Josephine's at Tagaytay

My vacation is coming to its last leg meaning soon I will return to my reality which is work and taking care of several important things. The thought of returning to work in time for month end is definitely terrifying as I will most likely have to shackle myself to my desk. Then there are those tasks I have postponed before I left which I now regret! Enough of my public vent.

Yesterday my uncle and aunt took my bratpack including my cousin and nephew to Tagaytay. It's considered a beautiful provincial area not as populated as the city but is very much a tourist attraction due to its mountains and the Taal Volcano. We had lunch at Josephine's Restaurant where we ate clam soup, a vegetable dish called Pinakbet and steamed Tilapia. I thought the soup was good the vegetable dish was alright and the Tilapia I feel was a bit over cooked as it was not as moist as how my mom at home makes it (maybe I just miss home). The Pinakbet was alright, I avoided the bittermelon, but supposedly there was no meat (which I was not looking for).

This restaurant was very much a tourist hot spot as it had very high ceilings with glass windows from the floor up which showcased a picturesque view of the Taal volcano. Service was decent there were several waiters running around everywhere but I thought it was really funny though how none of the waiters knew the correct WIFI code ... maybe they just didn't want to give it to us. The restaurant was already decorated in Christmas decor since the Philippines start Holiday celebrations once September hits! They even made/served a typical Filipino Christmas treat called Putoboomboom (I spelled that phonetically) right onsite -- I thought this was neat. It's made of sticky rice with coconut shavings and brown sugar. They also had an onsite ice cream street vendor right at the entrance of the restaurant (my sister bought one and was not stricken with food poisoning).

Emo-ness

Yes, I am a brat. I've spent a majority of this vacation shopping. And in the process of being in the brightly lit fake lights I've been distracted. Distracted from the culture, the people and the events around me that I know I need to face.

This morning I woke up fairly moody. Yesterday I had a good two hours during my mani/pedi to quiet down and think about everything. Usually when I arrive in Manila I'm faced with the mental & emotional conflict due to the extreme culture shift from Vancouver. And this time around I know I have tried to distract myself as the last time I was in Manila two years ago my Lolas and my cousin were still alive. I haven't let myself stop to really reflect because being the emotional sop that I am I would probably be in tears for the whole day. But this morning I woke up and I missed my Lola.

Before I get carried away with my emotions, my travel pack and I were brought to lunch at Pepper Lunch at Alabang Town Centre where I had these yummy salmon steaks on a sizzling plate. And then for dinner we ate at Max's Restaurant with my brother's godfather. There was so much food I didn't take photos. Yesterday was a very bad eating day - that may be why I woke up emotional today.

Expectations

Everyone has expectations. Sometimes its just difficult to keep up with them especially when you are the one being expected to do something.

I've booked a three week 'vacation' in Manila primarily to attend my cousin's wedding. In the last week during and leading up to my vacation I feel like I have had to work more than relax. I absolutely love spending time and catching up with family but when the days are composed of having to see so many people primarily out of custom it begins to be frustrating. There are people I want to see but then there are those who I am forced to see. By forced I mean to say that they are imposed into the schedule. Maybe it's just because I am a brat that I am writing about this but I have yet to fully experience ... freedom. I've felt confined to so many expectations that I can say getting lost at the Mall of Asia yesterday was probably the most freedom I've had in a while (which I of course killed a good portion of my trip budget).

Anyways, enough with the whining. Last Sunday, I went to Red Box Karaoke at Greenbelt 3 with the cousins on my dad's side. Prior to this my sister and I stumbled upon happy hour at Dillinger's Steak & Brew right beside it where we had these twinkie sized mozzarella sticks! It was definitely massive and cheesy --- we washed it down with shots of grey goose (yes that is as gross as it sounds).

