Tanuki no Bento!

Red is the color

Fri, 13 Jul 2007 02:58:45 GMT

Yes, this is the long-overdue update which I have been putting off for the past month or so. Hehe... I've been lazy, I know. Anyway, my current dilemma is that my camera has broken down and I am yet to get a replacement. This, of course, translates to a lot of made bentos and other food things which I couldn't document. The only good part is that I somehow managed to get several last few shots of stuff before my camera completely broke down, so I'm not completely devoid of material. Yet. ^_^;;

In any case, I just wanted to post pics of my latest bento box. I found it while my boyfriend and I were browsing one of the many garage sales which surround the building that we live in. It was stuffed under a thick carpet, beside a triangular stainless steel teapot, and on top of a stack of vinyls.

It DOES look quite similar to that other red bento set that I have, except that this one has two layers and is square. This one also doesn't have a carrier of its own, but I use a piece of purple rope to secure the layers together, and I have to admit that it's effective and it looks great, too.

Hehe... I can't help it. I have such a weakness for boxes of this type, and if I only had more space here at our apartment, maybe I'd even consider actively going out to get more of these things. I consider it a good buy, though, since it's still dirt-cheap, and I do love making a lot of food that I can bring to my parents' or a friend's place. Plus, I can always use it as an accessory or trinket box in case I feel that I don't want to use it for food anymore (though I highly doubt that).

One for the road! Pancit and tamagoyaki bento!

Wed, 23 May 2007 09:53:11 GMT

Hehe... I'm off to a long-overdue vacation tomorrow morning, and I won't be back until the evening of the 27th, so I figured that I'd make one post before I leave for the wonderful beaches of Puerto Galera. Hehehe... (I know, I've been mentioning it all over the place, over on my main blog. I'm really excited about the trip. :D)

Anyway, here's something that's pretty simple.

- Instant pancit canton, sprinkled with plum-flavored furikake (just for an extra kick)
- Tamagoyaki slices (it's that brown because I added a bit more soy sauce than what most cookbooks would recommend. :D)
- tomato slices to sort of cancel out the saltiness of the pancit and the tamagoyaki.

And I'm off!! ^___________^

Onigiri experiments

Mon, 07 May 2007 17:22:12 GMT

(Just as a warning, please remeber that K's bento posts are always/often horribly backlogged. So, please forgive me for the fact that the post ahead is about something that I made some time last year... T_T)

Alright, with that out of the way, here we go with the actual post!

Anyway, last year, I bought a couple of onigiri molds which I immediately decided to experiment with. Of course, the first few batches were either too loose, too wobbly or was a weird blob shape, but I think that I finally managed to get it under control after a while. I was also rather poor at that time (I still am, I think), so instead of using furikake and the like, I had to make do with whatever I had at home which were just things that can be bought at any old, plain grocery.

Anyhoo... the onigiris are:

- (the brown one) tonkatsu sauce, plus basil, and a hotdog center (my boyfriend doesn't like umeboshi much... ^_^;;;)
- (The pink one) shredded umeboshi, some mayonnaise, a hotdog center
- (star, kuma and heart-shaped) just a tiny bit of salt, mayonnaise and cheese.

The rest of the bento box contains an extra umeboshi for me, chocolate wafer biscuits, and some sweet/sour star candy. :)

Anyway, considering that I spend the day chasing after jeepneys and cabs, I wasn't confident that the onigiris would keep their shape throughout the whole, bumpy commute. So, I wrapped each one in some cling wrap, and it worked out okay (as an afterthought, though, just make sure that the rice, as I did in this instance, is at room temp when you wrap it like this. I have a feeling that wrapping it while still warm and while it still produces condensation may cause the rice to spoil...). Another bonus to wrapping it up first is that it was more convenient for my boyfriend to eat as besides just being able to pick it up without getting his fingers sticky, the plastic is there to catch the rice in case the rice ball DOES break apart. Haha!

For the love of egg molds. Bento for 2!

Sat, 28 Apr 2007 20:51:04 GMT

Alright, this next bento has no rice in it because on the day that I made this, my boyfriend and I agreed that we'll meet in the office for lunch and he'll take care of the rice as long as I took care of the viands. So, for that day, I made a tonkatsu sauce stir-fry with beans and mushrooms, a helping of bagnit and a pair of bunny hard-boiled eggs. The star candy was, of course, dessert.

