resuscitated toasts

we had some bread from a bakery shop in one of the makati malls. these breads are displayed on open shelves. the good thing is that you see the product easily. the bad thing is that the mall environment dries up the bread badly.

we needed a fast meal for our office snacks and my hunny thought of a way to resuscitate the breads. bread was prepared morning and was eaten lunchtime. bread was better than before.

resuscitated toasts

generous butter
mall dried sliced breads

heat up a non-stick pan for toasting. add a dollop of butter on the pan and immediately place a slice of bread on top. let the butter melt with the bread's life slowly being resuscited. toast one side of the bread for less than a minute. add another dollop of butter on the pan and flip bread on to the fresh dollop. remove the bread from the pan after about 30 seconds.

this is an easy way of saving the life of a mall dried bread.

North Park: Lechon Macao

one night on our way home, my hunny and i met with a good friend who's working in the province of bicol. bicol is located south of luzon, about 19 hours of bus ride from manila. he's here for a job interview.

we treated him at North Park at the lobby of Convergys Bldg., Ayala Ave., Makati City. My hunny suggested their lechon macau as it is prepared at the right crispness.

this is a surprise as against to the lechon macau we had at ongpin last chinese new year. i was expecting then that the lechon made by the chinese is better but they failed me.


North Park's version is similar. the lechon is served on a garlic fried rice with a steamed baby pechay to add color. it came with pickled raddish and hoisin sauce. A clear soup, resembling broth from boiled beef bones and tendons comes with every visit. we add chili sauce to adjust the flavor.

the difference lies on the process of preparing the lechon. the one from ongpin was tough and served cold. North Park prepares the lechon in a totally better quality. skin is puffed beautifully and very crispy. not tough. meat is very tender and moist, roasted just right without any red and underdone areas.

for 120 pesos, you will have a very satisfying dish in the middle of ayala.

the downside is that the service is way too poor. never go there on a totally empty stomach as service will really kill you. hoisin sauce was served on a shallow dish, dried like paste. tip the dish and it won't budge. we also ordered steamed pork dimsum but had to follow it up from the waiters three times before being served.

well... just go there when you're curious of the lechon macau.

surviving on food from nowhere: pansit canton in an jiffy

we were looking around our hand-me-down ref looking for something for dinner. we found portions of cabbages, carrots, and a half bell pepper. In the freezer, i found 2 pcs of crab sticks and 2 pieces of frozen fish tofu. this is the one used on shabu-shabu that you dump into a boiling broth. going through our food cab, i saw two packs of local 2-minute noodles. this is a good time for a quick pansit! (hey, i'm not paid by lucky me to do this!)

pansit canton in a jiffy

2 pack pansit canton

half small cabbage

1 carrot

1/2 medium bell pepper

2 tablespoons chopped garlic

1 medium onion, chopped

oil, salt and pepper to taste

boil 4 cups of water. drop the dry noodles into the water. boil for about 2 minutes or according to packet instructions. make sure the noodles are not fully cooked as cooking will continue later when mixed with the vegetables. drain the noodles and set aside. reserve the broth from the noodles.

inside the noodle packs, you'll find packaged seasonings, soy sauce, and oils. open them all and mix in a clean bowl. get half of the boiled noodles and mix them with the seasoning mixture. add the remaining noodles into the bowl and mix carefully.

prepare the veggies. shred the cabbage very thinly. slice carrots to julienne strips. chop the bell pepper. slice the crab sticks into chunks. slice thinly the fish tofu.

in a pan with little oil, saute garlic till golden. add the onions. saute till soft. put the flame on high. add the julienne carrots, bell peppers, crab stick chunks and fish tofu slices. flip pan to toss and mix. add the shredded cabbage. mix for about 2 minutes or until the cabbage is tender and shiny.

still on a high flame, add the seasoned noodle mix onto the vegetables. mix well. if the pansit is a bit dry, add enough broth that you have set aside. serve hot!

kung hei fat choi!

on a hot sunday afternoon, my hunny and i went to Ongpin St. in Manila to check out the chinese new year. Ongpin is the main business district of manila's china town, the premium place for oriental shops, and feng shui's luckiest place to start a business.






