Milenyo Mayhem

Last thursday, September 28, 2006, our country experienced another duel with mother nature in the form of typhoon Milenyo.

I was in the office then, and as the power went out, we decided to thwart the work day. The rain wasn't quite threatening at that time....so what to do? What to do? No power, no office---head to the mall!!! My friend Warren fetched me from the office and we headed to Robonson's Galleria to meet up with Nikki, we were contemplating on a movie and some shopping--nice!Driving there, the rain started to get all misty and the wind getting stronger. By the time we got to Galleria, we can already hear the rain and wind growing wild, even from the inside of the mall. We started to worry a nit, but then resigned to the idea that we are safe in the mall and we can leave when it subsides. As we were shopping around, the shops started to close up. We were told that they were closing up the store! WHAT??? What about your social obligation to us who are already here?? --I managed to joke. Soon enough we had to get out of the mall. The blocked off the entire middle area,


the roof of the sort of atrium was ripped, letting in the rain!!! Good thing the shops closed immediately, otherwise they'll be soaked!

It was around lunch time then, so we thought of having lunch before we left the mall. There were people already eating at the restaurants along the expansion wings. Some, like Dulcinea was already closed, but most were still open, like Mangan, Piadina, Bangus and Bacolod Inasal. We were deliberating on where to settle and eat. We decided on Mangan but alas, they were just letting the people who already ordered to finish up. Moving on we found out that none of the restos would accommodated us. Everybody was in a hurry to pack up and leave.

With an empty stomach we left the mall...and then met Milenyo....





Perhaps we underestimated the magnitude of this typhoon as we were in awe at the sight of the condition of the metropolis. Uprooted trees all everywhere, signs and billboards knocked down, mini floods here and there....it was a sad sight and we felt guilty of thinkingof watching a movie and shopping amidst of it all.

We decided to wait it out at Nikki's house, which was the most proximate to our then on location. We drove through KFC to get take out. They were closed up as well, but they sold us what was ready and available then---only wings! hehehe No time to fuss around chicken parts, we got our food and left for safety.

Despite of the weather condition, we managed to enjoy our wings and have good laughs through the aftrnoon. The rain subsided and we decided to get coffee and then get me home. Can you believe starbucks in Libis and Corinthian Hills were both closed! NOOOOOOO!!!!! We went to Katipunan and good thing Kopi Roti was open. No airconditioning, but open. We had coffee and hanged a bit. I think it was the only shop, besides McDo and Jollibee, that was open as alot of people came in soon after we did. We even bumped into my friends Holden and Edi....hehehe crazy people, in a crazy storm and doin the same crazy things@! hahaha War brought me and Nikki to our respective homes safety and soundly....only to find out----NO POWER in all of our houses and weak Globe signal to boot!!!! Talk about adding insult to injury! But lucky for me, I only suffered the power outage for roughly 30 minutes. YEY!!! Meralco loves our Village! hahaha... I was even able to watch some korean telenovela and the news!

Hope all is safe now. I pray for the people who were more gravely affected by the awfull storm and thank dear God that my family, friends, loved ones and I are all safe through it all.

Hooop-aah, Scoop-ah and Suga-h! Monday Night

There must be a movie curse goin' on--really. Last week I already experienced an awful celluloid trauma with The Wickerman. The movie wicked! I can't belive fine actors such as Nicholas Cage and Kathy Bates would take part in a terrible project like that. Last Monday, I witnessed another film faux pas, this time with the (very handsome) Hugh Jackman, Scarlett Johanson and Woody Allen---Scoop. The movie was a poopie! hehehe I apologize to the people who actually liked this film. As for me, I found the movie quite boring and lame. Scarlett Johanson was not convincing as a wide-eyed journalism student. The plots were poorly developed and I thought Woody Allen's character was too annoying (makulit sobra! reminded me of an uncle of mine ;P hehehehe). Oh well so much for that... I will not get into relating the gist if the movie...as I don;t want to remember it anymore hahahaha.

