David Pomeranz launches new album "You're the Inspiration"

The Old Songs...

Got to Believe in Magic...

On this Day...

Born for you...Who would not remember such love songs that have always made us believe and fall in love?

David Pomeranz continues to inspire Filipinos with his new album "You're the Inspiration" and performed some of his favorite songs at the "David Pomeranz: A Christmas Gift from the Music Man" press conference at Cerchio Grill and Lounge last December 18 with media and bloggers.

"[The album] is an experiment. These are revivals of the songs that I love to listen to in the radio, the same songs that I know Filipinos love to sing along to," David, the internationally-acclaimed singer-songwriter and much-loved artist shared.

The King of Hearts added that compared to his previous albums, You're the Inspiration is different in a way that he has "put his heart and soul to his favorite songs that Filipinos also grew to love."

He said that he has also seen how Filipinos fall in love with his songs as he shared his first concert experience in the Philippines in 1983 at the Folk Arts theater and was surprised to see his fans go wild over his love song performances compared to his rock songs.

One of the most ingenious recording artist and songwriters who achieved 18 Gold and 22 Platinum records and sold over 35 million copies worldwide, David Pomeranz is currently having a nationwide tour entitled "The Magic of Christmas" in the Philippines that started last December 13 in Casino Filipino-Bacolod.

The new album is a collection of songs that David "wants to sing along with his Filipino fans", which  includes You're the Inspiration, To Be With You, The Search is Over, Nothing's Gonna Stop Us Now, Now and Forever, As Long as You Love Me, All Out of Love, Have I Told You Lately, I'll Be Over You, These Dreams and What Matters Most.

His upcoming shows will be at the Airport Casino Filipino-December 20, The Pavilion-December 21, Iloilo-December 22, Angeles-December 27, Olongapo-December 28 and Tagaytay-December 29.

David just came from General Santos City before the press conference and also shared his encounter with pound-for-pound boxing champion Manny Pacquiao, saying that he looks at Manny as an "artist with such accurate moves that you rarely see in the boxing ring."

He also shared how he loves spending Christmas in the Philippines especially because of the unique Filipino Christmas spirit. He said he also loves seeing the Christmas parols and enjoys his favorite Pinoy delicacies like cassava cake, ube ice cream, pancit and adobo.

David Pomeranz's "You're the Inspiration" album is distributed by MediaNation Inc. and will be available nationwide.

How do you give love on Christmas Day?

How do you give love on Christmas day? A old sweet man passed by our house one day to play a Christmas song that I've loved since elementary, with nothing but an old violin.

Figaro's New Christmas Treats perfect for the Holidays!

Christmas is truly a season of family celebration and bonding with gift-giving, unlimited candies and Christmas tree-decorating. A million thanks to my dear mentor Ms. Josephine Bonsol for an early Yuletide treat with Figaro's new Christmas Delights, I was able to take a break from last minute papers and to forget the butterflies in my stomach waiting for my final grades as I bonded with my nanay and kuya Mark Fortaleza at Figaro Tomas Morato last week.

It's chocolate overload with Figaro's Triple Chocolate Toffee Bar (Php95), a heavenly slice of layered chocolate that is every kid's dream come true: chocolate fudge, nutty toffee filled nuts and chocolate ganache with chocolate balls on top. It was our favorite as I remembered getting amused at the chocolate balls wrapped in different Christmas-colored foils our titas would always give us during Yuletide season.

photo from www.jobonsol.net

You will surely fall in love with Figaro's Red Velvet Cake (Php110), a slice of delightful red soft and moist cake with layers of sweet frosting to compliment the chocolatey red taste of the cake. It's perfect not just for the Christmas season but also for birthdays as I remembered my friend giving a two-thumbs-up to the delectable moist cake perfect for dessert after a satisfying lunch of Figaro's Spoon Meals.

Fruit cakes always complete the Christmas celebration made even more special with Figaro's Taisan Fruit Cake (Php70), soft foam cake filled with a burst of Christmas flavors of fruit glaze and nuts. 

photo from www.jobonsol.net

Add Figaro's Christmas Cupcake (Php80) and your sweet Christmas is complete: a chocolate moist cupcake topped with butter frosting and colorful Christmas candy sprinkles that reminded me of the vibrant decorations on our Christmas tree.

photo from www.jobonsol.net

Figaro's Cheese Bacon Scone (Php85) was new to me, but I enjoyed the cheese and bacon-flavored quick bread best dipped with Figaro latte as I listened to nanay Josephine's amusing stories I'll always cherish.

Enjoy your hot Figaro latte and cold drinks with Figaro's new Chistmas Merchandise--artisan mug, frosted tumbler or premium mug.

