Food Trip

We bond over food. We love checking out new restaurants, just for the fun of it.
Like many of our generation, we click before we eat. Sometimes though, we’re too hungry to bother.
We are not prolific food critiques, we’re just normal people who know good food. :)

Between the two of us, it’s the husband who cooks at home. Maybe someday I will too. But until then, I wouldn’t likely be sharing recipes on the blog. :)

Chop House

We had out Valentine’s Dinner at Chop House. It’s at the 4th floor of Trinoma, where the Al fresco restaurants are.  We weren’t planning on a V-Day date, so this isn’t really one. That day, we went to Trinoma specifically to buy barong and slacks for the boyfriend. He needs those for a friend’s wedding on Saturday (and I have nothing to wear for that!). It was a successful trip, but it was almost dinnertime when we finished up.

Our first choice for a meal was Cafe Breton, but we weren’t used to having crepes for dinner so we decided to just have milk shakes and then move on.

Can you guess which one’s mine and his? 🙂

So we walked around just enough for the boyfriend to finish a stick of cigarette and then settled on having steaks at Chop House. We hadn’t been there before so this was going to be interesting. But then again, aren’t all steaks just the same?

I have to admit though, I liked their steaks a little better because they were tasty even without the sauce. We both chose the Hickory Smoke sauce, but there were a few more choices being offered (gravy included), and this was served on the side instead of being poured over the steak already.  I had mashed potatoes with mine, while Alfred had garlic rice. The dishes already come with the buttered corn and carrots that one expects with this kind of meal.

First to be served though, were the drinks. Draft beer for him, house blend iced tea for me (the glass was huge!).

Next up is probably what I loved most in the entire meal, their house bread:

I loved their bread so much I had to have an extra order! They’ll give you three pieces on the house, with herbed butter, and you can order two more for only twelve pesos. These were really good, very soft inside. The herbed butter wasn’t that special but the bread’s really yummy.

Then there’s the main course (we didn’t have soup or salad anymore, no dessert either).

This is the US Prime Beef Bistro Steak that Alfred ordered, medium rare. I didn’t think it was enough for him, but having a tall glass of milkshake before dinner kept him full. I like my steaks well done, but this was so yummy I didn’t even mind that it wasn’t cooked the way I liked!

This is my plate of US Prime Beef Minute Steak. Thumbs up! Very tasty and cooked just right. I hardly even used the sauce because it was that tasty. The mashed potatoes were creamy too. Perfect combination. I told the boyfriend that next time we could just share a plate of this (one order of steak) and then just share another plate of either salad or pasta. That way we wouldn’t be eating too much. Haha.

The venture into this restaurant was a success, I don’t regret it. Would we go back? I would, but not so sure about the boyfriend. I guess if he was given a choice between Chop House or Steaktown, he’d still choose the latter. I would too, if we were talking about value for money. Still, Chop House isn’t so bad.

And because it was Valentine’s Day, Trinoma was giving away freebies for people eating in their Al fresco restaurants. So happy to have received mine:

Okay, so I know that maybe some of you are thinking: isn’t Vera supposed to be trying to lose weight? What business has she eating this much?! Haha. I know right? 🙂 Don’t worry I don’t eat this much all the time. I am seriously going to have as much balanced meals as I could, and figure out how to add mobility to my day too. I really think that for me, the key isn’t cutting off too much of the food, but needing to move more (sayang, we can’t use the stairs in the office anymore). That’s probably the key not just to losing weight, but getting clearer skin too. As they say, eating right and regular exercise can be the best acne treatment right?

Griddle Box Stuffed Burgers

If you don’t hangout at The Loop at ABS-CBN, you probably haven’t heard of this burger shop. Griddle Box opened its first kiosk at The Loop sometime last year but I only got to taste their yummy burgers last week. You see, I’m back to eating lunch at work and then some meryenda or early lunch before going home, all because there are my SMEs as dining companions. 🙂 I slipped in the bathroom last week and I was telling everyone that I think it was because my balance is off due to weight gain since the new year started. All because I’ve been hanging out with Carlo so much!

After logging off our work stations, we head down to The Loop to grab a bite. Twice last week, it was this yummy burger and his friend for the feast:

They feature stuffed burger patties. This one, if I remember correctly, is the bestselling Cordon Bleu. There are bits of ham and cheese inside the patty. My favorite so far? Double Cheese. The patty itself oozes with mozzarella and one other kind of cheese.

I’d told Alfred about Griddle Box and he had mentioned that he wanted to taste it too. He was a bit disappointed though when he finally had his share yesterday, it was apparently too small for him. It was yummy, he admits, but too small for his big appetite. You know what else he says? He’s not much into quality, but quantity. Haha. That was because he was very hungry coming from work. When we got home, he heated some leftovers and had a second lunch! 😀 At the rate we both are eating, we would probably need to take hgh releasers to aid in weight loss and improve physical performance. We all now how slovenly people become after eating too much…

If you find yourself in the area though, I still would highly recommend a Griddlebox burger.

