Daily Newsmakers

               Celebrate the New Year with the most delectable dishes from Ilustrado.     Try Ilustrado’s signature Paellas – Meat and Seafood, All Seafood, Squid Ink, Chorizo, Bacalao and Fideaua that uses pasta instead of rice.

After a 42-year drought for the crown, the Philippines makes pageant history once again. Miss Philippines and PLDT HOME DSL ambassador Pia Alonzo Wurtzbach was recently crowned Miss Universe 2015 after a dramatic coronation night held at Planet Hollywood in Las Vegas.

Mondelēz International Celebrates the Season of Giving These days, it seems harder to get around to complete shopping for Christmas gifts. Luckily, the world’s leading snacking company, Mondelēz International, has reinvented classic favorites and turning them into the perfect Christmas gifts for family and friends. Limited Edition Oreo Selection Enjoy four Oreo flavors - Strawberry, Vanilla, Chocolate and Ice Cream Blueberry in one special golden tin can!

Big celebration awaits thousands of overseas Filipino workers and their families  this Saturday  ( December 19 ) as SM Supermalls, SM Development Corporation (SMDC) and BDO partner for the biggest annual OFW Christmas party via the “4th Pamaskong Handog Para Sa Global Pinoy” that is set to happen in select SM malls nationwide.

            It’s a Merry Christmas like no other at Bizu Patisserie!             Try Bizu’s newest offering, Porchetta, slow roasted pork belly marinated in garlic and fresh rosemary with crisp crackling skin in a duo of Arugula Pesto and Apple-Mango Chutney sauces.

We’re breaking down the ‘insider secrets’ and top tips in order for you to maximize your smartphone experience In this modern digital age, even the tech-savvy among us admit that they too can get easily get lost in the sea of products and devices that are advertised to be the supposed latest ‘game-changer’ in the tech industry. And as such, nowadays one must be even more vigilant in choosing what kind of smartphone that can really keep up with his basic needs. And though many may say that making that decision is easily more said than done, on the contrary, one only actually needs to just look for certain essential factors that should be present for you to get that perfect smartphone experience attuned to your lifestyle.   And with the Holiday rush clearly in full-swing already, we are out to lend a helping hand by conveniently listing down and summarizing these factors into the four basic yet important must-haves – some often overlooked – that would make just anyone an...

Cook Magazine, in celebrating its 15 th year of publication, continues to look for ways to involve our readers and evolve into a more complete experience. While sharing recipes and food finds through articles and pictures are what we’ve been doing for over a decade, we’d like to bring the reader closer to the action and actually take them along in our journeys of food discovery. Last year, we launched the Cook Magazine Studio Kitchen, a venue where cooking, eating and food photography all seamlessly blend. The kitchen has had a bit of a spruce up recently, with Mother’s Best sponsoring kitchen cabinetry and a new backsplash. The addition added some warmth to the kitchen and provides a space to display products like Mother’s Best condiments.

Power Mac Center, the premier Apple partner in the country, together with Microsoft Philippines recently launched Office 365 bundles for the coming holidays.  Office 365  allows users to install Office on multiple platforms, including OS and iOS devices to be connected to the service with a single subscription, enabling users to  do their best work – anywhere, anytime and with anyone.

Santa is chillin’ at Baskin-Robbins this holiday season, waiting for merrymakers to take  him home. The world’s most beloved ice cream brand presents the yummy Santa Piñata Dome  Ice Cream Cake, created in December's flavour of the month, Red Velvet ice cream, which  decadently melds red velvet cake flavoured ice cream with cream cheese frosting ribbon.   This dome-shaped treat has a chewy and chocolatey brownie base with a sweet surprise  inside. Slice it up carefully and get ready for a burst of colorful candies that’s sure to bring  delight to everyone. 

This season offers everyone—especially Filipinos—with a long list of opportunities to create great memories. After all, the Philippines has one of the longest Christmas celebrations in the world, filled with traditions, rituals and customs. From the start of the Simbang Gabi (9-day novena of dawn masses) on December 16 to the celebration of the Feast of the Three Kings on January 6, you’ll be filling your gadgets with files you’d like to keep for many holidays to come—photos, videos, music, and more. ’Tis the season to keep your memories safe, and you can count on SanDisk’s new memory solution lineup to help you store your files. The flash storage solutions pioneer, SanDisk offers Mobile Memory Solutions for a safe, easy, and delightful way to seamlessly transfer, manage, and store multimedia content. SanDisk Extreme® 500 Portable SSD and Extreme PRO SSD: Working smart over the break You can always use some file management assistance, whether you’re a student or professio...

