Pasta with Shrimp and Broccoli

Yes, this is a favorite of the family. We love its creamy texture and the crisp broccoli. My daughter can't have enough of this. :)

Adarna Food and Culture Restaurant

I am always in search of a different restaurant where my family and I can visit. I searched the web last night for a good restaurant we can go to which is just near our place. Our original choice was a casual-dining pasta house just a few minutes drive from our house but it closed shop already.

I landed at spot.ph and Adarna Food and Culture captured my attention. Interesting.

The restaurant will let you travel back in time, circa 1960s. It is a visual feast for people like me and my husband who love to experience themed restaurants. I recounted on my other blog, Life Bliss, the interior of the restaurant.

My husband was supposed to order the pandan rice but I was intrigued with the Yellow Batanes Rice. It has turmeric, garlic and bits of pork. We ordered the family serving which is good for five persons. The serving is quite big as we had to take home the left-over still good for one person. (Hubby consumed it for dinner tonight, still good after reheating.)


Yellow Batanes Rice, P150 (Family), Rating: 5 stars out of 5 stars
We had to play it safe as my daughter is a bit choosy with her food. She ordered the Victory Joe Chicken Wings with Fresh Tomato Salsa. She loves it! We all do. It's a bit pricey at P300+ but it tastes good. Very crispy with a creamy, buttery taste. My husband and I love the salsa. It's around six to seven pieces if I remember it right.


Victory Joe Wings with Tomato Salsa, P392, Rating: 5 stars out of 5 stars
We want fish too so we opted for the tried and tested rellenong bangus, single serving. Achara goes with it. My husband wanted ketchup with it but we did not ask the server anymore. We just tried it as it is.

I was not happy with it because there's a bit of an aftertaste, malansa in the vernacular. We actually did not get to eat much of this.


Rellenong Bangus (Stuffed Milkfish), P175, Rating: 2 stars out of 5 stars

Atchara
My husband and I wanted to try this beef menu because we both love coconut cream. Piassok is a dish from Sulu - beef is buttered, cooked in coconut cream with spices. It's very tender. Husband love it, I like it. The only thing that keeps me from saying I love it is the burnt after taste. There are even burnt portions of the beef as it was served to us. We also had to take home our left over. It proved to be better tonight when we reheated it.


Piassok, P335, Rating: 3 stars over 5 stars
The customer service is great. The food servers are very warm and very neat. Serving time is a bit long most probably because food are cooked as they are ordered. That's fine as long as you are not that hungry going to the restaurant.

Overall, our experiene at Adarna Food and Culture is very good. We will be back again to try the other dishes.

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.

Potato

A staple in our order - chicken tenders with fries. This one is from T.G.I. Friday's menu. It's a choice of honey mustard dressing or barbecue sauce. My daughter prefer the former.

My daughter loves potatoes, not just fries but mashed potatoes as well as boiled. Maybe because this is one of the first baby food we fed her when she was about four months old. She doesn't like mashed potatoes with gravy though.

I prepared mashed potatoes with meat loaf and cheese a few weekends ago and she loved it!


I tried cooking chicken curry and got some excess carrots and potatoes. I boiled them and we munched on them while watching Disney shows.


***Feast on more potatoes at Lasang Pinoy, Sundays.

Kulinarya

I have been absent in my food blog for almost four weeks now. I was too preoccupied to post anything here during the height of the storm Ondoy (Ketsana) and the anticipated (but definitely not welcome) Pepeng (Parma). As most families, our time and energy were spent monitoring the news, getting home early, stocking food and yes, we did pack some clothes and important documents. Our area was not affected by the flood but the deluge that happened in 80% of Metro Manila was enough to alert us and keep us to be always on guard.

Let us continuously pray for the complete rebuilding of the damaged areas and the lives of the people greatly affected by the flood, the children most especially. Let us pray that our country (or any other country) will not experience another Ketsana or anything damaging to lives and properties. Pepeng lingers in the country and is ravaging northern Philippines. Pepeng, please leave and do not create more damage.

Life goes on. Work and school and other activities have resumed. I'm back posting and joining the food meme.

I'm sharing right now one of our dine outs at Kulinarya Kitchen, Rockwell, Makati City. As I have shared in my blogs countless times everyone in my family loves shrimps. We tried two different servings of shrimp at Kulinarya and both proved to be delicious.


Barbecued Shrimps

Gambas
My daughter wanted some pasta and ordered twist and cheese with bacon. It's fun to eat as it's both creamy and crunchy (because of the bacon bits).


Twist and Cheese with Bacon
What is ever present in our menu when we eat out? Of course, chicken. It feels like my daughter always add either chicken or fish and chips in her order as her "fallback". In case she does not like the taste of what she first ordered, she can have the chicken anytime.


Deep Fried Boneless Chicken
The dessert came in chocolate creme brulee. I am not fond of creme brulee but this is my daughter's favorite.


Chocolate Creme Brulee
TGIF!

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

Beef and Broccoli Stir Fry

This is a very rainy weekend as reported by the weather bureau last night. We had soup the past days so we want something else. At least for us, the next best thing during a cold, rainy day would be stir fry.


Again I am not an expert in the kitchen but this passed the taste of my family. I cooked this from what I remember the last time I prepared this dish which was a few months ago.

Beef and Broccoli Stir Fry
1 big head of broccoli
1 kilo of beef
10 cloves garlic (we all love garlic in the house so we put in quite a lot)
2-3 tablespoons oyster sauce
1 tablespoon soy sauce
salt, pepper and sugar to taste (sugar is optional)

Wash beef and cut into thin strips. Size and how thin, your call. I tenderized the beef for easier cooking. Wash broccoli and cut into sections.

Heat about 3 tablespoons of oil in a pan, saute garlic. Add beef strips until seared and pour in oyster and soy sauce plus broccoli. Add salt, pepper, sugar according to taste. Check broccoli's texture. We want it crunchy.

A good lunch while it was raining cats and dogs outside.

***Feast on more food at Lasang Pinoy, Sundays.

Chocolate Overload

I'm trying to curb my craving for chocolate cake for a few days now, specifically this chocolate cake from Conti's. This was one of my daughter's cakes during her birthday last July. My cousin gave her another chocolate cake from Conti's also. If this family isn't a fan of this restaurant, I don't know what to call us.


Chocolate Overload
A slice as big as this is good for three persons because it tastes so rich.


You know I just might give in to my craving later. TGIF!

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