KUYA J: The best Crispy Pata in Town

KUYA J: The best Crispy Pata in Town

No question about it, Kuya J Restaurant's best selling dish is the Crispy Pata. It is Crispy, delicious and freshly cooked. You could order this for only Php499



Our favorite Tokwa't Baboy! Delicious and meaty! For only Php190.

Yummylicious! One of the most popular appetizers is chorizo Dinamita, long green peppers stuffed with sausage meat and cheese, wrapped in lumpia skin and deep-fried. The serving is large enough to be shared by a group of 6 people.

The scallops are of the rare variety caught only in the deep waters of the Visayas region. Supplies are flown in daily from Cebu. They are smothered in a mixture of butter, crumbs, and cheese, then grilled until bubbly.


Lumpia presko is wrapped in malunggay-speckled skin and stuffed with crabmeat and crunchy bamboo shoots, adorned with alfalfa sprouts. Tokwa’t baboy is a tall tower of super-crunchy tofu cubes alternated with chunks of bagnet.




Pochero bulalo Tagalog has brown thick gravy naturally sweetened by saba bananas, kamote, and corn. The beef is a two-inch-thick bone-in shank.

Beef brisket and oxtail are the meats in kare-kare, which uses no instant mixes at all. Instead, Kuya J toasts peanuts and rice, which are then ground separately. At serving time, a handful of ground peanuts is layered atop the dish.



Delicious sisig!



Rice Humba is one of my favorites among Kuya J's wide variety of food offerings.

A scene stealer is the mango pandan. A popular Kuya J meal ender, composed of Cebu mango cubes and pandan-flavored Jell-O floating in a fruity, creamy, and cold soup crowned with a burst of spun caramelized sugar like sunrays.

Shavings of dried coconut meat top a brilliant concoction called tablea coffee flan. Supporting local farmers, the organic coffee is sourced from small-scale farmers in Batangas. The tablea is from Bohol, where housewives roast the cocoa seeds in small palayok (clay pot), stirred with bamboo-and-coco shell spatulas.

The president of the company Mr. Wing Lip Chang told us the history of Kuya J. When a fellow blogger asked him who is Kuya J? 

Are you curious too? Here it goes...

Once upon a time, there was a carinderia in Cebu City whose original dishes became so popular that suppliers could hardly keep up with the demand for fresh scallops, squid, catfish, and pig knuckle. Everybody called the owner Kuya J.

Unaffected by his carinderia’s success, Kuya J decided to pack up and go overseas, selling his business to a group with grand expansion plans for the small eatery. Today, Kuya J is going nationwide, with branches opening on Boracay Island, Iloilo, Bacolod, and all over Metro Manila.

Endless fun under the Philippine Sun

Endless fun under the Philippine Sun

Who doesn't love a little fun in the sun? The beach can be a perfect way to spend the day and get some summer moments with your loved ones. Summer means sun, shorts, sandals, bathing suits, and bronzed skin. But with beach hair and shorter hemlines comes the dangers that not only instigate the probability of skin cancer, but the aging process as well. Sun exposure is, essentially, subjecting yourself to sun damage – but in the same note, avoiding the outdoors altogether is both impractical and nearly impossible.

Dermplus Moisturizing Sunblock is the answer to your skin problems this summer. It is formulated with unbeatable UVA and UVB filters to protect your skin in the harsh ultraviolet radiation from the sun. Dermplus sunblock physically blocks and reflects light and it also helps heal skin damage caused by over-exposure to the sun.  Dermplus Sunblock is available in different SPFs like SPF 24 that is recommended for morena skin and for indoor use, SPF 35 for fair skin and SPF 80 and 130 for extreme outdoor activities. Use Dermplus Moisturizing Sunblock and worry no more about the harmful Ultra Violet A (UVA) and Ultra Violet B (UVB) rays. Whether you will spend your summer in Boracay, Cebu, Palawan or in Bohol, never forget your number one sun defense partner. Dermplus Moisturizing Sunblock is also trusted by Emilio “Chieffy” Caligdong, a professional football player and the former team captain of the National Football Team. 

Dermplus Moisturizing Sunblock is available in all leading drugstores, supermarkets and department stores nationwide. For more information call 817 33 03 or like us on Facebook. 

