Let me start by saying that I love Cash & Carry! It’s a mall in Makati, about ten minutes walk away from my apartment. As a mall, it’s nice enough. A little bit of everything but not particularly outstanding (except for the mezzanine mecca of cheap imported goods but that is another post). As a grocery, though, wow, it’s amazing!

So far I’ve grocery-shopped in Rustan’s, Shopwise, Robinson’s, SM and Landmark. But Cash & Carry definitely takes the cake. It has the MOST number of aisles I’ve seen in a grocery, and a GREAT selection of items, with a lot of imported goods that you can’t find in other supermarkets, and the prices aren’t bad either!!

My most favorite item to buy in Cash & Carry Makati is – BEEF!!! Yes. Cash & Carry has several freezers devoted to premium meats – beef, lamb, salmon, turkey, game hen, and did I mention, beef?!? Not just the regular cuts, but prime marbled ones!!! And at such affordable prices!

Ok – maybe not exactly prime – I’m not sure if these steaks are graded. But they’re definitely at least choice or select cuts. The point is, they taste great. And that’s prime in my book! Hahah!

When I first discovered it, I was mighty tempted to buy it but I was afraid (I’d ruin it) because I had never tried to cook steak before. However, I have had it in restaurants and it was love at first taste. Except, steaks are mighty expensive, usually a meal costs upwards of Php1000! The steak I was looking at in Cash & Carry looked just as big as the one I ate at a restaurant recently, and it cost less than Php200!!! How about that?!? So that cinched it for me. I mean, if I ruined it, at least I could do it again.

Just to show you why I drooled so much, here are the cuts of meat that I bought just this week.

Look at all that fat!! OMGGG I can’t wait to pan-fry these cuts, yum!!! And look at that, 300 grams and it’s only Php148 – wow, huh??? Look at how much 300 grams will cost you around steakhouses in Manila (in Batangus grill, 230 grams cost Php480, I ate there and the steak wasn’t even marbled at all).

Here is another one.

Ahhhh! That center marbling looks DELICIOUS! These are rib-eyes, my favorite part. I also like sirloin however Cash & Carry slices them too thin, so it’s not as juicy. I haven’t tried the porterhouse and t-bone cuts but I’m definitely going to. I tried the New York cut but found it tougher, so I didn’t like it.

This one is already open ‘coz I already ate the other half. Hihihi! It was wonderfully flavorful. Let me tell you, don’t ever buy steak that isn’t marbled. The fat provides the flavor, so if you buy steak that’s not streaked with loads of fat, it’s like you’re just buying any other beef part. Why pay a premium if you won’t get marbling, just get some fresh meat off the deli counter, they’re much cheaper and will taste the same.

But let’s not talk about healthy, ok? I know very well this is SINFUL! Hahaha!!! But life is too short to deprive myself of the finer tastes. Besides, since these premium cuts cost a lot more than pork or chicken, I don’t have it too often. Maybe just once a week. Or else I will soon be broke and probably living back under my parents’ roof. Yikes!!!

Do you want to see the cooked meat? Of course!!! Here they are!

That above is sirloin. Just seared lightly. Still a bit bloody. This is Gim’s steak, I think. He likes it medium rare. I prefer mine well-done.

Ok this one is a new york cut on the left, and a rib-eye on the right. That’s mine. The rib-eye looks great, huh?!? These are past steaks, since the raw ones I showed above are still stored in my freezer. I just popped them out for some pics, haha. But they won’t be consumed today. I’m saving them for the weekend when Gim comes home.

If you’re wondering how we cook them, it’s very simple. Bathe them in salt, don’t be shy, as in literally cover them in salt front and back and leave on for about 10 minutes. The salt will draw any water out, because you want your steak to be as dry as possible, to be as juicy as possible. After salting, rinse them to get rid of any salt (you don’t want to gag on an oversalted piece of meat!!) and then pat dry with paper towels. No more need to season with salt since some of the salt you put on earlier will have made it inside the meat. Just add pepper. And other herbs/rubs, whatever flavoring you like. I prefer just a light smattering of powdered pepper. Heat your pan, and when REALLY hot, put in your steak to sear with a bit of oil or butter, then flip and sear the other side, and serve! The cooking part is really fast, usually 2 to 3 minutes is enough to cook your steak well-done.

