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. :)

Eraserheads Limited Edition CD Set

I tweeted about this Greenwich promotion several times, and have told anyone willing to listen how much I want to own this set. If you want it too, it’s still available from Greenwich, but only until end of October. So better hurry!

As for me, no need to rush anywhere. I own one already!

One day in October, upon learning that there was no lunch for us at home. I had a long phone discussion with the boyfriend about what to order. Will we buy from a carinderia across the creek? Will he buy from somewhere in Makati? Should we order in? Notice that there’s no “shall I cook anything?” option. I don’t cook, in case you’ve forgotten. When the idea of ordering in was entertained, I had to make a case for Greenwich. Maybe it was time we start getting stamps for the Eheads set. Hmmm… Nah, it might be too late and we won’t have time or money to complete the six required tickets. So the boyfriend offered to split the costs with me, and just to go with option B – Eat and Own, Instantly!

In a little less than an hour after calling 5-55-55, we had these:

I picked the Hungarian Sausage and Bacon overload:

It came with four large drinks, and two servings of yummy spaghetti:

Which means I forgot all about watching my carbs intake, all for this:

All for the love for these Fab Four of the Philippine band scene:

In the box is this colored zine, that’s like a scrapbook of sorts with lyrics and photos:

And this shirt:

Which is so small it will not fit anyone living in this house, not until Diane give birth to her baby:

I’m thinking if we’ll give it away as a prize this Christmas, or keep it.

And of course, the 10 digitally remastered CDs:

They’ve been singing to me while crushing, mixing, balling, and dipping. 🙂 I’ve also loaded all ten albums onto my Blackberry so I can listen anytime. Haha. And remember the closet Eheads fan? Well he’s got them loaded onto his iPod, and he listens more than I do!

I Declair!

I met up with two friends yesterday for a late lunch. Okay, so they had lunch and I was late. 🙂 It was what you’d call an impromptu date. I woke up to text messages from both girls about going out early that afternoon. I’d been sick so wasn’t sure I could go. By 12, I was feeling normal, save for the hoarseness in my voice and the occasional coughing. But what the heck, I had an errand to run anyway, so off I went.

Jack’s Loft was the spot of choice, al fresco (and very windy at that) at the top floor of the Trinoma Mall. I ordered an Oriental Chicken Salad that I didn’t care for much 🙁 But no worries, having these two for company was good enough for me:

They were having fries when I arrived, having finished lunch already. After awhile, they picked our dessert:

The mango mousse was brought out first. It was good. Real mango slivers on top of mango crème, and a pastry bottom. Not too sweet, and definitely not sour. I wonder how they made sure the mango was just right? I hate it when restaurants serve ripe mango for dessert and it turns out to be sour. That’s also what has kept me from using mango in any of my baking experiments. But I’d love to make something that channels Conti’s Mango Bravo. So I’d love to know the secret!

So a few minutes later this, uhm, decadent dessert was served:

It’s an eclair. But instead of regular cream inside, it has ice cream and a whole lotta whipping cream. Hehe. 🙂

I feel like we didn’t do a lot of catching up, we were there for just 2.5-3 hours tops. But it was nice, and something we should do more often. Not the eating a lot part, but the hanging out and just being there.

Oh and though I know Pauie won’t read this anyway, I do pray that things turn out well and there won’t be anything to worry about. 🙂

Cooking Master Badodong

I’m not the only one who’s been working around the kitchen. Alfred’s been helping me out. On top of that, he’s also been cooking up our lunches.

First was the Afritada. Next came Chicken Curry. His latest? Chicken Kaldereta.

We didn’t meant for them to all be chicken dishes, it just happened that way. 🙂

He’s been cooking a lot this past two months. It used to just be for my SBD meals, but we continued on to food we could both share. He’s cooked shrimps, tilapia, and veggies too. Sadly, we’re both very hungry by the time I get home that we don’t get to snap photos of his culinary experiments.

