(Update: Sumosam’s Gilmore St. branch has closed down already.)
Sumosam’s 10th branch just opened in Gilmore St., Quezon City and I am one of those happy to be invited to its soft opening. Japanese food is just up there on the top of my food choices.
Sumosam is located inside a new food strip, Greenhills Town Center. It’s located away from the hustle and bustle of the Greenhills Shopping Center, just after you cross Santolan from Ortigas Ave. There is a McDonald’s in front of it, Seattle’s Best Coffee beside it, and a few more restaurants inside the center.
I found the interiors very tastefully done in vibrant colors.
Marvin Agustin, President of Sumosam, graced the occasion and patiently went from table to table for photo ops with the bloggers.
The bloggers and guests invited were made to sample Sumosam’s newest offering – their bento boxes.
The bento box served to us during the event was the Samurai’s Choice Bento.
These bento boxes are now available in the Gilmore branch but only from 11am to 2pm (I really hope they eventually make these available the whole day).
Sumosam Gilmore (www.sumosamfoods.com) Greenhills Town Center #2 Granada St., Brgy. Valencia Quezon City Tel. (02) 729-6292, 895-7532 Hours: 11am-11pm
At a recent blogger event, we were introduced to the 2012 line-up of Globe Tattoo@Home.
At the launch was Ford Supermodel of the World 2010 Danica Flores Magpantay who is Tattoo@Home’s newest brand ambassador. Danica’s mom, Lala Flores, was herself the 1990 Supermodel of the World-Philippines winner who is now making a name for herself as a celebrated makeup artist.
The main feature of Tattoo@Home plans is its customization. Depending on how you use the internet, whether you are just a light user or an ultra heavy user who demands faster speed and more bandwidth, there is a plan you can choose from.
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The barebones, cheapest plan is only P999/month (internet only) with speeds up to 1MBPS. Plans P1,099 to P6,299 are internet and landline bundles with speeds ranging from 1-15MBPS and from 3-5 users. Calls to Globelines and Globe DUO subscribers are FREE for these plans. Plans starting with P1,299 also come with a free wifi router.
Now, if you and your kids download large files, play games like WOW or other image-rich games, or want a smooth streaming experience for music and videos, check out the Tattoo Torque Plans that all come with free landline and wifi router.
(click to see larger image)
And for those who want to surf using 4G connection, there’s still the Tattoo Wimax plans:
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Watch out for Globe Telecom’s aggressive expansion over the next 5 years which will see it building an entirely new network infrastructure to address the growing data usage of mobile subscribers.
Diabetes is one of the top causes of death worldwide. A study done by the World Health Organization in August 2011 showed that in the Philippines, more than 2.7 million deaths in 2000 were diabetes-related. And most of the time, people do not die of diabetes. They die of complications arising from diabetes, such as heart disease, stroke, blindness, amputation, kidney disease and nerve problems. My own dad was a diabetic who died 10 years ago from heart complications.
Because diabetes is in our family history, I have to be conscious about what I eat. Thankfully, my sugar level does not seem to show any signs of diabetes but I still had to learn to tame my once sweet tooth. I also try to teach my kids to choose healthier meal and snack alternatives since diabetes can oftentimes skip a generation and manifest in their generation.
I recently got a sample of a cookie snack item drink made specifically for diabetics as well as for those who just want to have healthier food choices.
DiabetaMil Nutritious Drink can be a meal substitute for diabetics. It comes in two flavors: vanilla and chocolate. Cereal and oat flakes in the drink give that feeling of fullness and curb appetite. Each box contains 6 sachets and based on directions, each serving involves mixing 2 sachets of the drink with warm water. One serving is 250 calories.
The DiabetaMil Cookies come in Nutty Chocolate and Vanilla Dried Fruit variants. I got the dried fruit variant and liked the dried raisins that were embedded in the cookies. Each box contains 5 sachets, two cookies per sachet. One serving (2 cookies) contains 100 calories. I ate the cookies in one sachet and they taste good.
