Cafe Mary Grace

If not doing instagram and having dormant tweeter acct. would  mean living under a rock. Then I plead guilty, haha. No one cares anyway. I don't, haha. As I mentioned   here, I've started cleaning up my phone. Some more from my poor photo overloaded phone :

Looks like somewhere nice but not in a mall , right? It's Cafe Mary Grace at Southmall ( Las Pinas ).




Tables are quite interesting.. No, the letter was not from me.




Again I lost track of the date here, but I'm sure it was earlier this year, based on my hair, haha. I don't like the light here thu'. Not working well with my cam phone, my age is showing here, haha.




I had my favorite prawn salad with mango papaya vinaigrette ...

.. split with my date, older daughter.  We both love this salad. I could eat this everyday.

And a slice of mango bene which we shared. yum!

We only had those two and we were contented. We took home a box of brownies for the younger daughter at home. I love Cafe Mary Grace.

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 !!!

Shooting Cibo

It took us hours of rounds of restaurants in ATC (Alabang Town Center) before we ended up at Cibo. I'm talking about the other day when daughter had to do food photography as a school project. I agreed to her choice of Cibo cos first of all_ I knew I didn't have a post on it yet, hehe. Shooting two birds, haha.



We both doubted the light factor inside the resto. It was either dark. .

or too yellowed.

She decided, she was going to do her photo shoot. . outside at the al fresco area.



We chose the food not really to our likings (but I like everything at Cibo! ) but according to the aesthetics value of the presentation. Daughter specified that she needed something with colors. Salad was a no brainer choice.



*photo by daughter* Insalata Pacifica. With the greens, and the colorful tomatoes, how can you go wrong with this? The white elements were thinly sliced palm heart, sprinkled with parmesan cheese and dressed with balsamic vinaigrette . Yum.yum.yum.

I urged her to rush shooting the salad cos I was already drolling. I'm a salad addict, haha. Funny that this time  I took the seat of my family and friends who usually dined with me and always waiting for me to get done with the food shooting of each plate before they could eat. Now I know the waiting saga, haha. Oh, the salad? It was perfect. The veggies were so fresh and the dressing was just right with the balance of sourness and sweetness. I just thought I wanted more cheese on it.



Next, daughter wanted a dish already presented unneeded of anymore tweakings. She found the sandwiches in the menu and ordered one.

*photo by daughter*  Mozarella sandwich. It's in the seafood sandwich category. I know, the sandwich played background here.



*photo by daughter* The chips and the dips were stealing the scene. I guess, precisely why she chose this dish. The setting with those sidings was awesome. p/s : the chips were del-i-cious! The dip was I thought just plain mayo and salt.

*photo by daughter* But hey this isn't a photo blog! This is my food blog!! haha. Shall we get back to the sandwich? In between the ciabatta bread were anchovy, tomato slices, oregano and basil. Just exactly the way I want my sandwich_ sooo healthyful! And the threads of mozarella cheese were gooeyful!!!



*photo by daughter* Fresh grapes juice/smoothie. Her choice too. Why not? Aesthetically appealing with those pixels of grapes. The color is great too, right? The tiny mints as the crown glory concluded the freshness of its ingredients. The taste? Well, really grape-y. It's like putting a bunch of fresh grapes in a blender at home and blend with ice. That's it. That was how it tasted. No complications.



*photo by daughter* Tiramisu. What can I say? Truly "a heaven in your mouth". The best so far tiramisu I ever had. A lil' trivia here: I thought it's a Japanese dessert cos of the sound of its name. It was only lately that I found out that it's an original Italian dessert, haha. I would surely come to Cibo when I crave for tiramisu next time. The best!!! The layers were carameralized-ly gooey and the chocolate slices were massive!!! loveth!



photo by the waiter, haha. Now it's time for daughter to eat my leftovers, haha. She was done with her assignment and dived into the food. She and my younger daughter are also one hell of  foodies too.

Roasted Sesame Dressing

Since yesterday until tomorrow, my younger daughter is my lunch-at-home mate. She's having her periodical exams and hence on a half day scheds. This girl is more of her dad's diet, those junk fastfoods I hate. Burgers and hotdogs are favorites. So to meet her halfway, I eat adobo or tocino and rice with her. We both love Ligo sardines though.

