Frannywanny

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 alway...

This year's Christmas was a bit different for my family. Our dear Kongkong was confined in the hospital so we had to call off our annual Christmas Eve dinner outside and opted to just spend it quietly at the hospital. The holiday season is all about family and loved ones coming together, after all, so no matter where you may be, you can still feel the warmth of the holiday with the presence of family and friends around you. Luckily, Kongkong has been discharged so the fun continues! We still have the New Year to celebrate and we're planning to do it at home to give Kongkong more space to rest and the kids to walk/run/crawl around. Oh how I dream to just turn into beautiful Giada de Laurentiis or talented Ina Garten and be able to not only cook up a storm for my family but turn these dishes into beautiful masterpieces too. Perhaps if I get a little help from my favorite bee. If my kids love the big red happy Bee , their momma adores this small, helpful yellow Bee called Ho...

I was busy on my laptop while my Dad was watching the news last night and while I was pretty much passively listening to what was being talked about on TV, one thing that made me stop what I was doing was when the announcer said that we got "15 days to go before Christmas Day." WHAT?! That was my immediate reaction. I'm not ready for Christmas yet and judging on the non-progress made on our gift list, it looks like I will be getting into a shopping frenzy in the coming weeks...that is if I don't do anything about it NOW! It doesn't help too that Yaya M1 will soon be going on her month long Christmas vacation back in her province which means I will be extra busy helping Yaya M2 watch over my twins who are starting to enjoy half-walking/half-running around the room. I can't believe I'm saying this but as a busy Mom, I am so grateful for technology and online shopping. I've lost count of the number of times when technology and the ease of orderin...

I never knew that the time could come that I'd actually find online shopping to not only be therapeutic but totally convenient too. Back then, people who online shop would just end up with clothes, shoes, accessories and baked goodies. Today, you can shop for anything and almost everything with just a few clicks here and there. Now I get why first time or new moms like me totally adore online shopping. With a little baby (or babies, in my case) in the house, it's pretty impossible to go out and do your errands but life at home goes on so we need to eat and restock our pantry no matter what. Luckily, I learned about Honestbee Philippines . I first heard about this when I was residing in the Lion City as I had colleagues who would buy their monthly snack stash using Honestbee's delivery service. As for me, our condo unit then was located just 2 blocks away from two major supermarkets and my office was sandwiched between 3 groceries so I never really found the need to do o...