Sisig Mini Tacos and Portobello Inasal from Pino Bar and Pipino

I was happy with the food in Pino Bar and Pipino (the vegan restaurant upstairs) so I'm documenting it! Whoohoo! Today, we ordered to things: The Sisig Mini-Tacos and the Portobello Inasal. I've been here several times since it's one of my favorite places to go to in QC.

So what's good here?

Sisig Mini Tacos (PhP 215) - I love the sisig of Pino Bar and it went great as a taco filling.

Vegan Portobello Inasal with Red Beet Puree, Eggplant Salsa, and Brown Rice (PhP 260) - This is my official favorite vegan dish of all time! The Portobello Mushroom was like Inihaw na Pusit. It all went really well together.

Pino Resto Bar and Pipino are located in 39 Malingap St. Teachers Village QC. Pipino (Vegetarian Restaurant) is at the 2nd floor. Their facebook pages are: http://www.facebook.com/PinoRestoBar and http://www.facebook.com/pipinoveg

Parking is limited and Pino Resto Bar is always full especially at dinnertime so better reserve!

Potluck and Quick Easy Tomato Cream Soup Recipe

Porkchops, Tomato Cream Soup, Wine, Whoppers, Havannets for Dinner

My friends and i got together for a "potluck". Chux made barbecue porkchops and brought red wine. Lance brought Hershey's Whoppers Ice Cream. Debbie brought Havannas all the way from Argentina! I made Tomato Cream Soup. :D We watched Friends with Benefits after (Mila Kunis and Justin Timberlake).

So here I am - sharing the quick and easy recipe for tomato cream soup! It's quick, easy... this is the shortcuts and cheats version. It's not exactly healthy since I just used bouillon cubes (high sodium) instead of chicken stock, but I needed something quick.

Ingredients (Serves 4-6):

• 3 cups of water
• 1 chicken bouillion cube (or more, if you feel like it)
• 1 big can of tomatoes (sometimes i use diced, sometimes whole - i prefer whole)
• 2 cloves of garlic and 1 small onion chopped
• 1 pack of all purpose cream
• a teaspoon of dried rosemary (or anything you feel like adding, maybe basil)
• freshly ground black pepper and extra virgin olive oil at the end
• Croutons (my friends requested for croutons but I didn't have any)

How to:

1. Dissolve the bouillon cubes with the water in a soup pot and let it boil in medium heat
2. Add the canned tomatoes in with rosemary and the chopped onions and garlic. Let it simmer for 5 minutes.
3. Turn off the heat and wait for it to cool a bit. Add the cream in and mix.
4. When it's not boiling-hot anymore, transfer it to a blender but only up to half of the blender at a time to prevent it from spilling when you blend. Transfer the blended soup into a soup bowl.
5. Once everything is blended, it's ready to be transferred into the smaller bowls.
6. Add black pepper and a little bit of extra virgin olive oil on top. If someone requested for croutons, add it as well. :)

UPDATE!!! [Nov 18] Here's an even better recipe for the Tomato Soup, but it would take a lot more effort than this one. http://myhobbycollection.blogspot.com/2012/11/italian-cooking-spree-we-made-chunky.html 

Lunch at Dang Dee Taiwanese Restaurant

This little hole in the wall in Makati (Salcedo corner Benavidez) serves great food for a really low price. The price range of the rice meals are from 68 to 108. It easily beats Jollibee and McDonalds in terms of value and quantity! Of course, it tastes great too. :) A friend who lives around the area brought us here to try out.

Today, I ordered the Porkchop Bento for PhP 88. I usually get the Fried Chicken Bento for PhP 68. The meal comes with veggies, half of a hardboiled egg, lots of rice, and a zesto pack.

Pork Chop Bento for PhP 88! :)

The menu photo is too small, sorry... but as you can see, only the Chicken Leg Bento is over 100 PhP!

This place is usually full during the weekdays because of the office crowd and the AIM crowd. I went here for dinner on a weekday and the only thing they had left was the Dang Dee Classic Bento.

They also deliver around the Makati area. See the number below:

As they've said, they've got free delivery!

Find this in Salcedo St. Corner Benavidez St., Makati

My Gray Leather Boots from Payless

I have a new favorite store in Powerplant Rockwell... which is Payless! :)

My most recent purchases have been my niece's red shoes, my new wallet, and my new gray leather boots! So far, I've been happy with all of the things I've bought from Payless. I'm waiting for them to release a membership card or a discount card or something. :D

My cool new gray boots (1650 Php)

My niece's glittery red shoes (700-something?)

Afternoon Tea at Da.u.de Tea Lounge at Fort

I spent the afternoon today at Da.u.de Tea Lounge sipping tea and snacking on sandwiches and dessert. :) I used my Deal Grocer coupon for High Tea Set for 2 for 800-something instead of 1400 Php.

The place and the ambiance were so nice, but I can't help but feel that only girls will appreciate having "afternoon tea". My sister had the right idea of going there with a female friend in their "sunday dresses".

We had the Skala Fruit Tea in their amazing tea pot (see the pic on how it gets to the glass). For the food, there were madeleines and scones on top; pork banh minh crostinis and roasted vegetable tartines at the middle; and apple strudel, green tea pudding, vanilla ice cream, and macaroons at the bottom.

