Yogurt Addiction

I'm hooked. This is one of the best guilt-free desserts that i couldn't get enough of. My fave is the O% fat mango flavor, though i'm quite partial with

the fruit selection version nowadays since it does contain aspartame (an artificial sweetener reported to be the root cause for the epidemic of multiple sclerosis and lupus). I just find it quite pricey considering a small cup now costs 29php in the market. In my desire to find a cheaper alternative, i tried this Pascual brand (imported from Spain) which comes in more exotic flavors such as black cherry. The moment i tasted it, i had to take a second look at the label and make sure that it is not being manufactured by Pascual Laboratories. Heck, the yoghurt sure tasted like cough syrup. I guess i'll have to stick to Nestle's...mom buys the yogurts anyway.

P.S. Try sliced bananas in yogurt. It's a guaranteed hit.=)

Going-Away Dinner at SoulFood

Here's one outdated photo with my college friends during our dinner at SoulFood (Greenbelt!) before Berna fled to the US early this year. Time never cease to amaze me. Berna just got back and we've set a homecoming get-together/ birthday (she just turned a year older last tuesday!) lunch-sort-of-thing this Sunday at Gateway.

There...i said it.

This is one post specially requested by my quirky friend Rachelle. Try visiting her blog as well.=)

Team Party at McDo

The Private Equity team went wild over Hamburglar last September 16 (Friday), when he had our get-together dinner party at McDonald's Greenbelt. We had the Incredibles party theme, complete with parlor games and other party extras.

The food package includes the chicken and spaghetti meal with drinks, cheeseburger, sundae/ mcflurry (pronounced by their manager as "mcflerry"), and a piece of chocolate cake from McCafe. The food package costs 144php per person while the chocolate cake from McCafe costs 35php each. Of course to complete our McDonald's party experience, we also availed the party package which costs 1200php flat, inclusive of party host, games, prizes, give-aways, and mascot appearance. We also added an hour of extension worth 300php since they are only giving an allotment of 1 1/2 hours for every party. If you're planning to hold a party there, i strongly suggest that you avail of their discount card first (every 150php worth of food purchase entitles you to one) which will give you a 10% discount to all their party packages and free "food of the day" on your succeeding visits.

The cost of our kiddie fun is around 6000php. My only gripe is that Hamburglar didn't do the Chihuahua dance for us.=)

Wild Over Hamburglar- Private Equity Night-Out at McDonald's Greenbelt, 09/16/2005

Posted by puFF

Bibingka and Puto Bumbong Crazy

It's been raining real hard, and non-stop at that, for the past two weeks. Of course, i'm attributing the drop of temperature as the first sign of Christmas, considering we have reached the BER months as well. Christmas always reminds me of traditional after dawn mass fares such as bibingka and puto bumbong. I just had my dose of both, separately at Ebun and Via Mare. Ebun serves their bibingka with your choice of either kesong puti or queso de bola, it is also topped with butter and an extra grated coconut on the side. It is served hot off the clay pot with live coals where it is cooked in a pan lined with a banana leaf. The serving at Ebun is really generous and it is reasonably priced at 75php.

Puto Bumbong at Via Mare is served with grated mature coconut, muscovado sugar, and melted butter. Again, you have an option to include grated cheddar cheese (13php) or grated queso de bola/ edam cheese (18php) for an added zing. The puto bumbong itself costs around 45php for two pieces. I had mine with cheddar cheese. It was mind-blowing, an almost disturbing experience intensified by the rage of the rain pouring outside the glass window of the resto. I somehow wished that moment never ended. But then it did.

Friday Lunch-Out

I've been wanting to eat at Via Mare but found no chance to do so until last Friday. Mom invited us over for lunch at Greenbelt (the place to be!) and the best part is that we get to dine at the resto of MY choice. She's taking the entire day off with my eldest sister to shop for dresses they'd be wearing for the oathtaking this coming Saturday (Anne just passed the physician's licensure).

Now let's talk about food.

We ordered boneless bangus sinigang sa miso, breaded tofu, and barbecued baby back ribs. I actually requested the breaded tofu just to compare my recipe with theirs. Guess what? Mine is better=). So much for bragging, i really love their baby back ribs. We were kind of hesitant to order it at first due to being traumatized the last time we had one at TGI Friday's (all ribs...no meat!!!), but it's just plain delish...even the salad that comes with it. Their sinigang has only a hint of tartness with a generous amount of miso mixed with the soup. So if you like the taste of miso, then you should definitely go for it. Now, the real reason behind my Via Mare craving is their Puto Bumbong (photos in my next post). My sister warned me not to order the purple rice cake because it failed to satisfy her palate the last time she had it at the resto. Good thing i didn't heed her advice. It was the best ending to a perfect lunch-out with the girls dearest to me.

Birthday Treat @ Ebun

This post is long overdue. I've actually forgotten about this blog due to being preoccupied by a lot of things for the past weeks. I met up with my college girlfriends last Sep. 3 to celebrate Khriz's birthday at Greenbelt. We had an early dinner at this new resto called Ebun (kapampangan for "egg"). No it does not specialize in eggs and i have not the slightest idea why it was even named as such. Anyway, I'm just so happy with our new discovery because the food is really great, the ambiance is homey (you'll see eggs everywhere...hehe) and the price is unbelievably cheap (bottomless iced tea costs only 45php). We had kare-kare, pork sinigang (they call it sinigang na babi, cute noh?!), tortang talong, and tofu sisig. Afterwards we ordered the two kinds of bibingka they have on the menu (with kesong puti and queso de bola) but failed to finish it off since we're all too full to function. I think the bill is a little above 1000php...definitely a dinner worth every cent spent by the birthday girl=). After dinner, i had my first fondue experience at Max Brenner. True, it made me more than happy, but i still think they are overcharging (almost 400php) for a plate with slices of apples, bananas, broas, mallows and less than half a cup each of white and dark chocolate fondues. Due to that, i am now firmly (!) resolved to duplicate the bald man's recipe and buy myself a fondue fork and pot, hopefully before the year ends (hey, i can do that for Christmas!). Thanks for the libre Khriz! Hope you had fun as much as we did.

Mango Bravo Cake @ Conti's

by far the best (and the tallest) cake i ever had...