Crepes n Cream.....

Here's a treat: Visit SM Pampanga and just near the Carousel area, you'll see a stall for Crepes and Cream. They serve both hot and cold servings of Crepes.

Naturally, we choose the cold servings.... Cookies and Cream and my favorite.... Rocky Road!




I don't advertise food..... but I do recommend good eats! Try it!

Sunday at DePaolo's

Last October after hearing mass, my wife and I went to DePaolo's for lunch. She was told me the food was good when she went there with her officemates. Any ordinary food critic would be intrigued with the sudden rave. It was almost noon so I thought, what the heck.... hit me with your best shot.

Naturally, that wasn't the case. We would settle with a middle man's course as I also believe that is the true test of cook's skill. No frills... Just good food... and I am hungry so they better give me the satisfaction that I need to deserve a good review.

We ordered: Grilled Fish Medallion, T-bone steak and leche flan for dessert.

Grilled Fish Medallion? I'm not sure why it was named that way but all I could say is that the lemon butter sauce seemed bitter. It may be with the herbs they used to rub in the fish. The fish meat was kinda tender but not exactly yummy. It was cold for me. It might have been better served sizzling. The buttered corn was also something that I would least eat in the course. The star of the dish was not the Fish, but the potato rolls. They were sweet and the presentation was something I did not expect. I thought initially that those thingy are spring rolls. Nicely done.

The T-Bone Steak..... good thing, I was not the one who ordered it. hehehehe. The meat was not savory as the steaks in Grill 99, but my comment is that it was served somewhat cold. The gravy was somewhat better than the one in Grill 99. Nevertheless, there were potato rolls too so that took the frown out of our faces.

The Leche Flan is...... is a..... is a.... well, simple. If I would compare it with the leche flan served in Susie's, I would gladly eat my serving from Susie's. I think the dessert lacked consistency and the texture was not smooth. It was flaky. I guess it's not their flagship that's why.

so in the end, it was just as I thought.... it's just another hype.... I would say, the dining experience on a scale of 5 being the highest, this place would get 2.5 (for the potato rolls and the decors).

Grill 99: Good Food at affordable prices

My wife and I went to this place called Grill 99 last September, somewhere in Bagumbayan, Angeles City. The place was similar in concept as Ventura grill in Marisol Subdivision.

The ambience was good. There were 3 areas to dine in. We took the middle area (garden) as the left wing area has lots of mosquitos and we wouldn't want to spoil the night slapping our skin while eating.

We ordered Baby Back Ribs, Grilled Liempo and Tokwa't Baboy. I was on a diet back then and told my wife "Yung tokwa't baboy sa yo yun ah". She then said "tikman mo muna, baka naman ikaw makaubos nyan eh. hehehe".

So we ate. The Ribs were a classic. Nicely plated with the mashed potato at the bottom and caramelized onion on top of the meat. It was tender and tasty. I liked the sauce that drizzled in the meat. It reminded me of meals that one of my uncles used to make when I was a kid. It was so good, I chewed through it in order to savor all the flavors. I was satisfied.

My wife took the liempo. Well, the meat was the usual. But compared it to the ribs, the preparation was pale in comparison. It was ordinary. What really annoyed me was the gravy they made for it. It tasted like lard. They may have used the oil from all the meat being grilled and added flour and flavoring to make it gravy. Well, I think that's bad practice. The first broth would have made it better than the oil. That's a tip to them. Pardon my being critic.

Finally, the curd. Hmmm.... Well, the best description I could probably use is BIG. I didn't expect this big a serving for an appetizer. Whoah! And it tasted good. The dip was tangy and spicy. The tokwa was good while hot. The pork... well, not to many of them there, but it complemented it nicely. I ended up finishing the plate as my wife gave up after claiming she took in too much. Oh well, there goes the diet....

What I really liked about the place is the people.... like parking for example. They would make sure that you smile coming in and smile when you leave.

Check it out!

