Thai Cuisine

My only other acquaintance with Thai Food  was with Awesome Siam. Last weekend we decided to give that 'acquaintance' a challenge match by trying another Thai Resto. Let us just accept that explanation for our indulgence so we can move on, awryt? :)

It wasn't my first, nor hubby's first, but it was our first together, so expect a little play of 'critics and reviews' here. And since my visit was more recent than his', we followed most of my suggestions. Opps, warning! This is a bit of a food porn post.

(Not part of the review) Our nice pics had nothing to do with the place or lighting , hubby's cam was just great! 'heheh

So, for the first critic: The place is nice and cozy, a bit private considering its location in The Terraces. The crew were still nice. My first visit was dinnertime, busy as it was, the crew accommodated our several requests to transfer tables (due to unexpected additional 'characters') and our little request to charge my friends iPhone (for free ha!). For this visit, they honored our request to sit in the couch even if they were preparing those tables for a dinner reservation (we had lunch @ 2:30 pm) and warned us on hand that that part of the resto is a bit warm. It was enough to let go of the fact that they served our Spareribs a little late. Three and a half spoons for the accommodating crew.

Lets go to the food, shall we?

Citrus and Herb Lemonade
195 Php for Pitcher and 85 Php for a Glass

I'll give this drink 4 and a half spoons! Very light and refreshing. The missing half to make it perfect 5 would go to consistency. My first try was better than the second -the second was less lemony.

Tom Yam Goong (Spicy Baby Prawns & Lemongrass soup)
245 Php
You can request for mild if your not a fan of spicy foods.

This is another 4 and a half spoons! The soup is really good and the shrimp was cooked just right. I love it too that you can still feel the texture of the vegetables -they're not overcooked or overpowered by the soup.

Peppered Squid
(yep, you read it right, it doesn't have its 'thai birth name')
185 Php

Now, this is just 2 spoons. Hubby is s sucker of sea foods and it was his idea to sample the Peppered Squid. We should have taken our queue on its lack of 'Thai birth name' that this is not one of the bestsellers. tsk tsk tsk. The sauce was really good but the Squid and its coating was just bland.

Pineapple Rice
good for 3-4 persons, 160 Php
(but if one of you is a sucker for rice, dahh.. this would be enough for 2)

Hmmm, this is 3 stars. I'm not a fan of sweet rice, I love the savory ones. This is a bit bland for my taste too. The Bagoong Rice made its mark on me, I'll remember to stick to that next time.

Suon Nuong (Grilled Pork Spareribs)
245 Php

This is 5 spoons for me when I first tasted it -and it still is on my second try! Now, this 3rd dish is a too much for 2 persons dining but I recommended this to hubby. This was the reason for our Lemon Grass trip, so there goes the explaining again.. (hahaha) The pork is juicy and has softness that melts-in-your-mouth. The pork alone is a bit too sweet but dipping it in its sauce give it a totally different taste. Almost heavenly! :) I love the cucumber salad that goes with it too.

Lemon Grass
Lower Ground Floor, The Terraces
Ayala Center Cebu

I want to develop a better relationship with this Resto, not just an acquaintance! Their prices are definitely not for everyday indulgence so here's what I recommend -put them at the top of your special-occasion-go-to's.

xoxo

Copy That!: Chicken Snitzel

I am not sure if I should include this recipe post on my "Copy That!" files. I've been cooking this recipe for quite sometime now, this is not my first Chicken Snitzel session nor my "only" version.. Yes, I made several tweaks and turns to this recipe that every cooking session is not the same as the other, yet it yielded the same result -Awesome Chicken Snitzel! hahaha

A good cook, for me, would and should be able to cook under different circumstances, environments and set-up and still deliver the same outcome -good food!. I live in the city where groceries and markets are just like 5 minute drive. However, there are other circumstances that would still challenge you not to have all the ingredients you need, circumstances like -tinatamad kang lumabas ng bahay, or for a more tolerable reason, budget is tight or you don't have enough time left to make that trip to the groceries or market anymore. Thus at times, I had to do some tweaking of the original recipe so it would adjust to what is in my pantry atm. I'd say that's how a home cook's creativity and culinary knowledge is tested.. feeling Invention Test in Masterchef ang drama. I'm pretty sure that's where they patterned the idea.

Ok.. so for this week's dose of blog-lovin.."this cooking" version of Chicken Snitzel.. 

Love how it looks (and tastes) so herby. 

The parsley leaf as plate decor gives a hint of how the dish would actually taste.

You'll Need:
1/2 kl Boneless Chicken Breast (filleted and pounded so they would have more or less the same thickness)
2-3 medium size day's old bread (for this recipe I used store bought bread crumbs due to time constraint)
a cup of Flour
an Egg
half cup of Milk
2 cloves of Garlic (minced)
"the herbs" - Basil and Parsley (original recipe had Thyme and Rosemary too)
grated Cheese (Parmesan if kaya ng budget)
Olive Oil (EVOO if you're after the health goodness of it)
Butter
S&P

Tip:  You can use low fat milk too. This recipe is quite loaded with carbs, low fat milk is one way to lessen it.

