Entries Tagged 'Affairs' ↓

Last night’s dinner was made of Yummy, figuratively and literally. Yummy foodie magazine invited a group of foodies, including Nomnom, for an intimate dinner at Tosco in Dusit Thani Hotel, Makati City.

Tosco, Dusit Thani Hotel

And who would say no to an intimate dinner invite by a food magazine? It’s almost sure, the food would be great. And I was not mistaken.

Potato Sour Creme Soup

Potato-Sour Creme Soup

For soup appetizer, we had potato-sour creme soup.

It was good and creamy. The lemon grilled shrimp slices even made it better.

I found the initally served bread complimentary to its rich taste and I cleaned up my bowl to the last drop.

I think the leaves on top is tarragon – an aromatic Eurasian herb for seasoning.

Tosco Bread

Stuffed Chicken Breast

Chicken Breast with a Surprise

The main entree looked like a simple chicken breast but I found a surprise marinated apricot and orange cinnamon couscous at its center. The serving of rice is also worth mentioning with its citrus-like aftertaste and scent. It was something new to my taste buds and I found it pleasing. Stems of green asparagus lined the plate.

Couscous is a north African dish usually characterized by steamed semolina and meat; in this case chicken meat.

Chicken breast with Orange Cinnamon and Apricot

Trilogie

Yes, you read it right – it ended with ‘gie.’ The dinner was concluded with a trilogie of vanilla, red wine creme, and caramelized mango. It was the goodness of dessert times three.

Tosco Trilogie: Vanilla, Red Wine Creme, & Caramelized Mango

The vanilla was prepared light and covered with shreds of crispy barquillos. Lovely.

It was my first time to taste a red wine creme and I loved its softness with hint of strawberry. Although I think I’m alone with this conclusion since the plates of those around me left the red wine creme half-consumed.

The caramelized mango was, well, caramelized mango.

Although a combination of three desserts sound overwhelming, I surprisingly found it wanting. The three were all sweet but it was not overdone. Simply said, I cleaned the plate.

Tosco's Caffe Latte

And just like after any sweets, a good cup of coffee is always appreciated after.

Yummy Planner 2010

Yummy Magazine - December Issue

It was a good way of celebrating the holidays and the blessed year of 2009 for Yummy Magazine as they release the Yummy 2010 Planner and 3 new cookbooks namely YUMMY Meals in Minutes, YUMMY So-easy Sweets, and YUMMY Weekend Cooking.

The Yummy Planner 2010 is now sold in major bookstores at P250 while the cookbooks are at an affordable price of P100 each.

Their December issue is also now out with cooking tips for Christmas like how to have a delicious and inexpensive Noche Buena. They are also adding new sections to the magazine and website Yummy.ph. Something to look forward to in 2010. Check it out here.

Tosco Wine Bar, Dusit Thani Hotel, Makati City

More photos of Yummy Christmas Dinner.

We also shared a good chat over dinner with fellow foodies Fran, Az, and new friends Oggie & Ferdz of HappyFoodies.com, among others. It was also nice to see Anton of Our Awesome Planet again and Joey of Table for Three Please, for the first time. It was a Yummy dinner indeed!

Merry Christmas! Indeed, cold mornings and hot coffee for breakfast is in season! As a treat for the holidays, NomNom Club is giving away a Limited Edition Starbucks USB thumb drive simply by creating your Christmas Wishlist of 5, similar to Facebook’s Wishlist which is five.

Simply create your wishlist consisting of 5 items and post it in your own blogs. In not less than 100 words, give it some story or narration for that creative touch. Place a link to NomNomClub.com and you’re good!

Submit your full name and blog’s URL/link to admin<at>NomNomClub.com anytime from today upto 11:59pm of  January 4, 2010. I’ll choose the best entry based on the following criteria:

White Starbucks USB Thumb Drive

Creativity of Story & Writing Style -  60%

Overall Impact – 30%

The Uniqueness of your 5-Item Wishlist  – 10%

The contest is open to anyone residing in the Philippines with a valid local address. The Starbucks USB 512mb thumb drive will be couriered to the winner anywhere in the Philippines for free.

