Showing posts with label food. Show all posts
Showing posts with label food. Show all posts

Friday, July 11, 2008

i heart tilapia

and i used to consume tilapia by the freaking pound, specially when i used to live in hell-ey, where there are tons of fresh (and huuuge) tilapia sold for a dollar a pound. cheapo.

we used to go to the filipino market (or asian store if there are no filipino stores nearby) and buy pounds of tilapia, have them cleaned and deep-fried to crispy perfection. we would then buy salted eggs and some tomatoes. perfect. oh, how i miss those days.

some friends who are quite adventurous would buy tilapia, then cook them either as paksiw or sinigang or nilaga. i'm salivating as i type this post. seriously.

anyhow, i remembered when i was still in the philippines. i was assigned to cover mindanao intermittently between 1995-97 and i loved it. one time, we went to lake sebu where a restaurant served all-tilapia, all-the-time. imagine kinilaw na tilapia, adobong tilapia, paksiw na tilapia, pritong tilapia, nilagang tilapia...you get my point. i loved the place. it was tilapia heaven.

i haven't had tilapia in about a year. and i miss it.

then today, i read this. tilapia is worse than bacon, the report says.

i'm like, what the f? hahaha. doctors told us to consume fish, fish, fish. and now comes this report that this particular fish, of all fishes in the sea, is worse than bacon? what the hell? it could have been lapu-lapu or sea bass (on second thought, no) or mackerel...but tilapia? darn!

Wake Forest University School of Medicine researchers say their research revealed that farm-raised tilapia, as well as farmed catfish, "have several fatty acid characteristics that would generally be considered by the scientific community as detrimental."

Tilapia has higher levels of potentially detrimental, long-chain, omega-6 fatty acids than 80-percent-lean hamburger, doughnuts and even pork bacon," write the Wake Forest researchers in an article published this month in the Journal of the American Dietetic Association.

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Sunday, February 24, 2008

cravings - filipino spaghetti

I don't know what it is about the winter that triggered my craving for one very particular thing: filipino-style spaghetti. Well, it's your regular spaghetti, but it's sweet and more, the way we Filipinos cook and eat this Italian dish.

I did not have all the ingredients so I improvised. This was my final product -


Filipino Spaghetti

2 Nathan’s hotdogs
1 jar Barilla Sweet Peppers sauce
6 cloves garlic
½ onion
1 pack Barilla Whole Grain Thin Spaghetti
1 lb ground beef
½ tsp dried basil
½ tsp black pepper
½ cup tomato ketchup
3 tbsp white sugar
2 tbsp olive oil
salt to taste

1. Cook spaghetti according to package instruction. Since I was using whole grain, I cooked it a bit longer. The package said around 5 to 6 minutes, I cooked them for 7. Hahaha. Big deal.

2. Heat olive oil on the sauce pan. Saute garlic until golden brown, then onions until transucent, then hot dogs, then the beef.

3. Open the jar. Haha! Put the contents into the pot. Put in the spices as you wish. I like mine with some dried basil, black and white pepper to make it a bit spicy and the sugar to make it sweet.

I called R, my expert friend at Pinoy spaghetti and he told me that I needed banana ketchup. I told him I have no banana ketchup and my craving for pinoy spag can’t wait. He said I can use any ketchup then, so I used what was in the pantry. I just tried and tried and tasted and tasted until I got the perfect balance between the sweet and the sour.

Verdict? Success. I satisfied my craving and I have about 3 to 4 servings that I am going to freeze for future emergencies. Hehe.

After cooking, I went online and searched "Filipino Spaghetti" and boy was I surprised to find out that Google generated a lot of pages about it. I found something funny from a guy who calls himself Komikero. After the link.






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Thursday, February 21, 2008

stumbled upon - a mighty good patisserie

one more great thing about new york city is that there are a lot of restaurants and cafes that dot the landscape. and we're just talking about manhattan here. i know for a fact that even if i eat at a different restaurant every single meal, every single day, i wouldn't still be able to cover all the city's great dining places.

aside from the fact that i can't probably afford it (major!), i have no plans of eating out most of the time, specially since i have been thinking about developing (revisiting?) my culinary skills. hahaha. that statement just made me laugh out loud.

it's a huge macaroon. twice the size of bizu's. take two pieces and slather a generous amount of coffee cream concoction and make a macaroonwich. this was what tisserie had. it's $2.75 each but worth every single penny. the cafe mocha was pleasantly good too. why go to starbucks (which incidentally is across the street. scratch that, it's on every freaking street here in manhattan. and i hate them for that!)

okay. so let's get the pictures to tell the story.

the shelf of love. i can eat every single thing on this shelf, but i won't. because i can't afford it. haha. this is love at first sight. i can't wait to bring my friends here.