On Monday my travel pack (siblings, brother's girlfriend and I) went through the Mall of Asia. We decided to gather our strengths prior to the excursion and have lunch at Burgoo. Maybe it's the restaurants we choose to go to but the salads are far from appetizing. I had a shrimp caesar salad. I guess that was my own fault though as I was never really into caesar salads but I was starving and ate it anyway. For dinner - after our 6 hour shopping expedition - I had a shrimp congee (rice porridge) at Luk Yuen. It definitely brought memories from the previous trips I've had to the Philippines with my family.

As this blog finally comes together, I realize that I am a brat for complaining about seeing family. I almost feel disgusted that I can come from such a position where I can replace a family visit with the need to feel relaxed. All I have to do is look outside to be reminded of how fortunate and blessed I am to have family and be as well off. Is it not normal to have expectations of how a vacation should be?

Customs

It's not very often we are faced with strict customs in Vancouver. From what I've experienced, cultural traditions in Vancouver are fairly flexible. And then you fly twelve hours over the Pacific Ocean to Manila, Philippines --- a completely different world it seems.

I think every time I come here I experience culture shock, the intensity of it varies per trip. This time I traveled to Manila (my birth home) with my siblings and my brother's girlfired so the intensity wasn't too high ... or maybe I've started to become accustomed to the poverty and shanty homes that line the busy streets? I hope not. Immediately after arrival we were faced with 'Customs'. I was a horrible travelerand I didn't check the expiry date on my passport therefore risked deportation. Since I made it within the two day grace period, I was allowed into the country (I hope they will let me return home)!

Upon arriving at my uncle's place we were greeted with an abundance of food -- a Filipino norm. I hit them with a surprise of my being vegetarian after I had of course nibbled on what I could for breakfast ... which was plenty since there was a plethora of food to choose from.

It's been very difficult when we go out as I can't just have a random salad. It's hard to find a healthy quick bite, like an apple, while my siblings and cousins eat a pizza. I've been carrying around a bag of nuts -- although peanuts are on my 'do not eat' list.

My cousin's wedding at the Sofitel Hotel was pretty amazing though! She had a SALAD BAR ... yes, not just one salad but various kinds AND there were steamed vegetables ... which almost looked to be garnish for the roast lamb but I took them anyway, hahaha. I guess that's all I have to blog about for now. My lack of photos stem from my lack of motivation to take photos of my food (a combination of both the humidity and jet-lag).

Vegas Havoc

Last May I had the opportunity to travel to Vegas with a few of my great friends and while what happened during that time is not what this blog talks about I would like to say that I don't regret a thing.

Anyways, one of my very vivid memory of Vegas was going to the Wicked Spoon  at the Cosmopolitan Hotel for a lunch buffet. First off let me say that I was entranced by the rain of crystal chandeliers that hung from the ceiling. It was almost maze-like trying to find this buffet within the Hotel and this definitely was a random non-preset destination from what I remember. I think we waited about fifteen minutes until we were able to ransack the buffet tables ---except when I say ransack I mean walk elegantly in a dainty manner. This buffet was super cute as everything was served in small dishes --tapas style. There was also a wide assortment of pre-mixed salad and I remember having some kind of salmon sashimi come in a this little cup (I have no photo or vivid visual description for you but it was yummy and pretty. I should have taken a photo of everything but at the time I was not food blogging and could not rationalize taking a photo of food versus eating food.

Dessert was the only time I took photos as they were sooo pretty! Sometimes I wish I could bake/cook/make (?) dessert that didn't taste like a spoon full of sugar or rocks that broke your teeth --- but then I'm sure would become obese. Anyways I took a photo of this dessert selection (only 1/5th of what was available) and I took a picture of a plate. I think I tried to sample every pretty dessert available. And I realized that similar to my dating experience this summer the desserts were pretty and sweet but when it gets down to it there was nothing substantially valuable in them.

