Maximize Your Good Fortune in 2020 with Marites Allen’s Feng Shui Convention

Chinese New Year 2020, the Year of the Metal Rat, is fast approaching and if 2019 falls short on your expectations, here’s your chance to turn things around. The Rat is the first animal sign in the Chinese zodiac, and its arrival marks the start of a new 12-year cycle. Take advantage of the winning traits of this clever and adventurous animal to establish a stable and abundant new year.

Join us on November 24 – an auspicious day for starting important events and deemed lucky for those who expect superior value for their investments –  to learn how to maximize your luck and good fortune in the coming Year of the Metal Rat.

Don’t miss this chance to learn from the international fengshui master herself, Ms. Marites Allen, and hear first hand the following: 

·     Insights on lucky/unlucky prospects for your personal/professional life

·     Updates on energy types and directions that may work for or against you in 2020

·     General forecasts for important life areas (wealth, health, relationships, etc.)

Get these additional benefits by attending the event:

·         ·    First dibs at the latest luck enhancers and cures for the Metal Rat Year

·         ·    Convention brochure filled with useful takeaway points

·         ·    Engaging presentations, excellent food, auspicious company

·         ·    Chance to win raffle gifts and lots of other surprises

We are also excited to launch Ms. Marites Allen’s 2020 horoscope books, Feng Shui Almanac and Planner, the 2020 Feng Shui App, and the Frigga e-commerce website.

Don’t let this golden opportunity pass you by.  Secure your seats now and get your tickets at Eventbrite (https://www.eventbrite.com/e/15th-marites-allen-philippine-feng-shui-convention-tickets-71031468033), call the following numbers: 0920-9509390 / 8188858/ 7360512 / 4707661 or email maritesallenevents@gmail.com or yours truly at dcalnea@gmail.com.

Welcome the Year of the Dragon

Chinese culture has been embedded into Filipino culture for as long as we can remember that even pure Pinoys have come to love Chinese food and products, movies, and even believe in Chinese Horoscope and participate in the celebration of the Chinese New Year.

Coming from a family with Chinese blood, I grew up eating hopia, pancit, lumpiang shanghai, tikoy and siopao; watched movies of Bruce Lee and Jackie Chan, and the Chinese movies that were shown on Sunday mornings (where the actors are in full Chinese costume); and frequented Chinatown in Binondo. To prepare for Chinese New Year, we always bought tikoy and a variety of sweet, round fruits every Chinese New Year; collected 88 pieces of coins; prepared gold coin chocolates and other candies; and eagerly awaited the horoscope forecasts for the coming year.

(l-r) Feng Shui Expert Marites Allen and host Boy Abunda

This year was different as we celebrated it outside of home for the first time -- we spent Chinese New Year's Eve and the next couple of hours into the new year at Manila Hotel for the "Welcome the Year of the Water Dragon" event featuring Predictions and Forecasts for 2012 by international Feng Shui Expert Marites Allen.

(clockwise, from top left) lobby cocktails; Chinese dance

performance; bazaar; and eye-dotting ceremony

At 9:30 pm, the event started with cocktails at the Manila Hotel lobby where a short programme took place showcasing Chinese dance and Wu Shu exhibition; a short talk by Marites Allen; the traditional Lion Dance and Dragon Dance; the dotting of the Lion's eyes for good luck by Marites Allen and guest VIPs led by Manila mayor Alfredo Lim and Manila Hotel president Joey Lina. The event, hosted by Boy Abunda, also had a Chinese New Year bazaar that offered various Chinese products, including lucky charms and horoscope books.

(clockwise, from top left) wish balloon ritual; auspicious

meal; activities; lion and dragon dancers

By 11:45 pm, everyone was led out onto the hotel driveway for the new year wish balloon ritual -- we were instructed to write our specific wishes on a balloon that we will release together at the strike of midnight, sort of a representation of sending our wishes/prayers to heaven. The dark sky was then illuminated by bright and colorful fireworks originating from the Chinese New Year countdown at the Quirino Grandstand.

Tossing of the Prosperity Salad (that's me with the

ring and lucky beads bracelets)

At past 12 midnight, the last activity for the evening (rather, wee hours of the morning) was the Auspicious Meal and Lucky Forecasts by Marites Allen. The meal started with the assembly of the traditional Prosperity Salad on each table, where the head tasked to facilitate was the oldest in the group -- for our table, it was my mom. Each ingredient followed a sequence in the assembly and once complete, everyone in the table joined in the salad tossing to partake of the 'good luck.' The food prepared by Manila Hotel at the Centennial Hall were really delicious and overflowing that even when the celebration ended, the buffet table was still teeming with goodies.

This was a new and nice experience for me and for us as a family, and we believe that with prayers, hard work and good karma, the Year of the Dragon will be good to us. KUNG HEI FAT CHOI!

Mooncakes from Manila Hotel

The Mid-Autumn Festival or Mooncake Festival is one of the most celebrated events in the Chinese calendar. During the harvest season, when the moon is at its fullest and roundest, family and friends gather to dance, feast, and moon gaze. At the center of the Chinese festivities are the colorful and tasty moon cakes – special kind of sweet cakes prepared in the shape of the moon, filled with a rich and tasty filling and a salted egg yolk at the center.

