Filipino Food Festival at Fresh Restaurant in Solaire Resort and Casino

Itâ€™s about time Filipino food got its well-deserved spotlight in the international culinary scene. More and more countries and word-famous chefs are getting interested with our diverse and rich cuisine. Fresh Restaurant at Solaire Resort & Casino has decided to grab this golden opportunity to highlight our culinary heritage by launching their month-long Filipino Food Festival with Chef Sau del Rosario.

Chef Sau del Rosario x 20 Years of Love & Cooking Book

Youâ€™re not a true Filipino foodie if you are not familiar with Chef Sau del Rosario. Heâ€™s practically everywhere â€“ from TV shows, magazine covers, newspapers, and even online. Coming from four generations of native Kapampangan chefs, itâ€™s no surprise Chef Sau pursued a culinary career as well. And by â€˜pursued,â€™ we mean fattening his resume with local and international stints and working with Michelin star chefs like Christian Plumail, Jacque Divellec, and Bruno Loubet. He delves deeper into his 20 years of culinary experience in his recently launched book, â€œ20 Years of Love & Cooking.â€ If you happen to visit Fresh Restaurant during Sunday brunches, theyâ€™re selling copies of his book, which Chef Sau would be more than happy to sign for you!

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Celebrate the Best of Filipino Cuisine at Corniche of Diamond Hotel

There are but a few world class hotels in the Philippines that celebrate the culinary heritage of their host country. Diamond Hotel is one of those few, and they promote our rich cuisine by launching an annual Filipino Food Festival. This year, they have asked 3 of Manilaâ€™s most celebrated chefs to come aboard and showcase their prowess by reinventing all-time Pinoy favorites at The Best of Filipino Cuisine lunch and dinner buffet in Corniche RestaurantÂ from May 13â€“23, 2014.

FILIPINO CELEBRITY CHEFS + DIAMOND HOTEL EXECUTIVE CHEF

Filipino celebrity chefs Bruce Lim, Sau del Rosario and JP AngloÂ join Diamond Hotel’s Executive Chef Marko Rankel in celebrating the flavors of Filipino cuisine. We loved every twist they added to the dishes they prepared for this food festival. 🙂

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Breakfast Magazine : Uniquely Fresh, Satisfyingly Delicious

There is no doubt about it, my love for food can be traced back to my younger years when I first learned how to cook with my nanay‘s guidance. Since then, my thirst to learn more about food continued to grow and I enjoyed reading about everything related to food, may it be on a magazine, book, or a website. I lived vicariously through the writers’ stories of their latest food discoveries, how they travelled different parts of the country and the world to satisfy their curiosity (and tummy). And I share this passion for food with my brother Ken, one of the major reasons why we get along well. Little did we know that this year, 2012, after almost two years of writing for this blog, we’d be given an opportunity to write for a food magazine – Breakfast Magazine.

Breakfast Magazine is a bi-monthly publication. Their maiden issue was released last February 2012. I can describe the magazine as fresh and young, just like the team behind it led by Editor-in-Chief Alexis “Kim” Cuizon.

The first thing that comes to mind when you hear “Breakfast Magazine” is it’s going to be all about the most important meal of the day. But, they’re more than that. They aim to acquaint us with the people, where the ingredients come from and the stories behind the food, the restaurants, the products. Just like this blog, Breakfast Magazine is more personal. They take on a unique angle in their feature stories and theme in every issue. Heck, even the covers are so fabulous. 🙂

You’d probably expect a food magazine to have photos of delectable dishes on their cover, right? But, no. Breakfast Magazine’s first 3 issues feature people on the cover as they’re as interesting as the stories they have to tell. First was Judy Ann Santos-Agoncillo. Second is the lovely Iza Calzado. Followed by Pokwang – unlikely and unexpected, right? But, just look at how fab she looked at the front cover of the latest issue. I say the whole Breakfast Magazine team did an AWESOME job. I seriously can’t stop looking at that glamorous photo of Pokwang. 😉

And we’ve said it before, food triggers memories that we most likely have forgotten already. It can bring people together. It can heal us and comfort us on those very stressful days. What we eat, our relationship with food can somehow reveal something about us, what we’ve been through, our personality. And Breakfast Magazine puts focus on that. 🙂

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Philips Air Fryer Introduces the New Way to Fry Food – Air as the New Oil!

