Too Hungry for an Eel

It was one humid afternoon, when my sister and I was in the Pedro Gil area, we were really famished since it was around three in the afternoon and we hadn’t had our lunch yet. I guess we were having a hypoglycemic surge already. So we went to Robinson’s to look for a place to eat.

I wasn’t quite familiar with the place so she suggested that we eat at UCC. She had already eaten there and said that the food was great. So we looked at the menu and ordered.

I chose the Unagi Rice paired with lemonade while she, on the other hand, went for Omurice and got a cocoa float on the side. Food was served, all the while I thought that Unagi was beef, and lo, to my surprise, it wasn’t, to my dismay it was fish, I wasn’t pleased with the odor and was quite nauseated when I smelled it.



My sister saw me and asked me to try her food, and I liked the taste, so we decided to swap our orders. Thank heavens for that! Good grief if she hadn’t agreed, I wouldn’t have the stomach to swallow the whole dish.

The Unagi Rice didn’t quite suite my taste buds and my olfactory for that matter. I know, for an expensive dish such as that, I should have been delighted with it, but sad to say it’s not the price that matters but the taste which is of prime importance.

For the Omurice, well for me, from the taste down to the presentation, it was superb. I would recommend it to my friends. The rice and fish was cleanly wrapped inside the omelet which was quite deceiving. All the while I thought it was just a simple omelet but then, the presentation gave it a touch of mystery, which is quite important. The rice and fish were well cooked and the mixture of the flavoring was pleasing.

As for the drinks, well for the lemonade, it was quite sour; it lacked sweetness, which is important for sweet-toothed people like me, but if you prefer the sour taste then I am pretty sure you’ll love their lemonade.

As for the cocoa float, it was not what I expected it to be. After all, its price was soaring high. I thought that it was presented more elegantly but then it lacked the wow factor which can be expressed through presentation. As for the taste, well it lacked the sweetness and the richness of cocoa mixed with the ice cream. I wanted it to be creamier though, that’s the reason why it’s called a float because you want it to be creamier and better to the taste, isn’t it?

Hanna rates...

2/5 Unagi rice; 4.5/5 Omurice; 3/5 lemonade; 3/5 cocoa float

Anne's Laboratory: Choco Oatmeal Bars

I've been attempting to perfect this recipe which I got from my mom several months ago but it was only yesterday when I have finally gotten exactly what I wanted. I've always been struggling finding the perfect temperature since I have been using an electric oven.

For this recipe here are the things that you will need:

3 cups oatmeal

2 1/2 cup all-purpose flour with 1/2 tsp salt and 1tsp baking soda

1 cup butter

2 cups sugar

3 eggs

2 tsps vanilla

1 can condensed milk

1 1/2 cup cocoa

1 cup chopped nuts

Procedure:
1. Stir together the oatmeal, all-purpose flour, salt, and baking soda.

2. Cream butter in an electric mixer while slowly adding the sugar.

3. Beat in the eggs.

4. Add in the oatmeal and flour mixture to the butter. Mix well to form a dough.

5. Line pan with wax paper and place half of the dough in the pan.

6. Heat condensed milk in the double boiler.

7. Add in the cocoa.

8. Add in the nuts.

9. Line dough with 3/4 of the chocolate mixture.

10. Place the remaining dough into the pan, carefully lining it over the chocolate mixture.

11. Top dough with remaining chocolate mixture.

12. Bake at 350 degrees Fahrenheit over 25-30 minutes.

What would I give up for an Asus ML Series 229H LED Monitor?

I rarely add a product as a fan page on my facebook account but just recently I've become of fan of Asus due entirely to how much I love their Asus Transformer TF101. I'm also the type to buy an item that I often regret later but this is NOT one of them.

Mine!!!

Anyway, I recently (as in today as of this writing) saw a contest they posted on their fan page. It said "What would you give up for an Asus Monitor?" and I thought what indeed would I give up. Despite regretting a lot of purchases I've made, I usually dispose of the things I dislike so all the things I now have are the ones that I like.
I thought a long time (say, 30 minutes) of what I would give up for their gorgeous monitor and then I saw this:

Took me 30 minutes to realize I was eating this

That is the Choco Oatmeal Bar that Anne made (for those interested, a separate entry will be posted on the Hot-To-Make-This). It IS as delicious as it looks. In fact, this is all that's left from 32 bars. And it was just made last night.

