on hiatus...

currently on a backpacking and food tasting trip across SouthEast Asia with foodtreks' new contributor, Clyde London!

It's been 4 days, and the food has been great!  Hoi An (Vietnam) is a great eating city! 

Stay tuned for when we get back!

Chinese bakery goodies

I was in Cebu last week and was at Breadtalk.

Chicken a la King!

One of the few dishes that I love that I remember from college, that I could only have when I had family visiting (because it was too expensive for even my bloated student budget), was chicken a la king.  I first had a taste of this creamy chicken dish at the French Baker in SM North EDSA.  In the 9 semesters that I spent at UP, I believe I've only had this dish about 3 times. 

 

 This is a creamed chicken dish with carrots, celery, bell peppers, chicken chunks and spices over a pastry shell, and served with a side of a garden salad and carrots and corn.  The French Baker used to only serve this with the carrots and corn, and frankly, the side salad didn't amount to much gastronomically for me. 

I still remember how I love this dish - how the multi-dimensional cream sauce played with my palate, and with my trips to Manila the past month, I have been able to indulge myself and have this wonderful dish again. 

turkey leg!

One of my indulgences when I lived in the United States were theme parks.  There wasn't a year when I didn't travel to Florida and go visit Islands of Adventure, Universal Studios, Disneyworld, Sea World and the water parks.  Almost always, I would only have enough moolah on the budget to spend for admission to the parks, and some money for food.  Being on a tight budget had me spending on sensible food, and not on whims.

Well, a totally different thing happened last year. My cousin (in NY) and I went on vacation with family in Central Florida (Kissimmee, Orlando area), and we went to Tampa for a couple of days.  Our family treated us to free admission tickets to Busch Gardens, and for the first time, I was able to buy something to eat out of curiousity!  We got turkey legs!  It's not like chicken legs that are soft and easily eaten.  These are huge drumsticks of meat, with a lot of connective tissue that sometimes gets in between your teeth.  I wouldn't say I hated it, but I wouldn't say I liked it either (Althought the photo doesn't look like I didn't care for it much.)  I guess turkey leg is a bit of an acquired taste.

Italian food in White Plains, NY

When my Florida family visited over the New Year (2009), they stayed at the Ritz Carlton in White Plains, NY.  I commuted to them a couple of times, and the good thing about visiting family is the great food that you get to have.

One of my staples is fried calamari.  For a non-fish eater, I am surprised at myself for loving fried calamari.  My first encounter with calamari was at Carmine's in the Upper West Side, and I have to say, it was love at first bite.  :-)

The Zanaro version of fried calamari came with marinara sauce and a chipotle mayo dip, and half a lemon on the side.  Squid when cooked wrong will be leathery.  This calamari was perfect, the right amount of crunch and seasoning.  It didn't have a fishy taste either.  All in all, a good calamari in my book.

I had the Veal Parmigiana for my entree.  The meat was tender as veal should be.  The pasta on the side was well cooked.  The Sunday sauce it came with was red-wine based, and had the right amount of tang and flavor.

 Zanaro's is located at 1 Mamaroneck Ave. in White Plains, NY. 

Rodic's tapsilog!

Tapa! Sinangag! Itlog! 

TAPSILOG!

In my culinary adventures, nothing beats Rodic's tapsilog as a breakfast (or even anytime) meal.  I first encountered Rodic's tapsilog as an 8 year old listening to my uncle's stories of their bar review classes at UP Law. Little did I know that 8 years later, I'd be in the same campus, walking the same halls (of the UP Shopping Center) and partaking in the same dishes!

I was in Manila the past couple of days to interview for a German/Schengen visa, and with my spare time, decided to traipse around my old stomping grounds in UP Diliman.  Of course, food would be on top of my list, and boy, did we do food!  Rodic's tapsilog was one of the highlights of the visit.  

This is a type of tapa that I still have to learn how to make. It's all savory and sweet shredded goodness! And the way they cook the sunny-side up eggs are perfect!  I'll have to replicate this somehow.  Any ideas?

