The Mommy Book

Credit goes to the owner of this amazing photo.  More photos can be viewed in Florentino's Facebook Page. 2 - 3 minute read Cebu City, Philippines Written By: April May Ramos This pandemic is an irony of sorts.   It is terrible yes!  And yet wonderful things are sprouting up from it. I for one have discovered my inner plantita , let out the closet baker in me and was blessed by a new and amazing online business with an awesome community of mentors. This family behind the famed Florentino's Eco Park lifted God-given gifts to higher heights. The Leader of the Pack So who's Florentino?  Nope, he's not talking Italian.  He's a true blue Filipino, and a renowned fine art painter at that. I met Jun Impas years ago when I wrote about art in Cebu.  Little did I know then his wife is Nina Wenceslao, my batchmate in UP High.  It just amazes me where fate can lead us. I remember going with a large group of Cebu artists to Luzon, led by artist  e...

        2 min. read Cebu City, Philippines.           What makes a good bread?  There are certain qualities that people look for in a good bread.  We all have our own favorites.  For most of us Cebuanos, white bread is a staple.  And we usually have the usual sliced bread in our kitchen shelf.          Me and my boys love the commercially-available Ichipan white bread.  Sometimes, we run to the nearest Julie’s bakeshop for their rare special sliced bread.  But when a family friend introduced her daughter’s loaf to us, we were forever spoilt.     Here are 3 reasons we love Hannah’s White Bread: Freshly Baked     We all know that anything fresh-from-the-oven is heavenly.  And that’s what Hannah’s bread is all about.  She bakes it on the day you pick it up!  So it’s definitely by order basis only.  It’s still slightly warm whe...

Dr. Amparito Llamas-Lhuillier reads “A Story of Christmas” to the children. (Photos by Richard Ramos) As a mother of two growing boys, I am extremely particular on the adage that reading is a must for self-development.  So despite going home from a busy day at work tired and wanting sleep, I try my best to have the will and want to read a book at bedtime. My boys look forward to it.  Not only do they learn things they also know their Mom, or Dad, loves them so much and wants to spend time with them reading. Not all kids are as fortunate.  Thus I felt great motherly warmth for Cebu City Marriott Hotel for creating a heart-tugging event dubbed “A Story of Christmas.” One fateful afternoon at the posh business hotel, several kids from the Children’s Center of Cebu gathered at the Sampaguita Hall for a story-telling session.  I believe the kids had no idea who their grand story-teller was – none other than a renowned Cebu patroness and busines...

Family out-of-town-trip Survival Tips for Mommies Actually, happiness comes in bursts of laughing moments.  The boys just love it up north.      You know what’s funny?   We go out of our way to go on out-of-town trips with our family in the “pursuit of happiness”.   But when we do, we end up with just “pursuit” most of the time WITHOUT the “happiness”!        Let me prove my point.   My husband and I packed everything up (including our two kids) in our small compact car to drive four hours up north so we can have a happy, fun holiday.   We ended up enduring the entire drive listening to two boys arguing on just about everything – and that’s not even mentioning the return trip!         When we arrived the beach was as appealing as the Pacific Ocean developing a tsunami, and spending time playing computer games in a neighborhood internet café was the highlight o...