Frannywanny

December is finally here!  All throughout this month, I will be sharing with you great finds that you can bring to your upcoming Christmas parties and gifts for your loved ones too. I think the best way to jump start this festive month is to tell you about one of the best lunches that I've had this year. It was an invitation to dine at the lovely home of Ms. Bambi Javelosa  with some of my favorite foodie friends namely  Mr and Mrs. Our Awesome Planet , M of Eatsplorations and G of Dude for Food . I love dining with small groups as we get to catch up and have meaningful conversations while enjoying good food. That and simply because I am (seriously) an introvert too and big groups can really drain the life out of me. Our lunch began with Miso Marinated Salmon with Shiitake and Bokchoy  which was so good! I love salmon and while this may look simple, it's totally bursting with so much flavor. It has a nice savory sweet flavor that goes well with anything..a...

If there's one thing that I miss about living abroad and having our own place is how we would host dinners and invite friends to come over. One of the best dinners that I've had was probably when my friends came over to celebrate my birthday. Paul prepared his signature BBQ Ribs and Steak while I made Baked Salmon ala Conti's and I even had the time to put together a cheese board. I guess when the kids are much older, we can go back to hosting dinners or organizing potlucks too. Luckily, here in Manila in case you're too busy to cook or prepare your own dish, you can easily order and have the dishes delivered straight to your doorstep (or to wherever you're having your party to ensure it gets there hot). One that I highly recommend is Ley's Kitchen . I recently got to try some of their specialties and all 4 dishes were so good. Not the mediocre type of good ha, I'm talking about the kind that's out of this world good...the kind that will make you go...

My family loves Hainanese Chicken Rice. Guess this is because we used to frequent Singapore back then that this has been our staple meal throughout our week-long stay there. Sadly, while a lot of restaurants do offer Hainanese Chicken Rice (HCR), only a few really came close to the real thing . Can't blame them, for one thing perhaps some ingredients used for the authentic Chicken Rice are not available in Manila. Another would be if they would really cook it the exact same way the Singaporeans would when preparing their HCR. Thus, when I heard about this guy named Stevie from Bel-Air, Makati who sells really good Hainanese Chicken Rice , I knew I had to take time out one Sunday morning to order a set from him and to take this home for my family to try. Ordering was a breeze, all I did was to call two days in advance (although I think 24 hours notice is allowed too, I was just so excited haha) and placed my order for a Hainanese Chicken Set with Traditional Rice (Php. 98...

Paul's birthday is coming up in 2 days! :) It has been our tradition that our birthday celebration doesn't last for just a day. Instead, it goes on and on for WEEKS! We normally get to celebrate our birthdays with our two families (his and mine), our various groups of friends and of course, with one another. Paul's birthday celebration started today as we had a simple yet fun lunch get-together with his family. What made it fun were the 3 tiny tots who happily ran around the house as they played with one another for hours! It was cuteness overload as we tried to decipher their baby talks and watch with amazement as these kids, at their very young age, can easily navigate their way around an iPad! Since there were 13 of us today, we tried 8 Spoons' Party Trays which were said to be good for 8 but believe me, the serving was very generous that almost everyone got second servings and there were still a lot of food left for dinner today (and maybe even for lunch tomo...