Beef bourguignon

I wanted to try my hand at Julia Child's BB since I saw it in Julie and Julia. Sadly, I did not have the time nor the patience to let the beef stew in red wine for 5 hours, so I settled with 3.

Beef bourguignon is one of many examples of peasant dishes being slowly refined into haute cuisine. Most likely the particular method of slowly simmering the beef in wine originated as a means of tenderizing cuts of meat that would have been too tough to cook any other way - from here

Major ingredient: red wine! I had a thrill pouring in half a bottle only to throw out most of it when it was time to serve the beef

Guava, Serendra, and Epic Carlos Celdran Intramuros Tour

I completely understand why an entire restaurant is dedicated to guava. It's very nutritious!

According to healthaliciousness.com, guavas are "superfruits" because

- they are rich in Vitamin A and C

- seeds are omega rich and contains dietary fiber

- Vit C of 1 apple guava = Vit C of 4x orange

- provides moderate amount of calcium, iron, potassium, copper

- has antioxidants

The food we tasted all had a slight taste of Guava.

Chicken Adobo: stewed and garnished with roasted shallots and garlic for Php 165

Tinapa Rice: with flaked smoked fish with shallot, salted eggs and chicaron for Php 155

Bibingka Pancakes with Kesong Puti and Salted Duck Eggs: served with guava syrup, buttered toasted coconut for Php 155

After lunch, we joined a Carlos Celdran's Intramuros Deluxe Tour.

That's a carving of Saint James killing 4 Muslims. I never really noticed. Amaziiiing.

I love visiting Old Manila (we have done the Manila Bay sunset and the walk around Luneta park and I think the vintage buildings are a darling) but it's refreshing to visit it with new eyes this time

Calye Real! From Fili. In concrete!

One man show. Hat's off! =)

His biggest crowd yet.

After the tour, we visited Rizal Park to commemorate Rizal Day (admittedly, for the first time our entire lives)

Salmon and Prosciutto

Ideally I should have done this in the beginning of the vacation because I was most excited for this one (aside from my big project: Julia Child's Beef Bourginoun), but it took for 3 Rustan's groceries, 4 Santis Delis and 1 Terry Selection to get myself a prosciutto. This was easy to make except that the herb paste was too laborious to create, but that too paid off as the oven exuded a beautiful aroma

Ingredients:

1. salmon

2.. prosciutto

3. herbs galore (parsley, dill, thyme etc)

4. olive oil

5. pecorino cheese

Pork in red wine

What I love about beef and pork is that you just throw them in a bowl together with marinade and some spices then you have this amazing viand after 1-3 hours (depending on the dish)

Pork in red wine ingredients

1. pork

2. red wine

3. unsalted butter

4. honey (and others. at this point, I placed all sorts of ingredients at whim)

Turned out well! Try it!

Pears in red wine

We receive bottles of red wine yearly so I made it my main ingredient this season. Another experiment I made was the pears in wine, and the real adventure was making syrup out of the wine

Ingredients:

1. red wine

2. pears

3. sugar

4. cinammon

Can't say its great, but it is novel, thus making it to our New Year's picks for tonight.

Paseo Uno, Mandarin Oriental Hotel

We yearly visit Paseo Uno for a taste of their scrumptous buffet. This year, however, they have reduced their food stations for 5 to 3 and reduced the number of dishes per station. It looks like they picked their best dishes and their dessert bar is definitely twice as awesome.

My favourite beef rendang followed me to Manila!

Brought to you by the seafood bar

I genuinely love individual presentations. Makes the dessert bar look classier.

Creme brulee is always a sure win taste

Braso de mercedes. The chocolate garnish makes it twice appealing.

Paseo Uno

Mandarin Oriental Hotel

Makati Avenue, Makati City 1226

Metro Manila, Philippines

Tel: 632 819 9683

Cafe Breton, Tomas Morato

We went for another Breton dessert. No thinking required! We tried out a couple of new dishes"

I love the homey feel.

Galette Bretonne: spinach, shrimps sauteed with crab meat, fresh cream and gruyere cheese for Php 254.50

Inside the Galette

Deja Vu: mango, special cream sauce, caramel syrup, vanilla ice crea for Php 201.15

Cafe Breton

Ground Level, Alfredos Bldg.,

181 Scout de Guia St. cor. Tomas Morato Ave.,

Quezon City, Metro Manila

Philippines

Tel: 63 2 374 6334

Banapple, Tomas Morato

We celebrated our good friend Potch's birthday in Banapple. I played safe by ordering one of my all time favorites - Salpicao. I have got to learn how to do this so I won't be dependent chasing Spanish restaurants for their versions.

