Terry Selection Perfection!

TGIF, G3

It's 4PM in the afternoon and here I am in Friday's Makati for my R&R friday blog day. Instead of the usual venti white chocolate mocha non fat no whip 2 pumps extra hot, im now having: 

Yes, Unlimited Classic Mojito. 

Well, anyway, last November 22, Tuesday, we had an alternative learning program (ALP) at Terry's Bistro, Terry's Selection at Pasong Tamo. Don't get me wrong, i eat out A LOT, but  for a party of 6, this is quite an expensive lunch. We ordered about 18 items off their wonderful menu and our bill totaled P11,896! But i gotta say, money well spent! 

Tous Le Jours - Korean Bakeshop!

Starbucks MC Home. 

We all have our own guilty pleasures in life, me, i have the smell of fresh brewed coffee in the morning. And with good coffee, there's nothing like the wonderful smell of fresh baked bread not only in the morning but for the whole day. 

Last November 22, as I was making my way to deposit a check to BDO SM NorthEdsa branch, i can't help but follow the buttery, sweet, dough-y smell, and like one of them mice, the bread Pied Pipper lead me straight to Tous Le Jours.

Around the World! = 5lbs heavier!

November 18, 2011, Friday

France, Italy, Spain, Germany, Russia.. the list goes on!

Around the World, one dish at a time!

For some mundane, shallow and purely selfish reason, i always find myself complaining/ tweeting about my fear of becoming a fat chef. Trust me. I don't want to move from a size small chef's jacket to a size medium, but! a very (not-so) wise friend of mine (probably fed up from all the whinings) finally told me: You can't be a mechanic without getting oil under your nails or can't be a certified gym instructor and not have muscles. It just goes with the trade. And having said those, i threw all worries to the wind and just, eat cook. 

So what's new?

Chef RJ and his awesome transparent lectures

11.11.11

November 18, 2011, Friday
CBTL, Ultimate Mocha


While everyone's either getting married or proposing, or opening up their stores or wishing very hard, this legendary 11.11.11 for Oceana marks the end of another batch and the beginning of a new chapter for Wave 11. (*Sniff*)

Kitchen's Best!

So, it's another awesome Friday out with my great girls Carol and Zara for late dinner and we decided to check out and bond over cake at this newly opened ( actually on soft opening! ) cool, cozy place in FBGC, DKS building, Kitchen's Best Home Patisserie. 

 

The Pamana Experience!

November 6, 2011
Tagaytay


So, it's a long, gloomy, rainy holiday weekend and ze familia decided to head out to Tagaytay for a quick RnR and to breath in cold weather. After hearing mass at Our Lady of Lourdes, we had dinner at the famous Filipino restaurant by Happy Ongpauco, Pamana. 

Twitter inspired!

Hello from a happy place again! I came across this photo via ♥, and i just think it's soooo adorable, although yes, there's no snow here in the Phils, but still, it warms up my heart!

So anyway, this entry is solely for all my twitter favorites.

Toys!

So i'd like to share some of the tools that I've accumulated for the past 3months of my culinary journey. Aside from the usual:

• peeler 
• fish scale remover 
• measuring cups 
• measuring spoons 
• fl oz measuring cup 
• whisk 
• rubber whisk
• rubber spatula
• wooden spoon
• rubber spatula
• Henkel paring knife

Baking part 3!

November 2, 2011, Wednesday
QUICHE, PIE, TARTS.

For the third leg of our baking lessons, i know i've been going on nonstop about how fast time flies but i'll say it again. It went by so fast, it's only a matter of time before the year ends again. Despite my reluctant acceptance of my baking weakness, i can confidently say now that i am slowly learning how to bake. I've learned that with baking, one needs accuracy in measurements and trust in the chemistry of all ingredients to form to really come up with that perfect batch of cookies.

At first, we were taught how to manually whip dough mixtures but for this curriculum of pie and tart making, it seems we need to move on to using our handy dandy KitchenAid mixer!

Ba Noi's!

