Happy National Coffee Day!

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Did you guys know that September 29 is National Coffee Day? If you didn't you're not alone. Of course I had to tell you about this, that blog header above and the title should pretty much tell you why. And did I say I am a coffee addict?

Anyway I just learned of it today when The Oatmeal tweeted about it. So are you up to a bit of a coffee 101? Let's do it The Oatmeal style by clicking this link.  

Now if for some reason you can't visit The Oatmeal -- I don't know, maybe you've suddenly developed arthritis that you can't do the right-click, maybe the page takes forever to load, maybe you have to go somewhere, or maybe mom said it's time to go to bed -- allow me then to make it a little easier by giving you a quick rundown of coffee facts that I learned from the site (be warned; it wouldn't be as fun as how the Oatmeal did it).

• The world should thank the goats. Yes, an Ethiopian dude named Kaldi from the 6th century noticed that his goats were dancing after eating some red-colored berries. That pretty much gave him the idea that 
• Islam prohibits alcohol drinking but they have no problem with coffee, yay!
• 70% of the people around the world drink Arabica (mild and aromatic) while 30% prefer Robusta (it's much bitter and with 50% more caffeine).
• Next to oil, coffee is the most traded commodity in the world.
• Espresso is the way coffee is prepared.
• Americano and "cup of joe" - comes from the American GIs (G.I. is a noun used to describe members of the United States armed forces or items of their equipment. The term is now used as an initialism of "Government Issue" (or often incorrectly "General Infantry"), but originally referred to galvanized iron. --- wikipedia.com)
• Instant coffee was invented in 1906 by George Washington, not the US president, but a Belgian inventor and businessman. 
• Hawaii is the only US state that produces coffee.

See, I told you it'd be boring, so go ahead and see The Oatmeal's site. As with me, I will go and celebrate this day by getting me a decent cup of joe.

Recipes by Cafe Metro

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The word is so-so, not something I would call great but not so terrible to merit a bad review. It's the word I'd use for our Recipes experience, I don't mean the step-by-step guide to cooking, I mean the restaurant, Recipes by Cafe Metro found in Greenbelt 3. 

I went there to dinner with my friends, Rhoda and Alchris last September 7. We were on a budget so finding a resto that wouldn't have us walking back home was the main goal. A mission that proved to be harder than we thought, especially if we're talking about Greenbelt. Out of all the restaurants that we saw, Recipes was the one that fit the bill.

The place has a minimalist feel that I found to be okay. The walls, furniture, and decors were mostly in white. I'm half-hearted about the lighting though, made us look deathly pale in pictures. 

The menu is predominantly Filipino, prices go from Php 150 to 300. We agreed to order and share two kinds of viand, (it's cheaper that way), and one side dish.

We had Thai spring rolls (Php 138)for appetizer, one serving gives you nine pieces. It goes with a sweet and sour sauce with strips of carrots. I found it weird; first time I saw a spring roll with glass noodles for a filling. Not sure what to make of it, needless to say it was my least favorite among the foods that we ordered.

Then there's lechon kawali with kangkong (Php 215). It was good, even the kangkong was tasty. The pork had the right crisp, not the type that would fight with your cutlery, if you know what I mean.

We also had mixed seafood (Php 250). It had pieces of squid, oyster, and shrimp with onions and green bell pepper. I liked it, especially the squid.

We all had cafe metro garlic rice (Php 48). Not sure how is it any different from their regular garlic rice, all I know is that it smelled good but there was nothing special about how it tasted. 

There you have it, Recipes by Cafe Metro (sorry if my ending sentence is abrupt, couldn't think of a good parting words hahaha... til next time!)

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Recipes by Cafe Metro

2/F Greenbelt 3, Ayala Center

Makati 

(02) 728-0917 / 728-0920

The death of tolerance

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picture taken here

I wish that I am slow to anger but the gods, genes, zodiac sign, education or whatever it is that is to blame for a person's trait didn't bless me with the ability. I hate to admit it, but it doesn't take much to hurt my sensibilities.

Even so I'm not the one to effect an argument, not if i I can help it. I don't resort to debate, unless I know for sure I can deliver a valid point. I don't argue for the sake of arguing. When my feelings are bruised, more often than not, I choose the way of the calm; that is refusing to talk or mingle with the person that was the source of pain, for a considerable period of time.

As much as possible I refrain from confrontations because I don't like harboring ill feelings toward anyone; and arguments when not handled well, breed hatred. I mean really, who likes being angry? Certainly, not me.

But I am human and there are moments when my patience wear thin. There are instances when I see red and unable to hold back my emotions. There are times when I become a slave to animosity and act upon it. 

