food foto -- the everyday

Pan de Manila is our local bakery that seems to be open 24 hours. I'm not sure if this is true, but it seems to be the case. Don't let the packaging fool you, they are baking all sorts of breads in there at every hour of the day! And selling delicious spreads and other such things as well. Gosh, I love Pan de Manila...and I really love their prices.

Loaf of bread: costs less than 1 USD and a package of homemade cheese pandesal (Filipino roll, often stuffed with savory fillings) is just around 1 dollar. I could go on and on, but here's a little taste of what we consume on a daily basis.

I'm back, baby!

yes, that's right...your favorite excellent adventure blogger has returned to the scene. ok, second favorite.

I've emerged from the virus 2010 and returned back to work. I started rserching at Ateneo de Manila University...an easy 2 jeepney ride away....and spent the last week reading 3-4 years of the Manila Times newspaper (1946-early 1950). It's all on microfilm so it's pretty quick....but more exhausting than one would imagine. After about May 1950 the microfilms stop and I'll have to move to the physical copies, which will be more time consuming I think (flipping the page of a 50+ year old newspaper demands more care than cranking the microfilm reel) BUT...it was also be more cost effect as I'm pretty sure I'll be able to take digital photos (opposed to the 5p photocopy charge from microfilms) of the physical copies.

Here are three photos to enjoy

1. Me putting away my pallet on the floor. I spent a good 7 or so sick days on this foam bad boy.

2. Homemade carrot/cabbage spicy dumplings! A regular in our circulation.

3. chose an english-language doc. from my research at University of the Philippines to share. It is from a gov't from the "Special Committee on Un-Filipino Activities." Similar to the American HUAC.

More Food, Glorious Food!

It is the Saturday before the Chinese Lunar New Year, so it's Chinese New Year's eve I guess and we're at Eastwood City (of course). This means a strong enough interweb signal that enables me to upload some photos. Why not show off some more food that we've made and sampled while out on the town?

This vegetable dish...something that kind of reminded me of saag paneer, and creamed spinach, but was more smoky and less creamy/cheesy than those two. This is again from the circa 1900 restaurant and is a traditional dish from the more rural areas south of Luzon...so not from Metro-Manila. It was delicious and a bit spicy.

Then a bowl of luxurious noodle soup from a Japanese place. Look at all those crazy mushrooms, amazing stuff.

Lastly, happy Colleen, at home where she celebrates the glory of one of our wooden spoons. Thanks Orlena for the great cooking gifts!

because we have a FAST internet connection!

I thought I should upload some recent photos...and perhaps as some evidence that we do in fact do some cooking here with our one saute pan, plus: a rice cooker, a toaster oven, a microwave and one hot plate. So these are mostly food photos along with one of me while we are dining OUT at one of our favorite, um...malls? <---This photo to the left is my version of Channa Masala.

Yep, Eastwood City...it's Disney-meets-Vegas with weather and ambiance only Manila can offer you thrown in. And, there are some decent eating establishments, so when we do take a break from cooking at home this is a choice spot for us. The two photos below are both from Eastwood. First we had lunch at a "fusion Japanese" place and then we ended up having dinner at a fancy restaurant that specializes in re-creating Filipino cuisine from the circa 1900. Nothing like eating the food from the period that I study! Right? So the sizzling corn in a skillet with butter and garlic was awesome...how could it not be.

Lest you think we mostly make "Asian inspired" dishes with our hot plate, I have also concocted some tastes of home like a spicy tomato sauce with olives and lots of garlic to top some pasta. The other photo of Colleen's smirk captures how happy "Baguio Beans" make her. These have become a favorite side dish, and they are super simple to prepare. I basically blanch them and then sprinkle them with chili powder (which is red and picante!), black pepper & salt along with a drizzle of extra virgin olive oil. YUM!

First week of February

This week we celebrated our 2nd anniversary after an excellent trip to Cebu. We brought back lots of dried fruit! The only downside has been that Colleen felt ill the day after we got back to Marikina. The good news is that there's a private hospital right down the road from us (walkable distance, and a 20 peso trike ride for Colleen and I). After a quick trip to the ER Colleen got much needed fluids from an IV drip and some anti-nausea medicine. That night she was on the mend, and although she's still under the weather today, I am happy to report that she is MUCH improved. I've been keeping down the fort so to speak by cleaning, cooking, and all the other usual stuff around here, including booking are return flights for the end of April. We were without our precious internet for a few days, so this blog update comes a little late, but hopefully it will be followed soon with some more substantive remarks. We're going to be creating another Picasa album that focuses on the food we've experienced out and also the many dishes that we make at home (you'll note for sure that these seem to all be featured in one large saute pan, yep, it's our main cooking source on the one burner but it works really well!) so stay tuned for this. No doubt it will happen once we're at our local Mall where the internet is speedy, the AC plentiful, and the movies a joy to watch.

Online Photos

Hi all,

Kiara and I are en route back to Manila after spending a weekend in Cebu and Mactan Island--it is in the Visayas. I've created an online picasa album to share some photos. Enjoy!

http://picasaweb.google.com/woodscp/CebuAndMactanIsland#