May Palacpac, Storyteller

I’m ending a two-week blog hiatus (not intentional, really) to answer questions of fellow mommy bloggers who nominated me for the Food Panda Give 1, Get 1 blogger award contest. It’s one of the best things about being part of Mommy Bloggers Philippines, to meet other mommies and actually have the opportunity to build friendships with them.

SJ Valdez of All Around Pinay Mama and Celerhina Aubrey of Reigning Still are two of such friends I’ve made, and yup, part of the perks is them alerting you to win some of the coolest prizes in the blogging community.

So, without further ado, here are my answers to their questions:

Celerhina’s questions:

What’s your fail-proof recipe for kids? As in yung patok na patok for them?

My baked herb chicken seems to be a constant hit to my kids. Honestly, I came up with it because it’s less fussy to prepare.

How to do it? I coat the chicken pieces with olive oil and generously sprinkle on them thyme, basil, rosemary, oregano and a little salt, then I set the oven to 250 degrees and pop the chicken in to cook for 20-30 minutes.

Even my 9-year old can make it on his own.

Best Japanese restaurant for you?

I’m no fan of Japanese food, though I’ve mentioned before that I do like Tempura and California Maki. But I do remember the first time my brother Nelson introduced me to authentic Japanese food back in the 90’s.

It’s this little grocery store found at the old building right across Glorietta. I’m sorry, it’s been a long time since I’ve been in that area, I no longer remember the name, but this grocery store has a little food corner where a cook prepares Japanese food for diners. I think it’s the best simply because my brother, who was a Japanese food fanatic, swore by it.

SJ Valdez’s questions:

What do you think is the future of blogging in the Philippines? What would be its impact on the different perceptions of people in the various aspects of their daily lives?

I think that the future for blogging is already here.  The web is primarily intended for information and communication, two things that marketing is made up of, a value blogs can offer.

A blog’s influence is determined by many factors — It can be the popularity of the blogger (celebrities, politicians, respected personalities, etc.) or the quality of the content. I learned about RAVE Pasig through another blog and decided to go based on the photos the blogger posted and I tried a facial wash (and loved it!) because of what a fellow blogger wrote.

I think that online media, as a whole, is already making a huge impact on people and it will go on that way for a long time. People will be checking out their favorite online resources and blog sites for recommendations — even on matters in politics, such as who to vote for and why.

What motivates you to write?

My passion to help people find hope.  I realized that providing the right information can help steer people towards hope. To show them possibilities they’ve overlooked and the better side of life over negative mindsets.

How do you see me as a blogger? What are my writing strengths and weaknesses?

In my opinion, one of of your strengths as a blogger is that you genuinely want to provide your readers everything that they need to know about a product or service to help them make decisions.I also noticed that when you provide critique, you do it with class. For instance, that blog you wrote about sponsors that disappointed you.

Weaknesses? My stand on this is the same as my stand as a musician – preference has a lot to do with whether people will like the quality of your output or not.

So as a fellow blogger, I am in no position to point out my fellow bloggers’ weaknesses as I know that not everyone enjoy my style, as well. Besides, it’s not a habit of mine to coast through blogs to find mistakes. I’m more after what the blogger has to say.

There you go. I hope that my answers make sense. To Celerhina and SJ, thank you for the friendship.

My turn to nominate!

Now it’s my turn to nominate and ask questions. I’m not sure if there’s time for my nominee to answer, but here goes:

I nominate Jhanis Vincentte of Vanilla Housewife.

Jhanis’ blog is one of those I enjoy visiting. I love that most of her recipes are about Filipino desserts and she’s hilarious. I also like her in person and I had the opportunity to get to know her a bit when she flew in from Cebu for last year’s Blogapalooza.

She’s sensible and very intelligent. I enjoy talking to her as much as reading her blogs.

Here are my questions:

1. Who are your blogging influences?

2. How do you develop your brand of humor in your writing?

3. You are one of those bloggers I know that earn through your blog. Can you give me 3 practical tips on how I can earn from mine, too? Other than the generic – put out quality content answer.

That’s it! I hope that Jhanis can still get a chance to win any of the prizes and I look forward to her answers. Till my next blog!

Update: Jhanis answered my questions! Turns out the Instax FujiFilm Camera from Food Panda was worth going for, for her, heehee. 

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Update: (5-12-2015)
Unbelievable! I opened my email and found this!

Thank you, Food Panda and Mommy Bloggers Philippines!