The sweetness of Valentine isn’t over just yet! Red Ribbon recently launched its newest and chocolate-full cake – the Chocolate Heaven. In connection to this, Red Ribbon has formed an online photo contest where would-be participants can take a photo of themselves, family, or others showing a ‘heavenly‘ expression while eating the new Red Ribbon Chocolate Heaven.

Chocolate Heaven Cake Slice

Those who best expresses how chocolatey the cake is can win thousands worth of Red Ribbon gift certificates.

Be creative and imaginative in your entries as this comprise a major part of the criteria. The photo should include the Chocolate Heaven cake – in whole or even just a slice.

How To Join

Submit and upload this entry at

http://NomNomClub.com/red-ribbon-chocolate-heaven-photo-contest/submit/

anytime until March 10, 2010.
Include a 130-character photo caption in the submission form. The caption should include the words “Red Ribbon” and “Chocolate Heaven“. Filipinos above 18yrs old with a valid Philippine address is qualified to join.

See Full Mechanics Here

Winners will be announced in this blog on March 17, 2010.

Submit Now! It’s that simple! 🙂

Chocolate Heaven Layers

Criteria for Judging:

View Photo Entries Here

Prizes:

Grand Winner – Php 3000 worth of Red Ribbon Gift Certificates

2nd Place Winner – Php 2000 worth of Red Ribbon Gift Certificates

3rd Place Winner – Php 1000 worth of Red Ribbon Gift Certificates

Photo Requirements:

1. Photo should not exceed 2MB in size.
2. Only basic editing of the photo is allowed including cropping, brightness, and contrast.
3. The photo should not have any watermarks on it to avoid bias during judging.
4. As Red Ribbon honors proper copyright procedures, submitted photos are assumed and should be owned by the one who submitted the entry.
5. No exclusivity clause involved. Contestant retains ownership of the photo and can post it in their blogs or other social network photo albums

Red Ribbon Chocolate Heaven

Make sure though that you hold the copyright of the photos you submit. Submitted photos will not be sold or used by this blog or the contest sponsor in any other ways except for general promotional purposes of the contest.

So capture your heavenly expressions while nomnoming the divine Red Ribbon Chocolate Heaven cake and join this contest! 🙂

With summer fast approaching, travel plans and summer getaways are coming up. It’s nice to know that when you use your Metrobank Credit Card to book flights or shop for your summer essentials, you’ll also get free treats from Greenwich!

As early as February, you can enjoy a Greenwich Beefy Baked Macaroni for a minimum spend of P2,000 and Greenwich Solo Pizza for a minimum spend of P3,000. Plus, for an accumulated spend of P10,000 get a Greenwich Family Thin Crust Pizza, perfect for takeout on the way to your summer outing!

Check out the details here!

PROMO MECHANICS

Per DTI-NCR Permit No. 0833, Series of 2010. ASC Ref No. M058P020110M

For the latest promos, visit www.metrobankcard.com

1. This promotion is open to Metrobank Visa/MasterCard Credit Card, Go! MasterCard, Femme Visa, World MasterCard, and PSBank MasterCard cardholders.
2. Cardholders must surrender their charge slips to get FREE Greenwich Products.

For a single charge slip with a minimum valid spend of at least P2,000, get ONE of the following:

•    Free 1 order of Beefy Baked Macaroni
•    Free 1 order of Meaty Spaghetti

For a single charge slip with a minimum valid spend of at least P3,000,     get ONE of the following:

•    Free 1 order of Solo Pizza
•    (Available variants: Greenwich Special, Hawaiian, Ham & Cheese)
•    Free 1 order of Lasagna Supreme

For accumulated charge slips worth a total valid spend of P10,000 get ONE Family Thin Crust Pizza. Available variants:

•    Ultimate Hawaiian Overload
•    Greenwich Special Overload
•    Triple Ham & Cheese Overload
•    Philly Cheesesteak Overload
•    Extreme Cheese & Sausage Overload
•    Hawaiian Classic
•    Ham & Cheese Classic

