Quick Fix: Smoothies and Shakes

Whenever, I need a quick fix of energy I always go for a smoothie or a shake.  Among the combinations that I go for are: apple and carrot, mango and carrot or mango and melon.  Sometimes, single fruit smoothies like banana, avocado or strawberry also works.  What I always ask is to add milk to the smoothie so that it tastes better and I also get my daily dose of calcium.

Here are my favorite juice bars in order of rating:

1. Fruitas - Their shakes and smoothies are very affordable.  Best of all, no extra charge if you want them to add milk.  I usually go for the 16 ounce cup since there is about just a few pesos difference from the next smaller size.  I love their carrot combinations or sometimes plain carrot shake for me.  Downside, the carrot apple usually have a lot of sap left at the bottom since the carrot is not liquefied.
2. Big Chill - Banana smoothie = Love.  This was actually the first item that got me hooked on shakes and smoothies.  They also offer avocado or strawberry if they are in season or available.  I sometimes also try their smoothies with yogurt, whey protein or lemon grass.  Downside, they charge extra even for the powdered milk which they already portioned in sachets.  I wonder if they would allow me to bring my own milk? (Now that doesn't sound right.  I mean milk that I bought from the grocery and I will bring to their store. Yeah, you get my point.)
3. Juice Ave - you may not have heard of this joint but to me their shakes are quite good and with very unique names for their concoction like 180kph, Roxas Blvd, 5th Ave NY, Traffic, etc. Price is also very affordable.  Downside, not too many stores around,  I have visited their Glorietta and RP Galleria branches so far.
4. Dizon Farms - They now also sell fruit shakes in the fruit section of Rustan's Makati.  Downside, what  happens to the fruits that are not sold?  C'mon give it a wild guess.
5. Fruit Magic - Their Buko Pandan and bottled soya milk named Soy Magic (duh) are the only products I go for.  Downside, I find their shakes a little bit bland since they don't add syrup.  Also, no milk.  There is no room for creativity here so sometimes I would rather whip up my own smoothie at home.

Not really there yet - Zing Juice!  I tried their juice once and sad to say I was not made a fan of their product.  No zing! Nuff said.

Honorary mention:
Fuzion Smoothie Cafe, the smoothie is a bit pricey but then again they are really good.  Like Fruit Magic they also do not add syrup but the fruits are naturally sweet anyway.
Jonas Fruit Shake in Boracay - Great place and a great view to enjoy your fruit shake.  Downside, you can only have it in Boracay.  *SIGH*

Curry Squash Soup

Soup is a major, major comfort food :) Also, for those on a diet, servings of soup gives you that fill without the excess fat or calories.  One of my favorite soup is Curry Squash Soup.

This one is easy to prepare, all you need are:

4 cups of squash, peeled
1 white onion
2 Tbsp of garlic
1 tsp curry powder
4 tsp of cream
6 cups of broth (chicken or beef) you may also try Knorr cubes dissolved in 6 cups of water
salt and pepper

Sauté the onion then the garlic  (notice that this is always the right sauté sequence as garlic cooks faster than the onion.)  After the onions become transparent (naging honest na sya, *joke*), add the squash, broth, curry and salt (according to your taste but this requires about 1/2 tsp, lessen if using bullion or cubes.)  Bring this to a boil.  Reduce heat and simmer for about 15 minutes until the squash is tender.  Remove form heat.  You may puree the squash using a food processor/osterizer or mash the squash with a fork (although the consistency might not be as good.)   If using a fork, stir the soup well to blend the squash with the soup.

To prepare, ladle soup in a serving bowl and add one tsp of cream.  Add salt and pepper to taste.

On Buffets

Buffets have always been a wonderful dining experience for me.  Aside from the wide choices of food to sample this setup takes out the chores and horrors of ordering ala carte (choosing from the menu, can't figure out which one among the choices would you like to eat, waiting for the food to arrive, being disappointed that you chose this meal from the other, wrong dish served, badly cooked food, etc.)   Plus, buffets also include the dessert which is heaven for a dessert enthusiast like me. 