Dinner was the saving grace of the evening. My good ol' shopping pal Mike and I had Greek food at my favorite CYMA =). Across our table, there was a very nice family, whom I think were celebrating the mom's birthday. The mom was beautiful...she looked spanish and she was with her husband,two sons (did I mention they were gorgeous ;P) and a lovely daughter who brought a bouquet of lovely malaysian mums. Yeah---I know--ang chismosa at usisera ko right? Well, to me that kinda thing is just a sight for sore eyes...a lovely family having a lovely time at a lovely restaurant =) That's what I like about Cyma, its a family, friends and even casual dating place.

Here is my chicken gyros...its huge and yummy. The dressing however, is like honey-mustard sauce not the traditional garlic mayo. Its a nice twist and it does taste really good but I still prefer the garlic mayo (for that authentic flare) and I like it on the side. I totally forgot to tell the waiter to hold the dressing...so I just let the excess drip away--gross ei? hehehehe

ooozing with honey-mustard sauce....I don't like! =(

For dessert we went to Sugar House. We had coffee and tea with this chocolate truffle cake. Its nice and moist but nothing spectacular...just good ol' chocolate cake to me hehehe

Cyma is located at the 6th floor or the Shangri-la mall, along Sumosam and Penang Hill. You have to wait to be seated because the place is always full, even on weekdays.

Sugar house is at the 6th floor of Shang-mall as well, along C2, Green Tomato and Mongkok.

In Heaven Again

We met up quite early for our Sunday morning walk, 6am. This time, we were back in good ol' UP and a new friend, Carlo (who is a very good friend of Kat from UP MBA) joined us to take on the academic oval! Welcome, welcome! Proxy ata ni Kat! ;P heheheh. The whether was quite cool so its was a lovely time to walk leisurely as we chatted along. After going two rounds, we headed on to Eastwood, Libis to have breakfast at Heaven and Eggs. Again??! ---Yes! Sal wanted to compare the food and service of this branch and the one in Tomas Morato, where we had breakfast...last week =) We have a little tendency to go on streaks with our breakfast venue. One time it was Kopi Roti, which went on for about a month or two (so that's like 4 or 8 Sundays!). Then there was Conti's which dragged on for months as well and prior to H & E was Dorset Coffee. It's like we become faithfull to a resto for a time, get "sawa" with the place and food and move on to the next flavor of the month! hehehe ;P

3-Sausages and Eggs Platter for Carlo (notice there is one big chunk of sausage there, then a few slices of the other two; why don't they give 3 whole ones?? H&E are we getting too cheap? Last week it was the fake butter on the bread! hehehehe)

It was served with Eggs the way you want it (in this case scrambled), hash browns and 2 pancakes

Sal and I shared an order of the golden brown waffle (the pic was blurred, sorry) which was cooked right and crisp with real butter this time =) two snaps up H&E Libis! hehehe

We also had the crab and asparagus omelet (they have crabmeat here, bravo Libis!) served with hash browns (we liked these are better than the potato wedges because its like an aggregate of french fries! hehehe) and 2 small pancakes with butter (horraaaaaaaaaaaay!!!)

The Libis H&E has a smaller place but nonetheless, we think this has better service and better verions of the food. Will we be in Heaven again next Sunday??? Maybe---maybe not ;P

Finally...JT's

After carboloading at our friend's cereal shop...Sal and I wanted something savory for our late dinner. We made sure we burned-off all the sugar we ingested by shopping in the Block ;P hehehe Aha! How about having JT's insal!!! I read about it in a post by Ms. Lori Baltazar's dessertcomesfirst and I couldn't forget the mouth-watering photos of the chicken inasal and the garlic rice with loads of garlic...and the chicken oil.....yummmm. I've eaten insal before but it's only now that I've learned that the oil must be mixed in the rice and chicken for maximum satisFATion ;P hahaha

We shared an order of pecho (chicken breast part), corazon (chicken heart), baticolon (chicken liver) and an order of garlic rice!!!

My picture of our food is FAR from the salivating snaps of Ms. Lori's (please pardon the lousy shots hehehe) but believe me they were delicious!

Heart and liver beside the rice mountain with golden garlic bits and shimmering with artery clogging chicken oil!!!

No frills no fuss alfresco dinning, that's the JT experience!

Delicious and Nutritious Cerealicious!!!

Attention to kids and kids at heart who are lovers of the the humble early morn treat--the CEREAL!!!! Here, now open at the Block at SM North Edsa...a haven for all those crisp, sugary goodness....