i didn't know if they allowed photography so i took these photos discreetly. but for people who know me, i am more discreet if i try not to. if you want a closer look, click on the photo. just don't blame me if you drool. or if you suddenly develop a craving. or if your sweet tooth aches.

ah. the mini-tarts. lovely to look at. as in parang ayaw mo nang kainin. i got full just by looking at these tiny works of art.

and my favorite: the macaroons. they have around eight flavors but because i am such a coffee addict, i ordered the coffee flavor. i'll try the other ones next time.

and what is a patisserie without the patis? hahaha. i meant the buttery croissants and danish pastries. the cafe also serves soups and quiches may plural ba ang quiche?) and sandwiches too.

that's how the cookie macaroon crumbles. yum.

if i had a cafe, this is how it would look like. hahaha. i swear. i'll copy tisserie's format from the interiors to the food. i won't probably serve quiche though because i'm not a big fan. but yeah, it would be nice if i owned a cafe like this.

Tisserie
857 Broadway @17th St Union Sq
New York, NY 10003
Phone: (212) 463-0850

epilogue: this is by far the most photos i have uploaded in one single entry. that's how much i loved the place and the food that i want to share it. if ever you are in new york, make your way to this place. you'll love it.

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Tuesday, February 19, 2008

an attempt at pad kraprow

i miss sanamluang.

hah! sanam (shortcut!) is a hole-in-the-wall thai resto in hollywood, and is about 5-10 minutes away from where i used to live in silverlake. they serve delicious, satisfying and affordable thai dishes.

one of my favorites is pad kraprow, or thai basil chicken. for dinner, i decided to recreate this meal. this is how it looked like.

yummy! it looks pale, maybe it's because of the lighting. hehehe. (actually, i forgot to put soy sauce, because i used patis (fish sauce).

the recipe requires "holy basil" which is different from the "italian basil" i used. i couldn't find holy basil in the grocery store and i did not want to use dry basil. and also, i can't for the life of me, distinguish among all the chilis in the market so i just asked roomie to buy some. turns out he bought the jalapeno kind, the one sprinkled over nachos. which means, walang ka anghang anghang. which is good, because we're not big fans of spicy food.

but to compensate (this was supposed to be a bit spicy), i put drops of garlic chili seasoning, two pinches of dried chili flakes and some black pepper. the recipe? swiped off the web.

Type rest of the post here

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Tuesday, January 22, 2008

hiatus

after an almost two-month trip to manila, i am back. and boy it is cold. i was in LA for less than 24 hours (which was spent with friends having dinner at a thai-japanese place (it's confused!) in long beach and a cup of hot java at hot java also in long beach; then crashed at j's place, then ofc, then off to burbank for a flight to jfk).

the cold wintry breeze of new york greeted us at 5 am when we arrived. it was dark and it was still dark around 6ish. i missed the apartment, the subway, central park. hahaha. yeah, i missed nyu and the memories, too.

so i am almost nback from an almost hiatus. mom's better, she's in therapy. yes, she's still on prozac. anyone here who can hook me up with cheaper prozac? it's almost 150 pesos in manila (with the dollar @ 40, it's like almost $4 a pop. kinda expensive if you ask me). oh well.

i have been trying to readjust to my normal lifestyle here and it has been quite an effort. last saturday, we had an appointment in rego park at 1. it's a colleague's client and it's a chinese-japanese restaurant. yeah. so we got back around 4ish. i decided to sleep it out since i was too sleepy. i woke up 8 hours later. yes, shortly around midnight.

i forced myself not to sleep any further because it would definitely give me a headache. i tried to stay awake for about 3 hours, when i realized that if i didn't sleep, i'd end up sleeping the whole day sunday. which is not possible because i had appointments for sunday. damn jetlag.

so dunday, we were off to st. sebastian church in queens for the sto. nino feast. wow. ang daming tao! it's like they brought the sinulog to new york. earlier, we had lunch at thai chef, a french-thai resto. yeah, what's up with that? the food was great through, had green curry chicken which was very spicy and april had the sea bass, which was gloriously good. damn. it tasted like melting butter. it was that good.

so today, i am off to a meeting. i'm braving the 20 degree weather. forecasts of snow and rain today but so far, wala pa naman. i bought my second-ever scarf. which brings my scarves to around 3. allen and ana gave me a topshop scarf last christmas. salamat!

before, i found people wearing scarves around their neck maarte. hahaha. i'm from california (and before that manila) so you'd have to excuse me. i thought that scarves were nothing but accessories. i didn't realize they have their purpose. so now, i no longer find scarf-wearing people maarte. sorry about that.

i have to make a mental checklist of things i need to have before i leave the apartment. scarf, check. ear muffs, check. thick jacket, check. gloves, check. it's hard. sometimes i misplace my gloves, or one of them. or worse, my scarf. sigh. mental note: don't forget the necessities. it gets cold, really cold outside.