3. Valid spend includes all retail transactions (examples of retail transactions are purchases at groceries, department stores, gasoline stations, restaurants, etc.), and merchant installment transactions (examples of merchant installment transactions are installment purchase of appliances, jewelry, etc). Online or internet credit card transactions are excluded from this promotion.
4. To redeem the free Greenwich products, cardholders must surrender their original valid charge slips, and present their Metrobank Visa/MasterCard Credit Card, Go! MasterCard, Femme Visa, World MasterCard or PSBank MasterCard at any of the participating Greenwich branches.
5. For the charge slips to be valid for redemption:

• Name and card number on the charge slip must be the same as the name and card number on the Metrobank Visa/MasterCard Credit Card, Go! MasterCard, Femme Visa, World MasterCard or PSBank MasterCard Credit Card presented.
• Transaction date of the surrendered charge slip must be within the promo period.

6. Unreadable charge slips are not valid for redemption. Cardholders must redeem Greenwich products using their charge slips before they fade.
7. Promo period is February 1 to April 30, 2010; redemption period is from February 1 to June 30, 2010. Cardholders can avail a maximum of three products per day.
8. Redemption will NOT be allowed on the following dates: February 14, April 1, and April 2, 2010.
9. Should it be proven that a cardholder was able to redeem Greenwich products without adhering to the above mechanics, the cost of the Greenwich products will be charged to the cardholder’s credit card account.

Hurry and go get the Greenwich early summer treats from Metrobank!

Chocolates and sweet delicacies are now everywhere with the Valentine’s just two days away. And different commercial establishments are brimming with their own individual promotions and gimmicks.

We’ll peek through some of them including Ministop, Red Ribbon cakes, Krispy Kreme, and Delifrance,

Ministop Valentine's Madness Promo

Ministop’s Valentine Madness Delight Promo

Ministop have the Valentine Madness Delight Promo wherein lucky customers get a chance to win a romantic getaway for two for every single-receipt purchase of any of Ministop’s participating products. Customer must write his contact details and affix his signature at the back of the Ministop Official Receipt, and drop the receipt at designated drop boxes.

There will be four winners of a trip for two to Boracay, with airfare and accommodations at the Grand Boracay Hotel; three winners of a trip for two to Cagayan De Oro, with airfare and accommodations at Malberry Suites; and three winners of a trip for two to Busuanga, with airfare and accommodations at Busuanga Island Hotel. The Valentine Madness Delight promo will run until   February 28, 2010.

Red Ribbon Roses & Kisses Cake

You can also express your love in full bloom this year through Ministop’s flower delivery service, which offers next-day delivery of farm fresh roses to major key cities nationwide. Romantics can choose from 8 stunning colors. Available at popular prices, the roses are available in 3-stemmed, half a dozen, one dozen, and two dozen. You may also choose from the new flower color combination for 1 dozen and 2 dozen all meticulously grown by Ministop’s partner, Island Rose. Ministop’s delivery service is available 24/7 for special occasions all year round in Ministop stores in the metro.

Red Ribbon’s Roses & Kisses Cake

Krispy Kreme Heaert-Shaped Doughnuts

The Roses and Kisses Cake is only available on shelf from February 12-14, 2009. It’s a chocolate pound cake shaped as a lovey-dovey heart and decorated with edible sugar roses and Hershey’s milk chocolate Kisses on top. Made beautiful inside-out, it is made with layers of chocolate fudge filling sprinkled with chocolate chips.

Truly a seasonal cake just for this valentine season, the 6 diameter white heart is priced at P330.

Krispy Kreme Heart-Shaped Doughnuts

Krispy Kreme wants you to share the sweetness with their  limited edition Valentine heart-shaped doughnuts with Hershey’s Kisses chocolate which started Feb 4 . Other favorite heart shaped doughnut varieties will be available up to Feb 14. These include New York Cheesecake, Hershey’s Dark Chocolate, Hershey’s Cookies & Cream, Peanut Butter & Kreme, Blueberry Cheesecake, Snickers Classic, Chocolate Custard Filled, Chocolate Kreme Filled, Sugar, Caramel Kreme Crunch and Chocolate Iced With Sprinkles. Share a dozen for only P365

Delifrance Frosted Cinnamon Rolls

Delifrance’s Cinnamon Rolls

Delifrance comes up with its Frosted Cinnamon Rolls. A box of 12 is P450. Yummy!

