Dessert Comes First: Get a Grip - Hanging out at Handlebar Manila

It is with great pleasure that I link through to my first article at Dessert Comes First, about the famous Handlebar Bar and Grill in Makati.

Cheers!

ARTICLE: Get a Grip - Hanging Out at Handlebar Manila

A little side-trip to Singapore: Makansutra Hawkers in SM Megamall

My partner and I decided to eat out after meeting with an online seller, and as luck would have it, we ended up at Makansutra Hawkers, a Singapore-style food market / food park on the second floor of SM Megamall, technically above National Bookstore in Building A.

My partner and I had seen the place before, and we knew that we should try the food there some other time. Now, after looking at some watches at Building B, and some toys at Toy Kingdom at the basement, we decided it was time to try out Makansutra Hawkers (Philippines)

We had a limited budget, so we settled on two dishes: Laksa, and Pork with Salted Egg (in essence , pork strips - liempo cuts, I think - cooked in a mixture of salted egg and what seems to be butter and a few other ingredients).

It's a good thing that we asked if the pork dish was for sharing - we can confirm that you may need a group of three for one order (P380). In fact, with the Laksa, I feel I should have called my mother up and asked her to join us.

Now, on to the food:

I'm not a laksa person, but my partner loves is, and says that the laksa was above average, and worth the price at P250. For me, I liked the fact that it had a god balance between the spiciness and the coconut milk. At first, I thought that it had been adapted to Philippine tastes, as it wasn't so spicy, but the partner assured me that there were options for more spicy preparations, but that he decided to stick with the basics. Even if the bowl of laksa already had noodles, I still wanted to drizzle the soup over rice (which I did!).

As for the pork with salted egg, all I can say is that the salted egg sauce preparation was practically a meal in itself aside from the pork - if anything, I actually wished that the pork had less fat, as the combination of pork fat and the sauce was pretty rich in flavor - enough for me to wave the white flag, and ask my partner to help me finish off some remaining pieces. The dish comes with a side of pickled vegetables - atsara. Believe me, you'll need it to counter the powerful the punch-counterpunch of salted egg, pork, and butter. I know that some of my friends will tell me better places to find salted egg preparations, but for now, this is an affordable and, for me, good enough dish that I would tell people to go with me so I can eat more of it (haha!).

Add P50 of rice, and we were able to get stuffed for about P680 or so.

In all, I can honestly say that I liked the laksa dish - though I wish my partner had ordered a spicier one - and that the pork with salted egg should not be missed. But please, do not try to finish off one order by yourself; if anything, the richness - creaminess - of the dish makes it hard to do.

Also, kudos for Makansutra Hawkers' service, and I have yet to try the coffee pork dish offered in another stall. Also, some of the drink and dessert preparations look like I'll be back to try more.

I bought the Pork with Salted Egg dish at the Hong Kong Street Old Chun Kee; sadly, my partner forgot the name of the stall where he got the laksa.

For more information:
http://www.makansutra.com/

What to do with holiday leftovers

For Filipinos, if it’s worth doing, then it’s worth overdoing. It’s this very mode of thinking that gives us a Christmas season that starts after Halloween, and it contributes to our almost garish, overblown cultural aesthetics. And when it comes to our holiday handaan leftovers, many of us have refrigerators full of food that we don’t quite know what to do with.

When you have that much food, and you want to maximize your enjoyment, it’s useful to have a few rules of thumb that will help you with your leftovers.

"Lechon/Whole Roasted Pig," by Shubert Ciencia

Read the full article at the Philippine Online Chronicles

Article: Cubao hideaways

Cubao hideaways

The idea of finding nice quiet places in the Cubao commercial center (SMART/Araneta Coliseum area) sounds like an unnecessary thing to do, but for people like me who live nearby, it’s become a bit of a game finding pockets of relative peace and quiet where one can just observe people as they pass by.

Click here to read more at the Philippine Online Chronicles

Breakfast Reveries

Sauce: small portions of garlic and onion, then one tomato - all slice and diced; do the same for small amounts of tuna, olives, capers and mushroom. sautee all ingrdeints in pan, then ass spaghetti sauce and water. Simmer until sauce is 
thick. pour over pasta.

Some people ask me why I wake up at the god-forsaken time of 5:30 a.m., when I could just cook all the food for my partner and I at night, then just zap everything in the microwave in the morning.

The answer is simple: cooking helps me think. Somehow the procedural side of cooking helps me get into the mood for the whole day.

Besides, I want freshly-cooked food in the morning.

Food Photos - Treffpunkt Jedermann

Excited to eat sausage.

Because I remembered eating good cold cuts bought from Treffpunkt Jedermann, the hubby and I decided to go to the outlet-resto on Edsa, near Cubao.

And so we went there. Since I had not been expecting much in the way of ambiance, knowing how old the place was, I wasn;t surprised. Hwever, for my friends who will brave the second visit with me, I have to say: It smells like a meat shop in there. I found that, strangely, a turn-on. Other people might not find it as conducive.

Also, the ambiance was essentially "shabby, mismatched, but we have GOOD FOOD."

And so we ordered the cold cuts platter, along with another plate of ham.

VERY HAPPY.

As you can see in the picture, Alex and I ended up with meat overload. Yummy. Alex and I are still planning when we're going back. But next time, we need two more people.

For those interested, click on this link for the current owners of Treffpunkt Jedermann.

Comfort Food!

For people who need a good dose of food overload as a way to relax from a stressful turn of events, may I present to you: Charlie's Grill.

And this is what I pigged out on: 

Two buttermilk pancakes, three breakast sausage patties, a good cup of brewed coffee. I got it all for Around P200 (sorry, I forgot the exact cost).

