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 ...

First of all, this is not  a sponsored post but rather an appreciation post. A few weeks ago, I made a shoutout on my personal Facebook page asking my friends for their recommendation on where I should have my new glasses made. You see, I've been visiting the same optical shop from the time I first had my glasses when I was about 10 years old. Over time, we've been going back for grade adjustments, change of frames and so on. However, the past decade has been crazy busy for me! I got married, moved to another country, had my babies and well I barely had time to really change my frames. The least that I would do is to update my lenses since well, I won't be able to visually function properly with bad lenses, right? It was only lately that I took a close look at my frames and boy do they need some upgrade. Within minutes, messages came pouring in with recommendations and I'd say... 90% of the responses said the same thing. OWNDAYS . I am very familiar with this ...

It's no secret how much I love Cebuano lechon. Apart from my all-time fave, very sosyal  Truffled Stuffed Lechon , I love the saltiness of the Cebunao lechon and the fact that minimal dipping is required. Apart from this, I love Cebu . The Queen City of the South where you can get the yummiest finds. It's here where I load up on roasted meats, dried danggit (fish) and my ever favorite -- dried mangoes with chocolate. So, when word went around that Rico's Lechon from Cebu will open their first store here in Manila sometime back in August, I was really excited to give it a try. Unfortunately, being full time Mommy to my twins doesn't really make me as mobile as I used to be so even a short trip to the Bonifacio Global City entails a whole lot of coordination, planning and logistical arrangements. You see, every time I visit Cebu, I make it a point to have lechon. I have my go-to Cebu Lechon spot which I would frequent every time I'm in the city. Somehow, I know ...

My twins recently turned 6 months. To be really honest, I think celebrating their monthly milestone is really more for me and Paul rather than for the kids at the moment. Perhaps, for them, they get to discover that they can do something new each day and most especially for this particular month, they finally got their first taste of solids. However, for us, their parents it's all feeling triumphant over surviving twin parenthood for 6 whole months (and still counting). It's all about still not having 8 hours of sleep since the twins were born, it's about double the number of diapers that were worn and thrown away, it's all about cheering and doing happy dances every time we witness a new milestone, it's all about gaining that extra arm muscle that we never thought existed as our twins are really gaining more weight. I can't help but look at their photos back when they were a day old up until the photos that I took of them today. They've grown so much and ...

"Rice is Life"  and that's a fact. I believe that most Asians would agree with me that no meal will ever be complete without rice. Personally, fried rice is my weakness. As a kid, a meal immediately becomes extra special whenever Mommy would cook her signature fried rice. It's nothing fancy but it's a very garlicky rice with hotdog, ham, spring onions and egg. It has a distinct taste that I know only Mommy can make. In fact, I tried to recreate it several times when I was living in Singapore but I could never get close to the real thing. That's what makes it truly amazing. So, given my immense love for fried rice. I couldn't pass up the chance to check out Super Bowl of China 's Unlimited Yang Chow Fried Rice promotion. It ends on 30 March 2018 so please hurry over TODAY or the next few days. Paul and I took a quick Mommy and Daddy break from our twins for a nice dinner out. I haven't been to Super Bowl of China  for years but I do recall my ...

Well, hello there! Missed me? This was definitely the longest break that I've took since this blog was created 10 years ago. Well, I got a good excuse reason. The day after my previous blog entry was posted, I gave birth to my adorable twins J and L. What happened after that were days filled with non-stop feeding, burping, diaper changes, sleepless nights, random playtime and more. It has been 60+ days since and I'd say, we've pretty much mastered the art of not-sleeping-at-night-or-ever. Haha! Kidding aside, I'm so in love with my twins and while never in my wildest dreams would I thought that I can change diapers in 3 minutes or less as well as turn into a human milking cow, my dream of being a Mommy has finally became a reality and I'm just so so so happy. I have yet to share with you the highlights of my year but I guess you all know what will sit on top of my list. 2018 is looking very bright for our family and I really can't wait to see what's in ...

Not so long ago, I received a message from my former colleague K asking me if I'm game to try her Lolo (grandfather)'s sans rival. Of course, I don't say no to cake more so when it's sans rival! This is probably one of my favorite cakes as I just love anything nutty, nougat-y and the butter frosting totally beats regular cream frostings any day. What I just recently learned though is that this particular sans rival has a story that dates back to 50 years ago. Cipriano Sans Rival  (Php. 850) is the recipe of K's grandfather and it's the kind that has been perfected over time. This is definitely not the mass-produced kind. Instead, K's grandfather has been making his sans rival for most of their family gatherings. Each layer carefully crafted, the frosting with its intricate fork design and that generous amount of nuts sprinkled on top to cover any flaws and at the same time works double time to complete your sans rival experience. Today, my friend K has p...