You'll Do:
Step 1: Prepare 3 bowls.
Step 2: Rub S&P and the minced garlic on both sides of the chicken. This is the only seasoning of the actual chicken so season it well.
Step 2: Place the flour in bowl 1.
Step 3: Whisk the egg and milk together in bowl 2.
Step 4: If using Bread, chop bread together with the herbs in a blender or food processor. If using store-bought Crumbs, you may chop manually the herbs and combine it with the crumbs. Add the grated cheese. Mix them well in  bowl 3.
Tip: Arrange the bowls according to the above order for a more organized cooking later. Trust me, it minimizes the mess.
Step 4: Coat the chicken according to this order - flour and dust if off. dip it in egg and milk. coat it with the bread and herbs mixture, press the crumbs against the chicken so they would stick well.
Step 5: Heat the olive oil in a non-stick pan and add the chicken when the oil is hot enough. Fry for 2 minutes each side under medium heat.
Step 6: When the second side is cooked, add butter and give the chicken and butter 30 seconds to a minute bonding time. =)

Let it drain on paper towels, you don't want to serve it greasy. Serve it with a little creativity. =)

my first snitzel. hahaha
i improved a lot on presentation and documentation, won't you agree?

Now, for the review:
Hubby's: Awesome!
Miguel's (my 2 yr old): Wow!
Tita Sebya's (Miguel's nanny): Kalami!
Well, one word from my important critics is enough.  *BIG Smile!

ang natira. bow!

This was what was served for Sunday Lunch-Din. *yeah, 3pm lunch na kasi..

xoxo

Balancing Work and Life

Let's start the workweek with this..

xoxo

Healthy Eating: Chicken Pesto Pasta + Simple Cabbage Salad

Hello blogosphere! I'm still here. =) My apologies for being MIA for a while.

Anyways, I am back with a vengeance, este, with recipes -yes plural! That thing that kept me from blogging, had kept me from cooking too. Its been quite a while, I missed them both terribly. Thank God for this Sunday (I have a lot to thank for!), am glad for some "me" time. =)

Awryt, awryt.. so here's my come back post.

For a little background... Sunday lunch is the best meal of the entire week -that's one of the traditions of our lil family started. And because of that, Sunday lunch has become the most thought of and anticipated meal of the week.

Friday, when I told hubby that we will have Pasta today on Sunday. I planned to use the few left over ingredients from last New Year's Eve cooking for our Pasta Sunday. Then, Sunday came, I opened our fridge and realized, we had an "abundance" of Cabbage too. That's were I though, I should do a combo of pasta and salad. *wow, this is my first combo feature.


So, the Chicken Pesto Pasta..

This has been one of my go to Pasta recipe when I have palates to satisfy but I don't feel like trying something new. The other go to Pasta is of course, the staple in every Filipino home, the spaghetti.


You'll Need:

You choice of Pasta. Cook according to "manufacturer".

The left over ingredients -All Purpose cream and Pesto sauce mix + Onions and Garlic

Oregano, S&P
*late sa pictorial na si Basil and  Boneless Chicken Breast

~I had to add dried Basil because I only have 30g Pesto mix and it won't be enough for a 500g Pasta.
~My original recipe didn't Oregano in it too. I just experimented with before and discovered that it would add tang and sweetness to the mixture. Since then, I have been adding it, but it won't hurt the flavor if its absent though.

You'll Do:
Slice the Chicken Breast into long strips and saute them together with the onions and garlic until the Chicken is lightly browned.
Add a cup of "pasta stock" (the water you used to bring your pasta to life).
Prepare the Pesto mix according to manufacturer, add them to the chicken and bring them all to a simmer. Once you can see little bubbles, lower the fire and add the All Purpose Cream.
Add a teaspoon of Oregano and Basil. *I used more basil for this though since again, I am a bit short of Pesto mix. Taste it and if you feel like it, add more S&T.
Lastly, add the Pasta and mix them well.

Tip: White sauce based Pasta tends to look dry and actually dry up quicker than tomato based ones so always have a little more extra white sauce.

Now, for the Cabbage Salad..

This is a simple salad of Cabbage, Carrots and Red Bell Peppers tossed in Mayo, All Purpose Cream and Oregano. Pretty, right? =) It's a refreshing variety to the richness of the Pasta.

Enjoy!!!

xoxo

Sinulog 2012 -minus the mardi gra

*Warning: This post would document my 'lil' Sinulog 2012 experience. :)

Ohh no, I can't say it was an unfortunate thing that our Sinulog experience was so little. Having less Sinulog 2012 activities was a better and very much welcome consequence of something more important.. and maybe when I would find the right words to say (or write) I would post it here. In the meantime, I am happy to say that despite the turn of events for January (and he is not even through :( ), we did find time and physical strength to still enjoy as a family.

Going back, I know its quite late for this Sinulog post (even for the post prior to this). This, together with the Fish Kebab post were backlogs that have been sitting in my drafts for days and its only now that I found a longer time to sit down and post them.

