Frannywanny

"Sugar and spice, and everything nice, That's what little girls are made of." Truth to be told, it really seems like girls or women have this on-going love affair and fascination towards dessert, agree? So, when I met up with fellow blogger Justinne  for a double dinner date in Cebu City last December and we both agreed to have dessert after, our ever supportive and loving partners just willingly went along with the plan. After all, they know better than to stand in the way of true love dessert. I'm so glad that Justinne and her beau Luis knew just the perfect place to take us to. Located close to Ayala Center Cebu, Sweet Incantations Confectionery is a cozy looking shop that specializes in cupcakes and homemade ice cream. I totally love the minimalist interiors of this cafe -- black chairs, marbled top tables and wooden serving plates. Simple yet classy! We were the only customers that evening which is rare as Justine and her beau L told us that we went ...

When people would ask me what Paul and I did in Cebu , I would simply say... "we slept and ate...ate and slept some more." Not really intending to sound incredibly lazy but we were on a vacation so I guess what we did was just right. Take our first day for instance, upon checking in, we decided to grab lunch at Feria -- the hotel's in-house all-day buffet restaurant. This is because we just plan to take a nap after lunch and wake up just in time for the afternoon cocktails at the Business Class Lounge . The restaurant boasts of a very very very wide variety of food. If my memory serves me right, there were about 10 stations available -- Cold Cuts / Antipasti, Salads, Cheeses, Indian, Mediterranean, Chinese, Japanese, Filipino, Western and Dessert. While there were some staple dishes, the menu generally changes in every meal and every day. Allow me to tour you around Feria : 

This finally ends my short yet truly satisfying trip to Cebu City . However, what's a trip without being able to bring home some goodies? That will never happen with me as I love to shop for pasalubong for my entire family! Prior to my trip, I was given a few packs of these delicious chocolate covered dried mangoes by a client. I loved it! From the packaging down to the actual product, it literally shows how premium it is and mind you, the product was indeed not cheap. Researching about it, I landed in my friend Leslie's blog which was my main resource in knowing where to find it in the city. I also found out that aside from those delicious chocolate covered mangoes, they also have other products such as the spicy garlic peanuts with dried mangoes. Others might raise their eyebrows at this combination but not me. Being a fan of mixed flavors (eg: sweet-salty, sweet-sour,salty-sour, etc), I made sure that we visit the store after our dinner at Golden Cowrie . Here are ...

On our last day in Cebu , the team wanted to spend a few hours in the beach. Since our flight was schedule late in the afternoon, they all woke up early and asked our driver to take them to Maribago Bluewater Resort to avail of their day pass. All of them went..all of them except me and ML. I guess the reason why ML and I get along pretty well is because we both would prefer to stay longer in bed, lazily wake up to have breakfast (I availed of the complimentary buffet breakfast while she ate all sorts of chocolate-covered crackers and cookies that she bought earlier in the room) and to just shop around for more pasalubong. Honestly, I’m not the type who enjoys staying under the sun longer than 5 minutes and I would rather do some laps at the pool than to fight the current and drink a lot of salty water at the beach. Well, that’s me the forever city girl. Driver R had to do some errands so by the time he was able to pick us up it was always past 12 noon, just in time for lunch. Af...

We only had three whole days in Cebu and with all the meetings, trade checks and a grand cooking demo lined up, the only thing that kept all of us in high spirits was the thought of being able to eat good food for all three days. Of course, I made sure that my team won't go home disappointed so I did my research and had my list all ready. Given our short visit, I wanted to give them a little bit of Cebu's best -- gastronomical-wise. We were able to try two of the best lechon brands in the city, had an amazing night cap while enjoying the best warm brownie cup in La Marea and of course, our celebration dinner just had to be in one of the best local Cebuano restaurants as recommended by fellow bloggers and the Lonely Planet .  This is none other than Golden Cowrie Native Restaurant . Golden Cowrie has been around since 1982 (we're of the same age!) . They're known to offer really good local dishes which we luckily were able to try that evening. The ambiance exu...

"No way are we leaving Cebu without visiting La Marea !" This was what I repeatedly told my team from the moment we met up at NAIA 3 for our flight to Cebu up until our last night after our cooking demo. Having had the opportunity to visit Cebu before, one thing that I remembered about my previous trip was the visit to this small bakeshop in Crossroads commercial complex to eat this to-die-for warm brownie cup. I'm not a big chocolate fan but this dessert really blew me away. ML is a big chocolate fan and I was dead set in making her try this hidden gem. We had a very filling dinner to celebrate the success of our event and afterwards we sped around town to buy some danggit and dried mangoes to bring home. Despite feeling exhausted, I'm glad that the team was still game to have some dessert before heading back to the hotel. La Marea is a local pastry and coffee shop in Cebu that specializes in yummy cakes and their famous warm brownie cups. Imagine moist, me...

So my tale continues with my second lechon encounter. I can't believe that I was able to try 4 different lechon brands in the span of 3 days! *pat on the back* After our filling lunch at Zubuchon on our first day, I had a very light dinner that evening as my body feeling extra guilty for all that meaty indulgence. I think though I made a wrong move by just ordering a teeny-tiny chimichanga at Mooon Cafe as I woke up really hungry the following morning. It was a good thing the hotel's buffet spread was pretty good so I was able to fill my hunger with a generous amount of danggit, eggs and garlic rice. Truly a hearty breakfast to prep me for the busy schedule ahead. Day 2 was our BIG day, it was when we had our cooking demo and prior to that, ML and I went around Cebu City to do some trade checks as we wanted to make the most of our short 3-day visit. After going around SM Cebu, we asked our Cebu-based colleague R where's a good place to eat. Seeing that we have time...

As soon as we landed at the Mactan Domestic Airport in Cebu, the first question thrown my way was "where to eat?" Of course, being the aspiring tour guide that I was, I went prepared. Armed with a list of recommended restaurants shared by my dear readers, I checked with our driver which one was the most accessible given that we have to head to Summit Circle Hotel right after. He told me that Zubuchon , which is located at the Mango Mall , would be the best option and you can just imagine the excitement that filled the air inside our crowded van as the thought of enjoying Cebuano lechon for our first meal made our hearts do cartwheels and somersaults. I've been reading about Zubuchon as this is the brainchild of renowned food blogger Marketman . People have been raving at how good it was and so it truly was perfect to make it our first meal in beautiful Cebu. I love the clean  red and white interiors which was totally different from the other lechon places both h...