If there's one thing that I dread experiencing whenever I'm back in Manila then that would have to be the crazy traffic jam! It must be the never-ending road works or the growing number of cars on the road but the traffic condition continues to worsen year after year. Take our recent trip for example. We were very lucky that our  Philippine Airlines  flight arrived earlier than scheduled giving us more time to quickly see our family and head to San Juan for dinner. We got to NAIA 2 at 6pm and believe it or not, we reached San Juan at 830pm. That's 2 and half hours on the road with Waze giving us various routes to help us get home as quickly as possible. Oh my goodness! Papa, Pan and E were at home waiting for us and after we quickly dropped off our luggages, we headed to the nearest restaurant for our late dinner. I suggested Hai Chix & Steaks  as it has been on my list for the past months. I wasn't sure if it was any good but I guess, we'll never know if ...

Rise and Shine! Let me start your mid-week by talking about a new all-day breakfast nook that my friend (and kumare) S and I recently discovered during my last visit back in Manila. As I've mentioned before, our schedules every time we're back home is always so packed so I normally would meet up with friends for brunch, tea time or after dinner milk tea sessions. I haven't hanged out with my dear friend S for so long and I was so happy that we finally found a common free schedule to do so. Since we live quite near to each other, it was easy choosing a place to meet. She suggested Eggspresso  along J. Abad Santos and I excitedly said yes as I've been hearing about this place from my friend T. As the name suggests, this restaurant specializes in all things with eggs. I believe that eggs and cheese are the two things that you can never go wrong with. These two can make what could be a simple ho-hum dish into one that's so delicious. The restaurant was very new wh...

So how does it feel to be a "tourist in your own country?" I never thought the time would come when Paul and I actually would feel that way. I guess it's pretty inevitable given that we've been away from Manila for more than 3 years and we only get to fly home at an average once every quarter and during those visits, we would only stay for a week or even less. For a country that's fast developing ( I hope ) and there are just a lot of new retail outlets and restaurants opening left and right, we recently found ourselves lost while navigating around... Bonifacio Global City  -- a place that we used to frequent more than once a week many years ago. Believe it or not, I even had to call my sister to help us find our way out to C5. Unbelievable. Anyway, before our little "lost in BGC" moment, Paul and I had a wonderful quadruple dinner date at the newly opened Salvatore Cuomo  with our long-time friends. I was so excited when A suggested that we try Sa...

We all know that Metro Manila is literally bursting with so many restaurants, cafes, eateries and foodie spots found all over the 16 cities and 1 municipality of the region. I've lived there for 20+ years of my life and I can say that I still have a lifetime to go if I seriously want to try at least half of all the restaurants available. Despite the big number, when it comes to dining out with my family to celebrate a special occasion, we would always have just a handful of choices to choose from. Don't look at me. I'm not the only  picky eater in the family! Obviously, my picky taste must have originated from somewhere , right? ;) As the person who frequents the very few places that he loves to dine in, my Dad has quite a growing list of requirements whenever we go out to celebrate someone's birthday or a family milestone. Clean ambiance? Check! Delicious, high quality food? Check! Serves steak or beef? Check check check! So far, Mario's Restaurant has passed...

Metro Manila is roughly 600km² big but with the crazy traffic jam that happens everywhere in the metro, every single day, it somehow makes going from one point to another feel like an out of town drive. Since I spent most of my days with Kongkong and Ama in Quezon City, you'll noticed that most of the places that I've visited for this trip is just within this vicinity. Not a big problem there as Quezon City is one of the biggest cities and there sure are a LOT of dining options to choose from. Let me start with my latest find -- Tien Ma's Taiwanese Cuisine . I've actually heard of this restaurant from Mommy who even called me when I was here in Singapore to tell me about their latest food discovery. It must be that good that Mommy couldn't wait to tell me in person, right? Located along the busy intersection of N.S. Amoranto and D. Tuazon, parking may be a bit of a challenge but luckily, we went there for late lunch so it was easy to spot an empty slot. The me...

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!

It's really amazing how one learns to time manage most especially in moments when we clearly do not have that much allotted free time to spend. I guess this is the classic case of "so little time, so much to do." Such is always..and I repeat, always the case whenever we fly back home. No matter how much time or days we've allocated for a certain visit back to Manila, we always end up feeling like we should have stayed longer. I guess, that's because time spent at home with our families will never ever be "long enough" . So, I was pretty amazed that Paul and I have managed to sneak in a quick overnight staycation at F1 Hotel at Bonifacio Global City. I guess it's because this was specially prepared by my fellow blogger J and dear friend T whom I can never ever say no to. :) F1 Hotel is the first hotel in Bonifacio Global City and I do remember having lunch there not so long ago . We're finally back at F1 Hotel , this time with my MIL and...

