We scream for Krispy Kreme! Asia’s first doughnut drive thru opens tomorrow
As you can see in the photo, it was not only my twins’ first public appearance , it was also their first time to be interviewed for wacky TV show Wazzup Wazzup! The occasion was yesterday’s VIP party hosted by Krispy Kreme prior to the opening of their Greenhills branch tomorrow. At 200 square meters, it is the American brand’s first free-standing store in the Philippines and their first drive-thru outlet in Asia so it’s definitely something to watch out for.
The announcements are out: whoever is the first customer for both dine-in and drive-thru will each win a free one year’s supply of KK Original Glazed doughnuts, at one dozen per week (can you imagine that?!!) The second drive-thru customer will get six months supply, the third customer – three months supply (I can settle for this 
.)
Moreover, opening day revellers will get car stickers which will entitle them to a free signature coffee for every dozen doughnut purchase. Surprise celebrity guests will ring the cash register on the first day so it will be fun, fun, fun.
Bloggers were among those honored to be invited to the Krispy Kreme preview. What can I say — it was one of the most successful parties I’ve attended in a long, long time. Doughnuts were flooding the place, as well as all the coffee, wine, iced tea, juice and water you can order.Not to mention crunchy Max’s fried chicken and other specialties in the sumptuous buffet (since Max’s is a sister company of KK). It didn’t hurt that each of us went home with two dozen doughnuts, plus many many more depending on your chika powers with the counter screw who seemed to be giving them away freely.
Krispy Kreme marketing and public relations is really tops!
Positivity principles to live by
Saw this first in Dr. Em’s blog and this was how I discovered the group writing project on positive thinking by Kirsten Harrell over at Ipopin. First and foremost, I do believe that what the world needs not is not so much love (we have too many babies 
) but a healthy dose of positivity. Here’s my contribution on how to imbibe positivity into one’s life:
1. Free thyself from fear. It is staggering how positivity can be defeated by all sorts of fears, most of which are the imagined kind. If you want to do something, why not try it first before even thinking you might not have the energy or resources to take a chance at it? If you think you have slighted somebody and you think he/she will never forgive you, you never know until you try. Even of that person doesn’t, at least you have taken a huge burden off your shoulders.
Do not distress yourself with dark imaginings,
many fears are born of fatigue and loneliness – “Desiderata”
2. See the best in people, give them a chance. No matter how we complain, there is something good in every person. It’s just a matter of discovering their soft side. Some of the negativity is triggered by glitches in human relations. If we can get even the meanest people to act nicely, then this world will be a positively nicer place.
3. Stay away from negative people, when necessary. Because sometimes, we can’t afford to, they simply drain us of our wits and energy. Some people stay the way they are for some reason, complaining and criticizing about every person and circumstance in their lives. In such a case, withdrawing from them is the best recourse.
World’s best islands, and we’re not on the list
Gadling has a report on the world’s best islands based on ” activities, beaches, culture/sites, lodging, restaurants and scenery.” As our pessimistic mind expected, the Philippines was not on the list.
Here’s a list of those exotic-sounding getaways which made it:
* Bali
* Kauai
* Maui
* Cape Breton, Nova Scotia
* Mount Desert, Maine
* Tasmania
* Hawaii
* Galapagos
* Santorini
* Santo Stefano
* Phuket, Thailand
* Thatch Cay
* Blue Lagoon
* Grand Bogue Caye
* Allan
* Caritas
* Cerralvo
* Pakatoa
* Isla de sa Ferradura
The week in food: going Japanese, calamares, Conti’s & more
Sunday : Crashed the digs of Benj, our college classmate who’s made it in the crazy world of advertising. How do we know he’s made it ? Because his condo near the vicinity of Ayala Av is a spacious three-BR affair with all-black furniture, designer speakers and laptops all over the place. Benj’s buddy serves us penne pasta with meat sauce and that’s when I discover the joys of Japanese chili oil and furikake. I never thought that the lethal combination of these two can transform a drab dish into a fantastic one. Furikake is a type of Japanese condiment consisting of “dried and ground fish, sesame seeds, chopped seaweed, sugar, salt and MSG.” Add this to your rice or any food to add zing! to the flavors. I remember Attina gave a couple of packets to me back in Tokyo. You can look for it in the local Japanese supermarkets but it was out of stock as I found. I scream for furikake!