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Tuesday, August 07, 2007

food tripping in the lion city

i must have gained at least 10 pounds from all the food i ate in singapore. damn! i never realized that their food is really, really good. i have newfound respect for the chicken rice lah. it's so flavorful. i'm still the biggest fan of teh tarik this side of town. imagine my extreme jopy when i found out that the hotel buffet had teh tarik! goodness, i must have downed five liters just that night. and the coffee buns? kaya toast? laksa? my list can go on and on and on.

here's the chicken rice (the chicken part, at least) from my mum's cuisine,
a restaurant inside paragon.


and my teh tarik? patiently made by this guy. he already knew me because of the sheer number of times i went to his booth to ask for some cups of teh tarik. teh tarik. teh tarik.


i can't wait to go back to singapore to have more of their food from the hawker stalls, from various kopi tiams or even from their malls' food courts.

i can't also wait to go back to LA to continue my search for teh tarik there. actually, buti pa sa pilipinas, may kopi roti sila, which makes delicious teh tarik as well. plus the yummy coffee buns and kaya toast. my mom loves them too!

heard (and read) that kopi roti originated form singapore. i searched high and low but i couldn't find a single branch back there. my friend told me that they may have closed down a few months ago since it was just a fad. there's one i saw at the underwater world in sentosa and it's called roti mama. i wonder if this is related to the roti mum in megamall.

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Tuesday, May 08, 2007

food tripping in Mindanao

i heart mindanao. i really do. i love cagayan de oro city to bits. i adore camiguin. i am awed by bukidnon. i'm fascinated with siargao. i'm intrigued by dapitan. i could actually live here.

food is one of the reasons i love mindanao. the variety of fruits available - from durian to mangosteen to marang to grapefruit is nothing short of amazing. during this trip, i tried the local delicacies such as the paklay (mindanao version of papaitan), balbacua (beef skin and oxtail soup similar to the mexican menudo, only much, much tastier). oh my goodness, lami kaayo.

in a farm somewhere in manticao, misamis oriental, our host served what could very well be the best meal i had during this entire trip. and that is no exaggeration.

prawns and crabs cooked together in this lovely dish our hosts call 'alavar,' from the famous alavar seafood house in zamboanga years ago. apparently, they were business partners before and they "invented" this very, very delicious dish.

our host's server got two big banana leaves, laid it on the table and placed the food there. there's broiled tuna and some other fish, tinolang fish (very tasty, specially since they only cooked the fish heads, ulo-ulo), iligan lechon (which, i didn't realize was as yummy as cebu lechon. you can eat it without the liver sauce). grilled squid, vegetable salad. except for the lechon, everything was home-cooked.

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Tuesday, April 03, 2007

i love new york

new york city never fails to amaze, inspire and fascinate me. that's why i had no second thoughts when my boss told me that we're off to the big apple for a couple of weeks. yay!

not to preempt any official announcements, we are expanding our operations to cover new york city! finally! i'm quite excited to be doing the preliminary work here, in the same way that we prepared and worked hard when we opend our san francisco office in 2002 and manila in 2005. it's really challenging and mind-boggling at the same time.

lovely, lovely view. taken @ 9:45 eastern time.

took the red-eye from burbank airport last night and arrived at jfk before 6 this morning. we rested a bit after checking in our ultra-super swank hotel at the hyatt regency hudson. ayluvet. hehehe. our room has a long porch that stretches to the hudson river which gives us a million-dollar view of manhattan's skyline. awesome!

had early dinner at krystal's, a filipino turo-turo in queens. it was around 5ish in the afternoon and we were just supposed to have snacks but we were surprised to see a lot of people (full house, almost) already eating dinner. what the heck. we had sinampalukang manok (yumyum. no restaurant in LA cooks sinampalukan like this), grilled galunggong, grilled eggplant, daing na bangus. uh-oh. foooood!

photos to follow. (of the killer view from our nice room, not of the sinampalukang manok and galunggong!)

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Saturday, March 17, 2007

sacramento

i made a quick trip to sacramento middle of this week to escape southern california's getting-to-be-warm weather. monday and tuesday were a bit on the really warm side. and it's only march.

the short one hour flight was uneventful. headed to my hotel to check-in and to prepare for the first phoner. yes, i flew all the way to the state's capital for a phoner. hahaha. this was to brief us for the event the foolowing day. anyhow, after that, i strolled a bit and found myself walking near the capitol. some of the streets are lined up with really beautiful flower-bearing trees. f says they are cherry blossoms but i am not convinced yet.

f arrived after about an hour and we strolled further to old town. this was 28 acres of the old sacramento and they were able to preserve it well. it actually looked as if i was inside the universal studios backlot. had dinner at this crab shack called joe's and it was full of people. on a weekday! i found out that this was one of the best seafood places in town.

