Take Home Goodies

It's my habit to bring home pasalubong to my daughter coming home from the office. I love the feeling that I take home something for her which I know she will appreciate. Nothing big. Mostly food she can munch on after dinner. Lately though I've been buying Donut Dips from Mister Donut. My husband was the first one to discover this. A lot of times for several consecutive nights he kept on bringing home Donut Dips to think he's the number one critic of Mister Donut. He doesn't like their donuts.

A bite of the donut dipped in chocolate is enough for me. This is patterned after churros which I love too.



If I may say this, menu boards of restaurants are more effective when they they are designed simply and clearly. The pictures of food in the well-lit menu board of Mister Donuts are very inviting. I bought their Baked Cheese and Tomato Pene because the picture looks so appetizing. And the picture did not lie. It's value for money. Delicious pasta at P60. Love it! My daughter and husband love it too.



Whatever happened to Dunkin' Donuts? I still love their croissant but it seems Mister Donut is way ahead of them now in terms of product development and building a more attractive store.


***More food sharing at Picture Clusters and Food Trip Friday.

Chocolates of the World

The change in weather caused the sniffles I've had since last week. It's still a bad cold. Not getting enough rest aggravated my low resistance to virus. Coughing ensued. I listened to my body so I cut down on other activities. I did not drop by the gym this week to use the time to rest. I thought I'm covered but I have developed a sore throat caused by eating too much chocolate.

Life is fair. I am on a forced diet since I can't eat much to compensate for my absence in the gym.

But before the nasty sore throat I craved for the moist chocolate cake from Conti's last week so my husband bought a whole cake. Three days after I had all these chocolates. Chocolate overload.


Don't mind the magazine in the background. I always have an MJ magazine with me and I browse when I am home whenever the feeling hits me.

Anyway, I love most of the chocolates in this jar. My favorite is Swiss Delice Rotondini. It tastes almost the same as Lindor Truffles, my favorite chocolate in the world.


The jar containing 2 pounds worth of chocolates is still half-full. My sore throat prevents me from taking even a tiny bite a day. My daughter is NOT a chocolate lover and I'm happy about that. My husband is so-so. I devour all the chocolates in the house you see.

Thanks to my mom for including this in one of their packages. It's Kirkland Signature, Chocolates of the World. I love it!


Picture from Vita Springs website.

***More food sharing at Picture Clusters and Food Trip Friday.

Green Joy

Do you sometimes have a craving for your trusty neighborhood food? The food you grew up with or at least somewhat similar? I do.

This pizza store I see around the area where I live has intrigued me because its name seemed to have been inspired by the pizza chain I used to be a part of. I went there with my husband and tried to see what they have to offer. I was not disappointed.


The store is clean and well-lit. The all-around person manning the store is polite and very accommodating.


The colors are really eye-catching - a combination of green and orange - who would miss this? The logo is decent enough.


Even the packaging is quite dainty, the printing is of good quality. See the hot sauce? I have to prick with a toothpick whenever I encounter sauces packed in plastic tubes, like the sauces for siopao (though most come now in sachets).


And most of all they are serving a no-frills pizza which I really like. I remember the pizza I used to buy from the school cafeteria - ham and cheese and mushroom and it's good to go straight to my stomach. I remember this pizza is called pizza delight. My boyfriend (now my husband) and I frequently order this pizza flavor back in college.

Surprisingly, the crust is very crunchy even if a good twenty or so minutes have elapsed from their store to my house. I didn't see the kind of oven they are using. Truth is I find pizzas cooked in portable ovens crunchier than those in conveyor ovens.

Anyway, the burger is good too - it's like a homemade burger that is just juicy. I believe I will be a frequent visitor of this neighborhood pizza store.

***Feast on more food at Food Friday.

Pan de Manila

We have church activities every night for this week. I took advantage of this feeding my soul and feeding my craving for pan de sal. It has been a long time since I had some, pan de sal, that is. Good thing Pan de Manila is on our way home.

For four nights already since Monday, we are regular customers of the bakery. The store servers already know us, as well as the parking attendant (the "barker" in other words).

