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!

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!

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.