CEREALICIOUS!!! =)

Just think, coco puffs, chex, frosties, cornflakes, fitness, cocopops...all the Nestle cereal brands put all together in a shop that turns this simple breakfast into a cool and fun treat that anybody will surely get addicted to.

You choose a favorite cereal and mix in with fruits, nuts, choc-nut, hershey's kissables, chocolate chips, sauces, cookies, brownies...whatever you can see on the "mix-in" counter that you want. It is served in a yummy vanilla-milkshake-like base. You can have ice cream a top of that to boot!!!

And for a great opening day treat--FREE ICE CREAM ALL YOU CAN with any order of big sized Cerealicious.Not a bad deal for 80 bucks ei?? Specially for the ice cream lovers out there.

Fun and friendly shop

M&M's, nuts, fruits, chocnut, wafer sticks, cookies, graham crakers and candies galore!!! Go gaga choosing over loads and loads of mix-ins...the possiblities seem endless....the limit?--your imagination ;P

a Cerealicious treat in the clasp of a healthy child =)

Lofty Leisures

When I am too tired to scrimmage in tianges and malls on Saturdays, one thing I enjoy as much as shopping is lazing in Nail Loft. It's my favorite nail spa and I go nowhere else for my nail care. And why you might ask?? They have great service by very friendly staff who are well trained. Where can you get a manicure or pedicure with free hand massage, foot scrub,eye mask and a cup of tea? Upon entering, you are greeted warmly with the smell of aroma theraputic scents and seated in their comfy and prettily upholstered sofas with pillows, with the soothing sound of nature or waterfalls on the background . The place is small but cozy and I just adore the interiors---sooo girly =)

Here I am having my pedicure done. They soak the feet in warm water first and is gently scrubbed to prep up the pedi.


They offer a wide selection of polishes, fromlocal to imported ones....take your pick!

As the pedicure is being done, you are given a cool cucumber eye mask to reduce the puffiness of the eyes....and helps you relax all the more. A complimentary hand massage is given. Ther embrocate your arms with a blend of lotion and eucalyptus oil (at least I think its eucalyptus =p) and massage the entire arms and hands.....ohhhhh...sooo good!

This is the little cup of hot tea they offer you as you go on relaxing and enjoying the cleaning and pampering. I always find myself dozing off through everything. Even if I was just having simple mani and pedi...I really felt the stress melt away. Love the nice flower touch.

Moseying at Terry's

As a leisurely activity... I fancy browsing in sprecialty shops, like Santi's, Cook's Exchange, Gourdo's etc. .I just look around to discover any new ingredient or kitchen equipment that I've read about or seen on T.V.. I think its a good learning exercise and at the same time, keeps me away from shopping for clothes, shoes, bags and accessories...which I fancy all the more! hahaha
Yesterday, I was at the Podium and as I was keeping myself from buying a bag that I had my eye on at Lulu (I plan to come back for it this weekend!!! ;P) so I wittingly thought of heading to the basement as I remembered Terry's Selection! Stroll to stall is the spending control strategy! And hopefully forget and lose interest in the item for purchase on target.

I've heard good things about their food, but I haven't had the chance to dine there--YET! Heheheh I've only managed to snoop into their wide array of wines, cheeses, cured meat products, chocolates, Itallian and Spanish ingredients; and cookery appurtenances.

Here I stumbled upon the rack of Terry's breads...They have foccacia (that I have on the picture below) and whole wheat... they didn't come on to me as appealing as breads at Santi's or Uno...they kinda look sad in their coffin-like rack! hahahah Sorry Mr. Terry! But I'm sure they taste great! ;P

I found vanilla beans on the counter. These, I heard, are great for making custards. Instead of using vanilla flavor that we normally buy in bottles...you heat it up with the milk to infuse the vanilla essence. You open the pod and scrape the inside out. Do I remember this correctly? Anybody there---please re-educate me on this matter as I have not yet tried cooking with fresh vanilla beans...forgive my audacity in siting cooking information I am ignorant of =( Heck, I just wana put something about it so I can post this picture! hahaha Basta, They're good stuff to cook with and they look cute! let's drop it!

The wines are also on sale and I also found they sell itallian coffee grinds and beans!

