Entries Tagged 'Promos / Events' ↓

I celebrated my personal birthday a few weeks ago and a Jollibee cake made by Red Ribbon found its way into our home.:)

It was a big fondant chocolate cake with a big and cheerful printed Jollibee mascot on top. A fitting cake for a day of merriment.

Jollibee Birthday Cake by Red Ribbon

Chef Laudico

However, I was further surprised when I came home to our QC house last Sunday (two days ago) and found a Chef Laudico brownies box in our refrigerator. It was accompanied by a birthday greeting card saying:

“Happy Birthday. Hope you’ll enjoy this box of brownies especially and exclusively prepared by Chef Jackie Laudico…“

Wow, that sounds special, albeit belatedly.:)

I opened the box and found a set of ten elongated brownies. Something different from the usual square ones we see. And indeed, the taste was exquisitely premium. More than just the average brownie, it was a luscious mixture of the brownie; plus the roasted nuts caramelized cashew on top. I can’t exactly distinguish what kind of nut but it’s most probably cashew.

Chef Laudico Brownies - the Best!

It was so good. This is one of the best brownies I’ve had. I think this due to the good chocolate mixture highlighted by the crunchy and premium-tasting roasted walnuts caramelized cashew on top. Yum!

Birthday Card

I searched the Net including Chef Laudico website (http://www.cheflaudico.com.ph/) but didn’t find the brownies, not even its name.

And lastly, the card indicated:

“We have made a donation under your name to the Virlanie Foundation and the Autism Society of the Philippines.”

NomNom Club

What a warm feeling of goodwill done in your behalf for your birthday. Thank you GeiserMaclang, Stratworks, and Jollibee, you have made my birthday this year more special.

Out of 60 participants only 12 were chosen to battle out for the coveted title of SM Hypermarket Super Chef.

Housewives, culinary academicians, call center agents, kitchen crew members, restaurant owners, bankers, and retirees faced off in live cooking challenges a few weeks ago. The 12 finalists will battle it out in the four final rapid-fire final rounds that will determine who will be hailed as the SM Hypermarket Super Chef.  To make the competition more intense, the challenges will be televised over the Asian Food Channel.

Eddieson de Ocampo, Reynilo Peña, Aiza Mesina and Dante Cabalona compose the Northern SM Hypermarket branches.

Eddieson de Ocampo is a former champion of 2009’s Super Chef Challenge and a college professor who teaches HRM and Culinary Studies at Fernandez College in Baliwag. Finalists Reynilo Peña from North Harbor and Dante Cabalona from Marilao share a profession – both are successful carinderia owners who are seeking to make their mark on the Filipino culinary scene. Aiza Mesina is a professional events coordinator.  One of the youngest competitors at 22, Aiza dreams of owning her own food business someday.

Aiza Mesina, Angelo Cervantes, Islagel Gellidon, Eric Dizon, Dante Cabalona, and Eddieson de Ocampo (L-R, T-B)

Chefs from the Southern division of branches comprise of Islagel Gellidon, Leah Alava, Angelo Cervantes, and Louie Dumangas.

Some people were practically born with a spatula in their hands, like Islagel Gellidon, who learned the art from her grandmother and has pursued this passion and owns and operates a catering business while passing on the tricks of the trade to other aspiring entrepreneurs as a TESDA trainer.

Leah Alava, a homemaker with four children, attributes her ever-improving skill in the kitchen to her kids’ unbiased judgment of her cooking.

Angelo Cervantes’ family’s construction business specializes in the perfect mix of concrete, stone, and steel, but he would much rather concentrate on the perfect blend of spices for the dishes he whips up with a BA in HRM the College of St. Benilde.

Las Piñas branch representative Louie Dumangas is no stranger to the professional kitchen, having learned how to cook in his parents’ carinderia and then going on to become a line chef at TGIFriday’s.

To completing the roster for the Super Chef competition are the four chefs from the Central District branches, namely Mark Anthony Mejino, Eric Dizon, Josephine Portulin, and Roselle Manzano.