Fried chicken. Pork chops. French fries. Bagnet. Lechon Kawali. Fried tilapia. Buffalo wings.

Those are just six of our favorite comfort food here in our home. Theyâ€™re good and easy to prepare. We can come up with our own sauces, marinades, etc.. However, we wish thereâ€™s a way to enjoy these delicious dishes without the guilt of eating anything oily.

Thatâ€™s why when we were invited to the launch of Philips Air Fryer, we were both really curious to know how the dishes cooked in it would compare against real fried food.

We headed to Simply Thai in Greenbelt 5 last July 12th for the launch of this new innovation from Philips. At the event was Divine Lee with her fierce followers who won invites from her blog. She hosted the launch and was very entertaining. 😀

Green chef himself, Chef Sau del Rosario, also graced the event as the ambassador of healthy eating and Philips MyKitchen. He truly is one of the most sought-after chefs in the country to-date. Weâ€™ve seen him like four times already in the span of 3 months. That only shows how much impact he has in the culinary and food industry here.

Air is the New Oil. Thatâ€™s the theme of the night. We had doubts, really, â€˜til we were served with these delicious appetizers that were all â€œair-friedâ€ using the Philips AirFryer.

We actually took a bite of the spicy chicken lollipop first before the server told us they were all air-fried. Yes, everything you see on that plate â€“ spring rolls, dumplings/wantons and the chicken lollipops â€“ were all fried using air. 🙂

We were pretty amazed and started wishing theyâ€™d raffle off some units during the launch â€˜cause we really wanted to have one. 😀 Well, they raffled off 2 and we didnâ€™t win. 🙁 But, weâ€™d love to get our hands on one! 🙂

As much as we love fried food, the whole frying task can be a bit rough, especially when youâ€™re frying pork. Youâ€™d need something to protect you from all the oil thatâ€™ll splatter from the pan. This can truly be a hassle, especially when youâ€™re entertaining friends at home. Plus, all the smoke from the cooking will stick on you the whole day. And unless youâ€™re using a non-stick pan, clean-up can be tiring, too. 😐

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Ayala Westgrove Heights Mango Festival

On May 22nd, we were invited, along with a couple of fellow bloggers, to join Ayala Westgrove Heights Mango Festival in Sta. Rosa, Laguna. We were told there’ll be chefs preparing a couple of desserts for us, with Lori of Dessert Comes First hosting the demo. Oh, they already had us at mangoes!

After a not-so-long trip to Laguna, we arrived at Ayala Westgrove Heights. It’s a 400-hectare (yeah, the place is huge!) orchard environment at the heart of the Calabarzon region.

While driving by the houses, we were raving about how most of them were constructed, plus the pretty unique designs, too. And with the foliage everywhere, you can only expect fresh air. Even when the sun was up, the warmth of the air around us was not as scorching as we were expecting. The environment is simply serene.

When we arrived at the sports center of Ayala Westgrove Heights, we were informed that the open house there isn’t like the usual, which is why they called it Mango Festival.

Because they pride on how much they nurture nature, especially the mango trees at the orchard in their neighborhood, they made sure they highlight that through the said event, which is part of their year-long 12th anniversary celebration.

You can even buy fresh mangoes right there. They were grown at their orchard. We were supposed to buy before we went home, but completely forgot. My mom would’ve loved to have a taste of those big, juicy mangoes!

Ken and I were with Ning and Eihdra who are both foodies, too. We were so lucky to be there since, as part of the Mango Festival, they invited two renowned dessert chefs – Buddy Trinidad and Sau del Rosario – for dessert preparation demos. Everyone, including the prospective residents, were welcome to watch and join in.

First up was Chef Buddy Trinidad who prepared Mango Crunch. Lori walked us through what’s happening, asking questions here and there for our benefit.

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