Who Run the World? GIRLS! Celebrating International Women's Day.....

Annually on 8 March, thousands of events are held throughout the world to inspire women and celebrate their strengths and achievements. A global web of rich and diverse local activity connects women from all around the world ranging from political rallies, business conferences, government activities and networking events through to local women's craft markets, theatric performances, fashion parades and more. In some places like China, Russia, Vietnam and Bulgaria, International Women's Day is a national holiday.

It is also known as the United Nations (UN) Day for Women's Rights and International Peace. Thousands of events celebrated not just on this day but throughout March to mark the economic, political and social achievements of women. Organisations, governments, charities and women's groups around the world choose different themes each year that reflect global and local gender issues.

Each year the United Nations declares an overall International Women's Day theme. Their 2012 theme is “Empower Rural Women – End Hunger and Poverty”, recognizing the critical role and contribution of rural women. While internationalwomensday.com website's theme is "Connecting Girls, Inspiring Futures".

The International Women’s Day logo is in purple and white and features the symbol of Venus, which is also the symbol of being female.  The faces of women of all backgrounds, ages, and nations are also seen in various promotions, such as posters, postcards and information booklets, on International Women’s Day.  Various messages and slogans that promote the day are also publicized during this time of the year.

The day aimed to help nations worldwide eliminate discrimination against women. It also focused on helping women gain full and equal participation in global development. So make a difference, think globally and act locally !! Make everyday International Women's Day. Do your bit to ensure that the future for girls is bright, equal, safe and rewarding.

To all women in the world..... this is our song!

Happy International Women's Day!

NESTLÉ FITNESSE SHAPE UP NIGHT: Featuring Zumba Fitness party

Here is a new reason to look forward to summer 2012. NESTLÉ FITNESSE will be encouraging women to shape up their lifestyle through a highly enjoyable fusion of nutrition and exercise. 


Watch out for the NESTLÉ FITNESSE SHAPE UP NIGHT: Featuring Zumba Fitness party which will be held at the NBC tent in Fort Bonifacio on March 31, 2012. 

Guests will be able to experience the biggest Zumba assembly to date in a unique party feel and at the same time understand how the whole-grain goodness of NESTLÉ FITNESSÉ plays part in helping them get in shape and keep in shape.

Lent..... a special time of Prayer, Penance, Sacrifice and Good Works

On Ash Wednesday, we begin our Lenten journey with Christ’s Passion, Death, and Resurrection.

At the mass this morning, Fr. Rollie Agustin (St. Andrew's Cathedral, La Huerta Paranaque) reminded us that Lent is a special time of prayer, penance, sacrifice and good works in preparation of the celebration of Easter. During this season, people should take up the three traditional practices:

1. Pray - by prayer we acknowledge God's power and goodness, our own neediness and dependence. We should pray for all, without exception, in high or low station, for the just, for sinners, for infidels; for the dead as well as for the living; for enemies as well as for friends.

2. Fasting and Abstinence - it is the reduction of one's intake of food to one full meal a day. The purpose of fasting is spiritual focus, self discipline, imitation of Christ, and performing penance. Fasting may be accompanied by abstinence, like giving up an unhealthy or unnecessary habit and not eating meat specially every Friday.

3. Charity - means an unlimited loving-kindness toward all others. Charity has two parts: love of God and love of man, which includes both love of one's neighbor and one's self.

Stations of the Cross or Way of the Cross; in Latin, Via Crucis; also called the Via Dolorosa, is most commonly done during the Season of Lent, especially on Good Friday and on Friday evenings during Lent.

Repent of sin, renew our faith and prepare to celebrate joyfully the mysteries of our salvation.

Eat Your Heart Out at the SM Mega Food Sale

We're all used to mall wide sales for clothes and other things but at SM Megamall they have devoted a whole weekend for our favorite .......... FOOD. The SM Megamall Food Sale is SM Megamall's mall-wide, nonstop dining food festival with different promos being offered from buy 1 take 1, free items, eat all you can and many more happening on February 24, 25 and 26, 2012 from 10am to 10pm only.