 

Return of the food whore

I've recently rediscovered my blog and have decided it was time to make my return. This time it will be much more fun as I am an eight month old fish eating vegetarian =)

While I think back a few months to remember what I've eaten I realize that it's pretty difficult to find pretty vegetarian dishes (by think back I mean scroll through the photos on my phone) --- or maybe that's because I rarely make any haha. Below is the only kind of breakfast I can make! Notice the lack of any stove top effort.

During the summer months my most favorite place to eat was at Save On Meats and it was usually a couple of minutes after they opened on a Sunday morning. It was my most favorite breakfast place, especially after a night of intense partying. And since I am the only crazy one among my group of friends to wake up before 8am after a night of mishap, I usually would stumble across the street to my very own booth for a nice private breakfast.

Situated in Vancouver's Gastown (right off the corner of Hastings & Abbott), the Save on Meats diner is a super economical and eccentric food joint -- it costs less than an arm to eat here. While I want to typify the patrons who go there, myself included, I can honestly say that there are a wide assortment of people of different walks of life who have enjoyed the diner's food. In the morning the cops are there, you can find a young family, a cute gay couple and then me!

Their breakfast menu is by far my favorite, or maybe it was because I was obsessed with eggs bennies at the time. They don't have a vegetarian eggs benny special but it was very easy to ask them to substitute the bacon for a slice of avocado on a tomato benny. It was so yummy that every morning I was literally face planted on my friend's window waiting for the diner to open. I've tried them during their non breakfast times pre and during my current vegetarian binge and I was not impressed. Prior to being vegetarian I believe I tried their tuna melt -- this was a bit too salty for me ( I just noticed that I could very well eat this post choice). And another time I had their vegetarian chickpea burger ... I remember thinking it was not too great and quite large! I've also had their salad and I thought it was over tarted (haha not a word I know).

Their service has always been decent, my expectations for service at this hipster-esque diner may not be too high but the waitress has always been friendly. They have appeared on a popular television show called the Gastown Gamble on the Oprah Winfrey Network ---not sure what ever happened to that channel. I would definitely go for breakfast ... not sure if I would recommend it during lunch or dinner (vegetarianly speaking).

Anyways, I hope my future posts will be much more fun to read and not so mundane as I am vacationing in Manila in the next few weeks!

Sushi Snob

Since the past year I've been exploring the food Vancouver has to offer. Sushi, or Japanese food, has been my biggest obsession. I've had enough to make some sick but it has definitely heightened my expectations.

After work, I went to I Love Sushi on Schoolhouse in Coquitlam with my dad. It's a fairly casual hangout since its directly connected to a bowling alley. The food was good for my dad but it was just alright for me. We ordered the Tuna Tataki Salad which often is a difficulty (I've noticed) for some places. Tuna tataki is meant to be pan seared raw tuna sashimi, usually drizzled in sauce after. The tuna tataki salad we received was fully cooked tuna slabs that looked like chicken and leafs of iceberg lettuce. They placed dressing of some sort on the side for us to dip into, I guess. My dad ordered a Crunch Roll which basically had prawn & yam tempura roll with crunch bits along the top. He really liked this roll, I thought it was not that great, I could make it at home and it lacked a bit of flavor. I ordered the Yummy Roll which I thought was okay. It simply was a california roll with spicy tuna on top. The spicy tuna was simply raw pieces of tuna with hot sauce drizzled on it. It was yummy and pretty I guess.

Overall, I would come back to this restaurant if I had to but it's definitely not one of the top ten on my list. The service and the price was good though!

Kumare mare!

In Tagalog (predominant language of those from the Philippines) 'mare' is a slang reference to a female friend and 'kumare' refers to close female friends. I guess the name of this restaurant came from the woman who started it. I don't know much about her but she sure knows how to cook and decorate!