October 27, 2011, Thursday
Ba Noi's Vietnamese Restaurant, Venice Piazza, Starbucks MC Home

So after my turning 26, it's my great friend of 10years++ Gayle's turn and we decided to grab a nice quiet dinner with another equally old friend, Charm. ( love love love!)

Gayle just came back from a trip from Vietnam and hasn't quite moved on from the awesomeness of their food so we made it a point to dine at one of Makati's hush hush awesome restaurant, Ba Noi's. ( i like that word, awesome. awesome awesome awesome!)

Turning 2-6, the whole shindig!

November 1, 2011, Tuesday

Again, no excuse better than it's been a very busy month, October for delaying all blog writing efforts. But since it's already November, i'm making sure that all that's gonna change! =)

So hello hello hello from a very happy place! A cafe with a good book and an awesome coffee =)

What's Cookin!

October 28, 2011, Friday
CBTL Residence, Makati

It's been a helluva whirlwinduva ride the past 2-3 weeks. I wake up everyday on autopilot, it's like i can't feel the days go by anymore. NOT GOOD. Gone are the days when i wake up giddy with excitement to go to school. NOW? It's like:

"say what? is it monday 4:30AM already?" cue twilight zone jingle. 

The lectures and recipes and cooking styles remain very much interesting but gaaaaah i can't seem to grasp the idea of really early mornings and i can't really say no to late nights. can i #firstworldproblems?

Seasons!

October 9, 2011
Sunday, Seasons Manila Pavillion Hotel

If there's one thing my Dad is hooked on right now (nothing illegal, promise!), it's buying group deals nonstop. We have so much pending purchased deals now that we have no idea how to avail them. One of which we prioritized is from Manila Pavillion Hotel's Seasons.

Coffee #2 - Manila Hotel

October 10, 2011
Monday, Manila Hotel

Coffee Journey#2

Again. after a crazy tiring afternoon in the kitchen, i took a quick detour to one of the country's more prestigious and glamorous hotels, The Manila Hotel

*cue dramatic violin sound effects*

Chef RJ!

October 10-13, 2011

Monday-Thursday

Oh how fast time flies. I recently twitted about it being impossibly fast and painstakingly slow at the same time. Is it even possible?

It feels only yesterday when i'm just starting this culinary journey but in fact, it's been roughly 3months. I resigned from my 5year banking job last July 9, 2011 and started with school August 15 and now we're this close to doing practicum. 

We've recently finished our 2nd Baking class and now, we move on with a more advanced culinary experience under the tutelage of *drumrolls!* Chef RJ Ungco!

canapes c/o Wave12 (Dwight, Paul and Ronald)

Baking part 2!

Day 21. Baking
October 3, 5, 7. Monday, Wednesday, Thursday.

Ugh. My old enemy, we meet again. I'm not sure if i've said it before, but i'll say it again. baking. hates. me. I gotta say though, part 2 of our baking turned our pretty okay.

For baking part 2, we tackled bread making. Here, we kneaded dough, waited for it to ferment, rise, degas, etc. BREADS! - where too much of everything is bad bad bad.

picture taken from myfrenchlife.org

Tourne!

October 5. 2011, Wednesday
Fortstrip. Eton Centris

Yahoo. Today is my dear sister Jessa's 20something birthday and i woke up at 4am to blow some balloons for her to wake up to. Mom said she liked it. Also slept late night before to finish making the experimental blueberry cheesecake recipe which i (hahaha) got from the box of cream cheese that i bought from the grocery. It turned out pretty okay!

Moving on! =)

Yemmy!

Day 20. Sauteeing Protein.
September 29 and 30. Thursday and Friday.

Now, since we've already covered all the basics of a typical main or complete course (i.e., sauce, vegetable, starch, sauteeing, protein), Chef started teaching (pushing) us to make a complete plated meal.

Pressure pressure pressure cause now we have to do everything from scratch! Good thing i came across this site which came very handy in plating, percentage of each portion, how plenty one must place on a plate and the positioning of it ( think of a standard analogue clock, 12NN, 1PM, 2PM.. clockwise positioning.)

Trussing!

Day 19. Chicken.
September 28, 2011. CCA Katipunan.

