Food finds in Makati

I discovered lots of new food outlets all around Makati this year which I shared on my facebook/instagram account but I'd also like to place them here. They're not new but I only recently experienced them and I hope you enjoy them vicariously!

Deco's Batchoy in Alphaland, Makati. It's said to be more authentic than Ted's batchoy though they both have a lot of MSG to me. Curious that there is no option to add an egg to the soup. Well, I bought an egg from the supermarket anyway. Prices range from P75 up. There is no difference between the regular, special or extra orders. The serving size just gets bigger.

Todos lost Santos

When I was a kid, we didn't have Halloween.

a trip to the National Museum

In a bid to get more Filpinos to visit the museum, the National Museum announced that they would waive the P100 entrance fee for the whole month of October!

When in Quezon

When in Quezon to visit family or anything else, do look around and enjoy what it has to offer. Don't treat it as just a stopover to Bicol and elsewhere.

 (I admit I wasn't a big fan of my home province before because it wasn't modern enough for my ignorant, city-bred ways or "provincial" enough like those bucolic peasant farm paintings... but thankfully, my eyes have been opened to its beauty.)

In Lucena City, Tayabas and Sariaya, check out the old houses that are still around. It's funny that we look for ancestral houses in Vigan and Bacolod, when so many of them are still in Quezon, if you just look around. Most of the well-preserved ones are in Sariaya and some of them are even open to the public! Kudos to the families who own these houses for not tearing down these heritage homes.

Cielin's Chocolate Cakes

I'm an avid follower of Anton Diaz's blog www.ourawesomeplanet.com so when I read his post about The battle of the "gasoline cakes" way back in 2006, I just had to try them out. I'm from the southern part of Metro Manila so I had already tasted Ms. Polly's chocolate cake. And lucky for me, the Caltex cake is on the way to where I work! So one day I bought one for the office. Too bad we didn't have camera phones then so I wasn't able to blog about it but it was a hit!

Simply seafood for Mama's birthday!

The plan was to eat at the dampa near the SM Mall of Asia with Twinx and family for Mama's birthday. But it was the first fiesta of our newly-formed parish of Padre Pio and Twinx's baby had a fever. So we didn't bother to buy our own seafood and went straight to Aling Tonya's to order from them.  The only problem with this is that you won't be able to choose your seafood and you won't know how much it costs until you get the bill. The only prices on the menu are how much their cooking fee is.

My hainanese chicken



P168 for the personal set. Looks small but is very filling.



Another post that got lost ...I had a hankering for Hainanese chicken on a rainy Tuesday and went to Wee Nam Kee for some roasted chicken. I have really been mesmerized by this dish. I never wanted to go to Singapore before but now I'm tempted to go only because they say the original store's version in the Lion city is even better!



Wee Nam Kee's steamed version

 Ever since I tried it out last year, I have loved hainanese chicken rice even though I didn't like how pale and uncooked it looked. I loved it so much I tried to duplicate it at home. I got some recipes online and while it looks deceptively simple, it is actually very time-consuming (almost 2 hours) and labor intensive.  First, you have to prepare the chicken by rubbing it with salt inside  and out. Then you stuff it with ginger, garlic and green onion before boiling it in water. Looking at the recipe, it actually reminds me of a deconstucted  tinola. The broth is separated from the meat and some of it is used to cook the rice. And some of it is used to make the chili sauce and ginger sauce!


My version

My father said it tasted even better than Wee Nam Kee's version (this may be biased) but for all that trouble, I would rather just order it instead.

Mojacko recommends: Original Savory Antipolo

I should have posted this way back in April! Apologies...
It was quite a pleasant surprise to find a branch of the Original Savory restaurant in Antipolo of all places! Someone decided to put up a mall beside the Antipolo church and while I'm not sure I like the idea , I sure am glad we tried out the resto.

Guernica's for ma and pa's anniversary

Happy Anniversary!

So we went to get a painting I made for Pagcor's painting competition (I didn't win) but we did get to pass by Sucat and Dr. Santos Avenue after a long time and we spotted Guernica's right beside Shopwise Sucat.

Father's day at Sieg's

We were looking for another new dining place for Father's Day and a friend suggested a resto very near our place. It's called Sieg's and it's right in Better Living in Bicutan.
It's a big place with a ktv bar upstairs with a homey feel.
The menu is eclectic with everything from pasta to caldereta to tempura.

Mama's day at MoMo Cafe

For Mother's day, Mama wanted to go someplace new so I thought of Momo Cafe in Ayala Triangle which was my second choice for where we were going to hold our triple birthday celebration before we eventually settled for Tender Bob's.

A trip back in time: Las Casas Filipinas de Acuzar

Ok, I have a confession to make: It was only after I got a little education in college that I started to appreciate old things. Before that, brand new was best for me. Now I value old houses and old furniture because I know that they have history.

Tagaytay trip

 For this summer vacation, we decided not to fly and opt for more accessible destinations.  I had reserved a large room in Bataan (post to follow) at the end of the week but the heat in Manila was unbearable so we hied off to Tagaytay for a quick overnight stay. To avoid getting caught because of the number coding on cars set by the MMDA, we had to leave home by 6 a.m. It was just as well because this meant avoiding heavy traffic during the rush hour. To kill time, we first went to the St. Scholastica center for spirituality. Mama and her school go here for their retreats so when a nun saw us, she graciously invited us to the cafeteria for coffee and sandwiches.  That was so nice of them!


visita iglesia 2012: Go local

Last year, we took so long going to all the chuches in the city we almost didn't make it to dinner at Max's. So this year, I suggested a more accessible route.
We started with our local parish, the Padre Pio chapel, formerly the Sto. Nino chapel. This is where we attend mass.

The eucharist was placed in this area to accommodate more people

March birthday celebration at Tender Bob's

Today was the only weekend most convenient to meet up with Twinkle so we decided to celebrate my birthday , Twink's and Papa's birthday, too. I was hankering for some meat so after consulting some friends on facebook, I chose Tender Bob's in Greenbelt 2 which as their sign says, specializes in steaks, ribs and burgers. My other choices were Momo cafe in Ayala Triangle and Mr. Jones in Greenbelt 5(?) but Momo's meal choices seems limited and Mr. Jones is always full, according to my siblings' friends. My only fear was that Tender Bob's might be full and we'd end up in old reliable Conti's once again.

Back to Wee Nam Kee

I forgot to post that we celebrated Jon's birthday early to take advanatge of the fact that we were all together after Christmas.

Paying for nostalgia

Snake eyes and Baroness P400 and P330

Best and worst of 2011

Time again for our list of the best and worst of 2011!

 Best movie: While I laughed out loud watching "Ang babae sa septic tank," I was enchanted by "Nino," an indie movie about a proud family whose fortunes have faded. The movie is held together by the tour de force performance of Fides Cuyugan Ascencio. My mom who also loves opera would love this.

Christmas 2011

Baby Alex, the newest member of the family spent his first Christmas in Lucena. They rode with ma and pa in the car while Jon and I rode the bus on Christmas eve. (Bus ride from Alabang to Lucena is P168 aircon) Luckily, most people had gone to the province days earlier so our trip was hassle-free. The only wrinkle was that it would rain now and then like when we arrived at employees or when we left. Alex brought a renewed sense of wonder about Christmas to the household.