MIFA Tokyo Tour 10/22/2011

Some pictures on our Tokyo Tour with the Minato International Friendship Association

Baon for next week: Pritong Paksiw na Salmon

I don't really like paksiw na isda especially if it is the type where the fish is cooked in it's complete form, i.e. not chopped up. It feels like the fish died in an aquarium full of vinegar and spices. But because paksiw is such a good Filipino dish that has quite a distinct flavor (probably because of the vinegar, ginger and onions), we at home would resort to frying the fish that was originally in the paksiw. We'd even cook it, to mom's horror,  until it is crispy on the outside.

Anyway, I am not really sure if salmon can be cooked as paksiw but I gave it a try. I was able to buy two big pieces of fish in hanamasa this afternoon. These will be my baon or dinner for next week. It's actually a very simple dish. I just chopped an onion and ginger and placed them in a pan together with some vinegar. I added pepper in the mixture and some seasoning (I don't have Maggi Magic Sarap but I do have Aji Ginisa Mix so that's what I used). Then I placed the fish and a little bit of water and placed in on the stove. Kept the temperature at a moderate level and cooked the fish until there's no more liquid. Once the liquid has evaporated, I took out the onions and ginger, added a bit of oil and then fried both sides of the fish and voila... I have something for lunch next week.

I actually tried it and the dish was quite ok. Maybe a little bit of the ginger flavor was missing... memo to me: use more ginger next time. Oh well... not a bad first attempt. :D

 

....keeps the boredom away

A movie a day that is....

One thing about being in Japan is that the internet here is so, sooooooo, fast... I don't even have to download the movie. I just watch it streaming and it doesn't even need to buffer. Just wait for the movie to load and it keeps on playing... Gawrsh...

I have actually seen movies that have been yet to be seen here in Japan, like Friends with Benefits

and Bad Teacher


Gawrsh... I better put a system to the movie watching that I am doing or else I'll end up just watching anything.  Hmmm... Come to think of it, that's not such a bad idea...

Afritada and Chopsuey

My baon for this week:

Chicken afritada: Chicken, carrots, potato and green peppers and mama Sita's afritada or menudo sauce.

The procedure was quite simple: fry the carrots and potato, then set aside. Fry the chicken in the oil where you fried the potato and carrots until brown. Once brown, add the mama sita's sauce (which was dissolved in water beforehand), simmer and add the green peppers. Once the green peppers are cooked, you're done!

Chopsuey: Chicken, carrots, cabbage, spring beans (togue), green bell peppers, onions, garlic

I just sauteed everything then added the Mama Sita's chopsuey mix.

Am getting so domesticated here in Japan. I just hope, I'll always find time to cook because it is such a good way to destress.

Collecting a deck of cards

After my first full week (Sunday to Saturday) in Tokyo, I've come to realize that technology plays a central role in the lives of the people here. The very basic thing like entering a room is dependent on technology, even riding the train and even borrowing books and photocopying things.

What do I mean by technology? Well, here in Japan, during the first few days of being here, we were given these cards: (From the top left)
1. TIEC card - which i use to enter the dorm and get in my room.
2. My teki or train pass which I use to ride the trains (at a discounted rate too)

3. The copy card which I use to photocopy documents and print.

4. Brastel call card - which I got from Yotsuya Church. This I use to call home at a cheaper rate. 

5. Finally, my GRIPS ID card which I use to enter the  school premises and to enter the library and to borrow books.

I am expecting to receive three more cards soon:

1. My alien card
2. My national health insurance card
3. My ATM card

I think it is because of Japan's highly developed technological capability that they have started resorting to key cards for everything. Now, I have to figure out a way of keeping these things organized in my wallet or in my bag.

A week of Firsts

The past five days have been filled with firsts.


My FIRST dinner in Japan was Mcdonalds. Good thing they have this healthy option where you can turn your fries into a salad so I didn't feel that much guilty about eating unhealthily. My chicken burger was a bit oily and but very very flavorful. It's a salt and pepper coated chicken with a hint of wasabe so I got a kick, albeit not a strong one whenever I bit into the parts that had a hint of wasabe.

My FIRST breakfast in Japan (Friday morning) was from the convenience store near the dorm complex.
I don't think it is worth describing the taste of microwaved spaghetti.