Both the drink and cookies are sugar-free. They are flavored using Tropicana Slim Sweetener, a sugar-free sweetener known for a low glycemic index (GI) which helps to control blood sugar. (Note: I had no chance to test the exact effect on the GI so I am relying on the representations made)
If you have diabetes, this could be something you may want to add to your list of food choices. But, as it is with any medical condition, I recommend you check first with your dietitian.
My friend, Cathy Babao, is once again at the helm of a drive to collect huggable, stuffed toys for the suffering children victimized by Tropical Storm Sendong. Cathy did this before when she launched “Bearhugs for Baguio” and sent stuffed toys to Northern Luzon for the children victims of Typhoon Pepeng.
If your children, nieces or children of friends have stuffed toys to spare, please donate them to Yakapin. Cathy explains it all in this post:
Put yourself in her shoes.
You fall asleep snug in the arms on your mother, the rain pounds on the room but you are not afraid because beside you is your mother and you know you will be safe. All of a sudden, the waters enter your home and you are swept and carried away from all that is familiar and everyone whom you love.
You wake up dazed not knowing what has happened to your family members. You walk around aimlessly, only to find that your home and all that you love is gone…
Toys are effective tools in helping children heal from the trauma of loss. Stuffed toys are effective comfort givers in times of stress and trauma. To children, stuffed animals are more than toys, they become the vehicles by which they are able to tell their stories and release their pain. Stuffed toys or teddy bears are able to provide some degree of comfort in a scary world.
Please send clean, friendly looking toys in good condition (no pigs please, owing to cultural and religious sensitivities) in any size, but ideally, big enough for a child to hug.
Thanks to Dennis Garcia for the image used on this page and to friends who have generously donated their homes and establishments as drop off points throughout the city. Let’s all pull together and send as many hugs as we can to the children of Northern Mindanao. A new and soft teddy bear costs about as much as a Starbucks frapuccino or a ticket to the cinema — a small price that will go a long way in bringing back hope and a smile into a child’s life.
May you all be blessed to be a blessing to others.
Alabang: 12 Brentwood Street, Hillsborough, West Service Road, Alabang Look for Magding or JC Greenhills: 33 Madison Street, North Greenhills, San Juan. Look for Ann or Shirley Asuncion Berenguer, Inc. 3/f Homestudio Building, 63 Connecticut Street (same building as Homestudio, Torch resto and Bose) Northeast Greenhills . Please leave with guard and indicate “Bears for YBHM” Makati: The Citadel Inn, 5007 P. Burgos Street, Makati City c/o Andre Urbina Marikina: 1 Ferdinand Marcos Street, Industrial Valley Subdivision, Marikina Leave with guard please indicate “Bears for YBHM” Paranaque: Johnson and Johnson, Edison Road, Paranaque City (Edison is street by Zuellig) Leave with guard, indicate “Bears for YBHM” 14 C. Diamond Street. Greenheights Village Sucat Paranaque. Look for Yaya Marlene Quezon City: A-2 Dona Sotera, Pilarville Subd.,Quezon City c/o Dennis Mariano 41 Milkyway Drive, Blue Ridge B, Quezon City Look for Lily C1C3 Narra Heights Condominium #28, Mariposa Street, Quezon City (near Camp Crame) Eastwood area: Unit 5c Eastwood Lafayette Tower 3, Eastwood Avenue Libis Q.C (In front of Watsons, near Mcdonalds) Leave with guard indicate “Bears for YBHM”
She still needs people to volunteer their homes as drop-off points in the following areas: Mandaluyong, Manila, Pasig. To volunteer or join this project, kindly click “Like” on Yakapin’s Facebook page HERE.
(Disclaimer: My posts about any publicly listed corporation should not be construed as a buy/sell recommendation. Any person interested in stock investments must do his/her own due diligence review before deciding to buy or sell.)
(L-R) PSE President/CEO Hans B. Sicat; Cirtek VP/Director Nicanor Lizares; Cirtek Chairman/President Jerry Liu; Vice President of the Republic of the Philippines Honorable Jejomar Binay; PSE Chairman Jose T. Pardo; and CVCLaw Senior Partner and Former National Defense Secretary Avelino Cruz, Jr (photo taken from Cirtek Holdings website)
Cirtek’s listing (which carries the stock symbol “CHIPS” on the exchange) came on the heels of a very successful initial public offering (IPO) which saw the stock oversubscribed over 4 times.