And a few moments earlier, we just had the most delicious dinner (again, courtesy of Anne's cooking skills). It was a Very Veggie Rissotto (de facto name since it's her own recipe) and it was heavenly. I have never enjoyed rice on it's own before, much less with a whole bunch of vegetables in it, but this meal can be eaten without any viand. Here's a picture for your drooling pleasure:

Mashed potatoes? No! Vege-Rice!

So the question again comes to mind, what would I give up for an Asus Monitor?

THIS!

Chocolatey Breakfast

 

 His sister got him a sans rival came from Aristocrat. She said she left it at the fridge but all we saw was a box of chocolate cake... Or so we thought.

She is a fan of chocolate cake and anything chocolate so she was more excited to dig in. We sliced the cake and to our surprise it was indeed a chocolate-coated sans rival.



She says...
I loved every bite. I was feeling unwell that day and that different twist from the usually boring butter coated sans rival and the the overwhelmingly decadent chocolate cake was the perfect boost to the roughly-textured layers of moistened crackers. I really just can't get enough.

She rates: 5/5

Another Coffee Partner?

I've been longing to once again taste my favorite oreo cheesecake from Starbucks when my friends decided that we meet at Starbucks Megastrip tonight.  On my way here, I said to myself, finally, am going to have a bite of my favorite treat. When i ordered at the counter, the barista initially repeated my order of oreo cheesecake and suggested that i try out their new offering, the triple chocolate cheesecake. He said that it offers an even chocolatier experience. I conceded abd changed my order. Along with it,  I got my usual caramel macchiato despite the fact that i was initially tempted to try out their hazelnut frapuccino but I guess my palate tonight wasn't as adventurous.

Food ordered: Triple Chocolate Fudge Cheesecake with Caramel Macchiato
Location: Starbucks, Megastrip,  SM Megamall
Cost: P120 slice of triple chocolate fudge cheesecake; P155 grande caramel macchiato

She says...
The caramel macchiato has remained constantly balanced. It just have the right amount of creaminess and sweetness that makes this coffee truly a bittersweet symphony. I have always liked this brew.
The triple chocolate fudge cheesecake on tge other hand was indeed chocolatey.  It had brownie bits and mini kisses as toppings while cocoa was indeed discernable in the cheesecake base. The crust was still similar to that of the oreo cheesecake but since everything was chocolate, it didn't really give an added zing to the treat. I don't think this new offering trumps my regular oreo cheesecake. The latter just has this nice blend of sweet chocolatey topping, a really creamy cake and a choco bonus crust. Indeed no more second helping for me.

She rates: 5/5 caramel macchiato; 3/5 triple chocolate fudge cheesecake

Belgian Mallow Bites @Mr. Donut

Belgian Mallow Bites

We were driving along EDSA when we saw that billboard of Mr. Donut's Belgian Mallow Bites. We used to love their classic belgian bites thus we said that if we get to drop by any Mr. Donut stall, we'd check that out to see whether one would really get crazy ("mallowloka sa sarap") over that chocolate covered doughnut, as their billboard says it.

Thus, we were in Trinoma to meet up a friend at Burger King. A Mr. Donut diner was just right beside it so we dropped by for a box of Belgian Mallow Bites before heading to Burger King.

Location: Mr. Donut, Trinoma

Food Ordered: Belgian Mallow Bites

Cost: P72/ box of 6

Just what people do at Trinoma...
(some eat food... others eat each other ;) LOL)

She says...

Belgian mallow bites are very sweet and chocolatey. The texture was nice, very soft and moist. I think the sweetness was just to much for me though as I prefer chocolates on the semi-sweet to slightly bitter. It was ok, I guess, but not really something that I would go totally crazy. I prefer to eat it with something salty on the side.

She rates: 3/5

He says...

The Belgian Mallow Bites is exactly what it was advertised. It is a big marshmallow covered in belgian chocolate.

The belgian chocolate was as delicious as ever but the mallows inside were a bit too bland for my taste. Despite that, this is the most delicious and most convenient and easily available version of the marshmallow coated from a chocolate fountain.

Just for kicks, I tried it with something salty (fries from BK) and it is a perfect match!

He rates: 4/5