Last August 26, under the unpredictable weather a blogger barge in deep somewhere in Makati. It was easy but an unfamiliar area. The blogger headed at Walter Mart and straight up to the 5th floor. Thank goodness there’s an escalator functioning. 5th floor is 5th floor, especially if you came from work and went through a lot of exhausting effort just to be there.


The event was held at the Magsaysay Institute for Hospitality and Culinary Arts or coned as MIHCA. The institute is indeed walking what they are talking. Part of their name is the HOSPITALITY and they really know how to be hospitable with their guests. The blogger was amazed because it started by simply showing to them their seats. They even explained to the blogger the food that he was about to eat and also ask if the blogger like to have one of it or not. After experiencing this, the blogger just hope that MIHCA could encourage more people to learn in their institute and spread the true Filipino hospitality.


While the blogger is having a very great time with his food, the charming Chef Jeremy Favia were already making a cooking demo of one of the recipes. It is an easy-to-cook succulent culinary delight with Doles line of tomato sauce. As a background, at first the blogger were amazed because for him Dole was all about pineapples and now they are lining with tomato sauce. The recipe that Chef Jeremy demonstrated was called the Cherry Tomato and Eggplant Ragu Penne. Yummy! Pasta is the bloggers favorite and Penne is just another kind of pasta. The cooking demo was easy simple enough for the guests to memorize. So after the demo five guests were invited to be part of the Clash, a Culinary Clash.








Five were chosen err who got the guts to be part of the clashing Chef to bes, good for them because they will have the chance to be judge by Chef Jeremy. It was Jeman, Lariza, Enzo, Ryan and John Doe (the blogger didn’t get his name). With guts they will sure have the glory afterwards. After some few minutes of chopping and tossing the ingredients in the sauce pan they all finally finished and even made a very good plating of their dishes.


Five plates were aligned in the bar area. Same dish, same ingredients, different styles, and different cooks! One by one and plate by plate a taste was done. Thinking, murmuring and at last the judges made a final decision and Chef Jeremy with a little bit of explanation of why finally pinpointed the plate of the victorious Chef to be, it was Enzo! Enzo of Juan Manila was announced winner of the Great Dole Cook-Off!


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If you want to know more about the recipes that check out Kwento Ni Toto’s Kwentong Pagkain.

Last night was a very rainy and cold weather but that doesn't stops us from meeting the stars of "Thelma".  It was a great night of talk with the stars and tummy filler foods.  Everyone in it did enjoy the night and learned more about the movie "Thelma".

 

During my days in the province my grandparents would always tell me not to eat fruits in the morning because it might upset my stomach. Apparently they were wrong because fruits would always give us the nutrients and energy that we need for our daily workloads. My Aunt would always say “don’t listen to them too much sometimes they are wrong” and she would follow “that’s an old folks saying.”

Well, good thing that I sometimes defy the norms and would always go for something that I believed would benefit me much, especially with regards to my health. It was college days when I started eating fruits in the morning, it’s an influenced and also a learning from watching morning TV shows. They featured that fruits are essential to our body, mostly during mornings because our body mainly absorb all the nutrients after that eight hours of sleep. One of the best fruit to eat during morning is the banana. Banana provides lots of nutrients to our body, it got potassium, some calcium, zinc, copper, iron, vitamin E, and selenium. It also contains fructo-oligosaccharide which acts as pre-biotics and does have good fibers for indigestion.


So mainly bananas are good for us and much better if those bananas are fresh just like the bananas from Dole. Speaking of fresh, I know this is not fresh anymore but I just happen to stumble upon the fan page of Dole Philipines after attending the cooking event that they have. I found out that they are running a contest. I know it’s quite late but hey its worth to try and besides sharing your healthy lifestyle is one of the best ways to help others.

The contest is called the “Banana Morning Motto” which runs through August 5 – September 4, 2011. The contest mainly encourages people to have a good motto every morning. So what are the prizes? Well it’s just 10 sessions of Zumba Classes and an Executive Massage Gift Certificate from The Spa. If you’re a spa lover you will for sure grab a chance to these prizes.