Fully re-architected graphics software ushers in a new era of immersive computing with redesigned user interface, remarkable features, powerful performance boosts and significant power savings for gamers AMD (NASDAQ: AMD) recently released its completely reimagined graphics software suite, Radeon Software Crimson Edition, giving users an exceptional new user experience, 12 new or enhanced features, up to 20 percent more graphics performance1, adjustability that can nearly double generational energy efficiency2, and rock-solid stability across the full spectrum of AMD graphics products. The release is the first from the Radeon Technologies Group, which recently announced a renewed focus on software placing it on par with hardware initiatives.

OnanOff , creator of intelligent accessories for gadgets, announces the availability of the BuddyPhones “Color Your Music” series in the Philippines. It’s a kid-friendly headphone with new customizable color-in sticker packs. Kids choose how they want to design their headphones and color directly onto the stickers with crayons or markers, and then stick them on the BuddyPhones for a fresh and unique look. The “Color Your Music” series is perfect for helping kids unleash their creativity as they draw, stick and play. With the included BuddyCable, the little ones won’t have to fight over time with the iPad. At just Php1,383 and Php2,214 , the BuddyPhones are the perfect gift for your budding artist or musician this Christmas.

It’s Noche Buena ala Chef Sau del Rosario on December 5, Saturday, 9am to 1pm for The Maya Kitchen Elite Culinary Series. Chef Sau will demonstrate Tamales, rice flour simmered with coconut, annatto and shrimp stock topped with peanuts, chicken and quail eggs; Chicken Galantina, ground chicken, chorizo, Vienna sausage, capers, raisins, eggs, ham and bacon; Salt-Baked Salmon, salmon covered then cooked with egg whites and salt served with orange and rosemary beurre blanc sauce; and Brazo de Mais, infused with corn and molded to look like a real corn. It is stuffed with pastry cream and layered with egg whites.

ASUS Philippines has joined forces with the crème de la crème of the country’s creative elite to encourage more Filipinos to showcase the diverse beauty of local culture, as well as their unique eye for design, for the #ZenLooks competition. Internationally acclaimed and multi-awarded industrial designer Kenneth Cobonpue and style authorities David Guison and Arisse de Santos are onboard to help amplify the call for their fellow Filipinos to join in by creating their own designs for this competition, which invites individuals to submit an original case design for the ZenFone 2 inspired by the Philippines’ national colors.

‘Tis the season to satisfy your sweet tooth with our pretzel-perfect snacks.  Auntie Anne’s brings to you the nuttiest holiday treat that makes gift shopping more fun . Be delighted as Auntie Anne’s delicious pretzels are conveniently handy that you can eat it while looking for the best Christmas presents for your family and friends. Satisfy your desire for the perfect Auntie Anne’s pretzel made  

Got a craving for cheesecake?  Delight in Baskin-Robbins’ November flavour of the month – Mandarin Orange Cheesecake.  Inspired by global culinary trends, Mandarin Orange Cheesecake is the latest cheesecake masterpiece from the world’s most beloved ice cream brand. This treat deliciously combines mandarin orange and classic cheesecake ice creams, happily swirled together with a citrusy mandarin orange ribbon, and soft, creamy cheesecake cubes.   Enjoy Mandarin Orange Cheesecake as a scoop, sundae or milkshake in Baskin-Robbins shops at the Central Square, Bonifacio Global City; Greenbelt 5 and Glorietta 5 in Makati; as well as Fairview Terraces and Trinoma Mall in Quezon City.   For more details about Baskin-Robbins, visit www.baskinrobbins.ph or check out their Facebook (facebook.com/baskinrobbinsph), Twitter and Instagram (baskinrobbinsph) accounts.

Get ready for an early Holiday blowout this November as Eastwood City and Astroplus bring this year’s biggest music, video and gadget super sale! Happening on November 21 to 22 at the Eastwood Central Plaza, The Genre Festival gathers over 70 brands and music labels all in one roof, offering shoppers huge discounts on the widest selection of CDs, DVDs, vinyls, gadgets and more!   Music fans can explore a great selection of marked-down CDs – from classic albums of both local and foreign recording stars and artists, to hard-to-find records and classics including those that are hardly seen in regular record stores.

