Cannelloni and Mushrooms

Sometimes, I just go over someone's house and try to remember how the food was prepared. Emphasis on "try" because when I taste it, I'm just so happy I can eat food I'm not sure of how to pronounce. Yes, sometimes most of the time I just leech off my friend's fascination of cooking her own food and making those items from scratch. She made pasta from scratch. I can make noodles from a packet. I just add hot water! Who's more amazing now, huh? *smug face*

*Please remember if I say "we" it means my friend as the main doer and me, as the lovely spectator.

Meet the spinach cannelloni with feta cheese drowned in more cheese. There was supposed to be tofu in here but then we were not able to get one so we're settling on feta cheese. So how do you do this? Saute the spinach and mix the cheese while it's cooling. Put it in the middle of a lasagna (lasagna sheet???) and roll your way around. Make loads of those and add tomato sauce like your pasta. Don't forget the truckloads of cheese that's waiting on the corner road.

Photo shows the first pour of tomato sauce. There are a million pours
that happened after this photo. Plus 2 kilos of cheese.

OH YEAH, then there's charbroiled mushrooms partnered with steak sauce (Worcestershire and catsup mix).

That's steak hiding underneath.

And don't forget the wine. Never ever forget the wine. :)

I know. Food is invading my blog. Flog. I want rice now. Huhu.

Fisher Cafe - Cheapest Coffee So Far!

So I've been frequenting Fisher Mall lately because of my friend who has a clinic there and of course where there are people, there are coffee shops. So the in-house coffee shop here is Fisher Cafe. There's a Seattle's Best Coffee spot in their Upper Basement part but then SBC drinks are too sweet so let's not talk about them.

Heated pour over drips in the house, yo!

This place has the cheapest coffee. Their cappuccino is good and it's for Php95 only. Then after some time, I saw ceramic pour overs on top of their espresso machine. They're now offering hand brewed coffee! It's only Php85 (the cheapest hand brewed coffee I have ever encountered) and you get to choose the beans you like! I interviewed their barista and although he was gathering some time before he could answer, I saw the cheat sheet at the other side of the place. 

Fisher Cafe has two spots inside the mall.  One is near the supermarket and the other is on the 4F, near the cinemas. And I prefer the latter spot since it has an overlooking view of... Quezon Avenue. Haha. I'm so getting some coffee there the next time I visit.  

Cafe Vegis

Cafe Vegis. It's that place you always just pass by that you didn't give a chance. Turns out, they serve the best vegetarian food so far. It's one up from Agico because Agico's price range is just a little too steep. There are a number of vegetarian places around, from the usual Bodhi, to the creative Pipino, to my old favorite Greens (Scout Castor), to the expensive Agico (San Juan), and then there's Corner Tree Cafe (Jupiter), too. 

It was interesting to see liempo. I'm wary of these mock meat because they all taste like Spam. Or fine, maling. The texture is a dead giveaway of how much it was trying to pretend to be good. 

I was ready to bash the liempo. However, it was dang good! From the texture to the crispy sides, it was really good! I was already suspicious about it, the strains were like real meat - at least how I remember it. 

And we also tried their Grilled Salmon and sisig. I still believe sisig at Greens is my favorite, while Bodhi's barbecue is top notch. I was able to try Agico's Bacon Burger and it was oh-mazing! Now, I want to try out other dishes from Cafe Vegis because this resto just made me want to try it again even while typing this. o___o

Cafe Vegis is located at Moomba Compound, Mother Ignacia near Don Roces Avenue.

Battle of the Brewed (Coffee)

There has been mainstream coffee shops under attack lately like Starbucks, The Coffee Bean, and Seattle's Best. The influx of "third wave" coffee shops make people more snobbish about coffee and look down on these "mainstream" giant coffee shops, but they increase coffee awareness and appreciation in return. We welcome Craft Coffee, Commune, Kuppa, Magnum Opus, Yardstick, and other places I haven't tried yet (no, Epic Cafe, it's not your time yet) with open arms and open wallets.

Well, this is not a review of those places. Yes, these coffee shops serve good coffee by means of good beans and careful handling. This is about the cheapest and most available brewed coffee your money can buy. Brewing your own batch is of course the best and cheapest approach but sometimes you just want to spend money on things like... hmmm, aside from Goody hair elastics, more like... coffee. 

