Old-school-like Treats at Stick House

Popsicles are one of the all-time faves of my youth. Even up until now, my sister loves eating Twin Popsies in the middle of the night. And who would've thought of putting gelato on a stick? Evidently, the owner of Stick House of course.

Stick House's display of variety of flavors

This innovative use of gelato and a popsicle stick has its price. It sells for 80 bucks a piece and additional for half or full toppings plus the chocolate dip. In my opinion, their price is a bit steep.

My gelato on a stick beside a picture of a gelato on a stick

At first bite, I was pretty amazed on what I found. The texture of this gelato is unlike no other. The texture was like of a popsicle (e.g. Twin Popsies) but the taste was purely gelato goodness. I was really curious to see how the stick was able to hold the gelato and I discovered that they infused the popsicle's mouth feel and the creaminess of gelato. It melted in my mouth with its rich chocolate taste that is very dense.

A surprisingly good first-bite

Their stick was even engraved with their name on it. How cool is that?

Proof that I liked my gelato on a stick

What a Sight to See -- God's Wonders

A beautiful sunset seen from the the shore of Anawangin Island in Zambales.


A lady's silhouette walking along the shoreline in one of the islands of Caramoan.


Amazing man-made wonder that is Batad Rice Terraces.


Top of the lighthouse found in Capones Island, Zambales.


A budding flower growing somewhere in Camarines Sur.


An untouched beach of one of the islands in Caramoan.


Calm and still waters of Camarines Sur.


A distant view of the island with clouds hovering over it.


Colorful boats available for transport from one island to the next.

Going Indian -- New Bombay

New Bombay is an authentic Indian restaurant that's been popping everywhere. I have a lot of India officemates and I've been curious on what they eat since most of them are vegans. It was really amusing when we ate at Hap Chan and my Indian officemate only ate garlic rice. We ordered veggie dishes for him but he wasn't familiar with it so he just ate the rice. I hope he didn't have any bad feelings towards us.

The restaurant had an authentic feel with its black ornate polished wooden tables and chairs and serving the dishes in stainless bowls. As the food was served, don't be fooled by the measly serving portions since their dishes are packed with a lot of spices.

The Chicken Korma was of course spicy but not too hot for my taste. Since all the dishes were spicy, I got confused with the tastes of each dish. There's little distinction with the taste but I'm not saying that it tastes all the same. Maybe I'm just not familiar with the spices used. Although the dishes are full of spice, it doesn't seem to overpower the taste of the main ingredient of the dish. For instance, I am able to taste the chicken in the Chicken Korma which was very soft and cooked just right.

Chicken Korma

One of my favorites is the Malai Prawns. It's not really prawns, I think they're just shrimps but the shrimps were really fresh. The sauce tasted like curry and the color looks like curry, too.

Malai Prawns

Aloo Gabi is a vegetable dish. The main ingredients are potatoes and cauliflower. I loved the combination of the two and the chopped onion spring.

Aloo Gabi

Next is my favorite, the Paneer dish. This is cottage cheese in a sauce which I'm positively sure that it has tomato sauce in it. Then there's melted cheese on top. Such cheesy goodness!

Paneer

And of course, don't forget about the Naan bread and the Kulcha. This is a flatbread that is perfect with all sauces of the other dishes. I once saw in NGC the Naan bread being baked in a clay pot-like oven which looked cool since the baker was flipping the bread and pressing it to the sides to bake it. Anyway, New Bombay had different flavors for their bread. We ordered the plain one and the Garlic Naan. I liked the taste of the garlic naan, it's similar to the garlic bread minus the butter. We also ordered the cheese naan which was really yummy since it was still hot and freshly-baked and the cheese was melted inside the naan. It was delicious by itself.

Buttered Kulcha and Garlic Naan

The Kulcha is another type of flatbread in India. It's thicker than Naan which makes it a better vessel for the sauces of the dishes since it can absorb more. We ordered the Buttered Kulcha which was only a bit buttery but more chewy (than the Naan).

