Pacquiao vs. Clottey in Texas, via boxingscene.com

It is going to be a tough fight for Manny Pacquiao on March 13 at Texas’ Cowboys Stadium. Clottey’s cook has boasted that the Philippines’ greatest fighter will most likely end up in the hospital. But that’s his word. Pacman is still heavily favored to win over Clottey, even though boxers from Ghana have a rep of being bloody brawlers. Clottey’s edge is that he is taller, heavier and has more reach than our pound-for-pound king (see tale of the tape below). He’s expected to stun with his powerful upper cuts and head butts. But Team Pacman promises to run the Ghanian to the ground with his skill and speed. We think it’s going to be an exciting match and we’re definitely watching

Tale of the tape

Manny Pacquiao

Age : 31
Weight : 146 lbs.
Height: 5 ft. 6.5 in. (1.69m)
Reach: 67″
50 wins, three losses, two draws, 37 KOs

Joshua Clottey
Age : 32
Weight: 147 lbs.
Height: 5 ft. 8 in. (170 m)
Reach: 70″
35 wins, three losses, 0 draws, 20 KOs

A live telecast of the much-anticipated welterweight match will be shown through your favorite sports channel, cable provider and the following live streaming websites: JusttinTV, UStream, SOPCast and Sports Live Blogger. Check back here for more options on Pacquiao vs Clottey live stream.

Hubby and I dined for the first time in Cafe Juanita at the Fort a few days ago, after visiting my doctor in St. Luke’s Global City. It has been my wish to dine in this resto because the original location in Pasig was simply inaccessible for me. Am glad they opened in the bustling foodie strip called Burgos Circle in Forbestown Center since last year. (Prior to our visit, the only eatery we’ve tried in Burgos Circle was the Kebab Factory which unfortunately couldn’t compare with the authentic Middle Eastern restaurants in Ermita )

The first thing that catches the eye about the cafe is its shabby chic interiors. The decor’s sure to make good conversational pieces. The soft lighting casts a romantic glow which makes the resto a great date place.

But am not about to join those who’ve made rave reviews about the place. In fact, I think it’s a bit overrated, food-wise. I would happily go back there again to try the other dishes though, and for a slice of their heavenly sticky toffee pudding served with a single scoop of vanilla ice cream and lip-smackin’ caramel sauce. It was simply delish!

For our main course, we ordered beef kaldereta, one of the house bestsellers. The dish tasted like what I would cook at home myself, and it’s no surprise really because the resto prides itself as a bastion of home cooking.

I didn’t quite know what to expect with their Pinoy Ratatoy (their version of ratatouille). And out came a dish of sliced onions, tomatoes, capers, egg plant and other veggies in olive oil. Hubby liked this, but I must have swallowed on a sliver of pepper which gave me the worst chili attack ever 25 sips of water later and my mouth was still stinging. Never again, Ratatoy!

Their fresh Vietnamese lumpia was quite the disappointment. There were only shrimps, finely chopped lettuce, and none of the usual ingredients. Moral lesson: I should know better than to order Vietnamese food in a non-Vietnamese restaurant. In my opinion, Cafe Juanita can also do better sticking to an all-Filipino menu, rather than attempt to “fusionize” things

Other than these, service was very good. It helped that we were the earliest customers for their evening shift too. This was one resto where we didn’t have to beg for a glass of water, and the waiter even gave me a stool for my bag.

Cafe Juanita at the Fort
Burgos Circle
Forbes Town Center, Bonifacio Global City
Taguig
Tel. No. 403-1952

Also try:

Cafe Juanita- Pasig
21 United St. corner West Capitol Drive
Barrio Kapitolyo, Pasig City
Tel. No. 632-0357

Last Thursday, I wrote about this mystery woman we saw in Greenhills which jibed with what I read in two of the leading blogs, byahilo and chuvaness.com. As I had suspected, she’s a real character and her true name is Barbara Cruz.

According to Barbara’s close friend, “she’s real, all right. We’ve known her for some time, but she’s always looked that way no matter how hard we’ve tried to convince her to go with the modern times. She is afraid of change, and insists on clinging to tradition. Her appearance reflects her old-fashioned habits.”

A few weeks after the Barbara sightings, it seems she’s caught the interest of leading depilatory brand Veet which has launched a promo aptly titled Catch and Shoot Barbara. A gadget freak like me would like to join this contest, if only because the top prize at stake is a Macbook Pro, an iPhone 3GS and other exciting prizes.

The mechanics are vedy simple: watch out for Barbara in malls, bars, schools, and other places around the metro! Take her photo and upload it to the contest website, for a chance to win the Macbook Pro and other cool gadgets in the weekly raffle draws and grand draw.

As our first lead, Barbara’s friend said Barbara will be spending a day by the bay this week to watch the Paramore concert, so make sure you take a picture of her there!

Visit catchandshootbarabara.com for more details.

I stayed up late tonight to blog, and caught the last leg of the annual Binibining Pilipinas pageant just in time. Before then, my friend Ojie told me the top title will already go to Candidate No. 11 Krista Kleiner but she turned out to be the Bb. Pilipinas International.

