The Sushiya

I found this interesting and funny video about Japanese etiquette. This just goes to show how complicated Japanese culture is.

Don’t take the contents of the video seriously!

Video credit: smithe35 @ youtube

Anthony Bourdain visits the Philippines at last!

I believe Tony more than the Bizarre Food guy. Zimmern is just way to “adventurous” for me!

Tony said that the Cebu Lechon is THE BEST he has ever had. LOL! And he ate street food ! Fish ball! And he tried taho, palabok, etc. And went to a Dampa. Just watching them eat makes me hungry!

He also commentstowards the end of the show that Filipinos are too nice that’s why our food isn’t that well known in other countries. Isn’t he a nice guy to say that? I think one of the reasons why our cuisine isn’t famous because white guys keep complaining that it stinks. :-p

You can read his blog entry here.

And watch  part one of the show here. Just click on parts 2- 5 from the site.

As for me, my favorite Filipino dish will forever be sisig and grilled liempo with ensaladang mangga or ensaladang talong. With rice of course. YUMMY!!

Food Tripping in Singapore

I’m back from Singapore!… no trip of mine is complete without giving a rundown of the local cuisine. Because I love trying out new food and eating to my heart’s content. (harharhar)

Wasn’t able to take pictures of every meal because most of the time I “attacked” the food as it arrived. I was always that hungry. Here are a few of the foods I’ve tasted and managed to capture:

Spicy Cereal Prawns

This is one of the dishes I’ve tried at the Makansutra Gluttons Bay. Cereal is used to bread the prawn. It’s quite tasty, but a bit oily. The cereal itself is spicy but if you remove it, it won’t taste as good.

We also had some of the top selling/ well loved “street food” that included two very oily forms of pancit. I already forgot the name and I wasn’t able to take pictures of them. One was dark colored the other light. :p

Makansutra Gluttons Bay Milk Tea

The first normal drink I’ve had since the morning I got to Singapore. I’ve also tried Lemon Barley Drink (tastes exactly like bubblegum), Horlick drink (kinda tastes like nesvita), Barley Drink ( tastes like vanilla). They also have chrysanthemum tea, ribena juice (which , according to Wikipedia is ” a brand of fruit based uncarbonated soft drink and fruit drink concentrate produced by GlaxoSmithKline. The original and most common variety contains real blackcurrant juice.”),Soya bean milk and Sugar cane juice.

Singaporeans have a sweet tooth.
Below is the  YUMMY YUMMY Sergeant Hainanese Chicken Rice.

Hainanese Chicken Rice

I saw Anthony Bourdain on tv the night before I was to fly to Singapore. He absolutely loved the Chicken rice in the Hawker Food courts so I was convinced to try it as well. He was right. It’s great!

Although I wasn’t able to eat the street food version, like what he recommended, I think the Food Republic version is also pretty good because I liked it a lot!

This one above is the best dumpling soup noodle I’ve ever tasted in my whole life!It has seaweeds, chicharon, shallots, dumplings ( the best ever) and gorgeous egg noodles. Yummy! Naubos ko ito in 5 minutes kahit na chopsticks ang gamit! hahaha!

Pepper Lunch Express

The pepper lunch establishment in the picture  above is in  Funan Digitalife. Click here to go to their website. I Was super hungry so we grabbed some SUPER SUPER LATE lunch at around 3pm. hahaha!

Pepper Beef lunch

Loved this dish.  It’s already very spicy because of the generous amount of black pepper but the sauces make it even tastier and spicier! I loved the chili sauce and the honey garlic sauce. And the Miso soup (which is like a staple with every meal) is also the yummiest I’ve tasted so far. ( I generally dislike Miso, so this was a surprise to me. )

The trick is to mix it up really really fast so as to cook the beef! Also, if you leave it as it is, the rice and cheese and veggies will get burned!

The hot plate had a paper thing around it with instructions but I already removed it when I took the picture. Gutom na eh! Excited na ko kumain nyan. hehhe.