we were expecting a lot when going there on a chinese new year. however, i think we went there a few hours late. fire cracker residues already litter the streets indicating that the celebrations have ended.



if i'm not mistaken, the chinese new year is celebrated on a very specific hour of the day. no earlier...no later.


but we were welcomed by dragon dances strutting their way through the traffic laden streets going from store to store.


a chinese friend of my hunny recommended 'La Mien'. A noodle shop on a street parallel to ongpin. but the shop is closed because of the new year. i should've figured that out!

so we went to a different dimsum place. i can't remember the name of the shop but it is on the street on the right after crossing the second bridge of ongpin.

majority of its customers are chinese businessmen in casual attire. we asked the waiter to have the dimsum cart parked beside our table. there we asked the waiter what they offer and gave us a very gawky pinoy descriptions of the fascinating dumplings.

1. vegetable dimsum but with pork (chinese spinach and ground pork)

2. adidas (chicken feet)

3. fish dumpling (shark fin...but i guess it's actually not the real shark fin. the waiter's telling the truth)

4. seafood dumpling (i saw bits of shrimp and more of ground pork)

the waiter might have had a hang-over from the celebrations but the dimsums are good. i'm not sure if it is authentic but i would recommend visiting the place when in Ongpin.

we tried their lechon macao checking if it is ok. their version is just plain lechon. not much chinese spices added and it was served at room temperature. the lechon macao of North Park, a chinese fastfood restaurant chain, is far better.

Emer's Restaurant

On the eve of the chinese new year, we were running around a nearby mall. we visited Makati Cinema Square. This is a 4 storey mall with a high storey residential condo with it. MCS had its heydey in the 80's when visitors come from everywhere just to check the shops inside.

Now, the mall is infested with pirated DVDs, second hand stores selling clothes and mobile phones, and shops selling dry goods which seems to be not moving in any way.

a dragon dance is drumming its way around the building. got a glimpse of the dragon as it skids its way past my low-res cam.

One of the old establishments there is Emer's. My mom has stories of the old Emer's restaurant. She told me that the Emer's at MCS is still the same Emer's they were going to years ago but i think it was in manila. we find old couples having their lunch...maybe reminiscing of the old days of Emer's.

Emer's is at the first basement, at a far corner of the building. Building is old and a bit dark. Going inside, you smell the familiar chinese incense and the aroma of food cooking.

my hunny and i decided to taste their new fare and a classic pansit. the crispy tofu is a fresh tofu breaded with breadcrubs and deep fried. served with it is hoisin sauce.

the classic dish we got is the guisadong bijon. this is fine rice noodles stir fried with chopped vegetables, liver, pork and baby shrimps.

pansit was a bit dry but the tofu is a never fail option.

everything is under 300 pesos. food is ok for the price.

burrito quikito

i have heard that burrito is an american invention and not a mexican delicacy. i'm not sure though as burrito is a donkey....i think.

anyways, we had burrito one time and just used basic supermarket goods. very simple but when assembled, everything looks fancy.

burrito quikito

beef burrito filling

2 tablespoon chopped garlic

1 medium onion

3 stalks celery

2 medium bell peppers

1/4 kilo lean beef

1 cup tomato paste

curry powder to taste

yo-yo sauce

(mayo-yoghurt sauce)

3 tablespoons white creamy unflavored yoghurt

3 tablesppons white creamy mayonnaise

fresh veggie filling

1 medium onion, chopped

grated cheese

chopped lettuce

finely chopped cabbage

1 pack flour tortillas

to assemble the yo-yo sauce, mix equal amounts of mayo and yoghurt in a bowl. set aside and let the mix develop its flavor. if you want to add some zing to the yo-yo sauce, add fresh chopped garlic and mix....then, the sauce will now become... yo-yo-ga sauce! (very clever!)

to make the beef filling, in little oil, saute the garlic till golden brown. add the onions. saute till translucent. add the chopped celery and the chopped bell peppers. increase heat and add the lean beef. cook for just a minute or until beef changes color. do not over do the meat as it will toughen up. add the tomato paste and little curry flavor. adjust salt and pepper to taste.

