FFFF: Fun Foodie Finds of February

My relationship with this blog has been on the rocks the past weeks-- It has been moping around, giving me snide remarks from time to time because of the lack of attention from me. I feel bad, because most days it has been trying so hard to say "hey I'm still here!" yet I always respond with "I'll get back to you later". "You don't find time, you make it", it said, drawing my attention to updates from my favorite blogs. So here I am, in a full effort to appease it. Haha.

The past weeks have been crazy-- it's that time of the year when I whirl and twirl non-stop around our office (for our open house activity on Saturday). Meetings left and right, mountains of artworks for production, and a million and one things to be done ASAP. On top of that, I just had to conquer some "real world" feats that required my undivided and mature attention.

Despite the tumultuous month, I have still been able to rely on my fool-proof source of sanity: good food. So let me share with you some of my best foodie finds in February (since March has just begun):

Army Navy couldn't have said it better: "Walk in hungry, come out happy"

Mr. P, Jem, and I got takeout from the BGC branch and we were all smiles. We shared an order of the Double Burger-- a big ass double-pattie beef burger that topped all of the burgers I ate that month. Didn't have time to snap a photo because we were famished and too engrossed with it. But I did manage to take a few minutes to admire these tangy fries and onion rings. 

The ultimate grilled cheese sandwich from the Treston cafeteria!

As a reward for sharing my "quiz master" skills with the Computer Studies kids, they sent me THE BEST snack I've ever had at school-- a melts-in-your-mouth sinfully cheesy grilled cheese sandwich. Seems unappealing at first but believe me, there's more than mozzarella in that sandwich! One of these babies can make you say goodbye to your diet. Snaps to Chef Sam for a slice of heaven. 

My Pescetarian Dinner at Cafe Mediterranean

February also marked the start of the 40-day Lenten abstinence from pork/beef/chicken for me and Mr. P. It's our 15th day of our new diet and it has been quite an exciting adventure picking out food that we can actually eat. Sister S and I were able to coax our uncle into treating us for dinner at Greenbelt 1 and I was thrilled that they agreed to order pescetarian dishes! Hooray for having a supportive family! Falafel and Hummus are order staples for me (S exclaimed that falafel is a great meat sub) so I tried something new-- Tapenade, which is a simple mixture of olives, capers, and olive oil. Much to my delight (being an olive lover) I had the serving all to myself. haha. We also ordered fish kebab pizza and smoked salmon pasta. It was indeed a fun way to stay off meat!

 Cafe Ti-Amo When gelato looks like cake, it's harder to resist!

That same night with my sister and uncle, we tried out a new dessert place. Cafe Ti-Amos gelatos are beautifully crafted like cakes-- making them more delectable looking! Much to our surprise, the regular gelato servings (Php 90 each) had two scoops of your desired flavor. We got the blueberry cheesecake, pistaccio, and tiramisu. This contributed much to the night's food coma. haha. Their gelatos taste really nice. The right amount of sweetness and creaminess! I'm definitely going back.

The Snickers Ice Cream Bar

Your Php 65.00 is well spent when you get inside a Rustan's store and grab yourself a Snickers Ice Cream Bar! My friends were originally raving about the Twix version (oh I love Twix so much) and how I should try it but the downside was that someone has been hoarding the Twix ice cream bars in Katipunan. Funny story, the culprit (who turns out to be one of our friends) came clean and admitted his crime! So when I found myself in Katipunan one weekend, I had to dash to the frozen foods section and try my luck. Unfortunately, the only stock left was the Snickers bar but that did not disappoint me at all. Everything you love about the chocolate bar has been incorporated into the ice cream bar-- the light chocolate coating, chewy caramel, and crunchy peanuts! But the best part is that it's in cold cold ice cream form! 

