Amazing Race Archives - Between Bites - Bites of Food, Travel and Lifestyle

CCF Step Up Singles Conference 2013

May 2, 2013 by Janey

Last weekend, CCF held their annual singles conference at Hotel Stotensberg in Clark, Pampanga. From April 26 to 28, singles from different parts of the Philippines, albeit mostly Manila, gathered in one location for the CCF retreat dubbed “Step Up.”

Praise and Worship opened each session and the messages by the different Pastors and the testimonies by the speakers were truly blessings – food for my soul. I’ve heard the message of the Cross before but I still felt so blessed after listening to Pastor Peter Tan Chi’s message regarding the Significance of the Cross.

Photo Source: CCF Page

The Significance of the Cross begins with God’s love, our Heavenly Father’s love. John 3:16, “For God so loved the world, that He gave His only begotten Son, that whoever believes in Him, should not perish but have eternal life.” In this, we can see that God’s love was demonstrated. It wasn’t only spoken but it was shown. Action does speak louder than words. Faith is never a vacuum. Faith is DEMONSTRATED.

When we talk about our spiritual life, what moves us? Some say, you are a body with a spirit. But we are all actually spirits inside / contained in human bodies. Someday, the body will perish but our spirit lives on. Will our spirit live an eternal life with God or damnation for the sinful choices we’ve made? What moves you? The spirit or the flesh?

How do we begin to understand what The Cross is about? Romans 3:23, “For all have sinned and fall short of the Glory of God.”

Until we understand and acknowledge our own sinfulness, we will not understand the Cross. Until we have truly humbled ourselves and acknowledged each and every sin we’ve committed, even the shameful ones we are too prideful to even admit to ourselves, we will not be able to grasp the MAGNITUDE of what Jesus has done for us in the Cross.

1 Peter 3:18, “For Christ also died for sins once for all, the just for the unjust, in order that He might bring us to God.”

If we were sinners and have come to know and accept Christ and the Significance of the Cross, we have been reborn. We are gifted with a new life. Would we loosely guard this new life and still keep doing the same sins Jesus died for in order to bridge us to the Father? When we ignore the call of the Holy Spirit and to live in His righteousness, don’t we undervalue what Jesus’ life was for?

Doesn’t this movie reminds us of how awful sin is? How ugly and hurtful it is?

Do you wonder if He still feels the nails every time you fail? Do we continue to crucify Jesus because of the sins we cannot let go?

What do people do to deal with the guilt of their sins? Many different things: lie, cover up, deny, do good deeds… but even with numerous good works, God looks at the heart. God hears our thoughts as much as He hears our prayers. That includes your dirty thoughts. He hears the whispers of our deceitful heart. He knows if we are doing something out of love or out of selfish desires… if we are moving by the flesh or moving by the Spirit.

Sometimes in order to be oblivious to sin or disregard it casually, we tend to JUSTIFY. Be alert, every time you start to justify, it’s already an admission to sin. If you find the need to justify and explain, you already know that something doesn’t feel right.

Pastor Peter Tan Chi came back for a joint session and talked about “God’s Hand in Your Life.” This message was also brimming with blessings and at least one revelation for me… It was more a confirmation of what has been revealed to me weeks prior.

Saturday late evening, we listened to Edric Mendoza and his wife, Joy Tan Chi (daughter of Pastor Peter) as they spoke about the roles men and women play – specifically, husbands and wives. In this case since everyone in the retreat is single, they applied it to what to look out for in a husband and who I am to be as a wife… and vice versa.

Edric on the mic and Joy looking lovingly at Edric

At the time of writing this, I googled Edric and Joy in the search engine and found this article regarding their love story.

Love Story of Edric and Joy Mendoza

I was blessed by their separate messages and answers to our questions during the forum on love, relationships and marriage that night, but I also feel blessed after reading their story (purposeful breakup, struggles with purity in the relationship, obeying the will of God and setting the limits of intimacy in a relationship). Their relationship had a happy ending or more appropriately, a happy new beginning… but sometimes, our happy ending is only with God. Or make that happy new beginning with God.

It’s amazing how simply we can be blessed by testimonies of God’s love and faithfulness and just by listening to God’s words. My brother-slash-Twin also says that with obedience come blessings too, as long as you set your heart to obey and not for the blessings. Thank you brother for blessing me with this CCF Retreat.

I was just too happy (and amused) to see my brother dance. I needed to get it on video.

