Chili's - Rockwell

Sunday night, I was walking at the concourse level of Powerplant Mall, Rockwell when my attention was suddenly caught by the food that Chili's customers were eating. That's how I am, I would do a "double take" when it comes to food but rarely when it comes to men.

Several years ago, my friends and I were passing by the window of Burgoo in Rockwell ... when we all said, "Did you see that??!?!?!" I thought we were all in the same page, I meant the chocolate cake the guy was eating... and they all meant the guy eating the chocolate cake! hahahahaha That's Lia for you.

Tita Portia invited me for dinner last night at Chili's. I was able to order the burger the kid was eating the other night.

Big Bites for me - 4 mini burgers with cheddar cheese, bacon and ranch dressing - onion rings and french fries on the side. I thought it would be so easy to finish my order but was not able to eat all. Had to take home 1 mini burger, "pasalubong" for Wriggly.

Tita Portia ordered her favorite - Swiss Mushroom Burger.

The Chocolate Molten Lava was so delicious and sinful for me but I couldn't help myself! Tita Portia and I split in one order. The vanilla ice cream was so hard, did not melt at all and encased in drizzled chocolate shell. Then when you cut into the cake.... the hot chocolate lava flowed. YUM!!!! I wish I can eat this all the time ... but I'm not allowed.

Birthweek lunch with the Seniors

Hahaha When will it ever end? Probably, by the time it's my birthday, I'm not excited anymore. But I know I will be excited because I'm going to Boracay on Friday! I will spend my "actual" birthday, the 28th, there.

I invited the friends of my Mom, Tita Mita Ampil and Tita Butchie Ayuyao, today for lunch at Tita Portia's house.

They loved the "punch" I made and asked me what I used. I mixed equal parts of 7-up and Del Monte Four Seasons, then added slices of orange and lemon.

I also served my Easy Paella.

Ceasar Salad with home made dressing - just a small amount because I am not fond of salad greens.

Baked Tahong - our favorite

Lengua with Mushroom Sauce

Chocolate cream cup for dessert.

Birthday Lunch with my family.

I celebrated my Birthday lunch with my family.... Saturday is family day. I woke up early to go to Famer's market in Cubao... early as in 9:00 am early. I wanted to buy Talangka but when I got there, they were dead already. I only buy live talangka.

So, the next best thing were Crabs! I bought male and female crabs. My Kuya only likes steamed Male crab, while Tita Portia only likes steamed female crab.

Cooking for my family is like cooking for a restaurant. My sister, Gina, and I like Female Chili Crabs.

My nephew Nicky likes Shrimps, so I made Shrimps in Butter with Garlic and a bit of orange soda.

I had no problem with Gilly hehehe I just had to buy Beef for her Nilaga and bought sweet, young and tender corn which my brother in law really loved.

Another reason why I went to the market early was to look for Talimusak, it is a very small fish and the last time I have eaten it was almost 10 years ago. It is so hard to find that, when I went to Farmer's last week, one of the vendors said I have to be there by 5:30 am. YIKES!!!!! So, at 10 am, I asked around who was selling and they pointed me to the direction of the old woman. The little fish were in the "bilao". I wanted to get 1 Kilo but she only had less than what I wanted, so I just got all that was left. It is another kind of food that brings back memories.

It was hard to eat though but I enjoyed it so much. My menu doesn't seem like a party fare but the food I served was something my family and I liked.

They were looking for dessert! But I told them I couldn't have so I didn't prepare anymore.

So... another Happy Birthday to me everyday!

Reunion Dinner for Mia and Debbie

Wow! What a night! This reunion dinner was planned a couple of months ago. Mia told me she will be in Manila this August. Then another classmate, Debbie, will also be in town. So as early as July, my friends and I have been planning, organizing and exchanging emails.

I really wanted to cook something special for Mia because when we were in Grade School, I would always eat at their house during lunch because we had a gate pass and she lived across the school. In retrospect, I just realized that I should have been ashamed of myself because I would invite myself over to their house all the time... and it wasn't just in Mia's house! It was almost in all of my grade school classmates' homes.

I never felt that I was an uninvited guest. Mia and her family always made me feel welcome, and again, my other classmates too. Maybe that is the reason why I love inviting friends over for lunch or dinner... because in the past... their homes were always open to me and taught me how to open my home in return.

