grandmomma's kitchen

i love love lola-ness

lola-ness (noun): the art of being a lola

I do not like it when things get noisy and rowdy. I prefer a cup of coffee over Bacardi. I spend my Friday nights mostly in a coffee shop, reading or writing or doing both. My weekends when not spent out of town are sacredly protected from the malls - my security come in the form of my bed with a book which seduces me to never go out of the house or lovely breakfast dates. Yes, I have no problem waking up early on weekends. My friends and colleagues and sometimes even my boss call me a lola. And I like it that way. Grandmothers are comforting and warm and true. They are the glue that keep the family together.

One Sunday afternoon, I was overwhelmed with personal drama that I needed to step out of the house and take comfort elsewhere. My feet (and Alan's too) were led to Il Terrazo in Tomas Morato and shred a late in the afternoon lunch in Grandmomma's kitchen. I love its cottage-y vibe, it is like Mom and Tina's only if both were farm houses, Grandmomma's kitchen has more chickens and cows and hays. :) No, this is not a food post (I do not think I can ever write one and I always say I go to restaurants only for the experience) but a mere appreciation of the comforts that a true and warm establishment brings. :)

 Pictures (from top to bottom):

1-3: the homey interiors

4: pillow case

5: pates and pastes

6: table tops

7: wall clock

8: crab fat pasta with quarter chicken

9: pan seared salmon with vegetables and mashed potato

10: spicy pumpkin soup

Grandmomma's Kitchen

G/F IL Terrazzo

Tomas Morato Ave cor Sct Madrinan  

South Triangle, Quezon City

cocina juan

i love love cocina juan!

maginhawa street

"This is really worth the long trip. Thank you.", said the English speaking 30-something diner at the other table. "No, THANK YOU sir. Where are you from?", replied the manager/owner. "Makati", the diner retorted. I was beaming inside, "yay, he likes the place, I like it, no, love it too!". This is not a foodie post (because I suck at descriptions) but if you are like my sisters and cousins who frequently read my blog (haha!), you would know how I love, love, truly love Cocina Juan in Maginahawa Street, UP Teacher's Village Quezon City.

It's my go-to restaurant actually. My sisters are coming over for a visit, where to treat them? Cocina! My tito is asking for recommendations where to eat lunch? Cocina! My high school best friend wants to drop by, where to bring her? Cocina! I am all alone, where do I go? Cocina! Haha! Nope, I was not paid to write this one. I truly love love places like Cocina, very cozy and artsy. I like that their walls have different sets of colors. And their doors are painted in playful green. And that walls are adorned with painting. And the seat covers crocheted or woven. And the tables tiled. And the lights glistens as they hit the bottles in different colors. I can go on and on and on. Plus, it does not hurt that it is near our apartment! *wink* I have not started talking about the food yet!!

The food is Mex/Tex and the place is lauded for its chimichurri sauce. But what I absolutely cannot forget is the Cream Dory baked in cheese meal which melted in my mouth several years back and this is what I have been ordering since. No fish meal was available tonight though so we had the chicken and the pork. Yum! Highly recommended is their Dinamita and Pita Pizza -  I can never get enough of them.

 

I pray for more places as charming and enriching as Cocina Juan - or better yet, build/start one someday!!

Hooray for our dreams!!

dumaguete food trip

i love love food!

where to eat in Dumaguete

'Twas a sweet 2-hour ride from the province of Siquijor to Dumaguete and by the time we reached the port, I was all in a rush to get to our hotel, park our things and satisfy our bellies with Dumaguete food sacredly listed in a sheet of yellow paper, carefully folded and tucked in my camera bag. I am a little control freak such that I had everything planned by the minute. Haha! :)

JUTZ CAFE DINING GALLERY

Art+Food = Magic!!!!! I believe there are proper blog sites which can dissect the food quality blah-blah and what I will be posting here are mostly pictures (I am lazy that way - haha!) and my personal experience of being in the restaurant and trying out what I felt like eating at that time. I love how la boheme Jutz Cafe is and how it promotes art - I am loving the vibe!!

What we sampled:  

Jutz Cafe Favorite Pizza. your good old traditional pizza which at that time was heaven for me because I was incredibly hungry!! My first bite of it was my salvation!!!