Finally, it was also my FIRST dinner in Japan that I cooked by myself. Yes, I can now cook.
I'd call my dish... wok sauteed garden vegetables with pan-seared chicken....
or ginisang gulay na may manok.

Recipes - always reliable, always good, Filipino food.

As part of my birthday mini-gatherings, Ate Fen and I met up for lunch. I just really wanted to catch up with her, especially after finding out that she can know administer weddings (hehehe, Joke lang, Ate Fen!) and since my departure date for Japan is fast approaching.

We ate at Recipes which is at the second floor of Greenbelt 3. Going there, I already know what I want to eat... The crispy fried tilapia,


and the gising gising.


Of course, because it is my birthday celebration, there should always be pansit.


Ate Fen ordered chicken teriyaki.


Just like always, the tilapia was very crispy (although this time a bit dry or overcooked for me, kasi nga crispy, enuveh!), and the accompanying toyo with suka and sili or onions was perfect. It brings back memories from childhood when crispy fried tilapia would be the favorite ulam whenever it is raining.

The gising gising is still the coconut-cream based vegetable dish. It gives the additional color to our dish and the additional crunch since the green beans are very crunch.

The chicken teriyaki was very flavorful. The little bite that I had made me want some more but I was already full.  Still, I helped myself to a few more pieces of chicken.

The pansit was best served hot. The noodles were firm and the it is the type of pansit that I liked: not dry but a bit saucy, just like how mom makes her pansit.

Recipes for me is all about Filipino food but more than that it is about the memories that those food remind me whenever I eat there.

Ambers - impromptu party food

Yesterday, my cousins spent time with us to give me an impromptu despedida. Well, it wasn't that much of an impromptu because we were informed that they have plans of dropping by on Saturday morning. But this didn't give us enough time to prepare for 7 people.

Plus, Mom and I didn't want to spend the entire Saturday and Sunday morning in the kitchen chopping ingredients and preparing food. Also, if we do that, we might end up too exhausted to actually entertain our visitors.

So what to do on times like these? I resorted to what we usually do in the office. At the office, we rely on Ambers for our delicious party food. They have a wide variety pansit and pasta. There are also other pica-pica that you can order.

For our bonding time with the cousins, we ordered Ambers Spaghetti (which Lester calls "Happy Spaghetti"). We also had various pica-pica like barbecue, chicken lollipops, lumpiang shanghai and pitsi-pitsi with cheese.

As expected, the spaghetti was really good. It's quite saucy and not dry so one really gets to taste the delicious meat sauce with every bite. The cheese topping makes the spaghetti really creamy. I'd also have to give it to Ambers for laying out the hotdogs in a floral design. As most chefs would say, "we eat with our eyes." So the attractive way Ambers presents their food is already half the battle.



Mom was actually quite impressed with Ambers barbecue (and this is saying something because Mom prides herself of having a really good barbecue marinade). Amber's barbecue is actually mostly meat but despite not having the requisite fat (for flavor) the barbecue is not dry nor is it bland or flavorless.



We also had fried pica-pica like lumpiang shanghai and chicken lollipops. The lumpiang shanghai still had it's crispiness despite not being fresh from the frier. Mom complains that the filling is a bit small though.



The chicken lollipops were big pieces of chicken leg (or wing, am not really sure) that is served with a sweet spicy sauce. The chicken lollipops look big because of the breading. Still, the breading is welcome as it makes the chicken lollipop more attractive and flavorful.

The pitsi pitsi was my nephew's favorite dish from Amber. Being blind, my nephew was quite surprised that what he is eating has cheese toppings. He was also intrigued by the soft, chewy and sweet cassava balls. I guess it is the texture of the pitsi-pitsi that intrigued him.

Ambers saved us time and made our party quite fun because we were able to chat and catch up with each other. We didn't even notice the time making us adjourn close to 10 pm. I guess the cost is very much worth it.

Italianni's - Italian food is homey, soothing and comforting.

Lester and I ate at Italianni's last Friday afternoon. We were supposed to have a snack but we ended up having a pizza and a pasta. I guess after last week's review of Italianni's I would have to declare that Italianni's is now on my list of best Italian restaurants in the metro.

I mean C in Pampanga is really good and would probably rival Italianni's but let's face it. It's not exactly very accessible what with a three hour's drive away to reach it if one is coming from QC.