As a food bloggers, friends and even strangers would come up to me and ask one common question: What is you most favourite restaurant ?   What may seem like an easy question to some is actually one that has left me stumped a couple of times as I rack my brain like it's some kind of a filing cabinet as I try to recall all those amazing, I-could-die-now dining moments. After having the privilege to dine in hundreds of restaurants in the Philippines alone, I realized that finding my favourite restaurant wasn't exactly all about focusing on the swanky and classy ones that serves caviar, foie gras and a lot more dishes most of us could hardly pronounce properly. It's all about being extremely comfortable when dining in there that it will definitely be the one that I'd automatically go to when I'm feeling down or when I'm just craving for a surefire good meal. That said, one of my favourite restaurants in the Philippines  is none other than Cibo . I have been a lo...

Every time I look at my growing list of restaurants to try in Manila, I can't help but sigh. The list is just so long and mind you, this includes carefully chosen a.k.a. curated restaurants brought about by my daily blog hopping that I think I have to go home at least once a month to be able to have the time and appetite to try them all. This is why I'm thankful for friends who are always so game to try any of these restaurants with us. I swear, I just love the thrill of being able to cross something off my list. #OCDproblems Take for example three of our favorite people in Manila -- Didi , Rowena and Peter . We've been friends from the early days of blogging and somehow, our friendship has slowly moved on from being mere "blog friends" and "eating buddies" to real, genuine friends whom Paul and I know will be there for us no matter what. After all, we've all had our fair share of being victimized by pseudo friends who were just there to take adv...

Despite the extremely short vacation that Paul and I recently had in Manila, we came back to Singapore weighing a bit more but definitely happier, more relaxed and rejuvenated once again. Nothing beats being able to catch up with friends and spending a couple of days with family. Believe it or not, I have to always put together a calendar every time I fly home. This is because my schedule is always packed to the brim with meet ups, errands and shopping. I'm very thankful that no matter what, we have friends who wouldn't mind waking up extra early or staying out a bit later than usual just to be with us. You guys know who you are and for that, we love you with all our hearts. ♥ Take for example my favorite Nuffies M and A, most of the time, we would just communicate via email but every time I'm back in Manila, M would make it a point to meet up with me. We agreed to have brunch at the newly opened coffee shop named CO/OP Manila along A. Mabini street in San Juan. I...

This particular entry marks my 1,192nd blog post here at Frannywanny.com . This means that I've written that much in the span of 6 years! Quite a LOT, isn't it? Out of all the entries, I'd say that 80% are on the different restaurants I've tried locally, 15% are those I was able to visit abroad and the rest are on shopping finds, home ideas, beauty, my occassional musings and a lot more. Therefore, if you do the math, I've visited about 953 local restaurants to date. Now, that explains why I'm still a far cry from having a supermodel body. Haha! Given the numbers I've mentioned above, there are still some restaurants that I'm surprised I haven't gotten around to blogging about. Thus, I'm making it my 2013 resolution to ensure that they make it to this blog site for me to share my favorites with you. One of those is my go-to place whenever the need to have some comfort food comes about. I'm talking about Conti's Bakeshop & Restaurant...

From one foodie mecca to another. Putting cleanliness, ease in mode of transportation and security aside, Manila and Singapore still share a couple of similarities most especially in being the best place to be for food lover's like you and me. Back home, our neighborhood alone is quickly becoming a go-to place when you're in the mood to try new homegrown (a.k.a. local) food concepts. One thing we have to remember is that it was in San Juan where the country's milk tea pioneer, Serenitea , first opened shop. San Juan is also known to be the modern-day Chinatown. Here, you'll see a number of Chinese delis, Chinese specialty shops, three Filipino-Chinese schools, a Buddhist temple and a lot more. In the past year alone, more restaurants opened and one of those was Mu Noodle Bar . I must have been out of the radar but I felt like Mu Noodle Bar opened so quietly that it was only through hearsay that I found out about this modern Chinese restaurant. What prompted me to t...

Remember my search for the best Ribs in town ? It's funny that I first found my favorite rib places in Angeles, Pampanga and as far as California, USA but none yet close to home. My search for the best rack of ribs never stopped though as I am determined to find THE ONE. That perfect ribs place that will allow me to go back to over and over again. Wonder when will my luck strike? Ever since Paul and I tied the knot a year and five months ago, we have been planning to have dinner with our every talented wedding coordinators and host . Since we all live extremely hectic lives, this has been pushed back a million times until last Wednesday when we finally found time and met up for dinner. Jerome , our host, is also a foodie. This is also one reason why we instantly clicked as he's a great fan of the magazine that I work for and our pre-wedding meetings would also end up with us talking about food, food and more food. He was the one who suggested that we try Rub Ribs ...