And I just had that moment today. Someone just caused me great aggravation. What's funny is that the reason behind this senseless bickering is not even worth arguing about; the details I'm not up to divulging. It is enough to say that this killed whatever feelings of fondness that I had with this person. It might have been a mutual thing. I read the words we'd spoken and realized I don't need to prolong this meaningless shit.

In friendship or in any other relationship for that matter, we have to take the good with the bad. But what if the bad, however fleeting or temporary, cause you anger of great proportion, do you sit still and just let the "moment" go? Or do you, as in my case, refuse to just accept it and express it so?

The problem with the sudden shift of temper is it tends to outweigh the good things you might have shared with the person. Anger gives you amnesia, it narrows your consciousness to the things that hurt, or those you may view as unjust, therefore prodding you to fight back. This should pretty much explain why I don't like being mad. 

But alas it happened! Today I got mad and it ruined what could have been another pleasant day. 

I say everything has limitations, including clemency. 

Caffe Ti-amo

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The money I'd been meaning to spend on bargain clothes went to coffee and waffles with gelato. It was after I discovered that the thrift stores in Intramuros were closed for the holidays (this was during the long weekend... yeah, so much for wanting to go shopping). Instead of going home and bear the "hey-you-just-left!-you're-home-already?" look on my people's faces, I went malling instead, the closest being SM Manila. There I found the latest subject of my blog, a gelateria / coffee shop called Caffe Ti-amo.

The moment I opened the glass door, I was greeted with warmness, and I don't mean the staff 's earnestness, but the room temperature. I wondered what's wrong with their AC,  or did they actually set it on? I almost balked cuz the last thing I wanted was to stay in another oven-like place (my house does it just fine, thank you) until I laid my eyes on the lovelies; those colorful, ultimately charming, hard-to-resist gelatos sitting prettily inside the glass display case. That's it, that won me over.

Ambiance was good enough for me. Soft lighting, brick walls,  caramel-colored cushioned chairs, and dark brown-colored ceiling. The baristas were cordial and the place was not crowded, perfect for some time alone. Eventually I realized that the air conditioning was on, wish they turned it up a bit though.

I looked at their menu and was quite pleased to see that prices are affordable; not as expensive as other gelaterias like Cara Mia and Haagen Dazs (the latter I've yet to try).

For drinks I had a regular-sized caramel macchiatto (Php 119). They asked me if I wanted to to have it on paper cup or glass cup, since I'm staying anyway I picked the latter. The taste is a Randy Jackson (it's just aight). The flavor was not as robust or as full as the one you can get from Starbucks but it's not bad. 

Caramel macchiatto

I had waffles topped with blueberry cheesecake gelato (Php 95). Of course this was what got me all excited. The chocolate and caramel syrup, the confectioner sugar, a scoop of whip cream, and the pieces of peaches and kiwi made for a good presentation.The waffle was surprisingly crisp but not plump or dense as other waffles that I tried. The blueberry gelato on the other hand was really good, it's sweet with just the right sour kick. It was another confirmation that gelato does it better than regular ice cream. Not bad for 95 bucks.

Waffles with blueberry gelato

So I stayed there for over an hour, enjoyed my food and drinks, my just-purchased Cosmo magazine, and the free wifi of Burger King (they got a pretty good signal!). I had been wanting some alone time of late, so it's good to have finally had it. 

So there you go adiks, for cheaper and good gelato, try Caffe Ti-amo.

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Caffe Ti-Amo

G/F SM Manila

A.J. Villegas St., Manila 

Goodbye Feetsright, Hello Piso Fashion

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Hi adiks, allow me to make a shameless promotion of my newly revamped blog, Piso Fashion. It was previously titled, Feetsright, the blog I solely dedicated to pictures of shoes. I'd been mulling over the idea of doing my own fashion blog of late after getting inspired by all the fashion blogs I'd been seeing round the net. I think I am now ready to take on a new challenge (lord bless me!), so yeah, I've finally decided to do this! 

I am no style expert, that I admit, but I want to have a medium that would feed my love of fashion. So I thought why not blogging; it's fast, interactive, free, and easy. In lieu of going through the much complex route of creating another blog, I thought it wiser to just put Feetsright under a major make over. As with the old posts, I'm not taking them out and I'd still be featuring shoes, only this time it'll just be a section instead of the main attraction.  

It is still on a baby phase so please bear with me. I promise to update it real soon. 

So here it is (drum roll...) my own fashion blog, yay! http://pisofashion.blogspot.com

  

New York Cafe

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Hi adiks, I'm working on something today and it's kinda long so this will be real quick.