Mark Anthony Mejino is a culinary student of the Culinary Institute of Aristocrat, and at the tender age of 24, had already studied in Macau and worked there at an Italian restaurant.

Eric Dizon is currently the Assistant Head Chef at Gerry’s Grill Pasig who begun his cooking career with his first job at Ihaw-Ihaw along Tomas Morato when he was only 22.  Although he began his restaurant career as a busboy, Eric requested a transfer to the kitchen, and the rest is history.  Next year, diners at Gerry’s Grill Makati will hopefully have the pleasure of being able to sample his cooking, as he was offered to be the restaurant’s new Head Chef when the management found out he made it to the finals.

Josephine Portulin is an educator from Lucena, majoring in Economics. When she discovered that she has a gift for cooking, it wasn’t always smooth sailing – in fact, it was an employer’s negative feedback about her cooking that inspired Josephine to study cooking in earnest and improve her dishes.

The final finalist is no stranger to competition.  Eton branch’s representative, Roselle Manzano, won 3rd place at ABS-CBN’s National Food Showdown in September 2009, whipped up an amazing chicken burger that bagged first place at the Healthy Heart cooking competition held by the Philippine Heart Association, and won 3rd place for her ham sauce in Purefoods Ham Millenium Contest.   A dietician and a nutritionist, she works as a corporate chef at Trilogy.

Leah Alava, Josephine Portulin, Roselle Mendoza, Reynilo Peña, Louie Dumangas, and Mark Anthony Mejino (L-R, T-B)

The battle to become a star of Filipino cuisine is on! Catch SM Hypermarket’s Super Chef Challenge every Wednesday on the Asian Food Channel (AFC) beginning August 25 at 6:30 PM with host Chef Tristan Encarnacion. It has replays on Saturdays at 6:00 pm.

Exactly one month away from NomNom Club‘s first year anniversary, we’re officially announcing the establishment of NomNom Foodie Club! 🙂

Actually, it has been open to the anyone (public) with the link located at the header of every page. We are now at 70+ foodie members and counting.

NomNom Foodie Club is the community-based arm of NomNomClub.com food blog. I have also decided to take out the prior membership classifications to prevent biases. Although it was intended to facilitate group organization and effective communication, I think it is better off this way at this point in time (ang serious!). 🙂

The establishment of NomNom Foodie Club is part of the blog administrators plan of slowly opening up this blog to become community-based in the next two years; and eventually having the foodie club SEC (gov’t) registered if circumstances permit. For the short term, we could be having you guys guest blog! 🙂

I foresee a lot more potential with our foodie community like possible taste tests for new products, food group activities, and even themed food tours!

If you are a foodie and thinks that you can contribute to our community, please Register Here. It’s open to any foodies from anywhere in the world.

NomNom Club

As a final note, I would like to invite all our members to reserve their Saturday afternoon on September 04, 2010 to celebrate NomNomClub’s 1st Year anniversary 5 days in advance with NomNom Foodie Club’s first Get Together! We are most probably having it in one of Greenwich Pizza branches in Metro Manila, Philippines. Talks are underway with concerned sponsors as of this moment (advance Thank You to Greenwich; woot!).

Thank you for supporting NomNom Club!

It’s that season of the year again when the blogging community goes on the sprawl searching for their Top 10 Emerging Influential Blogs for the year.

There are a lot of great and influential blogs out there. But the trick in this search is the term ‘emerging.’ It pertains to the NEW blogs, those which started about a year ago – March 2009 to be precise. And that’s where discernment is needed – because of a blog’s young age, it’s really hard to judge if the blog would eventually kick-off or die down into oblivion in a year or two.

I have been participating in this annual activity for three years now. And I have noticed something unique this year – a rise in the number of new food blogs. I think it is safe to say that this is partly the result of the increase in food blogger events as well, prevalent in at least three major areas in the Philippines namely Cebu, Davao, and Metro Manila.