There. Well I hope I’ve inspired you to cook steak right at home! People in the Philippines don’t cook a lot of steak. In fact I had never had it in my life until I came to Manila. And it took me about 3 or 4 years until I discovered how easy it is to cook steak. Even easier than pork or chicken because there’s no need to marinade. It’s just that people don’t generally know that steak can be bought cheaply. I certainly didn’t until I saw the steaks in Cash & Carry.

Cooking at home is so much more satisfying than going to a restaurant. And so much cheaper, too!

Now I’m looking forward to the weekend!!!

I need an overview of social security disability after this.

Here is a sampling of the food that Gim and I ate when he visited last month, right after taking and passing the board exams. We definitely splurged on food!

They say that you are disabled if you can’t do your job anymore, because of a medical condition, and this disability will extend to at least a year or more.

Can I say that I have been disabled by eating too much?? Eating too much = babuyasis syndrome (the feeling of being a pig and wanting to sleep after eating) = I-don’t-want-to-work-anymore-I-just-want-to-eat-all-the-time syndrome. And yes I believe this medical condition will last me until death do we part.

Let’s go to the pics!

Eating at Bonchon! Yummiest chicken in Makati!

Dinner at Hana, Little Tokyo! Yummiest california maki in Makati! And yummy other kinds of Japanese food too. See how we almost finished dinner before I remembered to take photos?? Haha. Oh and this was mostly finished by me because Gim needed to take a call – his cousin was consulting him on what medicine to take for her colds.

Next up is Spaghetti Factory! We ate some oysters, yummy!!! I ordered pork ribs. And had a plateful of spaghetti for share! Yummmy! And we also had a banana split for dessert. Yumness!

This is so months ago, but I wanted to dump our photos so here we go.

Thanks to Deal Grocer, I got two coupons for a brunch buffet at Chef Jessie’s in Rockwell Makati, and ate so much it almost disabled me (hello SSDI?). It was touted as a French-Mediterranean spread so I was super excited. And at only P700 per person thanks to the 50% off coupon, it was a great deal.

We got served some fruit juice mixed with vodka, I think. I took a sip and hated it. Gim took a sip and loved it. But none of us drank it, because Gim was on his self-imposed alcohol break due to the pending medical boards. Actually he kept shooting me nasty looks since I wouldn’t drink it, hahah. He wanted me to drink for the both of us, since it was a shame to leave the cocktails untouched when he was itching to dump them down his throat. But everyone who knows me knows I can’t stand the taste of alcohol, so I shot the nasty looks right back at him. LOL.

Unfortunately I didn’t take a photo of the spread, just a few photos of our plates and me and Gim. But I mostly enjoyed the bacon, as you can see from my photos. Hahaha. Though I have no idea how that is French or Mediterranean?? There was also some slices of meat, but a bit too raw for my taste. Gim enjoyed kept coming back those, though. I loved the beef chunks roasted in garlic. Best dish of the meal!

There were lots of eggs. Poached, bedeviled, omellettes. Some caviar too. And some fruits. But you know what was lacking? Pastries!! I really thought there would be cakes and baguettes and all sorts of breads. Like you’d expect from a French buffet. But unfortunately, their idea of French pastry was chocolate cupcakes. Meh.

My final say on this spread would be that it was a fail on a choice of foods. But it if weren’t labeled French-Mediterranean, I would’ve found no fault.

Here come the photos!

More random shots below.

Summer is (literally) just around the corner, and I’m absolutely raring to go on trips and more trips! I just got back home (Makati) with my ever beautiful Flisha (meow-meow), and we’ve spent all night busy planning our vacays to Pagudpud, Vigan, Pampanga, Batangas and Naga- basically landtripping! Guess what we’re soo excited to do (aside from the sights and sounds of provincial Luzon)?

The food!

Pancit Batil-Patong

I just cannot wait to try out Tuguegarao’s Pancit Butil Patong, Vigan’s Longganiza, and Laoag’s Bagnet! It’s going to be a sad deal for our waistlines (at this point, I think it’d be best to break out that adapexin-p) but at least a really warm happy deal for our hearts. And this I think is the most important thing- to have fun doing what you want to do with the person you love the most.

