People's Palace, royalty rules!

Friday was hot! After a wonderful & exciting F&H show in SMX [thanks and congratulations Ronald Pineda!!!], my greatest of friends and I made our way to Greenbelt's People's Palace for a much needed food fuel for what we anticipated would be a long night ahead for a pre Halloween Diva showdown and drinks, and more drinks, at M Cafe. The Pomelo Salad [P380] should be a staple as an appetizer when dining at PP. It's absolutely my favorite in the world. Worth a line here as well would be the Prawn Cakes [P370] and Spring Rolls [[P310] which almost made me ask for steamed rice. Thank God i was wearing a size 31 pair of jeans which left no room for any carbo cravings, though i did manage to squeeze in a few bites of the Crisply Fried Egg [P180]  and Chicken basil [[P380] . Dessert came in the form of Fried Bananas with vanilla ice cream [P220] and Chocolate Cake [P250]. The round table set ups at PP also make a great avenue for talk. People's Palace may be old news for metropolitan dining but it is royalty! It never fails to please the palates. Later then..

Why You Can't Put A Price on Labors of Love

More than overflowing creativity, painting is a labor of love. To the painter, though enjoying every stroking moment, painting means hours of seclusion and even backpain aftermaths. It's also about missing movies with friends and sometimes a Sunday mass. It can also cause undue stress or peaks of momentary bliss. To the painter's partner, it's hours of waiting and even hearing Sunday mass alone. It's about patience and letting be. It's about admiring the painter's passion and commitment to his art. It's about appreciating the vision that goes with every color and every stroke. I know why people sometimes wonder why paintings cost so much. I used to paint myself but patience ran out of me. Letters became my watercolors and this blog became my canvass. Reality is, most paintings are actually priceless, because paintings are visions shared by the painter, not just a piece of canvass with some colors splashed on it. Like movies for directors, cuisines for chefs, photos for photographers, clothes for designers and stories for writers, the real value lies on the hearts that made them. Later then...

Great to finally have you around, BC!

While going through my Facebook pile barely a year ago, I chanced upon a good  friend of mine whom I have lost contact with for quite some time. Digging through her Facebook pages being the nosey me, my jaw literally dropped when I discovered how Tanya Medina-Favis and her husband Tom were making waves in the US with their very own BC Magazine that was featuring Hollywood royalties one issue after another. How this amazing Filipino couple penetrated the close knit Hollywood scene to get the likes of Puff Diddy, Kimora and Tori Spelling, to name a few, is seriously a big inspiration to a dreamer and showbiz A-list fanatic like me! Fast forward to October 24, 2010 while having lunch at M Café with friends this wonderful Sunday, Tanya dropped in and handed over to me what almost made me forget dessert-the very first copies of the premiere issue of BC Philippines Magazine that were still so hot off the press. Finally, BC made its way to the Philippines! With two beautiful covers that spell F-A-B-U-L-O-U-S, BC Philippines Magazine is filled with pages of absolute greatness in editorial content especially with a special feature on the Most Beautiful Moms which showcases stunning photos of the most lovely of Filipino moms captured by Tom and Tanya themselves who have shot, and impressed, every single Hollywood celebrity they have featured in BC US. From Hollywood to the Philippines, BC gets the big names and Tanya and Tom does it right in every single detail--styling, photography, imaging, content, copy, etc, etc. I won’t be spilling more than that because anticipation is part of the celebration. And BC Philippines Magazine’s first issue is one big family & lifestyle celebration you shouldn’t miss. Come to think of it, BC is not only about your family’s Best Choices. It’s also about BEING COOL! Think Kimora. Think Chris Cornell. Be inspired. Though don’t go rushing just yet to your “suking” magazine shop because it will take a few days before copies go in circulation nationwide. I was just lucky enough to know Tom and Tanya to get my hands on first on BC, hehe. Don’t fret, I’m sure you can wait a week. I had to wait a year to get my hands on these…Later then!

Dial M for a relaxing Sunday lunch!

