Maridel’s: Let them eat MORE THAN JUST CAKES #16

Where can we possibly start? Well, we have been eating these cakes for nothing special and special occasions at the P. residence. Confessions would frankly tell you how eager we kids are every time we see the delivery vehicle at the driveway with Ma. Delia "Genius-as-proclaimed-by-children" Padilla Uygongco herself carrying the aaaaaaaaaaaahhhh. Okay, the birthday cake. 



After months of the literally mouthwatering photos being posted online, now the public can actually have their own dose of these sweet treats when they finally opened their doors at Plazuela de Iloilo last October 28, 2011.

How is Maridel’s doing after 2 months? You could see the people bustling and literally goggling when they have set their sights on the tempting endless array of desserts. The usual staples are the Frozen Mango Brazos, Death by Chocolate, Icecream Turtle Pie, Banoffee Pie, Eclairs, Napoleons,  Choco Candy Explosion, Snickers Pie, Sugar-Free Carrot-Walnut and Chocolate cakes and of course, Icecream burgers.

A person popped the question days ago and that amazed everyone. See, the place is more than just for cakes. Visit them and keep in mind that is worth the wait to have your seats or grab your takeouts. Spending time with lovers is a must because desserts are stressed spelled backwards after all.

508-CAKE

Plazuela de  Iloilo

Comment on how you love our Maridel’s: Let them eat MORE THAN JUST CAKES. xoxo, FI

Merry Lasagna Pizza #15

While watching the simultaneous airing of Ms. Universe and Ms. USA, we decided to try real Christmas cooking (finally!). On our list were Tita Buka’s Eggplant Lasagna and Pizzas (Spanish Sardines and Hawaiian).

Tita Buka’s Eggplant Lasagna

Cook Time: 1 hour, 10 minutes

Total Time: 1 hour, 10 minutes

Ingredients:

1 1/2 pounds eggplant, thinly sliced

vegetable spray

2 tablespoons olive oil

9 lasagna noodles

1 jar (16 ounces) canned tomato sauce

8 ounces cheddar quickmelt cheese

4 ounces shredded mozzarella cheese

1/4 cup grated Parmesan cheese

Preparation:

In large nonstick skillet, quickly brown eggplant slices; set aside. Cook lasagna noodles in boiling salted water according to package directions. Into an 11x7-inch baking dish, spoon about 1/4 of the sauce. Arrange three alternate layers of lasagna noodles, quickmelt mixture, mozzarella cheese, eggplant slices, sauce and Parmesan cheese. Bake eggplant lasagna at 350° for 30 to 40 minutes.

Well, you top pizza with anything but th real problem is the dough and we asked Pops for help. Right. We will be having formal pizza dough making lessons with Mr. Gacho soon. We settled for an online recipe and that left us with a super crunchy pizza dough. We will not give up though since we have pizza plates now even though we did not have any basil and parsley, Ms. Bueno.

Pizza Dough

Yields3, 12-inch (30 cm) pizzas 

Ingredients:

1 tablespoon active dry yeast, 

        or 1 oz (25 g) brewer’s yeast

 1 1/2 cups (350 cc) warm water

 3 1/2 cups (500 g) flour

 1 tablespoon extra-virgin olive oil

 pinch of salt

The ingredients are pretty much the same for the Spicy Sardines and Hawaiian Pizza. Except of course their own stars: 6 - 8 sardine from can and ham respectively. These are the other remaining ingredients.

Small handful black olive (avoid the big ones from California), sliced

Spoonfuls tomato sauce

Onions

Cheese

Salt

Extra virgin olive oil

What are you up this New Year? Happy Holidays to you and your family!

Comment on how you love our Merry Lasagna Pizza. xoxo, FI

Pizza Nutrition #14

We had our field study or trip or whatsoever in Pizza Hut, Robinsons Place, Iloilo City for our Nutrition class. First we had to tackle the history as a prerequisite for our course (Anatomy and Physiology of Pizzas).