SHELL FUEL SAVE - BIANCA GONZALEZ IS BACK TO DEFEND HER CROWN IN THE SHELL FUEL SAVE

Shell FuelSave Celebrity Driver of the Year Bianca Gonzalez is back to defend her crown in the Shell FuelSave Fact or Fiction Driving Challenge

MANILA, FEBRUARY 2015 – “Being a fuel efficient driver is easy. I’m not an expert, just an ordinary, everyday driver, but through the Shell FuelSave driving challenges, I learned that making a few simple changes to my driving habits and choosing the right fuel make a difference in making your fuel last longer,” said celebrity host and published author Bianca Gonzalez who, after completing several driving challenges last year, is fast-becoming a veteran when it comes to fuel efficiency.

Gonzalez first took on the call of Pilipinas Shell to be a fuel efficient motorist during the Shell FuelSave Celebrity Driving Challenge in January 2014 where she drove from Batangas and through the busy streets of Manila to learn about fuel efficiency from some university students who represented the country in the first ever Shell Eco-marathon Asia to be held in the Philippines. Gonzalez was crowned Shell FuelSave Celebrity Driver of the Year, besting celebrities from Singapore, Malaysia and Thailand, at the final leg of the Celebrity Driving Challenge held on the opening day of Shell Eco-marathon 2014.

Gonzalez went behind the wheel again in October to challenge everyday Filipino motorists including moms, professional drivers, and media representatives for the Shell FuelSave Good Choice Driving Challenge. The Driving Challenge tested their skills in making good choices on the road to help make their fuel last longer where Gonzalez walked away with a First Runner-up title under her belt.

It seems that nothing could stop Gonzalez in defending her crown as she teams up once again with Pilipinas Shell to take on a different kind of challenge – discovering the extraordinary lengths Filipino motorists go through to save on fuel, and putting them to the test. With Shell Eco-marathon 2015 coming up, Gonzalez enlisted the help of five students from universities forming the Philippine contingent to SEMA 2015 to join her team for the Shell FuelSave Fact or Fiction Driving Challenge on February 11.

Driving the recently-launched models of the All New Honda Jazz, All New Honda City, and All New Honda Brio Amaze, Gonzalez and the students will go head to head against select media personalities on a road trip to Clark, Pampanga. In this Driving Challenge, the participants will go through pit stops that will reveal interesting habits Filipino motorists practice to help them save fuel. The teams will have to distinguish between fuel efficiency fact and fiction to manage their fuel consumption, coupled with teamwork and determination, to outwit each other.

The Shell FuelSave Fact or Fiction Driving Challenge is the lead up to Shell Eco-marathon Asia 2015 as Shell brings back its largest fuel efficiency educational platform to Manila from February 26 to March 1. This will be the second year that Shell Eco-marathon Asia will be held in the country, and Filipino student teams from the country’s top universities will compete once again against fellow students from countries around Asia and the Middle East to design, build and drive the most energy efficient vehicles of tomorrow.

The Philippine teams made history last year when the De La Salle University’s (DLSU) Eco-Car Team-Electric ranked second place in the UrbanConcept-Battery Electric Category with a consumption of 66.38 km/kWH, while the Technological Institute of the Philippines (TIP) also came in as a top contender when TIP Mileage bested over twelve other teams in the UrbanConcept-Diesel Category by finishing third with a fuel consumption of 47.44 km/L.

As these students bring pride to the country once more, the Shell FuelSave Fact or Fiction Driving Challenge will serve as a platform to present them to the Filipino public.

The winner of the Shell FuelSave Fact or Fiction Driving Challenge will be determined during the culminating program on February 11. At the same time, Shell will also reveal highlights of the Shell FuelSave Fact or Fiction Report, a nationwide study conducted in December 2014 that analyses the behavior of 1,000 Filipino motorists aged 18 to 40 to understand the extraordinary lengths drivers are willing to go in order to save fuel and cut their driving costs.

“More than just being any driving competition, the Shell FuelSave Fact or Fiction Driving Challenge is our way of educating Filipino motorists how to become fuel efficient. All it takes are making a few simple changes to the way we drive and using the right fuel,” explains Anthony Lawrence Yam, Pilipinas Shell Vice President for Retail.

“The Driving Challenge allows our participants to experience Shell FuelSave, and the Shell FuelSave Fact or Fiction Report shows Filipino motorists what they should and shouldn’t do when it comes to being more fuel efficient.” Yam added.