Don’t you just love it when  your Sunday turns out to be, by God's grace, super relaxing after a restless Saturday night? Well I do and today was priceless. After a much needed restful sleep to cap a hectic week and a tonic Saturday night with friends at Astoria to celebrate a birthday and at Limbo in the Fort to welcome the liquor ban with a slam, Kirbs and I decided to hit off our rest day at Greenbelt to shop for painting stuff and some window shopping. By three quarters past one, we met up with our greatest of friends at M Café for a late lunch buffet that lasted until mid afternoon. Food was fantastic as always at the M, but  with a live string entertainment in the background and with the great company of friends, the moment was just the best as any Sunday could get.  I swear I'm not much of a buffet person because i usually get so lost in the waves of food before me but I sure did enjoy  every bit of  caldereta, chicken adobo, tapa, tocino, lengua, fried rice, carbonara, dimsum, salad, fish fillet with tausi, garlic spareribs and waffles, which i piled up with a whole lot of sweet and fruit toppings, that I had at M Cafe today, to name a few. :) Later then….

Bonjourno Italianni's

Stepping inside the newly renovated Italianni's Greenbelt was such a breather. With its bar moved towards the left of the resto, the whole dining area seemed bigger with the high ceiling and mezzanine floor emphasized even more. It still had that cozy old feel that gave the Bonjourno greetings by the staff a flair of sincerity. My fondness now for Prosciutto after the movie Eat Pray Love made me order Italianni's Prosciutto Fettucine in rich and thick carbonara sauce plus a very cold glass of fresh Lemonada [Do try to read those again in thick Italian accents pRoshootto Fehtohchinee and LeehmOhnadaah! and give the 5 fingers of your right hand a smack to the air..haha]. The "book ends" were an order of Caesar salad and the three layered chocolate cake Tartufo [read TaaRRtufoh! haha], with dark and white chocolate mousse covered with, according to their words, the fudgiest frosting, quite pricy tho at P400+ for a piece of dessert. As usual, i managed to eat quite a few slices of my favorite Foccacias dipped in the very appetizing concoction of vinaigrette, olive oil and grated parmesan while waiting for our food to be served. Bounno Pettito! Later then...

Strawberry Panna Cotta, Krazy Garlik's Smooth Operator!

Here i go again,  literally. I have this habit of a child to keep on having something that i am so wanting until i get tired of fonding. hehe. I know that was quite a mouthful and so was mine and Kirby's early this evening as i found myself, yet again in a little more than a week, at Krazy Garlik. I was there to impress him of my new food sanctuary and i did with no effort; thanks to the always, always wonderful crew and kitchen staff of this garlik lovers bistro. We had the most basic but full of flavor Garlik Lovers Pizza, a no nonsense cheese pizza with lotsa herbs and garlik and more of it. It was a masterpiece even a witch will love. But honestly, more than the pizza, i was wanting to discover more of their sweet and all natural fruit juice sensations slash health tonics with the playful names of Apple Carrot Twitter [red apple, carrot and garlic syrup!] and Travel Sickness [red apple, kiwi fruit, strawberries and ginger root]. Just when i thought we had everything there was to enjoy for dinner, the gracious resto manager Bianca recognized me from a previous visit and treated us to the biggest surprise of the night, their Strawberry Panna Cotta that almost made me forget the movie that we were to watch. It was the smoothest Panna Cotta with the most subtle sweetness of strawberry syrup and fresh strawberry to boot i have ever had that i had to hold on to my seat or else i would just slip away to oblivion. How in the world did they come up with this loveliest of desserts is beyond me. And why does this not come in gallons but in small glasses instead?!!! But who am i to ask? I just give in. Life is full of surprises, isn't it? Just when i thought tonight was gonna be about garlik pizza and BAM! Just like that, Strawberry Panna Cotta stole the whole scene! Krazy Garlik's smooth operator..Later then...

