I'M IN LOVE: Disneyland California

I have this weird plan of crying as soon as I hear the Disney hymn while watching the fireworks go off over the Disney castle. I find it… romantic in a kiddie way. Okay fine, that’s a bit confusing. I wasn’t able to experience it when I went to Disneyworld, Florida last year as I was stuck inside a ride waiting in line. I wanted to strangle my (lovable) sister that night. But an unexpected opportunity came in when K, who happens to be an artist working for Disney offered FREE tickets to Disneyland, California.  

Hello, Mickey, Minnie, Donald, Daisy, Goofy, Pluto, and everyone! *ahihihihi*

We planned on leaving early so that we get to avoid the crazy lines but we ended up arriving around 12 noon.

We first went to the place where we could reserve tickets for the Aladdin show and headed straight to Disneyland’s newest attraction, Cars!

We waited for two hours for this ride but it was worth it! The ride was awesome as we get to feel like we were part of the movie. We passed by the different stores in Route 66 and the end of the ride was the best as there was a race between two cars! Woohoo!

We were famished after the long wait so we stopped by a restaurant around the Cars area and I had the NY Strip Loin ($11.99) while N ordered the Pork Loin ($11.49).

A Yummy way to start December

December literally is a day away! For some reason, I feel that 2012 is the fastest year ever! So many things happened and yet another yummy event is on its way to start the happiest month… 

Yummy, in partnership with Lady’s Choice, will hold a cooking demo this December 1, 2012 at Robinsons Supermarket, Galleria.

 

Learn how to whip up amazing, delicious and easy-to-do recipes with Yummy’s contributing food stylist Chef Katherine Jao. Chef Dianne dela Cruz of Unilever food solutions will also demonstrate delectable dishes using Lady’s Choice mayonnaise.

There are also exciting prizes for lucky participants from our sponsors so see you there! Don't forget, 3 p.m. to 5 p.m. on December 1, 2012 (Saturday) at Robinsons Supermarket, Galleria.

 

-Gluttonshopper

The Stinking Rose: A Garlic Restaurant

“Where will we eat?” N and I have been asking ourselves that question a lot for the past month. N’s mom, Auntie J mentioned this restaurant that serves garlic ice cream. Weird. I like it already! But we can’t seem to find time to visit the restaurant which is in Beverly Hills. Till one night when we met up with T and K.

 

Hello, The Stinking Rose!

It was pretty dark inside and it somehow reminded me of this restaurant called Gayuma ni Maria. Despite it being a “garlic restaurant”, there’s not a single foul smell.

 

Thanks to N’s reservation, we have a sure table.

 

Service was also very quick for as soon as we got settled, the server gave us some warm bread and told us to put garlic garnish on top of it. And it was so good! Bad breath galore!!!

 

We waited for T and K to arrive before we ordered dinner. But while waiting and munching on the warm bread, we decided to order Popcorn Calamari (small: $9.95, medium: $14.95, large: $19.95) and Garlic Spinach Fontina Fondue ($9.95) as appetizers.

 

The popcorn calamari is your typical calamari but what made it a bit different from the rest is its dip. I love the tanginess of the tomato dip (which is quite similar to salsa).

 

The spinach fontina fondue was served really hot! It was gooey cheesy goodness and we just can’t help but put a lot on our bread. It was quite sinful as every bite was full of oil as well. But we just can’t resist it.

Central Park Favorite: Wafels & Dinges

I feel so guilty knowing that I haven’t blogged for quite some time. Frannywanny has been telling me to blog as well. And now I am baaaack! Hello again, blogger me! I have a lot of yummy dishes and interesting places to share with you all and first would be something that I went gaga over… Wafels & Dinges.

It was one chilly, wait, really cold Wednesday morning in New York City when we planned to visit Central Park to skate and feel like we were part of the movie Serendipity (only our version was rather clumsy and full of violations—I’ll share that in a bit!). J, our wonderful host, joined us and got excited over this food cart outside Central Park. I’ve heard her rave about this cart days ago so the foodie in me can’t help but drool (in the inside of course!).

Since I wanted to try several toppings, I decided to go for the plain waffle (liège wafel, $5) and got the unlimited dinges (WMD—wafel of massive deliciousness, $2) and chose bananas, strawberries, nutella and belgian chocolate fudge as my toppings. Oh sweet waffle goodness!

A Sneak Peek!

