Vitwater: Magic potions for our daily lives! (LOL)

Posted by Jayvee Fernandez at June 20th, 2008

“Dude! Look what I have for you,” said Rey. “You’re the first to see this!”

I was with Rey and Ria yesterday afternoon ironing out a few things for BlogBank when Rey left and came back with a cold, cold plastic bag from 7-11.

“This just came out today and it’s available exclusively in 7-11 for the first few weeks for P15.00.”

Wow, Vitwater (not to be confused with the US Vitawater). This is a non-carbonated water drink with vitamins inside. I guess it is similar to dropping an Enervon C tablet into a cold glass of water, heh!

Well I wasn’t really a fan of the flavored water craze but I admit, this one actually tastes okay. Sorta like Gatorade but loads cheaper at P15.00. Well it’s new and has been out since yesterday. Check out 7-11 and try some. Each color supposedly has a different “effect” on you. One has fiber (tropical citrus), another supposedly helps you trim (red kiwi), while the other fortifies you with vitamins (orange). I don’t know what the blue one does – maybe it restores your mana to full, while the red one gives you more health, but with a cooldown of 30 seconds.

Well, whatever those effects are, it’s secondary to me. I think people go for the color and the taste first before the effects. Anyhoo, go check out 7-11. Vitwater is manufactured by RFM.

Pepper Lunch at Rockwell Kills the No Rice Diet

Posted by Jayvee Fernandez at May 23rd, 2008

Met up with Fran, Didi, and Sophie for dinner. We had previously come from an event with Juned and AJ and made our way to Rockwell for dinner. The Pepper Lunch craze has really hit town (I even updated their Wikipedia entry to say they’re already in Manila). When we heard that Chuvaness was opening Pepper Lunch in Manila.

As of this writing, I’ve eaten at Pepper Lunch three times (it only opened last week!). I really try to stay away from rice whenever possible, and if I do eat, I only finish 1/4th to 1/2 cup of rice. But it’s really different. My no-rice diet is now a pseudo-rice diet courtesy of their Beef Pepper Rice. It costs about P140.00 for an extra cup of their special rice with crushed peppercorns and the secret butter they add to the middle.

I’m not much of a food reviewer so you can check out the entries of Phoebe, AJ, Sophie and Fran. I did take photos, but probably brought the wrong lens. I took the macro out to see if I could get the steak in detail but realized how hard it was to shoot with smoke coming from all directions. What’s the best way to shoot food that’s inevitably spewing smoke? Items from grills and hot plates are hard to shoot as is!

All I really have to say is that if you’ve had a really crappy day at work, Pepper Lunch at Rockwell can really save what’s left of it. Congratulations, Chuvaness

Dating a Food Blogger, (The Rudiments Of)

Posted by Jayvee Fernandez at March 6th, 2008

In this I assume that you dear reader are in like with a food blogger. More likely to be female than male, food bloggers are one of the more passionate niche writers whose taste for words are just as delicious as their taste for food.

Dating a food blogger can be a rewarding experience, not just because she can open up an appetizing palette of degustations to your oh so fast food world, but you will be blessed with some of the best conversations ever about life and living it. Some of the most engaging conversations I’ve had were with food bloggers – food is the doorway to all things enjoyable, but only bordering on sinful.

Chocolate Fondue, originally uploaded by iPoint, iShoot.

There is a preconceived notion that food bloggers, like beauty or fashion bloggers are a bit on the smug side. This is not true. There is also a preconceived notion that food bloggers will only hazard to the most expensive restaurants in the Metro and away. Also not true. Food bloggers appreciate the best as well as the simplest meals. The common denominator is that they are more sensitive to tastes in context and can compare the best of fast foods to the worsts of fine dining.
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Delifrance now serves alcohol … in their coffee

Posted by Jayvee Fernandez at February 26th, 2008

Bim from The Man Blog gets a caffeine rush, then gets wasted at Deli France. Bim gives us a thumbs up!

When asked by a Delifrance barista for the PASSWORD, say “Naughty with my coffee” and you get a cup of spiked coffee for free.

