June 2013 - Certified Foodies

Sugarleaf Organic Market and Cafe : Haven for Health Buffs

For us who grew up enjoying savory dishes and sweet desserts, the mere mention of healthful food gives us this impression of bland, sacrificial eating. And we think this is normal since our brains and bodies were mostly programmed to relish anything with salt or sugar. However, through this blog and our desire to be healthier, we’ve started to go out of our ways to discover more nourishing yet flavorful food, and we found one of the must-go places for health buffs: Sugarleaf Organic Market and Cafe.

We were invited for lunch in SugarleafÂ at their Medicard Lifestyle Center branch in Makati. It was the first time we felt genuinely excited to learn more about how to eat well… and smarter. 🙂 That nutritious lunch forever changed our perceptions of what healthful food tastes like. Thanks to Angelo “Jello” Narciso Songco, co-owner of Sugarleaf, who shared with us his passion for healthful eating.

We are well aware that by just changing your diet, you can drastically improve your health. Food can be medicine, or our poison. But, we’re not here to preach about health since we love bacon, desserts and chocolates. 😀 We just want to share this with you so you know your options. 🙂

When it comes to healthful food, we usually think we have to compromise flavor – this has been instilled in us, not just here in the Philippines, but everywhere in the world. We have this impression that only food products and dishes that have actual sugar, pork fats / oils, and salt can be tasty. We have learned over the years that there are other more healthful alternatives.

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SARSA : Gourmet Sauces for Quick and Delicious Meals at Home

When it comes to home-cooked meals, we’ve got very high standards because of an excellent cook at home – our nanay. She can whip up sumptuousÂ dishes from scratch without any need for a recipe guide, and just flavoring each dish from taste. We’re THAT lucky and blessed as kids. 🙂

Enjoying her home-cooked meals has been one of the many highlights of our childhood. For us, it’s of utmost importance that families enjoy a home-cooked lunch or dinner from time to time. And if you don’t have the know-how to prepare delectable meals at home, no worries. We discovered delicious, ready-made sauces you can use that will make cooking at home less of a hassle. We’re talking about SARSA Gourmet Sauces by Chef Eugene Catipon.

We were sent three (3) samples of SARSA’s gourmet sauces to try at home. We were delighted to see the ones we received: Beef Stew, Korma (curry) and Kare-kare. We were expecting to be disappointed by the latter since our nanay prepares a killer Kare-Kare, but we were pleasantly surprised.

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Wee Nam Kee Yellow Chicken Festival and Other Scrumptious Dishes

For a limited time only (til June 30th, but hopefully they’ll extend or make this a regular item), Wee Nam Kee is serving up the Wagyu, Kobe and Kurobuta of chicken – the imported Yellow Chicken from Malaysia.

You might have heard about Wee Nam Keeâ€™s Yellow Chicken and thought it’s just a fancy, overrated version of the regular poultry we enjoy. When they invited us to get a taste of this, along with other Wee Nam Kee dishes, we can guarantee that it’s far from your ordinary chicken.

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Gift Ideas for the Self Confessed Foodie

Self confessed foodies can be very easy to buy for, if you know them well enough. But when it comes to birthday cakes, party nibbles and other edible goodies, theyâ€™re likely to have their hawk eye out for perfection. Foodies generally love food but they also have naturally high standards in both presentation and taste so shopping for them can sometimes be a little challenging.

But be patient. Here we have some great ideas for gifts for the foodie in your life. Here are our top 6 pressies for food lovers everywhere:

1. Dinner at a top-rated restaurant â€“ for a food lover, nothing beats the experience of eating out at a world renowned and critically acclaimed culinary hangout. Make a special night of it, dress up, splash out and enjoy the exciting high quality food served to you.

2. Homemade chocolates â€“ if you want to impress a loved one, what better way of showing that you care than slaving away in the kitchen for hours cooking up everyoneâ€™s favorite sweet treat, chocolate? Homemade chocolates are a very rare and luxurious treat so box them up nicely and make them look pretty.

Ken's homemade truffles — Ken’s homemade truffles

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Weird and Wonderful Foods of the World

This is a guest post by the food lovers at Corr Chilled. Continue reading to delve into the crazy-cool world of weird and nasty looking food (some which taste delicious, and others no so much).

If you consider yourself to be a little squeamish then this post is probably not your cup of tea. But if you have a little sense of adventure in you yet, prepare to check out some of the worldâ€™s strangest delicacies.

Here are some of the weirdest and wonderful dishes, sourced from around the world:

1. Fried tarantula â€“ this is a well known delicacy found in Cambodia but it can also be found in parts of Thailand too. This famous fried tarantula dish is said to be flavored with garlic and herbs for a less terrifying experience but weâ€™re not sure we believe those rumors.