Shrimp and Mushroom Pomodoro Basilico. So satisying. :)

SANS RIVAL CAKES & PASTRIES (just two blocks away from Jutz Cafe) 

Dessert heaven. Sans Rival when translated in English means, "without rival", in Filipino, "walang katapat". And truly, my favorite cake in the world is sans rival - wherever and however it is made. Sans Rival Cakes and pastries is packed with both locals and tourists at the time of our visit, understandably so. We went back the next day and had the same order: SILVANAS and SANS RIVAL CAKE. I still dream about these two until today.

and seriously, right across Sans Rival is ZAN ZIBAR... hahaha!

 

TEMPURAHAN

Rizal Boulevard gets transformed into a dining destination every afternoon courtesy of a group of vendors who thrive in the concept of tempurahan. I thought I will be getting my taste of tempura and Japanese cuisine but what tempurahan offers are squid balls, fish balls, kikiam, balot and penoy - our typical street food upped one notch as they are serve by the bay with the view of the ocean while serenaded by street musicians (who will not leave your table until you pay them - haha!). Again, I am loving the vibe!!

PANDA ICE CREAM HAUS

While I stay loyal to FIC's Pistachio ice cream, Panda's fried ice cream is worth a try. :)

LAB-AS

I am definitely going back to Dumaguete for this!! I am loving the Dumaguete plate (that's gata, coconut strips, sea food and lechon kawali all in one plate - yummm!!!) and the chili crabs (yummmm again!!!!!!!!!).

PAINITAN

I love love breakfast and I love love it that Dumaguete offers a unique breakfast experience!!! Check out Before Nine for an account of our morning in Painitan!

KRI

Right before our 3 PM flight back to Manila, we headed to KRI along Siliman Avenue for a fine dining lunch experience in Dumaguete. It has lovely interiors and superb customer service. And the food - they taste as beautifully as they look. The restaurant is categorized under fine dining but is surprisingly affordable. :) Definitely a must-try!

Sorry for the KRI picture overload but I honestly can't get enough of the place - so beautiful!! 

What we sampled: Rice Paper Vegetable Roll for appetizer| Cream of Roasted Tomato because I am a soup person!| Main Course: KRI Pork Ribs * Tuna wrapped with Nori * Samurai Salmon with Tempura

We spent less than 24 hours in Dumaguete, got to try all these wonderful dishes - it was an incredible whirlwind love affair with our bellies!!

one sunday

i love love these kids!

paul, isabel and mika

It was a humid Sunday afternoon and we needed to get out of the house. Fast. I have an aversion to malls even with their free air-conditioning so it will never ever be a part of our weekend where-to option. Except when watching a movie, of course. The next best thing in the city? Eat. Somewhere affordable (since these kids wouldn't pay - haha!) without compromising quality.  At the top of mind? Wok on Inn along Visayas Avenue. I've been salivating on sipa ever since our boss treated us to Wok Inn in Malate. Good thing they have a branch in Quezon City! Yay!

  

Isabel and Mika. Quick sartorial post before heading out!!

  L-R: Halaan | Stuffes Squid| Spicy Oyster| Sipa

Pancake Afternoon

Thanks to the instructions found at the back of the packaging of Magnolia Pancake Plus, idiot-proof and oh-so simple, my cousins, sisters, all gazillion years younger than me, and me (all domestically-challenged  regardless of age, haha!) managed to satisfy our holiday-spoiled brat bellies who can't get enough of food one afternoon (or the afternoon after we just had our breakfast at the farm). 

We cooked pancakes! I know, I know, it is not really big deal, because hello, cooking pancakes is no-brainer but coming from somebody who does not even know how to light up the stove (haha, talagang light up, yes, yes, we are not YET using electric stove - we are very backwards still, lighter, fire, LPG and all) this is a big deal, THE big deal. I can cook!! Yes!! Puwede nakong mag-asawa - in the next TEN years, wohooo!! 

And because every milestone needs to get documented - here are the pics of my lovely cousins and sisters - and please just because you do not see me in the picture it does not mean that I did not have any participation. Just for the record, I initiated the cooking , I mixed the ingredients, I opened the stove (with the assistance of Ate Lucy :p), I placed the butter on the pan, poured the mix - basically everything!! My young assistants did a teensy bit of the chore but I - take note, I was the chief chef. Haha! Nope, seriously now, these young ladies did 60% of the job and cooking pancakes, I realized, is a good bonding activity. :)

by the stove (bottom picture L-R: tanya; jessie; patis; ikay; niña)

happy cooks

our pancakes - messy but yummy!!

