Wednesday, March 30, 2011

A Grocery for Gadgets

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When I went in PC Gilmore, their jingle "Pareng Cool, Mareng Cute, What's the latest in Facebook?...Sa PC Gilmore, sa PC Gilmore..." made me feel like I'm inside a local grocery store but this time it's selling electronic gadgets. PC Gilmore was formed in 2001 and have different branches in West Avenue, VMall, Greenhills, Xtreme, Caloocan (All Digital Hub), SM Cubao and they're managing two Asus concepts store located in SM North Edsa and SM Mall of Asia. This year they moved to a bigger and bolder PC Gilmore being the first in Gilmore to put 5 concept stores inside its premises namely: Acer, Asus, Canon, Lenovo and Samsung.


It's always a maze when buying electronic gadgets like computer, laptop, printer, scanner, etc... you name it because of the different stores you have to visit since there are so many brands in the market. If all of them can be together under one roof like a one-stop-shop or grocery for electronics, it would definitely make buying electronic gadgets a lot easier and enjoyable. With that in mind, PC Gilmore comes in since it is already becoming today's leading computer distributor and systems integrator. With almost all of the popular brands under their roof, who needs to go around?


PC Gilmore Marketing Consultant John Balajadia hosted the event.


To give us a feel of their "Grocery for Gadgets" concept, they invited speakers from the different brands which they carry to discuss their latest products.


PC Gilmore Business Unit Head Bong Medina gave the Opening Remarks.


The first speaker is from Asus who discussed about their new N43SL. According to him, the cover of the laptop is made from brushed aluminum. The specs are: Intel Core i5-2410M, 2G DDR3 1333Mhz, 500GB HDD, Nvidia GeForce NV GT540M 2G VRAM, 14" LED display, 1 x USB 3.0, Card reader, BT, 2MP webcam, DVD Combo, HDMI port, Sonic Master Technology, B&O Ice Power, Win 7 Basic, 6 cell battery.



Asus representative discussed and showed how the new N43SL looks like.

To prove the good audio quality of the new N43SL, he played a sample song in the laptop.



The next speaker Channel Sales Specialist of Asus Terence Lim, discussed the new Asus SabertoothP67. One of the striking characteristics of this motherboard is its own cooling system so there's no need to add a cooling fan.




Terence Lim Asus Channel Sales Specialist presents the Asus Sabretooth P57


The third speaker is the 4P Manager of Lenovo SMB Francis Ivan Judan who discussed the history of IBM and Lenovo then showed us the new Lenovo Edge. I learned from him that the ThinkPad has been around for 18 years. Actually, I remember the first laptop that my family had at home is a ThinkPad and back in the days, it was very dependable. According to Francis, since 1992 upto 2010, there were 60 million ThinkPad sold all over the world which gives them the edge so their new ThinkPad is named, ThinkPad Edge. ThinkPad Edge is a lot cheaper than the regular big ThinkPad but it has the important functions of the regular one. The ThinkPad Edge has a spill-resistant keyboard and it has a legacy APS (Action Protection System) that pauses your laptop when you're running around to avoid damage or data loss. Oh yes! I repeat, running around with your laptop while it is on can damage it or cause data loss which only ThinkPad or ThinkPad Edge can prevent with their APS.


Francis Ivan Judan of Lenovo shows the new ThinkPad Edge


How does APS work? The APS transducer warn early when the laptop is falling or shaking. The laptop stops reading and writing upon getting this signal. Force disk head starts unloading (within 500ms), the data is protected and once the laptop stabilizes, the laptop goes back into the normal working state. As shown on the picture above, the ThinkPad Edge can be wide opened without having to worry since there's a part behind it that acts as breaks.


What's more? ThinkPad Edge also has a battery monitor to measure how long the battery will last and how worn out the battery is.


The fourth speaker, Aileen Chua of Logitech showed their latest product which is the very first of its kind in the market today, their Solar Keyboard. Say goodbye to batteries and charging with the wireless Solar Keyboard.


Aileen Chua of Logitech presenting their new Solar Keyboard (it's wireless too!)