The winner will be contacted through the email address he/she will use in sending the link.

Starbucks Christmas Wishlist Contest

If you’re not much fond of the original Limited Edition Starbucks USB, you may want to participate in the Starbucks Planner 2010 contest; or better – join both!

So what are you waiting for? Create that short blog entry, link to NomNomClub.com, and send that email to join NomNomClub.com’s Christmas Wishlist Contest and get that Limited Edition Starbucks USB!

On its 15th year, Jollibee, together with Aga Muhlach and the Jolly Toy Scouts has started the campaign for “MaAga ang Pasko” early this month. Jollibee’s MaAga ang Pasko is the longest running toy and book donation drive in the country that aims to continue spreading Christmas cheer to children in need.

Jollibee Donated Toys

The launch kicking-off the campaign was held in SMX beside SM Mall of Asia. Led by Jollibee executives, Aga Muhlach, and participating schools, they held ceremonial gift giving of donations in form of books and toys placing them in the donation stations to symbolize the start of the campaign.

MaAga Ang Pasko

With the series of unfortunate natural calamities that have struck the Philippines, Jollibee‘s MaAga ang Pasko drive aims to enhance the spirit of sharing and giving with more ways to make kids happy this Christmas season.

Jolly Toy Scout

Be Empowered! Be a Jolly Toy Scout!

Introduced last year, the Jolly Toy Scouts helped reinforce the message of sharing in a fun and exciting way by having more than 15,000 Jolly Toy Scouts from over 30 partner schools signed up last year to lead efforts in collecting donations such as toys and books for needy children. They also help clean up, pack gifts, and join the distribution drives.

Aga Muhlach

Aga Muhlach as Advocate

Once again, Aga Muhlach lends his support for the project and was honored as a Toy Scout Troop Leader in last year’s campaign.

“Seeing young kids and grown-ups pitching in to make other children happy never fails to brighten my day. These young Jolly Toy Scouts get to really understand the value of sharing …” says Aga.

Double Up Gifts, Double Up Happiness

Jollibee MaAga Ang Pasko Launch at SMX, SM Mall of Asia

In celebration of its 15th year, Jollibee will match every donation with a Jollibee toy, effectively doubling the number of gifts to be collected this year.

Albert Cuadrante

“As Jollibee matches every donated toy and book with a Jollibee toy, we will be able to double the number of donations and consequently, double the number of children who will get to enjoy a more memorable and happier Christmas,” exclaimed Albert Cuadrante, Vice President for Jollibee-SBU Marketing.

MaAga Ang Pasko Donations and Member Schools

Supporting Member Schools Make a Pledge

Children Looks Forward To Christmas

Adopt-A-School Program

In addition to this year’s campaign, MaAga Ang Pasko introduces a new component: the ADOPT-A-SCHOOL program that encourages schools and various institutions in becoming a partner of a beneficiary school. All toys and books collected, as well as the corresponding toys to be given by Jollibee to match their collection, will be given to their partner beneficiary school.

Jollibee MaAga Ang Pasko Toys

For More Photos, Click Here.

Please do support Jollibee‘s MaAga ang Pasko campaign. In your own way, you can teach your children selfless giving by encouraging them to voluntarily donate some of their toys, old or new, in any Jollibee branch nationwide.

Hello NomnomClub.com readers and subscribers. I recently received a delicious email from one of my admired chocolate shops in the metro – Heavenly Chocolates.

We had a very educational chocolate seminar in their shop along Roces Avenue early this year. And I was ecstatic to know that they’ll be having free tasting sessions over the weekend.

This coming Nov 21 & 22, Heavenly Chocolates will entertain customers for free tasting sessions. The first one entitled “Taste the Darkness” will be on Saturday, November 21, 2009. I’m not really sure if the title has something to do with the near-showing Twilight sequel: New Moon. 🙂

“Taste the Darkness” will introduce the new flavors of SACHI BLACK chocolates. Sachi Nama Chocolates are one of the premium products of Heavenly Chocolates. Free tasting is available all day long. Come with a friend.

