Archive for July, 2009

July 31st, 2009

Filipino Dinner with Delores Custer

at dinner

Delores is here again and I wanted to really see her! She just finished her food styling seminar in Sofitel which was a big success. Everytime she’s in the country, dad always sets up a dinner (Delores always remembers us as the 2 generations who took her classes in CIA, which is a first for her) for her. This time, dad set up an all-Filipino dinner with our favorite dishes and things that are solely done here in the Philippines. Tita Omay (Norma Chickiamco) and Delores came from Bangkok, where they took classes on Thai cuisine (these two are pretty tight really).

Delores is currently working on her Food Styling book which will be coming out next year.  I am thinking that this will be the ultimate manual for those who really want to pursue the career. She will also be putting all sorts of short stories and her past students’ works from her food styling classes. Also a writer, she is also planning to come out with a book about preserving old family recipes. She asked us if any of us were blogging and I told her about my blog.

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July 26th, 2009

I was invited to an SM Hypermart Opening

Do you know what happens in an SM hypermart opening? I didn’t…but I’m glad I had my credit card and a stall that got me invited into one!

our stall at hypermart fairview

How many times does this happen to a non-SM employee? Maybe once, twice, five times?

our food at fairview

Well, because we were also opening a stall at SM Hypermart Fairview (Chef Gino’s Gourmet), I made sure I supervised our opening even if SM fairview seems like lightyears from San Juan. And boy was I shocked. First off, the fresh section, was so fabulous, I swear I could start to compare it to Big C in Thailand!

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the seafood section
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The setups were flowing with products…vegetables…meats…seafood…OH THE SEAFOOD! There were fishes on the display that were wider than I was! There were live lobsters bigger bigger than jack russel terriers…There were Live Black Tip Sharks for Sale! There were manta rays and sharks on the fresh display…there was a huge swordfish on a stand!

me and the chocolate man giving out free AXE

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July 24th, 2009

Our Buenisimo: Rated as one of Tatler’s BEST!!!

I’m happy to announce that after 4 months in operation, the Philippine Tatler rates our newest restaurant Buenisimo as one of the BEST!!!

buenisimo is now in tatlers top 10 restaurants

Other restaurants with the same and better rating were Antonio’s, Prince Albert…about 5 other restaurants both in manila and in the provinces. We’re glad that at this early stage, Buenisimo tops the ratings for the restaurants in our price range! :)

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July 22nd, 2009

Cool Mexican @ Ristras in San Juan

I’ve been watching out for what they were opening in that space for a couple of months since I used to hang out in place really near their space with my friends. Ristras actually looks very odd in its location considering that it is in a bar area in san juan. I know it’s been a while since I’ve written but I’ve just been so so busy! :p

ristras interiors
menu

So on a very hungry night (thank God!) Mig and I decided to go there to see if it was any good. As of now, the only mexican place I could think of is Mexicali…and it’s pretty much the only place i could think of in manila that doesn’t serve it’s tacos tasting like sugar and ketchup.

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July 21st, 2009

Another KR project

I recently had a shoot for Kenny Rogers Roast & Grill outlet for their upcoming meals. And boy it was another lovely shooting day for the books….even if it was raining so hard!

I set out from the house to the studio in the morning and I was greeted by extremely violent wind and rain which actually felt like it was going to shake my car off the road! Glad to have my assistant, the ever reliable Ray with me despite having a fever the night before.

the ever reliable ray

The studio was this old style building with an automatic garage door and the parking area happened to also be this dome like studio for car shots. The studio is FOTO RESOURCES and I was all than happy to find out that the owner was also the photographer for the day — Francis Rivera. So i set up, and I already expected the client to be pretty late because of the horrible conditions outside. I was really just hoping that they wouldn’t cancel.

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