Vegetable Pasta

I've contemplated going vegetarian for a long time, but only sushi and seafood stop me from going completely vegan. What I do as a compromise is that I have like some days in a week when I go vegetarian and chuck the meat back on the fridge. It really helped me a lot in my fitness routine since I do home yoga exercises and pole dancing. I still need the energy for me to do my stretches and tricks yet somehow eliminating certain foods and replacing them makes me feel lighter both inside and out.

Going vegetarian is not at all boring. In fact, when I googled vegetarian recipes, I really found a lot - from lunches, desserts (yes! vegan desserts!), sandwiches, pasta, main course, appetizers, stuff like that. So I'm not just stuck to raw veggie sticks and dip. Just go to an Indian restaurant and marvel at how many tasty ways veggies can be prepared.

This recipe to me was shared by my good friend and fellow makeup artist Avy. She knows I like quick, healthy, and easy meals that won't make me starve after a few hours, it's pretty easy and the only thing that will take some time is prepping the veggies.

Ingredients:

2 carrots, peeled and sliced into small pieces

one small cauliflower bunch

one small broccoli bunch

sliced mushrooms (on can)

one zucchini, sliced. leave the skin on, it's yummy

lemon juice

penne pasta

seasonings (italian seasoning, rosemary, herbs, anything you like)

olive oil

parmesan cheese

garlic cloves (3-6, depending on your garlicky taste) , crushed

1. Prep all the vegetables. cut the broccoli and cauliflower into florets and blanch them.

2. Line the vegetables in a pan (or the pan you use in the toaster oven. Drizzle some lemon juice and bake in toaster oven for 5 minutes. This is where effort comes, depending on your oven size. I have a tiny oven so I do the baking in batches. Effort!

3. Once the veggies are all baked (they're still firm to bite but tender enough). Heat some olive oil on a pan and sautee garlic for a few minutes until fragrant. Toss in the veggies and add mushroom and squeeze in some more lemon juice so it's tangy and tasty, season as desired. You can make a big batch of this and store some on the fridge.

4. To serve, toss in some penne pasta until mixed well. Serve with parmesan cheese and smoked cheese on the side. Yumm!!!!!!

Revisiting Diamond Hotel

Guess where I was last weekend?

Okay, this might give a better clue:

Slices of the most epic Diamond Hotel ube ensaymada as the actual size is bigger than my fist times two. Revisited the Diamond Hotel last weekend and not only did I get to enjoy a lunch buffet and stuff myself to the brim with seafood but also their breakfast buffet. I stuffed myself with so much prawns I had prawns in my breakfast and lunch and would have had so at dinner but I was so full already by lunchtime that all I could afford was a cup of soup at SM MoA. But here are snapshots of what's new from 2 years ago:

Smoked salmon to me is pork. I don't eat pork or allow a sliver of pig meat to enter the house. Salmon is my guilty guilty pleasure.

A bowlful of cereal used to be my foolproof breakfast when I was a kid. I never seem to rid myself of it. <3

I never fail to miss dessert because they have the best dessert buffet EVER! I love chocolate fountains and I'm glad they added one complete with goodies to dip to. The one on the left is mint-flavored marshmallow that's made from scratch and not bought from a candy supply store.

Pastries in the morning too! I'm a sweet tooth and can't help it. :)

Don't forget for buffets to order just water for drinks (juices and soda fill you up with sugar, which occupies space for more food) and not to load up on rice (which you could have everyday!) variety instead of quantity is the key.

Diamond Hotel, I am so seeing you again. Keep those soba noodles too for me!

Thank You Cheriza!

My pole buddy Cheriza is the absolute sweetest. I love her enthusiasm and her fearless disposition. She'd chat with me in Facebook about the latest pole trick she accomplished. As she shares her adventures and enthusiasm to me, I can't help but really gush with happiness too. She's just too happy!

Last Saturday, she gave me a box of French macarons. She loves them and she has been hunting for a shop that sells them. I love them too and she gave me a box with three flavors: strawberry, mocha, and chocolate. Yay!

They're in this little shop in Trinoma, I forgot to ask the name. It's sweet though but it tastes really good. Probably these were my agimats that day because I was able to do nicer inverts.

Thanks Cheriza!

Quiet Rainy Day Lunch at Simply Thai

Despite having the sniffles and hardly having an easy time getting out of bed, I couldn't miss an opportunity to have a quiet lunch in a Thai restaurant that promises good food that's authentic as bringing the whole of Bangkok right here in Manila. Besides, I'll be having my evaluation for pole dancing that night and I need a hot pot of tom yum soup to rid my owies to put me in top condition.

When I got to Greenbelt, I had to look for the restaurant called Simply Thai. It's actually a sister company of Thai at Silk at Serendra, which I'm personally a fan of. Simply Thai is located at the garden side of Greenbelt 5, it's the side near Greenbelt 1, a very pretty restaurant with clean lines and a very fresh color scheme. I'll post a picture too, so you know how the restaurant looks like, so you won't get lost like I did.