So what’s the mechanics? It’s just a nine pointer activity to finish the whole contest mechanics. So here it is…

1. Sign Up or Log In to www.facebook.com
2. Like the Dole Fresh Philippines Fan Page.
3. Register your name and address at the Dole Banana Morning Motto Application
4. Read the full mechanics.
5. Take a picture of your DOLE® Banana with your Banana Morning Motto (the “Photo”). Be creative.
6. Make sure that the Dole sticker is part of your photo (I just don’t know if there’s no sticker available like mine).
7. Upload your photo
8. Tag your friends whom you'd like to share your entry (optional)
9. In the Banana Morning gallery, users can view and vote for their own entry as well as others' entry

Plain and simple! I think readers can easily grasp the whole mechanics but if you have anything to ask just visit their Frequently Asked Questions.
You still got a few days to go and join the contest but before you do that kindly check my post and like them.  Here's the link http://apps.facebook.com/dolebananamorninggal/view.php?id=171&fbuid=769113247&from=0  Thanks!

It was mid-week and the weather is having a little rain shower, I’m on my way to an event of which I know it is definitely for 18 years old and above. All the way from Clark, Pampanga and went on to the event’s place. Though familiar based on the map, I’m still not sure if it is precise. So together with my bag and alone I traverse a place which I rarely go. Fortunate enough that the weather has somewhat friendly to me that it made me reach the place first before it showers more.

 I came to the registration area and met Ms. Jane, she’s the one who emailed me and has been texting, asking if I’m attending. Anyway she showed me the way and met the other bloggers who were there already. Glad that I’m not that late.

 Okay so what was the event all about? Well it is the briefing of the new Benmore Marketing Campaign. They really wanted the product to sink in more to Filipinos because as we all know Filipinos are not very much of a Scotch whisky drinker. So through their thorough campaign they are aiming for the flourishing of the Benmore Four Casks. As part of their Marketing Campaign, they are also introducing their Brand Ambassador, Borgy Manotoc. As Borgy have mentioned in his speech this was his first time to endorse liquors, that’s why his really eager enough to introduce the product to the public.


 After the dinner and the short program Borgy Manotoc was able to seat with us, the bloggers. He was cool and easy to talk with. We even made that simple little chit chat into an interview, asking questions about Benmore Four Casks and even some touch of his love life. Some of the questions that we shoot to him was “If your (Borgy) going to rate Benmore Four Casks with the rate of 1 to 10, what’s its rate?” Without any much doubt he answered “It’s a 9”. Good enough to hear from the endorser himself. Another one was “If you’ll (Borgy) compare Benmore to a sexy lady who will it be?” He replied “it would be Megan Fox.” Then followed by “if locally who will it be?” Without hesitation he exclaimed “of course Georgina Wilson”. Then that interview ended with Borgy Manotoc inviting every to try Benmore Four Casks.


 Of course the product will not be judge without any taste test, so all the bloggers get a taste of Benmore. Some of us tried it with Cola and some just tried it plain. In my case I tried it with Cola and without Cola just to taste the difference. It’s quite good to taste something new.

 While having another chat with the staff of Global Noble some of us, bloggers got curious about the name and the icon. So what was Benmore in details? Here’s what according to them.

BenMore Four Casks is a more premium drink that believes that details matter. Expert blenders have specifically chosen MORE of the finest malt and grain whiskies up to 21. These batches have been matured in 4 different oak casks to give an even smoother Scotch Whisky experience.  It is made in Scotland and it is bottled by Diageo.

 The iconic stag - to represent heritage and authenticity. It connotes masculinity, superiority and leadership. Consumers drinking BenMore will be perceived as smart, stylish, presentable and tough. They know what they want and are a go-getter; but they’re also friendly and open-minded, exactly like the Brand Ambassador, Borgy Manotoc.

Wedding preparations stories doesn’t always good. Most of the differences occur during wedding preparation and this story is well true to all who are still on the setting up stage, who got married and to those who also planned but ends up deserted because of unwanted situations.

The quarrel, the heartaches, the crying, the misunderstanding, the pressure, the resolution, the make up, and the decision, all comes out during planning stage. It seems that emotions do runs to couples wanting to go beyond the boyfriend/girlfriend relationship.

That’s what the story of Wedding Tayo, Wedding Hindi is all about. The movie is all about the stories behind every wedding preparation and the differences of both families. This film is the latest comedy offering of Star Cinema and OctoArts Films which starred by Toni Gonzaga as Belai and Zanjoe Marudo as Oca, together with Eugene Domingo and Wendell Ramos and directed by Jose Javier Reyes.





This is for sure another wacky comedy movie from two veteran comedians. Wedding Tayo Wedding Hindi opens nationwide in over 100 theaters on August 31!