Call me maarte, i dont care, but i don't really like trussing raw chicken. What's to like? Pasty skin? check. random parts with feathers? check. blood here and there? check. neck longer than the normal that you need to chop it yourself? check.

 what's to like? i like it only if it's cooked and i'm betting majority of the world agrees with this.

Vegetables part2!

Day 18. Vegetables

September 26, 2011. Monday


Another vegetable day. Too bad i picked vegetable strudel, not my most favorite. Well, mainly because our recipe required cauliflower (yuck!) and celery (Triple quadruple yuck!), so i wasn't really enthusiastic about it. I looked up the internet how a strudel normal looks like, and google said..

 when in reality, Mark and I got this:

Nth Mercato!

Sunday. September 25, 2011

BGC. Mercato Centrale

This is a picture of me and my awesome awesome friend, Gayle enjoying the sunny Saturday Mercato Centrale crowd a few months ago. 

How can i say we ate a lot without heavy exagerration? Because we ATE A LOT that day! We bought (okay, get ready for this!) Bagnet sandwich, hungarian sausage, mochi ice cream, mushroom ravioli, spinach and cheese quiche, cinnamon bread, happy cream puff, cinnamon tea, pepper chicken, large wintermelon tea.. OH GOSH. We indeed ate a lot that day! fudgy bar!

Katipunan #2

Day 17. Vegetables

CCA Katipunan

September 22, 2011. Thursday

So this is Day 2 of our Katipunan temporary migration, and we covered vegetables. Unfortunately we did not get much lecture from chef, we were only given our recipes and we just went ahead and cooked them. 

I got assigned with making Braised Red Cabbage. 

Katipunan. #1

Day 16. Assessment.

CCA Katipunan.

September 21, 2011, Wednesday
I got so used to coming to school via the quicker MOA route that i allotted the same time in leaving for KATIPUNAN. I seemed to have overlooked the longer AranetaAve-QAve-Circle-Commonwealth-CPeffinGarcia-AuroraBlvd Route and it took me 20minutes longer than the usual. Almost got late because i had to went out of my way to buy a cup of regular coffee to start the day!

SQUATTERS, that we are. We were supposed to skip classes to make way again for an event in school but we all insisted to still push through with it so as not to lose momentum and the only way for this to happen is if we reserve a lab in our Katipunan campus and hold classes there ergo, the shift in venue.

Don't get me wrong i love my school, but the Katipunan Campus is much much different than the Oceana Campus..

Fusion!

September 20, 2011. Tuesday. 

Dinner for family!

RubRibs!

My bestfriend of 10 years has been bugging me constantly about this awesome, awesome tucked in ribs place in Tomas Morato called RUB and we finally got the chance to do it this week. 

We had such a nice time eating, aughing. And since we got there around 10PM-ish, we had the second floor all to ourselves. The ambience was quite a comfortable one albeit small ( not for the claustrophobic!), the only thing difficult is the street parking (or lack thereof).

As for the food line-up..

Pasta and friends!

Day 15. Pasta and friends.
September 19 & 20.

For pasta, we made fresh dough using olive oil, flour, eggs, salt and water. It went okay, far better than the one i made ages ago using old school method ( that is, rolling pin kneading.) We used pasta maker:

Rice!

Day 14. Rice! September 15, 2011

If there's one thing about me and food, it's how i don't like to eat rice and how i feel after, if ever i eat some. It's like sugar rush and hyper mode, and energizer bunny all into one.

But i enjoy cooking them; especially Risotto. One of our classmates made the risotto for class but for some weird reason, it tasted like soap after! We all had a good laugh after it, so that's the reason why i failed to take a picture of it.

All Things Potatoes #2

Day 13. 

Yet another set of potato dishes. This entry's supposed to be posted last week, September 13, Tuesday, and i remember taking home an entry loaf pan of freshly baked potato gratin, until of course, the unfortunate, unexpected thingy happened which caused me sleepless nights, anxiety and stress for the rest of the week, not to mention around 30k. But all's well now and that should be more than enough. 

Woosahh. =) 

Coffee #1 - SOFITEL

SOFITEL MANILA. 

