Thursday, May 24, 2012

And a Good Day to You, Too! -CONTEST TIME!

Hi Guys!

For those of you who are planning to go to Digital Photographer Philippines’ 6th Anniversary (May 26, 2012, Saturday, Bonifacio High Street, Taguig City, PHILIPPINES), we’d like to announce a Twitter contest where you can win some surprises.

1. You must be following @officialDPP on Twitter.

2. You must register here:  (Prize winners will be informed via the info they supplied in the contest registration form, so double check that it’s legit.)

3. Contest starts Wednesday, 10am, on May 23, 2012 and ends on 12pm (noon) of Friday, May 25, 2012.

4. Winners will be announced Friday, and prize pick-up will be at the #DPPVI event itself.

5. Finally, tweet why you shouldn’t miss #DPPVI. Don’t forget to include @officialDPP and #DPPVI to your tweet! Best answer wins.

Friday, May 11, 2012

My Kitchenaid

It all started in Guam... --No, scratch that, because it started waaaay before Guam.

For years, I've been using a decade/s-old egg beater that my mom got when she was a newlywed. I wouldn't think of dissing this old model, since it's got me through all my at-home baking escapades and pastry class practice exams. But it has gone through the wear and tear and a few hard lumps of butter. The unit has a huge crack down the bottom, but still works well. But it was decided that the time has come for a new gadget.

My grandmother, who acts mostly as judge, jury, and executioner when it comes to my cooking, promised last year that she would get me a Kitchenaid as a gift. I was so psyched at first, but became terribly sad to find out that Kitchenaid Philippines only has a limited selection of models to choose from. I had seen 6-quart bowls on the US website and was enthralled.

So when I went to Macy's while vacationing in Guam, I made sure to have a look at the models they had. Sure enough, there were the 6-quart bowl stand mixers right in front of me. The salesperson even told me that they would be having a sale, but only starting later that week when I was set to leave. I wanted to take my chances and asked if they had any in-stock, but was told that it would have to be shipped in and the wait-time took 2 weeks. Bummed out, I gave up on it for the moment.

The amazing part of this story happened while I was sitting on a bench outside Macy's waiting for the Lamlam Tours shuttle that would take us to a different part of the city. I happened to turn my phone's wifi on to check for FB messages and there was a redirect to the Macy's website. There, in big, bold letters, was an announcement for a big sale on kitchen items. The catch: Sale price was only applicable to online purchases.

 



 

Taking my chances, I immediately e-mailed my mom's good friend who's in San Francisco and asked if she could have it stored and we would pick it up and bring it home when we make the Holy Week trip there in a month. She gamely agreed and placed the order.

Let me just say that bringing big appliances in from the US is something of a logistical nightmare if you don't plan to have it shipped directly to Manila. It literally brought me to tears at one point because everyone kept telling me how bad an idea it was. Luckily, my Dad already thought the whole thing through and suggested we pick it up from San Francisco, have it shipped to our exit point, Los Angeles, to save us the effort of lugging it around with us the entire trip. Fabulous idea.

And so, after all the stress, the Kitchenaid has now found its way to its new home.

#DPPVI

To anyone who's wondered what's been keeping me busy these days, the answer is simple:



I have been interning at Bella Luce Publications. If you've read the many posts and pieces I have written, it will become clear to you that the world of creative (and not-so-creative) writing has a place in my heart.

Now back to the internship.

I basically do work for all 3 magazines of the company, namely Olive, Lonely Planet, and Digital Photographer Philippines.

And so, call it a shameless plug if you must, I am inviting you all to this event that we have been working on:



There's going to be some lectures conducted by top photographers in the country, some live shoots for practice, and an exciting raffle.

Come one, come all. :)

Visit DPP's official Twitter and Facebook for more details.