Rita's Italian Ice: Ice. Custard. Happiness. Now in the Philippines!

Wazzup Pilipinas!

It's not yet summer in the Philippines but there's a good reason to indulge and reward ourselves with some sweet cold treats as early as today.

Rita's Italian Ice is now in the Philippines! Yup! You heard me right! The largest Italian Ice concept in the world, offering a variety of cool treats including the famous Italian Ice, made fresh daily with real fruit, available in over sixty-five flavors including Old-Fashioned Frozen Custard, Sundaes, Light Custard, Frozen Custard Cakes, Custard Cookie Sandwiches made with Oreo, layered Gelati as well as their signature Misto and Blendini creations are finally here in the country to satisfy our desire for sweet deletable cool creations.

We went to their grand opening last January 16, 2015 to try out their cool product lines and experience the very first branch at VMall in Greenhills here in the Philippines - the very first branch in Southeast Asia. With over 600 stores in the U.S., Rita's Italian Ice Rita’s has been dedicated to serving up a big dose of happiness with their freshly made, delicious, custom treats, in a fun-filled atmosphere, spreading “Ice, Custard, Happiness!”

With some perks to give its first customers like a year's supply of Rita's Italian Ice for 1 year for the first 20 customers and and free Mango Italian Ice for the first 100 customers, some have literally camped out at their store area as early as 2:30 am to get the chance to win Rita's cool treats.

Papal Visit: Pope Francis at the Apostolic Nunciature in Manila

Wazzup Pilipinas!

Hoping for a good weather tomorrow at the Quirino Grandstand in Manila. We heard news that people are already camped out at the Ma. Orosa entrance near the area for a chance to be among the first to get a good spot while Pope Francis celebrates mass on Sunday.

If we want the homily of #PopeFrancisPH tomorrow to be understood by more, why not use  that Argentine priest who speaks fluent Tagalog as interpreter. Though English is the international language, it would be best for the majority of Filipinos so they could clearly understand the messages of the Pope.

For your information, the Pope's real name is Jorge Mario Bergoglio but uses the name of Francis which he borrowed from St. Francis of Assisi. Is it more appropriate to call him "Lolo Jorge" instead of "Lolo Kiko." He surprisingly has an M.S. Chemistry in University of Buenos Aires, Argentina, but worked as a bouncer before getting involved in the church.

He is currently staying at the Apostolic Nunciature located at the corner of Quirino Avenue and Taft Avenue, Manila, and is also the official quarters of all the visitors from the Vatican, as they embark on a four-day trip here in the Philippines including typhoon-ravaged Tacloban to meet the survivors of Supertyphoon “Yolanda” after their visit in Sri Lanka. The Catholic Bishops Conference of the Philippines (CBCP) said it is standard operating procedure for visiting popes to stay at the Apostolic Nunciature.

Papal Visit: Pope Francis Blessed the Philippines

Wazzup Pilipinas!

Lolo Kiko or Francisco to some, #PopeFrancisPH started his homily saying "Do you love me?" The crowd said yes, and the Pope replied, "Thank you very much," he replied and laughed. "I am here to be with you. A little bit late, I have to say, but I am here." The fact that #PopeFrancisPH showed up despite storm signal no. 2 is already comforting enough. Pope's insistence on visiting Leyte despite the typhoon shows how important this is for him.

Braving storm, poncho-clad pope visits typhoon zone. Pope's well-wishers refuse to seek shelter amid reports of hospitalizations due to hypothermia. The Pope's heart-warming homily in his Tacloban mass was well-attended by lots of people they massively call as pilgrims. #PopeFrancisPH set aside the prepared English sermon and delivered the homily in Spanish, which allowed him to speak from the heart.

Many pilgrims, wearing raincoats or none, suffered in the cold weather and got drenched from the heavy rains in Tacloban airport

Though words are never enough in times of unspeakable grief but his presence gave everyone some sort of relief. Wearing a yellow raincoat (Are the yellow raincoats on purpose? Really? No other color available?), he shared many words of wisdom on love, trials, and hope as his speech to the people of Tacloban. Pope Francis said to the Yolanda survivors that Jesus "never lets us down" and that "When I saw from Rome that catastrophe, I felt that I need to be here." Pope Francis comforts the Yolanda victims and tells them that "Jesus knows your suffering" and that "We have a Lord capable of walking with us in the most difficult moments of our life." He also expressed "Please know that the love and tenderness of Mother Mary never lets you down."