Location: Fisher Mall

Items to be briefly discussed here:

Dunkin' Donuts Brewed Coffee

McDonald's Premium Roast (aka their Brewed Coffee)

Price:

DD - 8oz costs Php35; 12oz Php45

McDo - 8oz costs Php25; 12oz Php35

Obviously, McDonald's is cheaper by volume. 

Beans:

Both use pre-ground coffee beans. McDo says they use 100% pure arabica beans.

(Note: McDonald's use freshly ground beans for their espresso-based drinks but that is a different topic.)

Packaging:

DD Brewed Coffee has thicker drinking plastic part and thicker cup holder, albeit a smaller area covered. DD also has their own creamer (5 grams) and sugar packets while McDonald's has Coffee-Mate (3 grams) for their creamer. (Note: Drinking brewed coffee in its purest form, meaning no sugar nor milk or creamer, is still the best approach.)

Oh, hi, Gus! You're the background shot!

So, what's the main difference? Aside from the price which is the ultimate factor for coffee cheapos like me, McDonald's brewed coffee is thinner and more diluted compared to Dunkin' Donuts' coffee. DD has more body and a stronger taste. What I'm not sure of is the consistency - if DD has this better coffee throughout their branches or is it hit-or-miss like McDonald's, because some branches serve okay-coffee while some branches serve colored hot water. (-.-)

Oh by the way, when you can, brew your own coffee. Invest on beans and a coffee press or drip coffee filter. But on this day, let it be known: Dunkin' Donuts wins the brewed coffee battle. And you should never buy Jollibee brewed coffee. It's just plain sad. And awful. And did I mention awful? Oh yeeeeaaaaah... Their iced coffee? It is instant coffee with ice. 

Shooting Stars with a 9mm

There's always a new thing you can do but just can't because you convince yourself you've got no time for it. Well. Not really. Maybe you're just too lazy to actually try it or maybe just need a push from someone else. 

Or sometimes, all you need is a voucher or coupon from some legit groupon sites. The extra push comes with the expiration date so the mindset of "but I already paid for this sh*t!" actually works. Unless you're really into wasting money.

Stronghold Shooting Range is located at E. Rodriguez, past Tomas Morato when you're coming from St. Luke's side. You can find it on the right side. It's the new shooting range in town so they offer a beginner's course for well, duh, beginners. You get a classroom lecture and then 20 rounds of 9mm pistol fun at 5m and 10m. Plus they have a cafe at the lounge where you can load yourself up with caffeine before you go trigger-happy on the range. 

They pride themselves with being toxic-free but I don't really know about that because it's my first time firing a gun. Squeeze the trigger but before they say it, they clip your shirt first before they let you get a hold of that gun. (Why? It's because the shells might get inside your shirt and you go hysterical while holding a loaded firearm.) I really wanted to try the revolver but I don't think they allow that kind of request on beginner courses.

It was a fun (I'll admit it, it really was!) and interesting experience, so if you've got the time to drag yourself to try new things, a shooting range might prove to be a good place to visit. Another takeaway aside from the experience? Gun education. It's way better than reading about it on Wikipedia. Pew pew pew!

Homemade Grilled Tofu Burger

We have experimented with a number of dishes already and here's one you can whip up easily. I actually didn't do anything nor provided inputs. I just... Stood and stared and showered moral support. Presenting... Tofu Burger! Lalalalab. :D

Pull out the grill and start flipping them burgers!

Lettuce and tomatoes make burgers colorful and tastier, too!

You start with draining the tofu and then mash it a little so you can put it in the ovenette. There it will help you drain / dry the tofu wherein you will now mix in the flavorings and other extenders you can think of such as tissue paper, cardboard, wood shavings, or onions in our case. Tofu. Drain the water, mash it and drain some more. Then mix chopped onions and add the flavoring (we got barbecue!) aside from salt. Put in some flour to make it stick together. So, we're charbroiling it, right? We placed a foil on top then poured in the tofu patty mixture and when it was a little whole already, we started flipping burgers!!!!

