Month: August 2011

BB users, take a look! BlackBerry has unveiled a Made for Playbook line of accessories for its beloved tablet. We think they’re oozing with style and class, designed not only to personalize the Playbook but also to protect it. The range carries such labels as Delvaux, Valextra, Ettinger, Brooklyn, Porter, WANT Les Essentiels de la Vie and Ganzo.

Here are some of the accessories we love from the collection:

BB case in Aqua from Brooklyn Japan is crafted from French calfskin. Aside from holding the Playbook, there’s enough space for pen, business cards and notes.

Case in Italian calfskin leather from WANT Les Essentiels de la Vie. The Playbook is held in its place by elasticated leather straps and there are also extra slots for notes and business cards.

Anyway, the friendly publicists of BlackBerry Philippines invited me to see the BlackBerry Playbook up close and browse with it however I want.It was through a fun photoshoot where I was supposed to hold the Playbook and say cheese to the camera of seasoned lensman Louie Aguinaldo. Yay! I actually felt like I was modelling for the day! And I loved the Playbook for being so compact and user-friendly.

The best part? They had an hairstylist, make up artist and the F.A.S.H. crew of the Lifestyle Network at our disposal. The latter, especially, was so good at choosing the clothes and accessories I had to wear, even if they just met me for the last 10 minutes. It was quite a joy working with them.

I was quite happy with the result. Am now using the solo pic for my Facebook profile

Thank you BB team!

Find Made for Playbook accessories at the following stockists:

BROOKLYN
Available at the BROOKLYN Tokyo store and online http://brooklyn-shop.com/

ETTINGER
Available online at www.ettinger.co.uk

DELVAUX
Available at all Delvaux stores in Belgium and online www.delvaux-eshop.com

GANZO
Available at the GANZO Tokyo store

PORTER
Available at the PORTER stores in Japan

VALEXTRA
Available at Barneys, Case at Harrods, Le bon marché, Mr. Porter, Shilla Arcade Hotel, Lotte Department store in Korea, Valextra Milan and Rome boutiques

WANT Les Essentiels de la Vie
Available online at http://wantessentiels.com/

We’re quite loyal to Kenji Tei Ramen House since it’s proudly born and running in the South (BF Homes!). This is after tasting the ramen joints along Pasay Road, including the much-ballyhooed Ukkokei Ramen Ron. Kenji Tei still tops it for us.

We’ve eaten in the place a dozen times now and the consistency remains the same. Sigh. Their bowl of ramen prices have even gone up, from just P180 in 2009 to P240 at present. But the fact that Kenji Tei is opening in Greenbelt 5 soon means that they must be doing something good.

A few things that we look for in a good bowl of ramen: the flavor of the soup, the freshness and consistency of the noodles, the presentation, and a few other things like not stirring the slice of butter in the miso butter corn ramen because this is how they do it in Japan

All factors considered, there’s nothing like a savory serving of ramen to help us get through these rainy days.It helps that Kenji Tei has friendly prices and a Zen-like ambiance to satiate our bad ramen cravings on some days. It pays to be near!

The place doesn’t allow take-outs so be prepared to finish your big bowl. I usually take my tempura with rice, but not after tasting this tempura ramen soup. Heavenly!

I also never fail to order the cheese gyoza (P105) which is fried gyoza stuffed with meat & cream cheese then dipped in a mixture of chili oil and Japanese mayo. I get addicted to this!

As served: the miso butter corn ramen, so called because of its toppings.

My other favorite is the mabo tofu ramen. They also serve the usual Japanese resto dishes like katsudon, chicken teriyaki, curry rice and agedashi tofu, and they’re nicely cooked as well.

We’d be glad to discover other ramen places but we’re happy with Kenji Tei for now.

Kenji Tei Ramen House
President’s Ave. BF Homes, Parañaque City
Tel. No. 556-8805

Open from 11 am – 230 pm,
530 pm – 10 pm