Cafe Mary Grace

I was reading Yummy magazine and there was a mention of Mary Grace's chocolate cake. The photo was just so appetizing. I suddenly had a craving for it. I love the cafe's brownies and cheese rolls but haven't had their cakes yet.

That's what prompted me and my daughter to have a snack at Cafe Mary Grace when we were at Trinoma a few weekends ago. The cafe is small, cozy and inviting. The lighting sets the mood as well as the interior. Country style if I may say. The service is quite fast or maybe one won't really notice a few minutes has passed because one tends to read the messages neatly laid out on the table. They are messages of appreciation from the customers. Isn't that nice?


I took pictures of my daughter too while waiting for our food. This was right in front of the mirror. My baby's a big girl already, sigh. :D


I had my coffee alright to go with the cake.

Oh yes, the chocolate cake is divine. I don't use this word much as most chocolate cakes taste the same and more often than not, I just get disappointed. But this one, it has the right moist and its sweetness is just right for my taste. The filling does not drown the chocolate feel and flavor. I'll have this anytime.

My daughter likes the cafe's rich and smooth hot chocolate. I like the colorful cup and saucer as well.

My daughter had her pasta vongole. It's a little watery. I'm not sure if it's the clams or the noodles were not drained well. It's good nonetheless.

We are going back here for more that's for sure. :)

No Frills Chicken Pesto Pasta

We just stayed home after church and grocery today, Father's Day. I'd like to make a special post for the fathers in my life another time.

It's the first day of school for my daughter Andrea tomorrow so we opted to just stay home and rest the whole afternoon. Rest...not quite, I checked and prepared, together with my daughter, what she would be bringing to school tomorrow. I always get excited on the first day of school.

After which hubby and I prepared the chicken pesto pasta, his all time favorite pasta. Actually the chicken was supposed to be for our salad but we were not able to buy our avocado so we just made use of the chicken breasts for this pasta.

These two are staples in the house since we are all pasta lovers here. Bravo Pesto is available in most supermarkets. I buy Bravo for some of my deli needs. Check their website for some Italian recipes. You'll find they are quite easy to prepare.

Our olive oil is half-filled by now. I used to buy this at factory price when I was still in the food industry. Now I have to buy them at retail price.



The chicken pesto pasta with cheddar cheese on top. The chicken strips are there somewhere. We run out of parmesan. It should be in the list of staples in this household.

That's it, your no-frills chicken pesto pasta.
*Cook the noodles the usual way - remember al dente. Hubby prefers linguini over spaghetti. He likes the feel of it better.
*Boil the chicken breasts and sprinkle with salt and pepper to taste.
*Saute about two cloves of garlic in olive oil.
*Mix the noodles and pour in the pesto. Toss, toss, toss.
*Cheese on top.

Normally there should be cream and spinach but we made do with what we have in the house. :)

Before I forget there's the cake.

Today's occasion was a good excuse to have this mocha chiffon cake. :)

More snapshots here. I hope you all had a fun weekend too! :)

Holy Cow

It was a quick and early dinner a few weekends ago with hubby and daughter at Holy Cow, Greenbelt Trinoma. This is a steak house but I was wondering why it became holy. :) Anyway, the food we had were good. I specially like the pizza rolls. It's a pretty heavy meal, a good substitute for rice as me and hubby are trying to curb our rice intake.


Holy Cow is quite small. I find the layout a little off as the huge counter was in the middle of the dining area. It's a big block of fixture getting in the customers' way.

The nacho corn chips below is quite colorful what with the all too red nachos. But it was fun munching them.

The boneless beef ribs is very appetizing to look at but grilled is not really for me. We have cut down on this too save for teeny weeny taste of it.

They have cow heads for murals and it looks a bit creepy at some point especially the restaurant has some yellow lighting for that intimate and cozy effect.

Here's the facade of the restaurant. It feels like a modern barn to me.

My daughter posing beside the Holy Cow.

Hmmm cakes at Jack's Loft which is right beside Holy Cow. On second thoughts, we've had a full dinner already. The pizza rolls are really filling. Next time, Jack.



Click here for more of weekend snapshots.