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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

Joey Pepperoni’s Pasta All You Can at only P150 is our third Nomnom Promos Week entry.

Pasta All You Can - Meat Sauce

Get free refill choices among 3 types of pasta – unlimited!

Your options are Meat Sauce, Carbonara, and Pesto. Regularly, they are priced at P175, P155, and P145, respectively.

No leftovers, no sharing. Children below 4ft. is only charged P75,

This promo has actually been going on for sometime now. I was made aware of it since August 2009.

What’s good about this is that the promo is available any day, all the time!
Weekdays: 11am-10pm
Weekends: 12pm-9pm

I’ve tried the meat sauce and pesto variant. I didn’t like their pesto that much (that night), but the meat sauce was good. 🙂 However, I observed the sauce getting sparser as I reached my third serving (or maybe it’s just me). [I’m not ranting , ok, the third serving was still good, taste-wise] 🙂

Eat All You Can Pesto

You may contact your favorite Joey Pepperoni branches here:

Joey Pepperoni
Main
8121807

RFM Pioneer
G/F RFM Corporate Center
Pioneer St. cor Sheridan St. Mandaluyong City
Tel No.: 631-1688 or 631- 8101, loc 7903

SM Mall of Asia
SOUTH WING, Pasay City
Tel No. : 556-6045

The Fort – Global City
Ground Floor, Fairways Tower
5th Avanue cor Mckinely Road ,The Fort
Tel No: 856-9509

Makati – Salcedo Village
G-1 CCH Bldg
136 LP Leviste ,Salcedo Village, Makati City
Tel No: 812- 1807

Manila – Malate
Level 4 Robinsons Place Malate, Manila
Tel No.: 523-5819

SM Southmall
Upper Ground, Foodstreet
Tel No. 801-4051

Quezon City
GF SM Mezza Residences
Aurora Blvd cor Araneta Ave. & Guirayan St.
Brgy. Doña Imelda
Quezon City , Manila
Tel No: 514-5350

Iloilo City
Eugenia Arcade Diversion Road , Iloilo City, Philippines
(033) 509-9999

* Promo not available in  Joey Pepperoni Pizzeria Marikina  and Iloilo branches

Joey Pepperoni Pasta All You Can @ only P150

Flapjacks has an ongoing promo where they are giving away P250 gift certificates.

Go to Flapjacks Philippines website http://flapjacks.com.ph/. Scrolling to the lower half of the screen says “We love to hear from you.” By signing up in their mailing list, you will get a free P250 mobile gift certificate that you can use to dine in any Flapjacks restaurant in the Philippines.

Flapjacks Restaurant P250 Gift Certificate Promo

SMS Confirmation from Flapjacks

The catch? -  you would have to share your email, birthday and cellphone number.

Take note as well that you may only use the P250 GC in conjunction with a minimum purchase of P500. In effect, it’s like a 50% off offer.

This post is the second article for the Nomnom Promos Weeks.

I tried to join earlier and got this SMS response in a jiff. Show this message to the attending waiter before ordering.

Hurry, get that free FlapJacks P250 gift certificate.

We hereby declare this whole week a Nomnom Promos Week. We will be featuring five food and restaurant related promos, discounts and freebies within these seven days!

We’ll start with the soon-ending Coca-Cola Jollibee UAAP Bottles Promo.

Even with the recent UAAP season concluded, continue to flaunt your school spirit with 72^nd UAAP season’s hot collectibles, the limited edition Coca-Cola Jollibee UAAP bottles!

Jollibee has extended this offering until October 15 31, 2009. UAAP fans and supporters can take home the eight uniquely designed bottles for free by simply ordering any Jollibee Burger Value Meal with Double Go Large upgrade of your fries and Coke!

The limited-edition Coca-Cola UAAP bottles eye-catching designs  are inspired from the competing UAAP squads—the Adamson Falcons, Ateneo Blue Eagles, De La Salle Green Archers, Far Eastern University Tamaraws, National University Bulldogs, University of the East Red Warriors, University of the Philippines Fighting Maroons and the University of Santo Tomas Growling Tigers.

Complete your Coca-Cola Jollibee UAAP bottle collection now!

Krispy Kreme Philippines initially provided relief efforts for victims of typhoon Ondoy in their own simple way by giving away free doughnuts to typhoon victims and relief operation volunteers as part of its immediate action.

As a follow up, they are holding a special day tomorrow in their branches. They are encouraging everyone to help them in their fund raising efforts to provide relief for Ondoy victims, by simply purchasing an Original Glazed doughnut this coming Sunday, October 11, 2009.