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Oreo Panna Cotta Recipe

Ever since Ken started working as a pastry chef, I barely get to enjoy his homemade desserts. I miss having him whip up something delightful using various ingredients we shopped for or whatever he could find at home. Thankfully, a few Sundays ago, after I ordered dinner for us, he gave in to my request for him to prepare a dessert and he came up with this creamy Oreo Panna Cotta recipe.

We really had no intention of posting this since it was just one of the random things we do at home â€“ I crave for something sweet and Ken will check what ingredients we have available and heâ€™ll whip up something yummy. I was lucky that he was not so tired from work and was in the mood to actually prepare something. 😀

After we posted the photo of the Oreo Panna Cotta on our Facebook page and our own Timelines, there were people who requested for the recipe. So, here yah go! Since we didn’t really think of sharing this beforehand, I don’t have photos while he was preparing this. Your imagination will be at play here, but it’s easy to make. 😉

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Papa John’s Unli Pizza Day : Extended Until July!

Papa John’s Pizza has brought back their Unli Pizza Day to the delight of their avid diners. It happens every Tuesday in ALL of their branches. If you love their pizza, you’ve got ~~until the last Tuesday of June~~Â all Tuesdays of July (extended!!) to take advantage of this promo!

From 5pm til 9pm, for the price of Php 225, you’d get unli pizza and you have a choice among these flavors: Hawaiian, Pepperoni (pictured below), Garden Special and their Featured Pizza of the week!

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McDonald’s McSpicy, Big N Tasty, and Black and White Burgers

We have yet to blog about so many things we’ve enjoyed the past year, and it was only now that McDonald’s launched a new burger – the McSpicy Chicken Burger – that I finally got to writing about how much we love their Big N’ Tasty, which was launched a year ago.

For years, there has only been one fast food chain that delivers 24/7 to our area here in Malabon City – the McDonald’s branch in Concepcion (google-map it!). Though this is mainly the reason why I’ve collected a stash of ketchup sachets from McDo (no shame), they have been our go-to place for midnight snacks. And since I work at night and the stress from my job makes me want to eat past 12 midnight, I can no longer count how many times we’ve had food from McDo delivered here. They don’t even call or verify anymore and the delivery guys already know us. 😀

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Foodgasm II : Our Top 6 Picks

Because of our current jobs, Ken and I barely have time to go out together to dine out (we really couldn’t complain because we love what we’re doing 🙂 ). When we received the invite to be part of Foodgasm II by UP EcoSoc, since it was a Saturday, I thought we could go together. Sadly, Ken had to work and so I tagged my high school friend along with me.

By the way, and you probably already know. this post has been delayed for 3 months. I thought I already posted this in March only to see it in my Drafts. 😀 Sheesh.

We arrived past 7pm (I think) and already, there were many foodies there. I think Foodgasm II was more organized than last year, especially because we survived the tasting without getting too sweaty even on a humid weekend night.

There were two sections at Mercato Centrale that were dedicated to the event. It was funny though that we didn’t know there was another section outside the main Mercato tent. 😀 I didn’t hear anyone announce or see any signs that there’s a whole bunch of Foodgasm II stalls on the other side of Mercato, just outside the tent. Good thing I noticed while we were busy rating the ones we already tasted.

Anyway, I’m quite happy with what we’ve tasted at Foodgasm II since there were many new food purveyors with dishes that stood out for us. I wish Ken was with me though ’cause my friend Tina was feeling guilty to continue with the tasting mid-way. Now I know who I shouldn’t invite at events like this. Hahahah 😀

Okay, enough blabber. Here are our top picks from Foodgasm II.

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The Cake Club by Diamond Hotel at Bonifacio High Street Central

2012 was a delicious year for us as we discovered new restaurants deserving of a feature here on our humble food blog. However, we neglected to share them because of many things. Though our features of these restaurants will be a few months to a year late, we still believe our dining experiences were worth writing about, more so because Â the flavors still linger in our minds. Without further ado, first up is Diamond Hotel’s The Cake Club located at Bonifacio High Street Central.

By the restaurant’s name itself, you’d think The Cake Club specializes in cakes or desserts. Well, yes, they do. However, they serve delectable dishes that we’re sure you’ll enjoy too.

We were invited for dinner at this cozy restaurant in BGC. I remember walking past the restaurant one time after having lunch with the family at a different resto, and Ken was telling me he wants to return to find out what The Cake Club is all about. So it was definitely an invite we simply canâ€™t refuse. 🙂

As soon as you walk in, you’ll be welcomed by The Cake Clubâ€™s abundant display of their yummy desserts, which made us look forward to that part of our dinner even more.

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