Manila Food Trip (My Yakimix Experience)

One of the unforgettable places I visited in Manila (thanks to Lito and family) was Yakimix. This is a sushi smokeless grill restaurant located at the ground floor of Mall of Asia in Pasay City. They offer an eat all you can buffet of Korean, Chinese and Japanese dishes for Php580 per person. Amazingly, it's quite pricey but the throng of people I saw when we went there made me conclude - when it comes to good food, price won't matter anymore! Also, you have to make reservations a day before or hours prior to their opening time to be accommodated (huh!) and you have to wait for your name to be called before you are allowed entry inside the posh restaurant. Scheduled opening in the afternoon was at 5:30 PM but as early as 4:00 PM people with reservations were already waiting outside of Yakimix.

I was in awe with their food offerings from the salad bar/appetizers, different kinds of rice, wide array of main courses (cooked and uncooked) to desserts - fresh fruits, cakes, pastries, ice creams and other what have yous. . .

a plateful of assorted super yummy Chinese dishes

seasoned meats for grilling in our table
( I loved the experience of cooking the meat and seafoods according to my preference!)

eat all you can maki!
(waiters are refilling the maki line up almost every 10 minutes)
sushi, sashimi, crabsticks and other Japanese fares are also offered

pastries and cakes area

they also have eat all you can popsicles, ice creams and toppings

this is my creation - for my eyes not for my tummy

(I was so full already - no more room for sweets :-)

For me, Yakimix delivers! You get you money's worth and you'll definitely keep on coming back for more!

Manila Food Trip (Part I)

My recent very short trip (36 hours to be exact!) to Manila gave me colorful memories of the good food we've had. My daughter Rafee and I wasted no time in having a taste of foodies not yet offered here in our city.

It's a good thing that near ADMU where Rafee is studying are several food joints to choose from. My first choice was Kenny Rogers Roasters. Ordered their holiday plate composed of mouth watering Waldorf Salad, Barbeque Chicken, Java rice, muffin and sparkling apple juice. It really made me burp and burp :-)

Next on my list was Starbucks! Actually, this was the only place I dreamt of setting foot into once I go to Manila - and I did it! The other places I went to are bonuses already for me :-)

Starbucks fare for Rafee and I - Capuccinos, luscious choco doughnut and my fresh from the oven cinnamon roll! I swear, I loved it!

There's more about my Manila foodie escapade, please watch out for it, guys! Thank you!

Biggie Veggie Salad

After a brief hiatus from my normal day to day activities, I am back again to one of my usual fare, blogging! That is to blog about the things I love to do over and over again...

Last Sunday saw me busy preparing for foods to be brought to Forest lake for a merienda cena with my dear cousins as we remember our Lolo's death anniversary. Despite the weary feeling after the several week grueling training, I still managed to please my dear couz's taste buds! :-)

I just prepared goodies I could prepare, literally, with my eyes closed. We had spaghetti, biko and fresh veggies salad.

Prepared three kinds of food only to save on time and the very precious energy of my sexy body (charing!) and truly, it did serve its purpose. . . Yeah, only three but all in big trays :-)

The fresh veggie salad was a hit! They did not expect I could come out with those kitchen masterpieces despite the very short time I had, but I did! Making fresh veggie salad is after all as easy as singing your ABC's. . .. . all you need is the time to buy the freshest of this veggies for the appetizing look and taste... and your love for cooking and concocting new recipes!

It's good that we already have supermarkets with ready supplies of these veggies and fruits:

lettuce
cucumber
carrots
tomatoes
apples
oranges
pineapples

I just mixed these assortment of fruits and veggies and topped it with crispy chicken meat , prepared dressing made up of mayonnaise, olive oil, pickles and a little parmesan -- lo and behold - I have a big tray of salad to serve to a bunch of happy people!

