Frannywanny

Earlier this month, we celebrated the birthday of one of our househelps, B. My twins would point to her as "Yaya B" which makes her very happy. She's been with us even before I gave birth to my twins and in this day and age where long-lasting househelps are a rarity, she's definitely winning the loyalty award so to speak. I do value birthdays and it has been a tradition for us to celebrate the birthdays of everyone in the house thus including our loyal helpers and even Kuya M, my Mom's driver of close to a decade. Nothing grand but rather we would prepare a simple but meaningful meal for them. After all, they have made the sacrifice to be away from their own families to be able to stay and to work for us so in return, we make it a point to make them feel like they're part of the family. I've been away from my own family to work abroad for 4 years and I know how it feels when it's your birthday and you're not with your loved ones. I am very lucky ...

After my Afternoon Tea date with D here in Singapore , we promised each other to meet up once again in Manila over the Christmas break. Given how everyone is normally busy during this time of the year, I was so touched to receive a message from D as soon as we landed in Manila asking when can we meet up for lunch. She surely kept her promise! Isn't she just so amazing? We agreed to meet up after Christmas Day and she told me that fellow bloggers K and C will be joining us too. I've never met K and C in person despite knowing of them and following them on social media for years. I always love meeting new friends so I was so excited for this particular lunch date. D suggested we go to Choobi Choobi  in Panay Avenue which is one of her favorite restaurants at the moment. I've never heard of Choobi Choobi  and after a quick search, I learned that this restaurant originated from Cebu and they're known for their bags of shrimps. Hooray! Guess we were just so excited tha...

"I'm craving for Pinoy garlic rice, tocino, egg and atchara..ugh!" This is what I suddenly messaged my Pinoy lunch group at work yesterday. It's the type of craving that you can clearly imagine the food in your mind and you're starting to smell it too. Clearly, I'm missing home and I'm really bummed that my supposed flight home tonight won't be pushing through. Anyway, happy thoughts again..happy thoughts. I got to admit that I didn't grow up eating Filipino food on a daily basis as we got a very Chinese-style kitchen back home. In fact, not so long ago, I wouldn't even consider Filipino cuisine as one of my favorites. Well as they say, " absence makes the heart grow fonder"  and that's how I am towards Filipino food for the past 3 years plus. This is also why we make it a point to visit a Filipino restaurant whenever we fly home. So, on our most recent trip home, we brought the entire family out for lunch at Wooden Spoon ...