I know it has been a while (a long while) since my last update and thanks to my sister's friend J, I got motivated to post an entry explaining my disappearing act. I'm on a Dora The Explorer mode. I got to visit several restaurants and places I can't wait to blog about. Here's a teaser of what I'll be blogging about soon! :)

San Francisco Tour  

Solvang

 

Hearst Castle

 

Palace of the Arts

 

Fisherman's Wharf (and it's clam chowder!) 

 

House of Prime Rib (steak heaven!!!)

Yosemite

 

Food truck stop

Pass the Plate: A Cooking Demo with Knorr and Yummy

Learning new recipes is always fun as nothing beats seeing your family enjoy your own homemade cooking. But there are times when thinking about the prep work makes you want to just dine out or buy something to go. Then again, delicious food need not take hours to prepare and cook. Knorr and Yummy will teach you how.

Get a chance to learn some easy-to-do dishes and cooking tips from one of the resident chefs of Knorr and Chef Katherine Jao, Yummy magazine’s contributing chef and food stylist as they whip up meals the family will love.

Restaurant Discovery: Kokoro Ramenya

Some colleagues and I decided to attend the launch of Summit Media’s newest baby, Elle Décor Philippines at the MET Museum and since we were around the area, we decided to stop by this ramen place called Kokoro Ramenya.

The place was quite empty when we arrived as it was already around 9 p.m. that time but we noticed that a handful of customers come in every 15 minutes. Not bad given it was pretty late already.

 

Happy Late Lunch: Cibo

I just realized that I really play favorites when I am at Shangri-La. Well, there are limited options but my top picks are always Cibo and Pages Deli. (I miss Fish & Co. though.)

One Sunday afternoon, my family and I decided to have lunch before heading to a kiddie party in Makati. Since we plan on having lunch somewhere near, we opted to drop by Shangri-La which is just 5 minutes away from our place and headed straight for Cibo.

 

It was already past lunchtime when we arrived and we were really famished. I opted to order Pappa Al Pomodoro (PHP173), Porchetta (PHP390) and a glass of Pomelo Shake (PHP119). My mom and sister on the other hand decided to share a Parmigiano Pizza (PHP325).

Lunch out destination: Mad Mark's Man Sandwich + Frozen D

I just loooove lunch outs! It is refreshing to see, well, something aside from the office pantry from time to time. Thus when an officemate suddenly planned a lunch out a few days ago, I immediately said yes even though I have packed lunch (which was also my breakfast!). 

 

Since we only have an hour to have lunch, we decided to go somewhere near… Kapitolyo! It wasn’t hard for us to choose a restaurant as we have been exploring the nearby neighborhood since last year and with lots of restaurants (such as Milky & Sunny, Ramen Cool, Poco Deli, Thai Dara, and NAV) to choose from, you’ll never run out of options (except for a parking space).

 

Hello again, Mad Mark’s Manwich and Frozen Desserts!

 

We decided to have lunch here instead as A2 wanted to buy a cup of Half Baked Madagascar for the longest time!

 

I was really hungry that day so instead of a sub, I ordered one of their steaks, 11oz Cream Mushroom Steak (PHP270), a glass of their house iced tea (PHP50), and a scoop of Javan Hot Chocolate (PHP68).

Konnichiwa, Roboto San!

It has been quite a while since I last saw some of my college block mates given that some of them moved to the other side of the world. So, when I found out that R will be visiting Manila, we took the opportunity to somehow catch up. It was also the perfect opportunity for me to ask for a travel itinerary as I will be traveling next month (and I am so excited to explore and try new dishes!!!).

 

I find it odd that every time I meet a balikbayan friend, we always end up dining in a non-Filipino restaurant. Last time was way back February where N (boy) and I had dinner at a Korean restaurant. This time though, R and I had a mini reunion at… Roboto San.

Konnichiwa, Roboto San!

 

N (girl) had coupons that were about to expire and I just can’t stand wasting a good deal. R and I were originally planning to meet up for brunch and I thought that a Filipino restaurant would be a brilliant idea but the coupon entered the picture and changed everything. To make things more fun, I invited A as well as she knows R.

The Healthy Slice

After a long walk and a bit of side shopping (as our attempt to digest what we ate from Nolita), A and I finally decided to sit down again and eat… just in time for BGC food stop #2. We decided to stop by Slice, a quaint café owned by Pia Cayetano. 

I’ve been hearing a lot of good reviews about this place. Healthy yet oh so yummy food has been the constant phrase I hear every time people talk about Slice thus I just have to include that in my list of must-try restaurants.

Hello, Slice!

 

The place was quite packed that day and since we were trying to project “demure ladies out for some tea” we chose to get the seats near the window with comfy chairs and coffee table (and eventually realized that it was a bad idea as the table is too low).