I don't hate instant coffee (which I have in abundance) but I think we can all agree (well most of us at least) that if we have it our way we want a lifetime supply of Starbucks coffee. So sometimes, when I'm being diva-ish and got extra bucks to spare I treat myself to a decent coffee. By decent I mean brewed or flavored and takes a bit of time to make. Thankfully I need not go far because one of the tenants of PBcom's food patio is the New York Cafe (NYC).

There's not a lot to see in NYC's menu and they only have about three kinds of pastries to go with your coffee.  But they have soy coffee (which I've yet to try), juices, smoothies, iced teas, and bottled drinks.

Soya coffee? will give this a try next time

And here's what I always get, cafe latte for only Php 63. It's smooth, not too strong, and tastes just right. And yeah, I liked it. Not Starbucks good, but at least it doesn't disappoint. It goes with two packets of sugar. You need to put both to achieve that right kind of sweetness.

Cafe latte

There you go, told ya this will be quick. Gotta get back to work so I can go home at six. I'll see you guys soon!

WOFEX 2011

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The first time I attended a food fair I was a freshman in Ramon Magsaysay High School. The event was called, Chefs on Parade, a culinary competition that began in 1974. It was for our class field trip and it was held at the World Trade Center (WTC) in Pasay. We came as a group but our teacher let us scour the place on our own. I went off with my classmate Michelle and I remember us going around, marveling at food presentations, and having a blast sampling food for free. 

To this day, it remains to be one of my fondest high school memories. I've always wanted to repeat the experience and thank god, the opportunity finally arrived. On the 6th of August 2011, my friend, Rhoda and I went to the World Food Exchange (WOFEX) 2011 at WTC. 

WOFEX as they say, is "the ultimate food show experience." It's a four-day food exhibit featuring culinary competitions, cooking demo, seminars, free food tastes, and a chance to buy food and supplies at discounted prices. It was held from August 3 to 6 at the WTC and SMX Convention Center in Pasay. 

The trip was made possible by this voucher that I got from Cash Cash Pinoy... okay I am beginning to sound like I'm doing advertising jobs for this site, just to be clear, I'm not. It just so happens that I am a subscriber and so far, I've been enjoying some of their deals; including this one. The promo was a buy one get one ticket for only Php 100. 

As expected, Rhoda and I had so much fun. I've lost count of the food that we were able to taste for free. Those were little servings of course, sometimes as tiny as a button but it doesn't matter, we still loved them. We tried different kinds of drinks, finger foods, meat, noodles, pastry, rice meal, etc., in true blue patay gutom fashion. Rhoda even feared that we'd end up with a messed up digestive system (thank god it didn't happen).

Me, Chef Jackie, and Rhoda

The expo also had some cooking shows, we even spotted one of its participants, Chef Jackie Ang-Po of "Delicioso." We chanced upon her gracing photo ops from her fans.   Of course we took the opportunity and had our picture taken with her too. She was very nice with a smile that is just like sunshine. We so loved her!

We also had a chance to check out different equipment used for food business like espresso machines, noodle maker, ice cream maker, baking equipment, oven, cutlery, etc.

The expo spectators had no trouble going from one venue to another (as I've mentioned above, there were two). There were free shuttle rides hired to transport the people from WTC to SMX and vice versa. When we were done with WTC, we took one of these shuttles to get to SMX. There weren't much food tasting there but we still enjoyed checking out table settings made by students from different schools.

If there will be a WOFEX 2012 I will make it a point to be there.

Spam alert: I took many pictures of this event, so much that I had to put some in a single frame.  Now I'll quit talking and let you check out these photos:

Bread anyone?

Counterclockwise: the ticket booths, entrance, the machines on display, and free San Mig coffee

The world of hopia

Cakes made more interesting

Free drinks, coffee, juice, and milk tea

Chefs at work

Food on little sticks

8065 Bagnet

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Hi adiks, what do you think of my new layout? Well I didn't do much, just changed the background and tweaked the header a bit. I got inspired by all the minimalist blogs that I'd been seeing round the net, most were fashion blogs, and suddenly I want to go white. Thus, the recent changes in the layout. Hope it's alright with you all.

Okay now let's move on to the topic. Today I'll share with you one of my latest discoveries, this place that used to be a curious thing I see everyday whenever the service van I'm on passes by Estrella Ave. The sight of planks of wood that stood as its gate when it is closed, adorned with a graffiti of its name had me wondering for quite a long time what's it like to eat in that place. Yes, it is a restaurant and its name pretty much says what is their specialty; bagnet. 

