SUMOSAM: Authentic Bento in the Metro!

Wednesday, January 25, 2012

Who's up for Japanese food?! I know I am! Well don't despair if you can't think of anything to eat this lunch break because SUMOSAM just came out with a new BENTO BOX line that you'll surely love! I got first dibs on it last weekend!

The Samurai's Choice


Samurai's Choice Yokozuna Bento

This is the premier BENTO Box that they have in the SUMOSAM store - Gilmore. Taking a peek at what's in store for me that afternoon was part of the excitement. Since this is the first time they are serving this I immediately thought of who can actually best benefit from this scrumptious Japanese meal!

1. Business people who love lunch meetings
2. Love birds who fondly take chopsticks and feed each other
3. Families who want kids to sit beside them and wallop different things for lunch
4. Those who are in a hurry but need a big meal, less fuss, more substance
5. For Samurais
6. For everybody!

Let me just do a rundown of what this particular meal entails. I'll section it off with how the serving was done in this HUGE YOKOZUNA BENTO BOX!

Beef Misono (US Beef Knuckle) and Yasai Itame (Sauteed Vegetables)

Soft chewy slices of beef and sauteed veggies rule this corner of the box. Don't you just love Beef Misono that's sweet and salty partnered with piping HOT GOHAN aka white rice! The beef smell was invigorating though I wanted it to be a little more salty, good thing they've got soy available in cute little clay teapot containers so you can adjust to your own taste.

Cute Soy Sauce container and Iced tea.

The Iced tea was nice, twas not too sweet! It was a little tangy in fact. It does make a difference if you put slivers of lemon on it. It becomes a tad fresher!


Dory Tepan with bean sprouts and Yasai Itame

We all love those fish fillet pieces on the YOKOZUNA Bento, it was lightly seared on TEPAN which is another name for an iron griddle. In Japan and in the US, there are even restaurants based on this particular way of cooking. SUMOSAM knows this is a hit and this fish by far is the most adored in restaurants in the metro so why not make this a part of the SAMURAIS CHOICE YOKOZUNA BENTO. Not to mention the crunchy bean sprouts that come with it.

Dried Anchovies aka Dilis

Right smack at the center of the YOKOZUNA Bento box was a load full of dried anchovies aka dilis. It's a staple to most of us who dig this at breakfast but their version is kind of sweeter. The sugar coating is eminent which is kind of surprising since most Japanese would probably have this fresh and lightly toasted. The fried dilis in this case probably was cooked that way to keep it crunchy so as to contrast the rest of the things in the bento. I guess everything has to be balanced, so there really is like a thought process in putting these things together. The texture itself was a delight to experience. Soft, hard, mushy, to crunchy! Oishi desu ne!

Gohan - plain white rice jazzed up quite so nice!


Tuna and Salmon Sashimi, plus Kani stick

It's pink, it's raw and I like it that way. I like what they did on this particular portion; neat slices of Tuna and Salmon plus a couple of sticks of Kana (Crab Sticks) just was so good in its dipping sauce of thick soy and wasabe. You can tell the freshness because it ain't fishy at all. The tuna and salmon was firm to the bite and you can actually get a hint of sweetness out of it. I love sashimi! Their Samurai's Choice YOKOZUNA BENTO BOX hits the spot in all the right places!

Since I love Sushi, look who came in to make us one!

Chef Marvin Agustin for SUMOSAM

Oh yes ladies, he's my personal Chef! Anyone want to have lunch with me now?! (Joke!) Kidding aside, Chef Marvin Agustin personally prepared two sushi dishes for us.

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And in a couple of minutes he came out of the kitchen carrying these!


The Las Vegas Sushi Roll - coined from their trips abroad composed of Kane Sticks, Scallops with a helping of flame melted Mozzarella Cheese on top. If there's anything cheesy on it count me in!



The Dynamite Roll - one of Marvin's favorites that's got tuna with a spicy kick! I loved these two that I had to order extras to take home. =) It was VERY spicy and I LOVE how they went out of their way to make it like that. I love spicy food!