No matter how many restaurants I go to or how many funky foodie finds I stumble upon, my taste buds always find themselves craving for home-cooked goodness-- especially Master Chef P's cooking! Since our change of diet, menu-planning has become more exciting. We're constantly thinking of ways to make our meals more enjoyable despite the big shift. This March I'm looking forward to more culinary masterpieces from my personal chef! 'Til the next fun foodie find post! :)

Mr. P's Dory Nuggets

Speed Dating! (Delayed Post)

I have to admit that I do get all warm and fuzzy during special occasions--especially on Valentine's day. Many might shrug it off and say that it's a freakin commercial holiday (an excuse to sell overpriced flowers and kill each other with diabetes-inducing sweets) but I really don't mind. It's the perfect excuse to smother people with love and happy thoughts!

Throwing surprises for people gives me a different kind of high. It's my own brand of heroine! Haha.

Because S has been so busy making other people happy and spreading smiles everywhere, it was my turn to shower her with love.

‎"Dates may come and go but I'll always be your valentine" 
A box of Cloud 9 in the morning  + happiness = an Instax-worthy moment. :)

I also put together a breakfast love package for Mr. P (photos have to be extracted from the sister's laptop) that consists of his favorite things: a box of blueberry Dutch Mill yogurt drink, a sinful sandwich with choco-banana spread, and an irresistible red velvet cupcake from Sonja's! I also popped in a little good morning note and a fuzzy Instax photo of my early-morning self. haha.

My teammate Tonie, who's been feeling blue lately for the lack of a proper Valentine to call her own-- was part of my "spread the love" project. I made her a sandwich much like what I made Mr. P and she was beaming from ear to ear, smothering me with hugs and squeals of excitement. Hooray!

Throughout the day, I also posted cheesy posts on my family's wall. I'm sure my teenage brothers cringed with embarrassment because of Ate's declaration of love-- but hey, one of them "liked" it anyway.

Before Valentines, my guy teammates have been so busy discussing "surprises" for their girls. I know the old adage "it is better to give than to receive" is always true-- but a sappy part of myself has also been yearning for that fuzzy v-day feeling (because I'm idealistic like that). Haha. I've been so bummed the past week thinking that Mr. P didn't have anything in store for me (he's not an avid fan of the commercial holiday nor is he one to give flowers). I was set on hating him that day but much to my surprise-- great things come to those who wait! Despite him having to work late that day, he surprised me with an early dinner invite and *drumroll* 3 long-stemmed roses. Haha.

Malt Milk Shake, Hungarians with shoestring onions, and Funny Bed Fellows: steak slivers on fries

First customers to write on their glass doodle wall! :)

I'm allergic to pollen but what the heck, flowers really make a girl feel special!

I ran off to another dinner date when Mr. P turned Cinderella on me-- except that his "curfew" wasn't at midnight but at 8:00 P.M. Had a few bites of mojos and pizza with my surrogate family and had a blast talking about how our days went.

Love is definitely sweeter when shared to others. <3

Dressed up. Dressed down.

Discovering Downtown

The good thing about doing field work for my job is the chance to explore little nooks and crannies that you don't usually frequent. As a Marketing Officer for an international school, it is my duty to hop from one school to the other to make sure that word gets out about the school's offerings. The past year has been a wild roller coaster ride of career talks and school fairs, motivational talks, lunches in moving vehicles, and entertaining a mixture of flattering and nerve-wracking questions from students.

Yesterday, after a long time, my team and I set out to Pateros Catholic School to conduct room-to-room talks for their senior students. It was an entire day of non-stop marketing spiels, stand up comedy, and a battle with dizzy spells. Though I feel much better than the other day, the flu is still lingering in my system-- teasing me from time to time with aches and pains. 

From 8 A.M. to 3:00 P.M. I spoke to about 350 students from 7 out of 9 sections (I had to sit 2 sections out because I was getting chills already). It was insane! 

Oh the things we do for....

Never mind. Haha.

Going back to my story, after waving goodbye to giddy gay high schoolers jumping up and down screaming my name: "Bye Ate Czarrrr!" we rewarded ourselves with an afternoon snack right in the heart of Comembo, Makati City! haha.

Say hello to Mac's neighborhood goto/mami place:

Mamihan sa Comembo!

This place is known for its delectable servings of lugaw. Didn't get to try it because of my no-rice diet.

So I ordered a serving of my favorite tokwa't baboy instead! (Php 18.00)

 

Teammate Aya and I ordered the same thing. We also shared a bowl of piping hot mami!