So what is the ponit of this entry? I have a to do list made in my head:

1.) Fine a good companion to dine with at Terry's

2.) Try cooking with fresh Vanilla beans

3.) After I finish my Cafe Amadeo (which I am beginning to dislike =( the brew i weak even if I put alot of coffee!), buy Terry's Itallian Blend coffee grinds

4.) GO BACK TO LULU ;P

Aaaah my friends..to window shop is good..but to purchase is divine!

Our family loves to cook. Yesterday I cooked beef steak and I was mighty proud of it because I thought it went out good. Unfortunately, only one of my sis got to try it because when we all got home from the office, my dad already cooked us dinner......



I think these are steamed baby lobsters...



and these are steamed soft shell crabs....

I like seafood but I am pretty lazy to make "balat". If there was someone who'd be nice enough to do that for me...I think I'd enjoy eating these more! ;P There was a platter of california maki and kani maki that went along with this (the pic was blurred unfortunately so I can't share it with you here)

Thank you for dinner dad! =) Let's just have my beefsteak another night...hehehehe

Heavenly Breakfast & An Advanced Birthday Surprise!!!

This sunday Sal and I had breakfast at Heaven and Eggs in Tomas Morato. We decided to go there because we were waiting for our friend Kat to get to her office.....yes...office, on a sunday. And why? Its because dear darling Kitty is leaving for the United Kingdom!!! Her long awaited and well deserved vacation, here at long last. She will be out of the country for a month---BON VOYAGE GIRL!!!! Sal and I will terribly miss you.


We love pancakes! To date, the best pancakes that Sal and I have had, and still coundn't forget...the banana walnut pancakes at Bag of Beans (when it was still open in Greenhills). It had bananas and walnuts mixed in the thick pancakes and stacked with more bananas and walnuts in between!!!!! This is why we had to choose the banana caramel pancakes at H & E. The pancakes were thick and fluffy but we felt short with the teensy weeency bananas it went with. We found the caramel too sugary sweet---I think the sugar hasn't reached the caramelization stage yet! And what more so diminished the satisfaction points of this order is that, it came in so late. Our chicken broccoli omelet came in 30mins ahead! I think its because the waitress made a mistake in taking our oder. We were wondering why they kept serving us the choco-banana waffle---we turned it down 3 times!!! Then I called in the waitress and said..."miss, d ba we ordered for banana caramel pancakes?" waitress goes, "yes ma'am the choco banana waffle" and smiles....that explained everything!

This lone pancake was what was left of 3. Sal and I stared at it and went...."kay Kat dapat yan share na yan e..." so we had it wrapped and brought it to her =) hehehehe

banana-caramel pancake (a lone banana on a pancake island!)

chicken-broccoli omelet (that's not butter on the bread!!!!)

This is the chicken broccoli omelet. We wanted it served with fries and bread....the fries turned into potato wedges and initially, pancakes were served to us instead of bread....we had it changed to bread but it came with margarine instead of butter! (you'd think a nice restaurant like this could afford to give REAL butter naman dapat d ba?) Hayayay! The servers seem to have minds of their own!

After that we headed on to Kat's office....and was I off for a surprise....

My birthday is up and coming...and every year we three celebrate eachother's birthday together. I was kinda sad because this year Kat will not be here for my birthday....but how sweet is my friend to still think of my present before she leaves for UK. Amidst her busy packing and office work wrap-ups....this....a beautifully packaged present with a beautiful gift inside!

Love it girl! Thank you very much though I'll still miss you on my birthday!

Theobromine in Theobroma

Chocolate contains a methylxanthine called theobromine. This gives that similar caffeine kick we get from drinking coffee, but to a lesser degree.

While out for work in Paranaque last Saturday. I saw this quaint chocolatier shop named after the stimulant component of the cacao----Theobroma.

They sell these lovely looking chocolates in different varieties...milk chocolates, white chocolates, semi-sweet, sugar-free and my favorite dark!

They also make their own gellato and they have coffee as well. I ordered coffee for take out but the server accidentally spilled it....what to do since I was in a hurry to go leave?......

change my order! hmmmm.... it will take more time to prep an americano than to scoop a gellato ---i did the math! less time more calories...what the #@%%
bitter-sweet chocolate gellato

This is bitter-sweet chocolate gellato on a waffle cone!!!! It's soooooo good! Really chocolatey...not too sweet and it has excellent mouth feel!!! To the hips they will all go!!!! hahahaha

Later that night, I had dinner with a friend at Italianni's Greenhills (I forgot to take photos of our Salmon risotto, which was great and verdure penne) and had coffee at starbucks. It was a pleasant evening filled with good conversations.