Pancakes now (ready mix nga lang :p) - restaurant soon, nyahaha!!!

Baby steps. :)

Bacolod Belly Fest

The best way to a man's heart is through his stomach - - and that is how Bacolod wooed, pursued and swept me off my feet. After a magical, quiet, just-chillin'-in-the-beach, feeling-mayaman mode Sipaway Island weekend (every waking day on that island, I say to myself, this is the life, THE life! Emphasis on the the because the the elevates everything else in the grandest scale - now, where is my butler to bring me my breakfast in bed? Sarap talaga!), we traveled to Bacolod City to experience the vibe of the city of smiles and to pack in some pounds because the city is a foodie heaven.

We arrived in Bacolod City from San Carlos late in the afternoon, rested for a while in our hotel of choice, Circle Inn, and started our gastronomical adventure dressed and dolled up for our first and sosyal night in the City of Smiles. The restaurants are featured in chronological order and, boy, do I wish I can really write well to give justice to capture into words the happiness of our sexy bellies.

Snapshots of our Bacolod Food Trip aka Bacolod Belly Fest:

21 Restaurant
21st Lacson Street, Bacolod City

Days before the trip, I asked Alan to bring with him nice and non-beach mode "costume" (haha, costume, because, we rarely dress up being lousy and lazy dressers that we are) to complement the pink dress I bought the night before our trip. Aica, one of our dearest friends from Travel Factor, suggested this restaurant and I followed through with a diligent research and decided that at last, I found a reason to dress up nicely. The restaurant is classy and romantic and the food - glorious, delicious, melts in your mouth goodness is extremely affordable.

Among the courses we have ordered, I particularly favored Inasal lollipop - which is not really surprising given that Bacolod is the home of the famous Chicken Inasal.

21 restaurant at night and feeling the holiday vibe

Clockwise: (1) Beer battered fish and fries ; (2) Peppered Steak with Mashed Potato ; (3) Inasal lollipop ; (4) Apan-apan; (5) Fish Parmesan with eggplant

Deco's 

Bacolod DownTown
Luzuriaga St. Cor. Gatuslao St.

The next day, after a visit to San Sebastian Church, we headed to Bacolod Public Market for some La Paz Batchoy Breakfast in Deco's. We partnered the hot, nourishing soup with putong puti and mangosteen or pako.

It was a simple and belly-friendly meal. 

By the way, Deco's can already be found in Metro Manila in their Alpha Land branch.

Manokan Country

Rizal Street (across SM City Bacolod and around two blocks from the San Sebastian Church)

After breakfast in Deco's, we strolled around the public market area and plaza to shake a little belly space for an early lunch in Manokan country. We had our entire afternoon planned for sight seeing in Silay City thus the early lunch. Funny, most locals were directing us to Jollibee's Mang Inasal whenever we ask where we can find the best inasal in town. Tsk. Among the many inasal stalls in Manokan country, we chose the famous Aida's where we had our fill of Chicken Inasal and isaw, locally known as tina-e. Personally, there is not much difference in taste of inasal elsewhere and inasal in Bacolod, but nothing compares to experiencing THE real thing.

Calea Pastries and Coffee

Ground Floor, Balay Quince (across L'Fisher Hotel)

Lacson Street, Bacolod City

After lunch in Manokan Country, we headed to Calea for dessert. After my first bite of the white chocolate cheesecake, I just know I will keep on coming back and that I have more or less accomplished 90% of my Bacolod food trip agenda. In our 2-day stay in Bacolod, we dined in Calea three times and every visit is a delightful and heavenly experience. Calea's secret is that the cakes are satisfyingly sweet minus the umay factor - I think they have sprinkled gayuma pixie dusts to their cakes, people just keep on coming back even with threats of diabetes and dizzying spike of sugar levels. One more thing to love about Calea is the store design, let me use my favorite words again - so whimsical, so dreamy!!

Calea Door: I have this thing for doors, right? Sa Calea, door palang, ulam na!!:)

Calea by day

Calea by Night

This is heaven!! Slices of heaven we tried!!Clockwise: (1) Imported Chocolate Cake; (2)  Fruity Cheesecake; (3) Chocolate Crumble; (4) Floating Island - brazo mercedes with caramel and leche flan; (5) White Chocolate Cheesecake; (6) Smorse Cheesecake; (7) Mudpie Cheesecake; (8) Mocha Frappe; (9) More Cakes!!