Sapin-Sapin

At the rate I was indulging in food and snacks in Japan, I maybe would have needed to take a look at http://www.wholesaleinsurance.net in case I ever dropped dead due to too much umami!

Let me just share this most favorite Japanese of mine. It’s called Yakiniku! Niku = meat, Yaki = grilled. This is grilled beef and it tastes WONDERFUL, especially in samui (cold) weather!

Doesn’t it look so good?? It’s a set, with a bit of greens, a cup of warm broth, a bowl of rice, and a plateful of meat! On the left is my griller, and soon after I got the plate, I got to grilling!

There’s a bit of beef there, and some chicken, and some liver. I didn’t like the liver that much, so I grilled it until all I could taste was the charcoal haha. But the other meat, I hastily removed them from the grill once done lest they burn. Onto my rice and into my mouth! The sauce was a mix of teriyaki and sesame, it was great!

The Japanese are such generous people. There were so many times that they just gave me (and company) free food! The first time we went into a yakiniku restaurant, the griller on our table wouldn’t turn on. The waitress went and checked, the gas wasn’t on. Five minutes later, she had it going. None of us really noticed or cared. We got our yakiniku and ate happily away. At the end of our dinner, we were given ice cream desserts! The waitress apologized for the earlier gaff. Wow! Great customer service.

And during this yakiniku meal of mine, I was all alone in the restaurant by the way, since my sister went shopping for anime stuff and I didn’t wanna go with her. The Japanese guy on the table next to me suddenly struck up a bit of conversation (stilted because I don’t know much Japanese!) then decided out of nowhere to give me another plateful of meat right as I was finishing my meal. I was so surprised!! And I was so full already! I really wanted to say no, but he insisted even after I declined, and it would have been very rude to decline any more after that, so I accepted. Hehe. Besides, I love yakiniku! So I happily ate his gift to me. Hehehe!

Maybe I looked cute that day. Hahah!

Ohh, I want to go back again! Maybe Gim will sponsor my third round!

Eating desserts are definitely counterproductive when undertaking weight loss diets, which is probably why I am gaining weight instead of losing it, haha.

I had won some gift certificates to Crepes and Cream via an online contest, so it was a good excuse to eat some sweets (“The GCs will be expiring soon, sayang…”).

The thing with GC’s is that you need to use them all up at once, because you’re not getting any change if your order amount is less than the GC amount. So Gim and I ordered the priciest crepes on the menu. Gim got the Mini Banana Bonkers (Php179) and I got the Hazelnut Banana Chocolate (Php109). Whereupon Gim decided the Mini Banana Bonkers were a bit too much so we switched. I was alright either way. Chocolate and ice cream and crepes!! How can you go wrong??

The above photo of Gim is the Banana Chocolate, by the way. Here below is the Banana Bonkers. Plus the four cans of coke we bought just to finish the GC. Hahaha. We didn’t drink the Coke, we saved them and brought them home to drink for the next few days.

I don’t think the cashiers were used to receiving GCs. It took us quite a while to get our orders, with them making calls to their head office to verify our GC’s I think. Hmp. Bad, slow service. And the cashier thought I had only one GC, when I had been waving the two of them right in front of her face while she ignored me. She initially asked me to pay for the extra, and when I told her I had another GC, she didn’t want to accept it since she had already “punched the order”, whatever that means. I just lifted my eyebrow and told her I’m not paying cash, so she better fix it. In the end, she was able to, so it annoyed me that she would tell me she couldn’t accept my GC when she could. She just didn’t want the extra effort to correct her error.

Here is the Crepes and Creme menu!

And the rest of the pics are me and Gim camwhoring!

Oh, the crepes were wonderful, by the way! I would go there again!

Even if I found diets that work, I don’t think it would do me any good. When I’m with Gim, we can’t help but GORGE ourselves!

Case in point. When Gim came over the week before his exams, for “good luck”, we had dinner out every night, you’d think it was already the aftermath. I don’t know if it actually helped him relax, but I just can’t help but bring him out everywhere since I hardly do anything when I’m by myself here in Manila.

One of our favorite places to go is Little Tokyo, a small cluster of Japanese restaurants in Makati, that’s literally a (forceful) stone’s throw away from my place. We like to go to Hana (it means “flower” in Japanese). The food is good, the owner is Japanese and the meals are not that expensive.