Repertory Philippines opens the gates to “The Secret Garden” as its Christmas season treat for theater goers.  It tells the story of a young girl, born and raised in India, who finds herself suddenly orphaned, and goes to live with her uncle in England.  She discovers a garden, neglected for years and almost dead, and a young cousin bedridden and miserable.  With the help of a housemaid and a friendly young gardener, she brings both the garden and her cousin to life.

#CherryChristmas promo for OFWs Connecting families and helping bridge distances since 2009, Cherry Mobile has always put to heart the needs of the Filipino, especially OFWs. This season, through the #CherryChristmas promo, Cherry Mobile rewards the hard work and sacrifices of our unsung heroes – the OFWs.

Community developer NorthPine Land, Inc. (NLI) recently paid a courtesy visit to the officials of Pag-IBIG Fund to present recent and future projects, as well as its other community engagements and advocacies. “NorthPine Land is a big supporter of Pag-IBIG’s affordable housing program for Filipino workers with some of our property developments being Pag-IBIG-accredited projects including Forest Ridge in Antipolo City, Kahaya Place and Greenwoods Village in Dasmariñas City, Kohana Grove in Silang, and South Hampton in Sta. Rosa Laguna,” shared NLI Chief Finance Officer, Ben Tatunay.

Calata Corporation, one of the biggest agribusiness conglomerates in the country, is mounting a grand “Lechon Party” for the less privileged residents of Metro Manila in its bid to break the record for largest serving of roast pork. The Lechon Party is set to happen on November 8, 2015, 4:00 pm at the Liwasang Aurora, Quezon City Memorial Circle, Quezon City, in celebration of Calata Corporation’s 16 th anniversary, and as an early Christmas gift to the less fortunate residents of the Metro.  

Repertory Philippines is set to showcase another musical production; now of Marsha Norman and Lucy Simon’s adaptation of the classic story  The Secret Garden . Based on the novel by Frances Hodgson Burnett, the story revolves around the lives of two abandoned youngsters Mary Lennox and Colin Craven who, through the power of love, begin to transform their spoiled and selfish ways for the better. The show runs simultaneously with Rep’s staging of  Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs .

During the days when the idol sa kusina was just a starting his career, Chef Boy Logro, just like everyone else, snacked on the popular “street” delicacies Pinoys absolutely love. For him, it was very practical; it was affordable yet very tasty. He described street food as a proof that good taste doesn’t have to be expensive. “BBQ, adobo, kwek-kwek, adidas, kikiam, fishball, Pinoy versions yan ng iba’t ibang pagkain sa restaurant tulad ng chicken feet, humba, tempura. Ito ang mga pagkain ng masa. Masarap ito (street food) balik-balikan dahil ito ang mga pagkaing kinalakihan.”

Apple appoints Power Mac Center as sole carrier of solid gold Apple Watch Edition The long wait is over. Apple Watch has finally arrived at Power Mac Center, the premier Apple partner in the Philippines. After months of anticipation following its worldwide launch in March, the big reveal happened on October 23 at Power Mac Center’s flagship store in Greenbelt 3. Apple Watch is the tech giant’s first foray into wearable technology. Apart from being an incredibly accurate timepiece and a groundbreaking health and fitness companion, Apple Watch was designed to provide more intimate and immediate ways of connecting. Important information and essential features are now just a raise of the wrist away.

 ... to provide more SME’s with more choices. GoAutoDial, a Filipino owned cloud call center provider with thousands of users worldwide signs a partnership with DIDForSale which aims to help provide SME’s and companies more accessible and better services for their DID needs in the USA, Canada and United Kingdom. “Part of a successful inbound marketing campaign if to be able to provide your clients a way to get in touch with you quickly, easily and cheaply..GoAutodial has ever been on the lookout for partners that match our ideology and drive to be able to support our clients needs and we found those with DIDForSale” says Demian Biscocho, CEO and CO founder of GoAutoDial.

New suite of products to help improve operational efficiency Wireless service provider for SMEs, Smart Enterprise, launched the Smart Logistics Solutions—a business-to-business (B2B) suite of software and hardware specifically designed to cater to the needs of transportation, logistics and distribution industries. PLDT EVP and ePLDT President and CEO Eric Alberto noted that the launch of Smart Enterprise’s new product suite encourages SMEs to move towards a mobile and digital vision for their businesses.

​ Power Mac Center, the premier Apple partner in the Philippines, recently supported the 2 nd  Bicol Youth Technology Expo (BYTE) held recently at the Pili Capitol Convention Center in Camarines Sur. The expo was organized by the Information and Communication Technology Center (ICTC) of the Ateneo de Naga University.

