LIST: New food to try for New Year

MANILA, Philippines — This coming New Year, send your love with treats that warm the heart and fill the stomach.

Holiday delicacies from Great Britain

Christmas Lines. M&S/Released

This season, Marks & Spencer makes gift shopping easier with its holiday offerings that include a selection of sweet and savory delights. 

Kick off the celebration with treats that carry the true Christmas vibe: Golden Snowflake Christmas cake, a six-month matured all-butter fruit cake; Fruity Christmas Pudding, a 12-month intensely matured pudding enriched with brandy, cognac, port and stout; the Classic Christmas Pudding, a six-month matured pudding, delicately spiced and packed full of plump, juicy vine fruits with lashing of cider, rum, and sherry; and the Classic Recipe Puff Pastry Mince Pies.

Cookies and biscuits also make for sweet and delightful presents both the young and young-at-heart will enjoy. The brand’s selection includes All-Butter Petticoat Tails Shortbread in Robin Tin; Salted Caramel Shortbread Gift Box; All Butter Shortbread Assortment in a Snowy Design Stag Tin; Merry Percymas Biscuit Tin; Butterscotch Crunch Biscuits in Round Woodland Tin; and Iced Reindeer Biscuits.  

Then of course, there are the chocolates. Marks & Spencer’s list this year includes Salted Caramel Pinecones; Sparkling Caramels; Box of Belgian Chocolates; Brandy Snaps Collection; Italian Luxury Assortment; Luxury Swiss Truffle Assortent; Italian Dessert Chocolate Assortment; 1kg Belgian Collection Biscuit Tin, Belgian Milk Chocolate Tree; and the Swiss Chocolate Selection.

For those who does not particularly have a sweet tooth, there are savory ones like Classic Recipe Puff Pastry Mince Pies; Port & Long Clawson Stilton Handcooked Crisps; Fizz & Sparkle Winter Berries & Prosecco Handcooked Crisps; Goats Cheese and Rosemary Bites; and Cheddar Cheese & Roasted Onion Bites.

Marks&Spencer International Commercial Planner Kayleigh Curtis, International Commercial Lead Melanie Reedt, Head of Franchise Middle East and Asia James Harvey, SSI Group, Inc. President Anton Huang, Rustan Marketing Specialists, Inc. General Manager Catherine Huang, Rustan Marketing Specialists, Inc. Executive Vice President Steven Sarmenta, and M&S Franchise Partner Manager for Southeast Asia Jeremy Griffiths. Photo release

Brew yourself a fun 2019 

Kapit Lang, Kape Lang Planner

The newest coffee brand to enter the year-end planner game is out to prove one and all that, with the right humor and wit, you can handle anything that life throws at you.

City Blends’ 2019 Kapit Lang, Kape Lang Planner is a planner for individuals who know ¬the proper way to tackle life’s many challenges—with humor, of course. Created in partnership with Linya-Linya, the planner aims to make it easier to keep track of daily activities and plan out one’s year, while making sure you always have witty jokes to get one through the coming year. Getting one is as easy as stepping into a 7-Eleven store and getting a 20-peso cup of City Blends coffee.

From Dates to Remember (“date as in petsa, hindi date as in lalabas ka dahil may ka-date”), to “Notes Para sa Mga Notes na Sinabing Kong Gagawin Ko Pero Hindi ko Pa Rin Nagagawa,” the Kapit Lang Kape Lang Planner is filled with pages that aim to always remind to never take yourself too seriously, lest you want to end up like that colleague of yours who seems to have completely forgotten how to smile.

The planner is a planner-slash-desk calendar that from love life, career, and financial goals, to other dreams you wish to fulfill for the coming year, helps you keep track of your progress.

It also has a “Kapit List,” which includes Places to Travel (“I-experience mo. Wag lang panay picture”), Books to Read (“Basahin mo, a? Hindi yan display”) Movies to Watch (“Wag pirata. Umayos ka!”), Friends to Meet (“Yung real friends, ah. Hindi yung yayabangan ka lang sa achievements nila in life”), Food to Try (“May hindi ka pa ba nata-try?”), and Gigs/gigs to Attend (Support local bands/artists). 

One can get the planner until January 15. This one-of-a-kind journal may help you brew a more positive and fruitful 2019.

Life is a box full of chocolates

Chocolates in gift boxes. Photo release

The most wonderful time of the year is upon us again, and what better way to spread the holiday cheer than showing some sweetness to your loved ones. 

A blend of dairy milk and nuts, the new Cadbury Dairy Milk Gift Boxes are especially created to share and enjoy. It comes in two variants: Almond for those craving a little crunch, and Fruits and Nuts, for those looking for a fruity nutty twist. 

Offered in the market exclusively for December 2018, the new gift boxes are available in limited edition festive sleeves which channel the Filipino Christmas spirit.

“We at Mondelez Philippines, the maker of Cadbury Dairy Milk believe that every Filipino deserves some sweetness in their lives, especially this holiday season,” Arlene Amante, Chocolates Brand Manager of Mondelez Philippines expressed.  