My friend Ian kept it real: four buttermilk pancakes:

Needless to say, I was happy, but surprsingly not full.

Which was good, except that later in the day, Eric and Carla, the Couple of Doom, invited me to have a late lunch/early dinner with them at The Burger Project. Who could refuse?

I wasn't able to get photos there (camera was used by the hubby), but what I had was a burger with an Angus Beef patty, mozzarella cheese, wasabi mayo, assorted mushrooms and teriyaki sauce, all with oatmeal buns.

My final word? Both establishments serve good comfort food, but I'd have to say that I give the edge on service and presentation to Charlie's. The Burger Project, though, wins in terms of customization - making your own burger combination is really much, much better.

WMN.Ph article: Men are for Pizza, Women are for Cookies

This one was particularly interesting for me to write, since I do tend to be an emotional eater. Thanks to the research I did for this article, I've been a bit more sucessful in controlling my urges and insecurities.


Article originally published in WMN.Ph.

Men are for Pizza, Women are for Cookies
Do you feel the need to eat when you are stressed out? For some people, that can be a sign of an emotional eating disorder. Find out if how you can deal with it.

Text and Photos By Richie Ramos
It's all in the feelings
Emotional eating, as the name implies, is the urge to eat when one gets emotionally distressed. It's not just about negative moods, however, but positive ones as well. Emotional eating can also be present in people who are trying to keep a good mood going.
How is emotional eating different?
Here are some differences between actual hunger and stress-induced eating:

1) Physical hunger happens gradually. Emotional hunger comes suddenly. "Craving" is a very good term for this.

2) If you're looking for a specific food (and you're not pregnant), then it's emotional. If you were really hungry, you'd think of other options.

3) Unless you haven't eaten for 12 hours, you can probably wait a bit before eating. But if it were an emotional hunger attack, you'd probably want your comfort food now.

4) When you're satisfying an emotional need, you will eat even if you're full. This can lead to other eating disorders.

5) Emotional eating carries feelings of guilt along with it in many cases. Let's face it, you don't really feel guilty when you're eating due to honest-to-goodness physical hunger.
Management
If you think you may have emotional eating problems, here are a few pointers on how to control it:

Keep an "eating" notebook. Map out your eating patterns. Include what you ate, when you ate it, and how your feelings were at the time. Even better, if you can pinpoint why you're stressed out, write it down.

Do something else. Come up with alternative activities to eating. It doesn't have to be exercise, just something that is enjoyable and takes your mind off food intake.

Get the support of friends. Your loved ones should know about your problem. The emotional and actual support that friends can give is very important in controlling stress factors.

Give yourself a healthy food option. Granola bars and fruits are good examples of healthy comfort food. But don't ban your favorites completely from your diet. Rather, schedule your indulgences in small portions. For instance, you don't have to finish off a whole cheesecake; a few bites ought to satisfy your taste buds already. For the leftover, share it with friends - but not the same ones all the time!
Getting help
If you think you're still failing, then it's time to get professional help. And as always, get the support of your loved ones. You might want to bring them with you when you consult your doctor, or you may even consider the possibility that they may be the source of your stress.
So, the next time you get an urge to eat a gallon of ice cream, ask yourself: is it getting to be a habit? It will only become a vicious cycle if you don't get to the root of the problem triggering you to eat.

References:
http://www.mayoclinic.com/health/weight-loss/MH00025
http://www.webmd.com/diet/features/emotional-eating-feeding-your-feelings
http://www.medicinenet.com/emotional_eating/article.htm

Search Amazon.com for emotional eating

Barak-Ooh-Mama. The Coffee. Seriously

This post is for my friend Rej, who has only heard about this, but has never seen it.

It's in Eunilane Grocery, along Kalayaan in QC (towards City Hall, from Kamias intersection).

I will actually buy some just to see if it's good. Epic win and fail, depending on how you look at it.

Search Amazon.com for coffee

The Importance of One Plate

My partner Alex and I eat from the same plate.

This isn't a figure of speech, It's very literal. Save for the occasional flu (or, in my case, cat bite and anti-rabies shots), we make it a point to use only one plate as our main dish, so to speak.

Honesty
One reason for this is, as Alex puts it, is that it's hard to be angry or dishonest with each other when you're face to face and eating that close to each other. I have to admit, I was rather shocked by this practice, as I wasn't really used to sharing at this close a level. In my family's house, everyone had their own stuff - plates, water glasses, even rooms. But after seeing how compartmentalized and screwed up my family became, we decided to try this out.

I can tell you all now: it works. My relationship with Alex, while never really as smooth a sailing experience as most people think, is at least one based on honesty, mixed with tact and understanding. It's not just how you tell the truth, but also how you consider the other's feelings when being truthful. It may sound contradictory, but it works for me.

When the day ends...
And it's not just about dishes, too. Alex has also been the one make it a law of our house (apartment) that we don't go to sleep at night (or early morning) until the day's pressing problems with each other have been resolved. Either that, or somebody just has to be the first one to give a hug and say all is well, I love you anyway. And mean it.

I had to adjust to this mode of living with each other - I had no choice. I am truly, madly and deeply in love with this man, and living without him is not an option. And so I learned.

Six years later, I think it has been very much worth it. While I'm writing this, I am also thinking of what brunch will be (Given that it's grocery day, I may just finish off a large part of our remaining food stores), and I'm letting him sleep a bit more, since I know he's had a long week. Later, I'll probably wake him up with a kiss.

And then we'll eat from one dish - as always.


Note: If you guys have noticed: yes, we only have one set of plates. We're still saving up for another set, as we're getting bored of the same color all the time, hahahah! The food in the picture is tuna shanghai, which I bought from SM Cubao's grocery.

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