Bo Bo Cha Cha

This picture above is the Ginataan of Singapore. It tastes exctly alike but without the great stuff in it. The orange bits you see is some unknown fruit. and It also has kamote and sago. The orange bits look like carrots or papaya but it’s not! I do not know what they are!! :p

Grabe, all this talk about food is making me hungry!! Kelan kaya ang next food tripping/sightseeing extravaganza ko? Macau anyone?

Food issues

What’s up with rich girls who don’t want to eat?

I’m watching an episode of Gossip girl and there’s a scene where Blair is being asked by their maid to eat breakfast and she just looks at her with disdain and reaches for a grape, pops it in her mouth and it’s like her eyes are saying you should be grateful I ate that grape. She had a perfectly wonderful breakfast, prepared and served by someone else and she just shrugs it off! If I were her, I’d probably eat everything on the tray and eagerly await for what they’re going to serve at lunch. These rich people don’t appreciate the little things and I hate it!I would love to have someone wait on me and serve me delicious food every meal. It would be heaven!

Rich people starve themselves on purpose while poor people starve because they have nothing to eat. Why don’t the rich just give their food to the poor , that way everybody wins.

I remember when I was vacationing at my rich relatives and I was hungry and I asked one of the maids if they had something I could eat and she was so nice and prepared me a sandwich and said I could eat whatever was in the cupboard because nobody in the family ate anyway. They’re always on a diet or they eat out so there’s lots of food in the house but it’s like it’s almost only for show. haha! They always have yummy food and imported snacks and chocolates and stuff, it was fabulous to be able to raid their fridge and cupboard! And get this– the maids were happy that I was there because they finally have someone to feed. haha! Isn’t that weird?

I really don’t get why so many teenagers, models, movie stars and the like have eating disorders. I don’t understand it. When I was younger I was stick thin and my one true desire was to gain a few pounds. When I did gain weight after several long years, I rejoiced! I was happy to have some meat on my bones! And even though I’m at a healthy weight now, I still won’t feel bad or feel guilty or punish myself for enjoying a perfectly good dinner plate or lunch plate or merienda plate or whatever is served. I wouldn’t dream of NOT EATING– I’d just die!! So it’s perfectly logical for me to ask this : Why do some women starve themselves? And why is being thin, in? Why would women and girls go through this masochistic ritual in the name of beauty or fame? Ang sarap sarap kumain noh!

Sigh.

Humans make things so complicated.

I feel the need to have a cookie right now. Anyone want to join me?

Chicken and Spinach Risotto

1 TBSP oil

1 lb boneless skinless chicken breasts cut into bite sized pieces

4 cups baby spinach leaves

1- 1/2 cups rice

1 cup cherry tomatoes

10- 1/2 oz condensed chicken broth

1-2 cup water

1-4 cup grated parmesan cheese

Heat oil in skillet on medium heat. Add chicken . Cook 10 min. or until chicken is cooked through, stir frequently.

Add spinach , rice , tomatoes ,broth and water. Mix well and bring to a boil. Reduce heat to low and simmer for 5 mins. stir occasionally.

Stir in parmesan cheese and serve!

I did this recipe a few weeks back, and I really liked it! It’s easy to make, plus it’s healthy. Go ahead and try it.

How to make Dessert Crepes

What you need:

2 eggs

3/4 cup Milk

1 cup all purpose flour

1/2 cup water

pinch of salt

1 tsp. Vanilla

3 tbsp butter

plus more butter for coating the pan

What to do:

• Combine and whisk all of the ingredients (with the exception of the butter for coating the pan).
• Place the crêpe batter in the refrigerator for 30 minutes to 1 hour. This allows the bubbles to subside so the crêpes will not tear during cooking.
• Heat a small non-stick pan (yes, it has to be non-stick). Add butter to coat (make sure to apply a VERY thin coating, just enough to cover the bottom of the pan).
• Pour about half a ladle’s worth of batter (this depends on the size of your pan and how thick you want your crêpe to be) into the center of the pan and swirl to spread evenly. Pour out any excess back to the batter. Cook for 30 seconds and flip. Some use spatulas, others their fingers. As for me, I use a big plate so I can just flip over the pan , then flip it over again so the uncooked part will be on top. Go ahead and use whatever you feel comfortable with, but make sure it doesn’t have any sharp edges that might tear the crêpre. Cook for another 10 seconds and remove to the cutting board.
• Lay them out flat so they can cool. Continue until all batter is gone.
• cut up the fruits you want to use for this dessert. I used ripe bananas and mangoes.
• Pour some Hershey’s chocolate or Hershey’s strawberry syrup on top, and you’re done!