There you go…an almost endless list of Valentine’s Sweets madness. 🙂

The house-helper left the house quite late today for her Sunday grocery. The rest of the relatives were somewhere else and I was left all alone. It’s 11:30am. Time for lunch and I had to summon my secret impromptu cooking skills. 🙂

The result: sauteed squash (ginisang kalabasa) and a set of fried fish lumpia. 🙂

The fried fish lumpia was fairly easy. It’s a ready-to-fry lumpia pack from the grocery. 🙂 Ah, the convenience of instant food (in exchange for preservatives) 🙂

I cooked it first as a strategy I learned from mom way before.  It saves on cooking oil since you could use the left over cooking oil from the pan for sauteing the next vegetable dish — Sauteed Squash.

NomNom Recipe for Sauteed Squash:

Suateed Squash & Fried Lumpia

Ingredients:

• 1 medium squash/pumpkin; sliced into cubes
• 1/2 garlic bulb
• 1/2 onion bulb
• 2 tbsp soy sauce
• 1 cup water
• cooking oil

Procedure:

1. I first pan fried some crushed garlic and slices of half a bulb of onion.
2. This was followed by slices of squash cubes; mix well.
3. Heat for a while (1 minute) and add a cup of water.
4. Add two tablespoon of soy sauce and mix again; you may add salt and other spices to your liking.
5. Let it boil or simmer until the water left is just enough to cover the base of the pan; stir from time to time.
6. Serve while hot.

Well, this might not be perfect, or something, but this is how NomNom does his no-fuss Sauteed Squash and tricky fried lumpia. 🙂

The Food Foto Fiesta is a regular section from an affiliate food and travel blog LetsGoSago.net. Since it now focuses largely on travel (although still with some travel-related food write-ups), NomNomClub.com now revives a similar section here.

No explanation, no stories. Just dish labels and scrumptious images enough to make the onlooker drool, just enough to let your stomach grumble and make you want to go there and eat.

It’s roughly defined as a mob of food pictures from a focus dining place. 🙂 I hope you would enjoy our upcoming Food Foto Fiestas!

Silangan Elementary School

A follow up to the earlier Christmas hangover post is a charity-related event where Jollibee‘s Christmas Caravan went to Silangan Elementary School in Sta. Cruz, Laguna.

This is part of Jollibee‘s “MaAga Ang Pasko” program where they collected children’s used toys through theor Christmas boxes in all Jollibee branches nationwide.

After the collection period, the toys were cleaned and washed in partnership with a commercial laundry group and some volunteers.

Then from hereon, they selected a number of public schools from different locations around the Philippines. One of which is the Silangan Elementary School.

Celebrity/Actor Aga Muhlach

Jollibee MaAga Ang Pasko

A school ravaged by last year’s typhoon Ondoy (Internaitonal typhoon Ketsana), Silangan Elementary School was still in the process of recovery when we went there last December of 2009.

Interestingly, this event opened the first day of their classes as well. (School operations stopped while the school was under construction and rehabilitation from the typhoon).

In line with this, Jollibee will be assisting the school in its recovery efforts.

All the students gathered at the school gym with its stage prepped-up for the program.

More Photos as a movie:

And of course, the celebrity model for the Jollibee MaAga Ang Pasko program is none other than Aga Muhlach. Aga spearheaded the program after two stage presentations from the school’s student representatives. Aga Muhlach went around the school as well before helping in the distribution of the Jollibee MaAga Ang Pasko toys and gift packs to the students.

Jollibee Christmas Caravan

The Jollibee Christmas Caravan was a long trip from Manila to Laguna but it was all worth it having seen the happy faces of the children and students.

Finally, a week  after the Top 6 Christmas Wishlist entry came out, we will now know who will be NomNom Club’s 2009 Best Christmas Wishlist Bl0g.

