These are my featured birthday freebies for this post:

1. International Crepe Passport from IHOP – Actually, my coupon was for a Rooty Tooty Fresh ‘n Fruity, a pancake combo which includes 2 bacon strips, 2 pork sausage links, 2 eggs and 2 buttermilk pancakes. It does say on the coupon, however, that I can exchange the Rooty Tooty for something else of an equal or lesser value. Since I had bacon and sausage for breakfast, I ordered the International Crepe Passport.

I requested for the simple ‘n fit version of the combo (except for the dessert portion of it!), so I had 2 scrambled egg substitutes and 2 turkey bacon strips. For dessert, instead of the seasonal fresh fruit crepe, I went for something that’s just a tad sinful: Nutella Crepe with banana slices and topped with strawberry topping and whipped topping. Yum-eee! :)

Want a free meal from IHOP on your birthday? Join the PANCAKE REVOLUTION!

2. Brunch Buffet at Cannoli Joe’s  - Cannoli Joe’s sent me a coupon for a free lunch upto a $9.99 value. A weekday buffet lunch has a $7.99 price tag. Weekend brunch, on the other hand, costs $10.99. We went on a weekend and thanks to my birthday coupon, my buffet brunch was only $1. Not bad at all!

I liked everything on my first plate…

1st Plate

The omelette needs a little bit of work. I found it to be too dry. I like my omelettes a little moist.

2nd Plate

I loved everything about my dessert plate. I only ate half of each pastry, even if I really truly wanted to finish them all.  :D

3rd Plate

If you want to take a gastronomic trip to Italy on your birthday and anniversary, sign-up for the Cannoli Joe’s EClub. While you’re at it, sign-up your dear ones – husband, wife, girlfriend, boyfriend, mom, dad, etc. – as well! It’s not exactly the best of romantic girlfriend gifts, but it’s a sweet gesture, specially if you combine it with the little blue box with white bow. Hee hee. And besides, free is free!

Cheer y’all! Mabuhay! :)

Here are the one’s I’ve taken advantage of so far…(Photos were taken with an IPhone, mostly using the Instagram application).

1) Free dessert at Boston Market – I had a choice of chocolate cake, brownie or cookie. I chose chocolate cake. Sorry, no photo of that one! :D Love rotisserie chicken? sign up for the Boston Market VIP Club. You’ll also receive a $3-off coupon after you sign-up.

2) Free 1/3lb Burger at Fuddruckers – What meat-lover says no to a good burger? Not me! For the second consecutive year, I claimed my free juicy burger at Fuddruckers.  If you want a free burger on your birthday, join the Fudds E-club.

3) $5 off ANY purchase at Jason’s Deli – I could have easily gotten something that would have come out free or close to free after the $5 off discount, but I always choose the all-you-can-eat salad bar whenever we go to Jason’s Deli.  That’s $7.29, a good deal at $2.29. ;)

If you’re a Jason’s Deli fan, you can sign up for their email list HERE and get a $5-off certificate in time for your birthday.

4. Free Birthday Bowl at Genghis Grill – You build your own bowl at Genghis Grill. The build-your-own-bowl costs $8.99 for lunch and $9.99 for dinner. For an additional $2, you get a bottom-less bowl (that’s figuratively speaking, of course!).

If you’re a fan of Mongolian stir-fry, join Genghis Grill’s Khan Klub and receive a birthday bowl!

This weekend, we’ll try – try being the operative word – to take advantage of the other presents I have yet to claim. :D  Now, where can I sign-up for birthday diet pills? Hmmm…

Cheers y’all!  Mabuhay!

One of the most noteworthy meals we had during our Philippine vacation was at Fish Out of Water at the posh Greenbelt 5 and for very good reasons:  good food and one of the best company.  Our cousins (hubby’s actually…my cousins-in-law!) treated us to a yummy feast of Filipino dishes that were familiar and new at the same time.

For starters, we had Chicharon Bulaklak…

Ooh la la!  We haven’t had these in the length of time we’ve been away.  That’s close to four years!  I found Wikipedia’s definition of chicharon bulaklak very amusing:

“It is made from (deep fried) mesenteries of pig intestines and has a bulaklak or flower appearance.”

Click here for the definition of mesenteries. I could have eaten an entire plate of these.  But that’s a heart attack waiting to happen so I didn’t.