In Manila Hotel, the Moon Cake Festival is in full swing at its five-star Chinese restaurant Mabuhay Palace. Executive Chinese Chef Sun Bing and his team whip up five exquisite flavors of special moon cakes: mango and cheese with yolk, pandan with dark chocolate Malibu filled praline, Jasmine tea with dark chocolate hazelnut praline, premium white lotus with melon seeds with yolk, and Mabuhay Palace assorted nuts with candied cranberries. The moon cakes can be ordered individually at PhP 380.00 NET or in set boxes beautifully designed to be the perfect gifts during this festivity for PhP 1,680.00 NET.

Mooncakes are available at the hotel lobby and at the Manila Hotel booth at the Mid-Autumn Festival in SM Mall of Asia until September 14, 2011.

Photos from Manila Hotel

Hong Kong Roast: A Taste of Hong Kong on Your Plate

After a tiring work-week, I look forward to weekends for some retail therapy and a good meal of my comfort food. Aside from Pinoy food, my second choice is Chinese food because the dishes are tasty and there is rice and noodles on the menu. Craving for authentic Chinese food usually leads me to Binondo but since it is far from where I live, I end up eating in Chinese restaurants in malls.

It was such a delight to discover that in the heart of San Antonio Village in Makati, just a few blocks from where I live, there's a quaint little restaurant called Hong Kong Roast Food Express that offers "authentic Chinese food," providing a "taste of Hong Kong." I was skeptical at first because when I went to Hong Kong, I was very disappointed with the food that I tried.

Anyway, glancing on their menu, Hong Kong Roast Food Express (HKR) offers roast, rice, noodles, dimsum, bread/sandwich, desserts, coffee, and milk tea. It can also be noted that it boasts of "the best Hong Kong asado." And so we ordered Siomai for starters, BBQ Roast Pork (Asado), Roast Chicken, Black Chicken Sesame, Curry Beef Camto Noodle, Sate Beef Hofan, and to complete a Chinese dinner feast, Yang Chow Fried Rice. For drinks, we tried Milk Tea with Black Pearl while for dessert, we had Coffee Jelly and French Toast.

Since the dishes are cooked as ordered, we were served a trio of appetizers consisting of boiled peanuts, fried dumpling wrappers and pickled green papaya.

The four-piece Siomai order was delicious and was more flavorful than any siomai I have ever tasted. Each piece is packed with fresh ingredients and is not rancid nor soggy. Just be careful about using too much chili garlic on your siomai sauce, HKR's is super hot that just a little goes a long way.

The much anticipated BBQ Roast Pork (Asado) did not disappoint and it even surpassed my expectations. The meat is tender and the bbq flavor is sooo good it is indescribable. No wonder HKR is confident about claiming that it is "the best Hong Kong asado" in town.

The Roast Chicken is well cooked and each piece is evenly flavored. I think I ate three slices of this chicken because I couldn't resist its texture and taste, which is reminiscent of Causeway Bay roast duck.

Sate Beef Hofan was okay, its just that am not a fan of the super thick flat noodles because for me, it diminishes the flavor brought about by the other ingredients. For pancit, am more of a bihon/sotanghon kind of person.

However, I became an instant fan of the Curry Beef Camto Noodle Soup. The noodles are firm, the beef camto so tender it melts in your mouth and the mild kick of curry brought life to an otherwise simple beef noodle soup.

Next was the Black Chicken Sesame and this was my first time to eat one as I've only been hearing about the silk chicken with white feathers and black skin from stories of my colleague and fellow blogger Joyfully Yours, who happens to grow silk chickens in her backyard. Truthfully, the dish was not visually appealing at all, much like burned food on a platter. I braved my first bite and found it weird at first because it had little meat on its bones and it tasted funny. I guess the flavor grows on you in the next few bites. Black chicken cooked into soup is believed by Chinese to give strength to sick people, helping them recover faster. It is also given to mothers in their post-pregnancy stage twice a day to bring them back to health.

The Yang Chow Fried Rice is surprisingly not as oily as I know it to be that I felt less guilty eating a second serving. Can't deny that Yang Chow is my most favorite fried rice of them all.

I was able to meet the owner, Mary Chan, a simple and unassuming lady who has a degree in Hotel & Restaurant Management but she loves to cook and was trained under Chef Gene Gonzales when she was in college. Because of her love for food, she discovered the true recipe for asado, or barbequed pork, which she wanted to focus on for HKR. The recipe for asado is a trade secret and was only known to Chinese chefs who work for Manila's fine dining Chinese restaurants. But Mary felt the need for a restaurant that can give the true Hong Kong dining experience of excellent food, fast and efficient service, and affordable prices and so she she and her chef trained with Hong Kong and Shenzhen chefs to perfect the recipe of the best-selling dishes at HKR.

Hong Kong Roast Food Express, a hole-in-the-wall restaurant that is truly a gem for people like me who seek the best chow possible. Visit them at 7467C Bagtikan Street, San Antonio Village, Makati City for dine-in, take out and delivery. Call them at 553-7846 and 984-7760, find them in Facebook hkroast@yahoo.com or follow them in Twitter hkroast_makati.