The Cru Experience

I was the first to arrive for a birthday dinner treat by a very good friend and client at Cru Steakhouse. The weather was getting hideous as i left my Makati office yet fortunately for me traffic was still light as i breezed through South Super Highway towards Marriot Hotel at Resorts World and my cravings were skyrocketing so no storm or what have you can stop me from getting my steak tonight at Cru. The ambience that welcomed me was a sight to behold. Red, contemporary and dim lit, it was the perfect setting for a wonderful birthday dinner against the wild winds in the outside world brought about by the tail of a storm that's trashing northern Philippines this evening. I was not just the first in our table but the first in the entire restaurant. Not wanting to look desperate, i waited a few minutes before I helped myself to a piece of  Spinach bread [as in Popeye spinach and not Spanish bread from your neighborhood bakery which i also love!]  that the smiling server, Andrew, offered before me. That piece became the first of five or so, to my delight (no sooner than my friends arrived, i was on my third spinach bread already). After going thru pages of the menu, not wanting to make the mistake of ordering wrong, i decided to feast on Prime Tenderloin steak with wild mushroom sauce. As i shared a healthy serving of Cru's Caesar salad which was prepared right before us, the chef sent over a beautifully arranged tempura shrimp in a trumpet glass [if there's flute glass then this must be a trumpet glass, mind you, haha]. The Caesar salad was excellent, with the leafy vegetables fresh and crunchy and the dressing perfectly tossed together. Then it arrived. My very own medium-well and oh so juicilicious and pinkish tenderloin steak with its two side servings of the smoothest mashed potatoes and buttered fresh asparagus with slices of parmesan cheese. As i sliced away my first piece of tenderloin steak, i imagined how envious i was watching David Celdran as he enjoyed bite after bite his beautifully grilled steak at Cru in an episode of his food show a few months back. And here i was tonight doing the same thing as he was. I'm sure somebody would be envying me too was i being filmed for TV. God is good, isn't He? And so was my dear friend for the treat! hehe. Googling, i found out that Cru is a French term associated with wine which i did not have with my steak tonight as i would be having quite a bit of driving thru the heavy rains after dinner and i needed much of my senses and reflexes intact. The staff also surprised the celebrant with a complimentary chocolate dessert which I super enjoyed with my cup of decaf. The entire Cru experience-on food, ambience and service-was exactly how i imagined it to be..priceless! [Well, ok, not really but it sure was all worth it!] Thanks Pinks! I will be back at Cru in the near future for sure with another piece of prime steak and a glass of fine wine next time. Cheers! Later then...

Loko Over Krazy Garlik

I had very high expectations as i stepped into Krazy Garlik in Greenbelt yesterday for lunch with my lawyer friend having read so many good reviews about the place. And we stepped out smiling with garlic breaths [kidding!] with expectations met and surpassed. haha. T'was Makati-Thursday-Lunchtime and the place was super packed like Makati-Friday-Lunchtime-Impossible. Save for the smiling crew, the ambience was not much to savor compared to other restos in the area, amidst the chaos of a hungry crowd. A few minutes after we were given our table i had smiles bigger than the servers as we were super enjoying already the Snowflake Pizza [shrimp with flakes of fried garlics] that the server suggested to us. For pasta, i ordered my usual Bolognese after spending minutes of choosing from its list of great sounding pastas with garlik sauces; I just seem to have this love-hate thing with non-red pasta sauces that i can never get over with. Not to miss out are Krazy Garlik's fruit and vegie fusion drinks at P180 to 220 a glass can be quite pricey but well worth it. The drinks are wittingly named such as the Pink Slush and Skin Deep that we had, having the vegie and fruit concoctions that feeds the skin. It was a delightful experience that we stayed far beyond lunchtime and were the last to leave the resto with "bounce back" cards from the pleasing resto manager who made sure my friend and i enjoyed the krazy experience with garliks! I'm sure to go back and try their Garlik Crabs and Garlik Bread and Garlik Chicken and Garlik Pork Adobo and Garlik Rice and.....:) Oh, if are on a date, an Ora Care mouthwash might come in handy after. haha. Later then.... 

Yellow Cab Delivers It Best!

Pizza and pasta are my first top of mind for food deliveries. When the craving is rumbling and i really really wanna make sure to get more than i expect, i dare not take chances with the others. Time and again, Yellow Cab proves it delivers the best tasting pizza and pasta among deliverylandia. And whenever i forget the delivery number, i just try to recall their memorable trivia: Why is 7 afraid of 9? Because 7-"ate"-9-9999. Forget that and you might as well forget your appetite. Later then! 

Eat. Pray. Love. Drink.

After enjoying a long and fulfilling movie of Julia Roberts' Eat Pray Love, my friends and i heartily whisked ourselves to Barcino in Greenbelt 2 to lose ourselves in the experience of European goodness showcased in the most interesting part of the movie. It became a night of reminiscings, prosciuttos, tapas and glasses of sparkling wine that brought back vivid memories to Barcelona and Madrid a few years back and hopeful plans of soon basking in the beautiful rawness of Milan. Eating, loving, praying--Cheers! Later then..