Between Dieting and Eating (Solution: Calorie Counting)

It has been a while since I last blogged about food. You may have noticed that it's been months! We'll aside from being taken over by my work as deadlines are pressing and I have to prioritize them, I also have undergone a self assessment of my health. So before I continue with the usual food blogging, let me share sometime that might be of interest to you.

Sometime last July or August, I noticed that it's been hard catching my breath whenever I catch up with my kids. What's worse is when I try to rush to some place and notice that my body weight causes inertia and instead of thinking about reaching the place, I'm conscious on how I look like and careful as I might loose balance. Yeah, I know that over-reacting.... but sometimes I do feel that way.

I realized that my love for food might be the culprit. I take too much than what I should actually take. One morning when I woke up, I felt my legs hurt due to numbness. I didn't do anything to cause this..... and maybe that's the problem.

I thought the best way to overcome this and somehow bring a little bit of my self esteem back is to loose weight. I tried different methods, including one that asks you to eat only fruits and vegetables. It was hard at first..... heck, it was even harder to continue!

Then, I used a diet plan that asked me not to take a lot of the good stuff. No Rice for example. Then 0% saturated fat. It was getting harder coz if you check the label, the only edible things that do not have saturated fat are fruits, vegetables and water. LOL! Well some processed food claim they don't have it.... but they were hard to find or too expensive for my shrinking budget.

So I figured the best way to start is to ask the experts. It was a good thing that our company invited Nutritionists and Dieticians as part of their employee welfare activities. I approached them and asked for their recommendation regarding my situation.

At the start they told me that I was just okay after some examination and computation. But I figured that I may have been wrong with some information I provided. Like for my weight, I initially told them that I last weighed in at 185 lbs (then after a week I checked the scale and found myself at 196 lbs, that already after dieting for a week!)

The nutritionist then told me that if I wanted to either keep my weight or loose some more, I have to check my activities and calorie intake. Huh? Oh yeah.... While they were explaining the food groups and the science of nutrition, I now realized that what they are trying to tell me is pretty simple...... Energy In ---> Stored Energy ---> Energy Out. The Law of Conservation of Energy and Mass. Stored Energy = Energy In - Energy Out.

Okay this may should weird, but in theory it does make sense. We all know that people need food to GO, GROW and GLOW. That's the reason why we have the food groups to distinguish which ones should we take more and which one to take less. Right? If you understand this, then you are halfway through....

The other idea is that our body converts food into energy, which we use for our activities. These food which were classified into groups provide different levels of energy. I won't be your science teacher now but I hope you get the driff....

Anyway, so what you eat (Energy In) must be converted into energy for activities (Energy out). If Energy In is equal to Energy Out, then you keep your Stored Energy (and theoretically your weight or mass).

Now, what if you change your activity, say you have more physical activities? This means your Energy Out will be higher than before. If you take the same amount of food (Energy In), Stored Energy will decrease as Energy Out will eat some of it.

You think that's cool? Picture this out: What if you change your work activities, then go jogging at least thrice a week and watch your food intake? Get it? You'll notice that you'll get slimmer as days go by.

Two things I learned from this activity: Exercise and Calorie Counting. For me, this DEFINITELY works! To date, I am at 177 lbs. That's 19 lbs from 2 months ago.

You might be thinking, that's too low.... Well, actually I do have some eating splurges in between (I cheat) and that's every Friday, Saturday and Sundays..... Not counting the other celebrations and fiestas. I don't deprive myself on these dates. But I just make sure that I stick to the game plan on regular days.

For me loosing 19 lbs is better than doing nothing and possibly gaining 19 lbs. I also don't have to spend a penny. Actually, at times I'm able to save.

If you want to learn more about Calorie Counting, check this website I just stumbled upon today: http://www.acaloriecounter.com/calorie-counting.php I didn't know about this site when I started, but it has the same idea I am trying to tell you in easier terms.

So, let's eat......