Wednesday and Friday are my older daughter off from classes and so for this 3rd sem (her last of her first year), she's my lunch buddy. This ate eats the same as me. She likes everything I like.



When she's around, I don't have to think otherwise what to prepare. I just add volume to what I usually have everyday when I'm alone. Salad is a regular. I just varied it according to what's available inside the fridge. Last Friday, we had crab-mango salad.



A day ago, we went up to Tagaytay, I bought lots of freshly pick lettuce and have them stored in the fridge. The romaine was still crisp and fresh, loveth! Romaine is my favorite lettuce variant. It has no hint of bitterness at all. The mangoes were from Tagaytay too. They were super sweet. The sweetest crabs were ofcourse from my hometown in Quezon prov.
I dressed this salad with sesame dressing which is really-really my favorite. I bought that huge bottle of roasted sesame dressing less than a month ago. Look, how I consume it so fast. It's already about just 1/4 of the bottle. I'm addicted to it. It's quite expensive for a salad dressing but I thought it's worthy cos I tend to eat greens everyday if I have this dressing. My brother is suggesting for us to try making our own sesame dressing, and would based it from this brand which is my favorite. Yeah, I guess I'll try that. I'll be saving a lot from doing my own. If I got it right, I'll share with you the recipe. Promise ;D

Two Plates of Shrimp

I'm not sure if shrimps/prawns have  their own season and if there is, it must be these days cos  I've seen a lot of them in the wet market I'm frequenting for three subsequent Sundays now. They are also much affordable these days.
So every week I have shrimp supply in the freezer ready when the need and craving arise. Funny, but my younger daughter doesn't like shrimp. I don't really cook it so much for hubby either cos I'm watching his calorie/fat intake. He does have it on a limited portion and only as much as possible when steamed.
So usually. it's me and my older girl who indulge.
The other night, hubby was still away for a 4 days out of town job and y.daughter was already in bed. O.daughter was still busy with homeworks and was looking for a snack.
I :

1).Took out the shrimp from the frezeer
2). and while thawing, I made a batter for the cover of the shrimp.quickly  
3). Cracked an egg,
4). dipped the peeled, salted & peppered shrimp and coated it with the batter.
5). Then threw each in a deep frying oil.



Voila ! ! Nothing but yummyness !! Also while I was frying, my multi-tasking hands were cooking a sweet and sour dip sauce. Nice and easy. Daughter was very happy with our midnight shrimp cocktail !

But hey, my shrimp indulgence didn't end there. Last night, hubby was back home from the city of strawberry and vegetables _ Baguio City! so ofcourse he brought home what? _
1).strawberry
2). and lettuce

( and many other delicacies from this highland). Two of my favorite foods in the world.
And since, I hadn't taken my dinner when he arrived, I quickly whipped a salad _ lettuce was so fresh and the strawberry was not perfectly sweet. Perfect to add mild sourness to this salad :

Wowmmmy !!!! Looks Christmas is already here huh! The peeled steamed shrimp was just so right with the rest of the members of this plate. Dressing was an easy mayo-herb-y which I prepared in a whip.



When la familia saw this plate, it was gone in less than 5 minutes !

Kxp's Mango & Crab Salad

Everytime my foot sets in Robinson's, Malate, I wouldn't miss to have a plate of my favorite Kxp's crab and mango salad. Sometimes, Kxp becomes a destination, only because I'm longing for this sweet, seasalty, green salad.


A bit spicy when you pat in the chili powder sprinkled around the salad plate. It's like a kani salad but whatever, I like Kxp's version.

Oh please don't ask me about the restaurant because I have nothing to share. I just got my feet in there last year and discovered that great crab and mango salad. I know there's one in Greenbelt. More than that, nothing. just the salad!

Bento 2

My girls' :

- hot rice
- slice fresh cucumber
- lean pork asado
- carrot cake (homebaked)


Mine :


- hot rice
- lean pork asado ( his is hot spicy)
- cucumber and seaweed salad
- homebaked carrot cake