The food theme was Filipino for the "balikbayan" guests of honor, Mia and Debbie. Thank God for Facebook, we were able to plan really well, espcecially the food assignments.

Lia - Kare-Kare, rice and adobo

Marianne - Bagnet




Pia - Several bottles of Soda and ice


Catherine - She said Bagoong and "something", turned out, she meant, Bagoong and Gising gising - string beans with gata and bagoong.



Sarita - Lapid's Chicharon with Taba and shing a ling(I loved it!)

Mylene - Pancit Palabok from Olan's - I liked this pancit better than Amber's.



Jodie, Mico and Tricia - Bailon Fresh Lumpiang Ubod (My favorite!)





Kathleen - assorted fresh fruits: melon, watermelon, yellow mangoes and green mangoes

Candy - puto with red eggs and cheese



Mona - Buko pandan

Jo and Lei - pichi-pichi and non alcoholic sparkling drink

Gay - 1 box of assorted wine, plus she gave me a beer "banera" hehehe Wriggly has a new mini pool!!!!

Jopet - Tanduay and a "ream" of party favors

Dawn and Daisey - 2 bottles of wine

Michelle - Drinks

and...........................................

Cher - SURPRISE!!!!!!

Elar's Lechon

2 Weeks ago, I received the best morning text message from Cher, she said she was going to bring my BFF = LECHON!!!! Even before that, she already hinted in her FB message that her food assignment would be Lechon (I always capitalize the L in Lechon... it seems proper and respectful.)



I was so overwhelmed! Cher said since it was my most favorite food in the entire world and I was always such a good hostess in our previous reunions and get together, she wanted to give me a treat. The whole day and the following days, I was in a daze because I was so excited. There were times I would just smile when I think of the Lechon hahaha maybe some people might have wondered what I was smiling about.... and it was a beautiful and bright smile.... a smile a woman might bestow on a man hahahaha but in my case ... you already know the reason.









Thank you so much, Cher!!!!! You've made me a very happy person and all the hard work in preparing for this reunion was well worth it.

My plate

I am very glad the night turned out really well. I was so worried it might rain because it has been raining for the past several nights. Jo offered eggs and I prayed so hard in Baclaran and to God every 30 minutes, I think! Thank you, God!

Thank you also to all my classmates and teachers for making this reunion dinner a success.

Oh.... and ... Happy Birthday to me everyday!!!!

Trying to be "Healthy" food.

I have been trying to cook "healthy" food lately. I still eat beef, pork and chicken but not as much as before. As always, Lechon is the exception to the rule. What are the different ways to cook seafood especially fish? The usual Fried, Inihaw, Baked or Sinigang. It can get boring and then will make me go off the "program". So I am discovering different and simple ways to cook seafood and vegetables. I am not a vegetable eater, especially raw leaves, so it has to be something I will like.

I consider myself quite lucky because I can get my fish fresh from the Supermarket, cook it without having to put in the freezer. It would be so divine if I can get fresh from the ocean! In my experience, fish that has been frozen tastes different from freshly bought fish. That is just my opinion or perhaps my imagination.

I am going to share some recipes of my my fish/seafood/vegetable experiments.

Pesang Bacoco (I have been eating this dish since I was young.)

300 grams Bacoco (I don't know the English equivalent but maybe white snapper?)

garlic, crushed

onions, sliced

ginger, sliced

2 C. water or "hugas bigas"

patis

leeks

pechay

Saute garlic, onions and ginger. Then add the water, when it begins to boil, drop in the fish. Cover and cook for 5 minutes. Season with patis, add the leeks and pechay and cook until the vegetables are bright dark green in color. Separate the broth from the fish and vegetables and serve with fresh tomato sauce.

Fresh Tomato Sauce

garlic, crushed

1 onion, chopped

3 tomatoes, chopped

2 T. fish stock

Patis, to taste

Saute garlic, onions and tomatoes until soft. Add the fish stock and patis, reduce the sauce.

I went to Bel-Air Market (It's actually Poblacion Public market but I call it Bel-Air Market) the other day and bought pusit. I asked the vendor how to cook adobong pusit and this is her recipe:

Adobong Pusit

1/2 K. Pusit Bisaya (small variety)

1 T. cooking oil

1 head garlic, crushed

1-2 T. vinegar

salt, to taste

green sili

Wash the squid, drain and remove the plastic membrane inside. Put the squid in a pan and let it simmer for a few minutes without adding water, drain again and reserve the liquid. Heat a pan, add cooking oil and fry the squid slightly, push to one side and saute the garlic. Pour in the reserved liquid and green sili. Continue cooking for about 10-15 minutes. Season with vinegar and salt.

