The Daily Llama: davao bloggers

You know how it feels eating at home, where you're just relax or chill? The food at home just tastes different.

But would you believe me if I said I had the same experience away from home?

Yup, that's right. It was a dining experience I can only describe as "eating at a home away from home".

That was what Max's Restaurant gave me last October 2.

Max's Restaurant held their very first Blogging Event in Davao, inviting Davao Bloggers to their newly designed restaurant at Abreeza Ayala Mall.

[Insert Photo of outside of Max Here]

What we were going to attend was Max's launching of their new group meal bundle, the "Max's 4Sharing".

Max's 4Sharing Meal

For only P899, you get 4 servings of rice and 4 glasses of iced tea. You get Max's sarap-to-the-bones chicken AND one of Max's new beef dishes.

The "Max's Beef Caldereta", shown in the photo above, or the "Max's Adobong Baka sa Gata"!

Max's Adobong Baka sa Gata

Does it sound like the perfect meal for small group get-togethers? Of course it does!

Now, let me guide you along the event we experienced by showing you photos and captions!

Max's Restaurant's new store theme/decor/motif. I like it.

Awesome host, Sir Bobby and...

...Ma'am Jessa.

Let the games begin!

Fierce battle between Team Adobong Baka sa Gata and Team Beef Caldereta!

Who do you think won? Check out the VIDEO below to see!

Prize or Consolation Prize? Check the video to find out!

Eating time!

Left : Adobong Baka sa Gata Right : Beef Caldereta

Left : Max's Sarap-to-the-bones Chicken Right : My "well designed" plate.

What goes perfect with Max's Chicken? Well, Max's VERY OWN Banana Ketchup, of course! DEE-LI-SHUZ.

Meet the Staff!

[Left to Right] : Bernyl Lopez (Assistant Dining Supervisor), JR Porgarillas {Dining Supervisor), Jeffrey Calderon (Banquet and Sales Coordinator)

Robert Castillo (Branch Manager), Jessa Bien (Assistant Manager for Regional and Franchise), Bobby Symborio (Corporate P.R. and Media Manager)

And what were we but HAPPY after this delicious and fun event?

Davao Bloggers and Max's Restaurant, Abreeza Branch

The event finished with everyone's stomachs FULL and everyone's faces plastered with SMILES.

The food was great, the staff were bright and VERY accommodating. It was just a perfect event.

Like what I said, it was a home dining experience away from home.

I encourage you guys to try their food! Grab three friends or family members and indulge in Max's 4Sharing meal! You won't regret it!

And, oh, if you're planning to get take-out, I encourage you to avail of their Chicken Take-Out Treat. For P299, you get Max's sarap-to-the-bones chicken AND a whole bottle of Max's original Banana Ketchup FOR FREE! And I HIGHLY recommend you try their ketchup. It is just PERFECT. Hurry! This promo is only until October 31, 2012!

Did You Know?

Max's Restaurant is PROUDLY PINOY and they've already penetrated the international market, having 9 branches in the U.S., 3 in Dubai and 2 in Canada!

Wow! That's something we should all be proud of!

Video and Give-Away!

So, who won, guys? Team Adobong Baka sa Gata or Team Beef Caldereta?

Post your answers in the comment section along with your name and e-mail!

The first one to answer correctly will win a Gift Box (small) from Max's Corner Bakery!

[Only available to people from Davao. Bloggers who joined the event are not allowed to join, sorry. LOL]

Be warned, this is a LONG first post.

Last September 21 to 23, Davao Bloggers held their very first Blog Weekend Boot Camp at The Malagos Garden Resort, Davao. It was a three-days, 2-nights live-in boot camp for bloggers of all kinds. There were two tracks available. The beginner track and the advanced track.

I took the beginner track.

Let me bring you around the camp through my camera.

Are you ready? Then, let's go to the first ever:

Everyone joining the camp had to meet up at McDonald's Matina branch to board a van/bus to the destination. Me and a friend of mine were scheduled at 6PM.

The trip was a bit lengthy, maybe because it has been a long time since I've been to Malagos and I had no idea where we were going. It doesn't help that it was night time and I couldn't see any landmarks outside of the car window.

We arrived eventually and we all had to sign papers and get our freebies at the lobby of Malagos. Then we were whisked away to our respective rooms via a jeep thing that reminded me of what they ride during night safaris.

I roomed with my friend, Jericho Onate, and a new friend, Sandre from Butuan and Emmanuel. After leaving our belongings we headed for Koi Cafe where a dinner buffet was awaiting our hungry stomachs.

Pretty classy, eh?

The place was almost full when we arrived and people were already in tables, eating, chatting or eyes glued to their respective laptop screens.