Life moves at such a fast pace so, it’s important  to be equipped with just the right kind of home appliance that serves all your needs and requirements. Choosing a washing machine, for example, requires that you think not only of what you can afford, but also what will work best for your situation. But there are  hundred washing machines to choose from!”, you might think. Thankfully, Sharp Philippines, known for its durable and time-tested washing machines, offers different machines that address various needs and lifestyles.

Christmas is officially on at all SM malls nationwide with the launch of its “Merry SM Christmas 2015” campaign beginning this October. A premier holiday shopping destination, SM also wishes to continue its tradition of spreading cheer and the spirit of giving beyond the walls of the mall through this Yuletide campaign. Beginning Thursday (October 1), all of SM’s 52 malls will be adorned with grand Christmas garlands, lights, and visual Christmas countdowns accompanied by continuous playing of well-loved Christmas carols. All mall decors are expected to be more thrilling as the season progresses with a series of special events lined up, including the Grand Christmas Centerpiece Launch, Toy Fair, Meet and Greet with Santa Claus and other popular characters, and the Grand Christmas Parade.

The  “ MAGGI Sarap ng Nakain, Sarap Magka-Milyon with Magic ”   raffle promo grand winners flew to Metro Manila to claim their P1 million cash prize. The winners (second from left) Manny Villarosa (Visayas), Jannet Salazar (Mindanao), Renamie Estrada (NCR) and Heidi Tuliao (Luzon) are flanked by Nestl é   executives Geetha Balakrishna and Jag Villapando. Celebrating a decade of magical cooking, MAGGI MAGIC SARAP recently awarded four (4) lucky grand winners of P1 million for its “ MAGGI Sarap ng Nakain, Sarap Magka-Milyon with Magic: Isang pa-thank you sa 10 years ng pagluluto ng ligaya” raffle promo .  A grand winner of the million-peso top prize was each drawn for Luzon, Visayas, Mindanao, and the National Capital Region (NCR). The grand prize winners of P1 million each are Heidi Tuliao of Pangasinan (Luzon), Manny Villarosa of Cebu (Visayas), Jannet Salazar of Zamboanga City (Mindanao), and Renamie Estrada of Manila (NCR). The new millionaires from the ...

Power Mac Center, the premier Apple partner in the Philippines, takes its customers to a new adventure as it partners with the country’s most prestigious travel rewards program for the PAL Mabuhay Miles - Power Mac Center’s “ Adventure Awaits. ” “This partnership is important for PAL because it will allow us to tap into Power Mac Center’s market. Since we have the same brand profile, this will allow us to reach their customers and engage them,” said  PAL’s Asst. VP - Loyalty Program, Marietta Casanova .

The country’s number 1 mobile brand to offer the revolutionary device to transform the entertainment experience at home The country’s number 1 mobile brand and purveyor of the Filipino digital lifestyle Globe Telecom brings the entertainment experience to a whole new level as it brings Chromecast to the Philippines to offer Filipinos a new way to stream their favorite entertainment content at home. Chromecast is a thumb-sized media streaming device that plugs into the High-Definition Multimedia Interface ( HDMI) port of one’s television set at home. With Chromecast, customers can cast their smartphone, tablet, or laptop to a bigger screen for a better and more inclusive viewing experience. Chromecast can also be used as a remote control for TV, set-up a party at home with the TV set as instant DJ or VJ, enjoy family game-time with smartphones as controllers, watch shows that only selected users can hear, and view Chromecast-ready apps.

Megaworld Lifestyle Malls and Newport Mall is celebrating the decadent duo of chocolate & wine with delicious pairings, chocolate carvings and more at its Chocolate & Wine Festival this October. Chocolate Creations, paired with wine Newport Mall’s Chocolate Creations are even more delectable when paired with wine! Available from Oct. 1 – 31, this collection of chocolate desserts can be enjoyed with a glass of vino at participating establishments. The list is posted at the Chocolate & Wine Gallery at the ground floor of Newport Mall from Oct. 1 – 12. Among the not to be missed pairings this year is a trio of chocolate desserts and wines from Bar 180 – there’s a D econstructed Peanut Butter Praline, paired with a Montes Late Harvest Riesling, the Mary Jane Cake, which has Raspberry Jelly and a Dark Chocolate Ganache, to be enjoyed with a glass of Montes Alpha Syrah and the interesting Chocolate Soup (a rich combination of dark and milk chocolate) topped with walnut...