I treated my parents after my first paycheck and was pleasantly surprised. Located in Richmond off No. 3 Road, Kumare boasts casual modern dining room design with unique light fixtures and inviting seating. The service was good although the waitress forgot to bring us our drinks. We came in placed our orders and the food came not too long after. We ordered Crispy Fish with Sweet & Sour Ginger sauce which my mom loved. It was impressively still crispy even after the sauce was lathered on and the fish itself was moist which made it seem fresh. I craved Thai so I tried their Pandan Chicken with Pad Thai. As expected their Pad Thai did not live up to my expectations but their Pandan Chicken (barbequed chicken wrapped in pandan leaves) was yummy and moist with a hint of pandan! We also ordered the traditional Filipino BBQ Chicken which we all loved because it was big succulent pieces of moist chicken with absolutely no fat.

Overall, I would definitely come back again. While I was eating, I also observed a lady who looked to be the owner/manager walking around to some tables conversing with the customers. I thought this was nice, it definitely added a homey feel to the place.

Four hours at the Hub

My cousins and I decided to do our ladies night at the Hub in Yaletown. The place was nice though it has a warm, casual and high end feel to it. When I first got there it was filled with older men and then towards the end of the night the crowd got younger. I was seated right near the door and every time I glanced up from my Wet Dream martini (which tasted just like juice =yummy) it looked like the two hostess were glaring at me. I guess they got flustered with the dinner rush and there I was by myself at a table looking like I was just stood up since I arrived a good half hour earlier than my cousins.

When my cousins came we had a feast! I'm pretty sure we tried most (80%) of their appetizers. I think my favourites were the Wok Squid (so succulent and perfectly spiced) and the Yam fries with the curry sauce. The Lobster Wings were a 'meh' I think their name just ups the expectation and it did not pass for me or my cousins. We also enjoyed the Kobe Beef Balls which were quite savoury - I'm not much of a beef person though so you may like it. And the nachos (with banana peppers!), onion rings and scallop potatoes were also good. We also tried the Chocolate Chip Pazookie and Cheesecake for desert -both of which were amazing! The service was generally good. Our waitress was always around topping up our wine glass with the bottles of white we ordered.

The Hub is definitely a must try. Appies are only $6 from 3- 6pm AND they have pretty decent drink specials. Over all it was a tad bit pricey, maybe because it's in Yaletown, but I would definitely go again.

Lazy Photo Blog

So I have taken photos of my food during the past three months with the notion that I would blog about it later and never got it it. BUT here are the photos from the Philippines, Hong Kong, Bangkok and Vancouver =) ENJOY!

Gringos at Joeys

So I had my first experience of a 'Gringo' at Joeys on Burrard and Robson and I totally loved it! It's composed of beer, a frozen alcoholic slush ball thing that melts in your drink and with the lime it is pure perfection! What's even better you may ask? ... These Gringos are only $4.99 at Joeys on Tuesdays!!!

The crowd at the Burrard & Robson Joeys on a Tuesday is actually pretty happening (not sure if I used the idiom correctly) and the waitress we had was super genuine and friendly.

So if you want to go somewhere fun and try something new on a weeknight I would recommend a Gringo at Joeys!

Lessons

Manila- Friday morning after dropping my nephew off at school, my cousin and I headed to Megamall for the Forever 21 (50% off) Sale. It took us two hours to get there because of the traffic, normally we could have gotten there in a minimum of a half hour. It was mentally strengthening for me. When we got to the mall it was SOOO packed (there was also a mall wide 3-day sale) that my cousin got her car valet parked in order to avoid being infuriated while waiting for a parking spot. Once I got into the mall I was so struck. There were soo many people! It was like God dropped a cookie crumble (the sale) and a freaking truckload no maybe more like several dozen cruise ships full of ants (people) were clawing their way to a piece of cookie. I had to practice inhaling/exhaling meditational breathing tactics to avoid pushing people out of the way.

