Thursday, April 26, 2012

Another good deal


It was luck again when I chanced upon another good deal in Deal Grocer. A month before M's birthday, I found deal on the 7 Corners Lunch Buffet for P995+ net at the Crowne Plaza Hotel. Last year, we got a deal at Sofitel Plaza.

We've always wanted to try the buffet here because it was one of the pioneering popular hotel lunch buffets in the metro.This year was our chance. I read some bad reviews of the place, but we had to see for ourselves. I booked a slot on the weekend right after M's birthday.

The buffet hall isn't as huge as the other hotels in the metro. In fact it was quite small. The buffet was lined up on one side of the hall, cut up in 7 corners.


Of course we attacked the seafood first. (We always do that. :D) They had lobsters, prawns, and hidden at the back , some oysters-which we failed to see until we had to leave. Boo!



This is the cutest pile of wasabi that I have ever seen.


It's almost a shame to blend it with the soy sauce. But of course, I did!:D

Chawan Mushi

They had Chawan Mushi! It's a savory egg flan, that's almost like soup. 
This version was a bit too firm. I think it was overcooked.



The seafood loot. 


We also had some steak, which I wasn't able to take a photo of because we wolfed it down right away.
The steak was a bit thin, but you can always go back for more if you want. 
It was cooked just the way I wanted it- medium well. Happy :)





This is my dessert loot. There was ice cream, creme brulee, a chocolate fountain (which wasn't doing so great that day), and a lot of cakes. I had two plates of cake, but this was my favorite batch- Ube cake, Chocolate mousse, Caramel Mousse. Good cakes!:)



They serve coffee and tea on the house, so make sure you avail of that when you try it there. :)


I will admit that we've tasted better and bigger buffets. 
It is a delight though to know they have a good dessert corner :) 


Have a happy weekend ahead!










Monday, April 23, 2012

Long Weekend at Home.



M and I got to visit home (Cagayan de Oro) last Holy Week. It was another good chance to indulge on food we miss.

As soon as we arrived, we found ourselves at:


Hungarian Sausage with mashed potatoes
at 
Vienna Kaffeehaus. 
This Cebu franchise which serves Austrian dishes will always have a special place in our hearts. Wink. I ordered my usual Hungarian sausage and M ordered a cheese weiner with mashed potatoes too.The sausage and spuds have decreased in size. That was sad. The price increased too. Inflation is a heartbreaking thing.



Turon

This huge crispy and sugary banana-langka wrap is found in the streets of CdO. I don't know of anyone who makes Turon the way this particular street vendor does. No scrimping on the sugar, wrap, nor of the bananas and langka. When you bite into one, the coating breaks in sugary shards. You can actually see the shards in the photo. It's so big, so we cut it in half and share the calories. For less than P20--winner!


We also chanced upon the opening of a new branch of Chicken Charlie along Borja Extension, CdO. Now, we haven't tried this here in the metro because it was always so full at that time we tried. With the advent of all these crispy fried chicken craze that is Bon Chon, Manang's Fried Chicken and even Chowking's Chinese Style Fried Chicken , we had all forgotten to try Chicken Charlie. 

with Soy Garlic Sauce & Hot Sweet Sauce (with the sticks)
These were big pieces of drumsticks. I think I like the Soy Garlic sauce much better than the kimchi flavored foreign counterpart. But the foreign counterpart has crispier chicken.


Cheesestick Dynamite- cheese and jalapeno rolled in lumpia. A hit.



Since it was nearing M's birthday, we were treated to dinner at another Cebu franchise- the Filipino specialty restaurant Cafe Laguna. Everything's always good here. We had-

Adobong Kangkong

Pinakbet

Kinilaw (Cebu style)
They put mayonnaise. Not my thing.




Maja Kalabasa
This is so creamy, light and refreshing. 
I like that it uses a vegetable to highlight the coconut cream based flan,  so I can imagine all the beta carotene coming into my system while I eat dessert. 


I forgot to take a photo of the yummy Kare Kare and the Sizzling Bangus. Next time.

That was a good dinner. And a really good home visit. :)


Until next time, Cdo. Have a great summer.



Saturday, April 21, 2012

Talk about Dystopia


I was browsing through my Facebook contact's travel pictures in China, when I saw one of her posts regarding fake eggs in China. I was appalled! Fake eggs? There is such a thing? How do they look? What are they for? And WHY?

In this day and age when everyone I know wants to eat healthy and be healthy, spending more money on organic produce and meat--the thought of fake eggs in the market is CRAZY. 

I checked on Google to see other news on this fakery and I saw this site where it provides how and why fake eggs are made-- check out this link on ---> FAKE EGGS.

I don't eat eggs everyday for breakfast, but I appreciate fresh eggs. You know it's fresh when the yolk and the whites are firm yet soft, breaks only upon a steady poke and has great color. How many of my favorite sweets and carbs have eggs? Noodles, bread, cakes, ice cream, flans, sandwich spreads not to mention my husband's favorite Chinese soups! 

In the ideal world, all beings should be eating all natural, all organic food. If eggs can be faked and made from chemicals, there is no stopping the other food stuffs in your grocery shelves to be made from who knows what kind of laboratory experiment. What's next?

Eggs are the starting point of life. When that point of beginning is faked, the future should smell rotten.