Text and photos by Mark Garcia I am a man but the labor and nitty-gritty of doing the laundry is nothing new to me. I do my own laundry ever since my high  school days even now that I already belong to the country’s work force. There was even a time that I was in charge of my three sisters’ laundry being the eldest of four kids, in a bid to help mom and pop as they work outside of the home to feed us four and send us to school. That’s why I was most willing to pitch-in for mom when he asked me to cover a laundry event by Unilever Philippines. It turned out that Unilever   through its detergent powder  brand Breeze was treating moms all over the country to a day off from washing clothes with   1Laba Day , a simultaneous nationwide event on   August 28, 2014, in Metro Manila (Pasig, Marikina, Quezon City, Pasay), North Luzon (Tarlac, Pangasinan),  South Luzon (Laguna, Cavite) Visayas (Cebu)  and Mindanao  (Davao...

Have you notice that you can't fit in your favorite clothes lately? Do you feel your excess weight, especially around your midsection, make it harder for you to breath, making simple tasks like walking up stairs difficult? Chances are you’d gained unreasonable weight.  Or you may be obese already. Obesity is defined as having excess proportion of total body fat. Analyzing your body mass index or BMI is one of the most common ways to measure or determine if you are obese or not. A person is considered obese when his or her weight is 20% or more above normal weight. In the Asian category of the data from the American Journal of Clinical Nutrition, you are already overweight if your BMI is between 24 and 26.9. Meanwhile, a person is already considered obese if his or her BMI is over 27. Who Should Lose Weight and Why The impact of being overweight or obese has on your body is one of the main reasons to lose weight. The more weight you gain, the more at risk yo...

Craving for pastries and desserts? Try Happy Cream Puff, the lighter and healthier alternative for health and weight-conscious individuals. First Happy Crème Puff has mastered making a crust that is easy to bite and with the right amount of crispiness. Second, its custard filling, caramelized coating and flavor-filled toppings are what make the small cakes delightful. The combination makes a refined sweetness the way most people would prefer. And third, Happy Crème Puff’s pastries are without preservatives and uses fresh cow’s milk that is less fattening. At the newly opened branch at the 5th level of Shangr-ila Mall’ East Wing, General manager Mytch Alipio said cream puffs are a craze in Japan. Company owners Maricel and her husband Haruo Yamagishi decided to bring its concept in the Philippines and make a business out of it in 2006 starting off with a small store in Makati City. "The owners are meticulous when it comes to the products' quality. Our cream puffs, comp...

To beat the summer heat and treat every member of the family as well, well-loved cookie brand Oreo recently gave away special prizes through a fabulous show at the SM Megamall activity center on March 28 to launch the Oreo Better Together Facebook promo at www.facebook.com/oreogetdunked.ph. Huge Oreo and milk couch set can be yours plus a 40” Samsung LED Smart TV and an Xbox 360 with Kinect by joining this contest. All you have to do is ‘Like’ the OREO Get Dunked Facebook page and click on the Oreo Better Together Promo or go to OreoBetterTogether.com and play. There you can dunk Oreo cookies in a virtual pachinko board to earn points. To earn cookies to play with, you can either register your details in the game or buy an Oreo Better Together nine-pack in leading stores and supermarkets. Registering will instantly give you 3 free chocolate cookies, while buying an Oreo nine-pack gives you a unique promo code worth 65 cookies. Each Oreo Vanilla creme pack gives you 65 vanilla cookies...

Graduation means the end of an academic era and the beginning of the next chapter in our lives. Most of us would agree that the days we spent in high school were certainly the best days of our lives. It was in school that we made our first friends, competed to excel, hoped for places in the sports teams, and learned our first lessons about life. The academic year has come and passed, along with graduates who are moving on to the next stage in their life. These bright young students have overcome the challenges of their school years, and are ready to take on all new endeavors. This important milestone deserves to be celebrated with family and friends. As always, Goldilocks, the country’s number one bakeshop, has the perfect cake to share during this commemoration: the Goldilocks Rocky Road Greeting Cake. Indeed, it is a fitting reminder for graduates that the road to success may be rocky at times, but altogether it is sweet and delicious. The three-layered chocolate sponge cake is dr...

Kim Jung Su, president of South Korea's HBKOR Inc., answers questions from media during the press launch of the K-Pop Idol Search (KIS)- Pinoy Edition. With him in photo are: Ryu's Entertainment Chief Executive Officer Ryu Jung Hoon and Ryu's Entertainment Executive Director Choi Yoon Sung. (PNA photos by Ben Briones)SCS/bvb A 5-year exclusive contract with a Korean-based talent management company, a 6-month intensive training in Korea, and a more than P2 million cash await five winners of the K-Pop Idol Search (KIS) Pinoy Edition. To be aired on PTV4 in September this year, the KIS Pinoy shall pioneer the People’s Television Network’s wholesome entertainment shows. The competition is open to all Filipino individuals, 14-35 years old, who love to sing and dance, and dream of becoming a world stage performer. Interested parties must have no existing management and recording contracts, locally and internationally. “After about 40 years of exclusively servicing governme...

Respected legendary actress Dr. RUSTICA CARPIO will be honored as the Nora Aunor Ulirang Artista Lifetime Achievement Award recipient during the 3oth PMPC Star Awards for Movies happening On March 9 at Solaire-Manila. Dr. Carpio first gained international notice when as a college student she became the youngest member and singer of the First Filipino Entertainment Troupe sent by the Philippine government to wartorn Korea in the winter of 1951 to bring Christmas cheers to the Philippine Expeditionary Forces to Korea (PEFTOK) and other United Nations armies. It was then that a battle ground was named "Rustie Hill" after her and was adopted in the war maps of Korea. In film and TV, Carpio is a familiar and much acclaimed character actress. She first appeared in Ishmael Bernal’s Nunal sa Tubig(1976). This would soon be followed with more than 50 other films in her more than 30 years in the industry. Eleven of these movies were directed by Bernal, earning her the reputation i...