Just thought I’d share 🙂

Cinnamon Love

I wish I could claim that this was among the rolls I baked last night, but it’s not. It’s a classic cinnamon roll from our Cinnabon carb fix from two weeks ago. When you’re near a Cinnabon branch, you will definitely know it. The aroma of freshly baked rolls will definitely get you hooked. Specially at the Trinoma branch where it’s right smack in the middle of some of our favorite shops. You can smell the yummy cinnamon from a floor down.

My favorite from Cinnabon is the chocolate minibon, although now I find it a tad too sweet:

This is so rich, what with the cinnamon, plus the chocolate, and then the glaze. MmmMMMMmmMMmmm! Haha.

We also tried something new on this visit, their new Twist (forgot the full name), and the dulce (if I remember correctly). I liked the latter very much.

The new product Twist is a little too flaky and tough for me. I like my breads soft. The dulce are little bite-sized pieces of heaven. 🙂 Eating this much white bread makes me want to go on a crash diet asap and deprive myself. NOT! I did stay away from food that evening though.

I really was supposed to make cinnamon rolls last night, but found out that the pack of yeast I have in the pantry is already expired. Aw.

A little off topic, but have you guys heard of apple cider vinegar as promoting weight loss? I remember back in highschool mom used to make me this juice with apple cider vinegar. It’s not your normal sweet juice, but I did like having a drink everyday. It’s supposed to be a colon cleanser and also promotes general good health. I just don’t remember how many parts water and apple cider go together for a good combo.

My new favorite cake: Tres Leches!

Tres Leches is officially my new favorite cake to eat and bake! 🙂

Got the recipe from the amazing Pioneer Woman, and her blog posts are awesome to view using the iPad. It definitely beats any recipe card! 😉 I baked this cake twice over the weekend. The first time was for Alfred’s mom’s surprise birthday party. I had never made it before then, and didn’t get to taste it before show time, so I was so relieved and happy that all who got a piece of it were happy with every bite 🙂

It was so moist and yummy that I decided that we had to make another batch the next day so my parents could have it too. The next photos are from Sunday’s baking session.

Tres Leches cake is so easy to make! Preparation doesn’t take too long and there’s not too much to measure. The mixture was so light and fluffy that it won’t stress you out mixing 🙂

I used to be afraid of separating egg whites from the yolks, but I didn’t do so bad. Specially on this second go. It was part of the fun! The real feat? Not getting any of the shells in the cake! haha 🙂 Anyway, the whites had to be separated from the yolks because they needed to be dealt with differently. First went the yolks, beaten until it doubled in volume and turned a pale yellow. Vanilla and some sugar was added in too. I mixed it lightly with the flour mixture first.

Next went the egg whites, this was another fun part even though the mixer pretty much did the work. Beat at high-speed with some sugar, until soft peaks form. Fold it in with the flour and egg yolk mixture. Even back in high school, folding mixtures was my favorite part of the baking process.

As soon as it all combined, I plopped the entire mixture onto one greased pan, and baked it in a 350-degree oven for 35 minutes. Alfred’s my tester, so he’s the one doing the toothpick test on the cakes.

The mixed three milks are then poured all over the cake as soon as it cools. It’s a sponge cake so it’s meant to absorb liquids. Of course, because there’s  a lot of liquid to hold in, some of the milk spilled over to the sides of the cake. Not to worry, because in as little as 30minutes later, all that would be gone, re-absorbed by the sponge.

No photo here, but my favorite part is making the icing and putting it on the cake. I hadn’t made icing like that before and it is so easy (both to make and to apply). While waiting for the cake to cool, and then again for the milk to be absorbed, I chopped the maraschino cherries that went on top of the cake. The red is such a nice contrast to the white frosting. We also had some canned strawberries to add variety.

Just as in the previous night, this cake was a hit. It’s all gone now. 🙂

To view the full recipe, check out The Pioneer Woman.

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