It was a pretty awesome sight for me since I've never been around people (specially those who are older than me) who eat and surf the net at the same time. I immediately thought:

'This is my type of crowd.'

So, anyways, after the dinner we had Miss Janette Toral (of digitalfilipino.com) grace the stage to deliver us the Keynote Speech.

Everyone was pretty attentive, despite it being really late at night.

After Ma'am Toral's informative speech about Social Media, we had our 'Blogathon' group formation.

There were four groups made, all in all. A mix of Beginner and Advanced Track members.

It was an hour or two of introductions, story-telling and mentoring. And it was awesome.

It was late then and everyone, after getting know their group members, decided to head for bed.

This ends day one and lets now go to the activity-packed second day of the camp.

Everyone had breakfast at 7AM, more or less. It was nice having my laptop out while I was eating and not having anyone look at me weird. I'm pretty sure my parents would have.

After breakfast, it was off to the seminars for everyone.

The beginners had three seminars lined up for them that day.

Track 1A: Blogging 101

Track 2A: Creative Writing

Track 3A: Photo Blogging

It was the perfect line-up for beginners.

Let me just show you quickly the photos I took during the seminars and I'll caption each one.

L: Our Seminar Room R: Miss Aileen Apolo - de Jesus teaches us about google and other components

L: Group Shot with Miss Aileen R: My solo photo with Miss Aileen, too bad it's blurry. (T A T)

L: Sir Rene Lizada takes the stage, teaching us about creative writing R: A slide from his presentation that moved me (and I'm sure other participants). The Poem "Tonight I can write the saddest lines".

L: Group photo with Sir Lizada R: My past mentor, Miss Jojie Alcantara, greets everyone with a hearty smile as she prepares us for her Photo Blogging Seminar

L: Subtitles: It's just CD-R King, just put a sticker on top of the logo. R: Since I didn't get to be in the group photo with Miss Alcantara, I sought her out and took one with her plus Miss Kring Elenzano, a speaker for the Advanced Track participants.

And there you have it. The three seminars in a nutshell. I learned, a lot, I swear. I just don't want to go yapping on about every single thing I got from the seminar.

So, off we go to the next part. A forum about Social Media Etiquette and Best Practices, delivered to everyone by Sir Jat Frank de Jesus. Sadly, I don't have photos of this...

The schedule was pretty much messed up by now due to reasons I do not know but everyone was still given plenty amount of time to rest before the "Social Good Summit" to be held later that evening.

Me and my new found friends decided we'd explore Malagos and take photos. Prepare for some pretty vain people.

L:John and Ate Ida GPOY R: John and Sharee GPOY

L: Wacky photo requirement by Miss Jojie Alcantara R: Behind the Scenes

L: First pair of friends who went to the camp together R: Second pair of friends who went to the camp together

The one person we adopted to be our Ate/Mother who went to the camp alone. She's having fun.

L: The Model R: The Fashion Blogger

The Special One. (Peace, Ate Ida! <3)

Self-timer group shots

L: Jericho having difficulty getting off the ride. R: Ate Ida enjoying (?) the ride. Look at that expression.

L: Chess Piece Group Shot R: Chess Piece Wacky Group Shot

My blog boot camp barkada/family.

Whew. Vain little kids, aren't we? As you guys can see, we enjoyed ourselves.

Unfortunately, I did not get to take photos of the TOTALLY AWESOME Social Good Summit because I left my camera in the room.

BUT!

I was sent these photos of me and my group, Barbiez Malditazzz, dancing and doing our 'cheer' for the Cheering Competition.

Guess what we did?

Winning Maldita Roar!

Photo credits: Sir Migs G. Hipolito

And, yes, we did Gangnam Style. Without much time to practice, we winged it. It was fun but my heart did not stop beating against my chest before and after the performance.

There were four more games after the cheer competition.

There was a game where we had to be blindfolded and re-group by shouting out our assigned animal sound. We were goats.

Meh.

Photo credits: Sir Migs G. Hipolito

We won. (¬‿¬)

The next game was Pinoy Henyo. We had A LOT of laughs with that one, specially with the questions people were asking.

Favorite: "Ginawa ba natin kagabi?"

"Did we do it last night?"

You all know what we thought of. Ooh, you so nasteh.

(¬‿¬)

We won this game as well.

The third and final game was Trivia Night. We had an early lead and guess what?

We won.

Not meaning to brag but, it was a pretty awesome night for the Barbiez Malditazzz.

The games ended, leaving everyone's jaws hurting from too much laughing and tired. And the second day of the boot camp ended.

The third day was Awarding Day. We all received our certificates and the winners of the best Video and best Blog Post received their respective prizes.