Theobromine and caffeine high...what a Saturday it was!

Greenhills Tiangge

If there is any place I always go to besides home and office, its Greenhills. It's not intentional but I always find myself there, around 4 times a week on the average.

Tiangge goodies

Cafe Amadeo

I bought this from the tiangge.... as I was convinced by the stall seller that this is good coffee made by the coffee farmers cooperative in the Philippines. Its a blend or arabica, robusta and excelsia beans.

Well, I'm using it now an it has a nice clean taste and mild body =)

Blog-addicted!

My sis bakekang was a blogger way, way ahead of me. I have always found it odd why she takes sooo much time canoodling with her blogspot and livejournals. Sometimes she would rather stay home than go malling with us so that she could hog the pc---aaahhh...the kids of today! Strange, strange, strange--I thought to myself. NOT ANYMORE!!!Yes, I must admit, I am hooked on blogging. I look forward each blogging day---and I love it!

Last night, I was having dinner with some friends and the girls in the group ( didi, jake and I), were all into blogging too! We were so enthralled talking about blogs that the boys were like duh?! with us...and teased us na "wala lang kame magawa sa buhay namin!" hahaha..If they could only give it a try, I'm pretty sure that they will get hook as well. With all that, I totally forgot to take pictures of our food! So here is what was left on the table when I finally remembered to take photos.....

Oh well...next time again.

Uno Goodies and tuna spread

I just adore bread. I love making it as much as I love eating it. If I would have to choose just one source of major carbohydrate, it would be bread.

I am the only one in the house who eats whole wheat bread and so I always keep a bag of whole wheat bread in the freezer. Freezing bread keeps the shelflife longer and it doesn't affect the quality and taste. Upon buying a fresh loaf, I slice it diagonally (to form a small triangle for every slice) ang stash it at once in the freezer. So whenever I want some bread I just take what I need and pop them in the toaster. Yesterday, I went to UNO restaurant and bought me a nice soughdough ciabatta bread to replenish my emtied bread stash.

This picture does not do justice to this wondeful artisinal bread, but I guarantee that it smells so good and taste great. It has a good crust that crisps when you toast it and the has a gummy body that is soft but has a bite to it and with a slight sour flavor. This is precisely why its called SOUR dough bread! hahaha This bread is a naturally leavened bread by wild yeast. A flour mixture is made and set out to capture yeast from the air. You know that you've caught something when the dough bubles up due to fermentation by ambient yeast. This is then carefully retrieved...revived and used as a starter for various bread making purposes. The process is a bit tedious and much love and care is given to it, hence more flavor is imbibed in the dough. I have made yeast breads like pan de sal, french bread, indian roti's, doughnuts and cinnamon rolls but I have not ventured into making bread from wild yeast. It's something I plan to do someday soon.

Uno bakes their bread fresh daily as well as their pastries and cakes (if I'm not mistaken). As I was buying my beloved ciabatta, my attention was caught by these cute muffins...so I got 2 of them for my sister's bogey and bakekang. They love muffins....(I think these are banana oatmeal)

Usually I like sourdough with soup---that's lunch or dinner already! My friend Elaine and I share this passion for the UNO sourdough and we have it with soup for lunch. Since I only have canned soup at home and too lazy to make soup from scratch, I decided to make tuna spread instead.

I used 2 cans of tuna chunkcs in water and some sweet pickle relish that I set out to drain first. Normally I put a small can pineapple tidbits to give an added sweetness and the sour taste cuts through the fishy taste of the tuna. Unfortunately, the pantry was out of pineapple today. I like to add canned chopped pimientos that I drain with all of these to give a prettier color and added flavor as well, but again, pantry is out so make do with what I have right?

I mixed some low fat mayonaise, mustard, a finely chopped onion, a dash of salt, freshly ground pepper, a dash of worcestershire sacue, a sprinkling of sugar and some parmesan cheese.