Christmas is in the air best celebrated with Figaro's new Christmas treats now available at all Figaro branches nationwide. You may visit www.figarocoffee.com and like their Facebook page https://www.facebook.com/figarocoffeecompany.

Thank you very much to nanay Josephine Bonsol and Ms. Annesy Del Mundo!

Have yourself a load of hand-made Bagels from Bakersville!

Hand-made bagels + home-made spread of cream cheese = PERFECT HOLIDAY TREAT!

Food always consumes me--from mom's lovely cooking to sweets to cakes and especially pastries. And indulging in such a sinful pleasure where "your satisfaction is an award in itself", I only have one word for you: bagels, made even more special and perfect for the holidays by Bakersville Boulangerie and Patisserie!

All thanks to Marco Abesamis' innovative pastry creations, we don't have to purchase a round-trip ticket to the City that Never Sleeps, just so to taste the authentic New York City experience with its iconic bagels that are a part of its rich heritage.

Cinnamon Raisin Bagel

What's best about Bakersville Boulangerie and Patisserie is its ideal campaign of producing pastries and breads that not only taste good, but also promote good health. Currently they have bagels with the New-York-style variants: Plain (P100 for a pack of 3), Savory Onion, Roasted Garlic and Whole Wheat (P120 for a pack of 3) and Cinnamon Raisin (P130 for a pack of 3), all perfect with strawberry jam or home-made cream cheese or any spread and a hot cup of coffee or milk. For the Cinnamon Raisin bagel, you can even eat it on its own with its strong and lovely cinnamon flavor that can truly complete your day.

Plain Flavored Bagel

I also loved the Roasted Garlic flavor; soft and chewy on the inside, with the garlic bits and roasted sesame seeds showered on the crusty surface of the bagel.

Roasted Garlic Bagel

Owned and innovated by photographer turned to chef Marco Abesamis, who specializes in artisan breads and pastries known around the globe, Bakersville also offers pizza rolls, panna cotta, pudding, oatmeal breads. Coming out soon are focaccia, ciabatta, cheesecakes of various flavors and praline bars. Marco Abesamis has just launched his hand-made Bagel line, who has also taken pastry classes with legendary chef Ernesto Babaran as his instructor.

With Bakersville's hand-made bagels, which is still the best way to make one, both pastry lovers and certified bagel connosseurs alike will definitely satisfy their cravings for bagels especially with its unique and marked texture of being crusty and a little tough on the outside but chewy and moist on the inside at the same time.

Perfect with home-made cream cheese!

What's more, their bagels are truly healthy, not only because they only use the freshest ingredients, but also because 1) they don't use oil in their products; they use Canola oil in others if needed, which only contains low amount of saturated fat 2) they don't use egg and milk, which becomes also a perfect treat for those who are lactose-intolerant 3) they use honey instead of sugar, making it ideal for those who have diabetes.

The painstaking process of making such healthy pastries is also justified with the two days it needs to perfectly bake a hand-made bagel, which is also subjected to long fermentation, resting and shaping process.

Bakersville also has a test kitchen that mainly focuses on developing new products for custom requirements.

Like any other bagels, Bakersville's is best reheated in oven toasters than in microwave ovens to maintain their crusty-chewy texture.

Tired of giving mugs and fruitcakes as gifts this Christmas? Better have a trip to Bakersville Boulangerie and Patisserie for a perfect holiday present! You may visit them at Mercato Centrale at The Fort every Saturday and Sunday from 7AM-2PM. Establishments may contact them at 02-5770527. For custom orders, you may contact them at 09178156575. 

Also check out their Twitter account at bakersvillePH.

Happy holidays, everyone!

Thank you very much to Ms. Annesy Del Mundo!

Santa's coming to town with Figaro's Christmas Pastries!

Ready your socks and watch out for your mom and dad's Santa Clause costumes! The countdown is on and Christmas is even made more special with Figaro's new Christmas Pastries!

I was surprised at myself not even realizing (for the first time) that the -Ber months were already dominating the year, with the tons of school work and deadlines that's driving me crazy as usual. I got my sweet break when I attended Figaro's launching of its Christmas Pastries at Edsa Shangri-la Mall with bloggers last Wednesday and I was truly thankful because it brought me back the good old days when my siblings and I would always watch out under the Christmas tree if we received any sweets from the ever-mysterious Santa Claus.

I was overwhelmed at the sight of Figaro's elegant Red Velvet Cake, and it tasted like heaven with its moist chocolate and rich creamy frosting, plus a hidden layer of caramel and showered with nuts on the side.