Don't forget the cheese! Cheese makes the world go round, and in some situations, it makes lactose intolerant folks's tummy go round as well. <3

Here's the thing, it started with seeing these expensive and interesting finds in the supermarket. Then an idea pops out all of a sudden. So we set out and bought tofu and McCormick flavorings. Maybe I'm just lucky that my friend gets challenged with making vegetarian friendly dishes. I'm not complaining! I'll just be eating and supporting from the sidelines...of the grill. 0:)

Mason Jars and Paper Straws

Iced brewed coffee suddenly looks extra better when it's
in a mason jar, with some fancy shmancy paper straw.

When we all want to be different, we just get something from anywhere. If we want good things, we get it. 

So when mason jars went viral (you can get one from paperstrawlove), everybody just had to get one. Well, I drink coffee all the time and iced coffee is fun even though you had to pour milk in it. So here, a mason jar. With a paper straw. Brewed coffee with milk and ice and caramel syrup. Then use freaking paper straws that get all cramped up and you can't drink anything anymore. It was so "cool" I just ended up throwing the straw away and just drank from the jar. (-__-) But hey, I love my mason jar. I'm using it for my soy milk now! As for the paper straws, I know it's environment-friendly and I'm aware of my carbon footprint but it just won't work out. The paper melts after some time and you really can't do anything about it unless you cut the ends. So, just don't use straws anymore. I'm sorry, it's not me, it's really you, paper straw.

What Time is It? It's Pasta Time!

So my friend wanted to try something out. That is to make pasta from scratch. Yes, from scratch. Who does something from scratch nowadays?! We live in an instant world! Instant noodles, instant oatmeal, Instagram, so we're all insta-fat, too! Well, we have made sushi before and pizza (yep - we had a phone and money but we didn't order one). We also made tofu meatballs before and cooked pre-cooked dimsum without an actual steamer, so when the idea of making pasta from scratch came up "Ohmyglob." I didn't help at all! I was too busy making my speech I just watched from the sidelines. No rolling pin nor food processor. Pfft. Too easy. I promise I'll try it soon because pasta became my bestfriend when I only had to eat vegetables moving forward.

Before February Ends...

Birthday thingies. Oh I remember them.

Last 2011, we went down up to Tagaytay for the salubong and on my way home, met my family at Resorts World and they let me do some casino. Since I was just wearing shorts, my sister volunteered to bring me clothes and I changed in the car. Trying to make me look more presentable for my birthday but actually just so the guards would let me in. Resorts World was still kind of spanking that year, so they can probably deny me access if they're in a bad mood.

So 2012, went up to Tides Tagaytay for the visit. Who drinks a lot in Tagaytay?? People just go up there to eat and be gluttons for a day. But not us, not on my birthday. We drank a lot except for the designated driver. Oh I miss those times, since I don't drink other kinds of spirits anymore. (I love you, wine.)

And then things got mellow for 2013, I actually had my birthday salubong at someone else's house. Brought over drinks and food and spent the night just right, aside from Channing Tatum's ass on the tv screen. As for the actual day, I just stayed home, ordered some pizza because who doesn't want pizza on their birthdays? Then a couple of friends surprised me while I was drinking a bottle of wine, and then I didn't think twice of sharing my booze with them. (Please note that I'm not an alcoholic. Typing in "booze" just seems so nice to hear/read.)

For 2014, jeez I'm getting older and older! I went to LTO to have my license renewed and then went shopping - I said it's for my dad but I also got a few things for myself. Ha! And yeah, there's a surprise visit at home again, with the wine and diabetes-hating cakes. How about Tagaytay, you ask? Well, I got to spend it with my family over the weekend anyway, so clearly, Tagaytay was not forgotten. Except that Tides has been shut down. Booooo. 

Then there's the winning cake from my friends in the office.
Frozen Strawberry Cheesecake from Conti's is the sure hit.
More people were happy from the cake than from the relief
that Valentine's Day traffic is over.

Birthdays? They are fun, you know. You just stop counting the numbers, and start appreciating the memories, the good times, and the company you're in. Keep those happy moments with you because at times you're down, you can say that there were more times that you were laughing your lungs out than you were crying buckets over things, over people you once knew. And sometimes, that's enough for me.