JOLLY University Year 4 Grand Cook-Off and Congress

“The final battle is on”

New learning experiences, fierce kitchen showdown mark JOLLY University Year 4 Grand Cook-Off and Congress

After grueling weeks of training and preparation, all aspiring student-contenders in the country’s long-running campus-based culinary search, JOLLY University (JU), are finally getting close to reaching their dream of becoming JU Year 4 grand champions.

A steep and well-fought encounter is taking place today at the Le Pavilion Tent in Pasay City with all the 120 elite finalists pulling out their best and most creative JOLLY-inspired dishes to clinch the coveted titles in the following four divisions: Individual Category (featuring Luzon Cuisines made easy, healthy and baon-ready); Team Main Dish Category (Visayas Cuisines Made Easy, Healthy and Jolly); Team Pasta Category (Mindanao Cuisines made Pastariffic) and Team Mocktail Category (Capture the Jolly Vibe of the Philippines in a Sip).

This year’s JU elite finalists are from 23 different schools across North and South Luzon and Metro Manila – competing to bring home the championship to their school.

With the theme “It’s More JOLLY in the Philippines”, Jolly University is being held in conjunction with the Grand Cook-Off and the JOLLY Congress, which features some of the country’s top industry practitioners and leaders: Leo de Leon of Allegro Beverage, JC Libiran Author of Byahe ni Juan, Marilyn Perion of UCPB, Liza Morales of CCA Manila,  Karla Reyes of La Petite Fromagerie, Nana Ozaeta of Food Magazine, Bryan Kong of Crazy Katsu, Chershire Que (nutritionist), Vberni Regalado of Philippine Star, Jose Mari Oquiñena of Gawad Kalinga, Angelica Atanacio of Anghelica’s Desserts, Kian Kazemi of Persian Grill, Rebecca Lee of wheninmanila.com, and  Ms. Earth 2015 Angelia Ong. Games, freebies, and random raffle prizes are also being given away to the lucky audience.

Now on its fourth successful year, JOLLY University offers student participants an unforgettable experience to develop their culinary, entrepreneurial, and leadership skills as future culinary and industry leaders.  A program designed to empower the youth, JU fosters industry-ready competitiveness, as well as, cooperative relationships among students and institutions in promoting culinary excellence and business innovation.      

Total immersion experience

Kicking off the first leg of JU Year 4 is the Bootcamp workshop series conducted recently at the Center for Culinary Arts, Manila. The guest speakers, CCA faculty Chef-preneur Jonvic Mangibin and award-winning Chef Kerwin Funtanilla, shared their real-world expertise to the JU elite finalists as they explored various fundamentals on Food Presentation & Food Safety and Sanitation, and Conceptualizing & Preparing their Competition Dish.

To fine-tune their cooking skills in preparation for the JOLLY University Grand Cook-Off, a Market Basket-style cooking challenge was conducted wherein each Individual Category finalist was assigned to one of four “houses” (Culinary Champions, Gastronomic Guru, Kitchen Kings, and Meal Masters) headed by top CCA Manila students who served as their mentors. The dish entries were graded based on presentation, taste, innovation/creativity, food safety/sanitation, green chefmanship and use/integration of JOLLY food products as mandatory ingredients. The panels of evaluators are JU Headmaster Chef Mitchie Sison, Chef Jonvic Mangibin and Fly Ace Corp. representatives, Fly Ace Senior Product Manager for Jolly Food Line Bey Acuña and Fly Ace PR and Digital Media Manager Dianne Pagtalunan.

Alyanna Mae Rañola (UST, 2nd runner-up), Bernice Tenorio (UST, 1st runner-up) and Charlene Baltazar (EAC, grandwinner) won in the mock-up challenge.

JU elite finalist Francis Marion Santos of Centro Escolar-Manila, was elated by his boot camp experience. “I’m really thankful and honored to be part of JU batch 4. The hands-on training, coaching tips and mentorship by the esteemed chefs gave me and the others a huge confidence boost,” he said. 