Plain Naan

To wash off our palates, we ordered their lassi which is a yogurt drink. I had the rose-flavored lassi which was sweet and fragrant because of the rose but not too aromatic which was fine with me. I also tasted the plain salty lassi which tasted too exotic and is an acquired taste. Just imagine the tartness of the yogurt with a bit of sweetness and sprinkled with salt. It wasn't too bad but I can only take a few sips. Our drinks would be more enjoyable if they were chilled properly. But look how pretty all of our lassis all lined up with different colors. Sweet!

Rose, Mango, Plain (salty) and buko pandan Lassi

All in all, my experience with Indian food was good and I was glad there were no need of fire extinguishers for the spicy food.

STRESSED - DESSERTS

Stressed? One way to destress is to eat the opposite of it which is desserts! (stressed is desserts spelled backwards)

Here are some yummy and simple desserts I've come across.

• California Berry

Frozen Yogurt with banana and walnuts

Blueberry yogurt with mango, rice crispies and cereal

• Gelatissimo (my favorite gelato place)

Panna Cota Gelato (nice hand model.. hihihi)

• Blenz Coffeeshop

Chocolate Torte (so chocolatey! it's chocolate heaven in your mouth)

• Krispy Kreme

Oreo frappe, Hershey's Kisses dougnut, and Chocolate Kruffins (didn't like the Kruffins, though. it was too dry)

• Hap Chan

Chilled Tofu with Mango (incredibly good!)

• Sebastian's

my favorite chilly burger (can't get enough of it)

Ice cream in a cup for my little nephew

• White Hat
  

Creamy Yoghurt with Kiwi and walnuts

Charlie's Grind and Grill -- Best Burger in Town

Have the tastiest, meatiest and the most scrumptious burger in Kapitolyo, Pasig. Charlie's is famously known to have a carwash beside it. Their place is small but is always jam-packed especially at night. My friend said it had the similar charm of Pop Tate's Malt Shop in the lovable Archie comics. True enough since they also serve milk shakes which I so love!

But what we really came here for is their super yummy Black Angus Burger. For 195 pesos, their big burger with a side of fries is really worth your money. The burger was juicy, soft and sooo tasty. The balance of the patty and the vegetables and cheese in this burger was so delightful, you will forget everything else with one bite! And their french fries! It left me astounded on how good it tasted. It was fried perfectly and the potato slice had just the right width for it to be the perfect french fries, not too crispy and also not too soft. It also had the right amount of salt put in the fries.

Half of the Black Angus Burger and fries

Their cheesesteak was to die for! We had it cooked medium-well and their portion was so generous that we had to share it. The bits of steak was cooked with green bell pepper and topped with melted cheese. Soooo delish!

Cheesesteak Fili size at P320

The next we tried was their chicken buffalo wings (sweet honey dijon). I don't think I'd be able to take their nuclear buffalo wings. The wings were big, also juicy, sweet and spicy to the palate. The dish also had slices of vegetables and dip which we somehow ignored.

Chicke Buffalo Wings (Sweet honey dijon) priced at P170

Lastly, to complete the meal, we had our milk shakes. They had vanilla, chocolate and strawberry milk shakes topped with whipped cream and a cherry. This thick, creamy, sweet drink is perfect for a sweet-tooth like me. So yum! =) I'd be sure to keep coming back for more!

Vanilla and Chocolate Milk Shake (P150)

RE-Learning Sweet Treats in Heny Sison School

Excited I was when I arrived at Heny Sison's Culinary School one Saturday morning. The place was cozy and squeky clean. It wasn't what I was expecting from a big time celebrity chef Heny. The 'kitchen classroom' has an unexpected homey feel to it and one will see that they have every utensil and every equipment that we'll ever need. From pans, baking racks, wire whisks, electric stand mixers to top-of-the-line ovens, cookie sheets, silicone mats and mixing bowls. They even had a collection of copper pots! I thought it was so cool. Just being in their kitchen made me smile. I was always fond of looking into different utensils/tools and would dream someday to have my very own 'Martha Stewart' kitchen.

