In Denial

Each time we go to Crave Burger, Jane and I feel like we can't finish our burgers because it's so big. But we do finish our burgers every time, and I think it does get easier each succeeding visit. I wonder why. :)

Tonight's inductee is Cindy. She didn't quite finish her burger but she only left parts of the buns so I guess that's as good as eating the better part of the burger. 

And as if we weren't full enough, BA, Jane and I dropped by Moon Leaf to grab some tea on our way home. If you've been to Moon Leaf, you know that their only serving size is at least 500 mL. Mwahaha. Overload. But I guess this food de-stressing of some sort has long been brewing. Everything's been so hectic and it's hard to really plan. 

I suddenly missed back when we were BS3/ BS4. We can just go to Banapple or Kopiroti when we feel like it. Now, we're just too occupied.

Jogging daw

My becky friends and I went jogging today! Hahaha. Not really. We got our adrenaline rush, or whatever, from dinner instead.

Friuli @ Maginhawa St

I was so famished by the time we got to Maginhawa, that I halved my tiramisu milk tea within the short distance we walked from Moon Leaf to Friuli. The drink Nins and Jamie ordered, lychee jasmine tea (ata) was good as well.

Gutom kung gutom.

Actually, we were all quite hungry that we barely talked while eating and I remembered to take pictures only by the time we were finishing what's left of two pizzas, two pastas and one order of mozzarella sticks.  

Of course, juiciness and kabecky-han ensued. 

A few people in the lab told me I was inexplicably happier than usual today, and maybe I am even with the ube jam high/ sugar rush. I was really looking forward to this jogging/dinner date, it probably showed. :)

Post Manuscript Submission Weekend

Last Friday I submitted my thesis manuscript. *wohoooooooooo* Had dinner with friends at Flaming Wings and then went to the fair, and waited patiently for Jeff to usher us in. Haha cheap. But it was paid off with a Sugarfree performance, so it's fine.

Saturday was kinda mum. I didn't get to see Ate Ekkay's defense, but I still went to UP to get my things. I wanted a froyo treat but I felt soooo tired when I was on my way home, good thing a new DQ stall has opened near the entrance of SM North so I grabbed a goodie there.

Today,  my family and I went to Greenhills. Bea bought a Blackberry, and we sifted through the stalls a bit. We were supposed to grab lunch at Thai Dara but a couple of things didn't go as initially expected so we just had our meal at the shopping complex. Nonetheless we had our 'food trip fix' during dinner at Ye Dang. It's a Korean restaurant at Ortigas, and it's really good. :)

I used my phone's camera and I was playing with different effects in Vignette, so disregard the play of colors, contrast and so on in shots. 

Inaaaaaa

Grilling!

I'm sorry but I really forgot to take note of the names of the dishes we had, so I'll just describe them. To start, they serve several side dishes that also kinda serve as appetizers while your meals are prepared. I particularly liked the tofu sort of kimchi side, it was spicy but not too hot and the tofu was silky but well done. We had pork and beef strips as well as beef spareribs for grilling, which was done by a gracious staff. Then we also had a bibimbap rice mix, I think, and a glass noodle dish that was simply divine.  While I may not have memorized the dishes' names, it's fair to say we had a really good dinner and that's not even factoring in their excellent service. Thumbs up talaga.

Tofu + Lovely kind of spicy = <3

Glass noodle dish. Suuper sarap.

Controversial plain rice. It's good!

Pineapple, on the house. 

After dinner we headed to a Korean grocery shop a couple of doors down from the restaurant for some ice cream. Of course we just deduced the exact flavors of our choices, because most of the terms were in Korean. I thought my pick was a pistachio and berry kind of mix but the green part was actually mochi and the ice cream part I never got to fully understand the flavor, but it tasted okay and had walnuts. 

We want ice cream!

Mmm.

Nori

Darkness tubes shining lipgloss

Mochi covered ice cream :)

I still feel full actually.

So how was your weekend?

*

Ye Dang

My rating: 4.5/5 

The secret to  delicious super crispy french fries is to [insert preferred cooking method here] them twice. *

I'm eating french fries, I toasted what was left from my purchase on the way home. They're better than when I bought them fresh from McDo. Hehe. I was actually supposed to buy twister fries but they're not available anymore.

Naalala ko lang. I thought I'd share. :)

*I think. I know it's proven for frying, but I think it should work in whatever method. Just undercook then cook again.

--
Click the photo for the source.