Salpicao Rafael: tender cubes ofr rib-eye stead and sliced mushroms, perfectly seasoned and smothered in garlic pieces, served with buttered carrots for Php 170

Banapple is more known for their cakes, and we have a couple:

To think, back in the 16th century, French physicians considered chocolate to be an aphrodisiac! Decadent cake for Php 105.

Classic Pecan Pie for Php 90

To top of our great celebration and after our legendary Waterspa experience, Potch took me to see the house of Tita Cory. Their humility feels overwhelming. Who would have thought the President came home everyday to this humble abode? They truly walked their talk.

It was small compared to their neighbors' homes. That's Manong Marcelino walking towards us.

Banapple Kitchen

2/L Il Terrazzo

Tomas Morato Avenue,

Quezon City, Philippines

632 413 2675

Avocado soup

Some more experimenting over the holidays. This didn't turn out so well - wasn't able to create a good blend of the savoury chicken stock and the sweet avocado. Not too edible, but I'm just going to take this as a lesson

Ingredients

1. avocado

2. chicken stock

3. all purpose cream

4. garnish

My winner Tiramisu!

It's not perfect (yet!) but I'm proud to say that it's a great result of experimentation. I still maintain, however, that Tiramisu from Al Forno is still the best

My rendition

1. all purpose cream

2. broas

3 baileys

4. French Arabic ground coffee

Wagyu for Christmas!

Thank you to WDeli for tirelessly delivering beautiful and delicious Wagyu for us.

My brother's contribution to our Christmas dinner. His gut tells us the proper time to turn over the Wagyu on the heating pan.

Merry Christmas!

My own yummy pasta!!

If Alexander Fleming had the penicillin, I had this pasta.

I wanted to make Putanesca but I lacked ingredients, so I just threw anything I can find inside our fridge. Tada! This makes up for the failed experiments that I've cooked week.

Ingredients

1. Wheat pasta

2. garlic, onions, tomato, basil

3. tomato paste

4. walnuts

5. pork floss

6. red wine

I love the taste of success. (finally!)

Frutti Froyos, Katipunan Avenue

Dustin has been talking about Froyos since Lord knows when and it was only by a happy accident that I discovered it. They have this sort of frozen yoghurt sold in Calvin and Hobbes and The Stock Market in Bonifacio High Street, but I love hot Froyos doesn't charge exorbitantly for every single topping I choose. Php 18 per ounce - all in!

Easily my favourite topping.

Frutti Froyo

Petron Square

Katipunan Ave. corner Mangyan Rd.

La Vista, Quezon City

Philippines

Uncle Cheffy, Eastwood

I love hanging with my cousins cause I am sure to laugh, and laugh, and laugh the whole time.

We had our "kids" dinner (take two) in Uncle Cheffy in Eastwood. We had two orders of everything even if it was just divided among the 7 of us. Hahaha!

East Meets West Panniza: parmaham, salami, kesong puti, salted eggs, tomatoes, mango and 3 cheese for Php 495. The most interesting one on the menu in my opinion. Or maybe it's just cause I really love kesong puti (fresh white cheese made from cow's milk).

Panizza is thin-crusted pizza that’s sliced and eaten in a roll with arugula, alfalfa, and diced tomatoes.

Grilled Blue Marlin "Cafe de Paris": with brown rice and couscous pilaf for Php 395

Memphis barbecue US Beef rib finger: wish salad, marble potato and sauces for Php 595. Highly recommended. The beef was as soft as bread, and the sauce was sweet and sour creamy. Go for this!

Uncle Cheffy

3/F Eastwood Mall Veranda

E. Rodriguez Ave. (C-5)

Bagumbayan

Quezon City, Metro Manila

Philippines

Tel: 632 219 7025

Red, Shangrila Hotel

This is rather belated, but we celebrated Mommy's birthday in Red last September.

I believe I acquired from my mother my penchant for dining well. She always made sure to take us to the fancy restaurants where she had her business meetings so we may taste the delicious food she has experienced. I think this is also why I'm price insensitive to food, because I believe that if it's good food and a great environment, it deserves to be rewarded.

I liked dining in Red because although red was too strong of an interior theme (well I couldn't really blame them), the baroque style chairs and the significant space between tables gave me a sense of privacy despite the groups of people behind me. Plus we were seated facing the garden, waited on by a lovely woman who paid close attention to all our needs. And the food! The ones I feature below are especially delish.

The photos were taken from my brother's phone cam, hence the grainy images. Prices are withheld at my Mom's request.

It's just a napkin! Presented in elegant details

Pumpkin soup

Ravioli

Greek salad

Sea bass I think?

Steak!

Greetings from Shang. It's small things like these that make the stay count.

Red

Makati Shangrila Hotel

Ayala Avenue corner Makati Avenue

Makati City 1200

Philippines

Tel: 632 813 8888