GMA Marketing Manager Ricky Laudico part owner of SUMOSAM expresses his excitement in this new restaurant in Gilmore. This together with other nightspots in that new district seem to be really doing well. Even the locals are their patrons too. Loving this new YOKOZUNA BENTO Meals will surely be like second nature. SUMOSAM is surely gonna have a lot of customers coming their way now that YOKOZUNA BENTO Meals are available!


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With a wide array of YOKOZUNA BENTO Choices at different price points there's always a perfect one for you. I recommend the Samurai's Choice though so you can get to taste them all! Isn't that amazing?!

Plus it's right beside a Seattle's Best Coffee branch. I like their Mocha Javakula and you might wanna spend a couple of hours digesting there; catch up with friends or your special loved ones over coffee right after your SUMOSAM lunch.

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Both are perfect joints to talk and make that special connection. Make sure you drop by their place soon!

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PhilAm Life: Awakening A Dragon In All Of Us!

Tuesday, January 24, 2012

Life is a little complicated in the Philippines, but there are surely a lot of things unique in this place that you have to be thankful for. We are indeed a melting pot of culture, some sort of East meets West in its truest sense. Though we owe our identities to these other races, ours is a unique blend of Malay, Chinese, Spanish, Portuguese, American, Japanese and others merged together; giving us this natural tan most foreigners envy.


Since we've adapted to these cultures, they also have something in store to exchange with our culture. China has been time in memorial a trading partner of the Philippines. They also have communities built within our cities which coincidentally is also the oldest CHINATOWN in the world! Going to BINONDO has always been a treat for me because the food is a whole other story. This time I went there for the Chinese New Year celebration! This is the year of the Water Dragon! So the drums did beat like so!


The color red flooded Ongpin and the streets of Binondo. I asked my friends immediately what was this for? Why the grand celebration? It apparently has always been this way.


Celebrities hosted the event. This was for the launching of the new DRAGON that PHILAM LIFE has. Yes ladies and gentlemen, a new dragon just arrived in BINONDO... but it's not your ordinary run of the mill dragon, it's a GIANT DRAGON!


These lions were the welcoming committee!



Then the GIANT DRAGON came along! OMG!


This is the start of the parade therefore the EYE DOTTING CEREMONY will commence first. The GIANT DRAGON was blindfolded. Awakening it needed this particular ceremony to be done.


The weight of the head itself is no joke, they had to make 3 to 5 tired but STRONG people carry it not to mention around 80-100 strong men to carry its body. Yes ladies and gentlemen, this is probably the BIGGEST dragon there is in the country!


President and CEO Rex A. Mendoza says "Philam Life has been at the forefront of the Philippine life insurance market. Our strong brand name and ability to deliver on our promises have made us a trusted partner in securing the future of our customers. Bringing this Giant Dragon in the picture was but a commitment and homage to the Chinese Community who has been sternly supporting us through the years. We were renting dragons the previous years and decided to make one of our own. We got the BIGGEST and imported it from Hong Kong to show how much we value our relationships with the community." he added.



I hope you learn a few things from that. =)


When the GIANT PHILAM LIFE DRAGON arrived at the front of their Binondo office, the eye dotting ceremony was done. Photo above shows President/CEO Rex A. Mendoza putting in red paint on the eyes, tongue, ears, mouth, teeth, nostrils and the spine of the dragon. If it has to be done, it has to be done properly.

Miss Earth - Water was there!


Ms. Chinese Philippines was there too! Now just look at how statuesque she looks like from afar. She was probably 6'4 if I was not mistaken, very beautiful!

Photo above shows how long the GIANT DRAGON is. It must have extended from the PhilAm Life Binondo Branch to the edge of the Bridge of Binondo. It was really long!

PhilAm Life Binondo branch also unveiled their new signage on the facade of the building. People were already flocking the whole street. It was festive! It was all red! This was my first taste of Chinese Lunar New Year and I really felt that I was part of the celebration. Dong Yuei must have been smiling at this time!

We also got balloons and tied up our wishes on it. It apparently will come true. I won't say what I wished for but it would be nice if it does come true haha!