Anyhoo, one of the things that I learned about making this bento was that the candy stars may not have been in such a good spot. I only figured this out because in the 15-minute trip to the office, the wax paper holding the candies was starting to get moist from the tiny bit of sauce in the stir-fry. If I had to let the bento sit for longer than that, and if my boyfriend and I didn't end up eating immediately when I got to the office... well, I would have ended up with a weirdly-colored-splotched bunny egg, or worse, tonkatsu flavored candy. Bleh. O_O;;;

Anyway, lesson learned. At least the photos don't show that I've botched it. XD XD

The bento lid was shut with the help of a couple of bands from my other bento boxes, and it was carried to the office in a furoshiki. ^_^;;

(Yes, I couldn't decide on which shot was better, as they're both kinda dark. Again.)

Trip to Hong Tai Yang Shabu-shabu/hotpot Restaurant

Mon, 23 Apr 2007 05:00:16 GMT

Last April 20, I and some officemates decided to drop by this particular hotpot restaurant that Noreen (the girl in the striped shirt in the photos) has been recommending. We've been planning the trip for quite a while now, and even though some people didn't make it, the trip pushed through, and we are now ever so thankful that it did. Why? Because Hong Tai Yang is da bomb. Lolz.

Anyhoo, they have this special where they drop the price of the hotpot buffet from 490 pesos to 360 from 11:30 am to 2pm. We got there a bit too early, so we literally had to camp out in front of the restaurant for about an hour, waiting for it to open. Thankfully, Noreen, a Chinese citizen, spoke with the Chinese manager/owner and we were allowed to wait inside the restaurant, and away from the direct heat of the noon, Philippine sun.

So, because of that, we ended up being seated at a prime table (a.k.a., right beside the buffet table), plus we were allowed to start eating at 11am instead of 11:30. So yeah, we had a head start, and we ate heartily since we were, you know... STARVING. Oh, and we ate DOUBLY heartily because Enrico (guy in the gray shirt) paid for our drinks and half of our food since he wanted to celebrate his upcoming college graduation.

As we ate, we were completely overwhelmed with the sheer amount of food available. There were so many types of fish, shellfish and meat available, that I couldn't make up my mind. We didn't even bother to ask for rice since we were all intent on gorging ourselves with the items from the buffet (though I was intent on stuffing myself with all the yummy shrimp I could eat).

Anyway, enough with the talk. You have to see it to believe it.

The entrance to the restaurant. Notice the blazingly-hot, high-noon sun...

So, when Noreen finally managed to get the restaurant owner to let us wait inside, I was pleasantly surprised to find such a neat table set-up. I'm a sucker for things like that.

But then, what intrigued me the most was the individual silver pots that were snugly contained in holes in the marble table. Then, I noticed the stove knobs.

This being THE FIRST TIME I'VE EVER EATEN AT A HOTPOT RESTAURANT, it was then explained to me by Noreen that the pots were later going to contain broth which we could boil our food in. It was then that I noticed that ALL marble tables were decked with the same pots... Silly me.

When we first seated ourselves, the buffet table was completely empty, and it wasn't until later that it started filling up with trays upon trays of raw or half-cooked food. As we watched the restaurant crew placing the stainless steel trays into their spots, one of the waiters finally approached us, and asked us to pick one of 4 different types of broth. I picked the chicken broth (I don't remember what the other three were since they had sort of weird names), and when the waiter poured the broth into my own pot, we were all happy again as we knew that we can finally EAT!! XD XD

See? We were overjoyed. :D Those stack of plates on the side are for everyone to place their raw ingredients on.

And the glorious buffet of ingredients. Meat, fish and shell fish on the left; veggies, more seafod, cold cuts and I-don't-know-what-else on the right. HEAVEN!!

Must. Stop. Taking. Pictures. In. Happiness.

This is Max.

We have the same idea when he said that we should stuff ourselves with food that we can't afford on an everyday basis. So, he went for the baby octopi. And he named this one "Cthulhu".

On top of the food itself, though, there's the small table containing the condiments and spices. From here, you can help yourself to soy sauce, hoisin sauce, minced garlic, red onions and ginger, chopped up chilies, etc etc. Then, you can either use these for dipping your food in, or you can toss it into your broth.

And this is Noreen and Enrico attacking the buffet table. (Yes, that's just half of the buffet table.)

Eventually, we made it back to our table and started cooking on the hot plate in the middle. To cook everything, the waiter also provided us with a small bowl containing chunks of butter. This bowl-o-butter was also continually refilled by the attentive staff. We were actually beginning to wonder if the staff was planning to cook US afterwards, and they were just fattening us up...

It is unbelievably fun to go to a hotpot with friends. Not only does everyone's nuances, and quirks with food come out (we discovered that someone likes their bacon half-burnt), but it's just plain fun playing with your food with your friends around. The casual air is also nice, and I'd recommend this place for someone who wants to take someone out on a date. It's fun, AND you get to stuff your face with food that you like, and food that you cooked, just the way you like it.