So anyway, Lester and I had the basic pasta in pesto sauce which is actually quite simple. The pesto sauce is quite mild with the basil being just right and not really bitter unlike one of the restaurants I've tried. I was also looking for some crunch coming from pine nuts but am not really sure if that's the recipe that Italianni's followed. I just like my pesto to have a bit of crunch which the pine nuts provides.

Because it took us quite a long time to decide which pizza we're going to have, the nice waiter was kind enough to suggest to us their 4-flavored pizza, the Quattro Staggioni. There's one that has pepperoni on it, another has shrimp and black olives, another has mushrooms and artichokes and finally another that has 4 cheeses. They served the pizza with toppings of arugula leaves which I truly appreciated because it added another dimension to the flavors, a taste of refreshing nuttiness.

So last Friday's snack was supposed to be a light one but we ended up being so full we had no room for dessert. Next time, I'll just go to Italianni's and try their desserts... but then again, who could say no to their wonderful pizzas?

 

Ho Chai Lai - Best Chinese Restaurant this side of Muntinlupa

Our family has this favorite eating place outside of San Pedro but still manageable in distance. It is actually in the next town already which is Muntinlupa.

We have always frequented this place mainly because there's no decent eating places in San Pedro apart from the usual fast food. So whenever there's a special occasion or we're too lazy to cook (which was the case this time), we'd just go here and treat ourselves to great Chinese food.

This time around we ordered the Ho Chai Lai Siomai which is their specialty siomai. Instead of being wrapped in Siomai wrapper, the siomai is wrapped in nori and inside the siomai is the ground pork but it also has crab sticks. The siomai is served in a soup like substance (probably some version of a birds nest soup). We never fail to order this siomai whenever we eat here and I'd actually recommend this to anyone. The flavors are quite unique especially since nori has this fishy smell and taste to it that one gets accustomed to. Even my brother who isn't into Nori likes this. And if my picky-eater brother likes this, am sure everyone else will.

Since it was just me and mom eating together tonight, we decided to just have one hotpot and a small serving of yang chow rice. One of the things that has impressed us about this Chinese restaurant is that they don't scrimp on the ingredients. Even if we just ordered a small portion of the yang chow rice, we still got the proportionate amount of spring onions, chorizo, egg and green peas in the rice.

For our viand, we paired the rice with a seafood hotpot with mushrooms. Of course, since it was a hot pot, it was served to us piping hot which made it really delectable. The seafood in the dish were properly cooked. The shrimp is still juicy, the squid is not rubbery at all. The filets of fish were not overly breaded but just enough to keep it flavorful and flaky. We even found bits of sea cucumber in there which was quite a surprise.

The mushrooms that were in the dish were of two kinds. The wood ear mushrooms (tenga ng daga) and the button mushrooms. Again, there's no scrimping in mushrooms here. We had our fill of properly cooked and delicious mushrooms which we ate with the vegetables accompanying the seafood like carrots, sitsaro and onions.

Eating slowly and talking about lots of things, Mom and I were surprised that we actually finished everything. Yes! We were so full when we were about to leave Ho Chai Lai but we didn't worry. Their complementary house tea did wonders to our tummy.

Cafe Via Mare - the desserts

If you're looking for a place where you can try the best Filipino desserts, try Cafe Via Mare. We had our desserts there last week and we had a grand time.

There are three kinds of cold desserts in Cafe Via Mare: the ginumis, the halo-halo and the mais con yelo. All three sounds good and looks soooo good in pictures so it is quite a good thing that Cafe Via Mare has the sampler which they call shooters.


They serve the three cold desserts in shot glasses which gives the customer a taste of each of the desserts.



Of the three desserts, the best for me would be the ginumis which is almost like a halo halo but with different ingredients. There are no beans but instead there's gelatine (gulaman). There's also lots of sago and pinipig. Instead of evaporated milk, they use coconut milk and instead of sugar for a sweetener, they used panucha.

The great thing about Cafe Via Mare's ginumis is the crunch of the pinipig vis-a-vis the soft gulaman. The coco milk is creamy too and the sweetness is just right.

The halo-halo is actually quite good as well. Although, there were a number of things that were missing (or was I just looking for a bigger serving?). What I liked about the portion of the halo-halo that I got was that the sweetness is just right. Just like the ginumis, the halo-halo was not too sweet.

