Spending Valentine’s Day + WeChat Valentine’s Day Promo!

Mhel and Ken Ignacio of CertifiedFoodies.comIn case you don’t know yet, Ken and I are siblings. We are almost always mistaken as husband and wife, barkada or boyfriend-girlfriend. That’s a compliment to me since I’m 7 years older. Can you believe it?! 😛 I guess it’s because of how close we are and how we joke around when we’re together which give people the impression that we’re not siblings, or that I’m not his ate. We also like taking vanity photos together, so we fully understand why people would think I’m not his older sister.

Anyway, the point of telling you that is I wanted to get it out there that we’re both single. We chose to be and we strongly believe that we don’t need to have a special someone to celebrate Valentine’s Day. What we usually do is celebrate this day with our nanay who means the WORLD to us. I guess that’s why we never really make a big deal out of being single on Valentine’s Day because we get to spend it with people we truly love and care about.

So if you’re single too, don’t fret. There are many ways you can celebrate Valentine’s Day. Spend the day with your family and friends who have no plans for tomorrow. I bet you’ll have just as much fun as everyone else. 🙂

And speaking of having fun this Heart’s day, how would you like to win an awesome prize by simply professing your love to your significant other, or by showing the world who or what makes you happy this Valentine’s day? We found this Valentine’s Day giveaway from WeChat, the hottest mobile social communications app to-date.

WeChat is giving away an iPad Air (woot!) this Valentine’s Day in their Facebook promo, “A Photo with My Valentine“. Whether you’re in a romantic relationship or not, you can still join since your entry can be about your significant other, a family member or even your pet! Check out the details below and good luck! 🙂

WeChat - A Photo with my Valentine Facebook promo

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Casinos with Good Restaurants

If you have never visited an actual casino before then the first time you really do it will be a great shock to you just how lively and exciting the places really are, as you walk in the atmosphere will overcome you and you will notice all the happy people enjoying their games and hopefully winning some money. This is not the only thing they can do at a casino. Most people seem to think a casino meal means playing at a casino online with a takeaway. If you’re visiting a world-famous casino, often times there will be a restaurant that is just as good as the casino itself.

Dining at casinos

The Venetian casino in Las Vegas is a great example of this as, not only does it have won great restaurant, it actually has two and both are highly recommended by everybody who visits them. The first of the two restaurants is an Italian restaurant that goes by the name of Valentino and offers the most authentic Italian food possible without being in actual Italy. No matter what you like from the Italian palette, they will surely serve it and along with this they also have an award-winning wine cellar so you can match each dish perfectly with a wine to top the whole experience. The second restaurant within the Venetian casino is a Tex-Mex restaurant called Star Canyon. What makes this restaurant so special is that the usual peasant food of Tex-Mex has been changed into a gourmet experience for everybody to enjoy unlike anywhere else in the world.

The Venetian in Las Vegas

Far away in the world of Europe there are many casinos however probably the most famous one is the Casino de Montecarlo in Monaco. This casino also has a world-famous restaurant in it named Les Privés, and here you can get incredible quality food while having a view of the entire bay to enjoy while you eat.

Casino de Montecarlo in Monaco

Celebrate Valentine’s Day with Villa del Conte’s Box of Chocolates

I’m not a big fan of flowers. So, when I think of Valentine’s day, the first thing that comes to mind when we talk about the perfect romantic gift is a box of exquisite chocolates. 😉 And if you’re thinking of sending some AMORE (Italian for “love”) to your special someone this Heart’s day, here’s a sure-fire hit: a box of Villa del Conte’s chocolates.

Villa del Conte - Amore - box of chocolates for Valentine's Day

Villa del Conte is an Italian artisanal chocolate shop well-known for their expertise in the creation of the finest cioccolato (Italian for chocolate) using handpicked cacao beans and premium quality ingredients. You might have heard of them already as they have shops all over Metro Manila. They’ve been in the art of making chocolates for 81 years, and so our expectations were high when we received this gorgeous box of their chocolates.

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Have a Merry Cremas with Alaska Crema!

All year round, especially during the cold months of December and January, we find ourselves longing for some good ol’ comfort food. But not just any kind of comfort food, we crave for something rich, hearty, delectable and, most of the time, creamy. That’s why, they say, calories don’t count during the holidays. 😉

Merry Cremas Food Bazaar at Eastwood by Alaska Crema

We were invited as judges at the Merry Cremas Food Bazaar in Eastwood last month. Good thing it was a Sunday so Ken and I were able to go together.

We know, from personal experience, that there’s a wide range of dishes you can prepare using Alaska Crema all-purpose cream. We knew there’ll be a ton of desserts and pastries there, but we were really hoping to see more savory dishes. There were only a few who did. Thankfully, they were all quite successful with their dishes too along with the food purveyors who served desserts.