Nomnom Club

NomNom Club itself is an out-sprout form LetsGoSago.net, a former travel-and-food-blog now turned travel blog. It was September 09, 2009 (09/09/09) when I decided to start this food blog to avoid diluting LetsGoSago.net which was slowly being dominated by non-travel related food posts. The rest is history.

More than the increase in new food blogs, the latest top rank list (week 9) were dominated by at least 5 food blogs sharing 2nd, 4th, 6th, and 7th spots. Compared to last year’s winners, there were only 2 food blogs.

In this light (and being a food blogger myself), my first five Emerging Influential Blogs for 2010 are:

NomNomClub.com – This food blog. If I don’t vote for my blog, how can I encourage others to do so? 🙂 Hence, I hope you will (*ahem*vote*ahem).

Foodie Manila

By the way, I’m trying to develop it to become community-based by year 2 so feel free to Join NomNom Foodie Club and expect exciting foodie activities soon! We’re turning one next month! 🙂

FoodieManila.com – If you’re not much of the reader-type, this food blog is for you. Just look at the awesome photos, dream about it but hold that saliva drip, asleep or awake.

Kusina Maria

KusinaMaria.com – Maria is her first name and cooking is her surname. Find personal recipes from her blog

Thirsty Blogger

ThirstyBlogger.com – And you think having a food blog is already a focused niche in itself, this guy goes a step further by focusing on drinks and juices, or any beverage for that matter.

TeaCompletely.com -  Tea blogging. And you thought a beverage blog was already extreme? This blog tandem of Aileen and Drew is about their tea adventures in Manila, Davao, or as far as Singapore!

Tea Completely

I guess 50% of my nomination slots going to food blogs is enough. I’ll look into other emerging and influential blogs and update this post within the month.

Aug 31 Update:

ll===============================================ll

And the other 5 non-food blogs completing my list are:

Facebuko – this is one of the best and wittiest humor blogs we have today. Maintained by a fellow UP alumni, I’m not surprised (lol).

Ganda Ever So Much – I am not usually fond of personal blogs as monitoring the personal lives of individuals is not my cup of tea (unless they’re extra special). But this one got a magic touch to it care of Orman. 🙂

When In Manila – From zero to hero, Vince managed to prove that there is still room for more creative blogs in the Philippine blogosphere.

Fat Girl No More – this blog is unique and inspiring as it journals the quest of a fat girl who wants to loose the extra pounds. I admire her dedication despite the odds and her courage in sharing her journey with us.

Tara Na – I have personally met all my nominees above except Erica. Nonetheless, her zest in the write-ups and articles shows her zest for the craft. I believe she is one emerging and influential blog to look forward to in the months to come.

Sadly, we can only include 10. If for any reason, you don’t prefer my complete list, you may consider the following similarly deserving blogs in your list:

• http://www.project52weeks.com
• http://www.reluctantstylista.com
• http://www.survivingautism.net
• http://www.paolodome.co.cc
• http://www.rabsing.com
• http://www.christianhomeschooler.info
• http://www.avatar.ph
• http://www.thecreativedork.com
• http://www.no-benta.blogspot.com
• http://www.bonggaba.com

ll===============================================ll

If  NomNom Club passes your standard to be one of your Emerging Influential Blogs for 2010, please do so in any of your blogs and it will be very much appreciated. 🙂

This writing project will not be possible without the support of sponsors such as Events and Corporate Video, Budget hotel in Makati, Pinoy Party Food, Copyediting Services, PR Agency Philippines, Budget Travel Philippines, Send Gifts to the Philippines, Black Friday Deals, Roomrent – units for rent, Search Profile Index, Corporate Events Organizer.

Have you recently “Thanked” your best friend?

Have you shown your appreciation of your epic best friend who has been there ever since, through thick and thin? With or without chocolates? 🙂 Toblerone has actually done a similar campaign last year with a Thank You Day Photo Contest.