Get ready on March 3-7 from 5-7 PM. For dine in only.

In the same way the Greenwich is now selling coffee and dessert, the Jollibee group is now doing the same thing with Delifrance by refurbishing some key branches into coffee shops. The kicker is that they are now serving spiked coffee after 5 PM (Could Jollibee itself be next?).

What an excellent marketing strategy. We’ve got an excess of coffee shops in the metro, but coffee shops that spike their drinks? Nada. I’m sure that other shops will follow suit. The Spiked After 5 campaign aims to communicate this message to people who wish to unwind after a long day with coffee and alcohol in one. Delifrance is also one of the few restaurants that does not serve rice meals so it is another good way of attracting health buffs.

We have some photos of the event c/o Phoebe.

Disclaimer: Delifrance is an advertiser on this blog for the month of March 2008. Interested in getting local blog advertising on your site? Click here for details.

@ SM Science Discovery Center

Posted by Jayvee Fernandez at January 20th, 2008

That’s me and Yuga at the SM Science Discovery Center at the Mall of Asia. We were there as guests for Anton Diaz’s “triple threat” party to celebrate his eldest son’s birthday, his second son’s baptism as well as the anniversary of Our Awesome Planet, one of the most famous travel blogs in the country!

Goofing around, Yuga was able to load up some blogs on the LCD television without the use of a keyboard. The trick is to find sites with letters that match your blog’s URL, and then copy and paste each letter. MSN.com was in the browser history so that’s what helped us find our letters.

I’d write more about the birthday celebration of Aidan and Josh’s baptism but I’d prefer to leave it for another time, with more detail on the attractions. Photo courtesy of Phoebe.

“Introspection of Viral Marketing Using Lechon Kawali Pizza as Test Subject”

Posted by Jayvee Fernandez at November 28th, 2007

This morning, I shot the new lechon pizza of Greenwich, a new offering for the holidays among many other things that I was tasked to shoot. Client has already launched the product to the public so I am allowed to talk about it. But that’s not what I came to express in this blog post.

The pizza is deliciously and sinfully good. The base of the dough is drowned in lechon sauce and topped with cheese. On top of the cheese are several pieces of lechon kawali – pig meat and skin combined to give you that chewy and crunchy texture. The crust itself is baked with garlic. Red bell pepper strips to garnish.

I gobbled up three slices of this wonderful dish during the event. Twenty minutes later I wind up at a friend’s office across the street from Greenwich Ayala Avenue for a meeting. I tell him about the ever so sinful “lechon kawali” pizza and they order two boxes for the staff. The verdict? Winner. (yeah yeah I finished three more slices. I’m such a lechon.)

That night I drop by an event for Samsung at the Manila Peninsula. Over dinner with other members of media, I start a nonchalant conversation of “guess what I had for lunch a while ago?” The already famous lechon pizza conversation made its way through the 5 Star Buffet meal at the presidential suite. It was absurdly funny and incited curiosity.

Viral marketing works for products when the item in scrutiny has a tinge of peculiarity to it. Sometimes, peculiarity is bred by what is known as the invisible obvious, if I were to borrow the term from Andrian Lee. The lechon pizza is really nothing more than the FIlipino version of an all meat pizza. Pecuiar. But obvious.

Curious to try the lechon pizza? Dial 55555 for deliveries anywhere around the country.

For foreign readers, here is the definition of lechon:

Lechón (Tagalog: Litson and Cebuano: Inasal) is the Spanish word for suckling pig. In the Philippines, it connotes a whole roasted pig, lechón baboy. Chicken and beef, are also popular. The process of lechón involves the whole pig/piglet, chicken, or cattle/calf being slowly roasted over charcoal. [Wikipedia]

A Kape Isla Invitation

Posted by Jayvee Fernandez at November 3rd, 2007

Props to the owners of Kape Isla, that little coffee shop at the entrance of Serendra, right across Market! Market! There’s more to the quaint coffee shop than meets the eye. In fact, some people may think that the establishment is a bit out of place compared to the other restaurants in the area. Truth be told, Kape Isla is a “coffee museum” that is supported by the Philippine Coffee Board. Yes, it is an NGO.