Because I did not know much about Cirtek (goes to show how long I’ve been away from the corporate world), I tried to google a little bit about the company.
Cirtek Holdings is the holding company of two wholly-owned subsidiaries namely Cirtek Electronics Corporation (CEC) and Cirtek Electronics International Corporation (CEIC). Both subsidiaries are involved in the assembly and testing of electronic devices. Cirtek was organized as a Philippine corporation on Feb. 10, 2011. Its recent IPO generated PhP 295.14-M which consisted of 42.16 million common stock representing 26% of its total issued and outstanding stock. The success of the IPO offering, considering that the offer period only lasted from Nov. 8-14, 2011 showed the public’s positive acceptance of the stock.
Here’s a short interview I conducted with Cirtek’s Chief Financial Officer, Anthony Albert Buyawe, who I discovered was an ex-SGV person like me.
Cirtek does not produce ordinary chips. They make specialized chips that are used in laptops/tablets, defense industry (their lips remained sealed as to exactly what defense technology), auto industry, and medical industry, among others.
How well did it do? Well, on opening day last Nov. 18, the stock closed at P7.95, up from its P7 per share IPO price.
When asked if Cirtek benefited from the floods in Thailand, Cirtek was circumspect, stating that they were saddened by what happened in Thailand but acknowledged that they were indeed negotiating new contracts from flood-hit Thailand. Four of these contracts have been concluded and another 6 could be finalized by end of 2011 or early 2012.
I can’t imagine Noche Buena (Christmas Eve) or Media Noche (New Year’s Eve) without ham. It’s really a staple of our family dinner.
At a recent event with the Purefoods Fiesta Ham people at Via Mare Cafe and Oyster Bar, I was introduced to the familiar, classic fiesta ham as well as its new variants. One trivia: I didn’t know Purefoods has been around since 1956??? No wonder we all practically grew up with its products!
This year you will find more than just the traditional 1kg Fiesta Ham in supermarkets. The new variants of the Fiesta ham are the 1.5kg thinly-sliced version of the Fiesta Ham for bigger gatherings; the 200g Fiesta Ham slices that are more affordable and conveniently packed; and the 3.5kg Smoked Bone-in Fiesta Ham.
Celebrity Moms showed us table settings that they themselves did to introduce the different Fiesta Ham variants.
Barbie Almalbis-Honasan
Classic Fiesta Ham
Singer-songwriter Barbie Almalbis-Honasan (popularly known as Barbie) and a Mom of two prepared a European table setting, complete with wine and cheese, to go with the Classic Fiesta Ham. Teapots on top of the vases were used to hold flowers, a nice touch, I thought. Barbie told us their family celebrates 3 Christmas dinners – one with the grandparents, another with titos/titas, then finally dinner at their own home.
Suzi Entrata-Abrera
Smoked Bone-in Ham (3.5kg)
TV host Suzi Entrata-Abrera designed a table setting to hold one of the new variants – the Smoked Bone-in Ham. She chose red because that was also the color theme for their own Christmas decor at home done by a friend. She lets her kids help in the decorating because oftentimes they come up with fresh ideas. For their fiesta ham, her family loves putting lots of sugar on top of the ham, frying it, and just putting it in pandesal.
Danica Sotto-Pingris
Classic Fiesta Ham
Danica Sotto-Pingris chose the Filipiniana theme for her table setting. She celebrates Christmas first with her dad, Vic Sotto, then with her mom, Dina Bonnevie. This year she plans to hang tree ornaments that reminds them of the year that passed. As a Mom of two and a culinary expert, she plans to make a Christmas Day breakfast – Fiesta ham on Eggs Benedict.
Chef Glenda Barretto
Our lunch was specially prepared by Chef Glenda Barretto, owner of Via Mare, and of course each food item served had Fiesta Ham incorporated into it in some form.
Ham Canapes
The appetizers were Ham Canapes with celery, dressed with sour cream and a little mayo on crostini bread. Chef Barretto said you can add other veggies, mix with pineapple, pear.
