There's More to Fish & Co. Than Fish

Carnivores, celebrate! If you think Fish & Co. is all about fish, think again. After all "& Co." in their name means it ain't all about fish. They have now expanded their food offerings to include *drumroll*....MEAT!

My kids are primarily carnivores and while I can get them to try seafood dishes, they usually go for the meat dishes first. Their favorite dish at Fish & Co. is the fish & chips, what else? But at this dinner hosted by Fish & Co., upon the invite of Carlo, my girl and I, along with other blogger friends, were able to take a peek at the varied meat items they had concocted. 

Shrimp and Chicken Breast Al Pesto

Being a health-conscious Mom and yogini, I have recently been tapering my meat intake and increasing fish, vegetables and fruits in my diet. But who can resist this dish when chicken breast is combined with shrimp, pasta (my favorite dish!) and broccoli? Still healthy! Of all the dishes served up that night, this was my clear choice.

Breaded Chicken Piggyback

Surprisingly, piggybacking shrimp on top of breaded chicken went well. I liked the combination of the chicken's crunch with the softness of the shrimp. A thoughtful addition is the noodles at the bottom. It serves as the carbs high of the dish.

Grilled Lamb Chops

Yum yum lamb chops! I'm glad it was prepared with veggies as part of the serving. I normally stay away from pure meat dishes.

My girl (beside me) gave the dinner a two thumbs up so that means my carnivore girl was pleased with the menu. Thanks for the wonderful, gastronomic dinner, Fish & Co. I'm hauling my carnivore family here on our next family celebration.

Social: Facebook App for the iPad

(UPDATE: This app has been taken off the App Store already.)

One beef that I have with Facebook up to this time is that it does not have a version for the iPad. While Twitter and my other social networks and blogging platforms have already come up with tablet versions, Facebook seems to be taking its sweet time.

Since moving to the iPad, I have been making do with the iPod Touch version I used to have. So imagine holding the iPad but seeing a teeny tiny iPod Touch screen. Really frustrating.

Well, tonight I made a great discovery after searching the App Store. Social does well (actually, very well so far) as an almost native Facebook app. There is a similar Facebook alternative app called Friendly but from forums I saw, more people prefer Social.

Social has beautifully incorporated most of what I need to do on Facebook. Macworld's article describing it enumerates several things you can do with Social:

• Add friends, groups and pages to your favorites for quick and easy access • Post new messages • Send private messages • Upload pictures and create new albums • Create groups, events and pages • Easily search through your friends, groups and pages • Browse the full Facebook page, but customized to the iPad touch-screen

Clinique's New Repairwear Laser Focus Wrinkle and Photo Damage Corrector

When I was a lot younger, I never gave much attention to my skin. I loved sports then like women's softball and played outdoors a lot with girls and boys alike. Pinoy sports like sipa, siato, patintero and piko were favorites of mine. In fact, looking at my photo albums from that time, I was DARK!

Now that I'm more conscious about aging and keeping a healthy lifestyle, I am learning (a bit too late) that all that sun exposure without the benefit of sunscreen was probably wreaking damage on my skin. In a sense, I still consider myself lucky that I inherited some good genes when it came to skin because I still have fairly good skin up to now. But I really do not know how much damage has been wrought underneath. 

Well, one of my favorite brands is about to launch a product that addresses precisely this kind of concern for women in my age category (and even those who are still a lot younger but want to ensure they adequately protect their skin from sun damage).

Clinique recently announced that by November 2010, they will be launching the new Repairwear Laser Focus Wrinkle & Photo Damage Corrector.

And the Palamantasan Healthy Pledge Winners Are...

We were supposed to announce the contest winners on my blog last Saturday, Sept. 18. But all the bloggers concerned, including the organizers, had to review the entries to ensure that only those who followed the mechanics of the contest were considered valid entries.

I also regret that there was one entry that I could not consider. Firstly, the person posted a link to his/her Facebook page which I could not view due to privacy settings. Secondly, that person's entry did not appear also on the Palamantasan Facebook page. So there could have been technical glitches with the post. Too bad.

The contest mechanics were clear. One entry per person only.

Since I did not specify if it was one entry per blog or one entry per person for the entire contest, I considered even the entries of people who joined different bloggers' contests but took pains to submit different entries. Because of the effort exerted, those people still qualified to join. Others were disqualified however for not following the contest mechanics.

So, here are the winners for my blog (I chose less than the maximum of 10).

1. Bagel Betorin

2. Cornelio Mallare

3. Emiliana Sison

4. G-anne Ronquillo

5. Luisa Clemente

6. Ning Buning


Please contact Sam Sanchez of Geiser Maclang at 0918.823.4624 to arrange how to claim your prizes.

Congratulations and thanks for joining!

Chili's Deluxe Big Mouth Burgers

Bloggers got a first crack at sampling Chili's bigger Deluxe Big Mouth Burgers. Chili's has been serving burgers already but this time, their new line of burgers said it all -- they were large enough for 2 people to share! Great for people like me with less-than-average appetite.

An added treat for the bloggers was a kitchen tour personally done by Chili's chef. We got to see how orders were filled, the many quality control steps that they took to ensure each burger came out as it should, sanitation measures (they washed and washed and washed their hands over and over). We got to enter their room-sized freezer where we saw the patties and other ingredients stored. And we got to see how the mushroom sauce was made -- prepared by the chef himself in front of us.