Stir-fried Togue

garlic, crushed

onion, sliced

1/4 K. Togue

1 T. soy sauce

1 t. sugar

Saute garlic and onions, then add the togue and stir fry for a few minutes. Season with soy sauce and sugar.

Stir-fried Chinese Kangkong (kangkong with narrow leaves, not heart shaped)

1 bunch Chinese KangKong, tough stems removed, washed and drained

1 head garlic, crushed

1 T. cooking oil

1 t. Golden Sail Light soy sauce

Heat a wok, when smoking hot, add the oil , then garlic, cook until it is light brown. Then add the kangkong leaves, stir fry for less than a minute, season with light soy sauce and serve.

Pinangat na Sapsap (Sapsap looks like a silver angel fish)

300 grams Sapsap

3 pcs. tomatoes

6 pcs. calamansi

quarter C. of  water

salt or patis (I prefer patis)

1 t. cooking oil

Crush the tomatoes with your hand and put in a frying pan. Add water and calamansi juice, when it begins to boil and the tomatoes are soft, place the fish on top of the tomatoes, cover and cook for 5 minutes. Season with patis. Drizzle cooking oil before switching off the heat.

Tilapia with Gata ( Recipe of Ann, Tita Portia's helper)

Tilapia, cleaned and scales removed

onion, sliced

ginger, sliced

tomatoes, sliced

coconut milk

mustard leaves(mustaza), cut intot 2 inch length

Boil onions, tomatoes and ginger in coconut milk, add the tilapia and season with salt. When the fish is cooked, add the mustard leaves and season with salt.

Afternoon Tea Buffet at the Pen

Happy Birthday to me everyday! Today was Tita Portia's treat, we were with Michelle at The Lobby of The Peninsula Manila for the Afternoon Tea Buffet. I behaved myself and didn't get lots of pastries nor the scones. I was just there for the company, to relax and enjoy the afternoon.




For my first round, I got the sandwiches: Egg Salad (mini rye roll), smoked tuna (mini bagel) and Ham and Gruyere with mustard (baguette). Mini pork barbecue, vegetable spring roll and lamb meatball with a cube of cheese inside.

Tita Portia and Michelle got the scones. Pen has the best scones in town, they were light and had a melt in the mouth kind of texture . We've tried other scones before but they were very tough and you can use as a paper weight. I just took a teeny bit of taste since I was trying to be a good girl.

I know it's not so English of them but they served Pancit Canton. Surprisingly, it tasted good. I ate it with the vegetable spring rolls.

My dessert was a plate of assorted cheeses: Boursin, Tilsit and Emmenthal with crackers. Fresh fruits: melon, pineapple and watermelon. Dried fruits : Figs, Prune, Apricot and a bunch of raisins.



I chose Jasmine Tea since it was just an Herbal Infusion, I won't have a hard time falling asleep tonight.


See how controlled I was?!?!?

Afternoon Tea Buffet

Michelle's Treat at Henry's

Happy Birthday to me everyday! Last night I had dinner at Henry's with Tita Portia and Michelle. It was supposed to be Tita Portia's treat but then Michelle, without us knowing, went to the cashier and paid for our dinner. Thank you!!!!

Henry's is owned by the same person who owned The Good Earth in Magallanes ages ago. It is a Chinese restaurant but with a modern twist.

Appetizer - Chicken Pao and a complimentary spring roll like dimsum was given to us because the owner knows Tita Portia.

Beef Chow Mien - One of my favorites, either beef or chicken. It is different from the rest of the fried noodles out there because of the black beans they add to their sauteed meat.

Coco Chicken - Braised chicken breast with mushroom and "buko" meat.

Fried Lapu Lapu with sweet and sour sauce and pine nuts.

Broccoli with garlic. Because we need vegetables in our body.

Henry's version of Halo Halo - frozen fresh fruits with cheese, pearl balls, leche flan, nata de coco, pinipig and vanilla ice cream. There was no crushed ice, instead frozen fruits were used.