You know it’s Christmas when...

A taste of Filipino Christmas

            I am truly sorry for not being able to post the past weeeeeekkkkssss (yes it was that long). J I have been teaching preschool kids these past weeks so I was tired and busy. But the long wait is now over….

            If you ask me what is a symbol of Filipino Christmas I could say the parol (star lantern) or the belen (manger), but if you ask me what food symbolizes Filipino Christmas… I would say bibingka and puto bumbong. There are no direct English translations for these yummy Filipino Christmas sweet. It might just be called rice cakes but in the Philippines there are various types of rice cakes. These two particular rice cakes are mostly available only on Christmas.

            Bibingka is made from rice flour topped with salted eggs, butter, and toasted coconut. While puto bumbong is made from a sticky type of rice called pirurutong, this makes the puto bumbong purple. It is then cooked in bamboo tubes by steam.

            A few weeks ago I was able to eat puto bumbong from Via Mare. This was after going around the mall looking for Christmas decors. Eating this made me feel that it was Christmas already because traditionally puto bumbong would be sold alongside bibngka every simbang gabi (Christmas night mass). It was freshly made when I ate it. It was topped with toasted coconut and brown sugar. Oh boy did it taste good! It was warm and sweet… such a perfect treat J.

bibingka

the purutong being placed in the bamboo tube

off to be steamed

finished product :)

            So if ever you find yourself in the Philippines during Christmas don’t forget to try puto bumbong and bibingka. J

-Dot-

Photos are personally owned by writer, if you would like to use it kindly inform or at least cite the source thank you! J

You know its Christmas (season 2)

Hello everyone!

For the next days, weeks, and month I will be blogging on my “You Know it’s Christmas…” series. It’s now on its second year! J I hope you will enjoy the next few blogs J.

I also hope you would enjoy the Christmas season no matter where you are in life. I pray that despite all the business or craziness or festiveness of the season we will never forget why we have Christmas.

Advance Merry Christmas J!

-DOT-

picture was taken from ricekrispies.com :)

Yes! mama: nomama

Yes! mama: nomama

      Have you watched the movie “The Ramen Girl”? The star of the movie was Brittany Murphy. I really enjoyed that movie. It was fun and it was about ramen J. But I’m not going to write about the movie [check it for yourself J], what I will be writing is about a relatively new restaurant here in the Tomas Morato Area. The name of the restaurant is Nomama.

      Nomama reminds me of the movie so much because of the restaurants interior the food. Yes! They serve ramen and what’s amazing about it is that they make their own noodles J. They serve really good food… good in a sense that it tastes great and looks great.

      I was able to dine at Nomama last month (think if I’m not mistaken). My family and I had no reservations but thankfully we got a seat and it was perfect. We were seated on the counter table that was facing the kitchen and the chefs. We saw how the food was prepared. It was fascinating because it was like watching Top Chef because of the avant-garde techniques done to the food. At Nomama, we ordered tuna tataki and soba salad, prawn and red curry noodle stir-fry, Japanese steak and fries, and, of course, Nomama ramen [when in a ramen place one must eat ramen J]. The food was delicious and delightful. The flavors and textures were awesome! J Here are some pictures:

*i was not able to get the picture of the ramen because my dad ate it right away :) (it's that good hehehe)

Chef Him Uy de Baron

tuna tataki and soba salad (the tuna was gooood!)

prawn and red curry noodle stir-fry

japanese steak

That’s all for now! ありがとう

-DOT-

For more information on Nomama check out:

http://www.facebook.com/pages/Nomama/268437836506070?sk=wall#!/pages/Nomama/268437836506070

Photos are personally owned by writer, if you would like to use it kindly inform or at least cite the source thank you! J

The Coconut House

The Coconut House

       Here in the Philippines the coconut tree is also called as a tree of life because most, if not all, of the trees parts are useful. The trunks are used as wood materials for furniture and housing. The leaves are used as roofs in small huts and sometimes in houses. It can also be used in weaving. But the part that has the most use is the fruit. From the husk to the milk, the coconut fruit is very useful.

           

One of the, popular, uses of the fruit is for food and drinks. At the Coconut House, located at the Quezon Circle, they serve different dishes that are made from coconuts. This place is certainly for coconut lovers … and foodies too. J

All dishes served at Coconut House contain coconut (duh! J) from coco-butter to coco-wheat crust. I love how they incorporate coconut in all the dishes and how good it tastes even if some of the dishes sound different or odd.

I am blessed to have visited Coconut House more than once and I enjoy my visit there every time J. Some dishes that must be tried (well, actually you should try all since their so coco-tastic J):

Pancit Buko- pancit is like stir-fried noodles and this dish is like pancit but instead of using egg/flour noodles it uses coconut strips

Laing Pizza- Laing is a spicy native dish from Bicol (a region in the Philippines) made from taro leaves… now this dish is good as viand but at Coconut House it’s also good as a pizza

Dishes from their binalot menu- these dishes already some with rice and viand served in banana leaf

Coco Dessert Combo- No meal is complete without yummy desserts. Although Coconut House serve delightful desserts, I highly recommended this one because this is a combo of 3 desserts: suman latik, coconut ice cream, and buko salad [with choice of panda jelly or fruit mix]. With this dessert you would be able to taste coconut served in three sweet ways J.

