Frannywanny

Let me put on my geeky glasses as I share with you my new found knowledge about... our skin . Yep! That's right. Did you know how wrinkles are formed? It's through the course of aging as our skin loses its natural moisture and elasticity for each year that you blow out another candle. This is the reason why our moms and grandmothers would always remind us to moisturize, moisturize and moisturize from the moment you hit your mid-20s as this can somehow help slow down the aging process. Now, have you ever heard of collagen? Did you know that this plays a vital role in keeping your skin elastic and when you do have elastic skin, there is a smaller chance for wrinkles to form. Call me a late bloomer as it was only recently when I finally have a more regular skin care regimen. I grew up thinking that I will forever have soft, blemish-free, acne-free and wrinkle-free skin. After all, I rarely put on make-up and my belief was that the less chemical I put on my face, the lesser chances...

"Are you turning into the ambassador of the Philippines in Singapore?" This was the SMS that I got from my sister after I shared a photo of myself and an old friend whom I met up with tonight. You see, the past weeks have been quite busy for me as I've been meeting up with visiting friends and relatives over lunch/dinner/breakfast/coffee/etc! While there's no denying how much I miss Manila, having people from home over makes homesickness more bearable for me and Paul. During our first few months here, we were so happy to have friends who really took the time out to drop by to check on us. They really didn't have to but they chose to do so. Aren't we so lucky to have friends like them? Two of them are our dear friends and newlywed couple E and S. They decided to do a stopover here in Singapore before heading to their honeymoon destination so when we got the invite from E to have dinner in Bukit Timah, we cleared our evening schedule to be able to spend s...

While eating is a fun experience on its own, I personally find greater excitement when I get to cook and eat at the same time. This is the reason why I'm such a fan of shabu-shabu (hotpot) restaurants or those that have table-top grills where we can cook our choice meats to perfection. To be honest though, Paul is a greater cook than I am. So, more often than not, I leave the cooking to him while I happily chew away. He's such a natural with a spatula on one hand and a pair chopsticks on the other. One evening while trying a new restaurant called Taza Mix with some members of The Food Club , I was so lucky to be seated beside Paul and Irene , two of the more talented cooks of T he Food Club (this special category also includes fellow bloggers Carlos , Jane and Joan -- you should really try their kitchen specialties!) . Just imagine how Richard and I were enjoying having our plates filled with delicious shabu shabu balls, strips of lamb and chicken, kani sticks, veggi...

16 years. That's how long most of us have known each other. It all began on the 1st day of class in 1996 (yes kids..no loud gasp please..Auntie Franny is not THAT old) when we all went back to school after summer break. It was our first year in high school then. It's part of the system that we all get reshuffled right after 7th grade. I guess the reason behind this is to give us more chance to get to know one another more. Much to our dismay then, this system worked out pretty well as we graduated High School knowing almost everyone in our batch of 240++ students. High School really was FUN. It was the time where we were still so carefree, all filled with hope and optimism and we didn't have much to worry about day in and out. I enjoyed playing matchmakers to friends during our Prom and Ball seasons and everyday I look forward to just three things: Recess, Lunch and Dismissal (ok, fine, maybe I also love Cooking Class and Club days too) . It was during these years that...

I initially wanted to share with you my Taipei experience in chronological order. However, as I try to recall the three amazing days spent in beautiful Taiwan, I can't stop drooling over our last lunch at Mala Hotpot . Therefore, I'm skipping forward and will begin my food adventure series in my new-found favorite restaurant in Taipei. Months before our trip, my friends and I began fixing our itinerary. It's a good thing that we all wanted to shop and eat. Jeanny and Karl, having been to Taipei before, were tasked to take care of our last day. Initially the plan was to feast on Xiao Long Baos at Din Tai Fung for lunch and have a special eat-all-you-can hotpot dinner before heading to the airport. However, we had to move our schedule around as Mala Hotpot cannot accomodate us for dinner and has only one slot for us that day -- 2PM to 4PM . Still, we were all determined to give Mala Hotpot a try after Jeanny told us that they have eat-all-you-can Haagen Dazs and Moven...

I love to cook and I love to eat, put it together and for sure, I'll have a great time during a shabu-shabu dinner! However, more often than not, it's my husband Paul who takes the center stage in the cooking arena. Take Amah's (grandmother) birthday two week ago for example where my family decided to head to Green Maris for an intimate shabu-shabu (hotpot) dinner. While most would probably expect the ladies in the family to stand up and cook all evening, it was in fact the men namely Kongkong, Aku, Kuku and Paul who made sure that all ingredients made it to the pot and they also were the ones putting all sorts of meat and seafood into our respective bowls. Such gentlemen we have in the family. :) Fast forward a week after, Paul and I joined half of the Club at King One Rotary Hot Pot in Macapagal Avenue where we went prepared with an empty stomach ready to enjoy an assortment of meat, seafood and more! I'm glad that Richard and Irene , who have dined at King One m...

At some point I wonder if Paul and I have met each other when we were kids. Probably we could have been at the same place and at the same time but we were too young to notice anyone else besides our family back then. While recounting our childhood stories, we noticed that we have shared a number of similar memories. Perhaps there have been other opportunities for us to meet but He made it all possible on that fateful night of May 11, 2003 where both of us attended a big group dinner without any idea that right at that moment, we were to meet the one whom we will be spending the rest of our lives with -- we were each other's soulmates. A couple of weeks back, we got an invite from fellow blogger Richard to have dinner at Chinatown's Best Food . On our way there, I was recounting my past experience of frequenting Chinatown's Best Food when they were still in their old location also along Banawe. The restaurant has came a long way. From a small al fresco eatery to a multiple...

It was just another busy weekday for Paul and I as we had to run a couple of errands late in the evening. Driving along Banawe Avenue in Quezon City, we were looking for a place to have our (very late) dinner. I always enjoy visiting this part of town due to its numerous food choices. Growing up with my grandparents, I remember how fun it was when my Kongkong (maternal grandfather) and Amah (material grandmater) would take my sister and I for a ride down Banawe everyday for our afternoon snack. More often than not, we would end up in the same place -- Mami King . Kongkong loves their halo-halo and so every single day of our summer vacation was spent there. Aside from Mami King, which sadly is not operational anymore, there are a lot of dining spots that keeps their own food secrets. There's one that serves the best creamy crabs, one that has to-die-for Chicken and Taro Hotpot and a number who serves the best noodle soup, dimsum and tofu drink. Following the lead of fellow...

Twas the night after Christmas and despite our hectic schedules, my friends and I all agreed to meet up to have a better-late-than-never dinner to celebrate the holidays. I guess this is what makes real friendship works, nothing will stop us from seeing each other no matter how far, how late or how short the meet-up would be. Following last year's fun and successful Christmas dinner, we agreed to have it at Tong Yang but this time in their Jupiter branch. We were all so excited to spend an evening cooking, eating, talking, laughing and just having a great time. Since we were a big group, we were given a private room. Their servers were very attentive that it wasn't difficult at all to ask for assistance. With our stomachs growling loudly, everyone headed to the buffet table the moment we arrived. Paul and I began with the appetizer section where we filled our plates with yummy sushi, siomai and kimchi! It was truly a mix of all things we like! Korean, Chinese and Japanese! I e...