The Figaro Fruit Cake made me remember my mom's own fruit cake with its generous heap of fruits and nuts on the  inside and outside. To complete that Yuletide color, the chocolate-based cake is laced with alcohol (brandy) covered with white chocolate royal icing and glazed fruit bits.

I got the mint fever with the Peppermint Brownie glazed with oozing white chocolate and peppered with candy confetti sprinkles. This chewy, fudgy and refreshing mint flavored brownie will definitely make you feel the chill air of the Yuletide season.

I'll always be the kid with the sweet tooth, as I especially loved the Butterscotch Bar, with the brownie caramelized to perfection, coated with rich chocolate and topped with yummy nuts.

It was actually my first time to taste a Gingerbread Cookie, and I mused at my childhood memories of my mom telling us the fairy tale story over and over again. Figaro's Gingerbread cookie is made of soft dough, butter and sugar. There was definitely a tang of ginger with its special royal icing and colorful candy confetti sprinkles.

Christmas is definitely in the chill air with Figaro's sweet Christmas Tree Cookie glazed with special royal icing and showered with candy confetti sprinkles.

The Pistachio Biscotti was new to me and I loved munching on the crisp and crunchy double baked cookie dipped in sweet white chocolate on both ends and sprinkled with green pistachio. I also enjoyed dipping it to Figaro's hot brewed coffee that definitely relieved me from all the stress on such a rainy season.

Make your holidays more special with that Christmas spirit with Figaro's new Christmas Pastries! You can visit their website at www.figarocoffee.com. 

Thank you very much to Ms. Annesy Del Mundo!

A Christmas debate between curiosity and faith

It must've been so hard to lack birth certificates during the ancient times. 


For eight years I've studied in two private schools, and I was spiritually conditioned to always participate in Nativity scenes and Christmas carol performances. Even in our high school days, we laboriously worked on our best and most intimidating exchange gifts. For 18 centuries, almost half the world has generously adopted December 25 as Christ's birthday. But the issue remains a debate: was kuya Jesus really born that winter night?

One of the dilemmas, I believe that somehow made Jesus' birthday too vague and unsettled was the use of different calendars during the early times. Others referred to our adopted Julian calendar (invented by Julius Caesar), with the 365 1/4 days standard. Others used the Gregorian calendar embraced in Catholic Europe.


WHY DECEMBER 25?


While the Norse people (Northern Europe) greeted the sun on December amidst a winter solstice, and the Romans honored their gods on December 25, the early Church decided to celebrate Christmas on the same imperative date. Also, early Christians focused more in honoring Jesus as the Son of God (that is, his resurrection) than as a Son of Man (his birth). The Church revived the  Son of Man's birthday celebration, but when nobody even knew when, it simply paralleled the date to December 25.

www.oliviatravels.com

THE HARD EVIDENCE: THE SHEEP FLOCK


Thank God the Bible mentioned something about the shepherds and the flock.
A handful of theories coincidentally digged up the same evidences to prove Jesus was either born on December or September: the shepherds and the sheep flocks. Biblical scholars argued sheep in Bethlehem should be under cover from November to March. While the Bible says shepherds out in the fields that night saw a star and an Angel leading them to the historical place, this makes it impossible for Christmas to be on December.
But then they continued those sheep were an exception in Bethlehem to be flocked outside that time because they were sacrificial lambs. It somehow made sense that those lambs were meant to be offerings for the baby Jesus.

John the Baptist
www.frtim.wordpresscom

Another theory authored by Biblical scholar E.W. Bullinger traced Jesus' birth through the latter's cousin John the Baptist. With the help of Zacharia's (John's father) scheduled job the same day when Elizabeth conceived John, and counting the 6 months ahead when Mary followed to conceive Jesus resulted to the 15th of Tishri in Hebrew calendar, and equivalent to the 29th of September. December 25 makes the day of Mary's conception.


Through the flock of sheep as well, he also argued there was no grazing for flocks during December in Israel that time.


ASTROLOGY SAYS...


These claims might just be doubtful after all.


Star watchers, on the other hand, believe Christmas should be celebrated on April 17 (same day as Easter). Astronomer Dr. Michael Molnar studied a "Star in Bethlehem" research where Jesus was born bearing the zodiac sign Aries . Others claim Jesus being born in September makes it more appropriate, because Libra's zodiac sign (September-Glitnir) is more parallel to Jesus' character than Capricorn's (December-Thrudheim).

It is much food for thought that the Bible's inaccuracy led people to fabricate dates and even names and enthusiastically filled in the blanks. To some extent, this even drew a bold line between squabbling religions (other people didn't celebrate Christmas believing it was subject to paganism).