So we wouldn’t feel too guilty about the chicharon, we had Cebuano Danggit Salad with Honey Mustard Dressing…

That’s my danggit fix right there!  Danggit is salted dried fish that is fried to a crisp.  It is actually perfect with garlic fried rice, eggs and tomatoes or vinegar. Yum!

We sure love oysters so we had some Manila Rockefeller Oysters…

These were baked with saluyot (jute), cream and bacon bits.  I normally just prefer plain steamed oysters but how can you say no to cream and bacon? You  just can’t!

Believe it or not, we ate several whole crabs.  They were not the king or Alaskan kind though…

Crispy Shrimps and Crablets.  There sure was a crunch in every bite. Hee hee.

We were all game that night, so we decided to order something game-y, Cagayanon Ostrich Salpicao…

I believe it was the first time I had ostrich meat.  It wasn’t bad at all!  Salpicao is the perfect way have ostrich meat.  It was garlicky and buttery.  Then again, everything tastes good with butter! *wink*

Unfortunately, the restaurant only had enough ostrich meat for one serving.  So we settled  for the next logical choice of protein…beef (Beef Salpicao)!

At first glance, the beef salpicao didn’t look too different from the ostrich salpicao.  They do differ in color, and of course, in taste.

How many deep fried dishes have we had so far?  Why don’t we throw one more in the mix, Deep Fried Fish with Chili Mango Sauce…

It tasted as good as it looked.  If only we could have this as often as we liked and I mean with somebody other than me doing the cooking.

Last but not the least, we had a very tender Twice Cooked Pork Belly…

It was saucy, moist and served with quail eggs.

To wash down all that glorious food, I had Dalandan Juice.

Hubby, on the other hand, had something “light” from the  patron saint of Filipino men – San Miguel…

I’m glad we got to add Fish Out of Water to our Pilipinas Food Trip List.  The place was pretty upscale, being in an upscale location and all.  I thought it was classy until the servers started singing Happy Birthday to the beat of what I believe to be kitchen utensils.  It was a Singing Cooks and Waiters- slash- Ihaw-Ihaw, Kaldero-Kaldero moment. Hee hee.

For dessert, we had gelato at another establishment. :)

Thank you again, cousins, for a wonderful night.  We hope to show y’all a good time when you come visit us.  Your cowboy hats and cowboy/ equestrian boots are ready and waiting.  Yeehaaa! ;)

I instantly fell in love with Gelatissimo’s gelato display.  At first glance, it’s no different from most ice cream window display. Oh but there is one very obvious difference! In addition to the labels that let people know a gelato’s flavor, there is an actual representation for each flavor…

See what I mean?  I think it’s very smart. Hee hee.  It doesn’t take Mensa-level IQ to recognize the flavors!

There’s apple pie, green apple, lime and vanilla.

There’s also peach orange yogurt, guava, lemon and green tea.

Can you guess the other flavors?  There’s biscottino, white chocolate, Veronese chocolate, tiramisu, roasted almond, original chocolate and creme caramel.

There’s American chocolate and chili chocolate.  I knew right away that I wanted the chili chocolate.

Because two scoops are better than one, I had a scoop each of tiramisu and chili chocolate.  I loved my choices, specially the chili chocolate!

Hubby had biscottino.

If you’d rather have something warm, you can go ahead and have some cappuccino.

It was my first visit to Greenbelt 5.   I imagine the restaurants there are filled with yuppies and their custom laptops during lunch time. I can hang-out at G5 all day with my laptop as well…and not buy anything!

I can’t wait to attempt to make my own homemade chili chocolate ice cream.  It’s been a while since we put our ice cream maker to work. My “must try at home list” just got longer. Haha!

I had a fun fun weekend.  I hope you did, too!

Mabuhay, y’all!

Kusina Felecitas is the in-house signature restaurant of Grandpa’s Inn.  The restaurant’s  walls, according to the website, is made of 18th century bricks.  Hanging on these walls are paintings, which diners can buy.  The rustic furniture pieces are all locally made, furniture making, after all, is one of the industries that Vigan is known for.

The Kusina Felecitas menu offered us plenty of choices.  But there’s only so much we can eat, so we ordered dishes that were mostly new to us or that had an Ilocano twist.