“We believe that fostering competitiveness, innovation, and entrepreneurship skills through programs that support youth development is a great investment that leads to positive outcomes both for the next generation and for the country,” concluded Ralph Rebulanan, Associate Product Manager of Jolly Food Line.

This year’s JU grand winners will walk away with Php50,000 worth of cash and prizes, trophies, culinary training workshop under CCA Manila, and an internship program under Fly Ace Corporation where they will receive comprehensive, job-ready skills development training from the industry’s best practitioners.  

The JOLLY University Year 4 Congress is made possible with the support of event sponsors CCA Manila, Allegro, Coldstone, Glad, Fujidenzo, Masflex, PLDT HOME Fibr, Robinsons, Technogas, UCPB and Whirlpool and media partners Appetite Magazine, Breakfast Magazine, Cook Magazine, Food Magazine, Chinatown TV, Malaya Business Insight, The Manila Bulletin, Mommy Bloggers Philippines, Philippine Star and wheninmanila.com. 

Fly Ace Corporation is one of the leading food and beverage consumer goods companies in the country today. Propelling limitless multiple-category growth by bringing the best of the world closer to Filipino consumers, Fly Ace Corporation’s portfolio of food and beverage products includes house brands and exclusively distributed brands. To learn more about Fly Ace, visit http://www.flyacecorp.com./

JOLLY is a canned fruits and vegetable line marketed and exclusively distributed by Fly Ace Corp. For more updates, visit jolly.com.ph or like its official Facebook fanpage or follow via Twitter and Instagram (@jollyeatsph).

Ericsson Demo at the Philippine Telecoms Summit 2017

Ericsson believes that connectivity can make positive socio-economic and environmental impacts around the world.

The technology challenges Ericsson Research have been focusing on in the last few years are:

-          data analytics in operation support systems

-          intelligent decision support

-        mission-critical cloud and the internet of things in the context of network operation centers

THE CONNECTED MEGA-CITY

An important aspect of Ericsson's research is looking into what these new technologies mean for people and societies, hence The Connected Megacity.

 

Overview: (material from Ericsson)

"Today, we see a transformation in the way people live and congregate around the world; more and more people are becoming city dwellers and projections indicate that from 50% today, they will be 70% by 2050. A considerable share of the population will mostly form part of very large urban areas - the so-called mega cities.

ICT solutions and the Networked Society are important components when finding holistic and balanced views to city life management. There is a need for new urban models to tackle social, economic and environmental challenges in sustainable ways.

In all this, we, the citizens are central, and not only because it is our quality of life that is hanging in the balance but also because we can contribute with information and innovation as well as help support the city by changing/adapting our behavior.

With focus on technology enablers, hereby gives a glimpse of the Connected Megacity, by going through three city scenarios, namely the Safe City, the Creative City and the Greener City.

The Resilient/Safe City. One important aspect of such a city is its ability to respond to an unexpected event in a resilient way. Road accidents for instance, unfortunately can and will happen despite everybody’s best intentions. What’s important, apart from minimal casualties, is their impact on the city operations and its citizens and how quickly the latter can return to normal operations. From a technical point of view, we believe that through analyzing and combining data feeds and situational knowledge, patterns of behavior can be identified. These can then be encapsulated together with expert knowledge to lead to informed actions and intelligent recommendations. This way, available resources (public services, people, sensors, devices, etc.) can be used in an effective way to understand and mitigate the situation; something that requires interoperability and cross-domain communication.

The Creative/Proactive City scenario highlights how the connected city can learn from previous experiences and take proactive measures before an event. This is of course done through a combination of technical enablers, but also with the support of the citizens through various incentives and mechanisms for raising their awareness. If, for example a rock concert or another major event is scheduled to happen in the coming days, city operations can be based on analyses of previous similar events It may be decided to increase the public transportation, allocate more police resources and give people motivation to behave in ways that enable the event to flow more smoothly. City operations can also increase the network capacity around the event arena, give people recommendations to offers and promotions or increase their physical event experience through digital services in different ways.

