Tag: food

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Pork Sinigang

Yesterday, Michelle taught me how to cook pork sinigang. And not just cook but buying the ingredients themselves. As usual, lazy me was questioning whether the effort was worth it. But of course it was: Simply the best pork sinigang . I cooked it, I had a great recipe, and I had a great teacher ;)

Below is the recipe as I recall.

4 cups water
¼ kilo pork
1 sinigang mix :P
3 sliced taro (gabi)
1 sliced eggplant (talong)
4 sliced string beans (sitaw)
4 sliced winged beans (sigarilyas)
½ sliced horse radish (labanos)
4 minced tomatoes (kamatis)
4 sliced okra (okra din)
1 sliced onion (sibuyas)

Wash everything very well ;)

Boil pork in water until tender
Add sinigang mix
Gradually add the rest of ingredients in the order they are listed
Let boil to your preferred level of mushiness

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Rice Shortage

Last week, I saw pictures of armed soldiers guarding rice distribution trucks. It reminded me of the intro scene of Blackhawk Down (now that is one hell of a movie) where Somalians who were fighting over food were shot down by the guards. Less the rioting and shooting part, of course. Who would have thought something like that would happen here? And yet it has.

The rice shortage has been attributed to hoarders, poor harvests, population growth, price(?!?) etc. Who now knows what the real reason really is? And it’s not just here that it’s happening. There is also a shortage of food in other places, even leading to food riots in Haiti and Egypt. Experts are even predicting possible war :o

For our part, I suppose we can help by reducing our rice consumption (could even be healthy). Perhaps, only perhaps, the lessening of demand would lead to a lesser price increase and thus allow the less able to still acquire this staple food. Of course longer term solution is becoming improvements in rice production whether here or from where we import from. But that’s later. We’re here right now.

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Cloud 9 vs Choco Mucho

Last friday, even before the Pacquiao vs Marquez fight, I was witness to a fight between two… chocolate bars. Aby mentioned that Choco Mucho is her version of the power bar. I’ve always had Cloud 9 as my version of the power bar. Always in pursuit of the truth… and something to munch on, I got a bar of each and compared. First, the tale of the tape:

CLOUD 9
CHOCO MUCHO
Luscious Caramel, Crunchy Peanuts and Soft Nougat in Rich Chocolate Description Milk Chocolate Caramel Wafer Roll Cereal Crispies
30g Weight 30g
2g Protein 1g
23g Carbohydrates 20g
5g Fats 7g
P7 Price P7
URC Manufacturer Rebisco

And then it was the all important taste test. When the smoke cleared… and only the wrappers remained, the winner was Cloud 9 (sorry Aby :P)! Choco Mucho is bigger and crunchier but pound per pound gram per gram Cloud 9 just got more bang for the buck peso. More carbs and protein and less undesirable fats in a tastier and smaller package that allows you to cram more into your pocket. It has successfully defended its belt and shall remain my version of the power bar… for now.

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Cuillére

Last night was the final session for the current module of my French class and the classmates decided to have dinner together at Cuillére at Serendra. The first thing I noticed was that plastered on the windows were the words “Cuisine et Patisserie Francaise, Glaces Artisanales, Aperitifs, Vins, Café Digestifs” which I think literally means French Kitchen and Bakery, Artistic Ice, Wine, Wine, and Digestive Coffee :P I don’t know whatever the hell it really means but with all those claims, the place just sounds so trying overly hard to be French.

But hey, I’m here for the food, right? Aside from the company, of course. Well, I had mushroom soup, steak, and crème brûlée and that didn’t improve my opinion. The mushroom soup was so-so. So was the steak (but in fairness, how many ways can you steak a cow?) . And the crème brûlée sucks. The taste does not reflect the cost. I don’t know where the cost came from but I suspect a load of it went into all that pretentiousness and the rest went into the location. One of the reasons why I’d rather go for restaurants that are off the beaten track.

Rating: 2/5

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Rufo’s

Tried Rufo’s early this morning (like 2AM early). Actually I’ve tried it almost exactly a week ago at Makati. That time, I ordered (what else?) tapsilog, their signature dish. Unusually, the tapa comes with sauce. In fact there’s more sauce than meat. They claim that the sauce alone is already viand. Frankly, I didn’t expect tapa to come with sauce since I’m used more to Rodic’s and Tapa King’s tapa which are more traditional. But I have to admit that it does taste nice. I like Rodic’s tapa better though. Anyway, this morning, I ordered embutido then switched to liempo because both Alex and Aby ordered it (shades of gluttony and envy in one sitting, beat that!) . But no regrets since it’s one of the best liempo I’ve had. I definitely want to try the other items on their menu.

UPDATE: Their embutido sucks.