Skipping mass

…for ten minutes, to get me some food (yes, I know what you’re going to tell me so don’t say it anymore).

This is how the outside of the Churches look like on Sunday mornings: families huddle to the nearest fishbol-an and eat something, anything.

Sunday masses are like occasions; you can get away with having whoever with you to pay for anything you want from the street vendor :D 

 

Parish of the Holy Sacrifice, UP Diliman

Sun-dried Tomato Pesto Farfalle

Sometimes, you just want to give yourself away, no? The day before Christmas, I decided splurge on materials in making gifts and in ingredients in cooking a Christmas dish as a promise / peace offering to my family..

I love making stuff out of raw things– be it art, crafts, or food (err, these three doesn’t sound so delicious together..).

Especially so, too, if you’re making it to give to others!

Presentation makes food yummier

..Right?

In a despedida dinner of sorts to one of my best friends who’s off to Cebu, my friends and I ooh-ed and aaahhh-ed at the sizzling/cooking technology of the Japanese in one of the newest Katipunan Avenue restaurants, Sizzlin’ Pepper Steak.

They offer burgers (without the bun but with the sizzle!), chicken, beef, seafood, pasta in mess-free servings (the kind where you’ll literally see “clean plates”). Lots of color, sauces, and “cooking in front of your very eyes” happening there– most meals are served probably 3/4 cooked in these humongous hot plates. A nice cardboard ring covers the sizzling plate to reiterate the mess-free-ness of it all. A giant air vent hovering over each table pretty much vacuums the smoke from the sizzling plates, like this:

Oh, and what’s amusing is that they actually teach you how to eat the Sizzlin’ Pepper Steak way by showing a Japanese instructional video playing in two flat-screen TV sets.

It’s slightly more expensive for regular school lunch fare; you’ll need at least P 250 to get a meal with drinks, but it’s worth it!I guess ultimately we’re paying for the large servings, and food presentation, which is something I’m willing to spend my money for. Eating out is an “experience” where you go for the best, or none at all! :D Because the tables are near each other (12 tables?), plus those air vacuums are kinda huge, the space looks cramped but cozy nonetheless– it adds up to the “charm” and intimacy of the place, perfect for barkadas, or dates, or some spur-of-the-moment Katipunan family dinners.

In the Ateneo-Miriam Katipunan strip, Sizzlin’ Pepper Steak is in the first floor of the new building that replaced the former Chicken restaurant. It’s near Flaming Wings, another fun restaurant with wicked dessert choices and really HOT chicken! But that’d be another blog entry.

Saccharine itch

 

What more awaits beyond the red door?

 

*

Banapple, Katipunan Avenue

“Simot Sarap!”

Zero left-overs!

Me and my classmates still love children’s-themed parties, and food, even if we’re in college already. (Aww.)

Thanks to our most inspiring Corporate Communication instructor :)

Pink, lacey, flowery cake

"Yiiiaaaahhhhh!!" Someone gets booted out of the Mandi clapping game :D

"Everybody gets to take home something!", announced Mam Balmaceda, while swooping her arms at an array of white-paper-covered goodies. I got a Chinese art mug!

 

Mini-food

Products of innovations of technology and globalization

Icecreamlove!

For the love of sugar and everything cold and colorful

Oreo ice cream cake

 

My choco-mint Ganouche (a kind of puree with secret stuff in it)— not for the kids ^_~

 

The Ice Cream Man serves!

 

The Nestle Creamery, formerly the Magnolia House, is located in Aurora Blvd., corner Gilmore avenue– you won’t miss it when driving through that place because it has a playground front and a huge happy Nestle sign hung up to the skies.

Ababu

Friday Night-out / Tokyo Cafe Strawberry Crepe

The best things in life are free!

Haha! Especially true if you know a fresh grad with a fresh job and a fresh salary who’s willing to treat you out.

Still, this is still materialistic in nature because you’re dealing with money to afford ‘life luxuries’ like this strawberry crepe. Indulge in it for a while, but always remember to bring something back home, and to save enough for the rainy days.

(Thank you kuya!)

Taho as Food Staple

Taho with its silken soya, sago gummy yummy jelly balls, and bronzed-golden sweet syrup must be one of those food I can eat…forever!

Taho really is delicious, healthy, and cheap (at least those sold by the Taho vendors in our streets)!

^____^ Nyehehe.

Exaggerations aside, I also love seeing the taho man effortlessly carry all that soy and sago in those silver, sparkly containers. The way they own up to their jobs as if they’re so proud of being those people you trust to run to for taho somehow… inspires me to find my own life purpose as well.

Plus, taho vendors in UP are quite…maporma as you can see in this picture. They can mix lifestyle and career just as any other lucrative career out there! This is possibly thanks to some entrepreneurial strategies like selling blocks of soy to health-conscious joggers around the university. The next time you jog around UP Diliman, try looking for a taho vendor and ask about it.

Strawberry Cake

Cake slices with strawberries on them makes me feel strangely girly, kiddy, and happy.

My mom said “pinag-lihi ako sa strawberry”; she was craving for the dotty red heart-fruit when I was about to be born.

Really? Strawberries are very…I dunno, girly. I don’t feel or act very girly in real life. Only when I surround myself with this fruit. =)) Weird.

Sweet Inspirations, Katipunan, Loyola Heights, Quezon City

Wishful Thinking over Flavored Rice

One of my lifetime friends and partner in crimes in geekdom went over to my place so we I can help her out in job-hunting, online. 

Of course being a childhood friend, we got pangs of nostalgia from Sunny Hill. In answer to that (and to save our meager summer allowances) we went on a flavored-rice-in-a-box lunch–the very thing we used to eat almost every day back in high school!

The rice fueled us to talk of the past, more geek hobbies, and dreams and ambition after college.

Hooray for childhood friends!

 

Smoke and Fishballs

Forms of escape from the world we face

asfuture adults of the world.

 

Mine & Shine!

Guess who goes crazy when she discovers they’ve gone out of stock of this Chinese milk tea in 7-11.