The Greener City, which we find it to be one step closer to the vision of sustainable cities, illustrates how energy use and load can be predicted, for example, based on weather forecasts. This enables the city, its citizens and industries to adapt their behavior and reschedule production and consumption to avoid serious power shortages. 

The smart grid is one domain where the Internet of Things is gaining momentum and the use of wireless technologies is well suited to providing last-mile connectivity to grid devices. The capabilities of LTE, such as very low latency, Quality-of-Service and high throughput wrapped in a future-proof global standard, are opening up new areas for applications in mission critical M2M communications. However, M2M traffic characteristics differ greatly from smart phone traffic. Therefore, it is important to understand how to take advantage of the advanced features of LTE in order to optimize the network for specific applications like the smart grid.

By means of these three scenarios, Ericsson hopes to have exemplified how megacities can respond to some of the events as they occur and prepare for future scenarios, while taking into account the relationships between diverse stakeholders. All linked with how these responses can be aligned with a more sustainable development."

*Blogger's note: The Philippine Telecoms Summit 2017 targeted solutions that we need for a better future. The Ericsson demo shows that that a well planned city can surely help us proper, and it is a must to take a closer look about how our cities develop, not just for telecommunications, but for all needs, such as road, facilities, and more. As we look forward to a bright future, we should take action, and plan properly. 

2017 Back-to-School New Product Release

The Earth-loving-planet-saving twins are in hot pursuit of their mission to help save Planet Earth! This 2017, Coco and his twin sister Kimmy are working hard in helping kids realize the value of saving Planet Earth. NOW, more than ever is the time for kids to realize that our planet needs help. The recent changes in our weather like typhoons are proof enough that we all need to move NOW!

Funtastic International Inc., established in the country almost 17 years ago, is behind the Cool Kids, Baby Bliss, Creadough, Zigo, Latitude, and Fluffy Friends brands. Colorful and lovely characters make up the Cool Kids Brand. These amazing characters have different roles to play in teaching kids how to care for the environment.

Cool Kids has also launched its new line of “FUN-tabulous” School bags and accessories. The new line of affordable, good quality school bags features the different characters of the Cool Kids friends; Royal Princesses, Glam Girlz, Forest Fairies, Viron Transformer, Earth (Geobot), Air (Aerobot) and Water (Aquabot)  robots, and Space rangers to name a few. 

Cool Kids has also launched its newest line of baby toys and furniture under the brand Baby Bliss. This exciting line of very safe and cool baby toys is like no other. Its wood look mixed with full color has brought a fresh look to the baby toy industry. Baby Bliss toys are competitively priced and they also offer wonderful learning experiences to our little ones.  Baby Bliss by Cool Kids aims to teach moms to help in environmental care.

Cool Kids has also launched a brand new line of amazing dough toys through Creadough by Cool Kids. This creative line of dough toys brings out the imagination and creativity in children and allows them to use their hands to explore, imagine and create amazing shapes and images.

Another new range of toys to look forward to is Zigo by Cool Kids. The Zigo line of blocks not only brings out the creative juices of our little ones, they actually help prepare children to be future engineers and architects. Every kid at one time or the other has played with blocks to bring out the best of their imagination and creativity. With Zigo competitively priced, parents do not need to spend a lot to provide their children with this wholesome deal of fun and creative building.

For Back to School 2017, Cool Kids has launched a brand new line of fashion bags for our little “fashionistas” and fashion forward buddies who want to follow the footsteps of their older siblings. Made of amazing quality materials, Cool Kids bags is the perfect companion of our children in school.

Funtastic International has also launched for Back to School 2017 its newest line of bags for High School and College kids as well as for adults through Latitude. Latitude is a brand that removes all limits and allows you to express yourself. Made of excellent quality materials, this fashion forward line of bags takes the user to a whole new level of experience given the amazing features of these bags both inside and out.

Funtastic International Inc., in its commitment to preserve the environment, donates part of the proceeds of the sale of its products towards environmental care. For every purchase of any item from the Cool Kids product line, you not only get great product, you also get to help save our planet Earth!