Simple Pork Adobo

It's not everyday we eat adobo in the house. Thanks to Tiyang Sima of my husband who taught me how to cook adobo should I want to prepare one. Her recipe was very simple:

Ingredients:
1/2 kilo pork ( can be pigue, kasim, pata)
soy sauce
peppercorn
DM vinegar
white sugar
crushed garlic, onion
Thai fish sauce (optional)

In a pan, combine sliced pork with water, vinegar, soy sauce and peppercorn. Cook the combination over low fire for an hour or two. Then set aside.

In a separate pan, saute garlic until it turns brown, add in the onion and the sugar. Toss until the sugar melts. Put the pre cooked meat together with its sauce to the sauteed ingredients. Simmer for a few minutes. Then it's ready for serving!

Best served with plain rice and steamed veggies!

How about you, what's your adobo made of?

Jinky Went to Market

I'll do away from the usual cooking topic of this blog. I'll share with you, my dear readers, how far our Php100.00 can go nowadays when it comes to buying selected vegetables and spices.

Sayote/Chayote Php10.00
Carrots 13.00
Talong/Eggplant 5.00
Tanglad/lemon grass 2.00
Bawang/Garlic 15.00
Cherry tomatoes 10.00
Tomatoes/kamatis 10.00
Green chilies 7.00
Sibuyas/round onions 8.00
Red bell peppers 15.00
Onion leeks 5.00

This is quite pricey because I sourced them out from our air-conditioned supermarkets. For those with tighter budgets, above items can be bought at lower prices inside our laray/bagsakan area along Alunan Street, this city.

We just have to consider every time we go to the market, the freshness and the nutritional value of the veggies we are buying. Wilted items must be shunned upon because it won't last long and we can never be sure if it's still safe for our family's consumption.

This is a friendly reminder from a Mom who cooks and loves to do the marketing during her free time!

Dried Baby Shrimps with Cherry Tomatoes

I chanced upon these lovely fresh cherry tomatoes in one of the supermarkets here in Gensan. Got a bunch for only 10 pesos. While pondering on having fresh vegetable salad with this seldom found goodie in our supermarkets, I saw dried baby shrimps (locally known as kalkag) being displayed along the new dried fish section of another posh supermarket here in the city. I wasted no time on buying a hundred grams costing Php25 of this childhood favorite of mine. I thought of having fried rice with it for breakfast but seeing the gleaming cherry tomatoes in the fridge made me opt for sauteed dried baby shrimps with cherry tomatoes (in vernacular, kinamatisang ginisang kalkag, 'love it! :-))

Ingredients:
Olive oil
50 gram dried baby shrimps
garlic, onions and cherry tomatoes
Thai fish sauce to taste

I just sauteed the garlic, onion and tomatoes in olive oil. Then I put the dried baby shrimps which I previously soaked in cold water for around ten minutes. Covered the pan for a minute or two, seasoned it with Thai fish sauce and presto, another bloggable recipe done!

I had the pleasure of reminiscing my childhood days while savoring this simple but very tasty and affordable recipe.

I just can't wait to have my fresh vegetable salad paired with fried rice and dried baby shrimps soon. . . .Hmmmm

The Tale of the Tuna Tail in my Kitchen

I have long been wanting to cook crispy tuna tail in my kitchen but it was not materialized for a long time. It's because I don't have the following:

a pan big enough to fry whole tuna tail;
the patience to wait for the frozen tuna tail thawed; and I have
fear that I might end up cooking tuna tail that is not fresh anymore and is laden with too much preservative.

Thanks to the fish section of the Robinsons supermarket. There I discovered that they are selling fresh tuna tail at Php70.00 a kilo. It is also interesting enough to note that scaling as well as chopping the tail to your desired cuts is being offered for free by the amiable staff in the fish section. I love mine sliced an inch thick for easy frying.

I just followed my dear lola's way of frying fish. Sprinkled a bit of salt over the fish and then I drizzled the seasoned fish with a little DM vinegar. The explanation I got from her was that the mixture of salt and vinegar makes the fish smell better and the fried fish' color would turn brown faster and I hereby affirm this myth from the kitchen of my younger years.

Now, I am bent on trying other recipes for tuna tail. Thanks to Robs fish section and to my lola, cooking tuna tail now is as easy as counting 123.