Time out from cooking… my top 10 emerging influential blogs for 2010

Time out from cooking, here are my nominees to the Top 10 Emerging Influential Blogs for 2010. This is a writing project that seeks to identify new and emerging blogs who are making an impact to its readers in 2010.
And the nominees are :)
1. Ganda Ever So Much – Orman’s blog has kept me in stitches, anticipating one post to the next to brighten up my day.
2. Quirky Girl Next Door – beautiful layout, even more beautiful thoughts from a beautiful friend!
3. Kikay Much – probably answers all things I wanted to know when I go to the beauty parlor but were ignorant afraid to ask
4. akosiRABSKY - anything goes blog, teenager’s perspective
5. Kusina Maria – the kind of food blog I like, more cooking than anything else!
6. A Thousand Ships – great insights from travelling captured in photos and blog posts
7. South-style Ilonggo – A humor and eveything else blog, deserves special mention since it is more Tagalog/Filipino than an English language blog (unique!)
8. Alexis Chua – rants, raves, fun… his personal blog
9. Get Prettified! – for a while I thought it was a Get Petrified blog!
10. GenSan Gems – my very own personal blog, sharing to you my life in GenSan

I would have wanted to nominate these blogs: GenSan News Online Mag, KnowRead/KnowWrite, Anything goes…, Small Steps by Jinky but these were created earlier than March, 2009.

This project is sponsored by: Events and Corporate VideoBudget hotel in Makati,Pinoy Party FoodCopyediting ServicesPR Agency PhilippinesBudget Travel PhilippinesSend Gifts to the PhilippinesBlack Friday DealsRoomrent – units for rentSearch Profile Index, and Corporate Events Organizer.

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Where the scientist in the kitchen does her grocery

Gone are the days now when I horde all my spices back home in Laguna and bring them here in GenSan so I can cook whatever I want when the mood strikes me. These days, I head to Robinsons’ Place precisely to get the ingredients I regular use for cooking.
Robinsons’ Place GenSan (Photo courtesy of Robinsons’ Place)
What’s not to love? I particularly like their selection of Asian noodles, spices, and sauces. They’re the only ones that sell Japanese miso paste so I can regularly have my soba and miso soup fix.
Soba noodles in miso soup

They also have a relatively good selection of noodles, from Korean to Japanese to Vietnamese.Oh, and they have soju, too! :)
If you like love to cook, like me, quality meats  are very important. Meats are kept in low-temperature fridge, which is a must to slow down spoilage. I usually select Lisa’s Meats, the meats are already wrapped in Saran wrap, so there is less exposure to air. Meat cuts are varied as well so there are lots of choices for me to cook. This week, I’m making ham (wait for that post!) I also like the fact that there’s a separate area for meats and vegetables, less contamination from meats to vegetables unlike the other shops here in GenSan. Cheese selection? It’s good but could be better. At the very least, the cheeses are stored properly unlike some shops that sell frozen cheese!!! What’s great is that they sell blue cheese, a luxury for me.
It’s a bloggers’ hangout, too, with free wifi! (Photo by http://hikersitch.com)
If you’re into rice (like me, who’s dissertation is on rice), you’d love all the rice selections. I get a kick out knowing the varieties and recalling the genes I know they have or particular importance of such variety. An example is the glutinous rice they sell, a Filipino traditional rice, called Malagkit Sungsong. It has a disease resistance stage that’s only expressed at the booting (almost flowering) stage of rice. I recall extracting DNA from that variety! I’m sure to get pure glutinous rice to make my very special palitaw!
palitaw
Palitaw
Based on experience, they have a responsive customer service. One time I bought a local cheese that looked spoiled. I returned it the next day and they promptly refunded me. I wanted a replacement but it seems it was the manufacturer’s fault, all the cheese in the same lot looked spoiled!
There is also the added bonus that most of my friends hang out in Robinsons’. Whether I’m hanging out with them or blogging on the go (like now, since they’re the only mall in GenSan that’s got free wifi), this is one of the cooler places (literally and figuratively) to be in GenSan.

SOCSKSARGEN Summer Safari and Mindanao Food Appreciation Tour 2010

The bloggers’ eyeball at Piyesta was just a prelude of food to come for the SOCSKSARGEN Summer Safari. With more than 30 bloggers joining us the next day, all of trooped to the first order of the day – Breakfast! We had a sumptuous breakfast of daing na bangus, eggs, fried tilapia and fried rice at Dolores Farm Resort.
Daing na bangus and fried egg
(Thanks to Orman of GandaEverSoMuch.com for the photo, and congratulations on you blog anniversary!)
Next stop – Lake Sebu for the zipline ride. But it was not meant to be, There was a long line and by the time we got there, it was time for lunch! So we headed off to Punta Isla for lunch. Punta Isla is one of the more popular resorts in Lake Sebu where you also learn more about the T’boli culture. The specialty was tilapia so we had several kinds of tilapia dishes to savor. And the souvenir shop is cool. I came home with a tinalak weave.

Kinilaw na tilapia
Thanks to all our sponsors. To fellow bloggers, it was pure joy to spend the weekend with you getting to know General Santos City and its surroundings through food.We had a long lunch, that by the time left Punta Isla it was almost time for merienda at Merl’s Garden Resort, still at Lake Sebu. The noodles albeit plain, was suprisingly good.
We stayed at Merl for quite sometime, waiting for some of the bloggers who rode the zipline to finish. After that, time to go back to General Santos. But first, we got invited for coffee and tea at Sa Balai Bistro in downtown Marbel. The bistro’s located in an old house with a lot of well-conserved furnishings from way back. Reminds me so much of Lola’s house in Laguna.
Mulberry Tea at Balai Bistro (photo by Donna)
You’d think that after all day eating, we won’t have any space in our stomach. Guess a again. Our day was appropriately crowned at Red Tent Steak House!

crown rack of ribs at Red Tent (photo by Donna)

The SOCSKSARGEN Summer Safari would not have been possible without the following sponsors:

Ice Castle Experience (Official Hotel)

Pacman Sports Bar

Le Jardin Arnevel

Piyesta KTV Bar & Resto

Coffee Club 101

Dolores Garden Resort

Punta Isla

Merl Garden Spring Resort

Red Tent Steak House

Cafe Amoree

Rollee’s Bakeshop

Pacman Water

Kuya Chito’s Takuyaki

Many many thanks also toAvel and Orman for coming up and organizing such a fun-filled activity!

Novel Giveaway for my US/Canada Readers!!!

How would you like a copy of New York Times bestselling author Jane Green’s new novel PROMISES TO KEEP (Viking; On-sale: June 15)?

About the book:

Promises to Keep is about the hard choices we sometimes have to make; about having to be a child, long after you’ve grown up, and mostly, about the enduring nature of love.

Of interest:

A recipe at the end of each chapter.

How to join:

Just leave a comment on this page and tell me what’s your comfort food. Anyone can comment, but only US/Canada readers are eligible. Winners will be selected via Random.org on June 22 and will be contacted directly. Thanks.

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