Another new product which Aileen showed is their new webcam with Carl Zeiss lens. Now, you can see a clearer image of the other person you're chatting with!



Aileen presents their new webcam with Carl Zeiss lens


The last speaker is Juno Limjap-Sison from Samsung. she unveiled in front of everyone their new Samsung Series 9 Notebook which is the slimmest laptop in the world today. It is even slimmer than MacBook Air with only 7mm height and very lightweight! It also has USB ports that are hidden. For durability, the case is made from the metal used for aircrafts. As of the moment, this laptop is not yet in the market and it has no price yet. When Juno opened the box and showed the product, everyone in the room was reacting with "Ohhh!" and "Ahhh!" It definitely was a winner just by its look!


Juno Limjap-Sison with the Samsung Series 9 Notebook (Photo by Omar Itay)


It is truly amazing how these different brands were presented in front of us and these people were nice to each other with their friendly competitions. It didn't feel like I was in a market with people shouting out that they're product is better than the other brands. PC Gilmore definitely knows how to make people feel comfortable with different brands colliding under one roof! The surprises don't end just there yet...There's even a spa and a gym on the ground floor of PC Gilmore behind all the electronic gadgets called Executive Platinum Fitness! The spa caters to those stressed souls holding offices in the New Manila and Valencia area. The gym on the other hand, is another choice for the stressed souls and also the residents of the area.


Executive Platinum Fitness



Aside from the complete set of equipments in the gym, there's a studio for group exercises, a lap pool, jacuzzi, sauna, steam room and shower. It is indeed complete and the place is really big! The place does looks deceivingly small outside but it's a surprise inside! The operating hours of the gym is 6am - 1am daily. The pool closes at 10pm. The spa has a massage promo of PhP200 from 2pm-5pm daily.

There's even a studio on the second floor for group exercises like dance.


PC Gilmore and Executive Platinum Fitness is located at 19 1st St. cor Gilmore Ave., Brgy Valencia, New Manila, Quezon City. For more details, call 411-0786 or 470-2154. You may visit the website of PC Gilmore at http://www.pcgilmore.com.ph/ and the website of Executive Platinum Fitness at http://www.platinumfitness.com.ph/. At the moment, PC Gilmore is having their Big Bang Sale tomorrow until April 4, 2011. Visit PC Gilmore today!


By the way, please comment on this blog entry, like it below and share it to your friends if you find it helpful. There's an ongoing contest on who gets the most number of comments, likes and shared link on or before April 1, 2011, wins a netbook. PC Gilmore will be tracking it. I hope I win it. To those who will comment or like or share my entry, a big THANK YOU!

Monday, March 28, 2011

Learn from the Master, this Summer!

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Summer 2011 is here! Aside from going on trips, it would also be better to enroll your children to summer workshops for improving their skills or discovery of a new talent.


Owner and Managing Director of J. Tolentino Communication Consultancy Services, Sir Toots Tolentino (full name: Joselito O. Tolentino), a well-known and highly respected PR specialist in communications and special events will be teaching in a summer workshop entitled, "The Art of Writing Lifestyle Stories" which is open to all high school and college students who want to hone their skills in writing and discover their writing power that they never thought they have.


Sir Toots has published articles in Philippine Daily Inquirer, Manila Bulletin, BusinessWorld, The Times Journal and he became Sunday Times Magazine's Contributing Fashion Editor in the 80s. Because of his expert writing skills, he has become the master of 'Lifestyle PR' with his countless articles on art and culture, fashion, theatre, personalities, food and travelogues for many years up to the present. The workshop shall cover the subjects that Sir Toots personally love. The topics will delve on art and culture, health and wellness, home and interiors, food and restaurants, fashion and beauty, travel, family and personalities.


Toots Tolentino at the Press Preview of "The Wedding Singer" (October 22, 2010)


"The Art of Writing Lifestyle Stories" will start on April 4, 2011. For inquiries and more details, please contact 0917-8604205 or email tolentino_toots@yahoo.com.