When I got there, a few of my blogger friends who I haven't seen for the longest time were there, already with their drinks and appetizers. With them is Executive Chef Cecile Chang Ysmael, who was there to personally describe each dish, answer our questions, and share several fun tales of her adventures in her second home, which is Bangkok, Thailand.

One of the waiters asked me what drink I wanted. I opted not to have milk tea due to my sniffles (but I swear, when the sniffles are gone, I will go back for milk tea!) and had a tall glass of refreshing lemongrass juice. As requested and as my body needed, I ordered a bowl of Tom Yum Kung, with a very rich and tasty broth and didn't go stingy with shrimps and mushrooms, two of my favorite things in Thai cooking.

I don't know if it's just me, but I like nibbling on the leeks too and lemongrass stalks. I wasn't able to take pictures of the lemongrass drink, but it's got a pretty orchid garnishing to go with it. The green and purple contrasts beautifully.

Spring rolls are both healthy and refreshing to make you think that going pesco-vegan isn't such a bad thing. Oh, if you love carbs, they're stuffed with vermicelli.

Those people with qualms about catfish would be happy to know that their catfish is grown and raised from farms so rest assured that it's super clean and its guts didn't house an entire ecosystem's food web. The meat was sweet and tender and fried super crispy.

Soft-shell crab. A newfound love of everyone that was wiped out in minutes (Arpee: Crab? what soft shell crab?). I'm so happy that I could eat crab and shrimp.

I dedicate the next dish to my pole classmate, Tricia who's a fan of Pad Thai. The prettiest Pad Thai in the universe served in a handmade egg net.

That net is made out of egg, and to make the egg net requires training and practice and a very light hand. The waiter had to demonstrate it to us how to mix the Pad Thai. You break it in the center to make a well to mix all the ingredients then cut through the egg net into small pieces. The egg "strings" have to be cut well so you don't choke on them.

For carnivores, here's their bestseller: Lamb Shank Mussaman. It's got sweet potato, peanuts, and caramelized onions. The lamb meat was tender too and it didn't have that aftertaste that most people don't like about lamb.

Other non-seafood dishes to try are the super spicy Green Chicken Curry, Hainanese Chicken with Jasmine rice, and the Suhkumvit fried chicken with crispy and tasty batter that's not your ordinary everyday fried chicken.

They've got really pretty desserts too! Like the red rubies.

I thought they were candied cherries at first until Cecile said they were actually water chestnuts. Interesting to know that water chestnuts can appear in the dessert course of the meal as I'm so used to having them in stir-fried chicken or salads. I also asked why they're red. "Rubies are actually the national gems of Thailand," she explained. The water chestnuts were coated then dyed red. It's placed in a bed of finely crushed ice with cream. They use water chestnuts in a can because you get a more consistent quality of water chestnuts with them. It's like eating sago then you get the surprise crunch inside. It's not too sweet either, but the cream makes it rich.

Arpee gave me a 101 on how to eat the Sticky Rice with Mangoes. It's like a Thai style of our native suman and mangga. You pour some coconut cream into the sticky rice. A slightly tart mango contrasts well with sticky rice. Since it's kinda heavy, I think it's best having desserts like this to share.

More desserts!

Before it starts melting or be devoured by hungry sweet-tooths, I took a picture of that homemade coconut ice cream on a bed of taro and orange (there's caramel sauce too at the bottom).

Pretty tapiocas all in a row each with a red ruby on top.

Since there's so much pretty and tasty dishes, I think it's best to eat here as a large group so you get to sample out a lot of dishes. The dishes are best to share.

Zentea Love

I'm lactose intolerant (I say this as I type this drinking a glass of malt-flavored soymilk) but I love milk tea. I really love milk tea! I'd prefer milk tea over a cup of coffee any day. Usually, I like my milk tea with mild sweetness and hot on a cold rainy day, but for a jolt of energy, it's nice to have it cold, especially after an hour or two of pole class. I love Zentea because their cold iced teas are yummy and their horlics milk tea is superb!

People who frequent the Pearl Drive area are already friends with the Pearl Drive Zentea staff who are really super friendly. They know their regular customers plus their favorites and how they prefer their drinks.

In my case, I prefer my horlics milk tea with no pearl. If they run out of horlics tea, they're nice to give you another alternative like caramel or their bestseller nai cha. Horlics milk tea tastes a lot like the candy so I really like it.

Oh yes, and if you think this is deathly pricey milk tea, that size cost me only Php65.00. If milk isn't for you, they also have regular flavored iced teas that cost only Php35.00 for a medium size.

Thanks kuya, for letting me take your picture and the Kiosk, so when my readers decide to hunt for this branch they know how it looks like! I think I'm there often and purchase too much that the guys over there know already what I want and practically memorize my pole schedules. Did I mention they're pretty famous too? Google Zentea Pearl Drive and see lots of pictures!

