SBC Break

I'm a bit pressured with our project in training and I couldn't think straight with all the people around me. With this kind of environment, I don't think I can finish my deliverables.
So I decided to go down and have some refreshment at Seattle's Best Coffee right across the street. And since I'm not really hungry (because I'm still full with the food I had from IBM Top Talent's event), I decided to have my favorite --- Iced Chocolate.
The refreshing taste of bitter sweet chocolate brought me back to my childhood.
Though I haven't finished my deliverables, at least I was able to start with some ideas and I'm comfortable that I will be able to finish it when I get back in my office.
Fun! Fun! Fun! Yum!

Tea

No words... Just picture... But they do taste even better...

I got these from Oakwood Ortigas when I attended an IBM event hehehe...

Nenok mode...

Ilonggo-Ilocano Fusion

Here's an Ilonggo dish which has always been a favorite of mine since I was a little kid. We call it apan-apan. Normally, it would be just takway sauteed with guinamos. But for some Ilonggos who love the taste of pork in their dishes, they sautee the fatty part of the pork until the flavor is infused in the guinamos before they put in the takway. Takway releases water so you just have to cover it until it's cooked. Your choice of vinegar can now be poured in to achieve that mouth-watering flavor. 

I was a bit disappointed when I went home to Iloilo last week because I wasn't able to eat this. Good thing takway can now be bought straight from SM City Iloilo, packed in a fashionable manner - all cleaned up and sealed in styro packs. I bought three packs and brought them here in Manila. 

I cooked it the traditional way but I forgot to bring with me an Ilonggo vinegar. What I had was vinegar from Ilocos. Since it was perfect for pork adobo, I thought it would equally great for apan-apan too. And to complete the Ilonggo-Ilocano fusion, I fried some sliced bagnet and topped it on my apan-apan. 

I bet you know what happened next... Now I'm beginning to feel my tummy grow bigger again... blame it to my Iloilo-Boracay trip last weekend...

A Healthy Breakfast

 I was contemplating on what to have this breakfast since I've been feasting on pork dishes and other oily food this past week. I went to Topway, a local grocery store near my place in Mandaluyong, and I decided to get Century Corned Tuna after rummaging through the canned goods section.

After buying some other stuff for the rest of the week, I immediately went home to prepare my corned tuna because I have been starving. I actually didn't have a dish in mind. When I got home, I boiled water (for my instant coffee) then opened my fridge to see what can be salvaged from my left overs.

I still had left over lumpia wrappers which I used for my crispy halo-halo last week, pickle relish, and peperoncini (courtesy of Sasha). With that, I had a dish in mind... tuna taquitos (although originally, corn tacos should be used for this dish.)


At this point, my kettle signaled me that my hot water is ready. So I turned off the gas stove and prepared my Nescafe Brown 'n  Creamy instant coffee. I usually buy Kopiko because Nescafe Brown 'n Creamy is always out of stock. But today, I got lucky.

After taking my first sip, I prepared my wrapper. And to my dismay, it's already a bit brittle and some of which were already torn. But I can't give up. Not this time. Luckily, I was still able to use the wrappers but they are no longer as perfect as I wanted them to be. And this sad fact explains the pictures below...

With this condition, I knew I had to be extra careful in frying them. I also had a potato so I cut it into wedges, seasoned with salt and pepper, then fried them too. And after a rigid baby-sitting of the delicate taquitos, I think I was able to turn a tragedy into a fairy tale.I didn't have any salsa to go with my dish so I just had tomato catsup mixed with crushed chili flakes. Superb!!!

WEHT Tokyo Metro?

I was browsing through some pictures taken using my iPhone4 and I stumbled upon these photos. These were taken at Tokyo-Tokyo Metro at the back of our office in Valero Street, Makati City.  is an upscale Tokyo-Tokyo Metro resto-bar of Tokyo-Tokyo. The concept is to serve from simple Japanese dishes to skillfully crafted bentos together with ice-cold beer where yuppies can have after-work (for day shift employees) casual dining while they are entertained by a band.

It was a weekday but I was on leave in preparation for an out of town trip the next day. We decided to have a couple of bottles of ice-cold beer. We weren't hungry enough but we just wanted to have something to go with our beer so we ordered for four pieces of their tempura. The food was good but their service was totally trash which I didn't mind at all because we came there to relax.

