Tuesday, December 23, 2008

Happy Holidays!

I am now in my hometown - Cagayan de Oro City. We are happy to be home!
Tonight is going to be Christmas Eve and everyone is in a rush. Everyone's so busy attending to family celebrations, and I'm sure a lot of food trips are involved. This season always brings the best in everybody, everyone's so happy and generous. I wish everyone all of this and most of all- the blessings that come with this joyous occasion, a happy remembering of the birth of the Saviour Jesus Christ.
More than all the happy foodtripping (but of course!), may our celebrations reflect the real reason for the season.
Happy Holidays, everyone! See you next year!:)

Tuesday, December 16, 2008

A Little Exotic


I've always been curious of the Banana Leaf and Curry, but I was afraid the food would be a little too spicy for me. I get these weird little notions sometimes. Anyways, we finally got to try it when Mark had to got the Manila area to meet a client. Since it was too late to go home and cook dinner, we decided to eat inside the Robinson's Place Mall, and found the Banana Leaf and Curry right near the escalator leading to one of the parking areas.

I was still too apprehensive to try anything big. Mark had a curry meal (although I wasn't able to take a photo of it, dang!), and I ordered the Lemongrass Tea and had some of the appetizer- Cheese Balls.


Nope, I didn't enjoy this. It was to exotic for me. Hehe




These balls were surprisingly yummy.
Cheesy and full to the bite. I wanted to order more,
but it was too expensive for its size.


Thursday, December 11, 2008

My Favorite Steak Restaurant


Set atop Greenbelt 3 and overlooking the Greenbelt compound, we have found our favorite steak restaurant. Not only that, we love its location and its view... plus the Spanish mosaics on the wall.
Gaudi for me, is one of the best restaurants in town. Not only is their steak the yummiest, and their paella the best (well at least until I get to taste Senor Alba's), their service is really great!
Simply put, we just love Gaudi!!

We first had our Gaudi experience around 2 years ago. Since then, we've been just salivating over the thought of their Chuleton Villagodio- hands down my favorite steak dish. On this particular evening, we shared these treasures with Mark's Papa and sister. Let me show you what I'm talking about.


This is their bread- a big basketful of goodness.

Plato de Ibericos (P415.00)
The appetizer, an assortment of tapas and cheese.

Some buttered potatoes

Roasted pimientoes


Aaaaaah...
The Arros con Marisco (P700)!
This blurry picture contains mouthfuls of yummy saffron flavored rice. So much better than other paellas in town (again, until I try Senor Alba's).

Here comes the piece de resistance.. tadaah!
Blurry pictures (I was shaking with excitement, sorry!) of The Chuleton Villagodio.

Chuleton de Villagodio (P2597/1.06)
Perfect cuts of super tender Angus Beef , sprinkled with coarse sea salt, ....


... and grilled on a stone plate set on top of a tiny gas burner.

The blurry pictures doesn't stop me from remembering
how mouthwatering this experience was!

The Chuleton Villagodio is an experience worth having, albeit a very expensive one.
The order is charged per kilogram and there are different cuts of the meat. The servers will kindly show you a plateful of the raw version before they pre-cook it , so you can choose which ones you prefer (then you can have a chance of ordering the smaller, and maybe less expensive cuts, yay!).


And because Mark's sister was with us, it seemed fitting to order dessert with her around!
We wanted to try all their desserts, so we ordered the ....

Detodunpocu- a dessert sampler. What a big load of sweetness!






Oh, hello there my lovely choux!


The Chocolate mousse was also good!




Monday, December 8, 2008

Diet Dessert

The holidays are coming, and you know what that means.... FOOD! Lots of it!;)

How to keep shape while enjoying all the edible delights is a struggle for me, especially since I've been hankering for blueberry cheesecakes for weeks. It started with staying at coffee shops, and there being nothing more interesting there than the smooth cheesecakes on display. So, whenever my Mark and I have the chance to rest our weary feet in a coffee shop, we order a slice of a cheesecake.

At the Robinson's Place in Ermita, we chanced upon the Sugar Free Blueberry Cheesecake at Cheesecake, Etc.