The public will see new Cool Kids collection starting March in the shelves of major department stores nationwide. In the meantime they can already choose from other existing Funtastic products, equally attractive, fun and affordable, that are available nationwide.

Visit the Cool Kids website, www.coolkids.com.ph, this website will give kids and the kids at heart a chance to learn about Cool Kids and their planet saving advocacy. It will also give the visitor a chance to see first hand the new products of Cool Kids.

For more information they can also log on to www.funtasticstuff.com and www.coolkids.com.ph to learn more about the company and its products.

Bolon Shades at Eyelink Optical

Protect your eyes and wear large shades, so chill with lovely designs to choose from. These Bolon Eyewear 2017 are trendy, yet still adhere to the classic look.

These are available at Eyelink Optical, located at the 2nd floor, Pergola Mall, BF Homes, Paranaque.

You Need Shades

Did you know that UV light can damage your eyes? Spending time in the sun can be the cause of eye health concerns such as retinal damage, cataracts, and thicken the eye tissue. Wearing shades help protect your eyes from those searing ultraviolet rays.

To reduce glare and prevent dust and other minute particles from entering the eyes, large shares are recommended, and the good news is, as you will squint less on a sunny day by wearing shades will help to keep those fine wrinkles at the side of the eyes from developing or getting more prominent!

My Style, My Bolon

Sophisticated, these stylish eyewear provide the protection your eyes need with the right look. Lightweight, with great lens quality, handles that are so unobtrusive, wearing a pair makes the nose appear sharper and are perfect for those perfect eyebrows. Shades also serve to cover up the eyes, making you look more mysterious, and to cover those dark circles and eyebags after sleepless nights or crying bouts.

For hot summers and for anytime of the year, wear shade that serve a purpose to protect our eyes, and make sure these are the right kind. The large ones that wrap around our face, lay flat and near our eyes, and have quality lenses are the ones do work to protect our eyes, just like these Bolon shades.

Model: Allison Dominguez
 
See more of these Bolon Eyewear designs by visiting the Eyelink Optical Facebook page.

Gardenia at the Bakery Fair 2017 and a Bread Loaf Comparative Review

Spending a few hours at the Gardenia booth at the Bakery Fair 2017 was a fun, learning, and bread heaven experience, as it was such a comfort zone. I love Gardenia bread, and was delighted to be able to try the different kinds and would like to share the more affordable option in a review of a Gardenia product in this blog post.

Gardenia Sandwish Maker Mania Game

"Hover your hands to control the pieces to make a sandwich." Such a high tech game, one that required alertness and speed. At first, I struggled to make my hands move in the air to contol what was shown on the TV, such as a piece of bread and a slice of cheese. It took me a few seconds and I was able to get to the next level. This game was such a tech treat!

No Cook, No Bake Demo

There was one demo that I was able to watch, and the chef made the snack in a jiff. Such sophisticated food treats, no cook, no bake, and so easy, even a child can make it. Mouthwatering, dainty, and these tasted wonderful.

Gardenia Super Slice New Bake

When I took a closer look at New Bake, a sliced loaf bread, while I was at a grocery, it was a much awaited surprise to learn that it was a Gardenia product. It cost less than the Classic Gardenia bread, and I have been buying New Bake especially when I have a lot of people to feed. That New Bake has the standard loaf size.

During the Bakery Fair, I was able to get samples of the Super Slice New Bake, which is larger than a standard loaf slice.

In this comparative product review, on the left is the Classic and on the right is the Super Slice New Bake. The Classic is firmer and is more dense than the Super Slice. The Classic has more depth of bread flavor, to include that of the crust. New Bake bread is light, and has a hint of sweetness, and the crust is a lot softer than that of the Classic. The size of the Super New Bake is larger, and is ideal for making big sandwiches with spreads, while the Classic is perfect for processed food such as deli ham.

More Gardenia

Gardenia Philippines has a bevy of products, providing us with fancy bread that is like pastries. The flavored ones that I usually buy, such as the Black Forest and the Cranberry, are great for a quick and filling snack, and are perfect for that fast, no hassle breakfast.