Of all the food choices, Poqui-Poqui Balls, piqued our curiosity the most.  The name of the dish made us smile, too!

It is simply an eggplant omelet formed into balls, sort of like croquettes.

We tried the Krispy Bunog as well, my choice.

There’s just something about deep-fried fish no matter the size that just calls out to me. Bunog, we learned, are small fishes indigenous to the Abra-Banaoang River.  They are fried until crispy to the bones.  The dip of choice is referred to as KBL – kamatis (tomatoes), bagoong (shrimp paste) and lasona (onions). Yum-eeee!

Because we were in Ilocos, it only made sense to order Bagnet, deep fried pork.

Gotta love the crispy pork skin!  The Ilocano way of eating bagnet is to dip it in KBL. *wink*

We had to have vegetables, so we ordered what I believe is called Baradibod, a vegetable stew thickened with gabi or camote.

One has the option to make it more special, that is by adding fish to the vegetables, and that’s exactly what we did.

We also had Pinakbet, which was topped with bagnet…

As it is, I already love pinakbet, but I sure loved it more with the crispy deep fried meat! I sure ate sinfully during our vacation! Ha!

We weren’t too sure how my daughter will warm up to Ilocano food, so we ordered some dishes, which she was sure to like the Tinola Ilocano.

We also had pork barbecue, again for the youngest members of our party.

For the big boys, pork spareribs made its appearance on the table.

Here’s the last dish, promise, Lomi served with 2 pieces of pandesal…

Oh my, we did eat a lot!  Didn’t I say we feasted?!  Long drives will do this to you, really!

I’m glad we had our first Ilocano meal at Kusina Felecitas.  The place was really homey.  It’s like dining in your lola’s (grandma’s) kitchen.

Believe me when I say that we didn’t always eat like this.  Well, that’s a lie.  Hee hee.  A lot of times, we ate like this, specially on our last week of vacation.  And you’ll read about each and everyone of them! :)

Mabuhay, y’all!

I don’t recall if we had a chance to eat at Mang Inasal in Iloilo when we visted the city in 2006.  But during our short but sweet vacation in the Philippines very recently, we made sure we did.  We had our Mang Inasal fix in Laoag City, at the Robinsons Mall Ilocos Norte, on the night we were driving back to Manila.  I’ve always been a fan of “inasal” (barbecue), which, funny as it might sound, reminds me of weekend overtime work in Makati when I was still a newbie architect. :P  And this is what I would always order, Pecho (chicken breast), otherwise known as Paborito Meal #2…

I have to admit, there is something comforting about skewered barbecue chicken with rice wrapped in banana leaf on the side.  It’s home-y. :)  I always dip my chicken in a  mixture of calamansi, vinegar, soy sauce with a crushed chili pepper. *wink*  Hubby, being not so big on chicken breast, had the Paborito Meal #1, which is Pa-a or skewered dark chicken meat.

My daughter had the Sulit Meal #1, which is 1-piece chicken leg, also with a side of rice…

Mang Inasal is always filled to the rafters specially during lunch and dinner times and it’s success can pretty much be summed up in two words: UNLIMITED RICE!  For every rice loving Filipino, rice, which costs about Php 26.00 in other inasal serving restaurants, unlimited rice is such big bonus!  Think of all the pesos you’ll be saving, specially if you can easily down 3 cups of rice! There’s unlimited soup, too!  Panalo (winner)! :)

Here are your typical inasal condiments of soysauce, chicken oil and vinegar…

What does one do with the chicken oil?  Drizzle it on the rice, of course!  We would have loved some baticolon (chicken gizzard) and chicken liver, too, but they were out of stock at the time of our visit. Bummer.

For dessert, my niece had Mais con Hielo topped with Ube ice cream and a barquillo…

My sister-in-law, on the other hand, had a little bowl of Minatamis na Saging (sweetened bananas), which was also topped with ice cream…

Yum!  This meal was a fitting farewell to an “amazing race” in Ilocos, whose ruins, I hope, are asbestos free (you can’t blame me for being fearful of Mesothelioma!).

I’m happy I have all these food memories to hold on to, while we recover from our vacation and save up all over again for the next one. ;)

Mabuhay!