Another attack of craziness. I have been meaning to try hotel lobby coffees and pastries for THE longest time. It has some sort of nostalgic or melancholic feel to it. Like i've been drinking hotel lobby coffee for the longest time, and yet somehow, i know i haven't done it before. 

All Things Potatoes! #1

DAY 12: STARCH. 

Finally it's back to school time! The past 4 days went rather slowly, we all got pleeenntttyyyy of rest and come Sunday night, most of my classmates were already getting antsy pantsy, giddy with excitement to come to school. We got Chef Annali back and everyone's so kulit the whole morning, teasing, laughing and catching up, we probably just missed each other. 

STARCHES. We made all sorts of potato dishes. And apparently, we're off to do more tomorrow. *FART*

Some of these dishes are quite simple to make, heck a kindergarten student can even make these with his eyes closed. But then again, basics, basics, basics. 

4days off!

time; 12:40PM
place: CBTL GB3

It's Friday noon and im having lunch by my lonesome here in CBTL. I have 8 hours to burn while waiting for the Manila Girls to time off from work.

Bummer bummer bummer why do we have to have this 4day break from school! It's a total waste. But well, i have to make use of whatever's on hand.

Dad again talked to me the other day, asking for assurance if i still think that getting into culinary school is a good idea. I told him of course yes, since i still think it is. Why?

Baking!

time: 5:01 Pm
place: Dad's "office"

Have i mentioned how i seriously hate baking?

Well, not that i hate baked goods, trust me I love them! It's just that baking or making any form of desserts for that matter, seems to have a serious all out war against me!

To explain myself further, exhibit A. Failed attempt of a tiramisu made last 2009:

MOA event!

time: 12:21
place: MOA

DAY 9. Assessment.

We had our 2nd assessment for this day to mark the end of our FASTRAK-1 or the SOUPS, STOCKS and SAUCES part of the course. I got hollandaise and mornay cheese sauce so of course, i had to make bechamel first.

I started the day with my usual McDonald's arabica coffee and not a worry in mind. But when we got to school, there were already several other students ( higher batch, apprarently) getting ready to use our kitchen. Turns out, we ( CCA-Oceana) has 2 events for that day that requires early preparation and naturally, manpower to pull it off. We are wave 13, and in the end, Wave 11, 12 and 13, all 3 batches, had to join forces and help out.

Its the most tiring day and most funnest ever! The first event used up our function room for a Coffee Seminar for an HRM school. We all helped in making their food and plating them as well.

But the most exciting part is the muslim event that we (CCA) sponsored which served muslim inspired dishes like roti with hummus and mutabal and bacalao with pomelo salad for starters, lamb burger, beef rendang sushi (picture below), tuna potstickers and chicken satay for the main dish and fruit shooters and durian creme brulee for desserts.

 beef rendang sushi and lamb burger served on a large tile

Twitter!

time: 09:59

"And, you smiled at me the same time i smiled at you. Right there, at that moment, i knew. You own me."

 - Monday. 

Cuisinier Brasserie!

time: 09:59PM
place: home

TUESDAY. Timog. Cuisinier Brasserie


Hurrah! Since today is still a national holiday, our class scheduled an ALP or an alternative learning program instead of having our usual classroom lecture / labs.

Chef Annali's friend and fellow [former] instructor from CCA owns the restaurant, The Cuisinier Brasserie, located along Timog which offers French-Mediterranean cuisine.

Jatujak!

time: 6:04PM

place: room

It's Wednesday today and we had Monday and Tuesday off from school since it's holiday here so again, mom and sis and myself decided to go out [again] and mall ourselves despite being out all weekend.

By malling i mean, hearty lunch, shopping and coffee and cakes. Ugh. Calories again!

We were craving for something tsut-kok-y and yummy so we decided to eat at this fave thai resto of ours, Jatujak!

everything yum yum yum!


Cheers! Until the next! :)

Espagnole!

time: 4:11AM

place: room

DAY 8. Aug 26. SAUCES: Espagnole

HELL'S KITCHEN SEASON1! I have been watching and downloading nonstop and i decided to start again with Season1! Chef Gordon Ramsey is one scary scary person!