There are so many Gardenia Philippines bread products such as this Strawberry and Blueberry flavored loaf.

Gardenia Philippines makes bread that are innovative, high quality, and have product excellence. These are healthy, and simplifies what you eats, taking the hassle out of sandwich preparations, saving money as there is no need to buy spreads when choosing a flavored load. The Classic and the New Bake bread provides us with the quality and the budget affordability.

Note: When buying Pinoy Pandesal and the Pinoy Loaf, make sure to read the label to make sure that is is Gardenia, as the other brands have packaging that look exactly like what Gardenia uses.

Coffee Break Live at The Common Space

FreelancingPH coworks at The Common Space at Pergola Mall, BF Homes for the Coffee Break Live South meet up last Feb. 25, 2017. The event started at around 2 pm and ended past 5, though the seminar was already done, the freelancers continued to socialize, with coffee and pizza. 

Connecting Freelancers

As an online worker, it is good to be part of a community and attend such events such as the Coffee Break Live South meet up that I went to. The FreelancingPH seminar provided lots of helpful information that comes from the shared experiences of people who do make money online. The tips included that of asserting oneself, knowing what your value id, and not accepting work that was lower that your rate, and to request for a down payment before tackling the task.

Freelancers do have many concerns, and being ripped off online has happened to me, and getting clients that did not pay fairly. By listening to the seminar, I had learned vital tips, strategies, and skills, and even discovered where there are more online jobs to be found.

Talking over Coffee

The vibe was that of relaxed work mode. The topics that were discussed revealed insights that are needed.

Click here to watch this event's LiveStreamingPH videos.

The continuous talks, the group discussions, and social interaction, was fine, providing a freelance like me the much desired social interaction, for as we know, that to work online is a solitary task, and this need to see and be with other people is solved by going to such meet ups and holding office in a coworking space such as The Common Space. 

Wearing blue, the owner of LiveStreamingPH

Off Virtual

Being a freelancer can be lonely, and having experienced hardly leaving the house, since I am a WHAM (Work at Home Mom), even dressing up to go somewhere to meet with people that also make money online, brings about a great feeling of being offline, still working, learning, and also placing input to share. Now that I have attended a Coffee Break Live meet up and do hold office to a coworking space, I do have a better social life with independent professionals like me, and it does increase my productivity.

If you want to be part of a great community, and be part next freelancers meet up, get updates and like the FreelancingPH Facebook page.

If you are looking for a coworking space in Paranaque, there is one at Pergola Mall in BF Homes. For information, visit the website of The Common Space.

Massive Munchies: Dude's Food

Massive Munchies, owned by Tad Angara and Kirk Teves, is a dude's dream food come true. It wards away hunger in a way that is incomparable, because there is nothing like it. It is bread with breadcrumbs, has that pizza crust crunch, has that carb fix with the crispy fried taste, and the fillings? An overflowing heap, loaded and sealed, handy and yummy - this is what a man dreams of to be their "sandwich mate".  It is awesome, providing the total impact for a starving man, large enough to be satisfying, loaded with filling.

These are called "Pocket Pies" and are made with tinapay, and in such a creative, unique way to make the bread become the layered pie crust. Deep fried, it is not oily at all, and with every bite, solid to the max, making it deserve the name, Massive Munchies.

Massive Munchies has 4 branches, to include the newly opened one at Quiapo, at F.R. Hidalgo St, near Manuel L. Quezon Univeristy. Currently, there are 4 kinds of pocket pies to choose from at this branch, and their established branches at Dumagete has more to choose from.

Frozen and Reheated
to Feed Massive Munchies Monsters

I asked Tad if it was possible to store these, as I do live quite far from Quiapo. He said for me to keep it in the freezer and reheat in the oven toaster or microwave. I used cling wrap to individually wrap each one so I could still see the paper wrapper that indicates the filling. The colored dots on these pies as you can see, do indicate the flavor, also.

I recently had a dude drop by the house, and when I reheated one he tried it, he said with great gusto, "Tita, ang sarap!". My entire family loves these, and it does freeze very well and takes only a few minutes to reheat.