History of Pizza Hut

Ks, USA - Dan and Frank Carney on June 15, 1958 borrowed $600 form their mother to start a business. Their friend suggested opening a pizza parlor they agreed with the idea that it could prove successful. At that time the original Pizza hut was at Wichita State University with 25 seats. It had a bar, cashier, and kitchen area.

When making the sign for the restaurant they only had enough room for nine letters and because they made pizza's they wanted pizza in the name, that only left 3 letters and because the restaurant looked like a hut they named it Pizza Hut.

Pizza Hut is the world's largest pizza restaurant chain and is a subsidiary of Yum! Brands, Inc., whose restaurants total approximately 34,000 restaurants, namely, Pizza Hut for pizzas (duh?), Kentucky Fried Chicken for chicken, Taco Bell for tacos, or the "usuals" of restaurants. In every country, there should only be a sole owner of the franchise, that would be Jorge L. Araneta. The first branch here is at Park's Square Makati (January 1984) where they shoot all their commercials. Pizza Hut has a total of 26 DELCO or Delivery and Carry Out, 42 RBD or Restaurant Based Dining, 59 Restaurants, 6 Bistro and 3 Express.

"The reason behind Pizza Hut's success all over the world is its steadfast belief and uncompromising drive in providing customers the best in terms of product quality, service, cleanliness and value." 

Enough of that, for Php159 we were given our own set of pizza essentials: dough (we had the personal size = 140g), sauce, cheese, meat, and pineapple. The standard is to leave an inch from the rim when you are putting the sauce in a circular manner from the center. 



We drizzled it with a handful of cheese and placed the regulars, 5 ham and 7 pineapples. We were told not to overload our pizzas because that could like to burnt ones. Well, most of my colleagues did the usual stuff here and everywhere. Lucky for Cha and I, we managed to coax the head chef and had Mozarellas for the win. Regular pizza dough weighs 250 g and 450 g for the Family size, like seriously.

We really had fun, plus the event shouldered pasta w/o garlic bread unlike others and soda (ehh). So, what more could you ask for? Just ring the bell at the door to signify if you had  a great Pizzasss making time. After all, we are the kings and queens of this parlor.

Comment on how you love our Pizza Nutrition. xoxo, FI

Werther's Pot O' Gold #13

It is our first month here and there were a lot of happenings lately but we will post or should we say flood you guys soon!  We usually get giddy when it comes to presents this Holiday Season. We were so happy when we had our usual pot of gold, Werther's Original! No wonder we will not be having teeth anymore by June 2012. Just kidding. It prevents us from having hypogylcemia when it comes to stress moments in life.

History 

The sweet brand is named after the town of Werther in Westphalia, where the company was founded in 1903. From 1969, the sweet was marketed under the brand name Werthers Echte. The brand name Werther's Original was adopted in the 1990s for the international market.

Originally available only in the hard form, sweets are now also available as 'chewy toffees', as well as a soft form that resembles wax, which melts easily inside the mouth called 'Caramelts'. A variant with chocolate filling is also available. There are also three sugarfree variants including the original caramel flavour, a caramel coffee swirl, and a caramel mint swirl. There is much confusion regarding whether Werther's are caramels or butterscotch. They are properly described as butterscotch due to their hard consistency. Werther's Caramelts may be an exception in so far as they are chewy.

A recent release (at least in the UK) is Werther's Chocolate; dark and milk chocolate sold in the same packaging and wrappers as Werther's Originals but instead of hard sweets, there is chocolate with butterscotch running through it.

180 Werther's as your pillow? Come here, Tooth Fairy. What a great 1st Month gift! So, yeahh. HAPPY 1st MONTH, FI! Please continue your love for us. Thank You, FIs. Is there an urge within you to be with us? What are you waiting for? Contact us! God Bless. 

Comment on how you love our Werther's Pot O' Gold. xoxo, FI

Napoleon's Bonaparteacolod #12

Bacolod City is The City of Smiles. No wonder everyone was smiling when Mr. Ledesma got home. The usual pasalubong staple which is: Napoleones. We still do not have any idea what is the difference between a napoleones and a napoleon. But still napoleons are a popular french pastry made with puff pastry and a creamy filling, also known as mille feuille. 