For every Original Glazed doughnut you buy, the sale will automatically go to Krispy Kreme’s relief fund which will distributed to the Philippine National Red Cross–Rizal Chapter and ABS-CBN Sagip Kapamilya.

Krispy Kreme is inviting you to join hands with them in rising from this occasion and prove that heroism is truly a Filipino trait.

You may visit the following stores on October 11 to join the fund raising –

• Bonifacio High Street
• SM Megamall
• Greenhills Drive-Thru
• Trinoma Mall
• SM Mall of Asia Main Mall and Drive-Thru
• Robinsons Galleria
• Gateway Mall Ground Floor and Cinema Level
• Glorietta 4
• The Annex SM North EDSA
• SM Fairview Annex

I”ll be at the KK BHS branch. 🙂

Here in the Philippines, the Chinese community is usually in a festive mood even a week before the Chinese Mooncake Festival. But this year, I hardly saw mooncake in our dining table.

October 3 passed just like any usual Saturday.

Aside from the given economic crunch, the gloomy atmosphere is part of the recovery phase from the recent typhoon Ondoy.

Nonetheless, that doesn’t stop this food blog from sharing a bite from the Chinese’s Mooncake Festival culture.

The Mooncake Festival, also referred to as the Mid-Autumn Festival, marks the end of a good harvest season for the farmers.

Regarded as a legal holiday by the Chinese, it is annually held on the fifteenth day of the eighth month of the Chinese calendar. This year, it fell on an early October on our local calendar.

Wikipedia.org describes it as

“…a date that parallels the autumn and spring Equinoxes of the solar calendar“

The festivity references to the ‘moon’ in the famous Chinese pastry in festivals – the ‘Mooncake‘. The Chinese term is pronounced as “yuèbÄ­ng” with a literal English translation of “Moon biscuit“. Generally about the size of a palm and half way thick. Dense, heavy and regularly rounded. Sweet in taste and at about Php 60 a piece, fillings vary from ordinary mongo to the premium lotus seed paste. It’s never a real mooncake without the egg yolk inside symbolizing the full moon.

Last Year’s Mooncake Festival

Last year, we ate out at a Chinese restaurant and played the traditional Mooncake Festival Dice Game after meal. Yes, at the restaurant; they allowed us. 🙂

The Mooncake Festival Dice Game is characterized by a group of people surrounding a round table throwing 6 dice in a glass bowl. The players take turns. Each numeric and die-color combination results has corresponding values with all-four dice (all six dice has the mark of four red dots in each) as the highest.

Prizes are traditionally mooncakes and hopia while more affluent families give away bigger prizes or ampao (cash in red envelopes).

I remember during that time last year, it was the height of the the melamine issue. Despite that, we still used hopia. We just made sure we got it from a credible melamine-free source.

* Mooncake image and some info sourced from Wikipedia.

All our relatives enjoyed the Chinese Mooncake Festival. Hopefully, we could have a repeat of that next year.

In celebration of the launch of its newest cake, Red Ribbon is once again holding an online writing contest for the online community. Simply share an experience you and your family had with the new Red Ribbon White Forest cake with the theme “A Deliciously Memorable Dessert Experience with the new Red Ribbon White Forest cake“.

Entries will be accepted from now until Oct 17, 2009. Announcement of winners will be on Oct 24, 2009.

Qualifications:
1) This blog writing contest is open to all Philippine-based bloggers and online writers who love the Red Ribbon White Forest cake.

Mechanics:

1) Write a blog about an experience you and your family had with the new Red Ribbon White Forest cake with the theme “A Deliciously Memorable Dessert Experience with the new Red Ribbon White Forest cake“.

2) The blog entry should contain at least 250 words.

3) The title should contain the words ‘White Forest’.

4) The words ‘Red Ribbon’ and ‘White Forest’ should be present, at least once, anywhere in the whole article/blog. At least once, the word ‘Red Ribbon’ should be a link to http://www.redribbonbakeshop.com.ph

5) The blog should contain at least one photo relevant to the article. The White Forest cake should be inclusive in the photo. The product could simply be part of a bigger picture. (e.g. Mother feeding her daughter with a slice of the cake).

By uploading the photo in the blog, the writer/blogger guarantees that he/she has the copyright to use the photo. This is to avoid any copyright issues. Many photo may be placed in the article, but only the first one would be considered in judging.