Well, Toblerone encourages you to do so. Tobelerone prods you to thank your super best friend now.

Your favorite triangular Swiss chocolate encourages you to say “thank you” to your best friend through simple things that show your appreciation. And why don’t you let the world know about it too! 🙂

Talk about how you met your epic friend, the adventures you’ve gone through together and especially why you are thankful for your relationship with him or her!

Mechanics:

1. “Like” the Toblerone Fan Page on Facebook
2. Upload a photo of you and your epic friend
3. Tag yourselves and TobleronePilipinas
4. Post your answers in the Comments section of your photo
5. Have your epic friend to “Like” the post as well!

Winners:

Ten winners will be chosen based on the number of people who “Liked” your post as well as the feedback from the Toblerone team and a special panel of judges.

Prizes:

Winners will be treated to Toblerone gift packs and a full day of fun and exciting bonding activities, featuring body care treatments at The Spa, with their epic friends.

Isn’t that a great and unique way to start saying “thank you” to your best friend! The contest will run from July 5, 2010 to August 11, 2010. Check more about this promotion at www.toblerone.ph

Gratitude, like friendship, should not simply be a one-day deal. Let this “thank you” opportunity from Toblerone inspire you to think of many different ways to show your friend how much you appreciate all he’s or she’s done for you.

I have observed that there are a lot of new dining spots and restaurants popping up in the metro. Either that or the restaurant is reinventing itelf!

Fresh Brews, New Restaurants

In recognition of this trend, I have decided to introduce a new category in NomNomClub.com – “New Brews.” It’s a special category in the sense that new restaurants featured in this food blog which have opened 6 months or less would be classified under this category. It would be under the parent category “Cravings.” 🙂

Rhyming and all, new dishes introduced by old shops would also fall under this tab.

I’m already excited to feature them as I have a number of “backblogs” which has been waiting to be published. 🙂

Watch out for the affordable comfort food of newbie griller ChicBoy, cheesy eats with awesome beats at Gino’s, the newest pasta offerings from Greenwich, the new look of Barrio Fiesta Greenhills, and another side of Barrio Fiesta for today’s generation – Ibayo!

It would be a two-full weeks of new must-try resto finds! Don’t miss a “new brew“  feature, subscribe to NomNom Club’s feed here and like our NomNomClub Facebook Fanpage.

Win Big Prizes from Red Kimono‘s “My Maki Masterpiece Challenge” as they celebrate their fifth year of serving modern Japanese cuisine.

Get a chance to win P5,000 in cash and P5,000 gift certificates by being one of the Top 5 winners. Moreover, your creative Maki recipes will be featured in Red Kimono’s Maki Masterpiece menu.

Red Kimono Modern Japanese Cuisine

No worries even if you are a kitchen newbie as the ‘maki‘ requirements are lenient. No specific rules with your recipes and way of cooking as long as it’s a ‘roll‘ and is ‘nomnom’-able. 🙂

Mechanics:

1. Submit your creative maki recipe with title and a photo.
2. Include your name, contact number and email address as well your story or inspiration behind your masterpiece.
3. Only one entry per participant.
4. Submit your entry via email mymakimasterpiece@gmail.com or in any Red Kimono branch in CD format

Deadline for Submission

• July 29, 2010 (extended from the July 25 earlier announcement)

Perks & Prizes:

• 5,000 in cash and P5,000 in Gift Certificates
• Feature in Red Kimono’s Maki Masterpiece menu
• Feature in print, TV and radio publicity

Red Kimono My Maki Masterpiece Challenge

Judging and awarding of the top 10 finalists will take place on July 31 at Red Kimono Fort branch. Five best makis will be chosen by judges including Ricky De Vera (Philippine Marketing Association Chair), Dr. Edgardo Rodriguez (Dean of Enderun College), DJ Rob Joseph (Wine Merchants and Ralph Wines & Spirits), Carlos Celdran, and Tweetie De Leon Gonzales.