I added the ingredients I set out to drain, into the mayo mix and mix it thoroughly....the pic here doesn't look appetizing (I know...it looks all yellow sad and yucky!hehehe) ....blame the poor lighting in the kitchen and my phone camera! But just please take my word for it...its yummy ;P (though the version with complete ingredients is still better)

I had these for breakfast---my tuna spread with toasted sourdough ciabatta... and teensie-weensie dollop of macaroni salad I found in the ref!

I tried to pose the bread in another way....they still don't look good! rats!!!! I need to read on food styling techniques if I want to be convincing here..hahahaha!

Meeting Ms. Heny

Atfer my daily office duties..I take time and have mini R&R breaks during the day, sort of to ease stress and take time to stop and smell the roses as they say..or in my case...smell the coffee =)
Yesterday, I chose to have a cafe mocha...I like the cafe mocha at Starbucks...no whip ofcourse...I hate whipped cream (sorry to those who love 'em). Here it is......

...I sit and enjoy this at Starbucks Greenhills, beside Chili's. I was waiting for my sister to finish her class at Heny Sison. My sis and I are fans of Ms. Heny. We have been watching her show since time immemorial and we adore her as we adore baking. I remember the first thing I baked (that was edible ha) ...Peanut Butter cookies! I was in the 3rd grade then. I was fond of making cookies...like lenguas de gato, chocolate crinkles, chocolate chip cookies, butter cookies..etc., and as I got older, I moved on to making brownies, cakes and breads. You can just imagine how excited I got when my sis texted me to go there and meet Ms. Heny....
....she was very friendly and accommodating! I told her that I was a fan and I loved to bake also. We chatted about some people we know in common and chit chatted a bit. She even brought out a pecan pie from the ref...took a piece of it and let me try it as well! It was delicious! Not too sweet and it had a tinge of rum flavor. She went on to making an apple pie....she was testing the recipe for the pies she will offer to sell this coming Christmas season. Its going to be a limited edition pies, each sold with a beautiful ceramic pie plate....if I remeber correctly, only 250 pieces of them are going to be made and sold..so LET's go and make our reservations...I'm sure they will be great!

Here is the character cake my sis made in school for our shobe....

...cute isn't it?! It was neatly and beautifuly iced! My shobe was really happy when she saw her cake. Shobe is down with German measles!!!!! eeeeeeeeeeekkkkkkkkk!!!! She is all red and rashy now.....get well soon Bakekang! ;P

And to end my day...I had coffee with my good friend Holden...kahit late na fight pa rin sa kape right?! hahaha We had coffee at UCC Morato....I had the Sumiyaki blend...

...we were at the smoking area and there was this person smoking TOBACCO!!!!...The smell made me feel dizzy. When I got home I could really smell the smoke in my hair and in my clothes@!!!!! Eeeewwweee hahaha...cigarette smoke is tolerable and ok...but tobacco stench is nasty!!!! (My apologies to all tobacco somkers out there...its just a personal opinion)

More coffee photos...

This is my espresso maker, its a Melita given to me by my dad from his vacation in California...Thanks dad! It came along with 2 2pounder bags of Starbucks beans. One French Roast and a House Blend =)

This is the coffee contraption I boughtin Vietnenam. Very easy to use.
My coffee mugs in a pyramid! They're kinda hyper in the morning! hahaha ;P

The Cafe del Sol mug is given to me by my good friend Ven. Cafe del Sol is my favorite coffee shop in boracay. When I was there for a vacation, I go there everyday...more than once a day!

The Starbucks mug is from the branch in Ashcreek. It was "OBTAINED" by my friend Andrea back then when we used to hang at Ashcreek a lot. Thanks An! Miss you girl! Good thing you always carry a BIG bag along =) hahahaha

Last but not the least...The Coffee Bean and Tea Leaf mug...I got from the opening of the the first Coffee Bean branch, which is the one at Gb3! I remeber they had an OPEN COFFEE BAR----imagine me....being told I can get any coffee on the menu...all the coffee I can have!!!! hahahahaA night to remember.

Lots of memories in lots of coffee shops...coffee and I are a match made in heaven.

Oh and not to forget....this clear coffee bean and tea leaf mug....was "OBTAINED" at the branch in promenade! I remember I was with my very very dear college friend Lotte at that time, when she was here for vacation from DC. We were rolling over laughing. Now I use it as a water glass at home.