What is a napoleon?

napoleon wiki

The mille-feuille (, "thousand sheets"),The name is also written as "millefeuille" and "mille feuille". vanilla slice, cream slice, custard slice, also known as the Napoleon, is a pastry originating in France.

Traditionally, a mille-feuille is made up of three layers of puff pastry (pâte feuilletée), alternating with two layers of pastry cream (crème pâtissière), but sometimes whipped cream, or jam are substituted. The top is usually glazed with icing or fondant in alternating white (icing) and brown (chocolate) stripes, and combed. Alternatively the top pastry layer may be dusted with confectioner's sugar, cocoa, or pulverized nuts (e.g. roasted almonds).

A box of 10 costs Php 130 and a box of 15 costs Php 195. You have to make early reservations or just be on the crack of dawn if you badly needed to get hold of these must-have pasalubong. Thank You Soo Much again, Mr. Ledesma. You made Ms. Mallo happy too. 

Pendy’s Snack Bar and Restaurant

25th Corner Lacson St., Bacolod City

(034) 433 – 4938 or 434 – 0269

 Comment on how you love our Napoleon's Bonaparteacolod. xoxo, FI

Cereal Balls #11

Freddie's post-18th Birthday celebration made us remember of the secret dessert staple of West Visayas State University - Medical Center, cereal balls. These were previously served during the Intravenous Therapy course and we had them again last night. It was crunchy from the cornflakes and gooey at the same time because of the pastillas. We could not resist to share it to everyone and we crossed our way back home to share these to you. Plus, we knew it has white truffles. Another secret staple of the UH besides the Arroz with Egg and Fried Chicken, barbecue, pata, kbl and our base hospital continuously surprises us. More to come soon as we enjoy our duty days.

West Visayas State University - Medical Center

Rice and Wheat Pops #10

Our Mother would buy us an Asian rice snack and we would always have the barbecue flavor. After more than 10 years, a friend of hers, Tita Ann, told us about a "wheat popcorn". That is a new thing and we decided to have a taste of the 100% healthy snack. It has no preservatives and could live up to three months of shelf-life. It comes in a plain, cheese, chocolate, and barbecue flavor. It is also available in an assorted flavor. Prices range from Php39-45. It is a "thing" in school right now as people continuously crave for the fresh poping of it. Rice cakes are also in the Philippines! It is called "buti" in Filipino is usually dyed and is Nanay's market staple to us and Lola's to Papa.

SM City, Iloilo. In between Paulines and F&H.

Comment on how you love our Rice and Wheat Pops. xoxo, FI

BRB #4

Sembreak's over. JKVG & JGVG both back to the hospital and schooling.We will be right back if we have time and stay tuned.

PeppyPaThailand #3

Thailand's worst flood in 75 years has killed 500 people and displaced countless animals. As waters recede in the ancient Thai city of Ayutthaya, volunteers and elephants join forces to clean up the streets (BBC). This event still causes confusion about our dream of setting foot at Amazing Thailand this summer. The usual scrutiny about if the elephants are still alive are one of the to-die-for inside jokes that we have.

It is our last day of having our normal today-I-am-not-doing-anything lifestyle. We decided to have dinner at our soon-to-be destination, Peppy Thai Deli. It is owned by the Gequillanas and since it was an early linner (post-game lunch and dinner), we had Pandan Chicken, Fried Tofu, and Thai Fried Rice.

Thai pandan-wrapped chicken (gai ob bai toey in Thai) or (pandan chicken in Phil) is marinated in sauces and spices and wrapped in aromatic pandan leaves and fried until crisp and browned. You could smell aroma literally and the marinade zest leaves the chicken very juicy.

The balance of the fried tofu is made by the sweet cilantro and peanut sauce. The complexity of the spicy and tangy tastes are superb. It is topped with crunchy pork cracklings (chicharon in Phil). We really do hope to find fried tofu and fried taro sold together as street foods at Thailand.

