Street sign in Makati

Note: This is my last entry for a while because I'll be in Perth, Australia and Singapore for 2 weeks. Take a look at my earlier posts and keep on checking this site for new entries.

Check out this humorous street sign at the intersection of Edsa and Ayala Avenue.

Likuan is the Tagalog term for U turn.

Dinner at California Pizza Kitchen

After watching Angels and Demons last Friday we went to CPK for dinner. For me it's the best, albeit expensive pizza in Manila.

Dinner at Via Mare

We had an impromptu girls night out the other day. The venue was Rockwell and the only choice to eat at was Via Mare. Well Pat requested it since she still craved for Filipino food. I didn't mind since I always crave for Via Mare's bibingka.

My New Toy - Panasonic Lumix G1

I was obsessed about the Panasonic Lumix G1 for months. I've never considered getting a dslr before because of the weight until I saw this gorgeous, red, petite dslr that's not a dslr. But that's a long story. So I finally gave in and ordered it from B&H photo. Ariel brought it home for me from San Francisco.

I'm bringing this camera on my trip to Perth, Margaret River and Singapore. I hope I get used to it by then. The pictures below were taken with my Panasonic LX3.

with LUMIX G VARIO HD 14-45 mm lens

The first thing I bought was this Optech classic camera strap from Vet Specialists, Inc. the local distributor of Optech and Lowepro. When I use this strap the weight of the camera disappears. It's made of neoprene and is really comfortable to use.

Optech classic strap P1,350

I wanted a very light case for my camera. I didn't want a separate camera bag. So I ordered this neoprene Zing standard case. It looks funny but it suits my purpose. It's also reversible to all black.

Zing standard case US$17.95

Here's a comparison in size between the LX3 and the G1. This was taken with my Fuji f100fd camera. No manual white balance.

Interesting Fast Food at Robinson's Galleria

Robinson's Galleria is another mall in Ortigas Center that's even nearer to my store. We are lucky or unlucky to have 3 big malls- SM Megamall, Robinson's Galleria and Shangri-la Plaza and 1 small one- The Podium in the area. Imagine the traffic jam when all these malls go on sale at the same time.

I went to Galleria's food court recently and was surprised to see that they have renovated. It's a welcome change. There were also several new and unique kiosks that opened.

Sisig is a popular dish in the Philippines. It's made of pig's cheeks, nose, ear and liver. It's usually served on a sizzling plate. It's a mainstay in menus of bars because it's fantastic when eaten with iced cold beer. That's what everyone says. It sounds gross but even Anthony Bourdain proclaimed it delcious and wonderful.

Sisig Hooray sells made to order pork, chicken and bangus (milkfish) sisig. I'd like to try the bangus sisig one of these days. It sounds interesting and not gross at all.

Some of Eggstacy's products look like it comes straight from Fear Factor. Balut is an incubated duck egg with 16 to 18 day old embryo, while Penoy is an infertile incubated duck egg or with dead embryo. Whatever- they still have EMBRYO in them! Coating them in a heavy batter and frying them is supposed to make it yummier? But that's just me. A lot of Filipinos actually like eating balut and penoy.

The only thing in their menu that I'll go for is the salted eggs. Salted eggs are yummy with chopped tomatoes as a salad. It's also used as topping on congee like the one I ate here.

fried balut, quail eggs

Coconut Republic sells fresh coconuts still in the shell and filled with different toppings. They also have coconut juice and shakes. Everything on the menu looks yummy.

click on the picture to see the menu

Food Court
Level 1
Robinson's Galleria
EDSA corner Ortigas Avenue,
Quezon City

Interesting food kiosks at SM Megamall

I've never been to SM megamall as much as I have since I started this blog. This mall provides an endless source of entries. Here are some interesting food kiosks I've discovered.

Potato Time is located at the food court in Bldg. A. They sell potato chips with free dips. It's not freshly cooked since I didn't see any cooking being done. It's ok except for a little rancid aftertaste.

The following are located outside the trade hall on the 5th flr. of Bldg. B. The Mango Farm sells desserts made with mangoes. They also have mango shakes and green mango shakes. Green mango shake is made from unripe, sour mangoes. Many Filipinos like to eat green mangoes. I prefer the sweet ripe mango. I think mangoes from the Philippines are the best in the whole world.

