My favorite pizza

This place is at Haight Street near Amoeba Music store. I love the pizza here. What do I like about it? The crust is thin, crunchy and chewy. Just enough chewiness. The sauce is light and a bit tangy. Fresh. Good amount of cheese. The pizza in the picture is Gourmet veggie which has spinach, and artichokes.

The best part is that a slice is $2.50 every Tuesday! Also, they are open really late. So make sure to stop by when you are around the neighborhood.

My Chili experience

When I travel, I try to eat what the place has to offer. I am not sure if chili is a regional food anymore. I mean I could imagine that chili is one of those dishes that is served in every state and is different in each state.

Before our trip/ drive to Nashville, TN my group meaning Husband, Sister, and Bro in law went to the Waffle House near our hotel. It was around 4:30 a.m. I saw the 'Special' chili on the wall and so I ordered. It was really good. When I hear and say that, I always ask "Why is it good?" What I can say that did stands out is the garnish. I saw the cook sauteed onions, pickled Jalapeno, and ham. So when you get a spoonful of chili with the onion and jalapeno it is a mixture and balance of texture and taste. It is smooth and rich and a bit spicy then it is also a bit salty and a bit crunchy. My favorite part is that the pickled jalapeno gives the briny or tart taste that cuts the smoothness and or richness of the chili. Yum... Oh yeah. This chili is more meat than beans, which is what I prefer.

Middle America

What I can say is that Eric, my husband, can scratch off one thing from his 'things I have to do before I die' list. I guess this is what we, people from California, is missing. I also now know why we don't have White Castle in California... it is not very green huh?! I mean a box for each burger. And you know not one person will only eat one burger. The burgers are tiny. Do I like them?! Yes, I mean they are better than the frozen version I buy at the grocery store. Would I eat it again?! Yes I will. Would I travel all the way to Indiana just to eat it?! Probably not. But, will I think of it for munchies?! Let's just say, I now understand Harold and Kumar. HA!

4th of July with Filipino flare

Sorry for the lack of pictures. I was super busy that day.

4th of July. What makes me smile is while driving around to buy groceries, I smell smokey grill everywhere... A smell that means company of people enjoying a hopefully great grilled meal. I find that grilling food for your guest is the easiest way of entertaining. Almost no prep needed. Just buy your protein and vegetables. Season or marinate, then grill!

I don't use different spices when I grill. I think that the smokey taste the grill gives is enough seasoning! When I plan my menu, I first think of my Filipino family then my non Filipino husband and in laws. I can say that my staple of protein on my grill is skirt steak. Super easy and super tasty. So for protein, I also grilled shrimp, whole Tilapia wrapped in banana leaf, and sausage. Sides are cherry tomato, brussel sprouts, corn on the cob, fingerling potatoes, broccoli, and steamed rice! For Dessert, my sister bought cupcakes. Our friend Derrick brought really good ice cream of Lychee, Mango, and Guava. I also made Mango shake Filipino style meaning no ice cream. Just Mango, ice, milk, and sugar.

The picture of cherries I served as snack my family can nibble while I finish grilling. So there you have it. A 4th of July grilling tradition with not so traditional food.

Raspberry Macarons

I love love french macarons!!! I love everything about it plus it looks so pretty, such a treat! My favorite are from Laduree (see previous post).

Well, this I found in a Cafe at the Westfield mall in San Francisco called Cocola Bakery. What else can I say that is not shown in the pictures. It is gorgeous! Delicious! Ok I will shut up so we can stare and probably drool.

Old School Pics

Sorry for the long hiatus... Here are pics of food I made in school.

Another Tocino pic

I love this picture. I was telling my chef instructor about tocino. I then decided to cook some in class. I mixed the sliced tomatoes with the sliced tocino on top of a bed of rice. I also springkle some green onions for color and I love green onions anyway!

Arroz Caldo

Arroz caldo is basically a chicken rice soup. This dish is one of my specialties if I may say. I have cooked this food a milion but failed to take a picture, not this time. I was at my contemporary class when I cooked this. I poach the egg instead of boiling. I also fried up the chicken skin and made it a crunchy topping. This is also served with fish sauce and lemon. So the taste is creamy, salty and a bit tart from the lemon.

Laduree

Among all the food I have tasted from my trip to Paris France, the Laduree macaroons left me the sweetest note. My husband said that it is like wafer sandwich with cream in the middle, only one million times better. Its very light and airy but sweet. Your teeth will go through its delicate structure. A definite must have when you travel to Paris. They are also available in London at the Harrods food stores.

Unfortunately, I was not able to get more pictures from other restaurants in Paris. I should still mention that everything was wonderful. I had the best Saumon Teriyaki there!!!! I believe the place is called Ono by Les Halles I believe.

Buffalo Wings

My brother in law, Mark, if from Buffalo, New York so he is a buffalo wings snob!!! Well he is very particular with Buffalo Wings as I am with Tocino (being Kapampangan). Anyways, Mark has mentioned that he is on a continues search for the best Buffalo wings here in Bay Area California. So far the best one he found was at a small asian family own restaurant called D'original buffalo wings. Mark said that is the closest to the wings back home in Buffalo. He ordered some of this Buffalo wings from the resto for his birthday. I tried the sauce to have an idea what the sauce should taste like in the first place. I was surprise that its a lot tangy. He started told me how it was made, and explained to me what is very important on making good wings. Mark said that the crucial part of a good Buffalo wing is to make the wing crispy. I guess its the skin that has to be crispy. That part is what I was afraid of. When I decided to make some, I was thinking about how to make the wings crispy. I have not fried any kind of meat in a long while. But with the right oil temperature, everything went well. The sauce was a hit and the wings crispy. Friday Buffalo wings night was a hit!!! Mark loved it and so did my husband. I took on the challenge and survived. First Buffalo, next the world!!!! (evil laugh) ha ha ha ha ha

Kare-Kare

Kare-Kare is pork with vegetables cooked in peanut butter sauce. I guess this is Thai influence to filipino food, since Thai food uses peanut sauce or cooks meat in peanut sauce. Kare-Kare is the only filipino dish I know that uses peanut sauce. Kare-Kare is also always accompanied by bagoong aka shrimp paste. The vegetables used is usually sitaw, pechay and talong (eggplant). Some people also adds puso ng saging ( ahm direct translation is heart of banana! hehe). The puso ng saging is usually used to thicken the sauce but its not always available here in California. Anyways I wouldn't know how to cook it if I have it. Without it is just fine also. Kare-Kare is somewhat tedious to make but I have found my own procedure. I boiled the pork, usually spare ribs, until tender. Make sure to season the pork while boiling. Then, I make the sauce by mixing peanut butter with water until smooth. In a seperate pot, I am steaming or boiling vegetables til tender. Then when pork, vegetables and sauce are ready, put them all in the same pot and simmer so the flavors would marry. You dont really put a lot of seasoning on Kare-Kare. The taste all depends on the peanut butter sauce. Be careful on adding salt because you dont want it to be salty at all. When the peanut butter is mixed with the pork and simmered, the peanut sauce would change in taste. Its not going to be the same taste as what you put on your sandwich.