Food Tripping at Ortigas Home Depo

HELLO MY FRIENDS!!! My goodness...have I missed blogging! I have the usual excuse of being extremely busy at work, for my backlog in posting. Too busy to blog for a while...but NEVER too busy to EAT! =D I have pages of uploaded foodie pics sans the write up...so sad not having enough time to share yummy experiences.

Enough with my apologies...I take time now to share two of the most recent places we have tried. I have hear and read and gotten invites to try out new places in Ortigas Home depot. We have attempted many times to go here...but parking is sooooo difficult on late night weekends...not to mention traffik to boot.

Finally, one raining evening, after watching a horror flick (Drag me to hell....) we decided to erase the scarry images in my head by EATING!

We first went to HERMANOS. We decided to seat at the al fresco area so we may order from the neigboring reso ...Jalapeno....but the rain poured harded forcing us to move inside the resto, where they do not allow outside orders without paying for corkage =(


The place is quite nice, with wooded tables and chairs, with golblets for wine already in place.

We were served complimentary bruschetta...wich were nice crunchy baguette slices topped with tomato salsa with red and green bell pappers.



We ordered the Paella Balls, which were one of their most popular dishes.

They were...paella rice breaded and deep fried served with tomato salsa and atchara. The remind me of risotto balls ...but these kinda lacked in a little something something...perhaps they should have put in bits of paella meats...like bits of chicken or prawns...just something to add a little varietie and surprise as opposed to just biting into just rice. I think adding little morsels of protein or veggies in the balls will add more interest and dimension to this dish. Nonetheless it was good..but kinda too heavy a starter and gets kinda boring after your 3rd ball =) Or maybe one isn;t supposed to have 3 or more balls? Well, we had more than 3 balls each---definitely...we manage to finish all ...just the two of us =)

see the cross-section of the ball....

just rice ....

This was recommended by our waiter. Chicken breast pieces, cooked with chilles and olives. It struck me as ...a chicken caldereta dish of somesort. It was too spicy for me...and something we wouldn't think about again after trying.

The rain calmed down a bit, so we moved to Buffalo Wings and Things, just a jump...skipping Jalapeno (we will just save that another time)

The place is a casual fast-food joint...teeming with people.

We ofcourse ordered Buffalo Wings...but after that hot and spicy chicken dish...I kinda didn't fancy having anything that spicy. You can pick the portion size and the strength of heat of your wings and even the sauces and dips. I picked the butter-parmesan sauce.

Our order came piping hot and the wings very crisp..kudos to that. Unfortunately, we were kinda disappointed withjust getting like 2 pieces of wings for Php 140.00 (or was is Php 120.00---even if it was 120..still too steep for two wingies) the butter parmesan was just like melted butter poured on our wings, needed a bit more salt. In general it was ok..perhaps we should have stuck with the original BUFFALO sauce.

Mini burgers...

Three cute burgers...with a thick pattie. The buns were very soft...the burger was good...but nothing exceptional. We like white castle burgers way better =) hahahaha

Everything is worth a try ei?! ;P

Onion Foccacia with Rosemary and Thyme =)

The bickering heat of summer is perfect for one good thing...BREAD MAKING! Rising dough should be no problem at all with this weather of ours. I was feeling herb inspired. I made four yummy herby projects for that day. First up...my Onion Foccacia with Rosemary and Thyme bread.

Foccacia is very easy to make. Unlike the other breads I love to make...this is perhaps one of the easiest.

The dough is soft and sticky....and I incorporated the chopped yellow onions before rising.

use the kitchen aid hook attachment to knead the dough

cover loosely with cling film and allow to rise

this is the most fun part...making dimples on the dough with my fingers =) hahaha (toink*toink*toink* ;P hahaha) and drizzle with more olive oil and spinkle the rosemary and thyme =)

cover and allow to rest once more

I placed the baking stone in the oven as it preheats. A final sprinkling of sea salt before popping in the oven.

TADA!!!! =D I think they are lovely!

They are crusty on top...soft and moist inside and very aromatic and flavorful! (I pat my back! hehehe ;P)

I love making bread!!!!!

Spam-bonara!

My shobe, like me, is always hungry! When we hang out at home our tummies seem to grumble more often than normal hahaha ;p So when there is a clamor for some homey comfort food...I go down to the kitchen and scrimmage stuff from the ref and pantry that I can convert to someting yummy. I found pasta, milks, eggs, cheese, bell peppers and spam...I decided to make SPAM-bonara! hahaha

I cooked it they way I would carbonara...and treating the spam as I would the bacon. Well it turned out pretty good...and was gone in a flash! =)

Elfav...ice cream...food and more =)

There is this nice resto located at Pergola building at BF Homes Paranaque called Elfav ice creamery. They make their own ice cream with flavors raging from conventional chocolate and strawberry to funky aclo-ladened kinds like Tequila Rose, Bailey's and yes...beer and non-convetional ones like wasabi! The place has a cozy feel to it, charmed by mis-matched sets of tables and chairs with an array of board games (i.e. chess, tic-tac-toe, scrabble etc.) customers can play with while hanging out. Latest magazines and free wifi access are also available...talk about maximum entertainment for your dining pleasure hehehe. And so how is the dining experience? It was pleasant and very affordable to boot.

Salad Nicoise (about Php 90-ish...)

The serving size was quite big for the price and very close to being authentic. It has tuna, boiled beans, hard cooked egg slices, greens, tomatoes dressed with an herby vinaigrette and served with a side of biscocho-ish bread toasts.