Here is Gim standing in the walkway leading to Hana.

Then of course me!

Here’s the interior. It’s a small enclosure, with about four tables, a room at the end where you can dine while squatting on the floor (which I hate and would never try again because I did that once in Japan and I could hardly walk afterwards, my legs had turned numb), a bar, and you can peek through to the kitchen to see the chef preparing your food. You can also dine al fresco, but this night was a bit humid so we were seeking airconditioning.

Here is what we ordered.

They make the best California maki. This is the last piece. I love that their maki is really big and succulent, my mouth is watering right now! We started eating right upon receiving the food, and I only remembered to take a picture right before we finished it! Haha. I should try to remember my friend Heidee’s photography rule: Camera first, then fork! Hahah, but what to do, I always forget!

This is eel. I wanted to try eating eel, just once. It was good! The meat was tender, it had the consistency of fish meat but chewier, if that makes any sense. Not as chewy as pork or chicken though. And the taste was more chicken-y rather than fish-y. But there were some parts that definitely tasted like fish. Overall, it was a good experience.

Gim ordered the tried and tested katsudon, which is friend pork mixed with egg. This is a really good dish, and so far the best katsudon I’ve tasted here in Manila is from Hana. I was very jealous that it was Gim’s turn to order it. Our rule is never to order two of the same meal in a sitting so I had to order something else, hehe. But that didn’t stop me from stealing some of his dinner!!

What a fun and filling night!

Today, I decided to order food online! And I used the Quick Delivery service to do it.

It was really quite fast too. I ordered online at around 3:50 PM. They called me after about a minute or two. After confirmation, they told me I would get my order in an hour. So I prepped myself for the long wait. Brushed my teeth, did a bit of tidying, decided to take a shower. And just as I got out of the bathroom, my doorbell rang! It was only 4:20 PM! Whoa. I hurriedly put on some clothes, wasn’t even able to brush my hair at all, and answered the door with a big smile.

Haha. The delivery guy must have been weirded out by my dripping hair and mismatched clothes!

Anyway, here is a guide to ordering online via Quick Delivery. Just so you know.

Step 1: Go to their website at www.quickdelivery.ph

Step 2: Enter your city and barangay.

Step 3: Look through the restaurants available for delivery to your location. I found 101 Hawker Food House. And thought, Aha! So that’s where I am getting my late lunch!

Step 4: Look through the menu of your desired resto. My menu looks yum!

Step 5: After choosing, you start ordering. You click on your food choices and it will ask you how much of it and how many you want.

Step 6: Once done, your order will appear on the right menu, including prices. So you know how much you have to pay.

Step 7: Upon confirmation, you need to create a Quick Delivery account if you don’t have one yet. (It was my first time!)

Step 8: After completing, your order is done and they will send you an email of confirmation.

Here is the food that I ordered from 101 Hawker Food House.

Salt and Pepper Spareribs

Good for 10-15 – P900.00
Good for 8-10 – P700.00
Good for 2-3 – P170.00
Rice Topping – P120.00

I really liked the spareribs. Or maybe it was because it was the first dish I tasted and it was 5pm and I hadn’t eaten the whole day. Hunger makes food taste enormously better than it is. Either way, it was tender, and it was salty, and it was spicy. Great combination!

Eggplant with Minced Meat

Good for 10-15 – P600.00
Good for 8-10 – P500.00
Good for 2-3 – P130.00

This dish was under the vegetables section. I thought it was going to be an omelet, or maybe fried eggplant with a bit of meat inside. But it was actually soup. Kind of like chili con carne but eggplant instead of the chili. Sounds weird? Yeah. Meh for me. They should really call this Minced Meat and Eggplant Soup. And put it under the meat section instead of the vegetable section.

