And yet.... I lost a few inches

I have been sick these past few days with a bad case of the stomach flu so I tried not to eat oily food.  I healed myself by drinking peppermint tea and eating boiled sweet camote and bananas.  NO medicines!!!  And the most wonderful thing about it ... I lost a couple of inches around my waist!

PD (Tita Portia) would always invite me to dine out.  I told her I was sick so we better eat in places where the food is not too greasy.

We went to Sumo Sam in Rockwell, we had the ....

Grilled Salmon Belly




and a BIG bowl of Sukiyaki.



During Typhoon Pedring we had a power outage... best place to cool off was in Powerplant Mall, Rockwell.  My stomach was feeling a little bit braver so I told PD I wanted to eat Pizza.

Tried the Pizza at Burgoo ...  uh ohhhh  my stomach was not that well so I just had a couple of slices of pizza ...



... and Butterly Prawns.



Yesterday our lunch was at IMC Kavino along Jupiter St.

They gave complimentary salad...



We ordered Hot and sour soup



Deep Fried taro Puff with Japanese Salad filling



Mini Chicken Buns



Siomai - I loved it!  I do not need to go to Binondo anymore to enjoy my favorite dim sum.



Seafood Pancit Canton



We were not that contended with our lunch, we moved to the next door resto, Meylin, and ate vegetable lumpia.



Tonight, PD invited me again for dinner but I said I ate already before going home.  I told her there was this new restaurant along Kalayaan Avenue called Savoy Bistro.  They just opened last September 16.


I just ordered French Onion Soup with Raclette.



PD had the lobster soup.



They also gave complimentary appetizers...



and freshly baked bread.  So soft and delicious.



The main course of PD was Lamb Shank braised in wine with rissotto and vegetables.  I tried a bit and it was very tender.



For our dessert, we just shared an order of Swedish Pancakes.  YUMMMMM!!!  



Crepe like pancakes with cream, fresh strawberries slices drizzled with honey.

The bistro has a special private dining room.  The Chef, Robert Lilja (Swedish) said it can accommodate up to 16... or 8 or 4 or even two.



I just went to the ladies room and when I came out ... I heard him telling Tita Portia he would find a date for her!  It was a .... WHAT THE .......   !?!?!!!  moment.  Hahahahahaha   I asked PD what was that all about.

When the Chef said he can arrange a dinner for two, PD said ... she needed to find a date first.  Then the charming Chef said .... I will find a date for you.   HMPHHHHH!!!!!   Hahahahahaha  Way to go PD!!!!

Despite all the food I have been eating lately, my shorts are now looser by about 2 inches ... it even fell to the floor when I was in the fitting room of Metro Gaisano Department store.  When I was in Boracay for my birthday last month, my shorts were really tight, I thought I was going to get gangrene from lack of circulation!  Maybe it also helped I stopped eating rice.  Let us see if I can lose more inches!!!  Wish me luck!

What is up, Lia?

To answer the question, I have been trying to eat healthy food most of the time, i.e. BORING food:   Vegetables and fish or chicken.  Sometimes, I would wake up in the morning and text all my friends:   My blood sugar is low today!  Then other days they would ask me, why no update?  Ahhhh .... because the sugar was high when I woke up.

And.... I also had several cravings.  Do you know what happens when I do have a craving?  I would eat it over and over and over until I do not like it anymore.  I had a Chicken Inasal craving for two weeks,  I ate at Mang Inasal, Chicken Bacolod Inasal, I even made my own but I roasted it instead of grilling so it did not turn out so well, Chic Boy, and from JT Manukan, which was my favorite.  I have yet to try Aida in Makati Cinema Square, it is a branch of a famous Inasal place from Manukan country in Bacolod.  I almost flew to Bacolod just to try their chicken Inasal.  I bought from Magnolia station but it is still in my freezer.

My next craving was Shakeys!!!!  In a span of less than a week, I have eaten at Shakeys four times!  I loved their bunch of lunch and Fridays Special pizza!  The best branch for me is Glorietta.  Lots of cheese and freshly made thin crust pizza!

Lately, I have been having a Banana Split craving.  I was reminiscing the other day... I miss the Magnolia House on Aurora Blvd.  It was bought by Robinsons Land and a new complex is being built right now.  Lots of memories with the family over there.  Also the Quad branch with their serpentine bar.

I can  not find a good ice cream parlor nowadays.  Tita Portia took pity on me and we had had Banana split at Pancake house tonight.



It was ok, of course not like the banana split of *yesteryears* but it was ok to satisfy a craving.

I made my own pitiful version of banana split yesterday.



I had all the ingredients except for the whipped cream!  I bought the all purpose cream but it did not become creamy when I whipped it but I had all the required ingredients: Chocolate, vanilla and strawberry ice cream, banana, crushed pineapple, cherries, chocolate syrup, flaked almonds and watery whipped cream!

I will try again tomorrow, will ask  Tita Portia for some Redi whip.  Then I will not eat banana split anymore.  It is very bad for me.  I just need to feed the craving.

PD (Tita Portia) and I had dinner at Kaya, Jupiter.  It was just all right, we ordered what we do not usually eat from Kaya Express in Rockwell.

Uni Sashimi



Grilled Beef Short Ribs dipped in honey sauce.  I do not know how can they make the meat so tender.