The top plum of the night, Bb. Pilipinas-Universe, went to an unknown – Ma. Venus Raj who stands at five feet nine and is described in her bio to be working as an information assistant for DENR Region 4. She had vital stats to die for though, and I knew what made her win – the 22 inch waistline! phew!

(photo courtesy of Bb. Pilipinas website)

Crowned Bb. Pilipinas World was Candidate No. 21, Czarina Catherine Gatbonton who was also the Manila Bulletin Readers’ Choice (yehay!) She’s an HRM grad and 5 feet 10 and a half inches tall.

Bb. Pilipinas International is early crowd favorite Krista Mae Kleiner, a TV personality and psychology grad who holds a blackbelt in taekwondo. She’s also 5′10 1/2 inches tall.

Overall, this year’s candidates are a good batch, and most of all, nobody bungled the question and answer portion Carla Abellana, who emceed together with Dingdong Dantes, was also a revelation because she as pretty and articulate. Blame it on me because I don’t watch TV that much. Til next year’s pageant!

I’ve never hidden the fact that Max’s is one of our favorite Filipino family restaurants. Chicken is my kids’ comfort food, and in our book, nothing beats fried chicken cooked the Max’s way. Well, am sure a lot of Pinoys agree with me – regardless of whether they’re voting for Aquino or Villar

It was a pleasure to be invited by Max’s marketing and test kitchen as they launched new fish dishes just in time for the Lent. Devout Catholics in this part of the world still adhere to a no-meat diet on Fridays during the Lenten Season and the new dishes are ideal. Aside from this, there are simply people like me who prefer eating fish to meat and guess what? Am just glad it’s not another cream dory variation this time!

My vote goes to Max’s Spicy Laing Tilapia because it combines two of my favorite dishes. Two slices of tilapia (P195 per order) are deboned and fried to a golden crisp. Layered between them is a serving of spicy laing (taro leaves) with a topping of coconut cream sauce that is just heavenly and delicious!

I also couldn’t resist their Salmon Belly Skewers, am sure six pieces on a stick is not enough and you’ll order for more. We’re used to sinigang na salmon belly or ones which are simply pan-fried. Max’s style of grilling the salmon belly and glazing it with a teriyaki-style sauce is a welcome addition.

Diners will have a choice of two all-Filipino salads to pair their salmon belly with: the ensaladang mangga, or julienned green mangoes, with bits of tomatoes and turnips in a sweet,salty dressing; and the ensaladang puso ng saging, or finely chopped banana heart with tomatoes and white onion, tossed in ginger-flavored vinaigrette. Both are yummy, but I prefer the latter. It’s a must-taste

Mr. Marc San Juan of Max’s Corporate Marketing told us: “Max’s new fish dishes is a new experience. They signify our commitment to continuously innovate and help create new memories for our customers every time they visit our restaurants.”

Amen to that! The bad news is that the twin fish meals will be offered for a limited time only – from March 4 to May 31, 2010. For fresh updates, log on to the Max’s website or visit Facebook and sign up for Max’s fan page.

Hubby and I went to Greenhills (’twas his first time there) and while he looked at video games, I spotted a familiar-looking woman. She looked out of place because she was wearing turn-of-the-century costume (think Maria Clara) and had bushy eyebrows that could put Brooke Shields to shame. Then I remembered that she looked familiar because I saw her pic previously in Chuvaness’ blog. Although one can’t help but notice her in the crowd because of her appearance, I couldn’t really bear giving her a lingering look, baka maging kamukha nya baby ko, LOL. So I took one shot of her with the DLSR and off we went.

In the meantime, I can’t help but think the woman’s up to something:

1) Hmm, election-related kaya?
2) prelude to Independence Day 2010?
3) movie gimmick (a.k.a. Blusang Itim Part 2?)
4) Wow Mali???

If you have a good guess, just holler. Am curious, really curious

Expect happy-go-lucky Pinoys to make fun of the present election campaign merry-go-round. Posted on Twitter and Facebook was somebody’s answer to the ethereal question “who would be the ideal Philippine president: ” ~ somebody with Villar’s $$S, Aquino’s heart, Gibo’s brain, Erap’s appeal, Bro. Eddie’s faith and Gordon’s dick.”

It doesn’t take rocket science to deduce that among all the presidential candidates, Manny Villar is the one spending (and investing) the most on his campaign. A report by global market research company Nielsen showed that for the period October to December alone, Villar’s approximate ad spend already amounted to P543 million. This has ranked him No.14 among the Top 20 national advertisers for the said period. You can just imagine how the Villar camp’s expenditures has gone full-blast since the start of the official campaign season. (Source: adobo magazine)

Adobo points to Villar’s segment buy of “Stop my Hirap” in the popular noontime TV show Eat Bulaga as most pioneering. It’s something that hasn’t been done before by any presidentiable (foremostly because it’s expensive.) The segment is totally in line with Villar’s overall strategy to appeal to the masses, although I can’t quite reconcile how joining a noontime show jibes with the “sipag at tyaga” morals he’s trying to preach.

