spiCes

…Takoyaki craving!!! must get them ingredients ASAP! heard there’s a hole-in-the-wall takoyaki/okonomiyaki place in the East Village of NYC though..i wonder who’ll get me some??:P but yeah, i’ll try to substitute ingredients if i can’t get a hold on the real thing for now..

gỏi cuốn

…this for me is a quick fix. why? because we craved for Vietnamese food today and luckily we have a number of places to go to and get our cravings satiated. this one though is the cheapest around since we just bought it from the Asian store, ready made instead of eating or getting to-go from a Vietnamese Restaurant which could be a bit pricey. coupled with  another ready mix of Beef Pho sans the soup, just cooked with Pho seasoning? we are golden!!!

gỏi cuốn, a Vietnamese salad roll, is translated as “spring roll”, while some others prefer the term “summer roll”. Ingredients include slivers of boiled or fried pork, shrimp, chicken, beef, fresh herbs, lettuce, sometimes fresh garlic chives, rice vermicelli, all wrapped in moistened rice paper, served cold with dipping sauce (nước chấm) or hoisin sauce. The salad roll is easily distinguished from a “minced pork roll” by the fact that it is not fried, the ingredients used are different. Spring roll refer to the freshness of the spring season with all the fresh ingredients

[source:Wiki]

Lasang Pinoy, Sundays is a FOOD PHOTOGRAPHY meme, Pinoy style!

This may not be my favorite restaurant especially when i crave for seafood, but it poses to be a most eye-catching FOOD SIGN for a lobster spot, don’t you agree? Needless to say, we lurve LOBSTERS!… who doesn’t really? pardon me, i know i have posted a lot on these crustaceans, mostly home-cooked. still, i opted for this photo on this week’s theme, even if it’s a little noisy.  too far and my hands are shaky from starvation! i guess. hee!

…the place is called The Weathervane, located in Kittery, Maine. My choice that day was something out of the ordinary. that would mean, not just steamed or grilled whole or cut in half…but one that looks like a pie. hence, it is called Lobster Pie!:)

…for the price, i must admit it’s not all worth the deviation from the humongous shellfish that i was accustomed to greeting me on my plate. taste-wise…a 6.5. overall…i told myself i can even do this myself! oh well…lesson learned. wicked, yes..if we talk about the come-on signage.  cheap? not at all.

is a weekly FOOD PHOTOGRAPHY meme, Pinoy style!

…one ordinary day when i craved for something truly Pinoy tasting like Chicken Afritada and did not exactly have all the required ingredients. the twist? i used a can of Minestrone in lieu of potatoes and olives. i only had to remove the pasta that’s inside the can and voila! Afritada to the bones! hee! even the beans made the stew  better with that unexpected starchy texture and taste.  i can aptly say that this can also be called Chicken Minestrone meets Chicken and Beans Afritada, whateva! haha!

an entry to

Happy nth! birthday again to my dear M. we did not do much on a supposedly very special milestone in one’s lifetime. o alam nyo na ang edad nya? life begins nga! hee!
bakit? overtime! ang lolo ninyo! sabado, which was his exact birthday, at maging noong linggo. pero ayos lang. sa panahon ngayon, wala tayong karapatang magreklamo, ika nga.

kaya dito kami nauwi…nanginain sa isang malapit na restoran na matagal na naming minamataan. A Cantonese-Polynesian Restaurant in the city.

Great food…love the peking duck combo platter! it has everything under it too! prawns, beef, mushrooms, carrots, water chestnuts, french beans. even the kids loved their chicken teriyaki, cheese roll and pork ribs platter! friendly and prompt service, fairly priced and according to my kids…it’s like a hotel inside. must be the glimmering mini chandeliers and the smell. the smell of clean, if i may say so. we are definitely coming back.

The Cathay Pacific Restaurant
111 Hancock St
North Quincy, MA 02171
(617) 328-1115

Lahok para sa na may temang…Lahat ay Payak. Btw, the day ended up with a surprise home-made coffee and walnut birthday cake! Sorry, the cake photos aren’t as good due to poor lighting and let’s-get-this-over-and-done-with-moment photo shoot. sheesh!

