Conti's

Conti's: strawberry shortcake. dry as hell. that chiffon tasted like the mamon from the bakery across the street. pound cake would be better than chiffon.bonbons! the silver ones are garden-biscuit, white chocolate with coconut and the dark brown ones are rondnoir-darck chocolate. YUMMEHcross-section of ferrero rondnoir dark - smooth center with dark chocolate sprinklesclose-up of ferrero garden-biscuit, creamy white chocolate center, coconut bits and almond. not a fan of anything white chocolate,but this was exquisite, the coconut, almond and biscuit went great together.shangri-la: macaron, opera cake, brownie with ganache and a fruit tart. i live for shit like these.

Kitaro and Mei Hua Pot and Noodle House

Kitaro Sushi: tofu with shitaake and peppers. tofu is silky inside and crispy out. the sauce is a tad too sweet for me, best eaten with hot rice.lunch at home: fucking awesome barbecue. equal parts moist, succulent, charred, spicy, sweet and tender.Mei Hua Pot and Noodle House: Satay beef with kangkong. best eaten piping hot, really yummy but didn't taste of peanuts.Mei Hua Pot and Noodle House: hot and sour noodles. they made everything on the menu at P99. they boast of their famous hand-pulled noodles but the noodles tasted normal. i'd pay the original price to make this chewy, fresh, and snappy again. sigh.

Baja Mexican Cantina and Greens

Baja Mexican Cantina: carne asada nachos. heaps of sour cream, too sparse on the meat and salsa. Without the sour cream, this would totally suck.I don't like the cheap containers.Baja Mexican Cantina: mexican burrito. Hmmm. It doesn't taste fresh. It seems re-heated? An episode of Gordon Ramsay's Kitchen Nightmares suddenly comes to mind. Maybe Mexicali would be a better option. Sigh.Greens Vegetarian Restaurant and Cafe: barbecue with brown rice. good LORD. this dish is a total mindfuck. the barbecue tastes good but I know it's gluten, but really you almost can't tell. And the rice. This is different from the other brown rice I've tried. Its texture is of oatmeal, bran, roughage fuck, the stuff that horses eat. After eating this meal, it totally weirded me out cos it's like I ate air and dandelion roots. Like nothing ever hit the bottom of my tummy. Man, so surreal.Sicilian Express: lasagna. it was okayy. something you'd eat when your neighbor sends you over their leftovers from their party you weren't invited in. the focaccia was awesome though.

holidaze detox

bicol express: bicol is a province where they like their food deliciously hot, this dish is made up of coconut milk, chopped up chilies(LOADS of it), shrimp paste and ground meat. I can eat this everyday.roasted chilies: plain, charred one should eat this with--chopped up tomatoes with red onion and bagoong (fermented fish paste) which is totally different with alamang, also a kind of bagoong(fermented shrimp paste)

Gelatone and Orange Swits

Orange Swits: had these when I was a kid and yep, the ones the yosi boys sell during traffic. They also sell boxes of these at your nearest grocery. Such joy. And nostalgia.Ritter Sport: my latest candy bar obsession. Mini versions of yogurt, fine chocolate (35% cacao), praline, dark chocolate in marzipan, butter biscuit, chopped hazelnuts and my all-time favorite, cornflakes. always preferred german over belgian chocs.Gelatone: I think this is the best tasting gelato in metro manila. Tasted the watermelon and the bitter chocolate ones, really ultra creamy and it's doesn't melt away fast like the other "gelato" I've tasted.

Robyn - Dancing On My Own

heartachingly beautiful :'(

Holidaze

These are just a few photos I took of everything I've eaten during the holidays. Trolololololo.
"light" post christmas dinner: majestic ham + lettuce, tomato, onion in honey mustard dressing + garlic butter and Vigan longganisa(native garlic sausage) pasta in olive oil. My mom wanted to take a break from all the rich food but nope, this ain't light at all.Anthon Berg chocolate liqueurs with original spirits: bottle-shaped chocs with alcohol in 'em-Jack Daniel's, Cutty Sark, etc. yeah, it's good. I suggest you swallow 'em whole rather than bite it or else the liqueur will ooze out.Rowena's strawberry cheesecake tarts from Tagaytay: really, really good. rich, creamy cheese and gooey strawberry.Rowena's chocolate mousse tarts from Tagaytay: looks like shit but really decadent, it's proper chocolate mousse. Ube(purple yam) and buko(coconut) tarts below.new year's eve dinner: pasta salad/horiatiki with pasta, sourdough, Dinelli's pastrami, some swiss/chili cheese, embutido(meatloaf with hardboiled egg, peas, raisins and chorizo) and hot chocolate!!