Buy enough when you go to Quiapo and freeze when you get home, as when you need food and have feed peeps, the easiest way to do so it to feed them with Massive Munchies.

To see where there other branches are, please visit the Massive Munchies Facebook page.

Why Shop at Goods PH

For a simply better online shopping Philippines experience, visit Goods.Ph.

Online Shopping Philippines

According to Tech-Ph.com, Goods.Ph is one of the top Online Shopping Philippines websites. It does have the advantage of being a light loading site which is easy to navigate for that maximized browsing experience using a desktop, laptop, or on amobile device, using a browser or by downloading their free app at Google Play or the Apple Store.

Their categories are extensive to include gadgets, clothing and accessories for men, women and children, health and beauty items, appliances, home furnishing, and supplies such as that for cleaning. There are hundreds of products in this online mall, featuring unique items at the right price, and deals that are so cheap, that these are nearly a steal, on some items that you won't miss when you subscribe to their mailing list.

Aside from choosing an item by category which can be done with search filters such as that priced from highest to low, there is also an option to use the search box to look for a specific items, such as "iPhone case covers" and then the superb finds at the New Arrivals, Clearance, and Wow Deals tabs. These provide you with the simply better shopping experience of "window shopping" from your device, to see the latest items and check out the must-have deals.

The discount can go up to 90%, and when you shop at Goods.Ph, there are ways to save as the prices are low, and you can buy more on a budget than just going for what is on sale!

When you sign up for an account, you will get a 250 pesos e-voucher that will be applied as a discount when you buy any item worth 1,500. And, you can get Free Delivery for purchases over 699 pesos. Plus, for every 10 pesos spent, you get to accumulate Rewards, which gives you a point that will get accumulated to be converted into an equivalent e-voucher for this online shopping Philippines website.

Payment options for Goods.Ph include cash on delivery, via bank deposit with such facilities like BPI, BDO and UnionBank, credit and debit cards, and via G-cash and Smart Money, plus Paycash.

Click this link to visit this Online Shopping Philippines site.

Herbalife Philippines Opens South Luzon Quick Response Center to Expand Product Access Point

Global nutrition company, Herbalife, marked another milestone in the Philippines with the opening of a new product access point in Calamba, Laguna. Named as the South Luzon Quick Response Center (QRC), it is part of Herbalife’s efforts to support its members to bring quality nutrition to more Filipinos in the country. 

Herbalife Philippines’ General Manager Bong Valenzuela led the opening ceremony, which was attended by the members of its corporate management team, employees, independent Herbalife members, and Herbalife-sponsored triathletes Omar and Laarni Paredes.

Herbalife Philippines General Manager Bong Valenzuela delivers his welcome speech during the opening ceremony of the Herbalife South Luzon Quick Response Center.

Ms. Gina Lyn Ang – Abott, one of Herbalife’s President’s Team members, shares her excitement and rallies local member leaders to take advantage of the newly-opened product access point to bring good nutrition to more people in the community . 


About Herbalife:

Herbalife is a global nutrition company that has been changing people's lives with great products since 1980. Our nutrition, weight-management, energy and fitness and personal care products are available exclusively to and through dedicated Herbalife Independent Members in more than 90 countries. We are committed to fighting the worldwide problems of poor nutrition and obesity by offering high-quality products, one-on-one coaching with an Herbalife Member and a community that inspires customers to live a healthy, active life.

We support the Herbalife Family Foundation (HFF) and its Casa Herbalife programs to help bring good nutrition to children in need. We also sponsor more than 190 world-class athletes, teams and events around the globe, including Cristiano Ronaldo, the LA Galaxy and champions in many other sports.

The company has over 8,000 employees worldwide, and its shares are traded on the New York Stock Exchange (NYSE: HLF) with net sales of US$4.5 billion in 2015. The Herbalife website contains a significant amount of financial and other information about the company at http://ir.Herbalife.com. The company encourages investors to visit its website from time to time, as information is updated and new information in posted. To learn more, visit Herbalife.com or IAmHerbalife.com.