 

That’s it! It’s so easy to do!You can make at least 6 wrappers with this recipe.

I still have 2 leftovers in our refrigerator. =)

Classic Potato Salad

Over the weekend, I made this yummy Potato Salad. Patok ito sa mga tao at naubos agad! Now I don’t have any left for myself. I’ll probably make another batch, and eat it all. =)

Prep Time: 30 min

Total Time: 3 hr 30 min

Makes: 8 servings,1/2 cup each

Ingredients:

1/2 cup mayonnaise

1 tbsp. mustard

1/2 tsp. pepper 1/2 tsp. salt

4 cups cubed potato

2 hard boiled eggs

1/2 cup chopped onion

1/2 cup sliced celery

1/3 cup pickle relish

MIX mayo, mustard and seasonings in large bowl. ADD remaining ingredients; mix lightly. Cover. Refrigerate several hours or until chilled.

It’s as simple as that!

Food: Flavors of Asia

Yesterday was my first time to eat at Flavors of Asia. It’s a fairly new Chinese restaurant at SM Southmall.

If noticed this place since its opening several months ago because of the long queue of people outside its doors. Naisip ko na baka nga masarap kasi pinipilahan.

Binalak ko nang kumain dun matagal na, kaso nga dahil sa haba ng pila na tila walang katapusan, lagi napopostpone ang pagkain ko dito. Pero kahapon, talagang sinadya naming kumain dun, kaya maaga pa lang eh tumungo na kami sa restaurant. At nakaupo naman kami agad. Parang himala! Siguro nga dahil maaga.

Umorder kami ng Lemon Chicken, Yang Chao Fried Rice , Kangkong with bagoong at Buko Pandan Sherbet. Mejo matagal bago dumating yung mga order . Pero ayos lang din, kasi masarap talaga yung food! AT malaki ang servings nila. Yung kanin at ulam eh tama sa 2-4 people. Depende sa lakas nyo kumain. hehe. Eh hindi naman kami super lakas kumain , so kalahati pa yung natira. Yung Lemon Chicken, firm, at hindi sunog. MAsarap din ang lemon sauce, hindi mashadong maasim at hindi rin mashadong matamis. Yung kangkong ay fresh, at ang bagoong na nakahalo eh hindi cheap bagoong ( na tipong binili sa palengke). May class yung lasa , kaya patok ito ! Yung Buko Pandan sherbet–ay panalo! MAsarap tlga. Tama lang ang tamis at yung gulamang nakahalo eh tama lang ang texture. Firm at jiggly. Hindi ito labsak .

Sa presyo naman, eh may kamahalan kung average mamamayan ka lang. Yung order namin eh umabot na ng 400 pesos. Pero kung iisipin mo, sulit naman kasi malaki ang servings at masarap. Wala silang service charge, so nag tip naman ako ng 10%. May nagsabi kasi sa akin noon na hindi maganda yung ginagawa kong hindi pagbigay ng tip. KAwawa naman yung mga nagsisilbi at maliit ang sweldo. Eh natatak na sa utak ko yon , so lagi na akong nagtitip, kahit labag ito sa kalooban ko. Para sakin kasi, dapat i-charge na agad ng restaurant yung service charge. Dapat isali na sa bill yon para sila na bahala magdistribute.

Yung ambience naman ng restaurant eh okay naman. sisik ang mga upuan at lamesa, pero that is to be expected. Bukod sa kuripot at mga Intsik at gusto nila imaximize ang space para “laki-kita” , ang mga Asians talaga ay likas na mahilig sumiksik sa kasama. KAhit nga sa trapik , gumigitgit tayo, pano pa kaya sa hapag-kainan? MAy Chinese feel naman ang lugar dahil sa style ng kahoy at kulay ng mga kasangkapan nila. Sana lang eh may Chinese music sa background , to make up for the average decor. Hehe.

Overall, I highly recommend this place. So, go na kayo.