Ninyo Fusion Cuisine

The holidays were a bit cray cray for me, in a good way. Been neglecting taking photos of food, been to K.K.K. Revolutionizing Filipino Food(the best kare-kare[beef tripe in peanut sauce, and veggies eaten with shrimp paste] ever!) and Peri Peri Charcoal Chicken(their hot sauce!! it's El Pollo Loco a gazillion times better) and both were fantastic. Alas, no photos, the food was that fucking awesome, I deliberately did not take photos. But this one, I have to post, had our anniversary dinner at Ninyo Fusion Cuisine, it reminded me of Sonya's Garden which is perfect because we had our wedding reception there three years ago. :) Ninyo serves French-Japanese fusion, which is not at all pretentious and it kinda hits home for me. The service was spot on, the food is simply divine. While enjoying our meal in silence, smiling to myself, my husband said "This totally makes me want to clap." Too good to be true, and may I add, it's also pretty affordable. :)
complimentary bread. the butter has a hint of pimiento. it was fine.amuse bouche - wasabi fried oyster with balsamic citrus mayo. I rarely eat oysters, but this one is so awesome, sweet and succulent, not greasy and yes, that is a mound of rock salt.shiitake confit salad with ponzu dressing, tofu strips and fruits. Perfectly balanced salad, the grilled shiitake is so good, I want to lick the dressing off my plate.calamansi sorbet - palate cleanser, refreshing and not too tart.chargrilled tiger prawns in spicy red pepper sauce with japanese paella and buttered edamame. oh wow, what can I say, prawns are perfectly cooked, the paella is so divine, buttery with a little wasabi kick. though I'd like my spicy red pepper sauce a little bit spicier.duo of U.S. hanging tender steak on pumpkin risoni with red wine sauce and buttered veggies and honey glazed grilled salmon on wasabi mashed potato, grilled asparagus and demi dried tomato. whew. that steak was good but the risoni is just so fucking great. wasabi mash is quite nice not too intense. just wow.burnt cream with butterscotch floss.complimentary mango pavlova. Thank you Ninyo! :)

Duck Sauce - Barbra Streisand Official Video

2010 you were awesome, 2011, bring it!!

La Piadina

La Piadina: Margherita pizza. your regular tomato and cheese pie and basil, simply yummy, and a great crust, thin, chewy and crisp. Not really into the meat lovers/everything on it kind, less is more! always loved the 3M ham and cheese pizza hahahaLa Piadina: Pasta Arabiatta. they did not hesitate on the chili oil, quite nice. a good, cheaper version of Cibo. The bread was kinda sad though.lunch at home: Vigan longganisa(garlic native sausage), sunny side up(the wet runny yolk is divine) and sinangag(stir fried rice with loads of garlic). breakfast of champions and the best cure for a hangover, I kid you not.

Zombified

Yep. First week of work, pretty much zombified. another day, another nickel!
dinner at home: fried pork cutlets with calamansi and honey "glaze". the recipe calls for chicken fillets but this worked quite well also. the lime is not too acidic and the honey not too cloying.tomatokick: caramelized onion burger. i put caramelized onions in all of my burgers, so yeah, this is nice. sure hope the wedges could be more than six.mom's house: pasta with tuna, garlic in EVOO.a fucking no brainer.

Magoo's

Almon Marina: pastrami sandwich. Homemade potato chips. My fave sandwich of all. The hot mustard and fresh veggies makes this a most balanced, perfect sandwich.Greenwich: pepperoni. was sick since monday, so I'm on a strict pizza diet. Cheap pizza is one of my comfort foods.Magoo's: famous combination. pepperoni, italian sausage, olives, green pepper, mushrooms. I really don't mind olives in my pizza. Yep. sick week=pizza week and yes, I finished the damn thing.

Bi Bim Naengmyon (Cold Mixed Noodles)

made some bibim naengmyon (cold mixed noodles) real easy--mix gochujang(used the ready made sauce for dak gochujang boekum/braised chicken stew) for a milder flavor, sesame oil, brown sugar, honey and rice wine vinegar(substituted a teensy amount of apple cider vinegar) throw in some soba, carrots, cucumber and top with an egg. Sweet, tangy, nutty, there's also a lingering heat that is a real nice contrast to the crunchy veggies.

the kids are alright.

North Korea attacks South Korea with artillery

This is NOT good. Considering the in flux of Koreans here (you know, them studying English)do you think they would just drop everything and go home?

Holy Fuck - Red Lights

Hipster kittehs

UCC Cafe Terrace

lunch: tapsilog. short for TAPa(cured beef strips), SInangag(fried rice with garlic and itLOG(sunny side up egg). Eaten usally during breakfast, I prefer it during lunch, or after a boozing session. Our homemade tapsilog has the most perfect tapa--all sweet, sour, juicy, garlicky and crispy round the edges, a nice, runny egg and sinangag that been cooked in tapa leftover oil.UCC cafe terrace: tonkatsu sandwich. now this is great tonkatsu--great crunch, juicy inside, and a sauce that is not too overpowering. fresh cucumber/potato salad there and about 1,2,3...11 pieces of fries--absurd serving, like some little kid's leftovers.Tomato Kick: wasabi chicken burger. Hubby says it's meh. I like wasabi in my japanese but not in western shit. These chips are great though, I always find a hard time looking for Oishi wasabi chips.

Burgoo

seafood caesar salad--calamari, cajun shrimp popcorn basically on top of a caesar salad. This is really filling.fries, ribs, cajun shrimp and sausage and corn. fries are real good-not the frozen pre-cut ones, ribs are fall-off the bone tender but I wanted more sauce, shrimp was juicy and really flavorful.supreme pizza--italian sausage, pepperoni, peppers, mushrooms, onion and real mozzarella--crust was real chewy and crispy BUT the water from the cheese made the pie soggy which made me sad. You gotta do a little re-heating to awaken that lovely crust again.

Happy Birthday Bjork!!

Stupid Chinese(food)

Huey Ying: fish fillet in oyster sauce. looks good, yeah but bland as fuck. really can't tell if it's real fish.Huey Ying: fish fillet in sweet and sour sauce. same shit, different sauce, this actually tastes better.Not pictured was the garlic kangkong(chinese water spinach) which is really good after eating this crap. Had to eat the fish fillet with some chili oil to liven it up, but alas, it was futile.
breakfast: pospas/congee with tons of garlic bits, pepper and the ubiquitous calamansi(native lime). Never fails to hit the spot.