Frannywanny

This week started at a very sad note. As I opened my cellphone yesterday morning, I was greeted with posts after posts of the passing of NBA Star Kobe Bryant and his daughter Gianna. While I'm no basketball fan, my heart sank as I thought about his wife, his 2 other kids and that final moment when Kobe knew that was the end of him and his daughter. As a parent, I'm pretty sure he would have wanted to do anything to save Gigi. Well, I definitely would. If I have to push my kids out of the crashing helicopter with hopefully a safety parachute, I would. Anything just to keep them alive. Apart from that, there's the growing concern on the rapidly spreading Coronavirus. Really, a number of sad, scary moments as we welcome the Year of the Rat. I do hope things will get better in the coming weeks.  When faced with stress or disappointing situations, I turn to food to cheer me up. *sigh* #thisiswhyImfat Seriously though, I have my set of comfort food that never fails to tur...

So yesterday, I raved about my newest kitchen appliance -- the Instant Pot Duo 6QT  which I think is an answered prayer for all home cooks who are living in small spaces or are always on the go.  Of course, I wasted no time and started to put this baby on a road test. As soon as I got my Instant Pot , my mom told me that it's the perfect appliance to have given that I always make sure to have soup available for my kids in every meal. It's where we've made delicious beef soup, creamy pumpkin soup that L loves so much and a few months back, I discovered that you can also make pasta here without the use of multiple pots. It's truly your machine for those one-pot wonder dishes. Let me share with you one recipe that I've tried making using my Instant Pot and I was very pleased with the outcome. It's yummy, healthy and so easy to make. Instant Pot Butternut Squash Mac and Cheese  (source: here ) Here's what you'll need: - macaroni or any short pasta...

It was one of those rare moments that my family was so game to drive all the way to Bonifacio Global City one Sunday afternoon that we decided to make the most of it by going for an afternoon stroll chase with our three little toddlers, checking out the long long long queue at Tiger Sugar   (and resigning to the fact that it will take us months before we can try this) , and ending the fun day with a nice family dinner at 26th St. Bistro . This place is not new to me as it has been my favorite make-shift office / in-between-meetings hang out every time I'm in the area. I love how spacious it is and that they have a wide selection of hot and cold dishes which has definitely made them notch above all the other coffee shops in the area. They got free WiFi for Swirl Cardholders too which is a big plus for those working. The only thing missing is to have more provision of electrical sockets as the ones available are always taken by longer staying customer. Anyway, as you know my Pap...

*note: I just learned that MeatLiquor is now closed. The reason, I'm not very sure but I'm so sad about it. There goes the only place where I go to for Fried Pickles and yummy Burgers. :( Just for one night, we totally threw "diet" out of the window. So longggg!! *waves* Well, we had a good reason. A was in town and the NKids got together for a night of meat, meat and more meat! I was so excited to learn that London's famous Meat Liquor opened a branch here in Singapore a few months ago, so this is another thing I happily crossed out from my list after our visit. The menu was pretty straight forward, there were a couple of burger options, salad (but who wants them right?) and sides! We started with some Deep-Fried Mac & Cheese  (S$15) which looked just as mouth-watering as it sounded. Come on, who doesn't love Mac & Cheese right? I love how the creamy macaroni was well-encased in such a nice deep-fried crust.

This continues my Bonifacio Highstreet Central food review. I really love hanging out at this new wing of the Bonifacio Highstreet complex. What's there not to love about this place? With at least 80% of its tenants being restaurants, I'm just halfway through and I love how a new restaurants pop out whenever I pay a visit. Last week, at the height of my intense preparation for Yummy Eats 2012 , I said yes to a dinner invitation after getting non-stop raves not only from my blogger friends but from a certain colleague as well. As I've mentioned before , my friend T really has great taste in food and after hearing her talk about this new restaurant called 'Cue and their delicious pork chop, I knew I have to put that on the list and schedule a visit ASAP. Paul and I got there a few minutes before our agreed meeting time and we were quickly ushered to our reserved table. 'Cue stands for barbe cue as this restaurant features a lot of really good meat dishes. Defi...

A few months ago, Paul and I met up with long time friends Sophie , Jean and Karl for our much-awaited dinner. This plan has been pushed back so many times that we were all so excited that the day has finally come that we will be able to catch up and see each other again. The venue was set at Quezon City and going through my Restaurant List, I suggested that we try Pino Resto Bar which shares the same building with its healthier vegan version, Pipino Vegetarian Restaurant . I was able to try Pipino's Mac and Cheese during the Yummy Eats event last May. In fact, it was the only thing I ate after running around the venue, making sure everything goes as planned all day. I wasn't really planning to eat had it not been for Paul who pulled me to stop and firmly told me to eat after 10 attempts or so. When I had my first bite of Pipino's Mac and Cheese, I was hooked! It was delicious, no signs of it being a purely vegan dish and it was very addicting in fact. Too addicting...

It was an exciting lunch as I was back at my favorite American diner ... Mr. Jones ! Just a month ago, I first tried Mr. Jones with the Yummy team and now I'm back for a food tasting in preparation for an exciting event for work! Thanks to Raintree Restaurant's super accommodating and friendly Marketing Manager, Belle ; I found myself enjoying a wide array of Mr Jones' specialties earlier was these will be served to our special guests in a couple of weeks. Here's what we had for lunch... We've tried The Threeesome during our first visit to Mr. Jones, I love the Egg Salad with Truffle Oil and Black Caviar! Each bite is h-e-a-v-e-n-l-y. The other two are the Prawn Coleslaw and the Macaroni Salad. Must enjoy these yummy salad together with their delicious butter toast. Make a wild guess how many milkshake we all had this afternoon. :) One? nah.. Two? Nope! Threeee? Maybe... Four? CORRECT!! Yep! We all had a taste of four of their best-selling milkshakes a...

I'm pretty sure I will be dreaming of a plate filled with US Beef Tapa with Garlic Rice tonight...and it all because of Mr. Jones It was our traditional birthday lunch treat with Yummy team and as I mentioned it before, the group surely has the nose and the right taste for good food! Lunch was at Mr. Jones . Since it was my first time to visit this and it has been part of my restaurants-to-visit list for quite a while now, I was really so excited to try that much-talked about Beef Tapa, the Truffled Mac and Cheese and a lot more! My excitement grew as the team began talking about what they will be ordering for lunch and looks like majority was really eyeing on the Tapa. We were told that the place can easily be filled up in minutes so for extra safety measures, Liz made reservations to secure us a table. Mr. Jones' ambiance is like a modern American diner complete with a mini jukebox by the corner, servers in crisp white with red stripes tops and a menu that will make you go W...

It has been said before that it is highly encouraged that we eat at least 5 small meals in a day. Therefore, snacks are just as important as breakfast, lunch and dinner. I love taking afternoon snacks! This is when I would allow myself to take in a little more junk food than I really should. Of course, I try to balance this out also by snacking on fruits or a light salad on some days. This week, my mom was my afternoon snack companion and we have discovered two delicious snack items which I think you would also enjoy! Cold Storage Sushi I honestly think I will never ever get tired of eating sushi! If given a chance, I think I can have sushi every single day! However, eating at a Japanese restaurant can be pretty costly and so we were happy to chance upon Cold Storage's sushi selections! For only Php. 150, you can have a small tray filled with 16 pcs. of California Maki! Each piece will give you a plump slice of sweet mango, chewy cold kani all rolled into one and covered with orang...