Ultimately, Shell wants to show everyday drivers that choosing the right fuel does not have to be a tough decision, and that Shell FuelSave is a good choice that they don’t have to think about. All motorists can be more fuel efficient by driving smarter and using the right fuel, such as Shell FuelSave – a regular priced fuel designed to last longer.

To discover top tips on how to make your fuel last longer, visit www.shell.com.ph/fuelsave.

About Shell FuelSave fuels

Shell FuelSave Gasoline and Shell FuelSave Diesel are our regular priced fuels designed to last longer. Currently available in 22 countries, they contain active efficiency ingredients and are designed to improve engine efficiency from the very first tank.

Shell has over 100 years’ experience in creating some of the world’s most advanced fuels. We are also committed to equipping motorists with the skills needed to be more fuel efficient. Learn how a few simple changes to everyday driving habits can help you manage the costs of motoring by going to www.shell.com.ph and participating in Target One Million, a global Shell FuelSave campaign aimed at helping one million drivers around the world  learn how they can make their fuel last longer.

Royal Dutch Shell plc

Royal Dutch Shell plc is incorporated in England and Wales, has its headquarters in The Hague and is listed on the London, Amsterdam and New York stock exchanges. Shell companies have operations in more than 70 countries and territories with businesses including oil and gas exploration and production; production and marketing of liquefied natural gas and gas to liquids; manufacturing, marketing and shipping of oil products and chemicals and renewable energy projects. For further information, visit www.shell.com.

WARMER GETS YOU FURTHER? New STUDY REVEALS NEARLY ALL (96%) FILIPINOS WARM UP their ENGINES BEFORE SETTING OFF

MANILA, FEBRUARY 2015: A new study released today uncovers the extraordinary lengths Filipinos are willing to go to in order to save fuel and cut their driving costs.

The Shell FuelSave Fact or Fiction Report, which analyses the behaviour of 1,000 Filipino drivers aged 18 to 40, reveals that while 92%[1] see being fuel efficient as important, but 75% admit they don’t know how.

What’s even interesting, more than half (53%) of the drivers surveyed say they feel anxious trying to decide how best to save fuel, leading many to believe in a collection of absurd fuel saving myths. The research shows 80% of drivers believe warming up their engine before setting off will make them more fuel efficient, while 57% think filling up at night does the same trick. Shockingly, nearly half (45%) even believe ‘burping’ their cars to release air pockets in the tank will help them save fuel. Unfortunately for the majority of the Philippines’ driving population, none of these fuel efficiency myth help in reducing fuel costs.

Commenting on the findings, Anthony Lawrence Yam, Vice President for Retail of Pilipinas Shell, says: “The Shell FuelSave Fact or Fiction Report shows just how important saving fuel has become to motorists, along with the incredible ways they try to be more fuel efficient. Some of the beliefs revealed through the study were actually wasting fuel rather than helping to conserve it.”

To help sort fact from fiction, Shell is out to turn the nation’s myth-followers into fuel efficiency pros – both through using fuels like Shell FuelSave that are scientifically designed to last longer and by demonstrating more effective ways to drive smartly.

Drivers are looking to both scientists and engineers (79%) to help them save fuel and energy in the future, and Shell is calling on the next generation of Philippine science and engineering talent to lead the way. Five students from various universities competing in Shell Eco-marathon Asia 2015 teamed up with Bianca Gonzalez, crowned the Shell FuelSave Celebrity Driver of the Year in Shell Eco-marathon 2014, and went head to head with select media from the motoring and lifestyle beats to test the nation’s most-believed fuel saving myths and reveal the truth about fuel efficiency with a Fact or Fiction Driving Challenge on February 11. The complete Shell FuelSave Fact or Fiction Report was revealed in conjunction with the culmination of this event after the day’s drive full of pit stop challenges from the city of Manila north bound to Clark, Pampanga.

This test took place before the students compete against more than 150 teams from Asia and the Middle East in the world’s biggest fuel efficiency competition to be held on its second year in the country. Shell Eco-marathon challenges student teams to design, build and test ultra-energy efficient vehicles of tomorrow.

