Since my cousin’s debut is on a budget, I volunteered to make her AVP. I may not be an expert at it but I know I can put some extra effort to make it nice enough. They’ll surely be saving a lot if I do it instead of hire somebody else. Finally I’ve found the perfect song to use for the AVP! Well, I just hope that they like the final output.

I always look forward to attending wedding expos especially the one by themes and motifs at PICC. Last Saturday I accompanied my clients who are getting married next January. I really like this couple since they’re the no frills type. I’m glad we were able to accomplish a lot of stuff at expo.

I really like going to expos since that’s where you see and get to know the different suppliers and see the latest trends. You’ll surely get lots of ideas during the expo. Well, what I extra like about this expo is that I won in the mini raffle. I got a ring pillow, coin pillow and bridal pouch! Well, I’d certainly be saving it until the time that I actually need it already.

The fifth dish smelled like your typical chinese food.  I guess it was because of the sesame oil which you could easily detect.  Too bad my Miki Bihon only had noodles in it and none of the “sahog” so I wasn’t able to enjoy it too much.   One participant said hers had shrimps.

The sixth dish I really loved since I’m very fond of gata.  They call this one the Serye Express.  It’s a cross between your bicol express and pinakbet.  I appreciated the hint of spiciness which wasn’t too over powering.

The next one wasn’t really a dish, but a drink.  It was a specially concocted Iced Tea which I really find very flavorful and refreshing.

The last one was dessert.  They call it Serye’s Filipino Fondue.   We were served 3 different kinds of turon.  I had a little difficulty differentiating one from the other and later found out that they were banana-langka, buko-pineapple, and mango-sago.  Good thing the fondue wasn’t too sweet and somehow balance the sweetness of the turon. It was also served with a small enseymada.

After taking off our blindfolds, we were presented with the food that we just tasted in full serving sizes this time.  The owners of Serye were also there.  It turns out, they are the 4th generation of the Reyes clan of the renowned  Aristocrat Restaurant.

Lunch was served shortly afterwards wherein we encountered their boneless Crispy Pata.  It’s really quite a mystery how they cooked it.  We asked the owners to satisfy our curiosity but we were just jokingly answered that they breed boneless pigs!

I loved the first dish which even from afar I could already smell and identify as Sisig.  Good thing there wasn’t any sizzle for safety reasons. It had the right blend and had the crunchiness I prefer when eating sisig.  It was just right for my taste, no need for extra soy sauce and calamansi.  I wished I had rice to go with it.  Too bad it was only a taste test! Hehehe!

The second dish was Sinigang na Tyan ng Bangus.  I remembered the previous discussion on what other people put in their sinigang like tamarind, calamansi, kamias, and guava.  Well, Serye’s version reminded me of my mom’s good old sinigang recipe.  The homey feel instantly hit me.

The third dish was this savory meat (Boneless Chicken BBQ).  The sauce was just divine and the meat very tender.   I just love that it’s boneless since I hate eating chicken when dining out since it can get a little messy.  You don’t want your chicken flying off your plate when you’re separating all the meat from its bones.

The fourth dish was one of those which I got to identify just by smelling.  The peanut-y flavor of the Kare-Kare gave it away!  I love how they made the ox-tail so tender and the vegetables still crunchy.  I was just craving for some Alamang which I’m fond of adding to my Kare-Kare.

I was lucky to be included as a participant, given the limited 15 slots.  July 14 got a big red mark on my calendar. Arriving a few minutes early I guess showed my excitement.  But I have to admit being initially intimidated with the presence of some probloggers (who I really idolize, by the way).  My inferiority complex was triggered and made me question myself if I deserve to be there.  I guess it was just a little comforting to know that despite being great writers already they also use shift F7. Well, I’m glad I became part of this great event and met these wonderful and fun people who share one of my passions…FOOD.

Our speaker is one certified foodie! It’s just a little unfair that she still gets to maintain her slim figure! Hahaha!  Christine Nunag talked about the basics on food reviews.  It was a relatively light discussion, but nevertheless enriched my knowledge on food writing.  And having the other participants generously share their thoughts regarding some of the topics made the discussion even more fun!

I’ve had that realization that yes, you somehow have that responsibility to your readers.  And the workshop just reiterated that  somehow, someway what you’re doing makes a difference in other people’s lives.

I guess the highlight of the  workshop was when we were blindfolded and got to taste some of Serye’s dishes.  What was great about the experience is that we already get to apply what we just talked about.  Being blindfolded indeed heightened our senses and made us appreciate more what we were eating.  It wasn’t just our taste buds which were worked out but also our sense of smell, hearing, touch, and sight (after we took off our blindfolds).

Just sharing my food writing and photography class which I took last year:

When I look back at my past foodie entries I realize that I’m not really the type who puts in too many words, but rather relies on photos.  I feel they can speak louder since bombarding my readers with words wouldn’t really do justice to my foodie experience.  I don’t wanna bore my readers as well.  Oh well.  I guess I just wasn’t confident with my writing skills.  There are really days when I just go blank or just settle with simple sentences.

When I first read about the first blogger food writing and photography class I was really ecstatic.  Even if I’m really more of a food blogger rather than a food writer (a big difference if you pay attention) I still felt that this is a great chance for me to broaden my writing skills.

I just attended another wedding a couple of days ago. It was my high school batchmate’s wedding. Actually, they are civilly wed and have 2 wonderful kids already. They’re actually going to work in Qatar already but decided to have their church wedding here in the country first.

It was a really nice wedding. Their theme is filipiniana and made sure that every detail is well thought of. The place was really grand and have a romantic feel. They have all these capiz souvenirs and even had the local fan distributed on the church seats. Her gown was really beautiful and was really filipiniana like.

Oh well. I wonder when it’s my turn to get married. I think I have an idea already what my wedding theme would be!

A bride client is only here for a 2 week vacation from her work in the US. Knowing that her schedule would be pretty hectic, we already planned out when we will be visiting her wedding suppliers. I have already set appointments with them so that our schedule will be ironed out already by the time that she gets here.

I must say, we were indeed very productive. We were able to visit her couturier and finalized the design and type and color of cloth to be used. We were also able to talk to her florist and was able to discuss the types of flowers to be used for the bouquets of the entourage. We also went to a food tasting by their caterer of choice. We were able to partially determine the food to be severed at their reception. We will still be having a final food tasting pretty soon to finalize everything. We also made an ocular inspection at their reception venue and paid the venue partially. We were also able to talk to 2 cake suppliers, but has yet to finalize the design and flavors of the cake. Whew! It has been a busy week. At least we have made a lot of progress already.

This octopus-like hot air balloon is one of the most eye-catching ones during the 12th Hot Air Balloon Festival.

Taken at the 12th Hot Air Balloon Festival at Clark, Pampanga

One must be really early to be able to witness the flying of the hot air balloons since it’s only schedule between 5:30 - 7:00 am. I had to live at around 3:30 from Manila going to Clark, Pampanga just so I can view these giant bulbs. Well, I wasn’t disappointed. Getting to see those hot air balloons was truly marvelous.

Taken at the 12th Hot Air Balloon Festival at Clark, Pampanga