Chicharon or pork rinds and other varieties are sold here. They can also call this kiosk cholesterol heaven. I want those chicken skins! Of course it's only in my dreams.

pork rind with some meat


chicken skin

pork intestine

chicken bits (from the neck)

Hungrypac Crinkles and Cakes

Hungrypac became popular with it's chocolate crinkles. They later added cakes and other varieties of cookies. I visited their store in Greenhills to check out what's new.

Their crinkles are chewy and chocolatey. No wonder it's their bestseller.

I bought one container of chocolate ecstasy to try it out. It was indeed ecstasy! The cake was so moist and the choco icing was fudgy and yummy. It's one of the better chocolate cakes in town.

When you need a cake to bring to a party or a potluck get the chocolate ecstasy. It's a no fail crowd pleaser at a very affordable price.

whole chocolate ecstasy P445

other cake selections

I'm sorry to say that this is one of the worst sans rival I've ever eaten. It looks good in the picture but that's because of my amazing photography ehem ehem :D. Sans rival for me should be crunchy and nutty with a light butter cream filling. This sans rival had big chunks of cashews and light butter cream but the merengue totally flops literally. It's so full of air that it immediately flattens when you try to take a bite with your fork. It's so soft and chewy. It's only the liberal amount of cashew nuts that actually saved it from being a total disaster.

Hungrypac
Ash Creek Center
Madison Street corner Ortigas Ave
telephone: 736-0002, 0917-8360092
look for Cynthia Ang for orders

Mother's Day at Aubergine

We liked our last meal at Aubergine so much that we went back last Sunday for Mother's Day lunch. I'm glad they had a different set lunch menu. This one was cheaper and had more choices so everyone ordered this lunch menu except for the kids.

My Labs

I featured my pomeranians before and my labradors before I had them neutered. Father and son labs were both Alpha males and kept fighting so the doctor told me the only way was to have them both neutered to lessen their aggressive behavior. He did warn me that the effect was for them to gain weight. Boy was he right! All my friends who see Chocnut say he's not a dog but a pig. He's fat but I still love him.

click to enlarge

Back to food tomorrow. I just couldn't resist showing them off.

Dinner at Cafe Juanita

Entering Cafe Juanita for the first time is like going to your grandmother's house. Your grandmother who doesn't get rid of any of her possessions, treasures, antiques and even junk. Your grandmother who insists of displaying everything in every nook and cranny in the whole house.

Welcome dinner for Pat

Last Sunday Deb hosted a welcome home dinner for our friend Pat who finally came home from Florida after more than 10 years of living in the USA. Yes folks she's back for good. The theme for dinner was Filipino food. Deb took out her magic address book and ordered a wonderful gut busting meal. Guys have little black books. Deb has a little food book.

Dinner at Amici Greenhills

Since Amici was bought by the former owners of Red Ribbon from the Salesians of Don Bosco they've gone on an expansion boom. They've improved on the menu and the restaurant's interiors while maintaining and even improving on the taste of the food.

Travel Essentials

I'm going to Perth and Margaret River in Western Australia and Singapore next week with friends. Do you have any suggestions on where to eat so I can feature them on my blog? Please write them on the comments area.

Since those 2 countries have different plugs from the Philippines I had to buy some things so I can charge my gadgets. I have a retractable usb cable for my cellphone and Ipod touch so I bought this worldwide usb charger from Cdr King. What I like about this is I can charge both my ipod and cellphone at the same time. It comes with 4 plugs that pretty much covers the world.

Lunch at Aubergine

When I heard we were eating lunch at Aubergine at the Fort I did some online research on the restaurants' reviews. There were as many rave reviews as there were negative rants. So I was a bit wary on what to expect.

Cakes & Bakes

Cakes & Bakes has been in Cherry Foodarama forever! They have several kinds of bread and cake rolls. They even sell garlic peanuts.

Hotshots Burgers

For me Hotshots flame-grilled burgers is the best fast food burger I've ever eaten in Manila or the USA. I like it even better than In-n-Out and Five Guys. It'a definitely better than Sango burger.

Hong Kong Food Finds - Mochi Cream

I discovered Mochi Cream when I was wandering around Sogo. Mochi is Japanese rice cake made of glutinous rice. Mochi cream takes the regular mochi to another level by adding several Western and Asian flavors to its line-up.