So for today's lecture, we are all officially sick in class. I stopped drinking my daily coffee since it's making my throat worse. I switched instead to drinking twinning's apple & cinnamon tea and it's doing wonders. 

Sauce for today? Espagnole. 

Veloute!

time: 3:52pm
place: house

DAY 7. Aug 25. SAUCES: Veloute


Again, ill be really honest. this is a totally new word for me. Although i have been eating my fish with this sauce for the longest time, i never really thought much of it. 1. It is lemony and buttery so i thought it's just err.. lemon and butter. 2. I pay more attention to the fish than the sauce. Apparently, the more important role here is sauce and the saucier and NOT the fish!

Bechamel!

time: 3:29PM
place: bed

DAY 6B. Aug 24 SAUCES: BECHAMEL.


I am starting to feel sick by now. The waking-up-at-4-in the morning has finally taken its toll on me. Throat itchy, head heavy and nose a bit runny. But it's not just me, it's me and almost 50% of the class. Whoever came up with this 6am-12nn class? You must be having a blast now! Ugh.

Anyway, we move on from soups to sauces and we touched on bechamel sauce first. Im pretty excited since it's actually my mom who taught me how to make this sauce when making pasta.

Asparagus!

time: 1:43PM
place: room

DAY 6. August 23. Assessment


Thank goodness we were let off early today; class ended around 10:30am coz we had a scheduled exam. Im feeling sleepy a while ago when driving home but for some reason when i got home, all hopes for sleep went away!

For today's quiz i picked Cream of Asparagus ( rather, chanced upon!) So here: while simmering (After sweating) the asparagus with butter, boil with stock and simmer after.

Spices!

time: 11:18PM
place: bed

On a totally different topic, My mom and myself went to Quiapo to buy stuff for the store and i tagged along to look for cheap spice containers. We bought 12 bottles from mom's suki there and whoopee, i immediately transferred my spices to their new home!

Cheers! Until the next! :)

Soups, again!

time: 10:52PM
place: bed

DAY 5. AUG. 22. MISC SOUP


What a lazy, rainy, Monday morning. It's weird that i feel as though im only getting avg of 4hrs of sleep everyday and yet, i am alert and energized in the morning during class! I once said to a friend that the 5 years of work with *Bleep* is nothing compared to the happiness and lightness of the 4days of classes I've had so far!

So for today, I made:

Bisque!

time: 10:40pm
place: bed ( again! T.T)

DAY 4. August 19. Cream Soups

I have to say i am getting used to the quiet mornings. I tool the above picture while having coffee outside a 711 store along E-com center. It's still quite dark and the air is still thick and cold. I love wonderful mornings.

For today's lesson, we were assigned to make different cream soups; New England Clam Chowder, Puree of Potato and Leeks, Shrimp Bisque and Cream of Asparagus soup. And, if given a choice, i'd choose a cup of hot, creamy soup over a thick slab of steak oozing with gravy with potatoes on the side, anytime of the day!

Consomme!

time: 9:01PM
place: room

Day3. Aug18, 2011, Clear Soups. 


Time for clear soups today! So byebye already to not doing anything, but off to actual cooking. Lesson 1: French cuisine. My friend Jordan said last Tuesday when we met up for coffee that he doesn't really get it why most culinary schools start with basic French cuisine. My take is, we all have to admit that Europe, France, is the mother of all foods fancy. So we're simply doing justice her reputation.

Stocks!

time: 11:01PM

place: bed

Day2. August 17, Stocks


Got my new kicks from Crocs. Bistro Shoes for P2,500 which i bought from BHS with my great friend, Jordan ( Crocks!)

Kinda getting used to this getting-up-4AM-driving-half-asleep thing. My reward is the awesome awesome sunrise that i witness while driving along Roxas Boulevard. Priceless.

Knife Skills!

time: 10:50PM,
place: room

DAY1. August 16. Tuesday


Whoopee! This marks the official official first day since basically yesterday was just this really short orientation. But today, whoopee! Schooling againnnn! So i got to school really early, drinking my coffee while driving and I CANT HELP BUT THINK that, gosh, I'm gonna do this wake up early thing for the next 6 months ( till next year!) so i have GOT to adjust quick.