KITCHEN STADIUM, COOK OFF! ALLEZ CUISINE!!

Remember Cthulhu? Well there it is now.

More photos of us eating!! Hehehe...

This is a photo of Noreen as she wonders where the heck Enrico kept all of the food that he ate. This guy downed a couple of platters of meat, and he said that he was just getting started! Well, yeah, he and Max are guys, so that may count for something...

Help yourself! (Just stay offa' my squid rings!)

See that? Each crab is about the size of my whole palm (without the legs). The best part is that the crab has already been cut in half, and its legs have been separated so that you just have to toss the whole crab into your broth without worrying about having to chop the whole thing and messing up your table. The waiters also provide nutcrackers so that you can get all the meat out from the crab legs. Mmmm...

Sitting at a table right beside the ingredients help, too.

And yes, all that made us incredibly happy...

So, after all that bottolmess food (until 2pm anyway), then comes the bottomless dessert. And for that, the restaurant has got all the watermelons and pineapples you could eat, as well as all the halo-halo, and all the ice cream you can eat (comes in orange, chocolate and strawberry). Yes, I ate from all three offerings...
(If you're not sure what halo-halo is, and what those colorful things in bowls are, then check this link for a general description of the dessert.)

My friends helped themselves out, too, of course.

And this is us after we've paid the bill, wondering where the heck to get a taxi, as well as if we'll ever be allowed back in next time, what with the way we cleaned out the menu...

It was really a shame that my boyfriend, Ian, wasn't able to join us as he had work, but I promised him that I'll take him to the hotpot restaurant some time soon, so that we can both gorge again (because we just love food!). ^____________^

Lolz. Actually, I'd use any excuse to go back. XD

(If you're in Manila and you're wondering where this restaurant is, it's right beside the GSIS building, behind the World Trade Center, and close to Mall of Asia. I think the place is called... um... Hobby World? Hobby Store? Hobby Crafts...?? O_O;;)

Learning new things everyday: Tanuki Udon, etc!

Mon, 16 Apr 2007 06:25:03 GMT

I've been randomly surfing for the past half hour, and I came upon this particular article which discussed certain types of udon. Now, I do know that there are lots of udon types and udon dishes out there, but what piqued my interest the most was the one known as Tanuki Udon. Hehe... and yes, I like the sounds of it for obvious reasons... and wouldn't it be cool if the owner of Tanuki no Bento actually learned how to make Tanuki Udon? Haha!! Anyway, moving on.

Besides being a sort-of-namesake for me, descriptions of the dish also make it sound like it's pretty easy to make. According to Japan Travel Guide:

The Tanuki Udon mainly consists of deep-fried and sliced fish sausages known as Naruto. These deep fried Narutos are then placed on the boiled Udon with slivers of leek for added color and flavor. Vegetables can also be sliced and placed atop the Udon for a more healthy variety.

I like the sounds of it since I'm pretty fond of naruto anyway, and I'm pretty sure that anyone who has seen my past entries will see this. Lol. Mmm... fried naruto...

Then, there's the other description which includes the nice, crispy bits left from your tempura dish (again stuff that I love):

Ingredients for Tanuki Udon:

* Naruto
* Tenkatsu: crispy pieces that are left when deep frying tenpura. If not available, you can cut some leek, mix it with tenpura batter and deep fry it.
* Leek or green onion

As for how the thing looks like...

According to Yamada Udon...

According to a soba-udon site...

And according to a blog that's written in a language that I unfortunately cannot understand...

Looks simple enough doesn't it? Now if I only knew how to make the most important part of it all: the broth! Lol. I have no idea about the type/brand of sauce that you have to use when making udon. Now I really should get myself a Nintendo DS and a copy of Cooking Mama so that I can find out! XD

Anyway, on a closing note, googling for pictures of the tanuki udon has also brought me this adorable thing from Yamacon...

Needless to say, it tickles me pink. XD

K's first attempt at making mashed potatoes...

Sun, 15 Apr 2007 18:27:44 GMT

Well, here we go. I'm finally getting around to posting old bento pics that I've taken so were we go!

As the title suggests, the star of this bento is actually the sorry-looking mashed potatoes. Hehehe... I've actually tried making mashed potatoes before, but the VERY first attempt ended up being potato SOUP because I placed too much milk in the whole thing. ^^;;; I'm also loathe with the idea of buying those mix-in-hot-water types of instant mashed potatoes at the grocery so I insist on making my own, stubborn oaf that I am.

Anyway, the bento is composed of tamagoyaki, hotdogs, yet another of K's vegetable-with-cinammon stirfrys, and then, mashed potatoes with cheese. No gravy. Just quickmelt cheese.

