Fellow employees at the office were just about to call it quits when our free Italian pies (courtesy of management) arrived approximately 10 minutes before an office meeting that had among its agenda an across-the-board salary increase and a company-sponsored vacation to Hong Kong with pocket money.

The Tuscani Gourmet BBQ Chicken pizzas which were topped with flavorful honey BBQ sauce, marinated chicken, olive oil roasted bell peppers and red onion —successfully diffused a potential confrontation between a sympathetic and generous management, and employees who were committed at living out the seven habits of highly effective Angry Birds players.

Two Girls, A Guy and A Pizza Place

“Everyone’s really tired with the stress of the Holiday rush jobs and ready to file leaves and spend quality family time by playing Plants and Zombies alone in an internet café.” Executive Assistant Rachalle Pimentel said in between bites of pie.

“But then all those Tuscani Gourmet BBQ Chicken pizzas showed up during merienda time, and it just didn’t seem like the right occasion to start insisting for a four-day weekend or a 500% salary increase which would reflect the amount of work we do. I mean, Farmville is hard work you know!”

Delivered from the Pizza Hut branch at SM City North EDSA, the complimentary pizzas had a unique scrumptious aroma which literally filled the whole floor with the familiar scent of chicken barbecue. This in turn made the employees reminisce about the time when we had our outing at the La Mesa Dam EcoPark wherein we also had chicken and pork barbecues as our main meal. Suddenly, memories of outdoor badminton, boat rides, swimming and finding “lost” couples were made the topic of discussions during the office merienda.

“If you’ll notice,” quipped Rudy Ramirez, the resident Studio Technician guy, “every time we have an outing or a free lunch, barbecued chicken is never absent in the menu. It’s better than pork and when it’s barbecued, the fat drips off the meat. Since most of us are careful with our health, the food committee makes sure that everything is low in fat but high in taste value.” But since no one was present when Rudy said these words inside the studio, nobody bothered to write or record what he said.

Nanette De Jesus, Finance Supervisor, noted how management appreciated the staff when she realized that each of the Tuscani Gourmet BBQ Chicken pizzas cost P499.00 each. “Management bought like 10 of those for just 20 of us. That means three slices for each plus 10 bottles of Pepsi litro to share. No wonder I felt like having another siesta after merienda,” she explained.

Pizza Goes Medieval

Reached for comments, management revealed that the decision to order Tuscani thin crust pizzas was based on a comprehensive online research on the inspiration for the specialty Italian pies.

Tuscany is a region in Italy. The regional capital is Florence (Firenze). The region is known for its gorgeous landscapes, its rich artistic legacy and its vast influence on high culture. Tuscany is widely regarded as the true birthplace of the Italian Renaissance, and has been home to some of the most influential people of the Middle Ages and in the history of arts and science, such as Petrarch, Dante, Botticelli, Galileo Galilei, Amerigo Vespucci, Luca Pacioli, Puccini, Leonardo da Vinci, Michelangelo and Master Sprinter (well maybe not the ninja rodent).

Tuscany has over 120 protected nature reserves. This makes Tuscany and its capital city Florence very popular tourist destinations, attracting millions of tourists every year. Florence itself receives an average of 10 million tourists a year by placing the city as one of the most visited in the world.

Palabigasan ng Bayan

Roughly triangular in shape (like a slice of pizza) and situated between the northern part of the Tyrrhenian Sea and the central Apennines, Tuscany’s climate is fairly mild in the coastal areas, harsher and rainy in the interior, with considerable fluctuations in temperature between winter and summer giving the region a soil building active freeze-thaw cycle in part accounting for the region once having served as a key breadbasket of ancient Rome. Think about it – Tuscany was once the palabigasan or karinderya of the most powerful empire the world has ever seen. Management thought that if Tuscany is good for the mighty Roman Empire that conquered and influenced much of the known world, then it must be good for a legion of obese office workers who have no plan to exercise let alone conquer the world.

Simplicity is central to the Tuscan cuisine. Legumes, bread, cheese, vegetables, mushrooms and fresh fruit are used. Olive oil is made up of Moraiolo, Leccino, and Frantoiano olives. White truffles from San Miniato appear in October and November. Beef of the highest quality comes from the Chiana Valley, specifically a breed known as Chianina used for Florentine steak.

Wine is also a famous and very common produce of Tuscany. Chianti is arguably the most well-known internationally. So many British tourists come to the area where Chianti wine is produced that this specific area has been nicknamed “Chiantishire”.

Mystic Pizza

The Italian pies wove such a supernatural charm over the employees that they momentarily stopped compulsively updating their Twitter accounts with emoticons and watching YouTube videos about Mo Twister, Hayden Kho, Katrina Halili and Japanese TV pranks.

Meliza Ramos was just so thankful that Pizza Hut kept their promise of delivering on time. “When I’m hungry for pizza, I want to eat right away,” said Meliza as she wolfed down two slices at once. “I’ve had it with pizza deliveries that arrive late! The office once tried to order pizza from that other pizzeria and it was a catastrophe. By the time the delivery showed up, the pizza was cold, Budoy was long over, and we were practically unconscious because we’d started to eat the couch stuffing. It’s a good thing Pizza Hut delivers fast – or else we’d have to eat the delivery guy along with the Tuscani Gourmet BBQ Chicken pizzas.”

Personally, I enjoyed the right blend of ingredients. It was sweet enough for some additional Tabasco sauce and chili flakes (I like my pizzas on the spicy side). The slivers of chicken were just the right size and I like the crunchy and chewy combination of the bread and cheese. The balance of meat and vegetables was also just right. There wasn’t an overload of protein nor did it taste like a vegetarian treat. Tama lang siya para hindi ka ma-umay.