The Ruins Pizzeria and Cafe

Talisay City

After an entire morning of happy bellies, we headed to the beautiful Silay and Talisay cities to soak in history and culture - the beautiful houses of Silay brought me back to the glory days of our grandmothers - intricate interior details, wooden floors and walls, floor to ceiling windows, gardens, all evidences of a rich and colorful history preserved in ancestral houses (we visited only two, Balay Negrense and Hofilenia Heritage House) - this deserves a different post. It was part of the belly fest plan to visit Cafe 1925 in Silay but the sun is getting all orange, ready to set and we have yet to visit The Ruins in Talisay. So we dropped our Cafe 1925 plans and made our way to the beautiful and the classic, The Ruins (puro 'THE!').  And because this is a foodie post, I will mention that the pesto and anchovies pizza  we ordered is saltier than necessary and the Chinese Lumpia Roll is just okay, nothing extraordinary. I want to get a little bit disappointed BUT a quick reminder that I came to THE Ruins for the site and experience and not the food brought me back to my senses.

The place is simply... beautiful. Too beautiful it is a perfect venue for proposals and pre-nuptial shoots - there were a lot of soon-to-be-married couples all giggly and in love with their save-the-dates photo shoots.

The Ruins Cafe

A lot of seafoam green in 'shabby chic' feel

Clockwise: (1) Pesto and anchovies pizza; (2) french wndows; (3) The Ruins interior; (4) Chinese lumpia Roll

(Old) Pala-Pala

San Juan Street corner North Capitol Road

Dinner involved shopping for squid and shrimps at the wet market and choosing one among the many stalls to have it cooked dampa style . Our choice was Hyksos to prepare sinigang shrimps and stuffed squids - the perfect way to end the long and tiring but super BEAUTIFUL day!!

Sharyn's Cansi House

Narra Street, Shopping Area

On our last day in Bacolod, I was a little disappointed that my resto choices were closed - it was a Monday and the Negros Museum Cafe (who can go wrong with food and art??) and Jacopo Kebab and Steak do not open on Mondays!! I conceded to a sloppy egg sandwich and fries breakfast served in the hotel cafe - maybe I was dreading it so, I kept on researching about breakfast alternatives even while eating that I came across a feature on Sharyn's Cansi House, made a call and guess what, the restaurant is opened at 7:00 in the morning AND get this, it is just two blocks away from the hotel. I finished off the egg sandwich and fries and headed off to an early morning treat of the best bulalo I have ever tasted in my entire 26 years of sexy and godly existence!! Walang halong biro at OA-ness.

I met the owner, Sharyn's mom - and thanked her so after the meal. Super sarap.

Aboy's Restaurant

Liroville Subd., Singcang, Bacolod City

I make an awful food writer so please excuse me for using grade school descriptive words - like good, better, best and nice. This is so frustrating especially when the write up deserves an overflowing supply of beautiful adjectives. Given that "best" is the "most" superlative of all - please, please allow me to use it - I promise to brush up on my vocab really soon.

So I had a really wonderful bulalo breakfast experience and I was satisfied with the trip already. Fifty years down the road, I can sit on my rocking chair with my grandkids, still sexy and all, and recount my Bacolod food trip ending with Sharyn's Cansi breakfast experience with matching visual presentation courtesy of this blog, hahaha, but Aboy's, oh boy, Aboy's - this restaurant gave me the BEST Bacolod lunch experience. Grilled Scallops. Kilawin na Tanigue. Rellenong Alimango. Squid Fat Adobo. Buko juice. Tarragon tea. Rich and healthy man's food served in a snap. Good service = good food makes a happy tourist!!

Clockwise: (1) Kilawin na Tanigue; (2) Squid Fat Adobo; (3) Grilled Scallops; (4) Rellenong Alimango

Kuppa Cafe and Tea

Silay City, Airport 

Our happy bellies peacefully accepted the end of our Bacolod trip and headed off to Silay Airport for our flight back to Manila after our lunch and a little pasalubong shopping. But Bacolod keeps one of its homegrown cafe in the departure area and as gratitude to our heroic bellies who did nothing but accept, cooperate and expand when necessary - we treated them with nutcracker latte and Jasmine tea.

 

Special thanks to Bacolod Food Hunters for curating the restaurants and reviews - the site was mostly my reference - and there is nothing more credible than getting information straight from the locals.

Thank you Universe!

Life is good.