For any inquiries on Red Kimono‘s “My Maki Masterpiece Challenge,” you may check www.redkimono.com.ph call 0917.822.5757 or 577.8382.

First, I’m currently not in Singapore; but I would like to consider yesterday’s lunch as a symbolic one in appreciation of this year’s Singapore Food Festival (SFF). 🙂

Singapore Tourism Board

The Singapore Tourism Board invited a group of bloggers including food blog NomNomClub.com for a feast of Singaporean signature dishes at the Heritage Hotel in Roxas Boulevard, Manila.

In order, we had Singapore Slaw, Nyonya Meatball Soup (Bawan Kepeting), Singpore Laksa and Mee Goreng,  Hainanese Chicken Rice, and Sago Gula Melaka with Vanilla Ice Cream for dessert.

Singapore Slaw

The Singapore Slaw served as the meal appetizer and was constituted by layers of green cabbage, julienned jicama, and strips of onion, carrot and cucumber, among others. The dressing gave hints of sesame oil and vinegar topped by sesame seeds.

It was crunchy and rich in texture with a sauce made just right well-fitting for a starter.

Nyonya Meatball Soup / Bawan Kepeting / Bawan Kepiting

The Nyonya Meatball Soup, also referred to as Bawan Kepeting/Kepiting, was a simple traditional meatball soup mixed with shredded bamboo shoots.

Allow me defer my spicy adventure with the Singpore Laksa and Mee Goreng in a next week’s post. 🙂

And of course, the star of Singaporean Chinese Food – the Hainanese Chicken Rice. Your trip to Singapore is never complete without having at least one serving of Hainanese Chicken Rice.

Singapore Original: Hainanese Chicken Rice

The chicken meat was tender and good as expected although I found the rice quite different from the ones I usually have in Singapore. While variants in rice preparation can include “oily rice,” or with coconut milk, or with pandan leaves,  the one we had was like the local ‘sinangag‘ (re-cooked rice). It was ok though. 🙂

It was accompanied by three side sauces of which I can’t remember the second (I’m thinking if it’s chili but it’s not!). The other two were soy sauce and pounded ginger.

Sago Gula Melaka with Vanilla Ice Cream

To cap our Singaporean lunch, we had the Sago Gula Melaka with vanilla ice cream for dessert. “Gula Melaka” means ‘palm sugar’. This dessert is basically sweetened small tapioca with ice cream on top.

And since I love almost anything with ice cream (although I hoped for an Ice Kachang), needless to say, this one’s good as well. 🙂

Singapore Food Festival 2010

So if you’re on your way to Singapore or is planning to be there anytime soon, prepare for a mouth-watering experience of culinary cultures as you get immersed in a myriad of Singapore Chinese dishes in this year’s Singapore Food Festival 2010.

Tracing its roots as far back as 1994, the Singapore Food Festiva focuses on local food culture and heritage which is a diverse mix of oriental, Indian, and Middle Eastern dishes to the gastronomic delight of participants, foreigners, and visitors alike.

The annual event is not only about ‘nomnoming‘ (eating), there are also culinary workshops, themed celebrations, and competitions.

Schedule Highlights of Singapore Food Festival for your guidance:

• July 16-24 – Clarke Quay Food Street (Clarke Quay Rear Bridge)
• July 25 – Singapore Chinese Dialect Heritage Feast (Clarke Quay Rear Bridge)
• July 16-25 – Singapore Chinese Dialect Tingkat Cruise (Merlion Park)
• July 16-25 – Singapore Chinese Dialect Street Snacks (Central River Promenade, Merlion Park, Clifford Square)
• plus Makansutra SFF Culinary Master Classes

Singapore Food Festival

Missing Something?

I know, I know, you might be wondering where Bak Kut Teh, Chili Crab, and Satay are…maybe we’ll have a Singapore Food Festival 2010 ‘closing‘ lunch a few weeks from now, who knows? (*wink). 🙂