Student, again!

Time: 09:03PM

Place:  Bed

What. A. Whirlwind! It's already Wednesday now and school started last Monday! Dad had to wake me up cause for some reason, i failed to hear my phone's alarm! (Thanks Daddy, sorry for bothering you so early!) 

Anyways, okay, where do i start? Orientation? Okay! =) 

Pan Seared Dory!

Time: 12:21Am

Place: Bed

iPod looping Marooon5's Never Gonna Leave This Bed.

( You push me, i don't have the strength to...)

Since im quite broke (Saving!) and bored, decided to play with the cream dory that Mom took home from the grocery.

It's very simple right?

Mishmash!

time: 11:13pm

place: bed

why is school taking so long? from the original date of July 25, it got moved to aug 8, then aug 15.

crazy crazy free time on hand.

okay, so what have i been doing lately?

these!

Turning stateside!

Time: 4:25PM
Place: Starbucks Northgate, Alabang


Fun but complete utter fail!

WOFEX!

Time: 11:48PM
Place: bed


Dad and i went to the 2K11 Wofex over at world trade center to look at some new (and exciting?) food machineries for manufacturing. He's been pushing for us to come up with a fresh idea so we figured going there is a start.

Jobhunting101!

Time: 07:31PM
Place: home





Okay. I dont know what happened but i wrote a post earlier and its not published again!

Oh well, i wrote about how my interview went earlier this morning.
 

Better!

Time: 09:18PM
Place: Banawe


Well, today went okay and true to Thailand's promise, im still doing okay. No more hurting, no more grudges, no more pain.

I went out around 4pm ( after watching 2 Gumiho episodes) to go to Serenitea and pick up some groceries after. I am quite getting used to being alone again.

Last!

Time: 10:04Pm
Place: airport





We're heading home now. Before leaving the hotel, mom and myself decided to buy authentic pad thai streetfood.

Oink oink!

Time: 7:10pm
Place: hotel spa place

Eat Pray Love day3 part 2!




We already checked out of our rooms earlier (6am!) this morning before heading to the floating market and we are soooo tired now. The tour took us to the floating market, elephant show (?!) cobra show (?!) and woodcarving factory (?!) what a waste of day.

Free!

Time: 09:27AM BkK time
Place: floating market





EatPrayLove day3

We woke up extra extra early (5am!) for today's trip to this floating market 1.5 hours outside Bangkok.

Finally!

Time: 11:19PM
Place: hotel room

I just had a eureka! moment.






Now i understand. Im baaaaack.



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Hot!

Time: 2:26PM
Place: Ayutayah

I think i just turned 2 shades darker! Well, the weather forecast did say hot or hotter.
But nonetheless, this is Eat Pray Love day2. Revisited the summer palace and the temples and ruins.

Journey!

Time: 8:03am
Place: hotel lobby

We're having our buffet breakfast now here at the hotel. I had a very peaceful sleep and the last thing i remember from lat night is praying for peace of mind and freedom from pain and then it's morning already.

Ive decided to stop checking my facebook and i will change my number already. It's a start and i might lose touch with several of my friends but i feel the need to hide to be able to find myself, to lose inside myself only to be found in the end.. But who knows for sure?

Cheers!:)



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Loft!

Oh! By the way, We went to Siam Discovery and revisited the Loft and found out they were on sale! (Still went home with nothing, ahihi).

And im starting to visualize this cafe that i have in mind!

Tired!

Time: 5:28BKK time
Place: cab

Eat Pray Love!

Time: 08:34Am
Place: Thailand

It's morning now and we are about to have our breakfast.

Today, Ive decided to start living again. Will stop moping around with a long face and negavibe. :)

Coffee at night!

Time: 8:25
Place: T3 airport

We are so bored.
Just had dinner here and didnt reallize until just now that i haven't had anything to eat for today except for this dinner (and a late lousy coffee.)


I hate it that im in such a foul and lousy mood. But i guess this is a choice right?