Bianca Gonzalez says: “As young Filipino scientists and engineers prepare to compete at Shell Eco-marathon, I want to help Shell inspire all motorists to learn how to drive more fuel efficiently. Is switching off your engine in stationary traffic more effective than keeping it running? Does a warm engine equal a more efficient engine? And can a car really burp? These are the questions that we will be aiming to answer.”

The Shell FuelSave Fact or Fiction Report also reveals that the confusion on the road is in stark contrast to what goes on inside the nation’s homes, where Filipinos conserve energy by limiting their electrical use but not their fuel consumption. Indeed, while 88% of people say they frequently turn off the lights to save energy when leaving the house, only 4 in 10 (42%) will frequently remove excess weight from their boot or backseat to make their vehicle lighter and effectively helping drivers to save on fuel.

To learn more about Shell Eco-marathon and discover top tips on how to make your fuel last longer, visit www.shell.com.ph/fuelsave.

About the Shell FuelSave Fact or Fiction Report

The Shell FuelSave Fact or Fiction Report was commissioned by Shell and conducted by independent research firm Edelman Berland in December 2014. It used an online questionnaire with a nationally representative sample of 1,000 Filipino drivers aged 18 to 40.

About Shell FuelSave

Shell FuelSave Unleaded and Shell FuelSave Diesel are our Regular priced fuels designed to last longer. Currently available in 23 countries, they contain active efficiency ingredients and are designed to improve engine efficiency from the very first tank.

About Shell Eco-marathon Asia

Shell Eco-marathon Asia will be held on the streets of Manila between 26 February and 1 March 2015. Approximately 150 teams from 18 countries, including 33 teams from the Philippines will be taking part.

Shell Eco-marathon began in 1939 at a Shell research laboratory in the United States as a friendly wager between scientists to see who could get the most miles per gallon from their vehicle. The winner barely achieved 50 mpg (21 km/l) and from these humble origins a more organised competition evolved. In 1985 in France, Shell Eco-marathon as we know it today was born. The inaugural Shell Eco-marathon Asia was held in Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia in 2010 before moving to the Philippines, in 2014.

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[1] Source for all statistics in this document unless otherwise indicated: The Shell FuelSave Fact or Fiction Report conducted by Edelman Berland, December 2014. 

"KINGSMAN" - THE SECRET SERVICE ( Opens Feb. 18, 2015)

COMIC BOOK TEEN SPIES SPRING TO FILM IN “KINGSMAN: THE SECRET SERVICE”

Ther ebels yet the wittiest of teen spies are about to save the world in “Kingsman: The Secret Service” based upon the acclaimed comic book by Mark Millar and Dave Gibbons, directed by Matthew Vaughn (“Kick-Ass,” “X-Men First Class”) starring Colin Firth, Samuel L. Jackson, Michael Caine, Mark Strong, Taron Egerton and Sophie Cookson.  “Kingsman: The Secret Service” tells the story of a super-secret spy organization that recruits an unrefined but promising street kid into the agency’s ultra-competitive training program just as a global threat emerges from a twisted tech genius.

When the father of five-year-old Gary “Eggsy” Price (Egerton) sacrifices his life in the line of duty during a classified military exercise, his family is given an unconventional medal – and a phone number they may use only once, should they need a favor of any kind.  Seventeen years later, Eggsy  is an unemployed school dropout living a dead-end existence in his mother’s flat. After he is arrested for joyriding, Eggsy uses the medal to secure his release from jail, and finds himself rescued by Harry Hart (Firth), an impeccably suave spy who owes Eggsy’s father his life.

Dismayed to learn of the path Eggsy has taken, yet impressed by his better qualities, Harry offers Eggsy the opportunity to turn his life around by trying out for a position with Harry’s employers: Kingsman, a top-secret independent intelligence organization. Eggsy must make it through the highly competitive and often perilous series of tests that each prospective new Kingsman agent must pass, while also dealing with the emotional struggle of being a social outcast in an environment where everyone else is well-educated, well-connected and well-mannered.

“The film is a blend of everything I learned from making Lock Stock, Snatch, and Layer Cake, which were gangster movies, as well as my comic book films Kick-Ass and X-Men: First Class, notes director and co-writer Matthew Vaughn. 

