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 !!!

Mrs. Fields' Sandwiches

We had never been to MOA (Mall of Asia) so frequent as much as we did during the recent X'mas holiday. We combed most shops in this massive mall looking for presents. Ofcourse we took some breaks to eat. And so the rest of the shoppers did. Which made looking for a breathable place to eat became as tedious as looking for the right present.



One time, we didn't bother to think twice when we saw a vacant table of a pop-up resto of Mrs. Fields. I'm referring to the one in the middle of the mall lobby. Actually,we were hardly aware of the name of the coffee shop when we sat down cos all we saw were vacant chairs and a table. You know we were like "when you are shopping for hours and all you want to do is to sit".

So it was like "we better order food so we could sit here for a while". Personally, I'm not even a fan of Mrs. Fields cookies cos they are too sweet for my preference. But my girls love the cookies here.

So we ordered each a sandwich meal which included a cookie and a drink.

Mine was the tuna sandwich in ciabatta bread. #failed.

Older daughter got the chicken sandwich in ciabatta bread too. #failed also.

Younger daughter had the roast beef sandwich in wheat bread I think. #winner.

This one redeemed the lost sandwiches and got shared by the 3 of us.




Well, I should have had just let Mrs. Fields sweeten my day with her famous cookies instead of those sandwiches... I don't even.

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.

50's Diners, Baguio City

This resto serves delicious American junks_burgers, ice cream and some pastas, salads and soups. There are also Pinoy street foods like fishball and kikiam on sticks. Actually the menu is a fusion of Filipino and International dishes.




Everything is on big serving and needless to say the place is not for health conscious diners. I luv their club house sandwich thu', it's huge, good for the entire family of four and the bread tastes freshly bake.








The ambiance is really 50's (don't get me wrong I wasn't born in that era!), just like the way I saw it in old movies. With neon lights, waitresses in navy uniforms of white and pink. The walls are also adorn with vintage movie posters of Hollywood celebrities.




The place was full of  local and foreign tourists which I assume just like us, came from visiting or staying at Camp John Hay or Baguio Country Club because it is located near the junction of those two famous places. Great snack -stop location after a tiring stroll of these sites.




The verdict : It's crowded which slow the service and not recommended for hungry stomach because you have to wait for an hour or more to please your ranting tummy. The foods are delicious because they are all comfort sinful foods.