Among the memorable buffets I have tried are the following:

1. Market Cafe at the Hyatt Hotel (the grill section is magnificent)
2. Circles Cafe of Makati Shangri-La (I proposed to my wife after having dinner there)
3. Jeepney Cafe at the Hotel Intercon (two words: Samurai Crepe)
4. Dad's/Kamayan/Saisaki (I recently ate here, the plush toys that come with the drinks is a hit to my daughter.)
5. Riviera Cafe of Heritage Hotel (the best Tom Yum Goong outside of Thailand I have tasted by far)
6. Tong Yang Shabu Shabu (grill all you can right at your table.)
7. Alba Restaurante in Bel Air (Paella!)
8. Cabalen (choices are not as wide as Dad's but not bad either.)
9. Hard Rock Cafe (Lunch only)  The moment I remember this place I always get a bad case of LSS of the Hard Rock Cafe Jingle, "At The Hard Rock Cafe, teng teng teng teng, Come to the Hard Rock Cafe..."  Some of you are probably having the same LSS now.

Among these buffets Dad's, Tong Yang and Cabalen have a strict "No Leftover Policy" which somehow compensates for the much cheaper price tag compared to the buffets in hotels.  I now share with you some tips (real and otherwise) that can help circumvent the "No Leftover Policy."

1.   Hide the food in your table napkin.  Just make sure you don't forget and use it afterwards.

2.   Drown the food in condiments (soy sauce is the best hiding place) hoping that it would dissolve over time

3.   Order Coke/Pepsi and hide your leftover in the glass.  Again, don't forget you placed it there.  You or your companion might drink it.

4.   If there is another customer's table nearby, place your leftover to their table while they are not looking.

5.   If dining on a Shabu Shabu or grill, try to burn the evidence errr leftover.

6.   Hide the leftovers in a doggie bag or if none inside your bag (worst case scenario: hide it in another person's bag.  Hey, it works for Mr Bean!)

7.   Hide the leftover in your mouth and spit it out in the comfort room.  Not advisable when hiding a whole leg of chicken.

So there you go and until the next buffet.   You may wonder why I did not include Spiral Cafe of Hotel Sofitel here.  Well, the simple reason is that I haven't tried it yet.  One of these days some good friend might invite me there, who knows?  Probably on my birthday, which is coming on the 21st (ehem.)  *Hint*

Peace!

Who wants some Panna Cotta with Red Wine Syrup?

Here is a simple dessert that I have been meaning to try for quite some time now. I have some left over gelatin and red wine and have mulled over what to do with them.

Here is the recipe:

Panna Cotta

Combine 1 pack Alsa Clear Gelatin (ehem, Unilever) with half cup of water in a sauce pan. Bring to a boil over medium heat until the gelatin is completely dissolved.  Lower heat and add one can of evaporated milk. (Tip: you may replace the water and evaporated milk with 1 and 3/4 cup of full cream milk but do not bring to a boil this time.)  Stir constantly until fully blended. Add a half cup of cream. Place the mixture in dessert cups and let cool in room temperature to set. Once cooled transfer to the chiller.

Red wine syrup

Combine one half cup red wine with one half cup of sugar in a sauce pan. Let this simmer until sugar dissolves.

Place the panna cotta on a plate by loosening the edges and giving the cup a tap. Drizzle with red wine syrup and enjoy.

Tip:  Red wine syrup also goes well with fruits or ice cream.

Tried Recently - Masas Lunch Offer

I work near Greenbelt so there are plenty of choices to take lunch. It may vary from the fastfood type with the usual value meals to fine dining restaurants where either the servings are too much for one person or the price may not be for the average lunch budget. An exception to this is Masas. I love their menu, I always bring my foreign guests there whenever they would like to sample fine Filipino cuisine. Among my favorites are the Crispy Tadyang ng Baka and the Tuna Belly. Their Iced Tea (Tamarind flavored if I am not mistaken) is simply superb!

I had lunch at Masas the other day for their lunch offer. A couple of restaurants are now offering lunch menus to boost sales in this side of Ayala Center. I tried the Chicken Inasal this time since I was already able to try the Kare Kare and their Adobo about a few weeks ago. It comes with Sinigang soup, Laing and Rice. All for under 150 pesos. This is a good deal for me, as the portions are not so bad especially when dining alone and the food quality is the same as the ala carte menu.

(You hear that restaurant D? wag tipirin pag promo meal. Pag sinabing Arroz ala Cubana isama mo yung egg and fried banana otherwise tawagin mo na lang na Giniling, okay?)

The ambiance is also exceptional, well lighted and clean. I also experience good service from the servers. The ambient music varies though, sometimes they play OPM at times they play R&B. This is also where I heard the acoustic version of "Love In This Club" it's cool in a weird kinda way :)

The downside is that they took out the dessert of Buko Pandan which was included in the earlier variant of this promo. Not making a fuzz out of it but it was somehow a good ending for such a fine meal, I hope they bring it back. Next time I'll post some pictures, I will probably come back again there this week.