Eggplant Parmigiana Php 90.00

Homestyle baked layers of eggplants, cheese and tomato sauce. The serving size was quite generous and tastes like something homecooked.

T-Bone Steak (Php 99.00)

Well, it's portion size is par or a tad bit smaller than your average 99 peso steaks. I am amazed how thinly the meat and BONE was sliced! As thin as beef one would use for making beef steak. Served with a salty and starchy gravy. The price keeps expectations grounded so we were ok with it...may I just add the baby potaoes and veggies siding was nice =)

Fish Fillet (Php 90.00)

Again, the price kept our expectations well grounded. The fish was ok, battered like a camaron rebusado, served with honey-mustard sauce, rice and veggies.

Over all we were not so enthusiastic with the last two meals we had...but the upside of each visit was, all meals come with FREE ICE CREAM! Just a tasting protion (about two small dirty ice cream scoop size!) but was good enough to satiate a little cool and sweet craving after a meal. If you find yourself kinda "bitin" with the free ice cream shots...you can always but a scoop or two which will just cost you Php 40-60bucks! =)

Banana-Raisin Muffins with Streusel Topping

Off to a long holyweek break, I made some kid friendly and healthy snack to pack for a few days get away. I decided to whip up Banana-Raisin Muffins with Streusel Topping!

Loaded with fiber and nutrients from bananas, raisins and oats! Yup I mixed in oats in my streusel mix...of butter, brown sugar , flour and cinnamon!

Muffins are great grab-and-go breakfast and snack treats. A wholesome vacation to everyone! =)

Office Baking: Double Dark Chocolate Cake

Let's bake a cake! Make it rich make it chocolate...make em really dark =D hahahaI just love deep dark chocolate anything! So I made a double dark chocolate cake ...as a birthday gift=)

Mix flour, cocoa, baking soda and powder, salt in one bowl. Cream butter, sugar eggs and vanilla...add flour mix alternately with fresh milk =)

I always add some coffee powder to enhance the chocolate taste of my chocolate cakes. Coffee and chocolate---a match made in heaven indeed! =)

so dark and beautiful!

I layered my cooled cake layers and poured chocolate ganache in between and allover the cake!!!!!! =D

Tarragon

Looking for a place to eat along Aguirre St. once more, we stumbled upon Tarragon restaurant. The place is simple and homey, but felt kinda sad with just one other customer other than us.


It was a friday and during lenten season, I don't eat meat friday's =D ...so I picked the TUNA MELT Sandwich....

Canned tuna mixed with chopped lettuce, mayo and cheese with a sprinkling of sesame seeds in a bread roll. The bread roll was the size of a Pan de Manila pan de sal (perhaps just a bit bigger), good bread... and generously filled with the tuna-cheese mix.

He ordered Blackened Chicken with Garlic Rice

He said it was ok, but the serving size was kinda bitin for a man's appetite ;P

Food here was generally ok, but what made us not appreciate our dining experience here was, despite the fact that we were the only customer's dining there (the other customer just had drinks) our food came AGES AND AGES after we ordered them. After patiently waiting for our food...they were served kinda room temperature! We thought perhaps the wait will be compensated by great food served PIPING HOT....but alas...cold =(

My Menu: Chicken Pandan, Thai Rice & Mango Crumble =)

It's time to cook with JEN! YAAAAAAAAAAAAAY! =) So what's on my menu? I am Thai inspired...so I make up my rendition of Thai Cusine! hahaha

My Thai Rice

I love cooking flavored rice as much as I love eating them. I think it's more fun to eat and becomes an add on dish on the table...as opposed to just being a side...can be eaten on it's own too. For this dish, I browned and crisped pork chop edges....rendering-off the fat and leaving a chicharonish finish! I set this aside and sauteed in garlic, onions, chopped green beans, cabbage, red bell peppers and a generous spalsh of fish sauce. I then added cooked rice and then annato oil. I finished it off with a scambled egg, crisped pork bits and adding a final seasoning of salt and pepper. YUM!!!

Chicken and Pork Pandan

Earlier that day, I marinated chicken and pork cubes in a cup of coconut cream, pandan, ginger, pepper and fish sauce. You can also put chopped lemon grass leaves, I just didn't have any that day ;P . Place in a covered container and allow to marinate in the fridgy for 2 hours or so.

Wrap each marinated pork and chicken cubes in pandan leaves... and fry in hot oil...keep the flame in medium because it will take some time to cook the meat through inside the leaf packets =)

It smells wonderful as you fry!!! I had a pan in the oven in KEEP WARM setting...so that I can place my cooked chicken and pork pandan in the warm pan in the oven to keep them hot and yummy!

Serve with sweet chili sauce and plum sauce! A great meal and baon surprise! =D

For dessert...I made MANGO CRUMBLE
Nothing Thai about it...but its a quick and easy dessert to whip up.

Pre heat oven at 375 F. Make the crumble topping by cutting in cold butter cubes in flour, oats, brown sugar, nutmeg and cinnamon. Chill this mixture in the ref while you cut up mangoes and toss some flour to soak up the excess mango juice and a dash of nutmeg for added flavor. Place the mango mixture in a pan and top with the crumble topping...pop in the oven for about 10-15 minutes or untill the crumble is golden brown.

Yummy!!! Like a Mango pie made in sa flash! You may also use apples for an apple pie-ish treat or berries or bananas!!!

Serve as is..or ala mode with chocolate or vanilla ice cream!!!
Maybe you can make this over the top by throwing in chopped dark chocolate pieces in the crumble mix ;P