The concept for Kingsman: The Secret Service was born when Vaughn had a conversation “down the pub” with comic book author Mark Millar. They had successfully collaborated together on Kick-Ass and were talking about their love of the spy genre.  “It was two fan boys letting rip and weirdly we’re in a position where the fantasy can become a reality. We talked about spy movies. I love genre movies. I’m an adult with a kid’s heart in so many ways. For me, the genre was defined by the Roger Moore James Bond films and movies like In Like Flint and TV shows The Man From U.N.C.L.E and The Persuaders. I also loved the Harry Palmer films,” Vaughn tells.

“Those are the movies that fueled my love for the spy genre when but over time they seemed to get more and more serious and gritty. From the knee jerk reaction against the fun of Austin Power, you got Jason Bourne, Jack Bauer, and then Bond followed that route, leaving a hole in the market, as far as I’m concerned.”

Over the course of several more conversations Vaughn and Millar decided to develop the idea of an elite spy for the 21st century. “That begged the question, what is a modern gentleman spy? What would he be like?” he says.

Millar, with illustrator Dave Gibbons, began working on the graphic novel, The Secret Service, which was published in 2012.  Meanwhile, Vaughn and his regular writing partner, Jane Goldman, were working on the screenplay for Kingsman: The Secret Service.

Vaughn wanted his film to hark back to that golden age of spy thrillers – an action packed story, with humor in the right places, and featuring spectacular set piece sequences and vivid characters who inhabit a fully conceived world. As he says, “It’s all about emotion, humor and being wowed by spectacle.”

One of many standout action scenes feature Eggsy and his fellow Kingsman trainees submerged underwater and was, Vaughn admits, a nightmare to film.  “I’ve got to say that was one of the hardest days I’ve ever filmed in my life. Filming underwater is an absolute nightmare, and filming underwater with ten actors is the stupidest bloody thing. I remember thinking, ‘why the hell did I write this scene?’ I rewrote a lot of the scene on the day, after trying to film it for five hours. It was actually far more complicated, so I went, ‘Okay, we are simplifying this right now.’ But we got it.”

Another remarkable sequence features Firth as Harry Hart in a mass fight inside a church. “It took six days to film that. It’s a floating camera, so it’s sort of hand- held, but it’s also got a rig on top of it so that it can go on a bungee sort of rig, where it can go up and down, and follow the action.

“It was very, very well planned out and we do everything before on video, so filming is actually probably the easiest part of it. I have figured out every shot, that sort of action does not happen by making it up on the day.  I had so much fun making this, and we challenged each other, and it was a real team effort, and it was fun.”

              “Kingsman: The Secret Service” opens February 18 in theaters across the nation from 20^th Century Fox to be distributed by Warner Bros.

Share the Feast, Not the Fat this Holiday Season

Share the Feast, Not the Fat this Holiday Season

Filipinos celebrate the longest Christmas season in the world. Decorations are already up by September,marking the start of the season in the Philippines. Parties and reunions are everywhere every week leading up to Christmas Day and are usually extended till New Year’s Eve. And parties only mean one thing: Good food.

Everyone looks forward to this time of the year when we can splurge on a leg of ham or a jamon de bola if budgets are tight. Lechon makes an appearance in bigger families, since it is considered de rigueur for parties. 

With all these holiday delicacies, it is a real challenge to keep track of the calories you consume and stay on that diet you’ve been trying so hard to follow all year. You convince yourself that this is just a once-in-a-year event and a slice of that tasty ham or a bite of that crispy, succulent lechon skin won’t do any harm. 

Before you know it, you'll realized you’ve had too much and all that’s left is the taste of guilt plus those extra pounds.

This holiday season, Fisher Farms Inc., a world-class aquaculture food processor and the largest supplier of farm-raised milkfish in the country, lets you indulge without the guilt with its Gourmet Baked RellenongBangus. Created by celebrity chef and food expert Reggie Aspiras, this delicious creation is a healthy alternative to the fatty dishes often served during the Noche Buena.

The whole bangus is stuffed with a savory filling of fish, sweet potato, bangus belly, shrimp and other premium and special ingredients that give a holiday twist to this traditional dish. 

Juicy and flavorful but not cloying like its fried counterparts, the Gourmet Baked RellenongBangus makes any celebration merry and healthy. 

Unlike the traditional rellenongbangus, this is baked and not fried, which cuts down considerably on the fat content without sacrificing flavor. The relleno comes in three generous sizes to suit the Filipino family: 800-grams, 1.1 kilos, and 1.3 kilos. With bangus this big, you can definitely share the feast but not the fat.