Overall, I had fun eating there but the food veered towards sweet instead of savory. :) Next time, I'll be going back for the savory food. After leaving, I felt so sleepy after... probably due to sugar crash.

Cowgirl Annie Steak from Brickfire Oven

Last Saturday, I had dinner in Katipunan in lieu of the Ateneo Bonfire. We ate at Brickfire Oven (behind McDonalds).

I ordered the Cowgirl Annie Steak (120 PHP). It's pretty good and the serving size was alright for 120. Good for the wallet of college students. Don't expect Mamou-steak level, though. :)

Chili Color Changes [Updated]

Just sharing a photo of the growing process of another chili plant. I just thought that the color changes were cool.

At first, it was light yellow with purple splotches. Many weeks later, it became bright yellow. Over the course of the last 2 weeks, it turned bright orange. Today, it's red! :)

Update (Oct 19): So I harvested this piece today so it doesn't get wasted. I brought the little thing to work to eat with my salad. I tasted it and it was spicy! :) It was unfortunate that I wasn't able to let my family taste it. And it was also unfortunate that I accidentally touched my eye after handling it (it burns!!!).

look at my fat stubby fingers

Instant Sugar Scrub at the Office

As I was working in the office, I kept getting distracted by the dry skin on my nose. Then an idea hit me, why not make a quick scrub using sugar from the pantry?

How-to:
So anyway, I got some Cetaphil facial wash on my palm, just a small blob, as big as 25 centavos. I headed off to the pantry and got a quarter teaspoon of sugar. So I mixed the sugar and Cetaphil on my palm and scrubbed my face with it. :)

Just be careful not to overscrub. I think I overscrubbed a little bit on my cheeks, but now the dry skin on my nose is gone! Hehe...

For more ideas on home made sugar scrubs, head on over here to Tip Junkie for 14 Easy Homemade Sugar Scrub Recipes.

Got Featured! And Next Entry

Thanks to the help from my friends, my J Ruiz LRT Station photo made it to the front page! It's part of the top 100 photos of the week. It seems that they are now making this a regular thing in Instacanvas so I entered a second photo for the contest whose voting ends on October 22.

Front Page of Instacanvas (http://instacanv.as)

Here's my next entry - it's the photo I took in Amsterdam Central (or Amsterdam Centraal) back in July 2012 in our 6-hour stopover from our Poland Business Trip. What's amazing about this place is that it's packed with different kinds of people and cultures and it feels "normal", unlike other places where there's an element of fear when there's something/someone that's different. In the background, the structures looks very Christian and European, while there are many people of different races (Middle-east asians, South-east Asians, Africans, Caucasians, etc) walking around.

If you like the picture, vote for it on Instacanvas by clicking on the photo below. :)

Instagram, Instacanvas, and Help Needed

One of the things that I've really been into these days is Instagram. I've been into "amateur photography" for the longest time, usually using my sister's digicam or using mobile phones (before, Nokia N97, now, iPhone 4). Instagram has just been the most convenient app to use right now. In 2 months, I've got over 250 photos (addict!).

Since I mix personal photos with artsy-fartsy photos, it's great that there's Instacanvas to allow me to select photos which I categorize as the latter. :) Instacanvas also allows me to sell my photos, but I'd only get 8USD out of the 39USD. I'm not exactly hopeful on selling photos in the Philippine market as 39USD seems too steep. But then, I'm aiming to advertise through the Instacanvas page to link up with buyers from other countries!

With that, I need your help to get to the feature page! Please vote for the picture, we only have until today (Oct 15 afternoon)! If you don't think it's vote-worthy, that's alright. :)

This particular photo was taken last Saturday on my way to my university. This is the J Ruiz Station of LRT2 in Metro Manila Philippines. There were only very few people, so I was confident enough to take my phone out. :P Doesn't it look like the train stations in Europe? LRT2 is the best train line in Metro Manila :)

Check out the rest of my gallery here: http://instacanv.as/yvettety

Chili FAIL!

It was already time to harvest the chilis since it was already red. I was so excited to make chili oil, expecting it to be hot & spicy. Lo and behold, IT'S NOT SPICY at all!

Turns out, I assumed wrong - it's not Habanero. I'd have to edit my previous posts of this chili to correct myself. My mom says it might be pimiento. It leaned towards the sweet side rather than spicy. Bell peppers are even spicier than this one. :(

So anyway, since i had the ingredients ready, i went through with it but added cheese and honey mustard. It wasn't anything special, though.

Here are the photos!

At least I got a lot of nice pictures of it and they're in my instacanvas account.

 

The Chili is Red! :)

Update for October 7, 2012: Chili Fail :(

From the looks of it, the color change lasted for a week.

Look how red it is now! Yay! It's so nice!!!

My sister-in-law and my brother will help me make us of this. The plan is to roast/smoke them, for now.

Have a look at my previous posts on this --> "Habanero Chili Turns Red"

Chocolate Tableu Cheesecake from Pino Bar

I love this! :P For 160 Php in Pino Bar in Maginhawa QC.