The second day, Sunday, November 22, 2009, focuses more on the traditional Filipino merienda. The culprits are tsokolate (native chocolate), suman (sticky rice pudding), mangga (mango), and ensaimada (a type of pastry).

You can come in groups or as a family as long as you RSVP for crowd control. The available time slots are 2 pm, 4pm, and 6 pm.

Look for chocolate connoisseur Benjamin Pedro and RSVP via his email: benjaminvpedro<at>yahoo.com Wait for the confirmation email and see you at the 4pm session on Sunday. 🙂

Heavenly Chocolates is located at 127 Roces Avenue, Quezon City. When you are at the Timog Area, it is a stone’s throw away from the McDonald Morato Branch with a giant french fries facade. The shop is near the corner of Tomas Morato & Roces Ave. Their telephone number is 666-2208

For the first timers, Heavenly Chocolates is relatively an average-sized chocolate shop that can house about 25 customers at a time, but it gives you that homey atmosphere fit for a hot cup of chocolate drink during a rainy day. 🙂

Woot! Thank you to all who participated in my Thank You Day Photo Contest Promo a few weeks ago! This is actually a back post as I was very busy lately. Nonetheless, the 5 Nomnom Club finalists and winners are:

• Thank You Mama! by LittleNars.com

“I am doing this for Mama, this is how I will show my love for her. She doesn’t deserve any other disappointment. She only deserve happiness. So please God, MAKE THIS HAPPEN.”

• How do you spread the sweetness of gratitude? by Mamuyac.Multiply

“I can’t find the right words to say to my baby Charles but “thank you” on how he made my life an exciting and worthy journey that it is today.”

• An Entry … by IAmNicely.com

“I want the world to know how grateful I am to God for giving me such cool and loving parents.”

• My Entry… by Misha

“I am thankful for my best friends who have always been there for me through the good times & the bad.”

• Spread The Sweetness… by NextJam

“I’ll be showing you how to be appreciated through my passion in Toy Photography.”

I wish you guys the best and hopefully Toblerone would be able to select one of you in their top 3 winners from among all the finalists from the online community! Cheers!

Nonetheless, by being finlaists in my contest, all you five automatically receives Thank You Toblerone Gift Packs! You will be informed via email as to how to claim these items.

Thank you also to GeiserMaclang and Toblerone for hosting this contest.

For more information on the National Thank You Day, visit www.thankyoudayphilippines.com HERE

They rhyme! 🙂 Kidding aside, Jollibee’s Spaghetti has been my favorite fast food spaghetti because of it’s tendency to be sweeter than the usual spaghetti we know. Actually, it’s called the Filipino-style spaghetti – a sweet one.

To make it even sweeter,  Jollibee launches its search for your Spaghettiest Moments with your family, friends and officemates!

Mechanics:

Send in your pictures enjoying the Jollibee Spaghetti or any Jollibee Spaghetti value meal combination in any of the following categories:

the happiest moments with your family

the wackiest moments with your barkada

the funniest moments with your officemates

Entries must include a one-line caption to describe the photo. An individual may submit a maximum of three entries, or one entry per category.

Entries may be submitted online at photos@spaghettiest.com . Suppy your full name, residential address, email address and contact numbers.

You may also submit via snail mail. Entries should be placed inside a sealed short brown envelope containing one 4R photo entry and the corresponding details (caption and participant’s information) typewritten on a short bond paper. Mail to

BCI-ENAV
30th Floor Tycoon Centre
Pearl Drive, Ortigas Center
1605 Pasig City

Jollibee Spaghettiest Moments Photo Contest

Prizes:

One winner in each category:

Family Prize Package

• a Jollibee family party package worth P7,000
• Jollibee gift certificates worth P5,000
• Sony digital photo frame.

Barkada Prize Package

• a Jollibee barkada party package worth P7,000
• Jollibee gift certificates worth P5,000
• Sony digital camera.