My daughter is wide awake as well.  And we’re both hungry.  All I could think about is the Champorado with Belgian Chocolate and Raspberry Ice Cream, which I had for dessert and thoroughly enjoyed at The Stock Market in Bonifacio High Street…

This is the best champorado I’ve ever had in years.  Never mind that it’s the priciest, too!  I told myself, I’m never having champorado any other way again.  Like the art prints of the Louvre, this dessert made a lasting impression on me.

So I’m buying raspberry ice cream and belgian chocolate when I find myself at the supermarket, which should be real soon.  I’m glad I convinced hubby to have this dessert and share it with me.  He’s also glad he gave in to my gentle prodding. :)  The champorado was thick, just the way he likes it.

In addition to champorado, hubby and I shared another dessert, Suman sa Lihiya with Mango Ice Cream and Chocolate Sauce on the side…

How, tell me, can you go wrong with that combination?  You just can’t!  Yummm-eeeee!  Like the champorado, this is the priciest suman and ice cream I’ve ever had.  Talk about high-end panghimagas (dessert!). I have to learn to make suman and the lihiya.  And I will!  I just need to get my cooking mojo back.

Thank you to my girl friends from college, D, I and D who introduced us to these sinfully updated favorite Filipino snacks/desserts. *muah*

I’ve got so many personal cooking projects lined up.  I’m excited! ;)

Mabuhay!

For our last 2010 meal, we had dinner at Thousand Cranes Shabu-Shabu located at the 2nd floor of the Eastwood Mall Veranda.  It was fate that brought us to Thousand Cranes.  We had a very late lunch on December 31st, which resulted to us wanting to have dinner at a later time.  The wait list in most Eastwood Mall restaurants was already insanely long when we finally decided we were ready for dinner.  So we chose a restaurant, not for it’s culinary merits, but based on the length of its wait time.  Hee hee.  Well, I’m glad our party of 4 ended up at Thousand Cranes.  Dinner turned out to be surprisingly awesome and healthy, too!

All you need for a satisfyingly delicious shabu-shabu experience is a good base soup, a good dipping sauce and the freshest ingredients.  We went for the Mixed Meat Shabu-Shabu, good for 3 people and a child.  I loved that each of us had our own pot.  For my little girl’s safety, however, she and her grandma shared a pot of soup.

The Mixed Meat Shabu-Shabu had 3 kinds of meat: pork, beef and lamb.

A platter of the “good” stuff completed the shabu-shabu ensemble: fresh vegetables, noodles, fish cake, shrimp and squid balls, etc.

Our individual pots of soup kept us busy throughout dinner.  Save for frying an egg, this is the kind of cooking my husband wouldn’t mind doing. :)

Overall, our accidental dinner at Thousand Cranes was a very pleasant experience.  Service was way more than satisfactory in spite the very busy evening.  We’d go back in a heartbeat if time allows us.  But we’re on a race to stuff ourselves with food we’ve missed in the more than 3 years we’ve been away.  If only we can slow time down a notch.

We missed a wedding last month. How do you think they’ll feel about  Thousand Cranes gift certificates as a post wedding or advance 1st anniversary gifts? I should probably just keep my gift options open.  Hee.

Mabuhay, y’all!

We’ve honestly been eagerly awaiting Tarka’s arrival since a friend tipped us that it will open closer to home before the year ends. And indeed it finally has! I received an email inviting me and a guest to come and have lunch or dinner at Tarka before it officially opened to the public last November 17th.  One would be crazy to turn down an invitation like that!  It’s like saying no to Outer Banks foreclosures that’s being offered to you for free. Ok, well that might be a little exaggerated. :) Anyway, I RSVPd my yes and hubby and I dropped by on November 16th for lunch.  We were informed when we got to the counter that everything we order will be on the house. Yay!

There was a beverage in my head that I wanted so much to order but I didn’t know what it was called.  All I know is that it was some sort of a smoothie.  Too shy to ask, I ordered a Mango Lemonade…

And then, while we were waiting for our orders to arrive, I saw a server walking with the drink that I was thinking about!  It’s  called Lassi, we later found out!  It’s an Indian concoction of yogurt with freshly whipped ripe fruit.  I made hubby go up to the counter again to order a Mango Lassi for me.

Yum!  Hubby ordered one for himself as well, the Mixed Berry Lassi.