to prepare the tortilla bread, place the flour tortilla on an open flame. we placed it directly on top of our gas burner. in about 10 seconds, tortilla will generate black spots. flip over the tortilla to fire up the other side for another 10 seconds. place the tortilla on a plate.

to assemble, spread a layer of the yo-yo sauce on the fired up tortilla. add about 2 tablespoons of beef burrito filling. add shreads of lettuce, cabbage and the chopped onions. add the cheese on top.

make sure that the filling is not abundantly laid on the tortilla as you need to make some space for it to be conveniently rolled up neatly.

be fast in assembling the tortilla as when the flour tortilla cools down, it will become crisp which makes it hard to roll up. you may add more of the yo-yo sauce to make it more creamy. enjoy!

chunky chop salsa

after mass yesterday evening, my hunny and i dropped by a supermarket and checked the goods. tomatoes cost less now as they are in season. as we had extra celery and bell peppers in the ref, we decided to make a salsa out of them.

(thanks to tostitos for the old salsa jar. think recycle!)

chunky chop salsa

8 small tomatoes

4 medium bell peppers

4 medium stalks of celery

1 big onion

1 cup tomato paste

salt and pepper

brown curry for flavor

cut the tomatoes cross-wise and remove the seeds under running water. chunky chop the tomatoes.

wash the bellpeppers and remove the seeds under running water. chunky chop the bell peppers.

wash the celery and remove the leaves. chunky chop the celery.

wash and skin the onion. chunky chop the onion.

on a pan with little oil, add the chunky chopped onion. when soft, add the chunky chopped tomatoes. saute in about 1 minute. add the tomato paste. mix for about 2 minutes for the paste to cook through. add the chunky chopped celery, and the chunky chopped bell peppers. add a tablespoon of the brown curry mix for flavor. adjust salt and pepper to taste.

mixture will be thick and chunky. add a little water if you want a more runny sauce but this will kill the chunkiness of the salsa. but thick sauce is good for chunky chip dipping.

i guess you now have heard more than enough chunkiness in your chunky chop salsa.

red curry beef

last night we had an easy curry using modern day stuff from the supermarket. I saw a red curry pack and brown curry pack made from thailand from a local supermarket. we tried the red curry last night.

red curry beef

3 tablespoons chopped garlic

1 medium onion, chopped

3/4 kilo beef shank

3 small potatos

3 small carrots

5 pieces long leaf coriander, sliced in slivers

1 cup chopped celery stalks, diced

3 medium green bell peppers, chopped

6 pcs native round eggplants, quartered

oil for sauteing

1 pack red curry sauce mix

1 pack powdered coconut milk

1 cup cold water

boil the 3/4 kilo beef in water for about an hour or until tender. reserve the broth.

add oil on a heavy sauce pot. saute garlic till golden brown. add the chopped onions. saute till soft. add the red curry sauce mix on the pan. mix till fragrant or for about 2 minutes.

add the beef together with the broth. add the chopped long leaf coriander. gradually mix the pot for the curry to blend with the broth.

chop the potatos and the carrots to bite size pieces. add them to the pot. simmer till the potatos and carrots are soft but firm. add the quartered eggplants and chopped celery.

in a separate bowl, dissolve the powdered coconut milk in 1 cup of water producing a thick mixture. pour the coconut milk into the pot and mix gently.

add the bell peppers and simmer for about 5 minutes. adjust salt and pepper to your taste.

The curry is good served with piping hot rice or a pita bread. Flavor will develop when eaten the day after. Just be sure to refrigerate the curry after cooling as it is highly perishable. If you have fresh ginger, it is good to add slivers of ginger when sauteing the garlic and onion to enhance the flavor.

long leaf coriander

the officemate of my hunny has a small garden patch which grows different herbs. one of them is the long leaf coriander. the flavor is similar to a regular coriander but the texture is different. leaf is a bit tough.





we usually add the leaf to tomatoes to add fresh flavor. just cut the coriander leaf into slivers to release its peculiar taste and mix it with chopped tomatoes. add salt as needed.

the tomato salad is a good siding to fried stuff such as a nice fried pampano. pampano is a local fish available in the market that has no fishy smell. id you don't like the fishy taste of fish, try pampano. steamed, poached, fried or grilled, the fish never produces any of the unwanted fishy taste.