As the country’s leading aquaculture processor and exporter, Fisher Farms grows its milkfish in the pristine seawaters of Pangasinan in fish cages, resulting to sweeter, more flavorful, firmer and cleaner fish. Only high-protein feeds are given to farmed fish to produce high-quality fish meat. Fisher Farms’ Gourmet Baked RellenongBangus is available in select supermarkets in Metro Manila and in select provinces around the country.

For more details about Fisher Farms, visit fisherfarms.ph. Visit its Facebook (fisherfarmsinc), Twitter(@fisherfarmsph) and Instagram (@fisherfarmsph) for updates.

When the biological clock ticks

When the biological clock ticks
A lot of single women wants to get hitched before the age of 25 because they like to have children before they reach the age of 40.  If there’s one thing to consider when trying to conceive, it is that a woman’s biological clock is ticking. 

A woman is born with a finite number of eggs that are released monthly during a woman’s menstrual cycle. 

The body is also instinctive enough to release those good quality eggs first - so those are when you are young, first beginning your menstrual cycle in your teens into your 20's. 

With that being said, most younger women do not have difficulty getting pregnant. 

Older women, on the other hand, may experience some difficulty when trying to conceive as her good eggs have been released month after month for nearly 20 years, by the time she reaches 35! 

According to www.pregnancytips.org, your odds of getting pregnant when you’re in your twenties are different when you’re in your forties. 

However, this doesn’t mean that it’s impossible for older women to get pregnant. Though their chance of conceiving may decrease, women in their forties can still conceive, often with the help of fertility drugs and supplements like ConceiveEasy. As long as a woman is ovulating, she can get pregnant.

So, don't lose hope.

FISHER FARMS' GOURMET BAKED RELLENONG BANGUS

Share the Feast, Not the Fat this Holiday Season

 

 

Filipinos celebrate the longest Christmas season in the world. Decorations are already up by September,marking the start of the season in the Philippines. Parties and reunions are everywhere every week leading up to Christmas Day and are usually extended till New Year’s Eve. And parties only mean one thing: Good food. 

Everyone looks forward to this time of the year when we can splurge on a leg of ham or a jamon de bola if budgets are tight. Lechon makes an appearance in bigger families, since it is considered de rigueur for parties. With all these holiday delicacies, it is a real challenge to keep track of the calories you consume and stay on that diet you’ve been trying so hard to follow all year. You convince yourself that this is just a once-in-a-year event and a slice of that tasty ham or a bite of that crispy, succulent lechon skin won’t do any harm. Before you know it, you realize you’ve had too much and all that’s left is the taste of guilt plus those extra pounds. 

This holiday season, Fisher Farms Inc., a world-class aquaculture food processor and the largest supplier of farm-raised milkfish in the country, lets you indulge without the guilt with its Gourmet Baked RellenongBangus. Created by celebrity chef and food expert Reggie Aspiras, this delicious creation is a healthy alternative to the fatty dishes often served during the Noche Buena. 

The whole bangus is stuffed with a savory filling of fish, sweet potato, bangus belly, shrimp and other premium and special ingredients that give a holiday twist to this traditional dish. Juicy and flavorful but not cloying like its fried counterparts, the Gourmet Baked RellenongBangus makes any celebration merry and healthy. Unlike the traditional rellenongbangus, this is baked and not fried, which cuts down considerably on the fat content without sacrificing flavor. The relleno comes in three generous sizes to suit the Filipino family: 800-grams, 1.1 kilos, and 1.3 kilos. With bangus this big, you can definitely share the feast but not the fat. 

As the country’s leading aquaculture processor and exporter, Fisher Farms grows its milkfish in the pristine seawaters of Pangasinan in fish cages, resulting to sweeter, more flavorful, firmer and cleaner fish. Only high-protein feeds are given to farmed fish to produce high-quality fish meat. Fisher Farms’ Gourmet Baked Rellenong Bangus is available in select supermarkets in Metro Manila and in select provinces around the country.

For more details about Fisher Farms, visit fisherfarms.ph. Visit its Facebook (fisherfarmsinc), Twitter(@fisherfarmsph) and Instagram (@fisherfarmsph) for updates.