Given this phenomenon, I believe the Bible is trying to say something past the Scriptures, the story and the prescience of our after-world. It might be testing and tickling our curiosity and open-mindedness to ask questions and stop being contented with what's written on any published book. It might also be testing our faith to stop arguing and simply believe in what we have not seen and witnessed.

Out of villains we worship heroes: So who's the real hero?

We learn better things from villains, because of villains and through villains.


Have we ever wondered if our childhood favorites like Superman or Spongebob or Avatar didn't endure enemies like the criminal Lex Luthor or the evil Zuko or the unfriendly Squidward, would we even idolize them? If such villains didn't stand up for what they selfishly believed, our heroes would be nothing but show-off, extraordinary people possessing useless in-born powers. I believe from villains--even from problems and conflicts--we find our own heroes.

To be appropriately dressed for the recent occasion, I studied and reread about Dr. Seuss's How the Grinch Stole Christmas and Charles Dicken's epic A Christmas Carol. I thought about the irony of grumpy Grinch and cold-hearted Ebenzer Scrooge portrayed to be the spotlight for both stories. It's true, nevertheless--I believe villains are way beyond what heroes could ever be.

THE GRINCH


One can really blame Dr. Seuss for making the Grinch's heart "two sizes small", making the latter all grouchy and isolated and evil. But then we all know the story is not mainly about his wicked attitude and his insane plans of robbing the Who's Christmas paraphernalia.

Mainly it was about his redemption to descend from his 10 000-feet-high cavern and be not cold-hearted anymore, and about his conclusion that Christmas--and the happiness of having Christmas--is not defined by material things, but by pure love, acceptance and the act of giving whole-heartedly.


Dr. Seuss could've made the Who family the main characters. But he didn't. A sweet hug from a child, a thoughtful greeting from a stranger and a warm welcome can be easily portrayed by rather human-looking protagonists with powerful or humbler characters. But instead, Dr. Seuss made us learn something real from an ill-tempered, green-painted but motivated creature named the Grinch.

EBENZER SCROOGE


Charles Dickens was equally smart. His character was worse off and more serious, though. In his A Christmas Carol, Ebenzer Scrooge despised Christmas, loathed poor people saying the world's better off without them, strictly kept to himself and developed to be a workaholic.


And for rational reasons. Apparently disastrous tidings always came during the holiday season: his father left him in a boarding school as a child; his fiancée Belle left him for a less-workaholic man, and his closest relative and sister Fran died. These just made him more anti-sociable and apathetic to all the people in the world.


But then good fortune of Past, Present and Yet to Come spirits guided him and showed him the consequences of his grumpy actions. In the end, he decided to change, repented and finally knew "how to keep Christmas well".


And this might just be the biggest lesson for us: the power of change. We might never know anything about it if there aren't villains.

Through villains, we exclusively learn and understand more. We consider our bad-tempered teachers our worst enemies, but then we learn to be highly motivated to do what they said we cannot and prove to them what we got. 


We loathe criminals, killers, wayward children and the delinquent. But if we're open-minded enough we learn they've become who they are because of the Nature vs. Nurture phenomenon, and we can later conclude it was not their fault.


Russell Crowe once said: “I like villains because there's something so attractive about a committed person -- they have a plan, an ideology, no matter how twisted. They're motivated.”


Heroes are made out of villains. If there are no villains, there are no heroes. We just might never know how much we could learn from them.

Exchange gifts, carols, ol' Santa Claus: Can't Christmas exist without them?!

We dream of gifts, candies in our specially-washed stockings, and money on the privilege of having a handful of godparents. But our shameful innocence is equally undeniable: we know little about the essence--even the history--of Christmas.


While reading Dr. Seuss's How the Grinch Stole Christmas, I heard one of TV Patrol's everyday "doomed" news: a 14-year-old lad hanged himself to death because he hadn't received any gift this Christmas, his grandmother said.

www.presentation-magazine.com

So Christmas is now to be blamed for the death of some teenage boy? Living in this modern yet too intoxicating era we have seen Christmas evolve from mere parol-making contests to exchange gifts to suicides because of gifts. What then, might Christmas be famous for in the next five or ten years? In the first place, most people never even bothered to confirm if Jesus' birthday was December 25.

http://livinginasia.blogspot.com-christmaslanterns

Dating back as far as 280 A.D., one can easily conclude such Christmas norms are not originally intended for the Christmas celebration itself. From old Mr. Santa Claus to Christmas carols to stockings by the fireplace and candy canes, ancient people from Europe invented such practices based on religious and mythological and practical purposes.