In hindsight, PhilAm Life celebrates the year of the Water Dragon with all of us because they know how to value culture, people and you. It was really proper with their theme "Anong plano mo? Usap tayo!" because they want you to see the bigger picture. Whatever your plan is, whatever your dreams are, they want you to realize it with industry experts and their people helping you. If you think you can't do it, they can make it happen. So make sure you ask someone from PhilAm Life, it doesn't matter how small or big your plans are... they probably have something designed for you. Later on this year they have big plans for the BPO industry professionals, make sure you avail that! Because PhilAm Life believes that there is a DRAGON to awake in all of us!


PhilAm Life is part of the AIA Group.


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Maja Salvador and Matteo Gudiccelli for My Cactus Heart

Monday, January 23, 2012

When you want someone in your life and you find him/her, you have to go all the way to get his/her heart... but what if you don't know that you are afraid to do so?! What if you were the last one to know you couldn't love because you fear the things that come with it? That's exactly what Maja Salvador and Matteo Gudiccelli found out in this movie promptly called My Cactus Heart. I was so excited to be invited for their blog conference!


Famed Director Enrico Santos, Maja Salvador and Matteo Gudiccelli. It was nice to see Maja again and I was giddy to ask them about their roles in the movie. I've met her during the Thelma blog con, this is the first time for Direk and Matteo... they found the ambiance so different from regular press cons and I like that fact.


Direk Enrico Santos never found it hard to get some sort of chemistry between Maja and Matteo. He remembers how everything started between him and her since when they filmed this over a span of 1 year, everything was different. Matteo has abs, Maja was a little off putting with his leading man... but true love prevailed with these two... now they are the sweethearts everyone has also fallen inlove with. Direk also says Xian's role is the perfect counter role to Matteo who plays innocently in his starring role. Classy and proper versus Innocent and sweet, he wants to show this particular choice for Maja's character... and how she in the end finds who she really loves!



It wasn't so hard for these two to get into character because they say there are similarities in real life. It wasn't too hard to shy away from their roles in My Binondo Girl since the span of shooting this film was longer. The characters they portrayed is from another world but the interesting twists and turns how she believes in love again was something to look forward to.


I love every instance Maja answers some intriguing questions about Matteo. It always feels like they are so inlove with each other. Blogcon pa lang kinikilig na, what more the movie! Matteo had a blast shooting this film, he found each moment funny because Maja was eagerly impressing him while shooting. That includes a scene while rappelling and getting her hands hurt in the process. All for Matteo hehe.



They are both quite nervous about this film and how it would fare in the market. They trust Star Cinema's decision because they know that Maja and Matteo are ready. I wouldn't say otherwise. If you want to see their love story, you should definitely watch this film because aside from the movie itself... you get to see how their real life relationship bloomed into something so NICE!


If you want to learn to love again, learn that love can be a beautiful thing and you don't have to be afraid then watch this movie. Matinik umibig so they say in relationships but there is something to look forward to. To find someone that was intended for you is the greatest thing that you will ever see, hear or learn in this world. This film will be out on January 25, so please do yourself a favor and watch it!





P.S. Thanks for noticing me from the crowd Matteo! I have nothing to say but thanks! :)

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Health Should Never Be Expensive

This is a Sponsored post written by me on behalf of Walgreens for SocialSpark. All opinions are 100% mine.

Health is wealth as they say but this particular statement entails a lot of things like getting the right medication and a change in lifestyle. I can probably tell a couple or more people who simply don't get the life they deserve more so the things they want for themselves. A successful career, a family that is safe... maybe we can do something about it. Let's face it, medications cost quite a lot these days and having access to this without breaking the bank is key. We can always go to the nearby drugstore and just purchase something right off the bat but without discounts we'll probably end up burning more money. That is not the way to start the year. That's why I'm so impressed with the Prescription Savings Club at Walgreens... have you seen how they do things over there?

 

Imagine that for $10 a year you can have your whole immediate family covered. That entails your spouse, kids under 22 and your own pet too! Individuals can opt for the $5 so you can also get enormous discounts whereby soon out price the initial membership you shelled out! I experienced getting flu and pet medications, nebulizer for asthma and diabetic prescriptions for my Mom last month and it did cost me a fortune because I did not look up Walgreens on Facebook. You should do that now as we speak. If you also have it please follow Walgreens on Twitter. I just did because I want to get first dibs on special deals and discounts. I'll go ahead and tell my friends too! Health should never be expensive!

 

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