Drool.

arroz con pollo!

Due to the dearth of international food in Dumaguete (especially Latin American cuisine), I have been forced to make do with what I have.  Yesterday, I had a hankering for Colombian-style arroz con pollo (literally chicken with rice).  My favorite Colombian restaurant in NYC, La Pollera Colorada, in Sunnyside, served a great arroz con pollo that hasn't been surpassed by any of the other Latin American restaurants I've been to in the US (and trust me, I've been to a lot!).

So, I made up my mind and came up with my version of arroz con pollo.  It was a little difficult finding turmeric and cumin in the city.  Thank goodness Fortune Mart had it. :-)  And luckily, I was able to find most of the other stuff I needed at the supermarket.

As for the dish, the flavors were true to its origins (yep, definitely no soy sauce!), and I have to say, I'm impressed with what I made.  All I could ever add is that vinegar condiment and the platanos that La Pollera Colorada serves it with, and I should have been set!  But this is Dumaguete, I'll take any foreign flavors I can get!

Kaon ta! (Let's eat! in Cebuano)

Cimbali goodness!

One of my finds here in Dumaguete is Cimbali's Cinnamon Nut Raisin loaf at the basement of Lee Super Plaza. One of my family's favorites, it is especially tasty when you get it still warm! Ah! The gooey goodness of cinnamon sugar!

banana cue!

One of the things I have missed for being away so long are these delicious deep fried caramel-coated goodies on sticks. They're good piping hot and you can buy them for about PhP 5 - a far cry from the PhP 1 I used to spend when I was in grade school more than a decade ago.

We've tried recreating this in NYC, but it was just too difficult. We somehow couldn't get the sugar to caramelize AND coat the bananas the same way as here.

Yum!

home and Taster's!

It's been 2 weeks since I got back home on an extended vacation. Sabbatical, if you may. I have been trying to decide changing the tag line on this blog, however, I believe I'll always be a New Yorker at heart, so it'll stay the same. This will just be a more worldly journey at this point, as I don't know where I'll end up in the next couple of months.

---



Two weeks and I've already been around a ton of food. First and foremost is my favorite burger of all time. Taster's Delight Sandwich Style Burger. My family has a long history with Taster's Delight. We've been going since I was in kindergarten, I think probably after N's Pizza Plaza closed down. Even when my brother and I were in Manila for college, we'd get our monthly/weekly ration of Taster's siopao frozen via Air Philippines. The lady who takes orders there (who's been there 18 years at least) knows all of us and has known all of us since us kids were.... kids. And she tells us so too.

mobile posts

So the past 3 mobile posts I did didn't really go through. Once I get to a real computer, I'll edit them and post the photos.

Right now, on to Maricel's for some birthday food!

Sushi post 1C

This was Nic's sashimi lunch special. He got tuna, flounder, salmon and one
other fish I forgot. Maybe shark? Just kidding. After some cajoling, he got
me to try the tuna. It was my first time having sashimi, and I have to say
it was a good experience.

I have always been afraid of raw fish, and my greatest fear with sushi was
that it would be rank with the fishy taste. The sashimi at Maru was good
though, although I'm not sure I'll order it on my own.

- sent from Gelo's google phone

Sushi post 1A

My friend Nic and I went to Maru Sushi (2nd Ave bw 33 and 34 Sts) for lunch
a couple of weeks ago. Nic was visiting from Abu Dhabi and he mentioned
that he liked sashimi. I know that there are other places I could have
brought him to, but for our purposes that day, Maru fit perfectly well.

I ordered a spider roll (soft shell crab roll) and a shrimp tempura roll
(shown here). The sushi was great! Both seafood in my rolls were cooked and
fried, so I can't really attest to it's freshness. I applied what I learned
from one the sushi books, and that is, to eat sushi with my hands.

Nic ordered sahimi which I'll talk about in the next post.

Bon appetit!

- sent from Gelo's google phone

(edited using Gelo's computer)