When I was in Singapore last year, my housemates, Rey and Cindy, took me out for dinner at 4 Fingers, which is a small food joint in ION Orchard that they said serves the best crispy chicken in the city.

My friends were right. The crispy fried chickens were so delicious and crispy that I just had to come back for more. And I honestly felt sad when it was time for me to return to the Philippines, thinking I’ll never have those scrumptious chickens ever again.

But after almost a year since having my last piece of 4 Fingers’ Crispy Chicken, imagine my surprise when my sister, Mhel, and I found a newly opened 4 Fingers store by accident in SM City North EDSA, Quezon City. We quickly found ourselves a table, settled down, and ordered our food.

A few weeks ago, I got an invite from Greenwich for a pizza party with 10 of my friends. I immediately thought it would be a fun opportunity for me and my classmates from culinary school to finally bond. Sadly, the date we were supposed to have the dinner fell on the same day our school competed in WOFEX 2011.

Then a few days passed, I was invited the second time but was told to bring just 3 friends for a more intimate dinner setup. And I thought that would be even better because it would save me the hassle of gathering up a bigger group.

I asked my friend, Rhea Grace (watch out for her blog!), to tag along. She agreed and was very excited. Believe it or not, we haven’t seen each other for more than 6 years, so we had a lot of catching up to do. I missed her a lot for she’s one of my closest friends back in high school. We’ve kept contact through Facebook and Friendster, but nothing can really compare to the joy of “physically” enjoying a delicious dinner with people who are important to you.

Thanks to Greenwich for it was a wonderful opportunity for our reconciliation; and also for coming up with their Presyong Kaibigan promo which offers their mouthwatering pizzas and pastas at very affordable prices.  Now me and my friends can bond and enjoy nonstop without worrying about our food bill hitting sky high!

The Presyong Kaibigan promo presents a wide selection of very affordable pizzas and pastas. Enjoy Greenwich’s Double-size Overloaded Pizza for only Php 199 which comes in two flavors – Ultimate Hawaiian Overload and Triple Ham & Cheese.

For all my fellow coffee lovers out there, you can now enjoy a good cup of McCafe Premium Roast Coffee for FREE at any McDonald’s breakfast store nationwide. All you need to do is present your “FREE COFFEE” coupon from 4:00am up to 10:30am starting August 8th until the 12th.

This is definitely good news for those who need their dose of caffeine in the morning and can’t find a cafe that’s open really early in the morning. There are McDonald’s stores nationwide that are open 24/7 that you can visit from August 8-12 to experience the goodness of 100% Arabica coffee from McCafe.

The McCafe Premium Roast Coffee is made from 100% pure Arabica beans, which they claim are hand-picked from the best coffee-producing regions globally. It’s roasted and blended perfectly to give you that classic aroma and great brewed coffee flavor. You can add this to your breakfast meal or solo for only Php 25.00.

Wondering how you’d get your hands on a coupon? Well, they started giving away free coupons in offices, transportation terminals, colleges, universities and McDonald’s stores yesterday. For the complete mechanics or to find out where they’re handing out these coupons, check McDonald’s on Facebook.

Whenever my bro and I see a World Chicken stall, may it be in Trinoma, Gateway Mall or in Glorietta, we can’t help but wrestle with the idea of ordering their oh-so tender grilled chicken. If not for our hunger for something new to feature on this blog, we would’ve eaten there every time (I guess that’s something we’re actually thankful for ). In fact, my bro loved them so much that they were the inspiration behind his Creamy Pesto Pasta and Grilled Chicken recipe.

Ken’s pesto pasta is WAY more delicious than World Chicken’s,
but the ingredients are a li’l on the expensive side.

What is it about World Chicken that makes it one of our favorites? That’s a question that’s pretty easy to answer – it’s the tenderness of the flame-grilled boneless chicken they serve that’s very moist, and the wide variety of options for sauces, carbohydrates, and side dishes, PLUS affordability.

We got this flier from their Gateway Mall branch, explaining why a lot of people are flocking their branches in Glorietta and Trinoma.

• Fresh tomatoes used on their pasta sauces.
• Real potatoes with bacon bits on their potato salad, based on the photo.
• 9 different sauces to choose from.
• Freshly flame-grilled boneless chicken.

I used to collect a lot of things back when we were still living in Navotas. After we moved, most of my collections got lost and some were given away to friends and relatives. And one of them was my McDonald’s Coca Cola Glasses collection from 2009, pictured below.

 McDonald’s 2009 Coca-Cola glasses

I love those glasses because they make a good conversation piece whenever I entertain friends at home. That’s why I’m so glad when I found out that there are McDonald’s Coca Cola Can Glasses now up for grabs for those who love collecting them.

I just love these glasses ‘cause they’re molded into these Coca-Cola Can shapes. And they come in different colors, too. Now, I’ve got 6 colors to collect – Charcoal, Purple, Lime, Pink, Blue and Green!

It’s no question that one of the top fast food chains in our country is Kentucky Fried Chicken (KFC). KFC is actually our favorite because of their fries, their very flavorful chicken and their original recipe gravy that we absolutely love. They also come up with new products that satisfy the taste buds of Pinoys like us.

Remember KFC’s Double Down sandwich? How about their Chili Lime Chicken? And, our ultimate faves, their BBQ Rods and California Maki Twister (oh, we wish they’ll bring this back!). We remember bringing our parents to KFC just so they could get a taste of these new flavors. Yes, we share our love for food with our nanay and tatay. And even for them whose taste buds aren’t as adventurous like ours, they both loved the different flavors KFC offers every time they come out with new products.

We know you’re all very familiar with KFC’s tagline – “It’s finger lickin’ good!”. It’s one of the most memorable and popular taglines ever.

Now, KFC has decided to not just focus on the quality and delicious food you get from them, but the experience, the feeling you get when you bite into that KFC chicken cooked to perfection or any of their delightfully good offerings.

With just one bite on their chicken, you’d know it was made with the freshest poultry delivered daily, pressure-cooked to get to that right tenderness, and then prepared in-store by real chefs with KFC’s 11 secret herbs and spices that make it truly and uniquely KFC’s.

How about getting that oh-so-fulfilling sensation when you pour KFC’s original recipe gravy on your chicken and eat it with a mouthful of rice or their mashed potatoes (okay, seriously, this post is making us hungry)? Makes you want to exclaim something to express that satisfaction.

That’s why KFC’s new tagline is… wait for it…

So good… If you ask us, it’s perfect to describe KFC and the experience you get after dining in or even ordering a bucket meal for takeout.

You can check out KFC’s So Good website (http://www.kfc.com.ph/sogood) to find out more about this change. While you’re at it, check out KFC’s newly designed website – www.kfc.com.ph

Share Your So Good Moments and Win!

On KFC So Good Moments website, you can share your own so-good moments for a chance to qualify as one of 15 with the best so-good stories and bag one of these prizes:

- Be one of three (3) top winners who’d get eleven (11) buckets of delicious KFC chicken EACH
(Yes, dear… 11 buckets each.)

- Be one of twelve (12) winners (runner-up/consolation) who’d get KFC gift certificates

Deadline for submission of entries is August 31, 2011. So, you still got time to come up with your so-good moments.

Let us share with you ours…