Happiness of the Gastronomic Kind

It’s back to the salt mines for me.

I just started work this week and my body is adjusting to the semi-night shift schedule, which translates to 3-4 hours of sleep daily. Just writing about sleep is already making me drowsy. Sigh. Yawn. Things will get better in time. Yawn.

The week prior (my last week as an unemployed mommy) has been crunch time in terms of maximizing snuggle time with P, working out at the gym, meeting friends, cooking, and yes… eating. My busy world revolved around food last week. It was a happy world.

Meet ups with friends are synonymous to meeting at restaurants and eating and drinking. I have eaten in more restaurants and tried new dishes in the last 2 weeks than I had in the past year. Here are some highlights...

Uh yep, this looks like another food blog. Sorry.

I tried the Lugang Cafe lunch buffet for the first time – amazing! Best P600 spent! I was in xiao long bao heaven. For those who haven’t tried xiao long bao, (I suggest you go try them NOW) they are steamed soup dumplings which originated in—the name’s a dead giveaway -- China. Imagine half-sucking and half-sipping a light broth as soon as you bite into the soft steamed dumpling wrapper. Add some black rice vinegar to the pork dumpling and the tangy-savory contrast just sends your pupils dilating. Not in the same way dark chocolate does but it's in the same foodgasmic area code. Lugang Café has an amazing assortment of xia long bao. From the classic steamed pork dumpling to the angel loofah with shrimp and the exotic kimchi and pork xiao long bao. But my absolute fave is the vegetarian dumplings with truffle oil. *Wipe drool now* (Forgot to take photos as I didn't think I'd blog about it. Will do so on my next trip. Sorry!).

Waiting for our palitaw at Via Mare with my BFF from Jakarta, Rhia

My bff (No, not Mishy, the other BFF. Yes, I have more than one. I have three!) from Jakarta visited me and my 4 year old over the weekend. To celebrate our reunion, we had lunch at Paco’s favorite restaurant in the whole wide universe. Not McDonalds. Not Jollibee. Thousand Cranes. I’ll bet my right pinky toe you didn’t get that right. But yes, he’ll pick shabu-shabu over fries and nuggets any day. Paco is nuts about shabu-shabu . Absolutely nuts I tells ya! We ate there 3 times last week alone! Little P has grown-up-asian taste in food. He loves shabu-shabu and Vietnamese pho. Go figure. Well, shabu-shabu is basically vegetables, noodles, balls (seafood or meat), and thinly sliced meat boiled in a lightly flavored broth. They don’t give discount cards in Thousand Cranes but they gave me a discount on our last meal for being a frequent diner. Mind you, I didn’t ask for a discount so imagine my surprise when I saw an adjustment on the bill. Such angels! Makes me want to eat there more often.

After our shabu-shabu meal, we moved restaurants so I can have my favorite local dessert… palitaw. Via Mare, which is conveniently located right next to Thousand Cranes in Eastwood City, is my go-to place for palitaw. Palitaw (Filipino term for “float”) is a small, flat, glutinous rice dessert. The sticky rice is washed, soaked in water and then ground. The paste is rolled and flattened into small disks and boiled in water. It only takes a few minutes for the disks to float, an indication that they are done, then they are scooped out and served with shredded coconut meat, white sugar and toasted sesame seeds. Lovely with a cup of earl grey tea or some bittersweet tablea (local) hot chocolate. This post is making me crave dessert. Sorry no photos again but will visit the place soon and update this post with palitaw and shabu-shabu pics. Promise.

Mommy and P with Tito Eric and Tito Sol at OTKB

The following day, I met up with some more friends for another gastronomic adventure. We set out to try OTKB (Olive Tree Kitchen and Bar) at Bonifacio High Street. I fell in love with this restaurant the minute I entered. I loved the ambiance, classy but not snobby. Cozy enough for a date but not overboard romantic. So definitely no you-can’t-bring-your-kids vibe here. Food was superb and excellently plated. Every dish that came out of the kitchen was instagram-post-worthy. I’m not much for food photos (I'm sure you can tell by the lack of dumpling, shabu-shabu and palitaw shots) but I took a lot of food pictures here. The dishes were almost too pretty to eat! I sampled some parmesan fries (worth the calories but stuck to 3 sticks) and their cheese, salumi and fruits salad. The salad’s contrast of flavors worked so well you almost forget you’re eating healthy. It had slices of mortadella (Italian cured sausage) and prosciutto, salad greens with an amazing goat cheese mousse and gorgonzola crumble. The sharp cheese went really well with the slightly sweet and tangy dehydrated fruits – think dried apples and gorgonzola – yum! 

Cheese, Salumi and Fruit Salads

Crispy Pork Belly

My son wanted the crispy pork belly with a generous serving of port and marsala reduction, thick puree of apples and pears on a bed of black mountain rice. Since he wasn't eating asian noodles and soup this time, P decided it was time for donuts after about 7 bites. Yeah, he could use more training. Being a mommy, I sampled his leftovers (he barely touched his food). I started with a small picky-eater bite of the pork dish and ended up finishing everything on the plate! Every last bit of that crunchy pork rind and tender pork belly down to the gritty black mountain rice and the sweet apple and pear puree. It was plate-licking good! And I don’t even like pork! Also tried the scorched eggplant and mascarpone. It was okay. Maybe I just wanted a bit more of the scorched eggplant taste and less of the bread.

Scorched Eggplant and Mascarpone

Now for the best part…*drum roll please*… dessert. My friends and I shared a serving of their chocolate terrain. It was chocolate on steroids! Chocolate gateau, moist brownie, light chocolate mousse, white chocolate shavings, an ultra crunchy chocolate shard, and crazy-yummy bits of crisp chocolate rocks and soil. My friend Sol and I ate most of the dessert. We devoured it in 3 minutes tops. If only I wore a loose shirt that day, oh I would've ordered another terrain. And I would NOT share, not with Sol at least! Lol.

Chocolate Terrain

We stayed in the restaurant for about 4 hours while the kids (P and my godson Zach) played in timezone and out front in the grassy lawn area. Yup, 4 hours. It was great to have grown-up conversation and I seriously didn't want to say goodbye to my friends. We decided to do an early night cap and tried their gin basil cocktail as recommended by the bar. A little too sweet for my taste but for someone who doesn’t really drink cocktails (I’m more a scotch-on-the-rocks daddy-drinker), the drink was pretty good -- like a sweet, mature, upscale mojito. Yeah...I'd call it a pretentious mojito with an extra serving of syrup.

Gin Basil

Took P fish shopping after and burned a few more calories walking to the parking lot (I didn’t lose my car this time...woohoo). We were quiet on the drive home, obviously happy and pretty satisfied from our full day. Stopping at a red-light, I adjusted my seatbelt strap and noticed my happy tummy. I instantly made a guilt-ridden mental note to self… 'At all costs, DO NOT SKIP GYM TOMORROW.' 

P and his new red beta, Atom

So what did I get out of my food adventures with my lovely friends? Aside from the happy calories, a great blog idea. Well, we brainstormed about possible topics for my sarcastic journal and 'Project 365 Mommy Abs' was born! My journey to abs will commence next week. Super excited although I must admit that just the idea of shooting my 'BEFORE' tummy shots is quite terrifying. Might need a couple of those pretentious mojitos to give me guts to show my unsightly gut. Eep.