6) One blogger can only post one entry in one blog. But he/she can post many different entries in his /her different blogs. One blog- one entry policy. However, a blogger can only win once and win the higher price.

Criteria for Judging:
Concept & Creativity : 40%
Writing Style : 20%
Photo Relevance : 20%
Over-all Impact : 20%

Prizes:
1st Place: P3000 worth of Red Ribbon Gift Certificates
2nd Place: P2000 worth of Red Ribbon Gift Certificates
3rd Place: P1400 worth of Red Ribbon Gift Certificates

Judges:
Red Ribbon Management

Submission:
The entries could be posted in your blogs anytime from Oct. 01 to 17, 2009. The winners will be announced on Oct 24, 2009.

Submit your specific blog entry URL to admin@NomnomClub.com and carbon copy mari.aldecoa@redribbonbakeshop.com.ph with the subject: “A Memorable Dessert Experience” Also include in the email body your Name, Blog, & Mobile Number/s for easy communication when you win.

The winning entries or their links may also get published at the official Red Ribbon Website and White Forest Facebook Fan Page later on.

Dates to Remember:
Oct 01 – 17 – Contest Proper
Oct 17 – Last Date of Submission
Oct 19-23 – Judging
Oct 24 – Announcement of winners

Winners shall be contacted through their email to indicate in which Red Ribbon branch nationwide they wish to pick up the gift certificates.

Start sharing your experience with the new Red Ribbon White Forest cake now!

The “Best about C2 Life” music-video making contest finals night was an evening of music and finalist video viewing!

Hosts Nikki Gil and Monica Yncierto

C2 Cool and Clean Green Tea’s create-your-own music video competition enjoined crowds with great music last Friday at the SM Mall of Asia Music Hall. The event showcased the creations of the country’s young and talented minds, as well as dynamic performances from some of today’s top bands Sinosikat, Pedicab, Kyla, and Imago.

Kyla

C2 Music Video finals night was hosted by MYX VJs Nikki Gil and Monica Yncierto and aired via the Myx channel Along with the exciting live band performances. Audiences got to watch their top 10 favorite music video entries that featured C2’s Best About Life song by Sinosikat and expressed living life to the fullest through various ways.

The competition drew massive interest and participation through the contest portal in Multiply.com (www.thebestaboutc2life.multiply.com).

Winners

The winning entry “Experience the C2 Life!” (alternate  video source) with the highest score from the judges and the highest number of online votes took home P150,000 in cash and C2 products worth P20,000. It was submitted by the group of Peter Ian Mancao and Angelo Agojo . The group is from Cebu. Included in the team is fellow blogger McBilly.

The winning video:

The 1st runner up received a P100,000 cash prize and P10,000 worth of C2 products, while the 2nd runner up took home P50,000 cash and P5,000 worth of C2 goodies. The other 7 finalists walked away with P10,000 each.

Best About C2 Life - 1st Runner Up

Best About C2 Life - 2nd Runner Up

Here are the links of the other 9 winners:

Sinosikat

• http://thebestaboutc2life.multiply.com/video/item/202 C2_VIDEO_CONTEST_BEST_ABOUT_C2_LIFE_Mindanao_Cagayan_de_Oro
• http://thebestaboutc2life.multiply.com/video/item/70/Ballad_Version_-_Best_about_Life
• http://thebestaboutc2life.multiply.com/video/item/39/The_Best_about_C2_life_0001.wmv
• http://thebestaboutc2life.multiply.com/video/item/220/Best_About_Life_by_Matthew_Baguinon
• http://thebestaboutc2life.multiply.com/video/item/30/100_Best_About_Life
• http://thebestaboutc2life.multiply.com/video/item/159/The_Best_About_Life_by_Barong_Tagalog_Inc.mp4
• http://thebestaboutc2life.multiply.com/video/item/90/Very_Nice
• http://thebestaboutc2life.multiply.com/video/item/54/C2_Life_even_these_tough_times_Pinoy_Style_ver.2_by_REPACOL
• http://thebestaboutc2life.multiply.com/video/item/199/Loving_the_C2_Life

More photos HERE. Want to use the photos? You may contact admin@NomnomClub.com

C2 Cool and Clean Green Tea’s create-your-own music video competition music was inspired by the appeal of online video in today’s generation. It’s theme was celebrating creativity, music and the best things in life, as C2 advocates holistic well-being and encourages consumers to live life to the fullest with simple yet meaningful joys and inspirations. Although it was the night before typhoon Ondoy came, it was memorable for all and the winners. 🙂