how to make DIY cheap cappuccino

a month ago, i bought an 88 peso milk foamer because i was curious if it really works. to my surprise, this el cheapo gizmo works wonders! i had my first spill-free DIY cappuccino hehe..

here’s what you need:
- milk (fatty milk creates more foam. cow head’s so far my creamy choice)
- freshly ground coffee beans
- coffee machine (cheap one will do, because i’m cheap)
- milk foamer/whisker/whatever you call it

1) brew coffee. a spoonful of ground coffee for every half cup of water.
2) heat milk in a microwave. don’t forget to put cover if you don’t want to end up cleaning the mess later.
3) use the electric whisker on your milk until you are satisfied with the foam.
4) pour brewed coffee into mugs, then add your foamy milk.
5) dust cinnamon over your beverage, if you like. add sugar as desired.

voila! el cheapo cappuccino.

fortune sticks

it’s been a while since i last had a yan-yan snack, and now they come with cute fortune lines! “black ink” does not sound like a fortune, tho.

a sorta eventful weekend

because i love indian and mediterranean cuisine, my friends and i decided to eat at a persian restaurant last sunday. we weren’t familiar with most of the things on the menu, so we got a bit adventurous and picked random dishes. one of us was on a diet, so she settled for the yummy green salad garnished with corn and grilled chicken. and an earthworm lol. she was through eating the whole salad when she saw an earthworm tap dancing on her empty plate. it’s a good thing that she’s not at all grossed out, so we were able to show the kitchen about it without causing scandal. a few minutes later, the restaurant owner himself came to our table and expressed his apologies. from the look on his face, it was clear that he was terribly embarrassed about the incident and even mentioned that even his apology could never fully express nor make up what has happened. he was lucky because we’re not the sort who make it a big public scandal; besides, it was sort of an assurance that their vegetables are organic hehehe.. anyway, the meal worth around 2 thousand pesos was on the house (yey!) and we even got complimentary dessert. we weren’t planning on pressing charges or anything, it was no biggie. in fact, we were even willing to pay for the “undamaged” food. what surprised me that night, aside from the free meal, was the owner’s guts to claim responsibility. we admired how he dealt with it and showed some class. you can’t find that in most restaurants in manila, you know. the best you can get, if you’re lucky, is a free replacement soup and a kthxbai.

we sorta felt bad for them because these things do happen, but on the other hand we can’t deny being happy for having a free delicious meal lol. and because they have good food and excellent service, we will still be going back for more. :)

i guess we had too much fun and blahaha that night that i got serious dyspepsia the following day. to top that, fever’s decided to boogie along as well. not even a bottle of 7-up did the trick, so i was stuck in bed the whole day feeling lousy and unusually full. sleeping only made it worse.

anyhoo, the free moo cards i got for renewing my flickr account arrived that day.

and eek were they small!

they make nice personalized call cards, tho.

this is the car audio cable extension we murdered. instead of buying a new one, we bought it to replace the missing parts of my brother’s hand-me-down belkin ipod player. so, yay! we got the thing working again lol.

visayas backpacking: iloilo & bacolod

we arrived in jaro city, iloilo around 2 or 3 in the afternoon. the vans share the terminal with the ceres buses coming from caticlan, it’s just a matter of spending a bit more on fast airconditioned vans.

we weren’t able to look around iloilo since i wasn’t able to do any research about it, the trip here was nothing more than a jump off to bacolod city. we weren’t feeling adventurous at that time and it was running a little late, so instead of riding a few jeepneys to the sea port, we took a cab and headed straight to the port.

there are 2 fastcrafts going to bacolod almost every hour, you may check their schedules by visiting their websites or call them directly if you want to be sure.

oceanjet
weesam express
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suki market sushi bar

P150 for a bilao of 35 california makis :p

bacolod napoleones and french macaroons

i’m not really a fan of sweet pastries, but here’s a few yummy finds that’s worth your money– i thunks : )

Napoleones

one of bacolod’s raved sweets. who needs krispy kreme when you can have one of these? : ) no need to fly over to bacolod to get some. there’s a booth in sm west’s the Block, it’s beside the 2nd floor escalator, it think.

French Macaroon

pastry is my friend gerald’s specialty, and this is one of his yummy products. this is the same as the ones you find at bizu, but he sells them WAAAAAY cheaper. these are available in a variety of flavors, and of course i chose coffee. tastes like coffee and vanilla cream, feels like melting meringue. yummilicious!

chicken and mango salad

online delivery salads and pasta is hot right now, you get to pick from an online menu and have the company deliver them to you fresh the next morning. if interested, you may check out heartlands and goolai.

since my sister posted a simple sandwich recipe for those on a diet, i’m going to post a salad recipe i’ve “copied” from oliver’s sandwich. hehe. it’s an attempt, but hey, it’s edible.

chicken and mango salad

2 grilled chicken breast, shredded (or whatever u call it)
cubed mangoes (if it’s huge, then half of it will suffice)
diced red bell pepper
spring onion, sliced thinly
chopped lettuce (to your liking)
coriander (optional, but better if you have it)
olive oil, enough to drizzle over the salad
parmesan cheese (just a little to taste)

mix mix mix, and voila! a decent balanced salad!

secrets of quezon province: villa escudero & kusina salud

we never had “food trip” in mind when we went to villa escudero, but the food and experience was so good that we decide to stuff ourselves full :D villa escudero is located at the quezon and san pablo border, about 2.5 hours drive from manila if you leave early. (WARNING: post contain lots of photos)

for a fee of P800, you can:
1) go river rafting
2) have buffet lunch AT the waterfalls
3) tour the museum
4) get a short carabao ride to the resort proper
5) swim
6) watch some cultural shows (weekends & holidays only)
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cafe benissimo

we went to a resto/bar tucked away in the 2nd floor of eastwood’s mall. there were no dining customers when we arrived. this resto serves one of the best gelato i’ve ever tasted! i’ve only tried their smoked pork pasta and it’s really yum yum to the core. *drool*

*photos were taken using a 6630.

cafe benissimo’s retro lights

smoked pork pasta Mmm Mmm Mmm!!

want some tea? *burp*

ground beef for dummies

i.
am such.
a klutz.

WEEKEND MENU: siomai. lots of them.

two days ago, i bought a kilo of ground pork—or at least i THOUGHT it was; the card read ‘GROUND MEAT’ and it was beside a tray of pork tenderloins. (YES, i know perfectly well what a tenderloin looks like. hehe.. defensive ba?) i was wondering why the meat was reddish and finer than usual. ah well, i thought, maybe it’s a fresh healthy pig!

so this morning i was getting ready to make some siomai, had the frozen chunk thaw a bit and began kneading the chilly meat. the meat began to turn really sticky as expected, but what i wasn’t sure of was the meat’s texture which reminded me of corned beef.

i smelled it closer, it didn’t smell like pork.
i sampled a teeny bit of it… WTH!! it DOESN’T taste like pork!

nevertheless, i continued to wrap the small chunks into siomais, placed them neatly in a steamer and waited for it to cook. 20 minutes has passed, i opened the lid to check if it’s ready. lo, and behold! dark colored siomai.

the horror. it was only then that i concluded that it’s really beef and not healthy fresh pig. -__-o

it’s not so bad, actually, but i think these would go best with red spaghetti sauce. hehehe.