Huge discounts and price offs! Buy 1 take 1! Eat all you can! Free appetizers! Free desserts! Free drinks! And many more!

Here's a few promos to watch out for:

* Cajun Red Rock - Buy the creole chicken pasta worth P250 or original classic burger worth P245 or a red rock salad worth P270 or bottomless iced tea P99 for ONLY 1 PESO for a minimum purchase of Php 500!

* Gotti's Ristorante - 50% off on ALL PIZZAS!

* Dulcinea - Churros all you can from 2 to 5pm for only Php 98

* Pepper Lunch Philippines - Get their bestseller Pepper Rice for only Php 145

* French Baker - Php 100 discount on their premium Angus rib eye steak

* Happy Lemon Philippines - Get a free Kitkat chocolate for every drink ordered

* Masuki - mami and siopao all you can for only Php250

* Yoshinoya - Buy 1 take 1 on the Italian beef (save Php 120)

* Mesa - 50% off on all desserts

* Wendy's - Just buy a biggie iced tea & get a free wendy's regular hamburger

* Papa Johns - Half the price on 4 flavors of the 9inch pizza

* Gumbo - free seafood paella for a min. receipt of P500 (P395 savings!)

* Yabu - Get free choco lava cake (worth P175) or free appetizers for a min. purchase of P500


These are just a few, much more food promos and discounts awaits you!

Love Food, Love Mega

20th Wedding Expo Philippines

Asia's biggest wedding fair is scheduled to happen on March 10 - 11, 2102 at the world-class SMX Convention Center, SM Mall of Asia Complex.  WEDDING EXPO PHILIPPINES, Asia's grandest and the Philippines' most prestigious wedding fair, will showcase more than 400 topnotch wedding professionals in a 2 -day grand event intended especially for soon-to-weds and their entourage.  SMX Convention Center's 6,000 square meters ground floor will be  will converted into a wedding wonderland and a shopping mecca of everything related to weddings whether big or small.

Now on its 20th edition of being the biggest and most comprehensive wedding fair in the Philippines,  WEDDING EXPO PHILIPPINES remains the most sought after and most awaited wedding event in the country.  It is the unbeatable launch venue of choice where the Philippines and some of Asia's best new wedding companies, ideas, products, & services get their public introduction. 

WEDDING EXPO PHILIPPINES
Venue: SMX Convention Center
Country: Pasay, Philippines
Start Date: 10-MAR-12
End Date: 11-MAR-12

Organizer:
Themes & Motifs The Special Events Co.
Ground Floor, Makati Shangri-la Hotel, Hotel Corner Along Ayala Ave, Makati, Philippines
Tel:+(63)-(2)-4137892
Fax:+(63)-(2)-4100032

Weekend Eats: Callos (Ox Tripe Stew)

Callos, a legacy from the Spanish colonial era, this savory stew of ox tripe and leg is flavored with spicy chorizo de bilbao and traditionally served with olives. What makes callos special? Why is it different from other beef stews? Chorizo de bilbao is a major factor. chorizo bilbao is a spicy sausage packed in paprika flavored lard.

Tripe came from the Italian word “trippa” which is a type of offal from the stomachs of various animals such as the cows and pigs. The most common one used for cooking is the beef tripe and it is used in different countries such as France who have Andouille and Tripoux, Italy who have Trippa alla Romana, Greece who have Patsás, Germany with their Saure Kutteln and Philippines and Spain with their Callos. These are just some of the popular examples and definitely there will be a lot more from other countries. 

Callos

Ingredients:

1 kilo ox tripe, cut into strips

1 pc. ox leg, cut into medium dice 

3 tablespoons extra-virgin olive oil

2 tablespoons garlic, minced

2 pcs. white onion, minced

3/4 kilo potato, cut into small triangles and fried

2 pcs. red bell pepper, cut into strips

1/2 cup garbanzos

1/2 cup tomato paste

2 tablespoons Spanish paprika

3-4 pieces El Rey chorizo de bilbao, sliced

2 tablespoons Worcestershire sauce

2 teaspoons Tabasco 

salt and pepper to taste

• Clean the ox tripe and ox leg, boil together and simmer for at least 3 hours or until tender. Reserve the broth. 

