Bonggak Pastries offers Oreo Cream cheese and Coonies!

Bonggak pastries, known for delectable personalized fondant cakes, picture cakes and sugar cookies offers new addition to their line of fondant cakes and sugar cookies! I'm featuring two of my favorite Christmas season limited edition desserts that I encourage you to try.

1. The Oreo Cream cheese cookie: 

It looks like cookies and cream, the actual cookie version, but after one bite, a certain kick will fill you in as the cream cheese will navigate its way to your fancy. This is my personal favorite.

Thank you Dear Lord for giving my Inay another year

My mom was not in the mood celebrating her birthday this year. I keep asking her for her plans but she gives me vague answers. Weeks before, my sister and I cooked up a plan to celebrate her birthday.

So the night before:

 

Cake by Bonggak Pastries ( yes, that's edible) 

When the birthday girl woke up:

My sisters (complete with left-over sparkles from New Years):

My mom had surprise visitors from her breakfast club (dabarkads) at 530 in the morning! 

Thank you to my mom's friends, her consistent breakfast club, I don't mind waking up to the sound of boisterous laughter coming from the living room/dining area or coming from our cabana in our garden. I don't mind having to drive and take all of you home at night after an event you all attended. Thank you for being there for my inay when she needed friends the most.

And to you inay,

I don't mind if it takes me 50 times to explain to you how to upload pictures, or how to fix your email drafts, I don't mind if you take so long at the computer, or spend hours on the phone talking to your sisters, I don't mind if you drag me to your friend's parties that I fall asleep in the couch waiting because someone's got to drive you home. I have learned not to mind your being a backseat driver when you don't even know how to drive. I don't mind carrying big boxes of grocery, carrying refilled water jugs, I have learned not to mind being on call when you needed me to do something for you even if it wrecks my schedule that normally pisses me off. 

I have learned to overlook things that you do that normally winds me up, because what matters most is that I still have you and you're my only parent left. Thank you for being strong for the family (and the whole clan) and for being the one that holds everything and everyone together. 

When I was young, I never really have given much thought and appreciation with my mom’s PR skills. 20 years later, I have learned that her people’s skills are not just not for business sake but she’s actually made friends with these people. I have been a direct recipient of pay-it-forward because of my mom that one time, a former professor of mine who was the former boss of my late dad told me that my mom helped so many people that’s why so many people were there for us when we were going through a very difficult time in our lives.

It was such a humbling experience and I did not know the gravity of my mom’s character that if I can be just half the mother and person that she is, then I would really be grateful and  proud of myself.

Thank you Dear Lord for giving my Inay another year. I pray for my mom's strength, health and happiness and that may she live a longer life because we love her so much.  I am very grateful and I am very thankful of everyday that we get to see and be with her.

The Grad School Diaries: Episode 5 - It has been 2 years!

This month marks my 5th semester in UPLB, this time as a “Graduate School resident”.

To honor the great first semester that I had back in 2010, let me share you these videos that took place when I had my first taste of advocacy.

Maki-Book[lat] is a Social Marketing Campaign of the DevCom 208 class during the first semester of academic year 2010-2011. I remember staying up late and getting up at 4 in the morning on the day of the actual launch. I was so excited and it feels like as if it’s “my” launch. This project has helped me adjust well to my transition from Manila and at the same time I loved every minute of our meetings and get-togethers.

Maki-Book[lat] promotes reading habits for school age children. We have collected books and donations and even asked guest readers to launch the campaign in Gawad Kalinga Los Baños chapter. I worked behind the scenes and ended up being really good friends with my group mates. 

The event was hosted by my friends Paulie and Yeye:

 
Paulie and Yeye's hosting gig for Maki-[Book]Lat from The Kea Channel on Vimeo.

Kuya King Becodo reads/performs Pamilya Ismid at GK from The Kea Channel on Vimeo.

Some photos (because there are just too many):

 

My friend and kumare, Cecile, the master fondant maker of Bonggak Pastries gave us these fondant cupcakes for the kiddies!

(Mare, two years since you did this you've been very blessed! You now have [turning] four  Bonggak Pastries SM branches! I'm so proud of you! )

I keep saying that I will be forever grateful to UPLB Grad School and to the College of Development Communication. Not only I have learned to see things in different lenses, I was able to really learn a lot about my self and have been more understanding of others.

Cupcake Designing with Bonggak

Few months ago, I was playing cake designer with my kumare, Cecile (Check out her Show Cakes here) when she actually let me do the LV designs by my self!

Then few months later I actually found my self doing it for my part-time gig! So to sum up what happened for the past two days, here are the pictures:

Face-less little people

I did the hair of most of the tiny fondant people

Me putting a smile on his little fondant person's face

Happy little fondant people

Some inevitable mishaps

For Christening event

Cecile is really good sculpting every imaginable figures that can be done in a fondant!

A Baby in the Making

These go with the "baby" designs

Little fondant people on standby below:

Cupcakes waiting

We made this painstakingly one by one

Flower designs

Now, for the packaging part:

The little fondant boys and girls ready for delivery

So are the cutesy babies

Here's my personal favorite:

Cute baby in a cupcake

Cecile's Bonggak fondant pastries will soon be available in SM City Calamba, Laguna. For online orders you may check the Bonggak site!