Red Velvet brownies

With that said, let’s begin with our top favorites from the Merry Cremas Food Bazaar in Eastwood. These might help you with recipe ideas for your celebrations or any holiday, especially for Noche Buena and Media Noche.

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Bizu Patisserie’s Christmas 2013 Collection

We may be weeks away from Christmas 2013 and New Year’s Eve, but you can still feel the holiday because of the cold weather we’re experiencing the past few days. And there’s Chinese New Year coming up. If you’re still in the mood for some foodie gift-giving, Bizu Patisserie’s Christmas 2013 collection of treats are still available for you and your loved ones.

Bizu Cheese Tarts

Bizu is well-known for their delectable pastries and their yearly holiday goodies. We blogged about them here and here. They usually have a theme, and for 2013, it’s Tchaikovsky’s Land of the Sweets (from The Nutcracker). You can check the list of their 2013 holiday collection below this post. Most of them are still sold at your favorite Bizu store, so make sure to inquire if there’s something you fancy.

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Bohol Bee Farm : a Foodie Haven

When we planned to travel to Bohol back in 2012 for our birthdays, Ken kept on insisting that we pick Bohol Bee Farm for our accommodation. He told me nonstop about how good their food was and that I’ll love our stay there. He was 100% spot on!

Our family of 3 at Bohol Bee Farm

What we love most about Bohol Bee Farm is they continue to stay true to what they are all about. They boast of using organic ingredients in preparing their dishes, which means no fertilizers, pesticides or anything harmful were used in their farming. Most of them are produced from their own farms, and right there at Bohol Bee Farm (read about our tour on Travelsilog -soon!). They highly support organic farming and, in turn, has given jobs to Boholanos, especially with their livelihood projects at the farm.

Bohol Bee Farm - a charming resort for you and your family

Since they were also planting their own herbs and vegetables, you can taste the freshness of the ingredients. And the food wasn’t just healthful, but quite good too.

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An Unforgettable Stay at Bohol Bee Farm

Every year, Ken and I make sure to celebrate our birthdays somewhere out of town. In 2012, we decided it will be in Bohol. He’s been there before, and he can’t forget their wonderful stay at Bohol Bee Farm. He said it’s a truly memorable experience so I decided to check them out for our vacation.

Bohol Bee Farm - a charming resort for you and your family

Before anything else, I just wanted to say that this post shouldn’t have been delayed for more than a year. I wanted to write about our 2012 vacation in Bohol and our stay at Bohol Bee Farm as soon as we got back because we had an extremely fabulous time there, especially with the outstanding customer service we got from the farm’s staff. Sadly, too many things got in the way, including, I’ll admit, procrastination. 😐

After everything that has happened to Bohol in 2013 and our recent trip to Palawan for our birthdays (I’ll get into details of this on our post about it), I was determined to finally finish this series of posts to share with you why you must visit Bohol.

Rainbow while we were at Bohol Bee Farm

A rainbow appeared on our first day in Bohol. I didn’t have my DSLR with me so I took this using my smartphone. Couldn’t miss this shot. 🙂

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Brownies! Unlimited New Flavors and Brownie Chips : Your Kind of Brownies

If you’re looking for more foodie gifts for the holidays, here are our last minute recommendations: Brownies! Unlimited‘s new flavors and their addictive Brownie Chips. 🙂

Brownies Unlimited's wide range of flavors

First, let me tell you about their Brownie Chips. When we posted about the Brownie Brittle we recently got to try from Joe & Cherry, we found out (from a fellow foodie) that there’s actually a local version of it and it’s from Brownies! Unlimited.

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J.CO Donuts Jolly Merry Treats

When you’re at the mall and you see this long queue of people at a store, you’re most likely looking at a J.CO Donuts & Coffee store. People can’t help but love their donuts, and we completely understand all the hype.

J.CO offers a wide variety of flavor choices for donut lovers

If you’re looking for the perfect gift this holiday season for your favorite foodie, falling in line at a J.CO store for a box of their Jolly Merry Treats might just do the trick.

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Pizza Hut Cheesy 7 : For a Merry Cheesemas!

If you’ve been following us on Instagram or Facebook, you probably already know how much we love pizza. One of the pizza joints we frequent is Pizza Hut. When we found out about Cheesy 7, their new pizza in time for Christmas, we knew we just had to try it.

Pizza Hut Cheesy 7 pizza

Last week, they sent us a box of Pizza Hut’s Cheesy 7 family-sized pizza. We couldn’t wait to devour the whole thing! 😀 We are true-blue cheese lovers, so imagine how excited we were to have a taste.

The pizza was named Cheesy 7 because it’s topped with 7 imported cheeses that will definitely make any cheese lover’s mouth water: mozzarella, parmesan, provolone, Monterey Jack, Romano, Cheddar and balls of cream cheese. *wipes drool* 😀

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