Wednesday, March 23, 2011

The 1st Ever Wine Auction in the Philippines

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History will unfold itself before me. I'm a lover of wine and I still can't believe that I'll be going to the first ever wine auction in the Philippines! March 24, 2011 marks a special date to the oenophiles, wine drinkers and collectors here in the Philippines because this is going to be their first time to see imported wines being auctioned off here.


Forth & Tay, a direct merchant of fine wines and spirits, and Salcedo Auctions, the country's premier auction house are the organizers of the first ever "Wines and Spirits Auction" to be held at the Mandarin Oriental at 7pm. Part of the auction's proceeds will be going to Virlanie Foundation.


James Du Vivier, GM of Forth&Tay


The Auction Index comprises a list of 32 of the most important wines in today's auction market. Some of them are the 1986 Château Lafite Rothschild (95 points), 1994 Château Latour (94 points), 1999 Château Mouton-Rothschild (90 points), 2000 Château Léoville-Las Cases (100 points), 1989 Château Pichon-Longueville-Lalande (94 points), 2006 Opus One Napa Valley (93 points), 1999 and 2006 Robert Mondavi Napa Valley Reserve (96-95 points) and more.




Admission to the auction and tasting is P1,500. There are over 100 wines for tasting and 50 lots for the auction.

For reservations, contact Elva at 659-4094, 0917-3301542, info@salcedoauctions.com. For reservations to the auction, contact Amz@forthtay.com, 828-1067 and 0917-5599841.

Monday, March 21, 2011

KFC Summer 2011 Specials

10:50:00 AM 0 Comments
The name KFC has been synonymous to fried chicken for many years. Who would have known that this name will be having other mouth watering products aside from its famous fried chicken?

Recently, KFC launched its Taste of Summer Campaign at the Seawall Side Garden of the Sofitel Philippine Plaza. To set the summer mood, fire dancers from Planet Zips performed and taught some members of the media how to poi dance. There was even a dance competition to test if these people have learned "the moves" of poi dancing.

The first product launched is their irresistible Fish Twister. This is the first time that KFC is offering a non-chicken meat product! Well, why not? This is in perfect timing for the Lenten Season and for the weight watchers who would like to be fit this summer. It's breaded deep fried fish fillet with dill mayo, cucumbers and cheese wrapped in a toasted tortilla. As what their TVC says, it's "fish in a wrap, sarap!"

The next products are the new flavors of their Krushers: Halo-halo and Buko Pandan!


I first tried the Halo-Halo Krushers which has nata de coco bits, macapuno strips, ube and leche flan. It tastes absolutely like halo-halo without the trouble of mixing all the ingredients and waiting for the ice to soften or melt a little bit. It's definitely a treat for those who would like to get a quick halo-halo fix in this hot summer heat!


The Buko Pandan Krushers is quite creamy and very flavorful. I think my drink lacks ice because the flavor of the pandan is quite bold. There are buko and pandan jelly bits that are soft and chewy.


The last product for this summer is not to be eaten. It's their Ben10 Bucket Meal which has a Ben10 glow-in-the-dark bucket with four matching tumblers that also glow! It's a must have for kids this summer for outings on the beach or having a picnic. I bet the kids will want to play on the sand at night to show off their glow-in-the-dark bucket!




To add more excitement this summer, KFC has an online promo wherein customers take photos of themselves in their summer get up with one of KFC's three new products at non-summer-y places. The pictures must be uploaded and displayed on www.kfc.com.ph/summer. Those who will be featuring the Ben10 bucket meal can win a trip for 4 to an Asian theme park like Hong Kong Disneyland, while the Krushers winner can win a trip for 4 to a local beach destination like Boracay or Palawan. Then the Fish Twister winner gets to pick a tour for 2 at these countries: Bangkok, Hong Kong or Singapore. What are you waiting for? Try these products and join this promo now!

For more details about KFC Taste of Summer products and promo, please visit www.kfc.com.ph/summer or their Facebook page www.facebook.com/kfcphilippines. Enjoy summer!

Seriously Yummy

9:28:00 AM 0 Comments

Yummy Roast opens its first store in Manila today!




