Cook and Brew.

If you are residing in the Philippines and want to have a new iPod Touch (who doesn’t?), here’s an online contest that you might want to join.

Join the CDO Samba Promo by simply registering on their site to stand a chance to win a 2nd Generation iPod Touch 16GB in the raffle to be held on November 6, 2009.

Promo period is from October 5 – November 5, 2009.

Double your chances of winning by becoming a fan in CDO Samba’s Facebook Fan Page; and sending Facebook friend invites to join the promo.

For the complete mechanics, check out their site.

I just registered and became a Facebook fan.  I’m now crossing my fingers and hoping that I’d be among the lucky ones to win an iPod Touch.

I just heard a Christmas carol over the airwaves and I just could feel how the Yuletide season is seemingly peeping from not afar. Christmas season is my favorite holiday of the year. I love everything about the season from the Christmas rush to gift-giving, to yuletide foods, to christmas out of town vacations. I’m feeling lucky because the place we’ll be staying in Baguio on December has a wood stove elegantly designed as the firegalores.co.uk’s, we’ll finally get to experience roasting chestnuts while singing “chestnuts roasting on an open fire, Jack Frost nipping on your nose..“

Last May, I joined a similar blog contest for the launching of Cookies and Cream cake wherein I won the grand prize of Php 1500 worth of Red Ribbon Gift Certificates. My Cookies and Cream Moment contest winning entry was posted on my other blog and you might want to read my Yebah victory post there as well as My Red Ribbon Prize.

Red Ribbon has just launched their newest cake, White Forest, and they’re celebrating it with us, Philippine-based bloggers and online writers through “A Memorable Dessert Experience” Online Writing Contest. We can win as much as Php 3000 worth of Red Ribbon Gift Certificates from Nomnomclub.com and Red Ribbon.

All we have to do is:

1) Write a blog entry consisting of at least 250 words about an experience you and your family had with the new Red Ribbon White Forest cake with the theme “A Deliciously Memorable Dessert Experience with the new Red Ribbon White Forest cake“. The title should contain the words ‘White Forest’.

2) Include the words ‘Red Ribbon’ and ‘White Forest’, at least once, anywhere in the whole article/blog. At least once, the word ‘Red Ribbon’ should be a link to http://www.redribbonbakeshop.com.ph.

3) Include at least one photo relevant to the article. The White Forest cake should be inclusive in the photo. The product could simply be part of a bigger picture. (e.g. Mother feeding her daughter with a slice of the cake).

4.) The entries could be posted in your blogs anytime from Oct. 01 to 17, 2009. Submit your specific blog entry URL to admin@NomnomClub.com and carbon copy mari.aldecoa@redribbonbakeshop.com.ph with the subject: “A Memorable Dessert Experience” Also include in the email body your Name, Blog, & Mobile Number/s for easy communication when you win.

The contest entries will be judged by Red Ribbon Management. The winners will be announced on Oct 24, 2009.

Prizes:
1st Place: P3000 worth of Red Ribbon Gift Certificates
2nd Place: P2000 worth of Red Ribbon Gift Certificates
3rd Place: P1400 worth of Red Ribbon Gift Certificates

For more information about this contest, check out Nomnomclub.com.

Apart from their initial relief contribution when Typhoon Ondoy wreaked havoc in Metro Manila wherein they gave away free doughnuts to typhoon victims and relief operation volunteers, Krispy Kreme is making a follow up assistance by holding a fund drive today, October 11, 2009. For every Original Glazed doughnut sale today, the proceeds automatically go to Krispy Kreme’s relief fund which will consequently be donated to the Philippine National Red Cross-Rizal Chapter and ABS-CBN Sagip Kapamilya.

Krispy Kreme invites everyone to be one with them in this project. Kindly visit the following stores today – Bonifacio High Street, SM Megamall, Greenhills Drive-Thru, Trinoma Mall, SM Mall of Asia Main Mall and Drive-Thru, Robinsons Galleria, Gateway Mall Ground Floor and Cinema Level, Glorietta 4, The Annex SM North EDSA, SM Fairview Annex.

The donut you will buy will go a long way.

S.A.V.E.

I think this is the most used word I’ve been hearing in this household especially from my in laws who are indeed so good with thrift practices in every possible way and detail they could. Truly, the world is experiencing financial hard times where inflation is a common trend almost every month. Prices of gas and basic commodities are shooting up constantly. The peso to dollar conversion has been stable within the range of 45-50 but this is not a good indication that our economy is doing better. I think most people realize the value of saving and a lot actually practice it. As much as possible, people refrain from spending and just make the ends meet by whatever they have. But since it is most of the time inevitable to spend in our daily living, we don’t have a choice but shell out the least amount of money that we have. There is a thing called frugal shopping or wise spending and this actually is a great move to sustain our finances.

However, in order to survive in these economic hard times, saving or practicing frugal shopping aren’t enough. We may have our stable jobs and income every 15th and 30th of the month but we can’t fully feel its effect or presence. That is why a lot of financial experts advises that we find other means to derive additional income. Aside from accepting a second job or freelance projects, one good way to address this concern is to make investments, particularly investing in precious metals.

Way back college years where we discuss about the the commodity market in our Business subjects, I recall my professor saying that gold investment is the most promising of all precious metals for the reason that it never devaluates no matter what the world economy’s condition is. It can withstand the inflation, recession and any other political or financial turmoil that might surface. There are various online gold dealers in the market and one of the most sought after and relied greatly upon is Monex. Having been in the business for more than four decades, their services on coin dealing and precious metals investment have been remarkable to many hobbyists and investors.