The weakest of the three would be the mais con yelo. I think what is missing would be some more flavors of corn in the syrup. The mais con yelo was also a bit bland for me probably because you'd only know that what you're eating is a mais con yelo only when you've tasted the corn kernels. 

So after trying the three desserts, I concluded that ginumis of via mare is the best. The halo halo is ok too but the mais con yelo needs improvement.
 

Happy Lemon-Just close your eyes and give it a try

Last Saturday, after badminton, we had the opportunity to try out one of the most raved about drinks in the metro.

To be honest, I haven't really heard about it but having been documenting my experiences of different restaurants and talking about their food, I thought it would be good to document my experiences about trying new drinks as well.

My companion then swears by the goodness of the drinks in happy lemon so that also gave me a motivation to try it out. Looking at their menu, I was actually a bit shocked if not turned-off because of the unheard of combination of rock salt and cheese on coffee drinks. I was actually confused, was it supposed to be savory or a sweet drink?

When we got our drink, I was discouraged some more. My drink (green tea with rock salt and cheese) looked like it was something brewed in a witch's cauldron. There were bubbles and foam that are not really enticing.

Ia's drink was a bit more presentable. The cocoa powder as toppings was the saving grace because it was able to cover the foamy and bubbly substance on top of our glasses.

But I am grateful to Ia for encouraging me to give it a try. Because after the first sip, I was won over. Don't mind the presentation and don't mind the description of mixing rock salt with your drink. Just give it a try and you'd be won over too.

My drink won me over because it is very fragrant just like real honest-to-goodness green tea that I've tried in Japan. The saltiness was not very empowering but emphasized the sweetness of the drink making me like it some more.

Too bad there are too few branches. I would certainly recommend it to my friends to try.

Thank you!

I will pause from reviewing eating places and send this thank you message to all the people who made my birthday such a wonderful day yesterday!

Thank you to Lester for the surprise!

Thank you to the Saturday Badminton Group!

Thank you also to Ate Bullet of Dexter's in Katipunan for my birthday cake.

Thanks to all who came to the surprise lunch, D'friendz, IUJ kohai, classmates and senpais and Belfield friends.

Last night, over a pizza dinner (again!) Mommy said that this has been one of the longest birthday celebrations I've ever had spanning an entire week. Kuya mentioned that it was because I am leaving for Japan. He said had it not been for that, I wouldn't have celebrated my birthday. And I guess he is right... Between the two of us, I've never really celebrated my birthday with parties. A nice quiet dinner is good enough for me. But thanks to everyone who changed that and made this birthday more special. More than the usual birthday.

I see God's blessings through you all.

Yakimix - All you can eat for the decisive!

Had lunch with my closest friends as their despedida for me. We ate at YakiMix because I've heard so many stories (not only good ones but horror stories too) about this place. One of the things I've heard is how hordes of people would wait in line for their chance to eat in the restaurant.

So part of the strategy to be able to eat without the pressure and the hassle of having so many people in the venue, we decided to eat during a weekday lunch hour.





I am actually pleased with the food in the buffet. They have soup and sukiyaki. They have different kinds of meats and seafood that you can grill in the middle of the table. Of course, we grabbed a lot of the bacon, shrimps, pork slices, asparagus wrapped in bacon, bananas wrapped in bacon, duck meat, mushrooms, corn, yakitoris and even hot dog. I actually liked the experience of grilling the meats and vegetables.

If you're not into grilling meats and veggies, you may sink your teeth in those makis and sushis. There are actually two sections of maki where you can find the most common california maki to the not so common like crunchy crab maki or a really spicy one that I can't even remember.

And because these sushis and makis are bite size, you actually don't feel you're eating a lot. It's just like popping them in your mouth like savory M&M's. In fact, I've had about two and a half plates of these. I would have wanted to try all the variants but I don't think I'd have room for the other selections if I did.

If you're looking for something more filling than bite-size sushis, there are still other dishes in yakimix that you can try. To be honest though, I was so overwhelmed with the sushi and maki selection I was only able to give a limited time in trying the dishes that you can pair with the rice.

And of course, they have a lot of kinds of pastries, fruits and ice cream for dessert.

The ice cream can be sprinkled (or in this case, covered) with different kinds of toppings: from rice crispies, rainbow sprinkles, marshmallows, chocolate chips and so on. I think our ice cream ended up as toppings with ice cream rather than the other way around.