the following day, j picked me up from san francisco. i was able to change my flight back to los angeles from sacramento to oakland so i could visit my riends in our sf office. m, j & i had dinner at san bruno ihawan, a really nice place that serves really delicious food. we ordered sinampalukang manok, pork sisg and crispy tadyang. woohoo. their sisg's not your usual sisig. it's actually pork inihaw in small cubes served on a sizzling plate. it's very, very good.

bought coffee in burlingame and hung out at m's apartment. around past 1, j and i went home. by 8, we were awake. we had to go to the ofc for me to finish the story i covered. we had plans to have lunch in downtown sf but since my story was a bit more important (hah!), we skipped lunch altogether and he just brought me to the airport around 1:30 to catch my 3 pm flight.

i was in LA around past 4, got to my ofc around 5ish. had a lovely dinner with some friends at palms in hollywood. r's dinner treat because he was promoted as their company's director of operations. yay! congratulations!

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Thursday, February 01, 2007

quickies

okay, just a little quick note. the previous post was posted waaay too late.

anyhow, i'm in makati right now, doing some work stuff. went to santa rosa, laguna earlier this morning, after a 7 am meeting at italianni's, yes, my days here star before 7 am and end way late. that's why i was dead asleep last night at around 10 in the evening.

my mom and my brother picked me up at the airport monday. had a quick breakfast at the north luzon expressway and drove to mi provincia. the next day, went to manila already to meet up with our manila staff.

tried out new restaurants, from the almost hole-in-the-wall types such as heaven's (great bbq, near the condo) and adobo republic (yum! right at the ground floor, baby) to the fine/casual dining in greenbelt such as cyma (opa! the greek invasion) and cascada (a litte of everything).

will post the reviews soon.

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Saturday, January 06, 2007

sacramento dining

we only had a day in the state capitol so we had a limited time frame to try the city's offerings. we had coffee and muffins at seattle's best inside the sheraton grand hotel. we had to rush our story so we could meet LA's deadline. i love seattle's best dearly (not comparable to my affection to cbtl though) and i am sad that they do not have stores in LA, like the ones they have all over manila. anyhow.

internet charges at seattle's best was at $4.95 for half an hour. ouch. no way. on our way to the memorial auditorium, we saw an ad at the sacramento convention center right across the street that promises free 15 minutes of internet access for every purchase at starbucks or wolfgang puck express. after writing and editing the story, we moved across the street to starbucks. j bought madeleines and a cup of hot choco. and my fifteen minutes of wi-fi access.

after performing all our duties, we went out and picked up f, an old friend of mine. yeah, he's old. hehehe. old, as in mid-90s friend old. since j and i haven't had breakfast and lunch (coffee and madeleines and muffins do not count), f suggested tower cafe on broadway.



tower cafe is located within the compound of tower theater, where they show artsy and indie films, according to f. across the street was a tower liquor and on the other side was a dilapidated building that used to be tower records. yeah. all towers. a little history lesson: the first tower records in the u.s. was located in this same area.






anyhow, we had a great dinner. i had seafood bouillabaise, f and j had pasta. i always thought that bouillabaise is a cream-based soup so i was quite surprised to see that what i ordered was clear seafood soup, with the clams, prawns, scallops, fish fillet and others. yum.

we wanted to have dessert but previously while at the convention center, i saw a brochure that j picked up. it's a place called 'melting pot' and it's a fondue place. i was transfixed at the chocolate fondue offerings. so off we went to that place. we were quite intrigued with their latest chocolate offering, the hazelnut choco. since i was a big fan of white choco, we decided to get two orders of small, one with teh hazelnut and the other with white chocolate amaretto.



the place was a bit busy when we arrived. they asked if we had reservations. in sacramento? are you freaking kidding me? anyhow, the place was packed around 8ish. i enjoyed this sumptuous dessert so much we had to cancel our second order because we were stuffed. i wish they had a branch in LA. (wishes to the genie of restaurants).

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Tuesday, December 05, 2006

crustacean

crustacean is one of my favorite chi-chi restaurants in beverly hills simply because i love their garlic noodles. hah! ang layo! garlic noodles talaga. their chilean sea bass is fine, too; and their dungeness crabs in their secret garlicky sauce. yum.

today, i ordered the colossal royal tiger prawns, char-broiled with secret spices and served over the famous garlic noodles. it's called colossal. it's also called royal. and tiger prawns. i half-expected humongous prawns but i was a bit disappointed. in the philippines, if you say colossal or royal or tiger prawns, it better be huuuge, or you're dead.

it was a fun meal, made more fun by the company. an almost $300 tab for six people's lunch. not bad, not bad at all.

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