When we finally got to Forever 21 there was such a long line up! While we wandered to the end of that line I over heard people saying they had been waiting for two hours! My cousin and I decided to take turns leaving line for food/break/bathroom so I guess the line up went pretty fast. Once we were given the chance to go into the store it was like a freaking circus. Clothes, although some were still in good order, were thrown about everywhere! People were pushing and shoving and changing in every corner they could find because the line ups to the fitting rooms/ the cash registers were at least meters long. I picked up a couple of items but really I think I was dismayed by the clutter and the havoc. While I like to think I am a patient person, I am not a fan of aggressive crowds. I can never handle sample sales or crazy markets like Divisoria. It became more evident that my cousin and I are truly related because we left without a single purchase hahaha. I realize I can and do say this because of the privileged situation but one of the many lessons of the day: Sometimes, more often than not, sales are not worth it.

After braving that crowd we ate at Café Ysabel. After

finding out that Anthony Bourdain had hosted one of this episodes at this restaurant I made it one of my goals to eat there.

Located on a not so busy road Cafe Ysabel was attached to a culinary school in San Juan

City. It was decorated almost like an Spanish colonial house with pristine white pillars and a Koi pond and fountain. Inside was furnished like a quaint Spanish café while the inner dinning area (which I saw after our meal) boasted large chandeliers and elegant dining tables. I’m guessing that the restaurant was an old heritage house. I ordered Pan Seared Halibut and Four Cheese Mushroom Risotto. Before our meal came their house made bread with secretly made sauce (which I think was balsamic vinegar, extra virgin olive oil and maybe sugar or something sweet—it looked a tad bit more red than the usual). Anyways I LOVED, LOVED, LOVED this bread. I actually loved it more than my meal itself. While the Four Cheese Mushroom Risotto was good it reminded me of my cousin's cheese and mushroom and truffle risotto. Ysabel’s risotto made me sad (I miss you!!) BUT my cousin's risotto was actually far better.

When my halibut came, I guess I elevated my expectations of how these dishes should taste. I think my most favorite seafood dish was from Market Market by Jean Georges at the Shangri-la in Vancouver. I still remember having perfect pan-seared scallops and the ArcticChar… soo freaking amazing. So I guess I went in what that expectation and sadly it was not at par. The Halibut was a bit dry, it was only towards the centre that it was moist. And the sauce, which I originally thought was pesto because of its appearance, was actually of some kind of lemony mixture AND was quite limited --- so while the halibut was okay there was really no sense of originality for me with the dish as it kinda lacked any specific flavor besides being halibut.

Dessert, however, was another issue. Their Jack Daniels Chocolate cake was sooo freaking good. It was so rich but not overbearingly sweet that I ate so much of it! I usually don’t have much of a chocolate sweet tooth but I ate all of my share of that one, taking turns with the strawberry shortcake we were treated with by one of the restaurant’s chef.

Divisoria

So I haven’t written in a while and there is a reason for it. I had to give my food spending a break. Although that doesn’t mean that mind has not been racing with thoughts about blog topics! This past week I’ve been staying in, thankfully to my cousin (no sarcasm intended).

During the first day (Tuesday), I went to Divisoria (a plethora of market sales- by market I mean like stalls and stalls and stalls of things like bags, shoes, anything really). I went to buy decorations for my parents wedding anniversary. It was such a gloomy day that started off a bit later than I initially expected and it was raining. I was exhausted after walking through the inside of two three level malls and then throughout the street where I walked in dirty muddy puddles, into sweaty dirty people and inches away from moving vehicles with a tantamount of smog. I initially wanted to hunt down a decent restaurant but after five hours of that madness I settled with a Jollibee yum burger which I think is half the size of any burger in America and some of their Filipino Spaghetti. It was yummy and I was tired. I went home and scrubbed hard with soap and then with alcohol.

Wednesday, I didn’t really do anything all day but download episodes of Glee and Cougartown that I missed AND I also finished reading Eat, Pray, Love. Which the end really wasn’t quite as powerful as the beginning. All of this while spending some quality time with my Lola and Titas.