This restaurant is made by the cooperation of Yum Roast International, Inc.'s President Richie Yang together with Singaporean-based food establishment The Asian Kitchen's CEO Cary Gee. Since The Asian Kitchen has a popular reputation of creating superb Asian cuisines in Singapore, this partnership will surely make the Filipino crowd enjoy authentic Asian food at its finest.




Mr. Richie Yang (Left) and Mr. Cary Gee (Right)

While waiting for our meal, the restaurant first served us refreshments called Longan Iced Tea. This new concept is quite interesting. I've eaten longan before but haven't had it as iced tea. Looking at the Longan Iced Tea, it looks really refreshing. A sip of it tasted like a gulaman sago concoction but with a little lychee taste. Even though the longan is soaked in iced tea, it's still chewy and quite flavorful.


I also noticed the words "Seriously Good Roast!" on their backdrop. So I was really excited to try the chicken out since it looks like they're really serious with roasting their chicken.


Yummy Roast offers a new kind of roast chicken with the Singaporean touch. At first look, the chicken looks like a regular roast duck but it's chicken! According to the creators of Yummy Roast, chicken is a lot healthier than duck since chicken has less fat and cholesterol.


Health conscious people should not be afriad of ordering their Yummy Chicken. According to Mr. Gee, "Health conscious people should order the Yummy Chicken because of the way it is roasted through our new technology." Digging inside the Yummy Chicken, I noticed that there's not much oil oozing out of the chicken but the meat of the chicken is juicy.


The flavorful taste of the meal can't be complete without their Yummy Rice. Why is the rice called as such? Their rice is cooked with different Asian spices, lemon grass and chicken essence. The meals are very affordable. At the price of P98, you get to enjoy Yummy Chicken, Yummy Pork Belly and Yummy Pork Asado with Yummy Rice. Just add P20 to get unlimited Yummy Rice or if you would like your rice plain (for healthier alternative), they have Fragrant Rice which I think is Jasmine Rice because of the smell and taste.


Aside from the above yummy dishes, they offer Zhajiang Noodles, which is a combination of ground pork in chili sauce on top of spaghetti noodles, and Tofu with Zhajiang Sauce. The tofu is crispy on the outside but soft in the inside. It is not salted nor peppered so dipping it on the Zhajiang Sauce gives it a tangy spice.


Their Yummy Pork can also be enjoyed during snack time with Pork Belly Pan de Pao which is "kwapao" or white bread that looks like the bread of "siopao" with cucumbers and mayo.


There is also Man Tou with Zhajiang Sauce.


What's more? Since they understand the need of on-the-go Filipinos to have their meal served fast, after you order on the counter, food is served in just 3 minutes!


This first Yummy Roast is located at 2/F Citywalk 2, Eastwood City.



Photo from Yummy Roast

Within the year, the company intends to open more branches with outlets in SM Sta. Rosa, SM Bicutan, Vito Cruz and SM Manila so watch out for it!



Yummy Roast Menu

Thursday, March 17, 2011

Spice Up Your Graduation Celebration with Goldilocks

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Goldilocks spices up the celebration of newly graduates with their new Choco Orange Greeting Cake! Being the country's number one bakeshop, Goldilocks combined their lusciously sweet chocolate with orange chiffon and refreshing citrus buttercreme. Bordered with sumptuous chocolate fudge frosting and topped with chocolate crescents. A beautiful way to greet your loveone who have just graduated after all those years of hard work from studying!

The Choco Orange Greeting Cake is now available in the Goldilocks branch nearest you or call 888-1-999 Go-Delivery to have the cake delivered at your doorstep!

Smooth Summer Sips by Goldilocks

7:23:00 PM 0 Comments

Conquering the heat of summer are the Goldilocks Thirst Quenchers! These Smooth Summer Sips by Goldilocks come in different Filipino favorite flavors: Halo-halo, Mais con Yelo, Sago't Gulaman, Mango Sago, Pandan Ice Jelly. Find them in your next visit to your neighbor Goldilocks store!

This year, they've got new additions called, "Bubble Popz" which comes in Pandan Green Tea and Almond Lychee flavors!

