Metro Gourmet

Next to a beach, a grocery store is my favorite place to go to.. and linger I won't mind. I could go around from aisle to aisle with same interest I pay to every page of a book I read. It's my happy place.

It doesn't matter if my reason for going is to buy just a bottle of canola oil and then end-up with a few more add-ons, cos for me it's a guilt- free trip cos I know it would benefit/ feed my family somehow. It's not like buying myself a pair of shoes or purse or garments? Right moms? defensive me, haha

I also love the idea of taking snack within the grocery. I particularly frequent The Metro in ATC (Alabang) which has a deli shop with a gourmet cafe.

And since I patronize their deli products...

I thought it won't hurt if I would sample them straight from their own kitchen.

So this particular day last week, with my constant grocery buddy (photo), before heading to the cashier, we made a  snack stop at the Metro Gourmet.

We had the deli's clubhouse sandwiches to share. Why not, already most of their deli products are present in a clubhouse sandwich ( ham, bacon, chicken salad, etc.).

The clubhouse sandwich didn't disappoint. Just right. My friend like it too. 

Another one we had was a plate of pesto pasta. We had spiral as choice of pasta. Pesto sauce  was delicious. Just enough creaminess, a hint of garlic spice, and some bites of nuts ( I'd like to guess as pine nuts). 

I had liked it so much then that when I went back at the same grocery the other day with my girls, I bought a take-out of it. In the middle of traffic on the way home, while the pasta dish was still hot, I started to eat and went to share it with my girls. To my big dismay, it didn't taste the same at all. My take out was oily and I didn't like it. My girls agreed with me. I didn't know what went wrong. Could it be the pasta? Cos this time I chose fettuccine for pasta. Whatever, I still didn't like the sauce this time. My girls were also disappointed to the farmer's sandwich they bought from this deli and didn't finish it too.

Oh well. first impression rarely lasts these days. =)

Almon Marina

Happy CNY2013!!!

Ok few days late:)). We were at SM Southmall that day and looking for a place to eat at Food Street.
People were enjoying photo ops with the beautiful CNY decors and mascots.
It was past lunch at 1:30-2 pm., I think. Almost every resto there was full. Especially the relatively new Korean buffet there with the longest queue which to date we haven't tried yet .

We saw  Almon Marina Sandwich Bar and Deli as the most uncrowded among all restos at SM Food Street, so naturally we chose it. Yes, that's our first & most important criterion in choosing a place to eat_ that it must not have a headache q just to get a table. It's simple math! Qtable + Qservice + Qfood = 3rd degree, haha.

Actually, I love Almon Marina. We don't frequent it thu' cos my girls preferred the commercial fast food chains when they were younger so I would eat here when with husband only.




my plate
I had a plate of  Crab Louis Salad. Yes_ only. For me it's a complete meal. It has protein (egg, crabstick? not counted, maybe carbo, haha), fruits and veggies. I finished the whole plate clean and I was so full and satisfied. Without the guilt. Alright, must admit with a lil' guilt. Cos I used thousand island as dressing instead of healthier vinaigrette, haha.
I made a mental note to copy using papaya as a fruit in my salad at home. The other time I ate at Cafe Mary Grace ( which reminds me to do a post on that, later :) and I love the Prawn Salad w mango & papaya vinaigrette there. I realized papaya tastes so good in seafood & greens salad.

And for few good years now my already budding teens, finally got bored with those fast foods and somehow always on the look out to try something new which makes them my favorite foodie buddies in the whole planet. They are the My3rd7thSense, actually.




younger daughter's plate

6" Farmer's Ham & Cheese Sub With Pasta. Atleast it's not a fastfood chain's burger sandwich for her. She liked the sub sandwich so much. I'm always happy when I see her eating some greens & some veggies ( like tomato & onion ) which she only does when in a sandwich.




older daughter

Double Pasta With 1 Pc. Roast Chicken & Garlic Bread. The chicken looked so black and not pleasing , agree? But daughter said it was yum. Ofcourse younger daughter helped her finished the two pasta. I like the red sauce over the white. The latter was a tad bland for me.

We didn't have our sweets at Almon Marina cos right outside the door was a bakeshop kiosk where my girls    ' favorite cookie sits in jars_ oreo cheesecake cookie of Sophie's Mom.




When we stepped out of Almon Marina, people were still busy... haha.

Belated Happy CNY !!!

My Bf's Husband Cooks

I went to visit my friend in Singapore (again. . ) . Unlike our friends who are based in U.S. and Europe, this SG based mom is luckier cos she gets to enjoy Asian style stay-at-home- momhood  _ she still get to enjoy a house maid/help.



What's even better _ his Swiss- German husband is a kitchen expert. Yep, this Filipina wife knows nothing in the kitchen (haha, I could hear my friend saying _ I'm too much,haha). It's the expat husband who manages the kitchen. My friend is so very lucky!!In short. . totally  senorita! haha.
Imagine this  GM (general manager_ covering the whole Asia) husband still take time to do homecooking  for the family. That's so sweet. He even managed to prepare a dinner for us, one weekend when he was at home. Everything was labor of love, with home made pasta he himself prepared from the scratch. That's so awesome!