So all in all, how was my yakimix experience? I'd say it's such a good buffet. There's food for everyone. There's actually a wide range of selections which may in a way be too overwhelming for someone who is not decisive. If you're not sure of what you want to eat, you better be careful eating at Yakimix. You might gain 20 lbs if you don't control yourself here.

Italianni's -never fails to satisfy me but service needs to step up

Yesterday's lunch was at Italianni's (Greenbelt). Upon entering the restaurant, I was a bit disappointed because there was no front of the house. It took a while before someone asked us if we wanted a table and for how many.

And since I am picking on the service of Italianni's, I might as keep on going. I actually had to ask three servers for parmesan cheese but to no avail. We've nibbled on the bread and it is no longer warm but still parmesan has not arrived. Our salad has even arrived and yet the parmesan was still not served. Finally when the parmesan arrived, we've actually nibbled on all of the bread making me ask for more.

Still, I've got to remain calm and not spoil the mood of the lunch.



For our salad, we had the Mediterranean salad which has salad greens, tomatoes, onions, olives, shrimp, and topped with cubes of feta cheese. The dressing is a light mix of olive oil and lemon. I like the combination of the feta cheese and olives that has a salty flavor and the salad greens and tomatoes which are quite refreshing. The tomatoes are not sour (unlike cherry tomatoes which are popular in salads). While a lot of people would actually avoid onions in salads, I welcome them because of the texture and heat that they give whenever you bite into them. The onions in our salad are perfect complements to the flavors of the dish. And the shrimp, don't get me started on the shrimp... perfectly cooked shrimp which has a sweetness goes well with the feta cheese which as I mentioned has a tinge of saltiness. The salad is so perfect. I now have a different favorite salad in Italianni's.



Our salad was accompanied by these large wedges of potatoes which was Italianni's version of fries. And who wouldn't like fries? These gourmet fries are served with a mustard sauce that's quite light. What makes these fries so special is that it is not greasy at all. I think it was baked which explains the lack of grease.


We tried the new pizza which has anchovies, ham and arugula leaves. The arugula adds the perfect crunch and nutty and earthy flavor.


Accompanying our pizza was the sausage served with peppers and onions. The sausage was soft and tender but still quite juicy. The peppers were not really spicy.

We actually dipped some of the bread that were served earlier to the oils of the sausage to try out the flavor and wow! The grease of the sausages give a whole new meaning to the phrase "fat is flavor!" I actually had to control myself from keep on dipping.

We washed it all down with different types of juices and drinks. One of us ordered dalandan juice, I ordered grape shake and another one ordered a type of milk shake that was blueberry cheese cake flavored (YUM!) I didn't know if it was a dessert or a drink.



It was a great lunch with great friends. The conversation during lunch was also as great proving that Italian food is really such a great comfort food.

Just want to share this puzzle by Martin Gardner.

Printed above are the first three verses of Genesis in the Kind James Bible. Select any of the 10 words in the first verse: "In the beginning God created the heaven and the earth." Count the number of letters in the chosen word and call this number x. Then go to the word that is x words ahead. For example if you pick "in" go to "beginning." Now count the number of letters in this word---call it y---then jump ahead another y words. Continue in this manner until your chain of words enters the third verse. On what word does your count end?

Coincidence?

Taken from Scientific American, 1998.

Jollibee's Hashbrown burger

Half of yesterday's lunch consisted of this new product from Jollibee, the Hashbrown Burger which is composed of two baked hashbrowns with a hamburger patty and cheese in the middle.

To be honest, I was a bit apprehensive about this breadless-burger that Jollibee is offering mainly because of bad experiences about other breadless burgers (ehem, you know... the one composed two chicken breasts). Anyway, back on the topic at hand, the The things that made me like the hashbrown burger are as follows:
 1. it is not that greasy  - probably because the hashbrowns were baked and not fried.
2. the crispiness of the hashbrowns - the hashbrowns maintained their crispiness despite not being eaten instantly as I had to walk from Jollibee to the office. Even the bottom hashbrown is not soggy.
3. the juiciness of the burger - the burger patty in the middle is not dry and still has some of the oils and juices (fat is flavor!)
4. it doesn't have mayo but it does have ketchup - hashbrowns are best with ketchup (enough said).
I guess Jollibee has hit the ball out of the park with this one. I'd recommend this to anyone who hasn't tried it.