A snapshot of the kitchen

Our instructor was Chef Patricia Loanzon. She first started the class by discussing the fundamentals of baking. By the way, the class was Bakeshop 101 for the Oven Phobic Workshop which was a 1-day class from 9am to 3pm. The lecture lasted for an hour and she covered also the basic science on how the different ingredients react to each other. I really appreciated the lecture since I was able to understand more about what I'm putting in what I'm baking.

Chef Loanzon doing a demo in front of the class

Although I already knew the basics of baking from learning it in T.H.E. when I was in elementary and highschool, I still enjoyed the class. We started with the hardest recipe in line which was Lola's Butter Cake. We were taught how to fold the batter correctly so that the air incorporated in the batter won't get deflated. The cake turned out to be soft and the air was equally distributed in the cake. Too bad i didn't get the chance to take a picture of a slice.

Lola's Butter Cake fresh from the oven

One of the easiest recipe in the class was the Chocolate Banana Cake. This banana cake is dotted with raisins inside. One tip we got is that we can preserve raisins by soaking it in rum and it will make the raisins plumpier!

Chocolate Banana Cake

I loved the caramel bar in Max's but recently, its quality and taste weren't what it used to be. So I was excited to hear that we were making caramel bars! The secret ingredient? Condensed milk! We put condensed milk in the batter and drizzled condensed milk and cashew nuts before baking.

Caramel Bar still in the baking pan

The next treat we made is also my favorite! It's the After Eight Brownies. It's a regular oh-so-good brownies but we added a dash of mint oil that turned transformed the taste up a notch. I loved Hershey's cookies and mint chocolate and Starbucks' Christmas Peppermint mocha frappe so this recipe was a real treat!

After Eight Brownies

Next is the Best Chocolate Chip Cookie. The cookie was chewy and not too sweet since we put in glucose and molasses in the batter. It was fun scooping the cookie batter using an ice cream scooper. My groupmates even joked that I can be a sorbetero.

Best Chocolate Chip Cookies

Snickerdoodles, a cute name for a cookie. I first thought that snickerdoodles had snickers chocolate bar in them but it's like a soft sugar cookie that's coated in sugar and cinnamon powder. Yum! It's my first time to eat it and I was the one who also made it. Cool!

Stacks of Snickerdoodles on a red silicone sheet

I was so surprised by how much goodies we got to take home.

Group shot of the baked goodies

Here's a picture of my groupmates. We were actually 4 in the group but she left early. And as a bonus, we also got to meet Chef Heny. She was so nice and soft-spoken. Her staff was also friendly, accomodating, and fast workers. My experience in Chef Heny's school was excellent. I would give it 5 out of 5 stars!

Malou, me and Loida

Detox Your Life

In a fast-paced world that we live in, stress is no stranger to us. We sometimes even embrace it as part of our lives. I remember the time when I was so stressed that my heart was palpitating for a day. It didn't even bothered me since I had a lot of work to do, I just ignored it. That was when I put my work first over everything else. (Talk about wrong priorities!)

B1G Nights introduces a 7-part series on work-life balance entitled 'Making It Work'. The first topic is about detoxifying oneself from stress. Let me share to you some points that I picked out from Pastor Bong's message.

What are the problems with worry?

1. Worrying is unhelpful. Have you ever heard of the saying that worrying is like a rocking chair, it never gets us anywhere. In short, worrying never solved a problem. I liked the quote mentioned in the talk, 'We can't change the past and we can't control the future' so why do we need to worry?

2. Worrying is unreasonable. Why on earth would you worry when you can pray?

3. Worrying is unhealthy. A very good example is the palpitations I had because of stress. Stress can also makes us age faster. Do not worry if you want to stay young. ;p


You may be thinking 'i can't help it but to worry' or 'what can i do besides worrying?'. Pastor Bong tells us the cure to worry.

