Noche Buena 2009

So usually we do not have spaghetti and fried chicken for Noche Buena, because, well, that doesnt really seem festive for the members of my family. However, we did not have a maid this year, so nobody could help us prepare our noche buena fare...

So we decided, as a family, to order out for noche buena, which is very un-Ortega, but it beats cleaning up afterwards and stressing out before Noche Buena

So this is what we decided to have: Traditional Hamon de Bola with pineapple sauce

A small lechon de leche (roasted young pork)

Dinuguan that came free with the lechon

Spaghetti from Greenwich which i thought was rather bland and needed a lot of touching up

Fried Chicken from McDonalds..which didnt come cheap

Chinese Style Bone-In Ham with soy-molasses sauce

It was beautifully salty

Some traditional Keso de Bola

The Cookie Monster cake from Margies which did NOT have a smidgen of cookie in it. It was actually a very moist chocolate cake, with a coffee-caramel creme filling and a coating of chocolate frosting. Yummy!

Blueberry Cheescake from Margies, which was very crumbly and soft and light and perfect!

Some Rum Cake from Daby Bautisata, one of my close friends. I swear this cake tasted like heaven...if there was an abundance of rum upstairs.

So there it was. It looked cute, and it gave me a different kind of satisfaction knowing that nobody i really knew slaved over these munchies

And so i started pigging out because xmas gives you the license to do that

All these Noche Buena photos were taken with my Sony Cybershot w290! Thank You Sony philippines!

Cello's Donuts and Dips Davao- The Grand Opening

i was invited to cello's donuts and dips' grand opening last dec 19 and i was treated to some yummy food!

they displayed their holiday donuts, which looked really yummy

i especially find the cocktail holiday donuts to be super cute

pkus i got to check out the Orange Room-- a conference room you could rent for a couple of hours a day

The place was cozy and chich..and the vibrant colors are sure to keep you awake during boring meetings

aside from the yummy donuts, they served some lechon, lumpia, pizza, sandwiches, and fried chicken

Congratulations Cello's davao!

All these gorgeous photos were taken with my Sony cybershot w290. Thank you Sony Philippines!

Papa's Bday

My Dad celebrated his birthday recdently and my mom prepared a little sumthin sumthin for him. This is very typical of Filipino celebrations... the dishes do not really compliment each other but hey, as long as they taste good independently, theyre good enough

We had some Chopsuey since my dad says he has to eat more veggies

I love how the veggies have retained their color

Lumpia Shanghai which are spring rolls filled with minced pork, carrots, shrimp and some secret ingredients.haha

they are pan fried until they get golden and uber crunchy.

I also bought some Szechuan crabs from Let's Crab Eat. They werer really spicy and garlicky and tasty. The flavor was unique and very interesting. I loved how the sharp taste of the chili and ginger contrasted against the silky, slightly sweet meat of the crab

We also ahd Kare Kare which is basically Ox Tail and Stomach in Peanut Sauce.

It also has eggplant, heart of palm, and string beans

We also had grilled Tuna belly. Perfectly seasoned and grilled!

This is Papa's fave: chicken macaroni salad with pickle relish. eeew. I hate MAYO! Blah

We also had some baked spaghetti which, according to Pinoy tradition, makes one live longer when eaten during his or her birthday

This is me, starting to pig out. In my boxers. You could tell from my hair that i just woke up

Looking stupid

Looking stupider

All these photos were taken with my Sony Cybershot w290. TYhank you sony philippines

Pringles' blazin Buffalo Wing

Every now and then Pringles releases a limited edition weird flavor. the alst one i tried was the buffalo wing flavor which was, like most of their limited edition flavors, lackluster

It was too sour, and didnt do much for me. If you want your potato chip fill, stick to the original Pringles flavors.Skip this one...Even though the packaging is gorgeous

These wingy pictures were taken with a sony cybershot w290. thank you son y philippines!

Jelly Fish

One of my favorite things to order at Dimsum Diner is their cold cuts platter because i really like Jelly Fish and i really LOVE jelly fish

Its sweet, chewy, and kinda feels like chewing gummy

I love it!

It does not have a very distinct but its delicate saweetness is really good.

This jellicious picture was taken with a sony cybershot w290! Thanks tyo Sony philippines!

Gerry's Grill Spicy Garlic Chicken

everyone who knows me knows i like really spicy food. So i got excited when i saw that gerry's grill offered a spicy garlic chicken because well, garlic is lovely, and anything spicy is lovelier.

I took out an order of 6 chicken pieces, and for 210 pesos i thought it was a bit pricey.

The chicken was very crunchy and very very tasty. i thought the marinade was vinegar based. And although i do not enjoy anything vinegary, this was very very very good. It was filled with umami (i dont know how else to describe it). Unfortunatrely, i could not even finish one chicken piece because it was VERY VERY VERY VERY spicy. i was glad i took my order out, because if i had to wait for a server to give me a glass of water, i would die.

by the time i finished one chicken piece, i ahd already consumed one liter of ice-cold water.

my brother loved the taste but could only stand to eat one bite.

If you like spicy food this is definitely one for you. if ypou dont, do not even attempt to try this dish

Would i order it again? Hell yeah!

Its super yummy!

These spicy chicken pictures were taken with a sony cybershot w290. Thank you sony philippines!

Zabadani

I have a new fave place to get my fill of coffee and kebabs: Zabadani!

Ok, lets get the "negatives" out on the table. If you bring a car, you would not appreciate that there isnt a parking space. If you smoke, you would not appreciate that there isnt a smoking area (but really, are there still places with smoking areas in the city?). If you do not smoke, or do not own a car, this is the perfect place for you. And even if you smoke or drove a car, the food and coffee is all worth it. Leave your car and cigarette packs, because you will not be looking for them for quite a while. The food, especially the drinks, will make you forget your name and everything else.

We tried a salad there, and i was pleasantly surprised that it did NOT have dressing Which is a good thing for me because *EEEW* i hate dressing! i hate mayo, i hate vinegar, i hate dressing,

But this salad was pretty good. it did not need any dressing because it was already packed with flavor.

it had onions, tomatoes, lettuce, olives, anchovies , and capers..if i remember correctly. plus feta cheese (i think)

it was really good, and even though it was refreshing and light, the depth of the flavors were complex and layered (much like their drinks)

The owner also gave us some kababs, which was very tender. Im guessing there was potato mixed in with it. not quite sure about that though.. They were spicy (we asked for it to be) and i loved it! I think this is the best kababs ive tried

Plus, we also had beef ribs which almost melted in the mouth. We didnt even have to use a knife, it was so tender, but still maintained its flavor. When other restaurants boast that their ribs are fork-tender, they mean just tat. Zabadani, however, goes a couple of notches higher, and makes the beef almost melt in your mouth

needless to say, it was cooked perfectly well, with some parts being slightly charred (which, in my opinion is how anything grilled should be). I loved it!

but the star of our meal was the layered coffee. this one below is the layered cafe mochaccino. it is gorgeous and probabaly the best mochaccino ive tried recently.u could actually see the layers of chocolate, milk, espresso, and froth

unfortunately, i wasnt able to take a good pic of the chocolate mochaccino. If u are a chocoholic, you MUST try this drink.it is the best! its super chocolaty, im starting to wonder how they make it THAT chocolaty. Its like 10 x more chocolaty than a cup of Swiss Miss, which is what they serve in most coffee shops.

Plus i love how there arent any chairs. Instead they have nice pillows and a plush Persian carpet.

These pictures were taken with a sony cybershot w290. thanks sony philippines!