It was creamy, and speckled with blueberry bits, with a lot of blueberry glaze on top. It wasn't sweet enough for me (since it was sugar free, duh!), so I can't say it's my favorite. I did like the lime glaze on the side, and I think it balanced off the creamy cheese.

Hmmm... to more Blueberry cheesecake adventures!

Friday, December 5, 2008

A Little Formal at Aubergine

My Mark and I went out for dinner one week night, this time with his mother, where we chanced upon Aubergine at The Fort.

We were a little intimidated by its classy interiors, but food is food! We just wanted to eat good food, and felt better after thinking that. We were first seated at a table near the kitchen glass windows, where we could see the action. But alas, the chairs were too soft and were too low for the table so it didn't make for a very comfortable eating position. So I bade goodbye to the good kitchen view, where we saw the pristine white chef's uniforms together with ISCAHM students, and the stainless steel counters. Sigh for the view :) But it was indeed better to eat at the second table, which was situated right beside the floor-to- ceiling glass-covered wine chiller, another sight to behold.

I dare say the food we ordered for the evening was good. Expensive, but good. I loved the tableware and service was mainly good. Let us get on to the most important part... the food! We had the following:



Tuna Tartare
This one was compliments from the chef,
since my Mark ordered one of the evening's Chef's specials.
All three of us had a serving of the tuna tartare. The tuna was soft and fresh. It was a lovely start.



There was yummy bread (although I wasn't able to take a picture of it),
which was accompanied by a duo of fresh butter and a pesto cream sauce.
The latter was really creamy.

Mark likes oysters a lot, and cheese a lot...
so he ordered these Baked Oysters (P480).
I liked them. They were good!
I actually prefer my oysters grilled with lots of garlic...
but the cheese they placed here were not too much,
and complemented the spinach leaves inside it.
My mouth is watering now, just by remembering it!


Grilled Fillet of Chilean Sea Bass (P980)
This was my order. I wanted something different from the usual steak, and ordered this nice, and creamy fish dish. MunchPunch provides a menu for Aubergine, and the menu describes the sauce accompanying this as tomato fondue and boullabaise broth. The mashed potatoes were also incorporated in the broth... so what may seem as a light dish.. was actually quite heavy!

Chef's Special
This is one of the three Chef's specials for the evening, which the waitress offered
to us on a blackboard menu. Hehe. I couldn't quite remember the dish's exact description but I remember it having some Wagyu steak, Prawns and Foie gras. The foie gras, my husband enjoyed very much. It was creamy and well cooked, but not dry. It didn't have any bitter liver taste and was actually quite sweet. He's a fan now of their Foie gras, which I read somewhere is actually one of Aubergine's specialties! Yum!



My mother-in-law ordered this yummy Angus Beef Rib Eye.
It was good and well.... I love beef!
So I wish I ordered this too.
But I luckily got a bite of it! Thanks Ma!:)

They also served us a complimentary dessert from their Patisserie.. a trio of macarons in lemon, cherry and chocolate flavors. I think they need to improve on their macarons though. I've tasted Bizu's and I really love their macarons.

So there.. we were in la la land for an hour or so, eating lovely food in a lovely setting. The interiors were very classy, and the location is not that easy to access, as it is located at the 2nd floor of the 32nd&5th building at the Fort Bonifacio in Taguig City. Most of the people there were foreign businessmen, so I suggest you dress properly in going there to avoid the discomfort I felt when I was there! Hehe.

Thanks Ma! Hehe.

Tuesday, November 25, 2008

Thanks!

I know I haven't been very regular in updating my precious blog lately. I can enumerate a lot of excuses ( blah, blah , blah), but I know it won't make sense. I am deeply grateful though for the friends I have made through this medium, and for those who appreciate my little contribution to the worldwide web. ;)

And now, maybe it's time to post the little gifts I got , called awards... on my blog!


These two lovely awards are from my long time friend, and one of the best writer and artist in the world ( wooohoo!)- Grace of My Li'l Spot of Sunshine . This is the first one-




I'd like to share this award with Eric of Ang Peregrino , Mikky of My Finds, Dra. Gita of My Little Space, and to Leslie of The Hungry Housewife! Yey!