Saying 'lil' maybe an overstatement. This Sinulog experience post won't talk about the mardi gra or the different religious traditions done during this festivity. I know those were the very essence of Sinulog but (again) I choose not to take part of them for a bigger and more important reason. My lil Sinulog experience all revolved on this recently added but equally anticipated activity -the Fireworks display. I'm not sure if I have mentioned it before but I am an Ayala loyalist, and that fact would at least (hihihi) explain why it was my first time see the Fireworks Contest hosted by SM City Cebu. I knew from my Ayala-Fireworks-Display experience before that people literally overflow in activities like this that is why the spectators that came to SM didn't surprise me. What surprised me though, was the 'condition' of the crowd. The whole Kaohsiung St. (a block away from SM Northwing) was full with parked cars and people watching the fireworks from afar. (Pardon my ignorance, didn't I just mention it was my first time? hehehe) Just see it for yourself.. :)

The crowd was so overwhelmingly excited. You can even hear them counting down as we wait for the next contestant's display. What's funny too was that right after the 8th contestant's display was over, the street became a street again, instantaneously, the vehicles started moving, as if they just stopped because it was Red light -a very long stop for that matter.

So much of the crowd. The Fireworks display was also a cool picnic experience also for our big fam (my parents and siblings were with us too). We decided to buy BBQ and Puso from Mattias, parked Papa's oldie pick-up @ a spot (3rd lane) we luckily found and had our dinner while spectating the Fireworks display. We'll, it was past 8pm already so deadma na sa crowd and off we ate and spectated.

Puso and Chorizo

the 'kalat' (including a shoe, hahaha)

Opps, don't be disappointed, I intentionally drafted this post so the photos of the fireworks would be at the end part as it would surely be a photo-flood. Enjoy!

Photos of the Fireworks display, in no particular order..

xoxo

Copy That!: Fish Kebab

At my old blog's home, I used to have categorize for my food porns and food blogs. I am not sure why it took me this long to revive that here. Categorize (also reads as organizing ;) ) -definitely makes our lives easier.

Anyways, one of my categories was Copy That! .. from the phrase itself, these are recipes i saw on TV or online or food i've tasted at some resto or home that I am giving my own try and touch.

So for today's feature for Copy That! .. ta da.. hubby's Fish Kebab.

Yes, you saw this @ my Paskong Pinoy post

Yes, you read it right. This is not my touch to the recipe but my Sous Chef's (also known as hubby) touch to the Fish Kebab that we tasted at Tambuli last November. After tasting it, we had several talks on how we could replicate the dish and finally, Christmas Eve came, the perfect time to cook the dish 'his' own way. Yes again, you read it right. It was his own recipe and prep (with only my supervision as the Executive Chef hihihih shhhhh, don't let the Sous Chef read this!). I had no intention of posting this recipe since it wasn't mine share, but while he was preparing this dish, he had been proudly saying how sumptuous the dish would turn out and was teasing me na keso, the recipe would be one of my future posts and that I should be taking pictures.. blah blah blah! :) Yeah, I regretted not taking pics of the prep as it would do this post better justification sana (not that it lack it din). So here it is..

You'll Need:
Fish Cubes, preferably white meat (your choice of fish, we used Blue Marlin)
Green and Yellow Tomatoes, cubed
Red and Green Bell Pepper, cubed
White Onions, cubed
Skewers

For the marinade:
EVOO
Lemon Juice
Salt and Pepper

You'll Do:
This is a fairly simple dish to make and with only a few ingredients to prepare.
Start with marinading the fish cubes with lemon juice, olive oil and S&P for minimum of 1 hour. I suggest to marinade the fish first before stacking them on the skewers as its a whole lot easier to marinade them.
After at least an hour, you may stack the fish, together with the cubed tomatoes, bell peppers and onions. Your choice of order too.
Season the tomatoes, bell peppers and onions with EVOO, S&T before grilling them. Grill each side for 2 minutes.

Enjoy!

Also, expect more recipes for this category and the rest of the food categories that I would be bringing in here: Invention and Healthy Eating

Goodbye 2011 and Hello Love!

I went on leave on the first 2 days of the work-year due to reunions and prior commitments so today is officially first day of work for 2012. What a better way to kick-off my working year than be prepared and planned with my Starbucks 2012 Planner. Yes!~ I finally have laid my hands on my 2012 Planner. Weeeee

It's time to say goodbye to my 2011 Planner..

and say Hello Love!

It came as a surprise, as yesterday when I went to get my second to the last sticker, I learn that they have a "buy-one-get-two-sticker" promo. And as mentioned on my previous post, I won Php 300 worth of Starbucks GC.. counting it, I actually got 4 stickers for free. I was lucky!

I got the Spruce one. Now I can say, I am ready for you 2012! :)

You & Starbucks
It's bigger than coffee.


The "buy-one-get-two-sticker" promo is from January 3-5 only, so for those who are a few sticker short from their planners, rush now..

Also, they extended this collection to January 20, 2012. Siguro, less lang ang kumuha, I have a great feeling its due to the design of the planner. hihihi Am still not a fan of it, but I got one and would be using it still. (ironic, I know!)

xoxo