Fruits and Vegetables Ham Salad
You’d think that a salad should be just either all fruits or all vegetables but the Fruits and Vegetables Ham Salad nicely combines both into one salad. Made of romaine lettuce, carrot strips, honeydew melon balls, beet slices, and sliced ham wrapped around stalks of asparagus make up this salad paired up with a citrus dressing. This was my first time to bite into asparagus stalks wrapped in ham and it actually tasted good!
Green Peas and Ham Broth served with Knacker Bread
I love pea soup (maybe next to pumpkin soup and cream of mushroom) and this one was served really piping hot. That’s how I like to take my soup. The bits of ham mixed in with the pea soup added texture to the soup’s creaminess and the Knacker bread with sesame seeds went quite well with it too.
The main dish was Glazed Bone-in Leg of Ham with Candied Sweet Potato Gravy. For some reason, I have no photos of this dish. Maybe in my excitement I forgot to take aim and shoot. *sigh* But suffice it to say I loved the glazed ham. It was soft and tender and the sweetness of the potato gravy was a good complement.
To one side of the room, the Via Mare chef was also demonstrating to us the proper way of cutting the smoked bone-in ham.
Here’s a tip from Chef Glenda Barretto for your smoked bone-in ham. You can still simmer it in in beer, pineapple juice, cloves and brown sugar. Beer enhances the flavor of smoked ham. Simmer only for 45mins to 1 hr. Reduce the sauce.
Finally, we were served dessert. I had been wondering from the beginning what dessert would taste like with ham in it. Normally, ham is not a dessert ingredient.
As I was a bit full already, and knowing I was going to another meet-up with friends where there would be food, I did not touch the bibingka, thinking I’d forego it. But after thinking it over I just thought, oh why not just go ahead and take a small bite so at least you can say you tasted it. I ended up finishing the whole bibingka! The Petit Bibingka Galapong with Ham and Queso de Bola was a winner! Via Mare has always been known for its bibingka – buttery and soft – but this time the ham toppings actually added that extra ooomph flavoring to it. No regrets about all those extra calories!
Because it is so reasonably priced, Purefoods Fiesta Ham is always the most popular item in gift packs, corporate baskets and giveaways to employees during Christmas. And in my own home, there can be no Noche Buena without ham. It’s no wonder then that the Purefoods Fiesta Ham is called The Star of the Noche Buena Table.
In a grand launch headed by none other than Globe’s President, Ernest Cu, media and the tech community were introduced to Globe Telecom’s most aggressive telecommunication network modernization and expansion project.
Globe President Ernest Cu
Cu told us that when their network infrastructure was put up, it was primarily meant for SMS and calls. But these past years, they had seen a significant drop in SMS and calls. In fact last Christmas, they found that more people were communicating through Facebook and greeting each other there than calling or texting.
Globe will be investing US$ 90 M over the next 5 years (US$70 M of that to be spent in 2012/13) in order to put up a structure that will be able to handle the exponential data traffic that smartphones are now handling. Roughly 90% of its BSS and BI platforms covering billing, campaign management, front-end systems and enterprise data warehouse will be replaced by the new network infrastructure. Cu says that Globe subscribers should expect faster response to customer requests, convergent billing, better credit control, quicker time-to-market for new products, and better analytic models to support campaigns.
This does sound like good news but as a subscriber to both of the major mobile carriers as well as one who has tried various internet service providers, I take all expansion announcements with a grain of salt. In the end, the test of the pudding is in the eating. Will currently dissatisfied subscribers who complain of dropped calls, slow internet connection, billing woes and the like really get the service they deserve and pay for?
I really hope this time we do. The next 5 years will be a test of whether Globe’s planned expansion will become a promise come true.
My friend Kitty invited me to her media event recently at Mercato Centrale. Actually, I went for two purposes. One, I have not seen Kitty in over 3 decades. Second, I wanted to check out what the San Miguel Great Food Club was all about. I was not a member (it shows that I’m no culinary person) but I do love good food. And the theme for this event was “The Flavors of Christmas”. How can you resist such a title????
The event revolved around making the celebration of the Yuletide season as easy as possible, stress-free and yet festive enough.