The brick oven is said to taste better because it preserves and seals in the aroma of the dough. I have to say this is true. I was in the food industry for so many years. There are a lot of factors for a crust to be able to hold the heat. But talking about ovens, crusts were crunchier when the company was still using brick oven. It holds the heat longer compared to the automated oven that replaced it.

Customers can actually watch how the bakers load and unload doughs as the oven can be seen from the glass panel.


The doughs are ready for loading. I wonder how many minutes they stay there. This area is near the entrance and it's along the road - dusts and all. The heat inside the oven takes care of all the foreign bodies I suppose. :)


I have not tried all the other breads they offer. Next time maybe.


We tried their garlic butter and peanut butter. We bought the smallest bottles just to check if we will like the taste. We love them both! Garlic butter has parsley which adds to its flavorful aroma. It's more expensive than the peanut butter though.


My daughter loves the peanut butter! For three straight days, she brings peanut butter sandwich to school. Normally she tires of food easily.

We already consumed three bottles for four nights. The biggest bottle which we bought on Wednesday night will seem to last till today, Friday.


Our favorite peanut butter is Skippy and this one from Pan de Manila tastes as good. Creamy and the sweetness is just about right. You won't cringe from too much sweetness. My husband does not want peanut butter to be refrigerated. He wants them on room temperature for easier spreading. It's tastier that way too, a little melted.

As for pandesal, they are good while still hot which is about ten to fifteen minutes from the time we buy them. They come in two sizes, small and big. I'm alright with the taste but my husband is looking for the crunch in the pan de sal's crust.


Aside from the peanut butter, all of us love their Chocolate con Leche! According to its packaging, they use muscovado sugar. Aside from bringing back the feel of the old Manila (just look at their paper bag), they also adhere to all natural ingredients, no preservatices, which most of us, consumers, prefer.

Pan de Manila as I see it is successful in bringing all complementing products in one store, open for 24 hours, and adding in other product innovations - pan de ube, pesto and cheese bread, pesto wheat loaf, etcetera. The people manning the bakery are nice too, at least in the branch near our place. They have ready smiles, neat and very accommodating.

Have a feast on other Food Friday entries. Happy weekend! TGIF! :)

Chocolate (Tsokolate)

I have so many pictures with chocolates as my subject. I love chocolates to say the least - devouring them, looking at them. Lately though, it seems all chocolates taste the same for me. I don' know if it's just being too accustomed with the taste. Even so, chocolates never fail to get my attention. They are just so yummy to look at. A lot of times I just want to preserve them and not even touch them.

(Napakarami kong litrato kung saan tsokolate ang aking subject. Paborito ko ang tsokolate. Minsan lang parang iisa na lang ang aking lasa sa mga ito, parang hindi na espesyal. Maaari kasing sanay na ang aking panlasa kaya't parang wala ng bago.)

One of my favorite chocolates is Lindor Truffles. The round chocolate with a little depression in the middle where the chocolate syrup comes out and melts in your mouth. Heaven!

(Isa sa mga paborito kong tsokolate ay ang Lindor Truffles. Talagang napakalinamnam ng tsokolateng ito lalo na kapag natutunaw na sa iyong bibig. Heaven!)

But that's not what I am going to share for this week's Litratong Pinoy. I just want to share the chocolates I have encountered in my house today. There's a bag of mini Toblerones inside the refrigerator when I checked to get something. I didn't know hubby bought some. There are times he craves for them.

(Ngunit hindi iyon ang ilalahok ko sa linggong ito kundi ang mini Toblerone na nakita ko sa loob ng aming refrigerator kaninang umaga. Nag-uwi pala ang aking asawa dahil minsan ay gusto niya ng Toblerone.)

The mini toblerones and chocolate crunchies kept our daughter company this afternoon while she was reviewing for the last batch of mastery exam tomorrow. The table was quite a mess as you can see.