Team Time-Out! L-R: Mac, Aya, and Ms. Cielo

 Who says yummy can't be affordable? These are the moments that I enjoy the most about getting out of the office! Despite what many think about karinderyas or local food joints, this place was clean and they're very spiffy about cleaning up after each customer. The merienda crowd was a diverse mix of nearby residents and motorists. We kept on poking fun at our teammate Aya who was all dolled up. It felt like she was out-of-place in such a rugged scenario. Haha. But I'm happy that my teammates are all cowgirls and cowboys, they're up for any challenge-- especially when it comes to food.

Upscale Ups!

 

Ironically, I had dinner at Resorts World that night with Mr. P and his college lab mates from U.P. We usually get together with these guys when there's an important occasion to celebrate (like a birthday or an engagement). That night we met up to get Liz & brooks' invites for their March wedding. I was so thrilled to receive personalized "mail"!  

Taken via Instagram

You know I'm a sucker for DIY projects and weddings so I couldn't help but ask Liz how she put together her beautiful artsyfartsy invite! Since they're both hands on with their wedding, she personally did the layout for the envelope with Adobe Photoshop-- incorporating the details of a snail-mailed letter! Each envelope has a "Tagaytay" postage stamp on it (where the wedding will be held). And another "stamp" for the details of the wedding. Each envelope also has a special print inside which Liz also handcrafted. The wedding invites with an elegant script of the couples' names was sourced from Cebu. It even came with the directions to their wedding venue. 

Anything handmade is a true work of love and it always warms my heart when someone gives me something that's handcrafted. I'm really excited for their garden wedding! Which reminds me-- I badly need to look for something to wear! It's time to work on pegs with my best bud/budding stylist ARDC! haha.

We ate dinner at Parmigiana Italian Kitchen and exchanged travel stories, wedding planning updates (both Liz and their other friend's), and work woes. Haha.

I wasn't able to snap much photos from the dinner because everyone was famished and I was still feeling a bit congested. But I did manage to snap a photo of my favorite dish of the night!

Shrimps, arugula, and Parmesan pizza! 

The boys then hit the casino for some beginner's luck after dinner. I'm not a huge fan of gambling but being there was quite an experience. I didn't really fancy much about the game but Mr. P happily took home Php 600.00 in winnings after 30 minutes of playing--without even shelling out cash from his own pocket. We even got free parking thanks to his friends' RW points! Haha.

It was quite an action-packed day of highs and lows!

Dinner for TWO!

After work last night, Mr. P and I went out for an anniversary dinner date. We went out for what else? Pizza! We're both big on pizza! Mr. P always says that he can eat pizza "all day, everyday, twice on Sundays!". I've always wanted to try Joey Pepperoni but never really had the time so we drove to JP in Pioneer (which is really near our place).

Photo from site.

The place wasn't packed that night so it was perfect for some quiet quality time! The place was really nice-- dimly lit and the seats were comfy. The first thing I noticed about the interiors was the big city scape mural on the wall. So artysyfartsy!

Taken with Dusty!

They even had paper lanters with a sticker of their logo in the middle. How nifty!

We ordered in no time! We were both so famished it didn't take us that long to decide on our menu for the evening: creamy mushroom soup, Cesar's salad, baked cheesy fries, and The Works pizza!

Before our orders were served, I took the chance to give Mr. P my cheesy love package. Yax! I wasn't able to take a photo of the package because I put it together in such a rush. haha. *facepalm* I can't believe that I wasn't able to do some fancyshmancy wrapping like I always do. I just threw everything in a long brown kraft paper button & string envelope and wrote a "WARNING: This contains cheesy stuff" note on the flap.