Blé Greek Restaurant at A-Venue, Makati

Falafel

For authentic Greek food at affordable prices, go to Blé. The food is cooked in the traditional manner, without additives, and many of the ingredients such as the extra virgin olive oil and Feta cheese used in preparing some of their highly satisfying dishes.

This Greek restaurant is located at A-Venue Mall, G/F Unit 102, 7829 Makati ave., Poblacion, Makati. Blogger Tin Gonzaga and I visited the place to indulge in a before 6 pm dinner. It was a terrific food experience that was so filling and satisfying.

And, we were able to interview the owner, Yiannis Trifyllis.

Watch this video to learn more about Blé. (Video credits: Tin Gonzaga)



The Greek Food Experience

Blogger Tin Gonzaga doesn't eat pork as she adheres to a healthy lifestyle. It was such a treat for both of us to be able to try the Falafel, that look like sausage links but are made from chickpeas. She said that she has not eaten longanisa, which is a kind of Filipino sausage made from pork, in years and the Falafel is an excellent substitute. These do have a great crunch and a depth of flavor of being loaded with a potpourri of  herbal goodness, served on wonderful pita bread.

The salad was light, drizzled with extra virgin olive oil, with a blend of onions, Feta cheese, and olives. A delightful summer-like salad, this siding is fabulous.

A pita filled with meat, the Souvlaki was hefty and filling. The pita bread was not oily or crunchy, not too thin nor that thick, and it served to enhance the dish, making it an excellent wrap to eat as a snack or as a meal.

Leave room for dessert when you dine at this Greek restaurant as the Baklava was a gourmet adventure. It had a bottom layer of finely nuts, a hint of the gooey goodness of honey, and the lightness of layered phyllo dough, Baklava is one of the oldest desserts in the world, and this one is made from a family recipe that has been handed down from generation to generation. This is the first time that I have tried Baklava, and it is on of my list as a must-have dessert. 

Cakes Made to Order

With the fondant expertise and a passion to create, the wife of the owner, Aysegul Ozden Trifyllis, who is Turkish, does make some of the most wonderful and original cakes. This one was ready for pick up.

Blé Greek Restaurant at A-Venue, Makati Ave, is a must visit for those who want a great meal at an affordable price.

Going on a Greek food exploration is an foodie adventure that can be done with the assurance of the real wonders of Greece on a plate when you dine at Blé Greek Restaurant, Makati.

Discover California Wines

The Discover California Wines seminar and wine tasting was a event to remember as from start to finish, tasting familiar and well-loved wines and trying new ones was a fantastic experience. This event was held at Shangrila the Fort, Philippines, last Oct. 19, 2016.

This seminar had a filled room which signified the show of support for the further promotion of California wines. Experts were there, twirling their glasses to intensify the bouquet, to savor the 10 wines that were featured during the taste test part of the seminar. People like me, who drink wine regularly, gathered a lot from the information shared by the speakers, and it was such a treat to be able to explore different kinds of California wines, from the light and bubbly to the deep, rich, red ones.The seminar that started a bit after lunch was well attended by wine connoisseurs from all over the world, to include the US Ambassador to the Philippines, Philip Goldberg, who spoke for a while to uplift the spirits of the attendees.

After the seminar, we were asked to go to the grand ballroom. It was, for me and many others, truly an exploration of discovery, and quite an overwhelming one as it was unlimited wine being poured. I was glad to see a few of my close friends, such as Ralph Joseph of Philippines Wine Merchants and Johnny Revilla, who both took the time to explain more about the wines I was tasting.

I was also able to video a very pleasant interview with Mr. Richard Lieu, the Director of Trade Promotions for California wines. This video has a sneak peek of this wine-tasting event and a short talk with Ralph Joseph.

In this next video is an interview with Michael Parr, and it is full of information about Wente Wines, and he will be showing the different wines they have, and give a brief and very interesting history about the company.


To Discover California Wines, you may learn more by visiting their website. The information that you will find there includes the regions, wineries, the wines, cuisines, events, and more. 

Click this link to Discover California Wines