Monday : Back to the office, and my life has never been the same ever since some colleague introduced me to the joys of street calamares. Notwithstanding Hepa A/amoebiasis outbreaks, I couldn’t resist having loads of them squid fritters with chili and vinegar dip. Never mind if my manong suki fries the squid in batches amid the unappetizing backdrop of those Pedro Gil-Paco jeepneys emitting (oops) carbon monoxide. Never mind too if I am all garbed in my sassy office wear by Zara. At three pesos each, the squid rings are the hottest thing in Manila street food at the moment. I wonder what makes them crunchy and yet oh-so-tender. All I know is that Manong marinates them with his secret spices and dips ‘em in breading, as all calamares go.
As of last writing, some officemates have suffered gastro pains and allergies ( swollen lips) from ingesting the calamares so am taking a break from them… for now
Tuesday : Alleluia, day-off! I relish the time touring SM Mall of Asia with the kids and going on a shoe-shopping binge. I pity myself that I only have 16 pairs of shoes and some of them are not in mint condition. The recent school opening has been plain harassing and there’s nothing like a shoe purchase to raise a woman from the doldrums, in the style of La Imeldific.
Chow time and we try Tokyo Cafe which I’ve been eyeing for the longest time. Am a gullible soul when it comes to bright, colorful menus and the Japanese fusion cuisine of Tokyo Cafe has it. A few times in the past, I’ve been had by menus where the food appears larger than life, only to be served some wilted salad or shrunken shrimp.
Luckily, Tokyo Cafe food doesn’t disappoint. The kids had their heavenly crepes and I had the Yoshi’s Burger (P145), an ample-sized carnivore’s delight with meat sauce for a twist on a pair of yummy sesame bread.
Visiting the Manila Foods & Beverages Expo
I love food expos! A foodie shouldn’t live without going to one. Luckily, there are a number of such events held in my area every year, and this was my first time to visit the Manila Foods & Beverages Expo ongoing at the World Trade Center till Sunday, June 24.
What you can find in these expos: the latest food products, assorted kitchenware, delicacies from the provinces, imported goodies, free samples, and food tasting to the max.
The problem with these events is that I always get to buy more than what’s necessary as some of the items are hard-to-find. For example, I only get to see my favorite Taiwan sausage in the expos, so I always make it a point to get a few packs @ P150 each.
Some of the interesting things I purchased this year: Lily’s Chocolate Peanut Butter (not out in the market yet but I was sure the kids would love this), San Miguel’s ready-made premixes for muffins, doughnuts etc, Highlanders Brown Rice Tea (tried this before and it promotes a restful sleep indeed) as well as my staple Bonuan boneless bangus ( a must for those fry, eat & go moments).
Is blogging bad for our health?
Anton over at Our Awesome Planet already intimated in one post how he gained 40 lbs. (!!) just from blogging about the hottest new restaurants and places in the metro. Somehow, I couldn’t help but share in the observation, knowing how I’ve terribly lagged in gym time the past few months. The pilosopo in me attribute my failure to go to the gym to two things:
1) weather is unreasonably hot! why work up a sweat when being at home is like taking the treadmill/being in a sauna already?
2) blogging is addicting; blogging ties me up to the computer for hours on end. My inability to do the simplest tummy crunches can be blamed in part to the fact that composing blog entries takes time, not to mention going through my long list of RSS feeds
In a nutshell, here’s when blogging can be considered bad for our health:
Tagged again: eight random facts about moi
This is in response to a tag from Blupanjeet. Another one of those posts on little known facts about me:
1. I was once a ghost writer of the following: a society columnist, a censors chief, a senator and a congressman. With the first one, I got to know all of Manila’s social climbers. But the censors stint was most enjoyable since me and my relatives got free movie passes!
2. On a flight to Germany in 2002, I got so mysteriously sick that the pilot of the Lufthansa plane had to go down from his cockpit to check on me and see if I was still fit to fly. Luckily, I felt better. Just in time.
3. I was washing clothes hours before I delivered my twins. My doctor, who performed an emergency caesarean operation, got nervous and wondered why I took so long to go to the hospital despite immense labor pains. Looking back now, the caesarean was a better experience for me than eh, normal delivery. But it wasn’t better for my twins who had to stay in the incubator for two weeks!