These drinks truly are refreshingly good!

For starters, we had Samosa Chaat, a classic Indian street fare.  It’s  samosa topped with onions, garbanzo beans, raita, chutneys & roti crisps.

Whenever we go to an Indian restaurant, we never forget to order some Naan (leavened flatbread)  and I’ll tell you why in a bit.  We went for the Garlic Naan, which is leavened bread coated with garlic and basil.

You really do taste the garlic.  Not that there’s anything wrong with it, but we decided we prefer the regular naan.

I had Shrimp Coconut Curry…

Did you see the sauce?!  Now that’s what the naan is for.  Haha!  Hubby and I use the naan to wipe our bowls clean, weird as that might sound.  We just don’t want all that saucy goodness to go to waste. *wink*

I’ve had the Coconut Curry before, but with chicken as my choice of protein. I thought I hit the jackp0t with the food I ordered.  That was until I tasted hubby’s lunch choice of  Lamb Korma…

Tarka’s Korma is a rich almond cashew pistachio cream sauce.  It was love at first bite for me as I have always been partial to cream sauces.  I always found myself dipping a piece of naan in hubby’s korma.  I didn’t care too much for the lamb though.  While I eat lamb occasionally, it’s not on top of my list of favorite proteins. :)

We enjoyed our lunch at Tarka so much that exactly four days after, we we were back for dinner, this time with our daughter in tow.

My daughter  loves curry.  So from the kids menu, we ordered the Tikka Masala curry bowl for her…

We introduced her to the art of dipping naan in her sauce and she loved it!  She was enjoying her food until she got a taste of mine….Chicken Korma…

Like I said, it was love at first bite when I tasted the Lamb Korma during our first visit.  I’d be crazy not to order it for myself on our second Tarka adventure. Korma is love! Hee hee.

Of us two, hubby is more adventurous.  So he ordered something different, Chicken Mirch Masala, a curry made with stir-fried mushrooms, diced onions and chilis…

I can’t complain with his choice of food, but I already have my bias for Korma.

I love the basmati rice! And with the naan, we always end up with carbo-loaded meals!  Not a very good idea but…

It’s been over two weeks since our last visit to Tarka.  We will definitely be back again…sooner than soon!  After all, it’s only a few minutes drive away. Yeehaw!

Cheers!

Upon entering the restaurant, diners are greeted by 6 (if I remember it correctly) huge aquaria containing live lobsters, shrimps, etc.  A king crab has one aquarium all to itself…

How’s that for fresh catch of the day?!  The king crab costs $35/lb.  And I don’t think one can order only $10 worth of live king crab.  Hee hee.  Anyway, the sight of all those aquaria brought me back home where it’s fairly common to have fresh seafood in Chinese restaurants.

The first time we had dinner at Ho Ho, we ordered our usual Chinese BBQ favorites, a combination platter of Barbecue Pork and Roasted Duck and Seafood Panfried Noodles.

I have to say, Ho Ho Chinese BBQ is a real contender in the Chinese barbecue race. ;)  I appreciate that the food is served in big platters.  One restaurant we go to crams the barbecue pork and roasted duck  in one small oval platter.

I love crispy noodles and Ho Ho does a very good job with theirs.  I just wish the portion were a little more generous.  It’s a good size, yes, but if Ho Ho were to go head to head with one of our favorite Chinese BBQ restaurants located on North Lamar, they have to put more noodles on that big platter.

On our second visit to Ho Ho, which was exactly a week after the first one, we tried the Marinated Chicken and Scallops with Chinese vegetables.

I can’t complain about the chicken.  I can’t get enough of it’s marinated goodness.  Then again, I love poultry.

And how can we not love the scallops and vegetables?!  My daughter enjoyed a bigger share of the scallops than hubby and I did.  We’re raising a foodie.  She knows which ingredient to go for in a dish.  Hee hee.

We enjoyed our dinners at Ho Ho.  It’s nice to have another Chinese restaurant, one that serves good food,  to add to our list. This is very good news for Austin residents living in the area close to the corner of  I-35 and Parmer Lane.  We will definitely be back.  There’s still so much on the menu that we have to try.  We just have to pace ourselves a little. I don’t want to have to overly indulge and end up thinking about natural fat burners for women over the holidays.

Cheers, y’all!