Calamares, Stuffed Chicken (Pat Po Kwe), Sauteed Prawns, Lengua with Mushroom, Spicy Eggplant Hot Pot, Dumplings (Jiao Zi) and my Kongkong's signature Pata Tim ! My mouth waters just at the thought of our lunch menu! It will be a mix of dishes prepared here at home, some to be prepared by Paul's talented Manang and others store-bought. :) It will be truly a busy m...

*SPONSORED POST* How did you celebrate the New Year? Watching the news, I can’t help but get teary-eyed as CNN featured the live New Year’s countdown at Times Square in New York City. From the looks of the crowd, it seems to be a very cold winter night yet this didn’t stop thousands of Americans to go out to the street to be part of this festive celebration. As soon as the clock struck twelve, everyone began hugging, cheering, some couples started kissing and kids began jumping and dancing all around. What a happy sight! This scene is not far from what we had here in Manila 16 hours earlier than what happened in New York. In various part of the country, big parties were held, beautiful fireworks lit up the sky and in my in-law’s cozy home, we greeted one another and sat around the table to enjoy on our New Year’s Media Noche. As we enjoyed our bowls of misua soup, sticky rice cakes and fruits, we opened two bottles of Tropicana Twister in two different flavors – Apple Lemon and...

In a week's time, we will be bidding the Year of the Rabbit good bye and will gladly welcome the arrival of the Water Dragon. Coincidentally, this year's Chinese New Year is also the day of my dear Mommy's birthday!! Thus, my sister and I have been planning on where to host her birthday lunch with our extended family for days now. Since January 23 was also declared a holiday, we know we are running out of time as we expect that a lot of people will surely be out celebrating the Chinese New Year making almost all Chinese restaurants in town to be fully booked. I've been doing a number of research and luckily have been invited by some to have a preview of their Chinese New Year offering. Allow me to share them all with you in the coming days. Let me start with the Chinese New Year menu of F Restauran t of the Best Western Premier F1 Hotel . This is the first hotel to open at the Bonifacio Global City and is located right in front of Starbucks Coffee and is just wi...

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

I must admit that although I do have very strong Chinese lineage, I grew up at the other side of town thereby depriving me from living the Oriental life where horse-drawn carriages would go around and around town, where majority would speak the Chinese language (or at least, the more popular dialect called Hokkien ), where I can stuff myself with the best tasting dimsums, noodles and a lot more. Needless to say, I'm trying to make up for the loss as I would frequently visit Manila's very own Chinatown otherwise known as Binondo . Thanks to the talent and expertise of Ivan ManDy who conducts fun walking tour around Binondo as he shares his knowledge about his side of town as well as the secret food stops that makes Binondo a must-go place for not only the tourists but for locals as well. Notice we're all in Red ? :) Like Ivan, I take pride in showing a bit of my Oriental lineage to my friends. Such was the case when I accompanied three of my dear colleagues to Ivan's B...