Kape Isla is the Philippine Coffee Board’s cooperative marketing program. The Board issues the Kape Isla name as a national umbrella label for coffee to signify that a coffee product uses Philippine-grown coffee beans. The label is used in tandem with existing brand names and blend trademarks as a complimenting label to signify its Philippine origin.

The marketing and events of the establishment is being handled by Rock Ed Philippines and Gang Badoy. I’m helping out as well promote the establishment as a truly Filipino coffee shop that’s geek friendly as well. The coffee is affordable, strong and can be accompanied with free wireless Internet (Serendra itself also has free WiFi but Kape Isla is a good alternative if you want to spend a few hours working on something on your laptop).

Blog and Soul will be doing a small event at Kape Isla sometime during the latter part of the month.

There’s a rumor that the Bayanihan Blog Network might be doing their official launch there very soon

Thanks for the Greetings!

Posted by Jayvee Fernandez at November 2nd, 2007

Surprisingly, a lot of people greeted before November 3. I even got an advanced birthday cake from a good friend. I’ll be spending my birthday somewhere in Jakarta, Indonesia for work related matters till the 7th (I made sure I would be back by the 7th, as Apple launches Leopard in the PH on the 8th). Nope, this trip has nothing to do with blogs and such. It’s enough to say that I’m helping a multinational company enter the Philippines. It’s really just some copywriting here and there. I’ll be moving about Indonesia and Malaysia for the next seven days.

And I’ll be alone for my birthday tomorrow *sniff*

Toblerone Thank You Day at the iMAX video!

Posted by Jayvee Fernandez at October 21st, 2007

Amidst the tragic series of events that occurred last Friday, the Philippines continues to celebrate her freedom. The Mall of Asia iMAX parking lot was well attended yesterday, as October 20 2007 was marked as THANK YOU DAY PHILIPPINES. In this video, Bianca Gonzalez starts the countdown to the lauching of “Toblerone triangles” as the crowd inverts their umbrellas to catch them. Wild!
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Thought: The impact of Playboy Philippines to the publishing industry

Posted by Jayvee Fernandez at September 19th, 2007

EDIT: Review of first issue here.

EDIT: Read today in the Philippine Start that Playboy Philippines will be launched on April 2 2008 at the Sofitel. The editor in chief is Beting Laygo Dolor. There will be no nudity as being daring is not a mark of success. Playboy Philippines will contain articles in good taste written by at least 5 Palanca award winners and will be very tasteful.

Though I am not updated with the rumor mill on this development, it seems that Playboy Philippines will allegedly make its way to local shores as the buzz in the industry states late this year.

Rumor or not, the scenario puts forward a lot of questions that demands a lot of answers. First, will the overused argument of “free speech” rule over the CBCP? Second, what will happen to leading men’s titles such as FHM, Maxim and UNO? Will that “raise the bar” for explicit nudity in these magazines too? Third, what exactly will Playboy Philippines have to offer? If it is going to be a “toned down” version of what Playboy is everywhere else in the world, then what’s the point of bringing in the franchise?

Was Mark Verzo correct after all when he said that Filipino males are indeed sex addicts?

Food bloggers as the new food critics

Posted by Jayvee Fernandez at September 19th, 2007

I wrote a piece for the September issue of Rogue Magazine on “the new food critics,” revealing food and travel bloggers as authorities in the art and science of degustation.

In the 1950′s, the dawning of the food critic gave rise to a certain fear in the food and beverage industry. The New York Times, one of the pioneers in the food writing industry, released a weekly column that reviewed restaurants and hotspots. By the decade, the food critic wielded a powerful pen as reviews could literally make or break a restaurant. [buy the latest September 2007 issue with Cristina Garcia for the rest of the article]

Rogue sells for P180.00 and boasts an impressive lineup of contributors including Andy Maluche, Lourd de Veyra, Yvette Tan, Eggy Tioseco, Arnold Arre, and Quark Henares.