Available at major supermarkets and groceries nationwide, the new gift boxes are available in two sizes.

Ready-made feasts and gifts 

Cravings' cake selections. Photo release

What to do when you want a delicious and thoughtfully put-together holiday spread but you are pressed for time?

This year, Cravings introduces two new catering themes that aims to elevate the holiday party experience: Modern and Chic catering set-ups as well as delicious tapas-style cocktail food to cover all the bases for excellent entertaining. Catering choices also include their four classic themes of Cider, Rust, Tangerine and Ochre, with dishes carefully curated and prepared by seasoned chefs.

For more intimate gatherings, the company has a selection of take-home party trays that can cater 10 to as many as 40. Choices include Roast Turkey with Chestnut Raisin Stuffing, Salt-Crusted Fresh Salmon, Crackling Pork Bagnet with Arroz Valenciana or Truffle Rice, Roast Beef with Mushroom Sauce and Paella Mixta. Special edition cakes such as Strawberry Shortcake, Mocha Praline Cake, Mango Brazo Dome and Naked Devil’s Food Cake aim to make your holiday spread sweeter.

Epicurious’ holiday hampers are an artisanal assembly of appetizers, desserts and wine all in one box, which aim to lessen one’s time in packing gifts so one can enjoy the holidays with loved ones. 

Artisanal ice cream from Maginhawa Street

Handcrafted ice cream. Photo release

Papa Diddi’s Handcrafted Ice Cream offers what has been touted as the country’s first ever pint subscription service. Subscribers will get two handcrafted and hand-packed pints delivered fresh straight to their doorstep, getting a surprise every month.

“We have been known to be very prolific in making new flavors, yet, people have difficulty trying it because we are based in Maginhawa, so this subscription service allows us to reach out to the whole Metro,” said Paul Perez, founder of Papa Diddi’s. 

“In coming up with new flavors, we do our best to make sure that the flavors have universal appeal, yet unique as it’s the only one of its kind in the metro,” he added.

The brand takes pride for using produce and products from farms, markets, and gardens all over the country, such as fresh carabao’s milk from local dairy farmers as its ice cream base.

The pint subscription has three, six, nine or 12 months options, and pints are delivered every after the 20th day of the month. Subscription forms are available in-store and on the brand’s Facebook page. The store is at no. 168 Maginhawa Street, Quezon City. 

Something round for New Year 

Dewberry and Presto introduce new variants. Photo release

Having something round to serve in one’s New Year table has been a tradition long observed by Filipinos for good luck, since round food is often associated with money and wealth.

For those looking for sweet round things to include into one’s New Year spread, Dewberry introduces its new variant, blueberry cheesecake, while Presto has a new flavor, choco peanut butter. 

Now available in supermarkets nationwide, these sandwich cookies now come in cream fillings embraced by cookies.

Dozen delights

HoliDozen. Photo release

The season of giving is in full swing as people look everywhere for the best gifts to give their friends and family. Among the many ideas out there, food items like pastries are always an ideal option. 

These holidays, Red Ribbon presents HoliDozen gift boxes that include favorites like cheesy ensaimada, mamon and cake slices, which come in a festive box designed with a colorful Christmas parol. It also comes with a gift card of the same theme where givers can write heartfelt messages to their loved ones.

HoliDozen Assorted Mamon has a variety of melt-in-your-mouth mamon with flavors like Butter, Ube, Mocha, Creamy, White Choco Almond, Caramel, Cookies and Cream and Cheesy Mamon. HoliDozen Assorted Pastries come with Cheesy Ensaimada, Butter Mamon and Choco Cake Slice. Gift-givers can also customize the HoliDozen boxes with different combinations to cater to every kind of sweet tooth and foodie.

Taiwan’s ‘boba’ drink now in Manila

Taiwan milk tea. Photo release

The love for milk tea has been unwavering since it was first introduced in the Philippines. With several global brands entering the market, the bubble tea craze will always have a special place in our hearts (and taste buds).

With this in mind, Making Fine Beverages Corp. seeks to serve Filipinos driven with a new vision in making sure that Filipino consumers eat and drink food that is of great quality and taste by bringing in Taiwan’s favorite boba drink, Tiger Sugar, a rapidly growing boba beverage brand that started from simple beginnings only a year ago. 

Before the brand came to be, the owners first opened San Yuan classic green bean soup. This allowed them to study the improvements and advancements of beverage goods. Having a strong market foundation strengthened the team’s mission and objective, anchored on the “natural and simple” diet feature. This helped hand-craft-beverage stalls set new standards. 

The brand deems product quality and brand image very important in providing consumers the highest satisfaction. Through the experience of the successful models of San Yuan, Tiger Sugar set a more ambitious goal. It hoped to create a new era for Taiwanese pearl milk tea so that consumers could gain a new impression of handcrafted beverage stores. From Taiwan, the brand has grown in Singapore, Hong Kong, and now, in the Philippines through Making Fine Beverages Corporation on December 21 at Activity Pod X, BGC. — Deni Rose M. Afinidad-Bernardo