Culinary enthusiasts and amateur chefs will delight as guest Thai Chef Chanin Jakassed of Mandarin Oriental Dhara Dhevi, Chiang Mai will be teaching authentic Thai dishes, as part of the hotel’s two-week Thai Food Festival on May 7. Doors open at 9AM for breakfast, and the demonstration starts at exactly 10AM at the Mandarin Oriental Hotel. Call 750-8888 or email [email protected]. for more information and reservations.

ASAP, in collaboration with the Ateneo Center for Continuing Education (CCE) and ACE Center for Entrepreneurship and Management Education, Inc., brings you three of the well-respected and sought-after entrepreneurship gurus to deliver this highly acclaimed seminar that both business owners and their employees will appreciate. On May 31, 9AM at the Ateneo Professional Schools, Rockwell Center. Call 893-0564 and 893-0738 or email [email protected] and [email protected] for more details.

A private writing workshop for adults and teens, will be holding lectures on creative writing and travel writing. The classes, which will run through most of May, will be held at Black Ink Production Studios (Unit J, 154 Maginhawa St., Sikatuna Village in Quezon City). Jose Wendell Capili, who has published six books and received Palanca, Cultural Center of the Philippines, UST and UP Gawad Chancellor awards for literature, will hold an introduction to creative writing workshop lecture on May 9, 11, 16, 18 and 23. Lucci Coral, who writes a travel column for the Manila Bulletin called “Wander Woman, will hold a five-day travel writing lecture on May 19, 24, 26, 31 and June 2. Classes are scheduled for 7-10pm. The workshop fee is at Php 4,500. Contact 666-5774 and 0916-3967249 or log on to www.thewritingsection.multiply.com for more details.

Be equipped with everything you need to know about being and becoming a model. Whether or not you want to be the talk of the town, you’ll never be the same again after Project Ramp. This workshop isn’t only about what it takes to be a model and about doing everything it takes to be a model. It’s about believing you’ve always been a model and naturally exuding that quality. Project Ramp is about attaining a lifestyle you want to live. Ongoing until May 30. Contact 215- 2131 or 0917- 8306354 for more details.

Dulaang UP, the official performing group of UP, holds Theater Summer Workshop that begins on May 2. This workshop aims to provide young people an opportunity to explore the process of “making theatre”. DUP will open classes for Acting and Crafts Making and Technical Theater - Sound Design, Costume, and Lights Design, which will have a culminating recital of the students’ collaboration of honed talents on May 27 at UP Diliman. Tuition fee is P5,500 inclusive of workshop materials and culminating recital. Registration is ongoing until April 27. Contact the Dulaang UP Office at 926-1349, 981-8500 local 2449 or 433-7840 for inquiries.

This May, the Filipinas Heritage Library invites budding travel writers to learn the basics of travel writing for various platforms and mediums while celebrating one of the Philippine’s most colorful festivals: the Pahiyas Festival. The lecture will be on May 10, while the workshop is on May 19 from 6-9PM at the Filipinas Heritage Library and the Pahiyas Tour is on May 15. The workshop lecturer, Ms. Kristine Fonacier, is the contributing editor for the newly launched Philippine edition of Lonely Planet magazine. The workshop fee is P4,500 inclusive of transportation, handouts, materials, snacks, and a certificate. The deadline for reservations is May 2. Call 892-1801 local 27, 0917-5612413, email [email protected] or visit www.filipinaslibrary.org.ph for more details.

The fee is P4,500 for 6 sessions inclusive of 2 kilos of clay per session and use of pottery tools. On May 4, 6, 7, 11, 18, 21 at 27 Riverview Drive, Blue Ridge B, QC. Contact Mia Casal at 0922-8347859, 348-2342 or email [email protected], or visit http://clayave.weebly.com for more details.

The University of the Philippines Department of Speech Communication and Theatre Arts (DSCTA) is conducting its annual Extramural Program for children, teens, adults and professionals from May 2-6, 2011. The ten-hour module will be held for two hours every day.

The modules to be offered are as follows: Voice and Diction, Performance, Presentational Skills and Speech for the Professionals and Business People.

A limited number of participants will be accommodated in each module. Registration fee is pegged at Php3000 per participant (5% discount for those who will register on or before April 25, 2011). Registration is ongoing.

Call Mr. Jose Carlo G. de Pano or Janvic Mateo at 924-8589 or 924-3224 and email [email protected] for more inquiries.

Secret Fresh gallery, the newly opened art space dedicated to showcasing art that discourses on urban contemporary themes will be holding a series of art workshops this summer. Dubbed, A Crash Course on Urban Art, the workshop will be facilitated by up and coming street artist JJ “exld manila” Zamoranos who is also trained at FEU.

The workshop course entails basic techniques in painting including the use of spray paints, designing graphic fonts and the fundamentals of making custom toys. The fee is 8,000 pesos but is inclusive of materials already.

Call 570-9815 loc. 7, email [email protected] and [email protected], drop by Secret Fresh at the Ground floor of Ronac Art Center, Ortigas Avenue, Greenhills, San Juan for more inquiries . Secret Fresh is open from Mondays - Saturdays 2-10PM, and Sundays from 1 - 6PM.

Secret Fresh is also on facebook. Log on to http://www.freshmanila.blogspot.com/ and http://www.twitter.com/freshmanila to get updates.

Today’s mothers are always struggling to maintain their work/life balance. They value their careers but they also wish they could spend more time with their children. Working mothers are always asking questions like how do I maintain my composure during homework time? Is my child is getting stressed from too much schoolwork? How do I deal with my shy child or my child who is spoiled by his caregiver?

These pressing mother’s concerns will be answered by popular columnist and lecturer Queena Lee Chua in a Mother’s Day seminar to be conducted by Anvil Publishing and National Book Store on April 30, Saturday, 2pm to 5pm in National Bookstore Superbranch in Cubao. Joining Ms Chua is another popular lecturer and best-selling author Francisco Colayco who will give practical advise on how to build one’s financial future by saving wisely.

Interested participants need only to get the special Mother’s Day set of three books: Homework by Queena Lee Chua and Wealth Within Your Reach and Money For Kids by Francisco Colayco in…