The container below shows servings for two people. My boyfriends and I ate from the same bento that day since I got to join him for lunch. ^_^

Meanwhile, a single serving which I had for dinner that day, looked like this:

Messy-looking as it is, I'm actually proud of the potatoes since the consistency came out just right.

The potato recipe
Anyway, it's made of a batch of marble potatoes (the tiny ones). I chose those since they cook a lot quicker and more evenly. I was afraid that I'd be boiling the potato for an hour and I'd STILL end up with a raw core in the end, if I used one of those big potatoes...

Anyway, I washed each tiny potato carefully, then boiled it in water which was some salt and a laurel leaf. Once it's cooked, I mashed it all up (yup, with the skin on), seasoned with salt and pepper and added a small amount of milk to make it creamy. On a whim though, I took about 4 tablespoons of water and placed some crushed rosemary in it. Then I heated the water in the microwave and ended up with rosemary tea. I let it cool as I mashed and mixed the potatoes, then when the the rosemary has steeped enough, I poured it into the mashed potatoes (I used a sieve to get the rosemary bits out, of course). Then, top with cheese!^__^ I thought it was actually pretty nice, despite realizing much later, that I should have had gravy and butter somewhere in the recipe. XD

For size reference...

Back from the dead!

Tue, 09 Jan 2007 05:49:27 GMT

Hehe... back. Moving house and work in general has pretty much kept me from doing a whole bunch of stuff, including making bentos. In any case, I do still have a bunch of unposted photos from previous cooking sessions, so here there are I guess until we manage to buy a new ref and I can start stocking food and cooking again. ^_^

It's just a plain one:
- salted rice and tomatoes
- tofu and vegetable stir-fry with oyster sauce and cinnamon (the dash of cinnamon powder did the trick)
- flower marshmallows and cheese cubes for dessert

All good for three, as usual. ^^

Reference material!

Tue, 09 Jan 2007 05:33:40 GMT

I want these, but they're expensive... T_T

I particularly want the sushi book because it's got all these sushi combinations and recipes which I've never heard of, like Cream Cheese sushi. HOW CAN I NOT WANT IT??????????

On tonkatsu sauce, and a curry story

Mon, 08 Jan 2007 13:57:55 GMT

I just wanted to feature two of my favorite things which can be found in a Japanese grocery. And yes, what you're seeing in the photo is a box of Golden Curry and a bottle of Bulldog tonkatsu sauce.

Now, both those things are special to me if only because during the times when I was still too shy whenever I entered a J-grocery (well... I was always afraid that I'll look like another trying-hard baka-gaijin-otaku to the Japanese folks who frequented the same grocery), those were the first two things which I dared to try out. I was afraid because I thought I looked like a baka-gaijin-otaku, because these things are a lot more expensive than the usual stuff I pick up from the grocery, and because I was afraid that I'd waste my hard-earned money on something that tasted awful.

Anyway, I ended up buying it, taking it home, and then ultimately loving the darn things.

Now, my kitchen doesn't seem to be complete without tonkatsu sauce around (although it doesn't necessarily have to be the Bulldog brand), in much the same way that it isn't complete if I had no salt handy. I use it on a lot of things. Besides using it for dip for fried things and some veggies, I've discovered that it also makes a tasty substitute for Oyster sauce in some dishes. I've also used it as dressing once, and I've even used it on pasta and I've also made plenty of tonkatsu-flavored onigiri.

The curry, however is a different story.

At first, I got accustomed to buying the pre-cooked, ready-to-serve variety which already had bits of meat and potato in it. All I had to do was heat some water in a bowl, then soak the curry packet in the hot bath for a couple of minutes before I could tear off the top and start eating.

I later heard that Golden Curry was a good brand preferred by most, so I decided to try it. UNFORTUNATELY, when I opened the box, I found two foil-sealed plastic trays which I honestly thought was also filled with the ready-to-eat variety which I got used to. So, I opened the corners of the trays and soaked them in hot water.

Lo and behold, after the requisite three minutes, I was surprised that the curry inside the trays was still NOT in the slushy state that they were supposed to be. I took off the foil completely and was dumbfounded to find BLOCKS of dehydrated (?) curry whose sides were only a tiny bit soft to the touch.

Since I had to serve it soon, I panicked, and it was only then that it occurred to me to dump the stuff in a pot and add water. Here, I made two bad mistakes:

- since I was caught off-guard, I didn't have any fresh meat and vegetables around. Some potatoes, some carrots, and an onion would have been nice...

- I placed BOTH blocks of curry in the pot. I found out later that unless you're planning to feed about four or five people, ONE should have been enough.

So, I ended up with way too much bland curry which I and my boyfriend then had to bear with for two days. @_@

Thankfully, the curry was yummy, even by itself, but I couldn't help but feel absolutely silly about my botched cooking session. I still do, actually...

At least, I now know that by next time, I WILL have meat and vegetables ready. And some milk to serve with it. :p

K's food haunts #2

Mon, 01 Jan 2007 09:41:30 GMT

One thing that I've been meaning to do with this blog is to be able to show other people the food places that we know of, in the hopes that maybe it might inspire others to maybe get a bit adventurous as well and try out unknown and untested restaurants. Also, I wanted to show others eating habits that they may or may not be familiar with. Maybe we'll all get a good laugh out of it. However, before we start touring fancy places and all that, let's go back to our roots a little bit.

Enter, the Jollijeep.

To those unfamiliar with the Philippines, Jollijeep is a coloquial name for a type of roadside eatery. It's derived from putting together the word "Jollibee", a local fastfood chain which has been popular since the early 80's (also one of the first words that infants learn), and "jeepney", one of the local forms of transportation. Both are also words that are associated with the masses.

Personally, I absolutely LOVE jollijeeps. I'm picky with which jollijeeps I eat at, but I firmly believe that they are there to make the average yuppie's life easier. For one thing, jollijeeps are normally found scattered in posh areas where the average meal of rice, a viand and a drink can cost you anywhere from 100 to 200 pesos (about US$4. 50 pesos = US$1). However, at the Jollijeep, you can get a full meal with a drink for less than 40 pesos. If you're really hungry, then your 100 pesos is bound to go a long way.

There's a catch, though, as the jollijeep is not for the squeamish or the prissy. Here, you eat standing up. You finish your meal quickly, make way for the next hungry person and go on your way. There are also no dishes. Instead, you make do with paper plates and plastic utensils, or plastic plates that are covered by plastic bags, or basically anything which helps keep the required dish-washing to a bare minimum. Also, as with most jollijeeps (though not all) servings of rice and viands are already measured out and bagged, so if you wanted two cups of rice and a viand, the lady will then just simply toss you the required eating implements, a plastic bag containing your viand which you have selected from a pile of various other food stuffs, and two plastic bags containing a cup of rice each. It's then up to you to break open the bags, get on with your meal and toss away your trash afterwards.

Bags of food and bagged plates.

Now, that's all how lunch goes. IF you happen to pass by in the afternoon, instead of rice and viands you'll instead find popular afternoon snacks such as the turon (banana with sweetened jackfruit, wrapped in egg wrapper, dipped in brown sugar and deep fried), banana-cue (fried banana with brown sugar on a stick), local rice cakes, congee or noodles.

One of my favorite local snacks, the turon!!

It may sound unpleasant, but it's actually nicer than one might think. In fact, me and my boyfriend often eat at these places (especially when we're broke. Haha!) since the food is good. Also, these little roadside eateries tend to blur the distinction between classes as everyone eats there, from people in suits who happen to work at the office building accross the street, to gas attendants and security guards from the nearby establishments.

Again, jollijeeps are the saviors of the hungry and the broke. Amen.

Trip to Amici di Don Bosco

Thu, 07 Dec 2006 10:01:42 GMT

Trip to Amici di Don Bosco

After the numerous recommendations of friends, we finally managed to get off of our lazy butts the other day, and visit Amici, a popular pasta place in the area. What's so funny about this is that we've been frequenting WalterMart (which is located right beside Don Bosco) for over a year now, and yet we never even knew that such a restaurant existed within the Don Bosco campus. Well, we discovered TWO things, actually... Amici, and the clinic of blind masseurs which is just the place that Ian needs since he loves getting a good massage

In any case, we found Amici to be a nice place, though we were sort of a bit thrown off by the fact that different types of food had to be ordered at different counters. I suppose we got too spoiled at A Veneto where everything is ordered in one go.

So yeah... there's a counter where you could get coffee, huge sandwiches, paninis, and others. Then there's a counter for pasta, a counter for pizza and calzone, and a separate counter for dessert items such as gellato, sansrival and cakes. For those who want a typical rice + viand meal, there's another counter for a la carte items (while we were there, we saw a guy order half a roast chicken and three cups of rice... he must have been really hungry...).

Also, unlike A Veneto where one order of pasta is good enough for two to three people, one order of pasta at Amici is meant for one person, though it's such a big helping that it may actually be enough for two people with slightly smaller appetites.

Anyway, enough of the blather and on with the pictures!

We of course headed straight for the pasta counter to try out the pasta. I found out a few minutes after taking this photo that the lady in the picture was actually a former officemate of mine. hehe... small world. So, we managed to eat good food that day, AND catch up on some news with old friends. Fun. ^_^

I found the skylights to be a particularly nice touch.

One of the dishes on display at the pasta counter.

And here comes our orders of Pasta Montanara, which is described in the menu as "Spinach fusilli with sausage, bell pepper, cheese, sauce, peperoni and salami". And it delivers! YUM!!! And Ian can't wait to dig in, either. Hehehe... The bread is also good since it was garlic-y, buttery and basil-y.

Before and after shots...

After eating, we of course wanted some dessert, and hence I found the COUNTER OF JOY... erm, I mean, the dessert counter.

I just wanted to take a photo of the bar because it's so colorful... hehe...

In any case, Ian wanted the sansrival, while I went for some Tira Misu gellato. YUMMM!!!

And thus comes the inevitable...

And here are the other parts of the whole canteen...

The coffee and sandwich counter, with a display case full of delicious-looking things.

And here's the a la carte section for those who want a rice meal.

We plan to try the pizza and other flavors of gellato (did I spell that right?) next time around.

Another thing that I found nice about the place would be the sight of the canteen's manongs and manangs preparing dishes that may pretty much pass off as perhaps three or four-star caliber cooking.

Oh, and have I mentioned that the sky was so, very blue that day? ^_^

AnpanMan Choco Bread!

Sat, 02 Dec 2006 13:49:12 GMT

Out of impulse, I decided to pass by Hatchin on the way from work today, and this was one of the first things that I saw. I just had to take it since it was so darn cute.

The bun was filled with chocolate cream, and is now sitting happily within my belly.

Burp. :p

K's food haunts #1

Thu, 30 Nov 2006 02:24:18 GMT

Phew! It's been a while since I made any updates on this blog. Hehe... I got lazy/busy, and now I have a whole stash of photos that still need to be posted, as well as numbers of unwritten entries floating around in my head and itching at night. So, anyway, I'm back! Moving on, I'd like to start sharing some of the food places that we love, and to get the ball rolling on that thought, here you go...

The Soup Kitchen, Glorietta

As mentioned in a previous post, my boyfriend and I had dinner at one of our favorite food places, The Soup Kitchen. As the name suggests, the place specializes in yummy and filling soups. They also serve sandwiches, salads, soup in bread bowls, various types of bread to go with the soup, as well as soup with rice.

The prices of the food here are reasonable, with a full bowl of soup, or a half bowl with half a sandwich (choose from tuna, chicken or ham and cheese) costing 140 pesos, which is equivalent to a little less than US$3. For a tasty meal, the price isn't bad since it's pretty much worth it, considering the fact that these guys don't scrimp on ingredients. For example, the latest meal that we had consisted of Snow Crab (crab meat in cream cheese soup!) and Seafood Chowder, and both delivered the crab meat (and cream cheese!!!) and the seafood that was promised on the menu. We'd eat here more often if we weren't so poor. Haha!

Mmm... I've always believed that we should have more restaurants like this which serves something that isn't just nutritious, but stuff that also fall within the "comfort food" category. I dunno, but there's just something very calming and satisfying about just spacing out (or contemplating the universe... whatever floats your boat, really) while enjoying a tasty bowl of soup.

Maybe it's just Pavlovian conditioning and all that, but in our dictionary, soup = cozy, warm, fuzzy feeling, = the world is a better place again.

We can't wait to go back there one of these days, especially during this season when the weather is starting to get chilly and all. :)

Hehe... this is my first post about stuff like this, and now I'm kicking myself for not taking more detailed photos of the place. Oh well. Lesson learned.

Bagnit bento

Fri, 20 Oct 2006 12:39:51 GMT

More of K's delayed bento posts. *yawn* Sigh. It's weird when your body clock refuses to adjust. Never been a morning person.

Anyhoo...

- Rice + furikake + fried eggplant slices
- tamagoyaki + sliced tomato + bagnit on a lettuce leaf
- packet of instant miso soup

* Bagnit is a local dish which is basically pork that has been smoked/cured and then later on deep fried. Best served crunchy and with dipping sauce. Not for the health-conscious. ^_^;;; Sorry, to lazy to look for a wiki link or something. I'll just try to edit this later. Anyway, I love the stuff.

Assembled bentos + extra bento containing same food + containers with dipping sauce for the bagnit and grapes.

close-up of my next-favorite pair of chopsticks, featuring the tanuki design on the left and the usagi design on the right. ^^

EDIT:
K tries to describe bagnit:
It is a delicacy that is common in the Northern provinces of the Philippines, particularly the Ilocos region. Bagnit is chunks of pork that are cured and smoked and basically undergoes a process which preserves the meat without chemicals. In fact, well-prepared bagnit can be stored at room temperature for months without going bad.

When serving the bagnit, though, it has to be cut up into bite-sized pieces and then deep fried. Often, because of the fat attached to the meat, most prefer to just "sweat out" the bagnit pieces in a pan, and if one placed a few drops of oil in a pan, there would be a whole lot more in it by the time the bagnit is fully cooked and ready to serve. Because of all the processes that the meat has gone through, after frying the bagnit, the fat and even the skin that is attached to the meat turn out very crunchy thus making the very last bit of bagnit edible. When cooked, the bagnit looks like lechon kawali, or chicharon.

Bagnit is best served with dipping sauce which could be anything from a soy sauce and calamansi mix (or calamansi and soy sauce + onions and garlic with a dash of ground pepper), or "Mang Tomas" (an "all-purpose" sauce which is commonly sold in bottles in groceries, and is made from liver, water, sugar, salt, vinegar, bread crumbs and black pepper. Also used for lechon... err... better just read about it here, and here). It can also be dipped in banana ketchup or bagoong.

X_x

Creepy bento?

Thu, 12 Oct 2006 14:06:16 GMT

Another late bento post. Just one this time around since it was my boyfriend's day off that day, and this bento ended up as my dinner and the rest became lunch that we shared before I headed for work.

Anyway, tamagoyaki + hotdogs + asparagus/veggie stir-fry and rice with furikake, umeboshi and kani slices. Marshmallows for dessert.

My boyfriend and I ended up talking about how the umeboshi and kani slices reminded us of either Evangelion or Sin, the last boss in FFX.

*and she's off rushing away again*

busy, busy, busy...

Hot meal on a stormy day

Mon, 09 Oct 2006 01:07:54 GMT

A typhoon struck in our country a couple of weeks ago, and due to the semi-crisis that we had at our apartment that day, we were just plain cold, hungry and exhausted that day as well as the next.

The next day, my boyfriend and I pretty much just stayed home to recover from the previous day's exhaustion, so no bento then, and just a home meal made from whatever I could grab from the ref and some leftovers...

Hot rice, tamagoyaki, tulip hotdogs, asparagus and mixed vegetables in some sauce which I have now forgotten about... I'm pretty sure it was some white sauce that I made for dinner the night before... and some kani slices for garnish. ^_^;;

Blurry pics due to tired hands. :p

If you had a thousand dollars, you can afford... an ice cream sundae..??

Thu, 05 Oct 2006 01:28:20 GMT

(as found in food_porn)

"I know.

It sounds crazy: $1,000 for an ice cream sundae?

But, the sundae is The Grand Opulence Sundae from famed Serendipity of New York City and it's made up of the best of the best. According to the restaurant, they sell approximately one a month, so apparently, quite a few people have some money to indulge in such opulence.

The Golden Opulence Sundae, the "World's most expensive sundae", was created to celebrate Serendipity's 50th Anniversay last year.

Made with 5 scoops of the richest Tahitian vanilla bean ice cream infused with Madagascar vanilla and covered in 23K edible gold leaf, the sundae is drizzled with the world's most expensive chocolate, Amedei Porceleana, and covered with chunks of rare Chuao chocolate, which is from cocoa beans harvested by the Caribbean Sea on Venezuela's coast. The masterpiece is suffused with exotic candied fruits from Paris, gold dragets, truffles and Marzipan Cherries. It is topped with a tiny glass bowl of Grand Passion Caviar, an exclusive dessert caviar, made of salt-free American Golden caviar, known for its sparkling golden color. It's sweetened and infused with fresh passion fruit, orange and Armagnac. The sundae is served in a baccarat Harcourt crystal goblet with an 18K gold spoon to partake in the indulgenceserved with a petite mother of pearl spoon and topped with a gilded sugar flower by Ron Ben-Israel."

I checked out Serendipity's website, and there it was at the bottom of the menu with a note that says the ice cream must be ordered at least 48 hours in advance. It also has an entry in the Guinness Book of World Records.

Ergh....

But really. A thousand dollars? For ice cream? I can get a whole ice cream truck's worth with that money and eat the stuff until all my teeth fall out. Meh. I can never understand things like this.

Sugar cane puzzler

Wed, 04 Oct 2006 11:33:03 GMT

I have a small length of sugar cane here right now, about two feet long, courtesy of a workmate whose family owns a small plantation... and I'm not quite sure what to do with it. So far, I'm playing with the idea of using half it in a stir-fry dish, and saving the other half and cutting it to little pieces and stick in the fridge, which we could chew on if we want something sweet...

But I've never worked with real, raw sugar cane before. Sugar, yes. As a comparison, it's like being given a live chicken when I'm trying to buy a pack of drumsticks from the grocery.

Hmm... Recipes, anyone...?

Tamagoyaki pans rock.

Wed, 04 Oct 2006 11:08:58 GMT

Bento that I made shortly after buying my "Love me little. Love me long." and Putifresh bento boxes (check my previous post. ^_^)

Consists of:
- rice with furikake and naruto slice, and shredded kani with a dollop of mayonaise
- tamagoyaki on a bed of greens, and a mushroom/mixed-veggies/cut-up naruto stir-fry (that's a lot of hyphens there...)
- dessert box with banana slices and flower marshmallows.

As the subject of the post suggests, it just finally occured to me to get a tamagoyaki pan, so I picked one up from the 88-peso/100-yen store near our house to try it out. I like it so much since, not only is my fried egg pretty (yes, I'm shallow), I can use it on other small stuff, too, like hotdogs or whatever. Really convenient especially if I'm just cooking for myself since I don't have to lug out the heavier iron pan that I usually use just to cook a small amount of food.

Since I've tested it out on a cheaper (thinner, flimsier) pan, I'm now convinced and I plan to invest in one of those higher-quality tamagoyaki pans which are more expensive, but with better heat distribution and higher sides, since I think I'll be using it a whole lot more now.

New bento boxes. <3

Sat, 30 Sep 2006 06:20:18 GMT

Love me little. Love me long.

... or so says the cover of my new polka dot bento boxes. Got them when I met up with my parents at a nearby mall a couple of weeks ago. Sigh. I haven't seen them in months and they were late again, so I ended up shopping. One reason why I don't like it when people are late... it literally costs me money. Hehehe... all for a good cause, though.

My first batch of blue bento boxes, and my first pink one, too (I'm just not a pink kind of person...).

Meanwhile, the pink putifresh box claims that "Happy fruits is very delicious. I will eat this and will become fortunate all together."

Gotta love Engrish, sometimes. Hehe.

Pink box. Around the same capacity as the Urara boxes. (also comes in green with grape design)

Blue box. Slightly roomier than the Urara boxes. Automatically claimed by boyfriend, ofcourse. ^_^;; (also comes in pink)

Triple-layered box. (also comes in pink)

Size comparisons between the triple-layered one and the one with 2 layers

Curry Croquette bento

Wed, 27 Sep 2006 23:45:39 GMT

Sleepy today...

Bento made some time ago. Last week, I think (I'm always delayed with posting photos... meh.)

- Rice with some nori and furikake
- Curry croquette with tonkatsu sauce on a bed of chinese lettuce, and some shredded kani with a dollop of mayonaise, and some mixed vegetables.

*back to sleep*

Err... fences bento?

Tue, 19 Sep 2006 18:55:05 GMT

Rice with nori strips and furikake
Shrimp-flavored Dria sauce + shredded kani + mixed veggies + naruto slices

This is a weird bento since when I made it, I'm pretty sure I had a good reason as to why I cut up the nori in strips. And then, oddly, as I was preparing the bento itself, I realized that I forgot why I did what I did with the nori... O_o;;; So, just so it doesn't go to waste, the only thing I can think of doing was a criss-cross pattern... then I thought it sort of looked like a fence so I added furikake so that it has "ground". I felt like a four-year-old with a marker (ooh... circle... circle... hey, I made an "8"!! Yay!!).

The Dria/Doria sauce (if that's what's it called...), it was my first time to use it since it was just one of the items that I was curious with the last time I went shopping. It tasted good, and my boyfriend said that he'd like more of it in the future. Hmm...

Lolz. Oh well.

As usual, one bento is less-lucky and has to settle for corned beef and a random nori pattern...

Rush, rush, rush....

Sun, 17 Sep 2006 03:51:57 GMT

Another quick one.

Rice + Furikake
Curry + Mixed veggies + egg (my kuma eggs are still earless...)
Chocolate-filled marshmallows.

Sadly, the curry was only enough for 2, so one of the bentos had to settle for corned beef with sesame seeds and basil. hehe. Yup, I pack 3 bentos a day to cover for both lunch and dinner.

(xposted to tanuki_no_bento)

First bento with sauce container.

Thu, 14 Sep 2006 04:10:36 GMT

Lolz. Yep, it's my first chance to use sauce containers after having hunted them for so long. I only have fish and square containers right now, so I'm now hoping to get the ichigo-shaped ones soon. Hehehe...

Even though I knew that it needs to suck water in and then squeeze it out again, I never knew they were kinda hard to clean...

Anyway, just a simple one...

Rice and corned beef with a bit of basil and salt on the rice, some cream croquettes, sandwiched in between the croquettes is a container of soy sauce for the Kisu fry (fish) that the croquettes are resting on. And some marshmallows. Those things have pink hearts on them, so it's really too bad that it doesn't show in the photo. :/ Oh well.