Cookie Phase

I've been experimenting with baking lately, more specifically cookies. Now that I know the exact temperatures on our oven knob, I can bake in ease. Hehe

Today Ina and I baked some sugar cookies and my left over cranberry oatmeal dough. The first couple of batches were a hit! However, in the third batch we lost LPG so we had to stop. I put the dough of the sugar cookies and the trays with the scoops in the freezer. Then after the tank was delivered, we finished the last batch of sugar cookies.

L-R: Baked at room temp, scooped then chilled dough,

 chilled then scooped dough.

Now, here are my observations as to baking cookies so far.

1. Sugar cookies should be baked with the dough at room temperature. It's okay to chill the dough for around 20-30 mins to ease scooping but leaving it to freeze and pop it directly in the oven is a bad idea. Sugar cookies are obviously laden with sugar and it's baked at a relatively high temperature (at least compared to chewy ones) and sugar tends to burn when it's heated long.

2. For chewy cookies, it is imperative to chill the dough and it's best that way before you place it straight into the oven. I think that's the thing with chewy cookies, the cookies are cooked slowly in relatively longer and at lower temperatures. The chilling is key to maintain its shape, believe me.

3. There is this thing with over mixing, I guess you just know it by feel. I can't really say how you can tell if a batter is over mixed; just mix your dough well for a couple of minutes after all ingredients are incorporated and some more unless specified. Luckily I haven't had a batch of over mixed cookies so far. I hear they're pretty hard.

Baking really is an exact science, and it pays to follow your recipe religiously. Just tweak it from there. :)

UPDATE 6/12: We made a superb batch of Banana Crunch Muffins (recipe by Ina Garten). I am so making that again the next chance I get.

Easy Cinnamon Sticks

I was looking for sandwich recipes earlier for my baon tomorrow when I stumbled upon Bobby Flay's Nutella and Banana sandwiches. I went to the pantry straight away!

I made a simpler version, we only had banana but it was really good still. Would've been marvelous if topped with vanilla ice cream. Hehe

Because of this, I don't think I'll ever buy cinnamon sticks again. Taking a cue from Bobby Flay's recipe, it's quite simple now that I think about it.

Start with buttering a non stick pan. Add the sliced "sticks" of bread to the pan to toast it a bit, then add a sugar and cinnamon mix of a ratio of about 2:1 until the mixture adheres to the bread. Just adjust the amount of sugar and cinnamon mix to the amount of bread you'll use. 

Note that you should use low heat and cook quickly when there's sugar, it may burn.

Enjoy!

Na Na Na

No, it's not the Hanson song I'm referring to. Hehehe. I just love Discovery Travel and Living's (sort of) anthem.

Weekend Foodtrip

I just realized that at this rate, this blog is shaping up to be a food blog. Not that I'm complaining. Maybe it just goes to show that food really is a significant aspect in my existence. Hehehe. I was supposed to write this after my last exam, but I really can't seem to focus on studying so I'll just write this instead.

Tito Bobs, Ina and I tried Bigger Better Burger at SM North Annex,  Friday night. Grilled burgers are the best, and theirs was a third of a pound of grilled awesomeness. I ordered the Hahalapeño burger, not really spicy but the salsa worked well. Twas fun as its name! Ina ordered their mushroom burger while Tito Bobby ordered their three cheese burger. It's safe to assume that this is a Pinoy chain, because their burger buns are pan de sal-ish. Yuhuh. They have really good burgers. Try one soon. :)

 Shrimp Pad Thai, must try!

Then last Sunday, my Tia, cousins and I tried the new Thai resto at SM North The Block. I saw it a couple of weeks ago and I have to say my past encounters with Thai cuisine were very enjoyable, so I was really eager to try this new place. Aptly named My Thai Kitchen, this restaurant promises authentic Thai dishes.

Being the newbs that we are, we ordered tons of food. But I have to warn you, I haven't sampled Thai food as much so I cannot account for the authenticity of these dishes. My remarks are purely on taste and presentation. First off, Shrimp Pad Thai. I liked this noodle dish very much, a little sweet and a little sour, with tofu, egg, and shrimp to compliment. Then came Pork Satay, their version of kababs. They had this peanut sauce along with it, which tasted good as well.

 Left to right, top to bottom: Bagoong Rice, Green Chicken Curry, Chicken Pandan, Pork Satay.