A Repost of an old FB rant.

Originally posted on my Facebook Notes last February 27, 2010:

Inasar ako ng Mang Inasal!!!

"My current rant is Mang Inasal, you know that Inasal place that is mushrooming across Metro Manila. They seem to be promising when they started with unlimited rice a good menu but one aspect that got affected with their rapid growth is customer service. Case in point, I ate at the Ayala MRT branch last month and situated myself at an available table which is unfortunately near the employee's quarter. I was eating alone and a table can be occupied by 4 people. When I was already starting my meal 2 service crew who are already on their break sat at the other side. With their backs turned from me started talking to each other with no utter RESPECT for a paying customer who is trying to eat in peace. The last straw came today when my wife and I tried to ate at their branch in the building where our daughter is having her session. First of all no pork BBQ inasal one of their main menu, second the softdrink that comes with the meal is only a regular coke (my wife likes Coke Zero with her meal) but strike 3 came when they don't have the bangus meal which they promote with for their Lenten menu. And the sad part about it is that the order taker doesn't seem to know what she has on stock and doesn't even say sorry for not having the opportunity to SERVE us. If this continues with Mang Inasal, even if they expand to 500 stores nationwide they would not last long due to bad service. They are not in the caliber of the other fastfood establishments that are more professional and where customer service training is their prime consideration."

Looking back I guess the seeds of this restaurant critique blog of mine was already evident then.  Here is my policy:

If you don't serve me well I will turn my back from you and never to go back again, I will however tell you about your weak points so that you can correct your service.  

If your service/food quality affected me physically I will speak out and tell my friends of my horrible experience.  For me this is unforgivable, you would hear from me later on about a restaurant that almost rendered my daughter orphan and also the one about the falling plates on my white shirt (not once but twice!)

If I like your food/service I will give you praises and tell my friends about it.  I've always love to share good food experience with my friends.  A Japanese colleague of mine told me a few weeks ago that I have good taste in food so trust me I know what I'm doing.

Adobong Batangas

Inspired by a fine lunch one day at Conti's I figured out the recipe for Adobong Batangas.  No soy sauce and the  yellowish color comes from achuete.  Clearly the taste comes from garlic, salt, pepper and vinegar.  Just like the same ingredients when making Inasal.

So today, I cooked Adobong Batangas and my wife loved it.  Fellow blogger (naks! eh para bang second post ko pa lang to) MyMomFriday http://www.mymomfriday.com/ asked me for the recipe so here it is:

1/2 kilo pork (cubes or adobo cut; liempo part works well as it is tender; kasim or pigue is also good)
garlic powder
1 tbsp crushed garlic
1 pork cube (Knorr ehem, ayan nagplug ako Unilever ha?)
half cup of vinegar
2 tsp salt
pepper (ground or peppercorns)
2 pcs bay leaf
1 tsp sage (I use McCormick ground Sage)
annatto/achuete (seeds or the ground preparation from the supermarket)
cooking oil


In a skillet/wok/saucepan combine the pork, pork cube dissolved in 2 cups water, 3 dashes of garlic powder, vinegar, sage, salt and pepper.  Bring to a boil on high heat,  cook covered until meat is tender.  Add another cup of water if it dries up.   Soak the annatto seeds in cooking oil for about 15 minutes or while you are waiting for the meat to cook.  It would also help if you heat the oil first before soaking the annatto seeds into them so that that yellow color of the annatto will seep faster.   Heat the now yellowish cooking oil in another skillet/wok/saucepan and saute the crushed garlic.  Add the pork without the sauce until it is a bit brown.  Add the sauce and bay leaf.  Simmer for another 10 minutes.   This is now ready serve.

Tip: cook lots of rice, thank me later...

An intro to my Blog

It started with a comment on Facebook about a bad lunch promo I tried at a place that I will not name anymore. (I still have my eyes on you D------ your sandwich promo and 99 peso espagueti offers still suck!  I tried them today.)  Ooops, I think I gave it away by how I spelled spaghetti clearly Spanish.  So my dear wife suggested to me "Why not blog about your lunch escapades?"  So here it goes.

(And by the way, restaurant D if your customer needs to sign your charge slip it helps that you give your customer a pen to sign it with.)

Well anyway, working in Makati for so long now, I have always had the opportunity to eat out every so often.  From the jolli-jeeps to the finest restaurants, I have tried them all. (OK maybe not all but I think you got my point.)

So that is the main focus of this blog. At times you will get random rants and raves on gadgets, movies and books as well.  Comments are always welcome.