It all began with Danny Dela Cuesta, a food expert and event stylist, who briefed the audience on different ways of decorating the Christmas table, even using recycled Christmas decor. He gave tips on different topics: the menu, the buffet table, the dining table and food presentation. Danny works as the VP for Food Business Marketing of Contagious Consultancy Group and was schooled in culinary education at Le Cordon Bleu Ecole de Cuisine et de Patisserie in London, England under the tutelage of Chef Jean Claude Boucheret.
I could not stay long enough to see the actual demos but I was able to interview the 3 chefs who were part of the program.
Chef Dennis Edillon
Chef Edillon is the Corporate Executive Chef of Urban Chef. He said he was speaking about how to prepare just the right portions for Christmas meals so as to minimize or totally eliminate food wastage or over-preparation. Now this really caught my fancy because I do see that in many Christmas parties, there is either too much or too little food for guests. Here are some tips I picked up from Chef Edillon:
When buying meat to prepare a dish, consider that you will be trimming off fat and bones. What remains must be adequate for the dish you want to prepare.
People eat 250-300 grams (max of 400-450 grams for bigger appetites) of food per his estimate so this is his general benchmark for estimating portions
There are different ways to apportion for appetizers, main dishes and dessert. If you have 3 kinds of viands, portions will be smaller. If you only serve a single main dish, portions should be larger. For cocktails, it depends on time of day or depends if cocktail party takes place of dinner, in which case you serve more for people to feel full. If you serve cocktails before dinner, you can serve smaller portions.
When it’s a potluck get-together, ask how many people are bringing food and what they plan to bring so that you don’t end up with too much food or similar food.
Stick to your favorites for Noche Buena because you can never go wrong. Kids will always remember the occasion by the food that was served.
Lori Baltazar
Lori is well known in the blogosphere as a very popular food blogger who specializes in desserts. She blogs at Dessert Comes First. She developed 2 desserts for San Miguel: Brownie-in-a-Cookie Cookie (like chocolate chips in a cookie but instead it’s frozen brownie chunks) and Chocnut-Queso de Bola Cheescake in a vanilla wafer biscuit crust.
Chef Ed Quimson
Chef Ed Quimson calls himself a high school dropout who just loves to cook and cook, which is why he says that all his recipes are so easy that a housewife can easily follow them. Chef Ed says he’s not technical at all. For San Miguel, Chef Ed developed his special sauce for the Christmas Ham using Purefoods Fiesta Ham (yay, I have 2 hams here that I can prepare using this recipe!), Roast Jumbo Chicken with Green Grapes and Cranberry Jelly, and Pork Pata with Yellow Lentils (recipes are also in my Yogini Foodie blog).
Guests at the event got to try these goodies as well.
For more delish recipes from San Miguel Great Food Club, register FOR FREE at www.mygreatfood.com
The first e-bookstore in the Philippines has launched. Vibe, a project of Vibal Foundation, launched recently and was introduced to bloggers at a gathering at the Filipinas Heritage Library.
Vibe is the e-bookstore’s name as well as the name of the reading app that is downloadable FREE on PCs, Macs, Android devices as well as on iPhones and iPads.
Vibal Foundation’s goal was to make available to the reading public the widest number of newly published, out of print or public domain book titles, including magazines and newspapers. This is good news not only for academe who will have digital access to many books that have long been out of print but Vibe is also a way by which budding authors and bloggers can get their dream book/s self-published in cyberspace. And earn from it as well.
What is Vibe?
Vibe is a universal reading app that displays both flat and interactive material. It has functionalities built into it that can be found in several reading apps like PressReader (e-newspapers), Zinio (e-magazines), Apple’s AppStore (storybook apps), Kindle and Apple iBooks (ePub books).
What platforms will it run on?
Mobile and tablet (iOS, Android), PC (Windows 7) and Mac (Leopard+)
What kind of books will Vibe carry?
All kinds of digital books (flat, enhanced and interactive)
What advantages does Vibe have?
Publishers can reduce time to market. E-books can be launched simultaneously with its print version. Digital versions can be substantially cheaper and yet publishers save on paper, printing, distribution and marketing costs. There are also more affordable reading options like limited-time licenses where readers read material that lapses automatically within an agreed period of time (like 7 days, 14 days or one year). Textbook publishers can package electronic textbook versions with tablets and sell these directly to schools with the content pre=loaded.