From among the 25 entries last December 2009, “My Shrubbish Nomnomlicious Wishlist“ wins as NomNom Club’s 2009 Best Christmas Wishlist Blog!

Congratulations to John Paul Vergoni of Kompyuter Sayantist for his entry “My Shrubbish Nomnomlicious Wishlist“.

First (1st) Runner-up is ‘”My Christmas 2009 Wishlist” by Edelweiza Mabalay from  “The Life of a Breadwinner.”

Second (2nd) Runner up is “My Grownup Christmas List” by Ria Tirazona from”Daydream Believer“.

Thanks you to Ia Lucero who helped us in the very hard judging process. Ia is a fellow writer, blogger, and a respected web designer in the online community. See more details of her work at Stellify.net

The grand winner brings home the limited edition Starbucks USB flash drive. The second and third placer each gets an authentic Starbucks cap and lace (instead of the earlier announced gift certificates). Wait for the confirmation email in your inbox within this week where your valid Philippine address will be requested for shipping purposes.

Again, congratulations to all winners and participants. I hope you would join our succeeding contests in the future.

Stay tuned to Nomnom Club‘s food adventures and contests by subscribing to our email feed and Facebook Fanpage.

Hopefully we could have another Christmas Wishlist contest for 2010 come December. 🙂

A total of twenty-five entries were submitted for the Starbucks USB contest where a blogger should create a Christmas Wishlist based on the following mechanics.

It was great how the participants shared their personal wants and desires and how some seriously made selfless wishes. It was awesome to discover how creative some of the entries were. There were also unconventional wishes which made me create a list of the Top 6 ‘Kakaibang‘ wish from among the entries. 🙂

1. Bra holder – http://ruthilicious.blogspot.com/2009/12/wish-list.html
2. Stickers – http://vvaguilar.multiply.com/journal/item/17/My_Christmas_Wishlist
3. Businesses and Investment Opportunities – http://cheftonio.blogspot.com/2009/12/christmas-wish-list-2009.html
4. 1st Birthday Party for her son – http://kasai-mysimplelife.blogspot.com/2009/12/my-christmas-wishlist-for-this-year-are.html
5. Pictures with Starbucks items – http://crazylawrenz.blogspot.com/2009/12/my-wish-list.html
6. For a different set of wishlists as a whole – http://www.polyvore.com/christmas_wishlist/set?id=14354899

I didn’t know there’s such a case for bras. We’ll, I think because I’m a guy. 🙂 The ‘business opportunities’ came in as a surprise since it was an uncommon one and very serious at that.  While the mom who wishes for a birthday party for her son’s first birthday was quite touching. The last two were eccentric as a collection.

There were also heartwarming messages for NomNom like the one from FunHuntress.blogspot.com that says (http://funhuntress.blogspot.com/2009/12/my-grownup-christmas-list.html)

I’m really happy that bloggers come up with these kinds of contests that can change their readers’ lives.

…or somehow affect it at the very least, even if not ‘change.’ 🙂

There was also an entry where she wished to be linked from NomNomClub.com. She is StalwartsKryptonite. 🙂

So, who won the Starbucks USB flash drive?

There were a number of very good entries so I decided to select the Top 6 first and invite a co-judge who is a professional writer to help me in expertly selecting the grand winner. We’ll add our scores and average them.

Allow me to announce the top winner taking home the Starbucks USB next Sunday January 17, 2010. I would also reveal my co-judge at the same post. And because of that, I would add more prizes. The 2nd and 3rd place winners will not go empty handed. They would win a Starbucks gift certificate each.

Top 6 Entries for the Starbucks Coffee Philippines USB Falsh Drive

Here are the Top 6 Finalists (in no particular order):

1. My Christmas Wishlist 2009
2. My Grown Up Christmas List
3. Pangarap Kong Jackpot
4. My Christmas 2009 Wishlist
5. My Shrubbish Nomnomlicious Wishlist
6. If I ever meet Santa…

Whew! These are all good in their own different ways. I just hope my co-judge would not be as torn as I am 🙂 It was a good 2009 and cheers to 2010!