Peanuts. Let us talk about nuts. Thai Peanut Beef Satay can be compared to the Philippines’ Ox Tail Stew or the Kare-kare because of its very nutty taste. Thai Peanut Beef Satay are skewers of grilled marinated beef in a spicy-sweet peanut dipping sauce. Look at Ms. Aquino enjoying her stick.

In general Thai food consists of meat and/or vegetables and sauce served over rice.  Thai cuisine blends five fundamental tastes: sweet, spicy, sour, bitter and salty. Some common ingredients used in Thai cuisine include garlic, chillies, lime juice, lemon grass, and fish sauce. The staple food in Thailand is rice, particularly jasmine variety rice (also known as Hom Mali rice) which is included in almost every meal. Thailand is the world's largest exporter of rice, and Thais domestically consume over 100 kg of milled rice per person per year. Over 5000 varieties of rice from Thailand are preserved in the rice gene bank of the International Rice Research Institute (IRRI), based in the Philippines. The king of Thailand is the official patron of IRRI (Wikipedia).

Thai fried rice or khao phat is a variety of Fried rice typical of central Thai cuisine. In Thai, khao means "rice" and pad means "of or relating to being stir-fried". This dish differs from Chinese fried rice is that it is prepared with Thai Jasmine rice instead of regular long-grain rice. It normally contains a meat (chicken, shrimp, andcrab are all common), egg, onions, and tomatoes. Green onions, coriander, and fried garlic are then mixed in (Wikipedia).

The One and Only Thai cuisine is within your reach. Visit and enjoy their paper squid. See you on summer, PaThailand. Let us hope that it is not PaThai.

Plazuela De Iloilo, 5000 Iloilo City, Philippines

(033) 857-5854

Comment on how you love our PeppyPaThailand. xoxo, FI

Glorlegacy #2

The nostalgia sets in as we head downtown for the day. Our Mother has worked at the central business district before skyscrapers towered Iloilo City and that caused a struggle in living. she knows the go-tos and shortcuts (pasikot-sikots in Ilonggo). We decided to go to Father’s talk of the town one-stop burger shop, Glor’s.

Father on Glor’s: “Sang gamay ko ya, tag-Php 5.50 na ang isa ka Glor’s. Duha guid na kabilog akon maubos. Magutom ka guid xempre sa pamalaklon sa city eh”.

(When I was a kid, a Glor’s burger would cost, Php5.50. I could finish two. You will get hungry after shopping at the city.)

Not all burgers are created equal. Right. But there are two Glor’s burger junctions and which is which?

              History

Jose "Peping" Tabanao Sr. marrried Gloria Sancho (Glor’s) and had nine children. Est 1974, Glor’s Hamburger is a must for most Ilonggos who go downtown. Jane Tabanao Andrews and Johnny "Boy" Tabanao are both owners of the two “Glor’s” glory name merchandise. The family decided because of the Old Glor’s small space to transfer it to a much accessible and bigger space, Jane's Broadway Café.

The interior has a diner vibe. Diners offer a wide range of inexpensive foods, a casual atmosphere, a counter, and late operating hours. Jane is based in New York and the place is said to be the first in Iloilo that have a wide collection of Broadway posters. We were literally going ga-ga over the gazillion of literary goodness. We moved on (partially) and ordered the specials.

We had Glor’s Deluxe Hamburger – (100 grams all-beef) with Cheese (Php67) and Glor’s Super Deluxe - (200 grams all-beef) with Cheese (Php100). Add ons cost Php5 (tomato, cucumber and onions), there was no lettuce available, but it was okay. There was a slight mishap with the photog session but the Deluxe survived. And wow! Literally, wow! The beef is really real and it is cooked medium rare. All the goodness sinks in as we devoured the juicy historical Ilongga meal. The cheese was melting like the one you can see at commercials and the condiments are fresh (note the color, texture, and consistency), Special thank you to the very accommodating people. We now believe in not all burgers are created equal, Glor. 
More power to Glor’s Glorlegacy.

 Ledesma St, Iloilo City

 (033) 337-3640

 

Comment on how you love our Glorlegacy. xoxo, FI

*Disclaimer: Historical facts are taken from the family tree of the Tabanao's in Iloilo City.