B'uon Giorno, Thank You For Moving Closer To Me

I've always been intrigued with Tagaytay's ever-so-famous B'uon Giorno restaurant being a frequent stopover to any Italian-food lover like myself. The reviews are great and everyone who went there seems to love how authentic the food tastes instead of mass-produced and artificial, like each pasta piece or veggie bit was made with love. Did anyone say authentic Italian food? I'm all smiles now.

Since Tagaytay is too far to experience B'uon Giorno, the heavens answered our prayers and finally opened one an arm's throw away from Ortigas Business District - the haven of Rockwell Business Center which is becoming an oasis of great food finds.

So among the Italian dishes on the menu, which among these ranked my favorites? Let's find out:

Top #1 goes to the Spinach Canneloni. The cheese didn't make me gag out and well, call me funny but I always have a weakness for spinach. The canneloni texture was the al dente form I wanted and it held the fillings in place. If you're quite sensitive to cheese and dairy, you could opt to just have less of the cream and have your companion finish off the richer part of the meal with some bread, one excuse to share this dish too, because yes, everyone should get a taste of it.

Salad Greens are never soggy in the classic order Caesar Salad. I got to the venue a bit late yet the greens in the buffet table are still crisp. I went for seconds on the veggies actually, and really. I love how fresh and crisp they were. I was told that the restaurant has really high standards and everything has to be perfect. Those who would love veggies can try the B'uon Giorno Special which are their best ingredients with the signature house dressing.

Dessert love time! Who doesn't love chocolate? Well It's something I do not say no to especially in the form of this...(say it with me)

MOLTEN CHOCOLATE CAKE! With Ice cream on top. Why too little words for this? uuuhm it's because I'm at a loss.

Apple Strudel reminds me so much of the Sound of Music song on a stormy night. What happens when I finally met this dessert in person? It became one of my Favorite Things. Unfortunately, my picture of it was too grainy so there's more reason for me to go back there and have a bite and a better picture to post it.

A good mentionable for seafood lovers like myself is Pescatore Alla Puttanesca. Puttanesca on its own is already a very rich and robust sauce having both the spice and the richness of fresh tomatoes so imagine when fresh seafood gets thrown in to the mix? I swear... I lunged for it. And mind you, I usually eat less during dinnertime.

A thing I like about the restaurant in general is that even though it's located in the Metro, it's not commercialized at all. It's like each dish came straight from an Italian home and delivered to your table. And if you take note of the price, it's really not that bad. A pasta dish full of seafood costs Php308. What I recommend if you're dining with friends though is to order one dish each and share them, so you get little portions of everything and taste a variety of dishes. A dish is good enough to share but I still order solo portions of food and just pass them around to share. I like getting little portions of several dishes rather than stuffing myself full with just one dish.

Oh and before I end this, you really must get dessert.

When Nutella meets French Pastries

When Amaya, one of my pole instructors, mentioned a little French cafe that serves a super-good amazing nutella donut that's hardly stingy with the filling, I waited for the right time to try one for myself. After my shoot at LRI plaza yesterday, I knew that I had to take a mini-detour to Makati Ave to search for this cafe for myself. Since it was a tiny, tiny cafe, it would be easy to miss so I kept my eyes peeled and open. Luckily, Amaya mentioned to me that it was near Jolibee and I spotted the Jolibee already while trying to find the U-turn that would take me there. And here, right smack at the boundary that separates Makati Central Business District from the red light district like a little oasis that is Paris Delice.

Paris Delice would be a little cafe with yummy colors of cream and chocolate brown in a clean architecture with clean lines that spells elegant simplicity. It's really quite small, with only a little number of chairs and tables, and on a Saturday afternoon, we have it really quiet, which is a refreshing change from the overcrowded coffee shops in the mall or dotting practically the Metro.

In the mini-pastry display, I was able to spot the nutella donut, which could be pricey at Php85.00 a piece but I was told that each penny would be worth it.

Just like Paris Delice's interiors, it's a simple filled donut with no glaze or garnishings. This is it heated on the microwave (low until just warm or else it

would dry and burn). Pretty simple...

Until you stick a fork and take a bite and see all the hazelnut filling flow like gold. Definitely generous with the filling. Since nutella is sweet enough, The dough was kept bland so as not to overpower the senses. Love how good it is and so that no drop of nutella goes to waste, spread a bit of nutella on the bread.

Another thing to love about Paris Delice is free WiFi! Well, all places should be free WiFi anyway! Will I go back here? I just did. In fact, I texted Amaya and told her how much I loved the Nutella Donut and she said she was just there too that afternoon. On another chance that I'll be passing by the area, I know just where to go.

Paris Delice is located at No 1. Juno St. Corner Makati Avenue, Makati City. It's located right beside Jollibee and outside a blue Bel Air 2 Village gate.