Oh I do remember what bagnet is... like only one of the best things I've ever had in Vigan. It is one of the well-known delicacies in the said province, a must-try for tourists. It's deep-fried pork, what we call locally as "chicharon." They say its special because it takes longer to cook which is why it is crispy, real tasty, and sinfully good! So when I saw 8065 Bagnet, I knew I had to go there. 

our ticket for this food trip

A thought that became a reality, thanks to the group buying site, Cash Cash Pinoy. That's where I learned that  8065 Bagnet was having a promo. For only Php 150, you can buy Php 300 worth of food from their resto. Sweet deal! Immediately I purchased a voucher and was able to convince two of my friends, Rhoda and Gerald to get theirs too. We finally used those vouchers last August 23, 2011. We took another friend, Alchris with us. He stood as our tourist guide/walking map since he lives around the area. 

The place wasn't anything I'd expected. It is ruggedly gorgeous! You can tell that they didn't have to spend a lot with the interiors, all they needed was a bunch of creativity and I gotta say it worked. We were totally impressed. There were paintings and sketches hanging on the walls, there's a big mirror on the right side wall, there's chalkboard hanging beside the door, written was an announcement of a quiz night (hey I haven't tried that, I just found another excuse to go back!), books, trophies, picture frames on display, and the focal point of the room, the left side wall filled with scribbles and signatures of previous customers. We were supposed to write on that wall, dang we forgot! 

The paintings on display

To say that we were amazed would be an understatement. We loved the place so much we couldn't stop ourselves from immortalizing the moment via our cameras. The staff were real friendly to us and patient too. They didn't mind us going all over the place, taking pictures. It was a good thing that when we got there there weren't many people yet so we sort of had the place to ourselves for like half an hour.

The fun was just beginning. Our excitement doubled when food was finally served. We had original bagnet (Php170), bagnet kare-kare (Php 190), steamed dory with curry sauce (Php 170), regular rice (Php 20), bagoong rice (Php 30), and soft drinks. 

It was the first time my companions tried bagnet. I told them not to worry 'cause they will love it and I was right. To compare, the bagnet I had in Vigan was still better. But it doesn't mean I liked 8065 Bagnet's any less. 

The original bagnet was good. The pork were crisp but they weren't hard to bite down and chew. A platter of it goes with a bonus; strips of green mangoes with bagoong.  

The bagnet kare-kare was everybody's favorite. Kare-kare is a peanut-based sauce dish which tastes better with bagoong..It is a popular Filipino dish and one of my all-time favorites. Homemade kare-kare is usually made with freshly-ground peanuts, just like how my grandma does it. But I personally prefer the ones made with peanut butter because it tends to be creamier and has a fuller flavor. To my delight, that's just how kare-kare is made in Bagnet 8065. It was crazy good! 

The steamed dory curry was also a winner. I loved how the fish was so soft, it didn't take much chewing. 

I was the one who had bagoong rice and I also loved it. I was expecting it would overpower the flavor of dishes but it didn't. It wasn't too salty either.

We were supposed to have pandan salad for dessert but it was not available. So we had pastillas instead. It's only 5 pesos a piece. 

We were so full we could barely get up from our seats when were done eating! The food was really great even Alchris who is a picky eater, loved it.Already we were planning to go back.

But wait there's more. Before we left I made sure we would take a look upstairs. There were signs about the area that promoted a clothing store on the second floor. I thought they were just selling printed shirts. I'm not sure where I got the idea, probably the writings on the wall. Anyway the store wasn't anything like that. In fact, it looked like a walking closet I never had! It has girly clothes, shoes, bags, and accessories. I was in heaven! With the help of my friends I was able to buy two cute blazers, one for 300 bucks, the other for only Php 50. Yes! Can you believe that? The guy who tends to the store had no problem giving it to me for only 50.

I now have two reasons to return to 8065 Bagnet; the food and the clothes. God I so loved that place! We also realized that even without the vouchers, we could definitely afford the food. They were actually pretty cheap. Not that I'm complaining. If ever they post another promo in any of the group buying sites I subscribe to, I'd definitely buy again. 

For more pictures of the place (like I told you we got crazy snapping those photos), click here. 

There you go, for a little piece of Vigan in the city, try 8065 Bagnet. 

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8065 Bagnet

8065 Estrella St. 

San Antonio Village

Makati 

519-6511

Monday - Saturday - 11:00 a.m. - 12:00 mn

Sunday - 11:00 a.m. - 1:00 a.m.

Food, Art and Scribbles: 8065 Bagnet

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