By Thursday, I was already quite … bored. After staying with my Lola all afternoon and watching her soap operas (or teleseries) I decided to venture outside the house and walk about the village. It was a surprisingly breezy day but it was still quite warm in the sun. By the time I got to the entrance of the village I was so sweaty I felt embarrassed to be in public. I was supposed to buy ice cream and bread for my Tita but in my embarrassment I bought the first things I saw, vegetarian chicharon, peanuts and cooked corn from a street vendor (I felt like such a nut asking him to double bag the three cobs I bought, it took about five minutes for him to understand). It was also getting dark out so I hurriedly walked back home.

Broke

Yesterday (tuesday, october 12) I hung around Santana Grove for a good five hours. I was waiting for my cousin and tita to come but they said they’d already had lunch so I decided to find lunch somewhere. By find I mean eat at a restaurant. I chose to have lunch at TapaKing and had the Tapa Queen which included marinated pork, a sunny-side up egg, some garlic rice and some atchara (pickled papaya?). I thought it was yummy although there were some slices of meet that were quite tough but I loooooove egg. For lunch, after we had gotten our manicure/pedicure spas, I treated them out to Yellow Cab Pizza. We had these amazing baked potato wedges that were so crunch on the outside but soft and gooey on the inside with their garlic mayo dip. We also had a 10” New York’s Finest pizza with all sorts of meat, peppers, onions, mushrooms and olives on top. It was all pretty yummy I have to admit. But I went home that day feeling a bit broke.

Salcedo

(this is way overdue)

(last last last) Saturday I went with my cousin to Salcedo Market. It’s like an open air market with different kinds of food cuisine. I was able to try an Indian Samosa but chicken, the Ilocos empanada and a chocolate filled Japanese pancake. Out of all those I only liked the Samosa. The pancake was decent, I think it was just too hot out for me to eat something that was fresh off the cooker. The Ilocos empanada I felt tasted like nothing and it was sooo deep-fried that I could only attempt to bite it twice.

Later that day we went to Don Henricos at Festival Mall and ate their Buffalo wings (ultimately I believe these were chicken legs cause they were massive). Their seafood pasta with pesto cream sauce and an Italian Pizza. All were pretty yummy!

Some deep stuff

Death and new life. These two occasions when experienced can be earth shattering but right now as I write it and as you read it, seems nothing more than entities. I dreamt of a dog, one that I’d never seen before but in my dream I knew it was mine and it was dying in my arms =*(. I don’t know why or what happened but the moment I realized it was dying I started crying … and this is how I awoke. Seems silly that I write this blog based on my dream but there’s something to be said about it.

Today after working out at this fancy gym with my cousin. I commuted on my own. With traffic the commute that normally takes a half hour took one and a half. Within that time I thought about how I can never really melt in with the place in which I was born.

I came to the Philippines because I thought I could. I mean, because I was born here I figured I could blend in and assimilate. The problem is that I can’t. I feel like I don’t belong. I feel excluded as I pretend to be from here to avoid being ripped off by cab drivers. I feel excluded when people don’t think I’m Filipino because I look different when in fact I am fully Filipino and born here. And worse of all, I feel as though I don’t want to belong to what I have seen. I don’t want to be the poor grassroots beggars on the street. I don’t want to be those ritzy people who turn their nose to poverty as they drive their fancy cars. I think the problem is that I don’t know who I want to be. I’ve tried so hard to fit myself into a culture that I can’t understand or don’t really want to tolerate with their social hierarchy

.

Maybe all this contemplation has been brought about because I just watched Eat, Pray, Love. It was funny because after I had enjoyed a yummy Shabu-Shabu restaurant experience at Powerplant Mall at Rockwell I proceeded to purchase a decently priced bag. And after this movie, I felt like I was on my own quest to find myself and my happiness. So maybe that is what my dream was about this morning; I was sad to be losing a part of myself.