DECEMBER 25 AS CHRISTMAS DAY


While it's still a debate on when kuya Jesus was really born, December 25 as Christmas Day in ancient times became more of its parallelism to the holiest celebrations. Early Europeans always marked the coming of light and sun during the darkest winter solstices, supposedly during December.


Scandinavia celebrated the sun's return from December 21 to January, naming it as the Yule season, where people would collect and burn Yule logs in merriment. Romans on the other hand observed Saturnalia and Juvenalia in honor of their gods Saturn and Mithra on December 25.


Such commemorations already served as gay festivities involving no costly gifts or potluck parties at all. Moreover, Christian people in the early years celebrated more of Jesus' resurrection, not his birth.

SANTA CLAUS AS OLD ST. NICK


But of course, I’d forever believe my parents had been Santa Claus, after I accidentally made a funny discovery of seeing the candy pack of Santa's candies he supposedly gave to us in our old basement.


One thing is for sure (and this is not intended for making children cry or disappointed): St. Nicholas as Santa Claus was real; the Santa Claus with the sleigh ride and eight flying reindeers plus Rudolph is certainly not.

St. Nick was born in 280 A.D. and was summoned to be a gift giver. Rich indeed, he traveled the world and distributed gifts to children. Just like Santa, he gave gifts late at night so as to not be publicly identified and gate-crashed at his own house, maybe. From there the parents' threats to their children sleeping late and Santa not coming was real after all.


The name Santa Claus came from the Dutch's translation of St. Nick to Sinter Klass, evolving to Santa Klass and eventually Santa Claus.


He died a saint, and even considered the third most beloved religious figure after Jesus and Mary in the 1400's.

www.worldflicks.org-lopezquezon

CHRISTMAS CAROLS AS SIDE LINES


The concept of carols being widely considered as a yearly job side line to earn easy money might've just evolved during the birth of our own modern era. Originally carols served as religious chants and rituals only involving "circle dances", not singing.


Pagans first performed these carols. The early Church then banned these but was unsuccessful. So in 1223, St. Francis of Assisi made the move to credit carols as a formal worship of the Church.


12 DAYS OF CHRISTMAS AS SECRET CODE


It was quite amusing of the Roman Catholics of England to make such a song part of a religious history. Between 1558 and 1829, Protestants banned Christians from professing their faith allegedly subject to rudeness and offense. So the Catholics invented the song 12 Days of Christmas to secretly spread their Christian beliefs.


My true love  = God
Me = true Christian
Partridge in a pear tree = Jesus
2 turtle doves = Old and New Testament
3 French hens = faith, hope and love
4 Calling birds = 4 Gospels
5 Golden rings = first 5 books of Bible
6 Geese-a-laying = 6 days of Creation
7 Swans-a-swimming     = 7 Gifts of the Holy Spirit.
8 Maids-a-milking = 8 Beatitudes
9 Ladies dancing = 9 Fruits of the Holy Spirit
10 Lords-a-leaping = 10 Commandments
11 Pipers piping = 11 faithful disciples
12 Drummers drumming = 12 Points in Apostles' Creed

CANDY CANES AS A SMART SOLUTION


Those sweet-sour colorful candy canes were primarily invented to practically shut children up during masses and Nativity tableaus in German churches, seriously. At the request of a choirmaster in the 17th century, a craftsman made white candy sticks with the shape of a shepherd's crook for the noisy children.


In 1847 someone made candy canes as Christmas tree decorations and later made it a popular candy treat for both children and adults--noisy or not.

CHRISTMAS STOCKINGS AS COINCIDENCE


The idea became more amusing when in ancient times people didn't have dryers, the weather was darn freezing in winter, and there was no way one can dry his/her clothes (yes, including stockings) without hanging them by the fireplace.


By accident we suppose, old St. Nick developed a habit of dropping off his gifts in the chimneys, and that was how the legend of gifts in stockings originated.


XMAS AS SHORTCUT


This isn't exactly true. X in Xmas represents the Greek letter chi, replacing Christ. 


Can't Christmas just exist without these things?! We must remember such traditions were not even meant for Christmas in the first place!


It must all be cliché that Christmas should be one of those days of pure giving, pure merriment, pure love, but it's all true. The best things for this to be worth celebrating include uniting a broken family, gathering the young, the adult and the old generations in one place, ending minor and major fights, and perceiving something worth looking forward to.


Maybe the thought of celebrating something extra special and the faith that something will either end or start for the better are what Christmas mainly gives. We all know this: Christmas is never measured in soon-to-die gifts; Christmas is only real when it is shared, just like real happiness.