Hainanese Chicken

Good for 10-15 – P800.00
Good for 8-10 – P600.00
Good for 2-3 – P170.00
Rice Topping – P120.00

I kind of knew I wouldn’t like it in the first place, so I shouldn’t have ordered it. Just the white color of the chicken is enough to turn me off. But everybody has been raving about this dish that I thought I just had to try it once. So I ordered it. Unfortunately, it really is not for me! But for everyone who wants to know how it tastes, all I can say is that it tastes like arroz caldo. Without the soup. I kind of associate arroz caldo for comfort soup, when I’m sick, so actually I really like arroz caldo. But without that soupy goodness, I don’t know. The dish feels incomplete and lonely. But then again, maybe Hainanese chicken is supposed to taste that way. Who likes Hainanese chicken, anyone care to share what this dish is supposed to taste like?

Mango Pudding/Pandan Pudding/Red Bean Pudding

P45 Per Serving

I’m a sucker for desserts so I ordered a lot. LOL! They were okay for me. A bit too sweet on top. But I’m always up for sago, and I like the pudding. If you asked me, I wouldn’t order it again, but I would eat it happily if someone gave it to me for free. Haha. They also had mochi on the menu and I really wanted to try it, but they were out of stock that time. Aww.

By the way, I was not charged for the delivery at all. Since I ordered between 2pm-5pm, they told me there was no delivery charge because they have an off-peak promo for the month of February. Lucky me! That’s 50 pesos I didn’t have to pay, because my order was worth P500 (minimum order for delivery).

Yum!

Disclosure: Food provided on a complementary basis by Quick Delivery as part of its continuous improvement program.

I know not of diet pills that work fast, but God knows it doesn’t help to look back on days of good food and playtimes with Gim!

It has been more than a year that Pepper Lunch came to the Philippines, but last November was the first time that I took Gim there. It was his birthday month, so he came and visited me. It was the first time in around three years, I think, that I was able to be with him on his birthday. I know, I know! Bad girlfriend!! (The pains of long-distance relationships.) But I definitely made it up to him this time around – I brought him around Manila and took up the bill most of the time, ok!! (He is probably too busy studying for the 2011 Philippine Physician Licensure Exams so he won’t have time to read this and kill me. But once he is a wage-earning doctor, he gets no more freebies from me!)

This is Gim at Pepper Lunch, while we are waiting for our order. So excited!

I got my Beef Teriyaki order first! Gim is inspecting it. He’s like, “Why is it raw?!?”

And I’m like, cook it cook it quick! Here I am turning over my meat on the sizzling plate so it will cook because I don’t like eating raw food. And it’s hot, smoke everywhere, so fan the heat away, fan!

He finally gets his order, Mixed Seafood, I think. We start eating. Yum!

All Done! No more???

You can find Pepper Lunch in the following locations:

The Power Plant Mall, Makati
Concours Level, Rockwell Center
Tel: +63 2 895 3164
Fax: +63 2 895 6185
Hours: 11am – 10pm

Shangri-La Plaza Mall, Ortigas
Garden Court Level
Tel: +63 2 634 3231
Fax: +63 2 631 6410
Hours: 10am – 11pm

Alabang Town Center, Alabang
2nd floor Corte de Las Palmas
Tel : +63 2 856 7062
Hours: 11am – 9pm

Greenbelt 5, Makati
2nd floor – Phase 1
Tel : 482 4319
Hours 11am – 9pm

…was spent with Gim and my family, and super lots of food!

Before I start overdosing on leucine and going on my starvation diet, let me happily reminisce all the food I ate during the New Year!

The spread!

This was all cooked by my mom, me and Gim during the afternoon! My mom made her famous paella, super full of shrimp and clam goodness! Gim made the crispy pata, very yummy though it wasn’t that crispy in the inside because it was a rainy day! We weren’t able to completely dry the meat, and even resorted to a hair dryer at the latter part. Hahaha! Gim also made the potato salad, and it was sooo delicious! And me? I made the carbonara! Hehehe! It was very creamy and tasted bacon-y.

This is me when I look ravenous!! Look at that glint in my eye. I’m scary…

Here is Gim, tired but happy!

And at the end of the night, I got Gim to give me some trensas! (Braids.) Haha. He did a very bad job at it, but you gotta hand it to him for trying. I ♥ him so much, hahaha!

We were so tired after cooking the entire afternoon that we ended up sleeping after we ate!!! Which is to say… we missed actually ushering in the New Year. Does it mean Gim and I will be sleeping together in 2011? Hmmmm!!! (Definitely not opposed to the idea, hahah!)