The second award is still from Gracie, and is a lovely scroll which I'd like to pass on to my friend, Mai of Palandong!


And the third award is from Mikky of My Finds, who is so generous with comments, and for posting lovely finds on her blog... thank you!




I'd like to share this award to my friends- Gracie, and Eric! You guys rock!;)

I Just Wanted Cream Puffs

One day, I asked my Mark, if he could get me some cream puffs from Dulcinea. I was craving for a puff. And as far as I know, Dulcinea has the most accessible better puffs in Makati. But when Mark came home, he presented me with a box of other Dulcinea goodies.

It was very sweet of him, but alas, I am not a fan of the other pastries. Not to mention that they weren't fresh and were even a little soggy. Only the cream puffs proved to be any good. There were only two puffs in the box, so we each had one. ;)


I hope Amici makes cream puffs more regularly. :)


Tuesday, November 18, 2008

A Birthday Treat in CdO

My brother's birthday treat, that is. Mine is a couple of days ahead of him, which I spent 30,000 feet in the sky for four hours, since our plane couldn't land on the foggy Lumbia Airport. Our plane got diverted back to Manila, and we had to rebook it for the next day. Oh well. At least we got to attend the wedding we were supposed to attend, and my brother's birthday.

We went to Candy's, a modern gourmet restaurant located at the Rosario Arcade of Limketkai Center in Cagayan de Oro City. Candy's has been around for a long time, for its pastries, bread and expensive dishes. But now, it has become more accessible to the younger set since it expanded it menu, and included pizzas and cocktails. Their pizzas have thin crust and are great!

But, on my brother's birthday, we ordered the following:



This is a vegetable panini. I forgot it's exact name, but I do remember it tasting so good! In between the beautiful striped wheat toasts, was a whole lot of pesto sauce, tomatoes and I think also some eggplant in it. My Mommy ordered this, and I think she made an excellent choice for lunch.

Look at all that cheese!


This was my order, supposedly a shrimp pasta in aglio and some scallops topping it. I forgot the name again, but it was okay. I think it tasted better when I added more parmesan. It was a little too light for me.

This is my husband's Gamberetti pasta. It was supposedly full of shrimps, but there were more stewed tomatoes in it, which totally overpowered the shrimps. My Mark didn't like it at all ( and upon tasting it, he's right).


The Tartufo

The Tartufo is a delectable ball of ice cream and chocolate cake, studded with nuts, and drizzled with white chocolate. A fun treat! One order best serves four people.




Fun!


My weekend stay may have been a little to short, but I am thankful I got to savor my hometown's breeze as I enter the third decade of my life.


Thank you Lord for blessings such as these!

Wednesday, November 5, 2008

Jelly going Peachy




I snapped this photo in a birthday celebration of my husband's friend. There was a lot of food, and this dessert became a refreshing end to an oily glutton fest.


I've had almond jelly before, and they were always boring. I apologize to all almond jelly fans, but it really is boring. I don't know its health benefits so I cannot be obliged to eat it if I had a better choice.


But this one was different. Almond Jelly with Peaches! The Peaches served a very nice complement to the very light almond jelly. I have no idea how this was made, but I assume they used the following, and mixed them all together nicely:




1. Canned Peaches
2. Almond Jelly powder
3. Milk and Sugar



It looks pretty simple and easy to do. What do you think?


Thursday, October 30, 2008

Amici Again

It's always a happy eating experience at Amici! For this particular Friday, our friends Joan and Aldrie were nearby and were craving for Amici's pizza and gelato. We were so glad we didn't eat there the night before.

With two friends to share dinner with, we got to sample two pasta dishes and one pizza. Three dishes may seem sad for two men and two women with hearty appetites, but you know how the carbs puff up inside the tummy afterwards.


We ordered the following:



The Montanara (P180)
The vegetable pasta looked very interesting with the creamy tomato sauce. It was good, but not as good as the next pasta dish....


