To Web check in or not for my Cebu Pacific flight.

So, do I check in on the web or just go to the airport terminal earlier than everybody else?

The standard 3-hours-before-departure airport check in always works for me.

On October 2010, Cebu Pacific introduced the Web check in procedure for those who cannot make it quite so early.

The advantages of web check in are:

1.You only need to be there 45 minutes before your scheduled flight, so less stress...

2. You get to choose wherever seat you want. You will be shown a diagram of the seating arrangement of the aircraft.

3. You can also print your boarding pass at your convenience. So the only thing you need to do upon arrival in the airport is to check in your baggage.

The only down side of the matter is:

1. You will be charged 100 pesos for each seat. Thats 100 pesos for departure and another 100 pesos for arrival, so 200 pesos.

To web check in or not, You decide. www.cebupacificair.com

But for those holiday flights wherein the whole of Metro Manila seems to be taking the airplane, better pre check in.

The service is only available 24 hours before your scheduled flight.

Cebu Pacific's holiday 2011 piso fare!

Piso Fare! Sale period: December 25, 2010. Travel period: November 11 to December 11, 2011.

Why not book for that holiday trip a year in advance? You have one whole day to decide. Make up your mind fast!

Cebu Pacific have flights to Kota Kinabalu, Taipei, Hong Kong, Beijing, Brunei, Bangkok ,Jakarta and Kuala Lumpur.

The sale goes for GO LITE travellers, which means travellers without check in baggages. If you have check in baggages, you have to pay 100 pesos for it.

As for all Cebu Pacific flights, travel tax of 1620 pesos and airport terminal fees are not included in the piso fare. So its safe to bring roughly 2500 pesos per passenger.

Its true! The early bird really takes the worm, or in this case, saves a lot of money.

Just comment and win a Belle De Jour Planner!

Kikay. exchange is giving away 2 Belle De Jour Planners for answering the following questions:
1. What will you most remember about 2010?
2. What do you wish to accomplish in 2011?

They will also be giving away 2 Campus BDJs

And 2 Navi Planners...

Planners Galore! Belle De Jour retails at Php 585 pesos, and you can get them only this time of the year until supplies last.

Your Belle De Jour Planner also serves as a ticket to that coveted all-girls party. ( with lots of fun and prizes to be won!) See http://animetric.blogspot.com/2009/07/belle-de-jour-rendezvous-fashionista.html

Check their site and win those Belle De Jour ,girl! http://www.kikay.exchange.ph/2010/12/01/win-a-belle-de-jour-2011-power-planner

Big Holiday Outlet Sale in SMX

Are you a BPI Credit Card Owner? Good for you! Just bring your credit card to SMX Convention Center on December 17 to 20, and avail of these brand's 80 % off sale.

You might need to go there earlier though, I predict a queue outside the parking entrance.

I haven't done my Christmas shopping yet, I've been waiting for my son's vacation, so this sale is just meant for me!

Sophie Kinsella's Can You Keep a Secret?

I would always bring a book with me everytime I board an airplane. It takes my mind off those whining, thundering and whooshing movements I dread while strapped to my seat.

For my trip to Osaka, Japan, I bought Sophie Kinsella's "Can You Keep a Secret?". I loved it to bits!

The female character ,Emma Corrigan, was a nervous flyer. During a bout of mid-air turbulence, she spills all her personal and embarassing secrets to a stranger seated beside her. It turns out that stranger happens to be her Boss!

Hilarious! I have been reading this book over and over again and I never get tired of its novelty.

This is where you find the freshest Tofu

In my family we can never live without a tofu dish at least once a week. I used to buy tofu in the market and ask for the Arranque tokwa or Arranque tawhu (firm or soft tofu made in Arranque market) because by far its the best I know.

Recently I discovered this great tofu place where they make excellent quality tofu and just about any product and by product of soybean.

The Tofu Store is located in Jose Abad Santos Street, San Juan and I kid you not when I say that after discovering The Tofu Store , I never buy my tofu anywhere else. I've even recommended it to just about all my family and friends who cook tofu in their homes.

The Tofu Store makes tofu fresh everyday and you can taste it. They have hot Tawhue with syrup, Chinese, Japanese and Korean Tofu ( each variety differs in texture), Flavored Tofu Chips, and superb soy milk.

The only thing I didn't like about The Tofu Store is that they're closed on Sundays. And thats the only day I'm free to cook anything I like. What if I'm in the mood for some tofu?

I love the market!

The market is a hobnob of people in love with food, just like me.

In fact you can learn a lot of recipes from places as unexpected as the marketplace.

For example, there was a morning when I noticed an elderly grandma buying 2 dozen duck eggs, when asked, she voluntarily suggested that I try cooking duck eggs instead of chicken eggs in my adobo egg recipe. She swears with conviction that it would taste better. Wow! It so happen that my son Brian's favorite dish is Adobo egg.

Another recipe I discovered in the market is the way to make authentic Gulaman drink the way we San Juanenos do them. If you've never known Jessie, I never did too. But Jessie's gulaman in San Juan is as famous as Bulalo is in Batangas or Lechon Manok in Cavite.

Fiesta Gulaman Drink

Ingredients:

5 pieces cooked gulaman
4 pcs Pandan leaves
1 Cup Brown Sugar
1 Cup White Sugar
1 1/2 liters cold water
2 Cups water ( for fiesta sugar syrup)
1/4 tsp Banana essence
1/4 tsp vanilla essence

Procedure:

To make fiesta sugar syrup, boil the following ingredients and strain:
1. pandan leaves
2. white sugar
3.brown sugar.
4. 2 Cups water
cool and add banana and vanilla essences.

Slice cooked gulaman thinly, mix with fiesta sugar syrup and 2 liters cold water. enjoy!