We were treated to their four new burgers plus their brand new scrumptious dessert. First, the appetizers...

Downy: Wearing Perfume Without Wearing Perfume

Downy recently launched its line of premium fabric conditioners (Passion and Attraction) which contain a unique blend of perfume oils. It's like wearing perfume without putting perfume on.

The build-up to the actual day of the launch began with a challenge for the nose. This blogger took up the challenge to guess what was the missing ingredient on a scented towel sent in together with the  challenge.

Two of Procter & Gamble's perfumiers (Hector Esquinca and Shingo Ishii) headed for Grasse, France, the perfume capital of the world, to create two exciting new scents just for the Filipina nose to enjoy. Thus, Passion and Attraction were born.

Being a perfume noob, I knew next to none about how perfumes were created so it was with great interest that I listened to these two men whose sensitive noses could be likened to the sensitive taste buds of gourmet chefs.

It was my first time to learn of "scent notes". There are the base notes, the middle notes and the top notes. Hmmm, now I'm reminded of my days taking piano lessons. Wikipedia describes these notes this way. Top notes are the scents that one immediately smells upon applying a perfume. Middle notes are the scents that start to emerge once the top notes start to dissipate. And the base notes are the scents that come out once the middle notes dissipate. The base and middle notes are the true essence of a perfume scent. These scents usually come out about 30 minutes after application.

A Breakthrough in Hemorrhoid Surgery

I remember the pain and discomfort when I suffered from hemorrhoids after the normal delivery of my 4 kids. The extreme pushing during labor resulted in my hemorrhoids acting up for days. I could not sit normally and every bowel movement was excruciating. Thankfully, the situation would clear up after a couple of weeks.

But that got me thinking about the many other men and women who suffered daily from hemorrhoids. Some suffer the milder form - internal hemorrhoids. These are usually not painful although they may bleed. But others who are less fortunate suffer extreme pain from hemorrhoids where the veins are already outside the anus. These can be itchy or painful and sometimes crack and bleed.

Current Hemorrhoid Treatments

Often, lifestyle changes, topical medications and good hygiene are all that is needed to reduce the symptoms of hemorrhoids. In my case, after my normal deliveries, the pain just cleared up after a couple of weeks on its own. However, in a certain percentage of sufferers, surgery may be required. To-date, here are some invasive treatments done:

1. Rubber band ligation - this is performed on persons whose internal hemorrhoids have fallen outside the anus. It involves pulling the hemorrhoidal tissue into a double-sleeved cylinder to allow the placement of latex/rubber bands around the tissue. Over time, the tissue below the bands die off and is eliminated during bowel movement. This can be performed in the doctor's office and requires little preparion.

2. Traditional hemorrhoidectomy - Excess tissue causing bleeding or protrusion is cut away under anesthesia. This requires hospitalization and absence from work for an average of 6 weeks. After-recovery is difficult due to discomfort and pain experienced by the patient. Employees usually lose about 20 days of work.

3. Cryotherapy (freezing the hemorrhoidal tissue) - This is a very painful procedure.

4. Bipolar Diathermy Coagulation (BICAP) and direct current - These techniques shrink the hemorrhoids and cause the tissue to die.

PPH: A Faster and Less Painful Option

Recently, Medical City announced the availability of a surgical option, developed by Dr. Antonio Longo of the St. Elizabeth Hospital in Vienna, which is modern, faster and less painful. It is called Procedure for Prolapse and Hemorrhoids or PPH.

Clinique Bonus Time 2010

If, like me, you're a regular Clinique user, here's a heads-up because it won't last that long.

It's Clinique Bonus Time once again - the time of the year when you get freebies when you do your regular replenishment of your Clinique skin care items.

For a single purchase worth P3,900 or more (between Sept. 3-19, 2010 only), here's what you get:

(1) All About Eyes
(1) Superbalm Moisturizing Gloss
(1) Turnaround Concentrate
(1) Dramatically Different Moisturizing Lotion
(1) Liquid Facial Soap (Mild)
(1) Clarifying Moisture Lotion 2
(1) FREE foldable carry-on bag

I always love to wait for promos such as these because the value of the free items run to thousands already.

Better hurry over to any Clinique counter in the malls before supply of the freebies run out.

Your Healthy Palamantasan Pledge Can Win Kraft Gift Packs

Up to now, my Mom keeps reminding me that I was not much of a vegetable eater as a little girl. Thankfully, she knew how to cook and managed to provide me with healthy snacks incorporating the things that I would eat. Sometimes though, she would insist that I eat my veggies. So nowadays, she still gets surprised when she sees me eating lots of vegetables and in fact, go for it almost always before getting the meat dishes.

However, I see my young self in my youngest son now who sets aside anything green he sees on his plate. I'm just glad that my other 3 children are not so picky with vegetables, including our eldest girl who has grown to love them. How do I ensure that my children stay healthy during their crucial growing-up years? Here are some things I have done:

1. Junk food and softdrinks are no longer on my grocery list.
2. I choose lean meat over the regular meats available (they are pricier but healthier)
3. Fish is served up more often on the table.
4. Meat dishes, as often as possible, are cooked with vegetables in them.
5. Dairy products like milk and cheese are always present at home.

What about you? Would you be willing to make a Palamantasan Pledge to provide proper nutrition for your family?

CONTEST

Share your pledge with me and get a chance to be one of 10 winners of Kraft gift packs.

It's simple. Here are the contest mechanics: