Am I the only one having a hard time uploading pics to their blog?
I've been trying to upload some pics and update my blog for over a week now, darn.
Tuesday, March 11, 2008
Chi's Brick Oven Kitchen
Hubby and I were driving around BF one night looking for a decent (and new) place to have dinner. The brick oven sign caught out attention. Pizzas cooked in a wood-fired oven has always been favored over their counterparts cooked with electricity. Hubby was beyond himself with excitement.
The décor is rustic and Italian-y. The big wood-fired oven dominates one end of the restaurant. We were the first ones to dine there that night.
Their menu is quite interesting. There’s one entry that I wanted to try called the Puchon (short for Pugon Lechon). Pugon, is a Tagalog word for firewood. Anyway, the cholesterol addict in me wanted so very badly to try it but we’ve had too much pork already and decided to maybe try it another time.
I settled for the Cheddar Clam Chowder. The soup is served in a mini bread bowl and topped with cheddar cheese. I was very dismayed when it arrived. It looked more like a sandwich spread than a soup. Can you tell by the picture? I asked for some olive oil and balsamic vinegar to dip the bread in after I finished the soup. Ay, they don’t have any balsamic vinegar. Huh? (I’ll tell you why shortly).
Hubby and I decided to share a pasta and a pizza dish. Since we felt that we were in an Italian Resto, might as well try their Italian dishes. The oven was in full force to cook dishes for hubby and me, the whole place was smothered with smoke coming from the oven. The exhaust system was either not working or that the chimney on that fancy oven was just for show. I don’t know. I’m not an engineer nor a chef to know the inner workings of a pugon oven. (On the other hand, the pugon pandesal shop around the corner doesn’t seem to have the same problem)
First up, the Rigatoni in 3 Cheese Sauce. It’s rigatoni pasta, tossed in their special tomato meat sauce (there was meat in it?), topped with mozzarella, cheddar and queso de bola and then baked in that famed oven. Honestly, I’m just a suburban housewife (now employee again) who just loves to cook, buy I can do this dish better in my teeny tiny stovetop. The sauce is way too sweet and there was hardly any cheese in it.
The pizza didn’t fare any better. It tasted way too flat. Maybe because… you guessed it, there was hardly any cheese in it!
Chef Chi was there and sent out a complimentary Balut Pizza to the guests (Total of 2 tables that night, is that a sign?). Look at hubby munching on it. We decided to share just a slice. I got the yolk part, hubby the chick part. I know eeewww, right? It was surprisingly…..flat tasting.
Anyway, chef Chi asked us how the food was and we were honest with him (but were were nice ha!). I was particularly not happy about the pasta and told him that it was too sweet. He informed me that there are not an Italian restaurant but a Filipino restaurant. (Could have fooled me with the décor, the wood-fired oven and the menu, but hey, he’s the chef). That’s why the taste is geared towards the Filipino palette daw.
I’m Filipino, if I wanted a sweet Filipino style pasta......I’ll eat at Jollibee instead.
Yun lang.
The décor is rustic and Italian-y. The big wood-fired oven dominates one end of the restaurant. We were the first ones to dine there that night.
Their menu is quite interesting. There’s one entry that I wanted to try called the Puchon (short for Pugon Lechon). Pugon, is a Tagalog word for firewood. Anyway, the cholesterol addict in me wanted so very badly to try it but we’ve had too much pork already and decided to maybe try it another time.
I settled for the Cheddar Clam Chowder. The soup is served in a mini bread bowl and topped with cheddar cheese. I was very dismayed when it arrived. It looked more like a sandwich spread than a soup. Can you tell by the picture? I asked for some olive oil and balsamic vinegar to dip the bread in after I finished the soup. Ay, they don’t have any balsamic vinegar. Huh? (I’ll tell you why shortly).
Hubby and I decided to share a pasta and a pizza dish. Since we felt that we were in an Italian Resto, might as well try their Italian dishes. The oven was in full force to cook dishes for hubby and me, the whole place was smothered with smoke coming from the oven. The exhaust system was either not working or that the chimney on that fancy oven was just for show. I don’t know. I’m not an engineer nor a chef to know the inner workings of a pugon oven. (On the other hand, the pugon pandesal shop around the corner doesn’t seem to have the same problem)
First up, the Rigatoni in 3 Cheese Sauce. It’s rigatoni pasta, tossed in their special tomato meat sauce (there was meat in it?), topped with mozzarella, cheddar and queso de bola and then baked in that famed oven. Honestly, I’m just a suburban housewife (now employee again) who just loves to cook, buy I can do this dish better in my teeny tiny stovetop. The sauce is way too sweet and there was hardly any cheese in it.
The pizza didn’t fare any better. It tasted way too flat. Maybe because… you guessed it, there was hardly any cheese in it!
Chef Chi was there and sent out a complimentary Balut Pizza to the guests (Total of 2 tables that night, is that a sign?). Look at hubby munching on it. We decided to share just a slice. I got the yolk part, hubby the chick part. I know eeewww, right? It was surprisingly…..flat tasting.
Anyway, chef Chi asked us how the food was and we were honest with him (but were were nice ha!). I was particularly not happy about the pasta and told him that it was too sweet. He informed me that there are not an Italian restaurant but a Filipino restaurant. (Could have fooled me with the décor, the wood-fired oven and the menu, but hey, he’s the chef). That’s why the taste is geared towards the Filipino palette daw.
I’m Filipino, if I wanted a sweet Filipino style pasta......I’ll eat at Jollibee instead.
Yun lang.
Thursday, March 6, 2008
The Weeks That Were
I know I have not blogged in ages but I've been very busy......... being sick. Ugh. I've been on antibiotics for two weeks, I think I'm going to sprout roots soon. My meds even taste like dirt. Double ugh.
Anyway, here's what we've been up to for the past few weeks.
A family trip to Tagaytay for a sumptuous lunch. We had the usual fat laden, artery clogging deliciousness that is Filipino food.
Ok, we had some healthy fare too :-)
I've also met with my BFF twice and had the usual pasta one Friday and more Filipino food from Via Mare the following Friday. I finally got my Puto Bumbong fix! Love the crispy boneless dilis (anchovies) from Via Mare, the serving is good enough for two :-)
A busted water pipe at home last Sunday and no plumber available 'till Saturday, prompting hubby and me to squat in LP for the week. Can't complain about that..maids cooking our meal, our beds made when we arrive, no cleaning and washing :-)
Buhay senyorita for a week!
Anyway, here's what we've been up to for the past few weeks.
A family trip to Tagaytay for a sumptuous lunch. We had the usual fat laden, artery clogging deliciousness that is Filipino food.
Ok, we had some healthy fare too :-)
I've also met with my BFF twice and had the usual pasta one Friday and more Filipino food from Via Mare the following Friday. I finally got my Puto Bumbong fix! Love the crispy boneless dilis (anchovies) from Via Mare, the serving is good enough for two :-)
A busted water pipe at home last Sunday and no plumber available 'till Saturday, prompting hubby and me to squat in LP for the week. Can't complain about that..maids cooking our meal, our beds made when we arrive, no cleaning and washing :-)
Buhay senyorita for a week!
Blisss.......
OMG! I just spent my lunch hour getting a pedicure and the most fabulous neck and back massage from the salon across my office building.
A great way to spend my lunch hour. Ahhh, sheer blisss......
Ok, back to work now.
A great way to spend my lunch hour. Ahhh, sheer blisss......
Ok, back to work now.
Tuesday, February 5, 2008
Violet Glutenous Rice
Lookie lookie. I found this violet glutenous rice (locally known as pirurutong) at the supermarket today, very very rare. I almost thought that pirurutong was a myth and thought that no one's growing them anymore (you can't see it in the picture but the label says that the pirurutong is grown locally!). It's what traditional Puto Bumbong is made of, not the regular glutenous rice dyed purple to mimic the original.
If they only sold the Puto Bumbong steamer with it and a copy of the recipe on the package, people would be lining up to buy them. I would be one of them. Hubby loves Puto Bumbong (pictured below), almost as much as he does me. He he he :-)
Purple Glutenous Rice available at Shopwise for P177.75 for a pack of 2 kilos.
If they only sold the Puto Bumbong steamer with it and a copy of the recipe on the package, people would be lining up to buy them. I would be one of them. Hubby loves Puto Bumbong (pictured below), almost as much as he does me. He he he :-)
Purple Glutenous Rice available at Shopwise for P177.75 for a pack of 2 kilos.
Monday, February 4, 2008
Fast Food, No Cook
Jolly jeep dinner of Igado with a healthy dose of mixed salad with light honey mustard dressing and fruit bought from a nearby supermarket.
A solution to a day filled only with a few moments to prepare and eat dinner.
A solution to a day filled only with a few moments to prepare and eat dinner.
Busy Busy weekend
Wow our weekend was packed. After picking up my aunts from the airport Friday midnight, we drove them straight to my mom’s condo for a night (morning?) or conversation, kesong puti and asado rolls.
A few hours later, my nephew Jay-jay has a family fun day event at his school. His team won in one of the relay games. I came in late but I did still see some of the kids in action. Mostly, playing in the playground and gobbling plates of spaghetti.
After a hot morning under the sun, hubby treated me to a Japanese Lunch at Rai-Rai Ken in the newly built Pergola Plaza in BF Homes. We both ordered bento boxes since both of use were starving. A bento box is a wooden (or plastic nowadays) box, divided into several compartments. In Japan, the bento box is used for storing small portions of different dishes that compromise a full meal, usually lunch. A Japanese lunch box, if you will.
For this particular lunch, I got the Rai-Rai Ken Bento (P255). A meal consisting of miso soup, chicken lollipop, fried pot stickers, sautéed bean sprouts, beef teriyaki, 2 pieces of shrimp tempura and rice. Quite filling but highly unsatisfying. The tempura tasted like it was rolled in kropek bits and then fried. The chicken and pot stickers were much too dry yet oily, the dipping sauce was even worse. The beef teriyaki was good though.
Hubby ordered the 3 Kinds Bento (P270). His meal consisted of miso soup, a seafood stir fry, sautéed bean sprouts, beef teriyaki, 2 pieces of shrimp tempura and rice. Needless to say (but I’m gonna say it anyway), hubby wasn’t very pleased with how his meal tasted. Even the futomaki that he ordered on the side, failed to impress him.
The most anticipated on weekends of course is the Sunday lunch at LP. Since it’s a welcoming party for our aunts and an uncle (who flew all the way from Canada, Las Vegas and China respectively), we had crabs and some staple Filipino food: Sinigang, a pork dish stewed in a tamarind broth (not photogenic, hence the absence of a photo), Daing na Bangus (milkfish marinated in tons of calamansi juice, soy sauce, garlic, whole pepper corns and some vinegar then deep fried in oil). For dessert we had Brazo de Mercedes ( a meringue roll with a sweet and creamy egg yolk filling), yummy! It’s a light dessert if you forego the yellow stuff in the middle but then, why should you? It’s the best part of the Brazo.
Crabs
Daing na Bangus
Brazo de Mercedes slice
Welcome home, balikbayans!
A few hours later, my nephew Jay-jay has a family fun day event at his school. His team won in one of the relay games. I came in late but I did still see some of the kids in action. Mostly, playing in the playground and gobbling plates of spaghetti.
After a hot morning under the sun, hubby treated me to a Japanese Lunch at Rai-Rai Ken in the newly built Pergola Plaza in BF Homes. We both ordered bento boxes since both of use were starving. A bento box is a wooden (or plastic nowadays) box, divided into several compartments. In Japan, the bento box is used for storing small portions of different dishes that compromise a full meal, usually lunch. A Japanese lunch box, if you will.
For this particular lunch, I got the Rai-Rai Ken Bento (P255). A meal consisting of miso soup, chicken lollipop, fried pot stickers, sautéed bean sprouts, beef teriyaki, 2 pieces of shrimp tempura and rice. Quite filling but highly unsatisfying. The tempura tasted like it was rolled in kropek bits and then fried. The chicken and pot stickers were much too dry yet oily, the dipping sauce was even worse. The beef teriyaki was good though.
Hubby ordered the 3 Kinds Bento (P270). His meal consisted of miso soup, a seafood stir fry, sautéed bean sprouts, beef teriyaki, 2 pieces of shrimp tempura and rice. Needless to say (but I’m gonna say it anyway), hubby wasn’t very pleased with how his meal tasted. Even the futomaki that he ordered on the side, failed to impress him.
The most anticipated on weekends of course is the Sunday lunch at LP. Since it’s a welcoming party for our aunts and an uncle (who flew all the way from Canada, Las Vegas and China respectively), we had crabs and some staple Filipino food: Sinigang, a pork dish stewed in a tamarind broth (not photogenic, hence the absence of a photo), Daing na Bangus (milkfish marinated in tons of calamansi juice, soy sauce, garlic, whole pepper corns and some vinegar then deep fried in oil). For dessert we had Brazo de Mercedes ( a meringue roll with a sweet and creamy egg yolk filling), yummy! It’s a light dessert if you forego the yellow stuff in the middle but then, why should you? It’s the best part of the Brazo.
Crabs
Daing na Bangus
Brazo de Mercedes slice
Welcome home, balikbayans!
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