(Ang mga mini Toblerones at ang chocolate crunchies ay kasama ng aking anak kaninang hapon sa kanyang pagrereview para sa kanilang mastery exam bukas. Pasensya na sa kalat. :) )

Snowmen

Maybe you've passed by their giant billboards along EDSA (a major thoroughfare in Metro Manila). Maybe you've actually seen them and had a taste of them in your favorite doughnut store. These two remind me of the penguins in Madagascar. But I know they're supposed to be snowmen and they are the featured doughnuts of Krispy Kreme for the holidays. :)

They're cute! Though I am not into fancy donuts, I bought them together with the chocolate and cookies and cream flavor. They're just like ordinary donuts only the buttons are of chocolate flavor and the nose so small you wouldn't notice its taste, if it tastes anything at all. The scarves are like gummy bears. The red's strawberry and the green one has a lemony taste according to my husband. It's a fun doughnut - scrutinize, giggle then gobble up. :)

More fabulous holiday finds in white at the Filipino Mom Blog headquarters. :)

Indulge

Work load both at home and at the office test my patience these days. We're in the middle of corporate planning for 2008 and it's my daughter's first trimester examinations. I take a leave at the office whenever she has scheduled major exams, to guide her on three subjects which require a great deal of time to review - Math, Science and Sibika (Araling Panlipunan). I get stressed when I feel my daughter is starting to get stressed studying all these. But I try my best to hide what I am feeling. The reason why I am just a room or a few feet away from her while she is studying is to give her moral support. A stressed out mother is not what she needs. I let her rest, I comfort her, I motivate her. So how am I?

I can feel tell tale signs of being stressed. It's a roller coaster ride actually. I try to control them. I give in, I rant though I murmur things only to myself just to release my anxieties at least for the moment. And then I try my best to compose myself again. Think positive thoughts after releasing toxic thoughts.

What is that song which tells us to think of our favorite things and then we don't feel so bad? Let me think chocolates then! Chocolate cakes specifically. They are just so appetizing. Even a simple presentation makes me salivate so I try them - a cake with thick chocolate icing no matter how plain the presentation is wet my appetite. But what's ironic is I cannot even consume a regular slice of cake. But I love tasting them and looking at them. They look so delicious. I have to say there are some chocolate cakes which looks so promising but I was disappointed upon having a bite.


A few months ago, my husband mentioned a cake house and a dining place he watched on television. He said I will definitely want to try it from the name alone. The cake shop is called In Love with Sweets (and their sister restaurant which serve full meals is called Salt and Pepper which I will post about one of these days). It's located in Rufino St., Makati City. The cake above served as our dessert. It's huge. We were not able to finish it off. It tastes fine but nothing to rave about. I guess what is lacking is the soft and tender chiffon one should experience at the first bite. Since it's been months, I forgot the name and the price. I am not good in names really.


This one I can definitely recommend to someone who loves chocolate cakes. It's decadent chocolate which is my favorite among all chocolate cakes. It's always a treat for me and my daughter to go to Fully Booked at The Block (SM North Edsa) because after happily indulging ourselves on our latest book finds, we have our dessert at the bookstore's restaurant, Press Cafe. It's small, almost bare but it's clean and it's very convenient for their customers. It's a great time for me and my daughter to talk about the books we bought while relaxing our feet and share our chocolate cake and pasta.


I dropped by Trinoma today at lunch time before heading home with one thing on mind. I know it would be a challenging study time for me and my daughter. I have to have something that will help lighten my daughter's mood while in the middle of reviewing.

I have to bring her some cheese rolls from Mary Grace. And since I am there already, I bought their famous brownies and why not try their chocolate cake? I bought a slice for myself. I am the only chocolate person in the family if I may say that. The cheese rolls made my daughter's day. I have to say the chocolate cake is good too with its thick caramel filling. But the best is still the brownies.

The whole afternoon and evening were spent reviewing, and in between - taking a rest, dipping our fingers on the icing and the cheese. These things helped lighten our day. So maybe I will always try to make it simple and subscribe to the idea that "Chemically speaking, chocolate is really the world's perfect food"***.

***The Emperors of Chocolate