My Lunch in Photos

Since the boyfriend left NCO I haven’t been eating at The Loop as often as I used to. Okay, it’s also a lot because of my work schedule.  Last week though, I had an old favorite – Traditional Chicken Sandwich from the New Bistro Deli of Country Style (you might remember the yummy photo/s I posted here back in May).

I had company, Carlo our VTL 🙂   As he was recently introduced to my blogging world, he knew that the photos I was taking then would end up posted on my blog. We had the exact same thing by the way, trad chicken sammies with their new Strawberry something drink. Lol. Here’s the nice staff preparing our sammiches:

Hmm, let’s take a closer look shall we?

I love that there’s a lot of chicken in there! 🙂


And what do you know, they’d changed the design of their paper cups (and I noticed only after looking at the old photo):

It was a nice and filling lunch. I can have chicken sandwiches like this for lunch everyday. Really.

Okay, I have a confession to make.

This post isn’t really about the sammies. Nah-uh.

I just wanted to say that these were photos I took using my new mobile – an LG Renoir. It has an 8mp camera with Schneider-Kreuznach optics, auto/manual focus, and xenon flash. That’s what sold it to me, over the Nokia E72 that I was originally going to purchase. It connects to Wifi too. I am loving it!

Buying it over the weekend is actually what prompted my thoughts on living simply.

Get Cooking!

Seeing The Pioneer Woman’s cookbook, and always hanging out at her blog, makes me think that maybe it’s about time I learned how to cook.

See, I don’t cook. But she really makes me want to.

If someone gets me her cookbook, I swear I will make all of the recipes in it at least once. Promise.

I’ve already done her cinnamon rolls more than once and that turned out awesome.

But first thing’s first, someone get me that cookbook!

Checkout this wonderful sorta review by Bakerella on the wonderful awesome cookbook.

Click on the photo below:

Also, visit thePioneerwoman.com, checkout all the sumptuous recipes she’s already shared there!

Starbucks Christmas

In Christmas 2007 and 2008, I joined the many others who patronized Starbucks just to earn the stickers for the planners to be used the next year. Last year, I skipped it. It was mainly because I found the design horrible, but also because of Peppermint Mocha’s absence in last year’s holiday drinks lineup.

I tried to make my own personalized Starbucks planner; but then realized just when I was about to print them out, that I didn’t want them anymore. I spent hours going through the design using my digital scrapbooking stash, only to give up on it.

This year, the tandem is back:

starbucks peppermint

My favorite Peppermint Brownie and Peppermint Mocha! I just had to have these two while we waited for Vanessa at the Starbucks at the Sky Garden, SM North.  I got to see the 2010 planners too, and I like what I saw. Liked it even more when I found out that there are freebie/discount coupons in them 🙂

So I completely fell off the bandwagon this week, as I found myself heading for a coffee and cake fix everyday after shift.  I had a ‘fun’ time people watching and looking at others who were there with their laptops, and their Promotional flash drive hanging around their necks, and small groups who were having meetings over brunch.

On Monday morning, this was my meryenda:

starbucks choco toffee loaf

That’s a Dark Cherry Mocha and a slice of Chocolate Toffee Nut Loaf.  I read about Dorothy’s adventure in Oz while enjoying these and waiting for the boyfriend.

The next day, as I was leaving the office, I had an internal debate about passing by Starbucks yet again or heading straight home. My mind was telling me to stay away, that I could still save myself – both my weight and my wallet – from this pre-Christmas disaster. BUT all those new treats were just too difficult to ignore. My heart led me to ELJ’s other entrance, and eventually inside the cafe. This was what I tried next:

starbucks chocolate molten cake

The Chocolate Molten Cake is their version of a lava cake. Once you dig in, more gooey chocolate plus caramel oozes through. There’s also a surprise marble of a choco truffle inside. 🙂 It might prove to be a little sweet for those who aren’t really chocoholics. I definitely had to ask for water to flush it all down. I love it, but I don’t think I’ll be having this again. The 110 peso price tag is just too much for someone who needs to learn to be more thrifty.

The very next day, despite having other plans, I found myself in the same spot. I just could not stop thinking about the Crepe Cake. I had to have it. So I did. It has eighteen layers. I counted (although I’ve seen others say it has only seventeen).

starbucks crepe cake

If the Molten Cake is very sweet, this one is just right. You will definitely recognize the taste of crepe that is alternating with cream filling, and finally finished off with chocolate ganache frosting. I’d love to make something like this! It is so yummy, I had to twit about it real time. Haha 🙂 Sadly though, it costs as much as the molten cake does.

Thankfully, I stopped myself from heading to the cafe yesterday. But that was only because Alfred and I went to Greenhills right after shift.

Okay, I admit it. I also coaxed him to buy me coffee there. I stayed away from any pastries or cakes but I sure did see even more yummy treats there including sugar free concoctions.

We’re only two weeks into November and yet the damage has already done. Goodluck for the rest of the season!

(The above photos were taken using my phone’s camera, not very good quality :(. Checkout Dessert Comes First for better photos of these Starbucks treats. I really miss toting my camera around with me because I miss out on photo opportunities.)

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