Grilled Mackarel



Leek pancake



Their version of Hotpot noodle soup - not my favorite.



Freebies





I was able to buy several new VERTIGO in a bag today!  Hahahahaha  This is how my friend, Jing, calls  all the junk food, which I am a big fan of.

Leslies Cheddar and Sour Cream (Landmark)



Rustans Rockwell just brought out from the box tonight the following:

TGIF Potato Skins Cheddar and Bacon



TGIF Crunchy Cheddar Bites Jalapeno Cheddar



Burger King Zesty Ranch Onion Rings



Burger King Cheesy Fries



I have not tried them all yet.  Will keep you posted!!!!

Ummm... hello?  I am supposed to be on a healthy diet?  What am I going to do now?  Noooo, I am not giving my chips away...  any other suggestion?  Hahahaha...  Soon ... I really need to do something about it.  Let us just pray I do not get another craving du jour!

Phoenix Court, Bellevue Hotel

Yesterday was the 5th death anniversary of my Mom.  We truly miss her and we know she wanted us to celebrate in her name.  I think it is only in the Philippines where we celebrate the death anniversary of our loved ones.  We also went to Manila Memorial to say a few prayers. 

My Ate invited us for lunch at Phoenix Court in Bellevue Hotel, Alabang.  We had the dim sum all you can eat.

As usual, I only got my favorite dimsum and I did not eat anything fried.  When I gave my list to the waiter, he said I could not possibly finish all!!!!  Well ... I told him I could and just to serve everything.  But then, in the end he combined all our orders so there was no demarcation of ownership!!!



I am the only one who ordered chicken feet.



My family said EWWWW  hahahaha.  The first time I had it was when I wan in HK with Celina and Jing and her family.  Tito Ogot ordered probably all the dimsum in the restaurant we so could try them all.  He was the first one who introduced me to chicken feet.

I tried the steamed spareribs.



Steamed sio long pao



Shrimp wanton noodle soup.  The broth was very flavorful.



Baked Barbecue pastry.



Sharks fin dumplings.



Steamed scallops.  It arrived at our table smoking hot!  Hahahaha As you can see.



Hakao



Butch ordered the noodles...



and the sio pao.



Tita Portia had the ham suy kok.



Gilly ordered the crispy shrimp balls.



Others had the mango sago cream for dessert while I got the almond lychee.



I forgot to take a close up shot of the pork siomai but it was not my favorite. 

The dimsum was good but then we all felt sleepy after lunch!   There were still a lot of choices from the menu but we did not order anymore because we might not be able to finish.

If it is a choice between Phoenix or Lili .... Lili would win hands down, in my opinion.   My bench mark is the sio mai.  Whenever I eat dim sum in restaurants ... I always order sio mai, if it is good then the rest is also good.

Still ..  had a great time with my family and the food was all right.... it is worth your money especially if you have a huge appetite!

Happy Birthday, Mona!

This birthday lunch was a work in progress since several months ago.  Mona and I would always talk on the phone and discuss about our favorite food.  She said, she is turning 45, she wanted to have a party with her friends. 

We ordered  Lechon for the gang from Ping Ping.  We always use the magic password, we would look for Bong and say:  Mrs. Alonzo said to give us a nice little pig with lots of fat and crispy skin.  Also, we want extra chicharon giveaways.  TADA!!!  And magic it was......

The Lechon  was just enough for us and we even had left overs  ....



The chicharon was glistening in vetsin and salt!!!  YUM!!! hahahahaha



Mona served our favorite Fried Hito.



She bought pancit palabok from Little Quiapo in BF....  another yuummmmm.



The burong mangga was made with beer!!!   LOL  Jing thought it was Maggi Noodle soup.



 Salted eggs.



She asked me to make lumpiang ubod for her.



Tita Cena, the mom of Mona cooked Lengua with cream sauce. 



Tita Letty, (Mrs. Alonzo = Magic password) cooked Adobong alimango for Mona!!!!



I suppose this was the highlight of my lunch.  I could not decide if it was the lechon or the alimango.  The sauce was pure crab fat!!!!  Jing could not finish a teaspoonful of crab fat and she asked me if I wanted it,  I replied... do you want me to die!!!!



The alimango was to die for!!!!   Corry said when you eat the aligue, you will become closer to God!  Hahahahaha!  My friends really have a strange sense of humor.

The favorite dessert of Mona is Sansrival.

Sansrival from Dumaguete.





Sansrival from Mon who got it from Moms and Tinas.



Instead of the usual Buko Pandan, Mona experimented with White Salad - buko shreds, buko-lychee gelatin, nata de coco and cream.



Everybody was so full!!  I even asked Tita Cena for Lipitor... hahaha my dessert.



And we all took our blood pressure after lunch!!!  hahahaha  They thought I would have the highest score!!!   I never had a problem with my cholesterol nor bp... sugar is my waterloo.  Tita Letty was the winner, followed by Jing, then by Mon.

I recently posted about the Sparkle ( LOL  we pronounce it as SPARKOL) I have lost.  Mona was hoping and hoping that with her birthday lunch it will find its way back to into my voice and create a twinkle in my eyes.

What does this picture tell you?



Have I finally regained the Sparkle I have lost?

Thank you Mona for the delicious lunch!  Your friends love you and we all wish you turn another year sooner!!!  Hahahaha!  So we can eat again!



Happy Birthday, Mona!