Believe that God will take care of me.

And that's the truth. According to Psalm23:1 'The Lord is my shepherd, I have everything I need.' Since God is our shepherd, He is the one that:

- provides for our daily needs
- protects us from danger/evil
- guides our path
- corrects us if we sin

When we trust in the Lord and depend on Him, we will surely see that the truths above happening in our life. We should let go and let God work everything for good.

"And my God will meet all your needs according to His glorious riches in Christ Jesus."

- Philippians 4:19

Our faith in Him plays a big role in this and our belief can be expressed in simple ABC:

A - admit that you are in need of a shepherd. We need to acknowledge that God is the one who is in control of our life. If you will be able to understand everything in this universe, then you can be in control. But since we are not God, we should leave it up to Him to work in our life.

In Matthew 6:33, it says 'Seek first His kingdom and His righteousness, and all these things will be given to you as well'. What God wants for us is beyond what we could ever hope for so there is no reason for us not to trust in God.

B - bring all your concerns to you shepherd. It is commanded to us not to worry. If you find yourself worrying, that's ok but be sure to bring all our worries to God and He will surely take care of you.

"Do not be anxious about anything but in everything, by prayer and petition, with thanksgiving, present your requests to God. And the peace of God, which transcends all understanding, will guard your hearts and your minds in Christ Jesus."

- Philipians 4:6-7

C - concentrate at one day at a time.

"Therefore do not worry about tomorrow, for tomorrow will worry about itself. Each day has enough trouble of its own."
- Matthew 6:34

Have a worry-free life! To God be the glory! =)

Unlimited Happiness at Haagen Dazs!

What better way to melt all the sadness away than to eat lots and lots of scoops of Haagen-Dazs ice cream! One hot Saturday evening after our pre-climb meeting (in preparation for our Batad Banaue trip), my friend and I headed to Haagen-Dazs in Megamall for their all-you-can-eat ice cream. It wasn't really a smart move since we were going hiking the week after (who would want to lug around all those pounds on the mountain!) but we were admittedly down on the dumps that day so we decided to treat ourselves. =)


They only have one requirement when taking their all-you-can-eat ice cream, it's that you have to finish a scoop of their featured flavor. In our case, it was the Dark Chocolate Orange. This creamy goodness gives the pleasantly not-too-bitter dark chocolate flavor with orange zests. At my first taste, I can already tell the difference of their luscious ice cream. It's denser, creamier and the flavors just melt into your mouth in harmony. The scoops are even generous enough to satisfy one's craving.


Their flavors are simple like macademia, carmel, strawberry, mango, cookies and cream, midnight cookies and cream etc. so you won't have a hard time deciding what flavors to choose. Although if you're adventurous with flavors like me, you won't find anything exotic here like dark chocolate chili (sol gelato has it and it's oh so good! but that's another post..).


They also have flavors that are repetitive like they have macademia and macademia crunch. Those two are different but couldn't they at least create a more unique flavor? I think they also have two kinds of strawberry flavor. I have to ask my friend, she's a strawberry ice cream fan.


I'm undecided yet as to what's my favorite flavor of Haagen-Dazs. It was my first time to try it so maybe I need to explore their flavors some more (bet my wallet wouldn't agree on that). All of it was pretty yummy except for one flavor...


Their Green Tea ice cream is the one I disliked the most. It's too bitter and grassy (FIC also has green tea flavor but theirs is not too bitter). Although it has that creamy texture, my tastebuds still wouldn't want it.


I was only able to take 6 scoops of ice cream and my friend had, well, just do the math if you look at the pictures. =) I could've eaten more if not for all the curry and the milk tea we had for lunch! And so, we went home heavy in our stomachs but lighter in our hearts after our long talk over Haagen-Dazs' ice cream!