Officemates Prize Package

• a Jollibee officemates party package worth P7,000
• Jollibee gift certificates worth P5,000
• Sony photo printer

Deadline for the submission of entries is at midnight of November 22, 2009. You may check out www.jollibee.com.ph.

Jollibee Spaghetti Meals

Jollibee has also recently packaged the Jollibee Spaghetti into 3 set meals like Spaghetti Solo, Spaghetti and Chickenjoy, and Spaghetti and Yum.

Weeks after Red Ribbon hosted the “A Memorable Dessert Experience” online writing contest, the winners can now be revealed. This is in celebration of Red Ribbon‘s newest White Forest cake.

Continue reading →

Two years ago, incumbent Mayor Alfredo Lim passed a city ordinance declaring October 20 as Manila City’s official Thank You Day.

In response to highlight the importance of expressing gratitude, Toblerone has also started a petition to make National Thank You Day an official holiday with Congresswoman Cynthia Villar of Las Piñas who has also passed House Bill No.5466 to recommend that National Thank You Day be recognized as a national holiday.

Thank You Swimming Party

In light of these events and the good year that it has been with our affiliated travel blog LetsGoSago.net, Sago is organizing an exclusive “Thank You Swimming Party” as a gesture of gratitude to those who supported Sago in the Emerging Influencial Blog Awards 2009 last August and and the Blogger’s Choice in the recent Philippine Blog Awards.

Sago is in the process of contacting all those 70++ bloggers nationwide who supported him in the two activities. However, some of the blogs have no email or contact details. If you are reading this and you know you supported Sago but did not receive an invite by the end of October, kindly reply on the comment section below or email him at admin<at>letsgosago.net with a link/URL of the blog post you wrote durin for those awards.

The simple “Thank You Swimming Party” will be tentatively held on November 21, Saturday – 1pm to 5pm at The Fort in Taguig City. Merienda will be provided. Invitees can bring along a maximum of two guests(friends/family). However, the guests would be charged a fee of P100 per person. All fees gathered would be donated to Ondoy & Pepeng flood victims through the official TXTPower Fund Drive.

UPDATE: The swimming party was eventually held last January 09, 2010 at the same location. Thanks to the 30+ bloggers who came. 🙂

More on ‘Thank You Day’

Kraft Foods (Philippines), Inc.’s Senior Brand Manager, Carlo Licuanan, Graduate Training for Marketing, Cherry Ching, and Snacks Category Marketing Manager, Elio Machillanda.

When Toblerone first launched National Thank You Day in 2007, it was as a response to Reader’s Digest Global Courtesy Test in which Manila ranked number 22 and among the least courteous cities in the world. It also became a call to arms for Filipinos to revive the lost art of saying ‘Thank You.’

Traditional snail mail "Thank You Letter"

Now, two years after, the country has been recognized as the Most Courteous Asian Country among recent surveys.

“We think that the positive result of this recent survey is because Filipinos have already realized the value of expressing their gratitude,” says Carlo Licuanan, Senior Brand Manager, Kraft Foods (Philippines), Inc.

Furthermore, you could register, nominate and vote for candidates at the National Thank You Day website (http://thankyoudayphilippines.com/) to express your gratitude.You could participate in the ‘thank you photo contest‘ as well!

Aris Lacorte, Area Supervisor for The North Face, Bea Castillo, Events Associate and Macel Abejero, PR & Events Manager for Primer Group of Companies receive the Thank You certificate from Carlo Licuanan for their partnership to help spread the sweetness of gratitude.

Among the nominees are Filipino fashion designer known internationally for her world-class bridal gown designs Monique Lhuillier, recipient of Best Director Award at Cannes International Film Festival Brilliante Mendoza for his film Kinatay and one of the greatest leaders of all time for her fight for freedom and democracy, former President Cory Aquino.

“Once again let’s prove to the world this October 20 at The National Thank You Day celebration that by simply saying a meaningful Thank You, we as a country can become the most Grateful Nation of all,” says Licuanan.

“Of all the ‘attitudes’ we can acquire, surely the attitude of gratitude is the most important and by far the most life-changing.” – Zig Ziglar. Well-known author and life coach