4. I’ve never eaten balut Read more
My favorite quotes & the great Blog-O-Rama link love
It’s been a long time since I started with Blog-O-Rama and some people are amazed at how I’ve carried this on for so long. This would not have been possible without the support of my editor and newspaper which will always be appreciative of pioneering, if not reader-worthy projects. While most of the interviews can be found at the MB archives and in a partial list by Manuel Viloria, I’ve deemed it worthy to post some of my favorite quotes here …. in appreciation of the bloggers who showed great enthusiasm and took time to answer with grace, despite my mundane questions and persistent badgerings. More of the best coming soon:
Kwentong Tambay: There are two types of Pinoy bloggers. First, there’s the one who always writes about the fact that they have nothing to write about. You’d easily find them because they start their blogs with ” Today, I have nothing to say because nothing happened to me.” Avoid these blogs at all cost because they will make your head ache. But then there’s the really good Pinoy blogger who makes the most mundane activity sound like it was the best thing since sliced bread. These are the types of blogs to read (and imitate). The moral lesson is to always make what you write interesting.
Dominique Cimafranca: Blogging is really only the tool. The essential activity is writing. And the prerequisite to good writing is thinking.
Lauren Dado : If nobody learns to spell entire words, it will be the death of the written word.
Connie Veneracion: Blogging is writing and publishing. And both are skills that can be developed through time. But it is passion that makes a person stay on as a blogger. It is the lack of passion that makes bloggers come and go. See, a blog has to have a goal. A genuine message to put across, if you will. Goal plus motivation equals passion. Without that, there is no genuine reason for a blogger to stay on.
Bryanboy: I wouldn’t call myself a superstar if I’m not. Maybe I’m born with IT. Maybe it’s Maybelline? *wink*
Markku Seguerra : De-publishing is unacceptable. Bloggers should always write
guided by journalistic and simple human ethics. If you made
a mistake or said something wrong, apologize and correct
the information as necessary. But never take back something
you’ve already published as if it never existed.
Shari Cruz in Misteryosa: But do you know what’s the greatest thing about blogging? It’s learning. Learning to share, learning to appreciate, learning to LEARN. And in line with this, you’re learning from other people, with other people — with the idea that it’s highly possible that they’re learning something from you too.
Best of my summer coolers:)
The last days of summer are here in our tropical country and this has been one long hot season indeed. The bad thing is that my ultra-sensitive skin suffered from breakouts which my doctor attributed to the humid weather (aaach! no bikinis, shorts and tubes for moi this time around); the good thing is that I’ve taken comfort in drinking gallons of H20 and munching on a variety of thirst-quenching coolers, hence this post. Imagine me sitting in a cafe with my favorite magazine, glass of iced cappuccino on hand and you get the drift.
Here’s the ‘best of my summer coolers’ drumroll:
Kiwi fruit sherbet at Fruit Pops, Pan Pacific Manila has got to be my cooler discovery of the year. The pricey tag (P125 for a bowl) couldn’t keep me from having more of this flavorful dessert. Slices of healthy kiwi (or other favorite toppings like peaches, mango, strawberry and coffee jelly) with red beans, ice cream, ice and their secret ingredient mocha powder. I call this Korean halo-halo (because it’s in a Korean-owned stall with the freezer of Haagen-Dasz goodies) and nothing can absolutely compare.
Buko ni Fruitas. I get this yummy fruit fix at the Robinson’s food court in Manila though other stalls can be found in major malls.
Priced very affordably at P49 or $1, this could pass for your original Pinoy halo-halo only that it wins points in my book for presentation. Slices of watermelon, sweetened beans, banana, mango, gulaman, nata de coco and other fruits in season are placed in a freshly-topped bowl of coconut with the juice and the meat still intact..nothing can be more irresistible.
Tagged: 7 random facts about my, uhmm, ’stylish’ self
It’s 2:30 in the morning and I’ve just come home from work. Still, I think it better to post my much-delayed answer to this tag from Pinay fashionista Sasha Manuel on ” seven random facts about my stylish self.” It’s timely considering that the common impression most people have of me is that I love food, and more food What they don’t know is that am also an avid disciple of fashion and looking good. Am a girl as a girl can be since I indulge in girlie things like clothes, shoes, bags and make-up, and one of the reasons why I revel in being single is that I won’t have to share my closet space with somebody (okay, my son is complaining but that’s another thing)
A word about fashion: I guess it’s just something one has to evolve and learn with the passing trends. Having “been there and done that” (meaning, baduy at one time and glam the next) I’ve come to believe that fashion shouldn’t just be condemned as sheer vanity. It will not only make you feel good; looking good can actually take you places. Fashion leaves you plenty of room to project an image, and I like the fact that there’s always the challenge of being ingenious and creative in that.
Blogging since 2004 and recently married to Mr Z. I can't live without coffee....and brown sugar.