But wait, you don't have to go out of your house or office to try these! Just pick up the phone and call 888-1-999 Go-Delivery to try these refreshing Smooth Summer Sips. Call now!

Friday, March 11, 2011

New York Pizza Palace: A Plane-Free Trip to New York

7:00:00 AM 1 Comments


Entrance of New York Pizza Palace (NYPP)

"Yattah! I love New York!" I get reminded of Hiro Nakamura shouting this famous line whenever I hear New York and wish that someday I'll be able to tour that part of the world. I was able to go there before but unfortunately, I wasn't able to go anywhere except for the Statue of Liberty so it has always been my frustration to be able to go back.


NY Iconic Wall



The Late Show with David Letterman also has a spot at the NY iconic wall. I love it!



Walking in New York Pizza Palace (NYPP) made me feel that I was in New York without having to take a plane. The place is amazingly lit just like the lights on the streets of New York. There are 17 TV screens showing parts of New York namely, Time Square, Fifth Ave. and Midtown, plus some LED boards showing the New York Stock Market, News and scores of different sports.



NYPP Server in a NY Yankees Uniform behind the jersey is the name DiMaggio #5.

All around the area there are graffiti, the sewage cover of New York, the street names and side walk of New York. The style of the menu is copied from the New York Subway Station. There's even a replica of the benches seen in New York Subway Stations. For an additional feel of New York, the screens play "Empire State of Mind" every hour and every 30-mins a compilation of different iconic New York films are being shown.


Graffiti



The street names of New York



A replica of New York's subway station bench

The impressive interior design and concept of New York in a box does not stop there. All the products are freshly prepared as you order except for pizza since pizza takes a long time to make. To guarantee the freshness of the product, there's no kitchen. Everything is prepared in front of the customers. Even though the food is prepared as you order, the food will be delivered to your table within a surprisingly fast 60 seconds after payment from the counter! It is truly amazing!


Pizza made in front of the customers



NYPP food choices (They will make it fresh for you)


The recipe of NYPP was developed by Chef O'Connor from the US who knows the authentic New York pizza taste. Eric Orland, Chairman of NYPP, was born in New York but lived in California. He always craved for New York pizza while living in California so he knew what proper NY pizza should taste like. Eric tried each and every recipe that Chef O'Connor made to ensure the perfect New York taste. Since NYPP is going to be here in Metro Manila, Eric also hired Chef Carlo Miguel to make sure that the New York taste will be suitable to the Filipino taste buds. Eric showed and explained to us the difference of an authentic New York pizza, "What makes a good quality pizza is the crispness of the product. You can hear the crisp when they cut it."



Four flavors pizza: Spicy Shrimp, Cheese, Triple Meat Lover, Mini Meatballs (All their pizzas are 18")


Eric also said that their group is planning to open 6 more branches this year and 60 - 65 stores in 5 years! They're not open to franchising but they are open for investors because they want to maintain managerial control to ensure the quality of their product.



Eric Orland, Chairman of NYPP, touring us around NYPP



My favorite pizzas from everything that I've tasted there are their Spinach & Artichoke (made with spinach and artichoke with mozzarella, romano, provolone cheese, breadcrumbs and basil leaves) and their White Pie (made with ricotta, mozzarella, romano cheeses with onions, bacon and thyme).



Four flavors pizza: Vodka Pie, Eggplant&Ricotta, Spinach&Artichoke, White Pie



Another favorite of mine is their appetizer called suppli. According to Eric, he first encountered this in Italy and thought it would be a great addition to the menu which I think he is correct! Suppli are deep fried rice balls with parmesan and cheddar cheese. It's part of the appetizer but I warn you that it's filling so better share it with your friends.



My favorite Suppli (They use Japanese rice which is deliciously perfect!)

Other must tries are their Sicilian Salad (whose dressing are made from scratch) and Chicken Wings (it's crispy and full of sauce).


Other food choices besides pizza

NYPP is open from 9am - 4am daily. It is located at A. Venue, Makati Avenue near J.P Rizal St. For delivery, contact 720-5977. For more information visit http://www.newyorkpizzapalace.com/.


The people behind NYPP





The all around ambiance of NYPP

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