I took a snap of his kitchen. See those condiments and spices, he even has a lot more in the other side.So that night, he prepared two home cooked pasta :

spinach  pasta

cheezy pasta

buttered baby carrots

creamy spinach

chicken in white/red wine

This was my first serving. They were all good!!! I swear! I helped myself up to 3 servings. I actually forgot how the dishes called. I just named them by obvious ingredients.

One day I will try his recipe at home. My friend is one lucky girl. Cooking husband is a rare find and very kind indeed.

In the Comfort of The Pancake House

Yeah, I could agree no lesser. Undoubtedly, there's something comfortingly homey with The Pancake House which keeps me coming back everytime I seek for familiar  food. Ordinary dishes that I actually cook and eat at home , only here they make them a lil' bit extraordinary.

What could be more ordinary with pancakes? I love pancakes as much as my kids love them as breakfast and snack. But I particularly love the blueberry pancakes of  TPH. Yes, I do make pancake at home and top it with blueberries (from the can), TPH's has blueberries inside the pancake. Berries oozing down the plate when you slice it.That's so pretty!

Not only that, b-berries are not only incorporate in the batter but in the syrup as well. Unless, I would take an extra mile to mix my own pancake batter and prepare a homemade syrup in an attempt to come up with TPH's version , I wouldn't achieve my favorite blueberry pancake. So when the craving hits me_ I just jump to the nearest The Pancake House which I thought is lot practical than to make my own.



On the other hand, my daughter loves their pan fried chicken cos it's so ordinarily quite similar to our own version at home.Nothing's special but she likes it that way.

And the pastas! Well,  love them all. Most of my pasta concoctions at home are inspired by the pastas of TPH.  But when other ingredients are not available or quite costly for my allotted budget for a recipe, it's time to jump to  TPH again.

"The workaholics and leisureholics managed to return to sobriety in time in the comforting sanctuary of The Pancake House ".

Shrimp Pasta Soup

Heat is to the extreme X now. It rains a little , but only to make the weather hotter. To the max to the x !

Well, you can't beat mother nature. Might as well join her.

For lunch with my girls today, I checked my pantry. Nothing's in there. We actually just arrived home from a long weekend getaway. Although I brought home some fresh catches from the sea , there were no greens to nourish a dish. But I had _ spag noodles, milk and choices of shrimp, squid ,crab or fish.

I came up with very hot to the x _ shrimp pasta soup ! Why not ?



We indulge on icecream during rainy season even in the middle of a typhoon. A hot soup would surely feed our perspiring soul on this El Nino weather.




Mother knows best ! My girls loaded their tummies until bloated. They loved it ! They love everything I invent in my humble kitchen. . . actually ! Ofcouse, I save cups of it for J's part.

For those who want to try this hot dish on this max hot weather , so easy :



prepare :

- 1 cup cooked shrimp
- 1/4 kl cooked pasta noodles (preferably spaghetti)
- a can of evaporated milk
- italian seasoning to taste
- salt & pepper to taste
- chopped 1 med onion bulb
- 1 tsp chopped garlic
- 1&1/2 glass of water
- dash of cooking oi
- optional : knorr seasoning

on stove :

- saute' garlic & onion
- add on the cooked shrimp
- add on the liquid ( water, milk), until bubbles appear
- add on the cooked noodles
- sprinkle seasonings ( italian, salt & pepper, knorr)

Serve hot and smoking ! !

Bistro Ravioli

We were MOA-ing the other day and cuzin' Che blurted what was ravioli meant. I said it's somekind of pasta which has filling inside and like common spaghetti serves with tomato sauce ( maybe not always tomato based but the ones I had eaten were in tomato) .




Then she pushed the group inside this resto _ Bistro Ravioli cos she thought she needed to experience the dish.



The Bistro is proud to show that pasta is freshly house/resto made. When we arrived , we saw a kitchen staff kneeding some dough in a see thru glass pantry. Pretty impressive !






Immediately we ordered green salad with bacon bits and croutons. Caesar dressed. Good but a lil' salty for my tongue.

Kyla took a kiddie plate_ spaghetti with cheese and hotdogs.

Bianx and her pizza pepperoni , ofcourse shared by everyone. On salty side too but great to eat with the sauce of the ravioli.

Myka's carbonara was good and I gave credit to the quality of the pasta rather than the sauce.

Finally, Che's ravioli. She opted for the latest filling, which was the house/resto's cornedbeef. It was delicious and we were surprised that it was heavy on the tummy.


J arrived to fetch us and had to cancel his pasta cos he got full already with our left overs even before his order was finalized. The servings were enough for sharing and very filling. Must be the house pasta.

Everyone was satisfied.