• Sauté garlic and onions in olive oil. Add the fat of the chorizo to make it more flavorful. Then put in the paprika and let them sweat for a few seconds. 

• Add all the meats including the chorizo, followed by tomato paste, Worcestershire sauce, and Tabasco. 

• Pour in all the reserved broth. Add the bell pepper and garbanzos.  Simmer for 30 minutes until all flavors meld together. 

• Lastly, add the potatoes and season with salt and freshly cracked black pepper. Serve hot.

This recipe is my mother in law's version, the only thing that I added here is the Spanish Paprika. The first time I tasted it, I really fell in love and I never forgotten the taste. I like this dish because of its texture. The extra tender tripe and fat from the ox feet literally melts in your mouth while the luscious taste of chorizo lingers around, inviting you to try more. 


TIP:  My mother in law recommends that you use MARCA EL REY CHORIZO DE BILBAO than the usual chorizos in can.

¡Buen provecho

Whitney Houston..... The greatest voice of our time

I remember when I was still a kid, I used to sing my heart out to Whitney Houston's "Greatest Love of All". My dad was the one who taught me this song and he used to sing it with me in family gatherings. Then, way back in highschool, "Where do broken hearts go" was one of my favorite. Who will forget the songs "I Will Always Love You" and "I Wanna Run To You"? It was like a national anthem in 1992, these songs were heard in every singing auditions and contests as well. But no matter how others tried to imitate her, no one has been gifted with the voice as glorious as Whitney Houston's.

Whitney Elizabeth Houston (August 9, 1963- February 11, 2012), was born in Newark, New Jersey, to a musical family: she was the daughter of the gospel star Cissy Houston, a cousin of Dionne Warwick and goddaughter of Aretha Franklin. She began singing in her church choir at the age of 11, and as a young teenager occasionally performed at her mother's concerts. Her voice attracted attention, and when she was 15, she and Cissy sang backup on Chaka Khan's 1978 hit I'm Every Woman. She was one of the world's best selling music artists, having sold over 170 million albums, singles and videos worldwide.

Houston often gravitated to dramatic songs with lyrics about triumphing over the odds, and has been credited with inventing the "pop diva" genre that has inspired singers to the present day. She was also the first black woman to break through the colour bar at the all-important MTV, which beforetime had played white artists almost exclusively. The station's heavy rotation of her videos made her a familiar face to Middle America, and her mix of glamour, talent and approachability made her an aspirational figure for millions of teenage girls.

In 1992, she married ex-boy band member Bobby Brown, who came to be widely blamed for her downward spiral. The marriage produced her only child, Bobbi Kristina, but Brown was jealous of his wife's success and was emotionally abusive. Her drug use began around that time, and by 1996 she was a daily user. As the decade went on she was photographed looking dishevelled and frighteningly haggard. Even in a decade in which celebrities regularly suffered humiliating falls from grace, Houston's was shocking. Narcotics and her toxic relationship with Brown ravaged her looks and robbed her voice of its ability to soar. Her mother forced her into rehab in 2006, and the following year Houston divorced Brown.

Last autumn she returned to acting for a remake with the American Idol winner Jordin Sparks of the 1976 film Sparkle. Filming of the story was completed recently.

February 11, 2012, Houston was found dead in the bathtub of her hotel room in Los Angeles, where she had gone for Davis' pre-Grammy party. Los Angeles County Coroner officials confirmed that the singer did not die from drowning, but rather from what appears to be a combination of Xanax and other prescription drugs mixed with alcohol.

The "being" may have left us, but her spirit and voice is alive and well! 
Let's celebrate the life of Ms. Whitney Houston.