I always relate Bagoong Rice and Chicken Pandan to Thai cuisine. My Thai Kitchen's Bagoong Rice was really appetizing, and the order was good enough for at least two people. Special rice dishes, as I would like to call them,  kind of like rice mixes such as yang chow rice or tinapa rice, are just love. Chicken Pandan was average according to my cousins, I didn't get to try it because I was so full when I realized I haven't tasted it yet. And last but not the least was the Green Chicken Curry. We had an option between red and green curry, and the waiter told us that the green was less fiery than the red so we had the green. But no, the green curry is still damn hot. As in. It is beyond the heat tolerance of the average individual. I wonder if we had the red one instead. Hehe. To complete our Thai experience, we had Thai Rubies. Unfortunately, I forgot to take a picture. It had langka strips, some kind of irregular red tapioca (i think), with sweet coconut milk in shaved ice. Sweet. :)

So in total, I ate at three new places last weekend: Big Better Burger, Kimpura, and My Thai Kitchen. I had to separate the Kimpura entry 'cause it was extra special being Ina's grad celebration. And special mention goes to my K770i camera for the shots, you are great. 

Bigger Better Burger: 4.5/5.

My Thai Kitchen: 4/5.

Ina's Grad Lunch

Last Saturday, my cousin Ina graduated from grade school. I can hardly believe it, but hey, congrats little cousin! I wasn't able to attend the ceremony, though. Living up to my crappy exam sched was my AP185 Finals, 7am that same day. After the exam, I went home to take a nap and then went to Ina's grad lunch at Kimpura Trinoma.

Now, I am a follower of Japanese cuisine. I like the fact that they're fresh and very creative, and I love seafood. I don't have a favorite Japanese resto, but I do like dining at Omakase and Teriyaki Boy. Tofu steak is the bee's knees! This was my first time to eat at Kimpura, and I had pretty high expectations.

Hah. Kala mo makakaligtas ka sa picture Miguel!

We had a set lunch. Sushi and sashimi platters plus miso soup for starters. Main courses included fish tempura, blue marlin teppanyaki, some other seafood dish and this beef stuffed with garlic thingy. While their sushi platter was definitely noteworthy, overall, they have good offerings but not really the best I've had. However, there is no doubt that the best part was being served and cooked for by the good people at Kimpura.

My plate~ tempura, soup, sauces and Jap fried rice in picture.

Here is Manong, making our Japanese friend rice. He made Japanese fried rice and all main dishes, except for tempura, in front of us. Cooking Master Boy ba!

The experience definitely made the difference. My rating: 3.5/5.

More interestingly, can you discern what's on Manong's wrist? :D

Kebab, Kabab, etc

Last Saturday, I finally got the chance to eat at Cyma for Tito Bobby's birthday. Cyma is if not the only Greek restaurant in the country, and we've been wanting to eat there for a long time. Greece has always been on my top must-see places, and I am equally curious about their food.

First, we had an appetizer platter of pita bread and various dips: hummous, tzatziki, melitzanosalata, htipiti and taramosalata. Tzatziki, which is yogurt with cucumber and garlic puree, stood out for me. Next came Roko Salata, which is a signature salad at Cyma. No wonder it's one of their best sellers, it's absolutely fantastic. I loved the crunch of the walnuts with the sweetness of the dressing and the freshness of the greens. The salad also included shreds of parmesan and sun-dried tomatoes. Yum! I have slowly been discovering and loving a number of salads, mainly because my Tia tries to go on a diet and I get curious when she tries new recipes. I have a new favorite; sorry apple and walnut salad.

I think our Gyros came next. They're cuts of grilled meat with tzatziki, onions and tomatoes. Something like a healthier shawarma. I got the chicken version while Bea got the lamb version. Then Ina's salmon, Tito Bob's chicken shish kebabs, and Tia's lamb chops arrived on our already full table. The salmon was nothing special but the kebabs and the lamb tasted great. However the lamb wasn't very tender, so minus pogi points for that. But most definitely, they have big servings of amiably-served and flavorful Greek dishes

Greek cuisine definitely raked up points on my palette. I really liked the taste, freshness and simplicity of their dishes, or at least the ones I got to try. From my observation, it's like Italian cuisine and Persian cuisine combined. The Persian influence was strong in the sauces and dips, while the Italian impact was manifested in the greens and herbs used. Now that I think about it, Greece is indeed between these two cultures, geographically speaking. Moreover, during the ancient times, these two civilizations were constantly trying to expand their territories hence the melting and forging of their cultures.

This food trip, and birthday celebration, has been a real treat. Can't wait for the next one! :)