These always help save the day! I've used them for so many impromptu gifts. haha The package contained a pretty kraft paper card that I picked up from National Bookstore. I'm crazy over brown-paper packaging and kraft paper! It looks really classy and simple. I stamped the right inside flap with red stars using a self-inking star stamp that I bought in Fully Booked. The result? A really happy letter with lots of love! I also bought this nifty orange photo frame from National Bookstore and placed a photo of my very first trip with Mr.P! I know some of you are laughing at me for giving him something generic (do I hear a virtual snort somewhere?) but I seriously wanted him to have a photo of us-- para maiba naman. (Sorry no photo. Too embarassing. Haha.) Cheesiness aside, we wolfed down our dinner in no time! Wasn't able to take photos of some of our other orders beacuse we were too hungry! The mushroom soup was creamy and seasoned just right. For Php110, it was worth it! The salad wasn't that bad either. I enjoyed the bacon bits because they were really packed with flavor. The entire dish had the right proportions of flavor and texture. The baked cheesy fries were so good-- we didn't have time to stop and take photos. The baked fries came with a creamy meat-sauce. The Works was alright. I've had better pizzas but it was filling as it is-- bacon, pepperoni, black olives (my favorite), mushrooms, onions, and lotsa pepper. Mr. P said years back the pizza presentation was more impressive. I would've enjoyed it more perhaps if they used the wooden platters (as how Mr. P described it). After talks about how our day went and news from around the globe (haha). We went on our way and capped off dinner with some banana milk from the Korean mart across the street. Woohoo!

Oops! But before this post ends, I'd like to share a photo of me & Mr. P! It's our 2nd year of doing "tradition" Polaroid shots to celebrate our anniversary. This, i think, is the only photo we had together during that night. Hmph!

Our yearly tradition-- taking a cheesy polaroid of ourselves

Another photo to add to my growing Polaroid wall (which I will be showing you very soon), another year oflove and laughter. Oh I'm so in love with this cranky boy! :)

After School Specials

Recess & Dismissal-- school kids' best hours in a day. When I was a youngin' myself, I loved the sound of the recess bell. I'd run excitedly to my lunch box/loot to unwrap my day's baon (snack) and make rounds, asking who-brought-what and whose-baon-is-better. (Yes, at a very young age I was already a foodie) 

I don't really remember much of my preschool snacks but grade school was the most memorable.

In grade school, unlike our peers, my siblings and I didn't get money for snacks. Not having money to buy snacks somehow made me envious of my classmates during those times because we weren't allowed to by nor eat candy. While everyone was spending their cash buying those Php1.00 snacks like Invaders/Nutri Star/Cheeze It or stuffing their pockets with Bazooka, we had to make do with our sandwiches/cookies/juice.

We seemed to have an abundance of tetra pack juices back in the day. Mum and dad always bought boxes of Zesto during Sunday grocery day for our snacks. I always enjoyed picking out which flavor I'd bring for the day. On lucky days I'd convince my yaya to put milk in my jug. But since she was quite lazy, she'd opt to throw in the packed juice in my lunch bag.

One day, in a desperate effort to make my own chocolate milk, I accidentally scooped spoonfuls of coffee with milk. Pleased with myself, I was bragging to my friends at school that I had the best drink of the day. But karma boomerangs fast and the first gulp from the jug made me feel sick.  I was sad--really sad.

Morals of the story: 1) Kids should always consult with elders 2) Do not brag. Haha.

The best part of my gradeschool dismissal days was when my dad would pick us up from school. While waiting for my mom to get off work, he'd take us to the nearby shopping building Trendline (that was within the vicinity of our old appliance shop) to have zip juice and siopao. I love recalling my young self amazed with the pyramidal orange juice box and talking to my dad about how my day went.

 When we were a bit older, he'd take us to Oro Shawarma for some off that roasted goodness. Young as we were, we were already exposed to different cuisine. We were just very lucky that our parents were foodies themselves. Shawarma wasn't even a big hit in the 90s! 

It was during our later years in grade school/high school when we were given money for baon. That was a big step of maturity for us-- having been trusted by mom & dad to spend our money wisely. During those times, I only had Php 20.00 for snack money. That time, my friends were already well on their way spending Php50.00-Php100.00. Unfortunately, during the time that we were given baon money-- that was the time when we had to tighten our belts due to a fiscal crisis.

I spent my Php20.00 wisely. My usual snack combo would consist of cheese Magic Flakes (Php5.00) and juice (Php10.00) or bananacue (Php 3.00) and iced water (Php1.00). 