Allow me to share more of the CCF Retreat in the coming days (my struggle during the first night, Friday). There were a lot of good talks and I just feel so blessed with all the sessions and activities, leading me to self-realizations and eventually revelations.

[Read more…]

Get Delicious at Dinelli Gourmet

November 20, 2008 by Janey

The Inauguration and Press Launch of Dinelli Gourmet happened last Tuesday evening, 18^th of November 2008. Dinelli Gourmet is the latest addition in Manila’s gourmet and specialty foods market.

The newly opened gourmet shop is your new stop for the freshest and unique selection of gourmet foods. More than the exclusive imported items and fresh cold cuts and wide array of cheese selection, the store also has a section for kitchen equipment from Australia, Europe and USA. The husband and wife tandem of Anthony and Kristine Meehan, proprietors of Meehan Cellars Inc. decided to open a chain of gourmet shops in the Metro. The Tomas Morato branch is the first of the three set to open. The second branch is fixed to launch in December which location will be at the Fort.

The Amazing Race Asia 3 Philippine Team contestants (and hopefully winners! We’ll find out tonight) model Geoff Rodriguez and beauty queen Tisha Silang hosted the event. While cocktails and various wines were being served around since 630pm, the official ceremony started at 8pm with the formal ribbon cutting.

The Australian Senior Trade Commissioner Ross Bray, was the Guest of Honor and consequently presided over the ribbon cutting. It was a well-attended event as local dignitaries, eminent businessmen, celebrities and models graced the event alongside the media cluster. Representatives from Yummy Magazine (calling Fran Haw, where were you?) and Uno were also present.

As the event kicked off, Geoff passed the floor to Mr. Anthony Meehan who welcomed the guest and thanked those who made the event possible, as well as the media partners.

I got to have a quick chat with Geoff and egged him to reveal if they won TARA 3. It was after all, 2 nights away. He was mum all the way. I guess I had to wait for 48 more hours.

Whether you’re looking for a strong-tasting cheese or smooth creamy cheese, or even cheese studded with pimiento or chilies for that extra zing, Dinelli Gourmet offers a complete cheese selection. Dinelli advises that hard cheese like Parmigiano Reggiano, Pecorino, Manchego and Grana Padano are great for crumbling or grating texture. Cheddar, Edam, Gruyere, Emmenthal are semi-hard cheese that have milder flavors and can melt quite easily. For other cooking needs such as adding a height to your sandwich creations, semi-soft cheeses are available too, like Bleu d’Auvergne, Port Salut (saint Paulin), Fourme D’Ambert, Roquefort Societe, Gorgonzola Dolce, Feta. For rich creamy variants, the popular ones are Brie and Camembert, followed by St. Nectaire, Mascarpone (usually used in desserts) and Cambozola Cheese Kaserei.

They also carry Moondarra cheese brand: ashed goat, chilli, creamy blue cheese, fruit and nut, garlic and chives, garlic and herb goat cheese, honey and pistachio, melon and mango, pear and vanilla bean, sun dried tomato (Mm-mm!) and herb, bruschetta cheese among others.

For those who have a discerning taste for the expensive, Castaing Fois Gras products are available in Dinelli Gourmet stores.

Refreshments and treats from the store’s gourmet selection and menu items were at every corner. The food (cheese, meat, pasta, dessert) and wine were free flowing throughout the night –even at the time when we left, fresh batches were being brought out. The treats were simple ingredients tossed together –but it definitely tasted like designer cocktails. Seeing all the products, I had the urge to buy so many items off their racks. A bottle of cocktail onions, brie, gorgonzola, manchego and fontina, grapes, dried apricots, walnuts, wine and I’m good to go for a cheese party. There were Moroccan lamb stew and couscous on a microwave-able container that Bubba was interested in, plus a dish of Tortellini and cream cheese. Whereas for me, my curiosity was more piqued with the individual ingredients I’ve only seen there. That launch surely fired up a vanishing cooking passion in me. Getting an access to an assortment of distinctive ingredients inspired me to concoct new dishes.

Each guest also received a gift basket with a selection of gourmet foods to be able to sample the Dinelli gourmet lifestyle at home. Dinelli Gourmet will surely change the landscape of Metro shopping and hopefully ups the ante of deli stores as well as Filipino home dining. Get creative with Dinelli gourmet products and come up with the freshest dish ideas. Dinelli Gourmet is located at 5 Timog Avenue, Quezon City.