Simple Buko drinks- what better drink to accompany your delicious dishes than fresh coconut water J

Binalot meals and Panghimagas(desserts)

Tanghap menu [viands]

Almusal [breakfast], Pampagana [light meals]

Laing BBQ (from the binalot menu)

Pancit Buko

Laing Pizza

Suman Latik from the Coco Dessert Combo

I love coming back to Coconut House because the dishes are new, inviting and refreshing… hope you could try them too. J

-DOT-

For more information on Coconut House check out:

http://www.facebook.com/pages/COCONUT-HOUSE/117524054952383?v=info

Photos are personally owned by writer, if you would like to use it kindly inform or at least cite the source thank you! J

Happy 1 Year Turo-Turo

Happy 1 Year Turo-Turo

       I just checked my past blog entries…… and I can’t believe it been a year since I first started this blog!

       1 amazing year of blogging… I am so thankful for all the readers that have been following J. I enjoyed the year and I look forward to blogging more amazing stuff J. Thank you Lord for allowing me to experience all this wonderful things and also a big thank you to my family J.

1 year baby!



thank you all these countries :)



Salamat [thank you!]

-DOT-

Almost Tagaytay

Almost Tagaytay

                FINALLY!!!! SEMBREAK!!!!  I am so sorry for not being able to post for a long time. J School kept me busy but it did not stop me from going different places and trying new stuff –food. J

                Last, last month my family and I had a long weekend and we intended to spend it in Tagaytay [known for cool weather and the Taal volcano]. Our family enjoys going to Tagaytay because of the wonderful scenery, light breeze, and delicious foods. This particular long weekend was due to a holiday, and so most people were also out and about. The traffic was really heavy going to Tagaytay but we kept going till it was an hour past lunch time (12 noon). We were hungry and we wanted to get down since our legs were cramped in the car. Luckily we stopped by this wonderful new place: Nuvali.

                Nuvali was like a new city being built it was such a pretty place… so we stopped there for lunch. There were so many new awesome restaurants there but we went to John Bamboo. They served yummy Indonesian dishes. For our lunch we ate Tumis Kangkong Dengan Tempe, Beef Empal with Balado Sauce, and mixed Satay. The first dish I did not eat because I am allergic to soy products [bummer!]. But I did eat the Beef Empal and the Satay. They were booth spicy but in a good way. The beef was tender and juicy. J I loved the satay because the presentation was cool [they served it to you in a rectangular brick that had coal in it]. It looked like a mini barbecue grill. I also loved it because the seafood, chicken and beef were juicy and tasty and these are qualities that sometimes lacking in barbecued food. For dessert, they gave us a complimentary apple pie J [thank you John Bamboo].

Beef Empal

Tumis Kangkong

Satay <3

                After lunch we explored Nuvali [we decided to just stay there since traffic was still bad]. There so many things one can do while there. They had fish feeding which was so fun and wild [yes, even fish feeding can be wild J]. They also have bike rentals if you want to bike around the place. One of their main attraction was the boat ride, where they let you ride a boat in their man-made lake J.  

wild fishes :]

activities

restaurants at Solenad, Nuvali

                We might have wished to go to Tagaytay but almost was awesome J.

-DOT-

For more information on Tagaytay check out: http://www.tagaytay.com/

For more information on Nuvali check out: http://www.nuvali.ph/

Photos are personally owned by writer, if you would like to use it kindly inform or at least cite the source thank you! J

A Cupcakeful of Joy

A Cupcakeful of Joy

                Hello everyone! I’m sorry for the delay… I just finished weeks of exam and projects in school [my explanation for the delay J]. The past weeks were stressful but people and different things around me helped me finish all those requirements. One of the things that helped lift my spirit up is a boxful of Cupcakes by Sonja (off course I shared it with my family J).

              I love love love cupcakes especially cupcakes from Cupcakes by Sonja. Their cupcakes (the bread part) have nice moisture. It’s not really wet and not really dry—in other words just right J. When you bite into it, it crumbles perfectly into your mouth. They have various types of batter for the cupcake. They have chocolate, vanilla, Traditional Southern Red Velvet, carrot, lemon, peanut butter, and many more! They are ALL GOOD! J And if the cupcake doesn’t convince you yet… let me describe to you their divine frostings. Their frostings are light and silky to the mouth. It does not have a buttery taste but rather a smooth taste depending on the flavor of frosting. The frostings give the cupcake more life and “personality”  J. Each type of frosting has the right sweetness.  Together, the cupcake and the frosting, it makes a cupcakeful of joy. J Maybe it sounds silly but seriously a bite of cupcakes from Cupcakes by Sonja makes me smile J. Yep! It’s that good.  But if your still not convinced… I hope you would be thru these pictures J…

open a boxful of joy :)

yum!

<3 <3

            

Or check out Cupcakes by Sonja’s website [it’s so fun J] : http://cupcakesbysonja.com/

Enjoy!

-DOT-

Photos are personally owned by writer, if you would like to use it kindly inform or at least cite the source thank you! J