This one was a winner- The Salmone with Penne Pasta (P195). It seemed ordinary, but the salmon made the tomato sauce really yummy with the cheese. Very seductive pasta.


The Shrimp Pesto Genovese (P310)

Well, aside from the Salmone, this one was the regular champion. We always order this pizza whenever we go to Amici. The thin, crisp, wood-baked dough is not swimming in oil nor tomato sauce. It had just the right amount of shrimps and pesto. Yumminess.


Pistachio and Blueberry

And because Joan was with me to indulge in gelato, we ordered these treats. The shocking green one was Pistachio, while I suggested she order my favorite Blueberry.

Loved it all!:)

Friday, October 24, 2008

Cupcakes Sighted

I got my wish! I was craving for pretty cupcakes a few months ago, but all I could find were those online based homebakers who'd sell only one flavor for a dozen or less. No assorted ones or per piece buys. I don't have anyone else yet to share these sweets in the house, other than my husband. And to order at least 6 or 12 pieces would be too much and too expensive, not to mention unhealthy (hehe).

So, I was pleasantly surprised to find this stall at the Glorietta food court. I read about Frostings before in a very popular blog, but I thought these were to be found only within the Rustan's premises. It was very nice to see the stall at the Foodcourt looking so pretty like this,


Aren't they so pretty?

There were many flavors at different prices. Their cheapest cupcake was tagged at P35. Not cheap, but not that bad. Each cupcake is served in a pretty little dome for take-out. We tried the Lemon Meringue (P35).


Lemon Meringue


The cake base was very light like chiffon, but dense enough to hold the yummy frosting on top. The frosting was toasted meringue, and I liked it. It was a little too sweet for me, especially with the red raspberry shaped milk chocolate (or was it fondant?) on top, but it was okay. I haven't tried the other flavors yet. Maybe next time I'll try the Ube cupcake ;)


Friday, October 17, 2008

Classy Eats



Located at Greenbelt 5 in Makati City, Chateau 1771 oozes with classiness. What do I mean by that? Although it had a country American theme all around ( which is really supposed to be a more laid-back and homey style), they set-up the place like a French restaurant. Very formal and organized.

We went there at noon, which made for a very bright and happy atmosphere inside the dining area.


There were a lot of bright and colorful prints all around.
A lot of yellows and pinks, browns and whites.
Pretty. ;)

While waiting for our orders, they served us bread for appetizers:

Bread

We also ordered the Eggless Caesar Salad (P320). It was very light and tasty. The lacking creamy sauce was not sorely missed, because the anchovies and cheese made very good substitutes.

Eggless Caesar Salad

And because my Mark loves appetizers, we ordered the Beef Bracciole (P380). The beef was so tender and tasty. These are actually tender beef strips rolled in mozarella cheese. It literally melted in our mouths! Each bite was filled with earthy herb goodness and cheese. I have never tasted anything like this before.

Beef Bracciole

Next stop, was the Butterfly Prawns (P480). These were also good :)

Butterfly Prawns

Last stop, the Grilled Salmon (P580). Yummy fish. The dark sauce really distracted me at first, but it tasted good. It was also accompanied by a side dish of mashed potatoes and ratatouille.

Grilled Salmon

And the silky, thick mashed potatoes


The place is pretty, the food great, and the service- good too. They offered to divide the salad for three, when they saw we ordered only one salad for three people. Very thoughtful. I hope to be back :)



Post Script: They charge for service , plus VAT and local taxes. So be prepared to bring extra.

Tuesday, October 14, 2008

My Green Tea in Cream

Between coffee or tea, I choose tea. I love tea so much, that I named my first blog after my favorite tea. So every time I go to gourmet coffee shops, I always end up ordering tea based drinks. At the most famous coffee shop in the world, I always order this-


Green Tea Frapuccino

I like it so much, because it is so creamy and refreshing!
I'm not so sure though if this is based on brewed green tea or
matcha powder,
but it sure is yummy!

One morning, while Mark and I were waiting near the airport- we got ourselves an oatmeal cookie at the counter...

It was crumbly, loaded with walnuts and chocolate chips. Yum.

Great snacks :)