 After finishing the last bite of our tempura and the last drop of our beer, we asked for the bill and to my surprise, they didn't include the tempura. I looked at my friend with a grin then handed him the bill. We wanted to call the attention of the waiter but they were too busy with something else. So we just left some money just enough for the beer and dashed off. We hailed a taxi and then laughed off. And then my friend told me that it wasn't the first time that this has happened. Could this be the reason why they closed their Valero branch? Now if that is true, I feel guilty... LOL!

Let's all drink to that!!!

Another Round @ R&J

One fine day right after shift, a colleague and I were craving for pancit canton so we decided to go to R&J Bulalohan. It seemed like I haven't gotten enough of R&J Bulalohan last night. They serve a single order of pancit canton at PHP40.00 but we wanted to get a bigger one to suit our big appetite that morning. So I asked the waiter if their pancit come in bigger sizes too. He directed me to the page of their menu showing various sizes. We chose the small size which is, according to the menu, good for three people. To our surprise, the size was enormous! So we thought we could just have the left over taken out.

And since we were imagining a 'good-for-three' size of pancit canton, we also ordered for their beef taquitos. It's a best alternative for lumpia shanghai for someone who don't eat pork. I haven't tried other beef taquitos yet but I would say that it is delicious especially that is served with my favorite tomato salsa.

And something unusual for those who work day shift, we ordered for a bucket of beer so we can have a 'good night' sleep to prepare for our night shift jobs.

Good food, topped with cold beer and an interesting conversation about the happenings at work... what do you know... we, ourselves, were even surprised that we finished that big plate of pancit canton!!!

Team Meeting at R&J Bulalohan

 

One night in the office, while having a heated discussion over a lot of things that matter and a little bit of those that don't, our leadership team decided to take it out on a dinner at a fine-dining restaurant. I was kidding about the latter part. We went to R&J Bulalohan at Mandaluyong. It's just a couple of back flips from my apartment so it's kinda an extension of my dining room. 

We had their special bulalo (beef shank soup)  which is their famous dish. But honestly, I think their bulalo could get better if I were to modify it. 

I suggested to get their tofu steak which I really dig. Dean, our manager, ordered crispy fried tawilis.which is a native fish in Taal Lake. I wish I could modify it too!

 Marj, a colleague, ordered for lechon kawali (pan-roasted pork) which tasted ordinary.

 K, another colleague, ordered for papaitan (stewed beef innards). It was actually my first time to taste their papaitan. I have been to Ilocos several times so I can tell that it was a little far from the authentic one. R&J's papaitan tasted more like sinigang.

After a few photo-shoots, we all started to dig in. I started by making my favorite sawsawan (dip) - chili, calamansi and patis (fish sauce).

And then there was silence... pregnant silence...

The photos below would show why... I won't tell who's plate is which... LOL!

TJ Grill Quickie

Yesterday, I posted in my other blog DENCity that I have taken the first few steps in getting active and eventually lose some weight on my mid-section and that today, I will start watching my diet. So before going to work, I made myself a healthy sandwich and the plan was NOT to have 'lunch' at work anymore.

I don't know what happened. It seemed like my manager cast a spell on me when he pinged me via Lotus SameTime (a messenger application similar to YM) that we're eating out since it wasn't a busy day at the office. Without batting an eyelash, I replied YES! I even suggested the place. DARN!!! We tagged along the rest of the leadership team in our LOB (Line of Business).

TJ Grill along Kamagong street in Makati is one of our favorites if we get tired of the usual greasy fast food. Our favorite is their famous crispy sisig and pinakbet. But last night, we didn't have our 'usual.' Instead, we had an order of Crispy Pata. For the price of PHP450.00 it was worth it for the five of us. And we're a bunch of 'eaters' so we added two orders of pinakbet and an order of sinuglaw which is sinugba na liempo mixed with kinilaw na isda, hence the name sinuglaw.

We didn't mind the long wait because we knew it's worth the wait. While waiting for our order, I took the liberty of taking a few pictures of the place using my iPhone 4.

On every table they have a dim-lit candle which sets the certain mood which makes you forget that you are in the middle of a busy city.

  



I may have fallen in love with the 'light' so I took several pictures of it.

 The whole place reminds me of some resto-bars along the beach.

Usually, this place is jam-packed with loyal patrons but yesterday, it was an unusual day since only two tables were occupied.

And then our food was finally served!!!

 It was an indescribable gastronomic experience... I had extra rice after an extra rice!!!

Take a look at the aftermath...