While employees still continue on improving their skills with making comments and likes in Facebook, management has applied for a PALM Card for future purchases of other pizza variants like Tuscani Three Cheese, Bacon and Spinach and Sicilian. Management hopes that these free pizza meriendas like the Tuscani Gourmet BBQ Chicken will boost work efficiency to the point that work will actually be done.

How Pizza Hut Flavors Our Lives: An Offer We Can’t Refuse

Valley Child

After my parents got married in December 15, 1968 at the Our Lady of The Abandoned Chapel, they decided to live in Marikina. I spent my early childhood years being a valley child. I have fond memories of our weekday trips to the river and the sports center.

The real treat was Sunday afternoons after mass. Our family spent the remainder of the day at the Araneta Center. For  lunch, we’d go to Hong Ning or Ma Mon Luk both of which were along Aurora Boulevard.

My father would then stop by National Bookstore which was one of the stores along the Coliseum. That was the first time I got introduced to Marvel and DC Comics. He’d buy me several Green Lantern, Iron Man, Captain America and Avengers comics which we both enjoyed reading at home. My mother, on the other hand, bought current and back issues of Reader’s Digest and National Geographic which I also perused like school textbooks.

After that, we either dropped by Ali Mall or the Fiesta Carnival to cap off the day with a movie or several rides at the Caterpillar, the Merry-Go-Round or the Bump Car.

Reminiscing about those happy and simple days makes you wish that you could do it again. And maybe after forty years, we can do it again.

Family Treat

I had such a great and memorable childhood because my parents wanted to treat me to the perks that they did not experience in their own years as a kid. Even though we were poor, my parents were rich in creativity and resourcefulness which they used to make life enjoyable for all of us.

Thus, it’s been a dream for me and my sister to somehow return the favor by treating our parents to a Christmas shopping spree at the Araneta Center, the very same place where they made our early youthful dreams come true.

So, how would we wisely spend P20,000.00 worth of Gift Checks given by a generous soul?

Bada Bing, Bada Bongga

The shopping spree money would be irresistible even for my family who thinks that the amount would be best spent at168 or Tutuban Mall. Anyway, here’s how the family plans to use the bonggang shopping bonus:

Jimmy “The Don” Anzures

The boss and the most powerful man in the family, Papa Jimmy is known as “The Don” not because he owns tracks of land in Tarlac, or because he has tons of money in Swiss bank accounts. He is known as “The Don” because he likes donuts particularly the sugar-glazed kind. Besides doing capo stuff n the family, he is one of our church’s official photographers. Getting an Olympus VG-130 Digital compact camera will definitely be an upgrade from the digital SLR he’s using now. Better shots means better memories.

Angelita”The Godmother” Anzures

My Momma is the consiglieri or the family advisor – counselor. She is also known by the handle “The Godmother” because a lot of my relatives and church mates often appoint her as their ninang for weddings and christenings. For her many social functions, the family consiglieri would need to be fashionable with a scarf and blouse from Esprit. And since she also cooks for the family, she will also need about P1,100 worth of groceries from Rustans when we get back to our joint. Those groceries would definitely be a treat for our Noche Buena and Media Noche.

Ann Janet “Goodbye Goombah” Anzures

If the family absolutely needs to whack somebody, they turn to Ann Janet to do the job. She earned her moniker when she gave the elbow to a pasaway MRT passenger who was forcing her fat butt inside Janet’s space. The result – a carnage that was comparable to being gunned down by a Tommy gun drive-by shooting in a spaghetti bistro. For her, it’s important to look good while you pop a wiseguy for an infamita. That’s why she prefers to do her whacking with Nine West flat shoes. And just maybe, just because she feels nine feet tall with them flat shoes, she might not whack anyone which will be good for them because they’ll die another day.

Rudy “Boom Boom” Anzures

My uncle Rudy is known for surviving countless wars with the Japanese Imperial Army, the Philippine Constabulary, the Spanish conquistadors and other movie denizens he encountered during his career as a stuntman at the SOS (Sons of Stunts) Daredevils. He has sparred with countless professional hit men, spies and special agents like X44, Harabas and Sprakenhayt. Thus, his explosive encounters have earned him the title “Boom Boom”. For someone who eats breakfast just a few feet away from 4,000 Japanese inside the television who are trained to kill him, my uncle deserves a portable DVD player with a 9 inch wide-screen so he can relive his days as a guerrilla, a spy or even as a goon. That will surely make his day as he remembers the golden days of Tony Falcon and Asyong Salonga.

Bart “Mad Dog” Anzures

Don’t let the innocent-looking eyes fool you. This cafone is a crazy canine. Every time, Janet comes home from the office, Bart goes on a tarantella fit by barking, running up and down the house like he hasn’t seen her in two decades. For all his wild antics, you’ve gotta hand it to his loyalty. Bart has even gone so far that he has taken the Omerta or the vow of silence. In the years that I‘ve known him, he hasn’t spoken a single word. For the most secretive member of the family, Bart deserves no less than P500.00 worth of dog food, dog soap and shampoo.

As for my share in the P20,000.00 shopping spree, I will get the best gift of them all – a happy family treated with the best that Cubao has to offer. Like what a famous paisano once said,”Ang gusto ko happy kayo.” In other words, my family’s happiness is my happiness. It’s the best Christmas gift I could ever have – knowing that every member of the family is happy, satisfied and healthy.

It’s interesting how a simple Italian pie can give spice to your life, but that’s how it is. Showing my family how much they mean to me makes life happier amidst the many troubles and hardships.

To all our families, Merry Christmas and a very Tuscani New Year!