What differentiates Vibe from other e-bookstores like Amazon Kindle, iBooks, etc?
Vibe is for Philippine readers and publishers. Amazon Kindle and iBooks require a US credit card as its main payment method so that prevents many Philippine citizens from purchasing Philippine titles from the store. Vibe, on the other hand, accepts payments through Globe GCash, Smart Money and other e-services such as load wallets and pass-a-load. At the same time, since Vibal Foundation has direct accounts with Amazon Kindle, Apple iBooks and Barnes and Noble Nook, Philippine publishers can still deploy their e-books to the international market.
Why is Vibe attractive for bloggers and writers?
You know how hard it is to get a book published in print, right? You need a good book agent, lots of luck to get a publishing house interested in your writings, and you need to have a minimum quantity of books printed. With Vibe, you skirt all these constraints and publish directly in cyberspace. And you earn a good share of the proceeds (70% to the writer, 30% to Vibal).
Why should Moms be happy about this development?
As a Mom who had kids going to school with very heavy bags, I was always concerned about the effect of this daily weight on their shoulders. But now as more publishers opt to transform printed textbooks into digital form or produce entirely digital content, it will not be long before kids will simply be bringing a tablet to school, reading from it, taking tests with it and learning interactively.
Tin Mandigma of Vibal Foundation took us through some of Vibe’s features. It will not just be an e-reader for flat books but it will eventually have storybooks that are interactive as well as textbooks that use multimedia features.
Tin Mandigma
Here’s an example shown by Vibal Foundation President Gas Vibal of how music will eventually be taught via Vibe:
Watch out for Vibe in the coming months as more and more books are made available in different formats. It is exciting to see e-readers becoming a more visible mode of academic learning as well as a tool that brings publishing access to ordinary bloggers and budding writers.
It’s Thanksgiving Week! And before anything else, I want to thank Digiarty Software for providing me with 30 license codes to give away:
1) 10 license codes for WinX DVD Ripper Platinum Thanksgiving Edition
2) 10 license codes for MacX DVD Ripper Pro
3) 10 license codes for MacX DVD Ripper Pro for Windows
This is a good time to be thankful for blessings that come our way, whether they be the people around us, a good job, a happy event and more.
So to get a chance to win a license code, here are the mechanics and it will be easy:
1. Post on the comments section of this article what or who you are thankful for, tell me which of the 3 software you prefer to win, and give an email address. (For ex: I am thankful for my parents who sacrificed so much to send me to school. I want to win software #2. My email address is myname@gmail.com).
2. Promo ends on Friday, Nov. 25, 10pm Manila time. I will email license codes to winners by Nov. 26, Saturday and names of winners will be added as an update on this post. Entries will be grouped according to software category and winners will be chosen via Randomizer. To give more people a chance to win, I will only consider one entry per email address for this giveaway. If there are multiple entries from same email address choosing different software, I will only include the first entry posted.
Note: these license codes allow you to run all features of the applications but they don’t entitle the users to upgrades or tech support. The license codes also have to be activated not later than November 30, 2011. I also invite you to join me on my Facebook page and Google+ page.
Features of WinX DVD Ripper Platinum Thanksgiving Edition
No.1 fast DVD ripper software capable of ripping both homemade and commercial DVDs to popular videos, such as rip DVD to AVI, MP4, H.264, MPEG, WMV, MOV, FLV, 3GP, etc. It can also help users faultlessly rip and backup DVD to iPhone/4S, iPad, iPod, Apple TV, Android, HTC, Samsung, XOOM, Galaxy Tab, Kindle, ThinkPad, DELL Streak, PSP, etc. One of the few DVD rippers that support the latest encrypted DVDs such as Thor, Transformers 3.
For features of MacX DVD Ripper Pro for Windows, click HERE
So tell me, WHAT/WHO ARE YOU THANKFUL FOR? (UPDATE: Well, looks like I have enough license codes to give away to all those who entered so congratulations to all who posted their thanksgiving messages before my cut-off message. You will all get a license code for the software you chose. Please wait for my email.)
