For a better world

To celebrate the United Nations’ 70th anniversary, more than 300 landmarks  monuments, landscapes, museums and bridges  in more than 75 participating countries were lit in blue, the UN’s official color. This movement was made to commemorate the organization’s seven decades of collaboration for humanitarian, development and peacekeeping initiatives over the UN countries.

These landmarks included  the United Nations headquarters in New York City, the Great Wall of China, the Sydney Opera House in Australia, the ancient city of Petra in Jordan, the Great Pyramids in Egypt, the Empire State Building in New York, the Pisa Tower in Italy and Westminster Hall in the United Kingdom.

In the Philippines, it was the SM Mall of Asia Globe that was lit up in blue. United Nations resident coordinator and UNDP (United Nations Development Programme) representative Ola Almgren and Foreign Affairs Secretary Albert del Rosario turned on the switch to light up the globe to officially start the celebration.

Held at the SM Mall of Asia Music Hall in Pasay City, the event, a joint partnership among the United Nations Philippines, Department of Foreign Affairs and SM, showcased the progress made in the past 20 years between the UN and the Philippines. 

The anniversary’s theme “Strong UN. Better World.” showcased an interactive exhibit showing the sustainable development goals as well as a photo exhibit of the different UN agencies in the Philippines.

James Bond overload!

James Bond aficionados are still not over the franchise’s latest installment, Spectre!

An exclusive screening of the latest Bond movie was held at SM Aura’s Directors Club to commemorate the partnership between Ginebra San Miguel Inc. (GSMI) and its new agency of record, Aspac Creative Communications Inc.

Aspac Group CEO Susan Dimacali said, “This was a special treat for our new friends at GSMI and our hardworking team at Aspac. We thought we should celebrate the union in a unique and fun way for everyone. We’re so excited about this partnership, our biggest in recent time.”

GSMI is the first and largest selling gin brand in the world and is a highly recognized brand in the country and abroad with a rich 180-year heritage. The brand has a wide range of products under its portfolio, ranging from strong market leader Ginebra San Miguel to the young GSM Blue and the sophisticated Ginebra Premium Gin. It also has the new Primera Light Brandy and VisMin favorite Vino Kulafu, among others. All of which will now be handled by Aspac.

Aspac is tasked to oversee brand communication strategies, content creation and executions, digital asset development and management, shopper marketing and public relations.

Aspac president and COO Angel Antonio added, “Our team is fired up to be working on both the strong and market challenger brands of GSMI. We are hungry to innovate and leave our creative footprints in this category.”

An intimate Thanksgiving dinner

Simple and delicious — two words that would aptly describe the Thanksgiving dinner chef Bambi Sy Go Bio prepared for us at her home.

Bambi serves “subversive Filipino cuisine” at her Restaurante Pia y Damaso but kept it traditional for this dinner.

Our small group started with hearty and flavorful split pea and bacon soup. We also were able to try a very unique pasta dish made with caramelized pineapple, figs and prunes that surprisingly tasted very good!

The turkey was moist and tender, which was served with traditional stuffing and sweet potatoes. As if these dishes were not enough, Bambi served us with a seafood gratin, rice pilaf and three kinds of desserts!

There was a lot to be grateful for and I was thankful that Bambi had invited me to this dinner!

(For inquiries, call 0917-8480620 and 502-0106 or e-mail [email protected].)

Salute to the champs

It was a sweet victory for Pizza Hut Philippines at the 2015 Yum! Restaurants Inc. (YRI) Regional Champs Challenge (RCC), an annual event attended by more than 250 delegates from 14 member countries of the YRI’s Asia franchise business units.

Pizza Hut Philippines, who bagged eight out of nine awards at the event, won the highly coveted Customer Mania Award, besting Hong Kong, Malaysia and Singapore in customer service, product quality, speed of service, operational management and customer mania.

During RCC’s post-event press conference, the pizza company’s chief operating officer TH Lim presented the winning team to the media. The winning team consisted of Lady Joy Campos (Best Manager), Tomas Pulido Jr. and Erica Castañeda (Best Production Team for Make and Cut), Von Ryan Eddun and Mark Joseph Villanueva (Best Customer Service Team), and Exceniza Pineda (Best Host). Along with reserve team player Johara Rose Gonzales and coach Al Guillermo, the team also garnered the Best Hospitality Execution, Best Speed of Service and Best Over-all Execution awards.

The pizza company has always supported and joined the annual YRI Regional Champs Challenge. Back in 2010, the team also won eight out of nine awards, including Best in Over-all Execution, Executional Excellence in Hospitality, Executional Excellence in Speed, Service Imperative Award and Best Floor Manager, among others.

(Follow me on Instagram @pepperteehankee.)