…it was a very simple family bonding time, as they say. we spent the weekend registering the kids for their summer activities. S will do cheerleading and C is trying his hand on karate. i’m really happy for them that they are starting to like sports and recreation now, which they haven’t had the chance to do back in New York.

we also had another stroll and of course photo ops at the nearby beach and had lunch at Tony’s Clamshoppe. Not particularly happy with what i ate but it’s the view and the perfect weather that made up for it.

of course it was a no cooking weekend for me…this one was prepared by M for our pre-mother’s day dinner. lobsters, clams and shrimp platter. delicious!

…for our Sunday lunch we tried the newly opened Chinese Restaurant around the area and this is one of the good food we had…spareribs in white wine, or something like that. it was a relief to find an english translation on the menu as i was cautioned by my neighbor Stel beforehand that they didn’t have english menus, yet. but that the food was great. it was! for less than 30 bucks, we had our fill and some to-go’s too :0 defintely coming back in that joint. i just cannot decipher the name at the moment.
Now, I am dreaming of bright and fun family cruises if only we can afford it right now.
An entry to a not so wordless .

…it’s been a long time since we’ve been to Johnny Rockets. and i’m glad we did over the weekend. i missed eating in a feel-good hamburger chain reminiscent of old America. we first had a taste of this interesting restaurant back in New York. and so we had to try it again even though what we have here is just a segregated corner in a mall food court…still the quaint ambience is prevalent and the food is still good. unfortunately, we missed playing ‘Staying Alive’ this time because we requested for a bigger table and the only available one was at the corner that didn’t have this tiny jukebox…as some of you may know…when you play the said song with your 5 cents, all the wait staffs queue to do their signature hustle. it never fails to amaze the customers and even passers-by!:)

An entry to
…getting a dose of spring here!

Packed with wholesome goodness, these Stroopwafels or Dutch Waffles in ordinary lingo are sent my way straight from Holland…together with the Holland cheeses, of course. I cannot thank tita thess ’nuff for these! they look so good that i did not wait another minute to try ‘em! after some photo shoots, that is :]…

…and you guessed it, even the cheese were popped open even before i can grab myself a bottle of wine and some crackers! and yep! all of it, and i mean all of it…now rummaged!

These delicious waffles are made from two thin layers of baked batter sweetened with a thin layer of caramelicious syrup filling right in the middle. This makes it good, not too sweet for my not-so-sweet-tooth! Perfect with a hot cup o’coffee…

The stiff batter for the waffles is made from flour, butter, brown sugar, yeast, milk, and eggs. Medium sized balls of batter are put on the waffle iron. When the waffle is baked, and while it is still warm, it is cut into two halves. The warm filling, made from syrup, brown sugar, butter, and cinnamon, is spread in between the waffle halves, which glues them together.
[source:wiki]

We must have had an Ihop overload already that this is the second time we chose Applebee’s again over the former. During the last two occasions, I had steaks that I decided to have a very light and healthy salad instead.  A plateful of crunchy baby spinach packed with scrumptious shrimp grilled into perfection and enrobed with a sweet and tangy bacon vinaigrette!  Yum!  I especially loved the crunch that the toasted almonds and crisp bacon bits toppings offer, that blends well with the  fresh red peppers and red onions.  Every bit of ingredient is perfectly proportioned to capture that one [or more] perfect bite.
I am just glad I ordered the regular plate at $9.99 instead of the half-size which is priced at a little over a dollar less only and yes, every little bit glided smoothly inside my starved belly.:] in half the time I expected to finish my lovely salad. Refreshing!

…well who would’ve thought, that the Crispy version is so much better than the original? well, now that we’ve discovered that it tastes so much like our very own Jollibee chicken joy! especially when it’s dipped in the gravy! now we don’t really have to drive down to New York for the said chicken! this was just a simple coincidence since they don’t have the original the last time we came for some tub…so we had no choice but get the supposedly lesser evil [hee!] and boy were we glad!
..an entry for