Although some people are sick of the Villar ads already, I do find his masterplanned and well-oiled election machine impressive. It looks like they’re leaving no stone unturned in attaining their main objective which is: to harness the full force of the media (including blogs and social media) to influence people’s minds and ensure a Villar win. You see, Villar can’t be like Barack Obama and campaign just through Facebook and Twitter. Internet penetration in our part of the world is still comparatively low. Candidates still have to go through the whole masa appeal route.

Whether Villar wins or loses this election, the campaign approach he used will be one interesting case study to advertising students, and the advertising wizards who became overnight multi-millionaires because of him.;)

If the cheery folks of 7-Eleven Philippines have their way, the next Philippine president will be determined by the number of Gulp drinks that their customers buy.

Improbable, you might say, but it has actually worked in the US for three consecutive elections, according to Jose Victor Paterno, president & CEO of Philippine Seven Corporation. Indications that Barack Obama will win first showed in the informal poll called 7-Election that 7-11 conducted along with prominent global news networks CNN and USA Today, he added.

The Philippine version of 7-Election works this way: each 2010 presidential candidate is represented by a color-coded cup (for example: yellow for Noynoy, orange for Villar, blue for Gordon, green for Gibo etc.) There are cups for “minor” candidates and the abstaining or “undecided” portion of the populace. The presidentiables are assigned a specific barcode, which 7-Eleven cashiers will scan upon purchase of their Gulp drinks.

Anyway, I do love the colorful cups. I think they’re a nice memorabilia of the coming crazy por crazy elections

All votes will be carefully audited and may be verified at the official 7-Election website. Here, the public can view updates on detailed polling results and may even share their vote through Facebook.

To safeguard the integrity of their informal polls, 7-Eleven has vowed not to run out of candidates’ cups or drinks. They also claimed to be apolitical and non-partisan.

They expressed hopes that their promotion will be a fun way of “feeling the pulse” of the public on the forthcoming national elections, considering 7-11’s strong network of 450 stores nationwide.

Mr. Paterno added that their US exercise showed surprisingly accurate results. There was only one to two per cent discrepancy between actual numbers from US voters versus 7-Election participants. Hopefully, this kind of outcome will continue in the Philippines – and that’s supposing people who buy Gulp drinks aren’t underaged, or aren’t wise enough to mass purchase the GULP cups to favor trending for a particular candidate.

BTW, Ate Glow wants to have her own cup too! (Photo taken at the official promo launch in the Rockwell Tent)

I now work on Sundays and was wondering why there’s been traffic in the Macapagal Boulevard area in Pasay nearing nighttime. It turns out the culprit is the 1st Philippine International Pyromusical Competition ongoing till March 14 at the Mall of Asia grounds. So last Sunday, the whole family decided to just bear with the traffic and watch the fireworks display itself.

VIP tickets with dinner cost P1500 and I presume those who bought these tickets get the best view and best seats. We just decided to hang out in one of the veranda restaurants which were also selling tickets. We were at TGI Friday’s, to be exact, which charged P750 per person of which P500 was consumable (and the garlic chicken primavera I ordered was godawfully unpalatable).

I found out that the spot was far from ideal because the table we were in was blocked by the foliage of trees and this really irritating giant replica bottle of Tanduay in the background. Still, I managed to get these shots using my trusted Lumix LX3

The night was a battle between the pyrotechnics prowess of France and Japan. Japan’s fireworks was more impressive and had greater impact. They even managed to put up symbols in the sky, such as this smiley face ….

Next to compete are Singapore vs. Malaysia on March 7 while the Philippines will have a showdown with Australia for the closing exhibition on March 14. The fireworks show starts at 7 p.m.

For more information, visit the show’s official website.

Parents with sports-minded kids aged 10-16 years old: here’s one worthwhile thing to do this summer. Create and upload a video answering, “Why I deserve to win the Sony Ericsson Search for the FIFA World Cup™ flag bearer.” The winner will get to proudly carry a FIFA flag live on the pitch in South Africa and get to travel with his/her parent or guardian to the said country, complete with plane fare, pocket money and hotel accommodations.

To qualify, contestants must creatively answer the question in a 30-60 second video through a song, dance or any kind of performance. Interested candidates can submit as many entries as they want. Five finalists will each win the Sony Ericsson Kita, the gesture gaming phone wonder with 5-megapixel camera, photo geo-tagging, Net access, high quality media player and stereo speakers.

Five qualifying videos will be voted upon for the Philippines to decide who gets to be the first FIFA flag bearer. He or she will then walk the pitch with other young flag bearers and watch a thrilling FIFA World Cup™ semi-finals match firsthand.

“This will be the first time for the Philippines to participate in a FIFA World Cup™ event so we are inviting Filipino children to try out and give it their best,” said Dennis Manzano, Sony Ericsson General Manager.

More details are at clickthecity.com/sonyericssonfifa. Join in or vote for the top video of your choice. The grand winner will be announced on April 20, 2010.

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