But these weren't sad foodie times. Mind you, my friends always had more than I did so they usually had Piattos Roadhouse or V-Cut chips with iced tea for snacks. Since I was very sociable in high school, I always found a way to strike up a chit-chat with friends (snacks in tow)  I meet in the hallway. While the conversation would go on, almost always-- that person offers some of his/her snacks to me. Who would refuse an offer like that? Haha.

I get to try different chips with different friends on different days despite not  Taste a bite or two of sandwiches prepared by their mums. Pinch a part of someone's Mister Donut twist. All these without having to spend a single cent for it.

I didn't really have to spend for anything else during school days. My dad always brought us lunches. He would be waiting for us at the gate a huge smile on his face carrying our hot lunches. Whenever the bell rings and we all rush down to the canteen-- someone would always let us know if our dad was there. I never really felt impoverished during that time because my dad always managed to whip up the best lunches. We didn't have much that time but dad grew his own spices so we enjoyed meat marinated with basil & rosemary on some days. 

We were still also very fortunate that our old delivery truck was still road-worthy, saving us expenses on transportation. That's  why the Php20.00 baon we had could still be stretched throughout the day. 

After school, some thrifty friends and I would pool in our remaining funds of the day to buy Php1.00 Superstix and green peas snacks with iced water before our choir/theatre practices. Food, no matter how expensive or cheap, is best shared with friends and family.

Though my dad couldn't take us out anymore after school, he'd always make it a point to buy a couple of bananacue or turon sticks for us to munch on at home. We'd laugh about our funny classmates, exchange thoughts about the lessons we've learned, and consult him for ideas about our projects.

When we didn't have much-- we had more stories to tell. More dreams discussed over simple meals. When I had Php20.00 I never complained that everyone else had more. I felt sad at times, but I never took it against my mum and dad. 

Now that I'm done with school and we're doing much better than we did back then, I still look back to the days when recess and dismissal were like puzzles to solve. How much should I spend or not save? How do I make myself feel great even during tough times? 

Those were fun times. 

Hey, it's almost 5 P.M. Dismissal time! 

I wonder what I'll be eating after work. Haha.

Diner Dash!

Mr. P and I went out to meet his friends last Friday so they could hand us their wedding invitation. (eeek) I was surprised to know that we were eating at Johnny Rockets in Burgos Circle-- one of the places I was dying to try! Hooray! He really knows me (and my tummy). 

Being such a foodie and a die-hard fan of diners, I was ecstatic when I saw their signature neon sign.

Johnny Rockets @ Burgos Circle, The Fort. Photo from their website.

I wasn't able to take much photos of the place because it was my first time to meet Mr. P's friends and I didn't feel that comfortable going photo crazy on them. Haha. In-Between talks about the history of their wedding prep, I managed to snap a photo of the cool mini jukebox on our table!

Pop in a coin or two to play your favorite vintage tunes!

I really like diner counters a lot. What made it more awesome was that you could see their cooks & even their manager from the counter dancing to 50s beats when the waitresses started moving!

View of the counter from my seat

Look ma, black and white tiled stairs!

The best part of the visit was discovering that they served UNLIMITED fries with burgers and their chicken tenders! Hah! Wonderful news for someone like me who can stuff her face with so much fries. The chicken tenders were also really tender and the batter wasn't overpowering.

Had the barbecue dip with my tenders and taters.

Mr. P ordered the Garden Salad with crisp romaine & iceberg lettuce with ripe tomatoes, grated cheddar cheese, and a honey-mustard dressing. Basic ingredients but the dressing was super nice. 

Wasn't able to take a good photo of it because Mr. P was quick to start on his salad.

Of course, a meal at a diner would not be complete without getting a float! Mr. P and I both love root beer so we decided to go with the root beer float instead. It was smooth and fizzy just the way I liked it!

Our companions ordered burgers and gave me their serving of fries because they were amazed at how much I loved them! Haha. Spell PIGGGGG. I can't wait to visit them again so I could try out their HUGE burgers. They're a bit expensive but I think trying it out one of these days would be quite an adventure. 

The Johnny Rockets experience was definitely worth it-- because I got to dine there for free! Haha. :)