Hokki Rice Pizza

Hokki Rice Pizza

3/F Robinsons Galleria

Date: Ooops! Escaped my mind.

I was born to devour pizza. Pizza was invented to feed me and make me happy. You get the picture. I'm a big pizza fan. Or maybe I'm a bella donna in my past life. Or Japanese. 

Why Japanese? See for yourself.

 

Armed with my basic yet rusty Nihongo, Hokki sounds Japanese to me.

 

It's actually a thin layer of steamed rice topped with your usual pizza toppings. I forgot how much this costs but, I assure you, this rice pizza didn't break the bank.

Hear Ye, Hear Ye!

Guess what? I'm engaged to be married in civil rites this coming June 24, 2011. Believe me, I went through varying degrees of happiness and excitement. 

First, the super-duper kind of happiness and excitement last February 12, 2011 - the day of the proposal! It's unexplainable, really, and I'm still groping for words to describe what I felt at that exact moment. When he assembled the words "I love you. Marry me" using the seashells and corals we picked on the Panglao seashore, I was speechless. Frozen. Beyond happy. Too excited. Images of me and him with our simple yet beautiful lives with our future beautiful children made me very happy and excited! Aside from having a new surname (I still prefer a double-barrelled name for equal billing purposes), the fact that I'm going to share my life with somebody forever excites me. I know engaged women can easily relate to this silly narrative.

Then, the happiness and excitement went down to a stable state. Oh, back to reality. Plans, plans, plans. For this year, I will encounter a change of address, do some interior design, meet his balikbayan brother from the US of A for the first time, then our civil wedding and fly to Merlion City (why aren't you surprised?) for our official honeymoon, pursue a new career (hope so!) and toy with the idea of having a bun in the oven (perhaps). Next year, a church wedding and God only knows what great things He will give to us!

 

My Eureka moment*

So, the above image, people, is not my engagement ring. (laughs) I took this pic mindlessly. It somehow reminds me that "This is it!" My  fiancé and I secured the pertinent documents for the ceremony. I am indeed getting married! 

*Thanks, SM! You made our lives easier. No more long lines!

Tokyo Cafe, SM Mall of Asia

Tokyo Cafe

SM Mall of Asia

Date: I totally forgot it! Sorry.

I was browsing through my "images" folder when I stumbled upon these food pics from eons ago. You see, I aspire to de-clutter stuff here and there and the first thing I know, I unloaded these pics for my blog. I vow to document my life's cheap thrills. Check out my header. (grins)

My fiancé and I both love good food. He loves Filipino and Japanese cuisine, while I love mostly everything edible. Hint: I really am a slave to my cravings which can be weird or downright untimely. I know we were in SM MOA when I first tasted this dish called loco moco at Tokyo Cafe. I thought it was a name invented by the owners of this cafe since it connotes some kind of a joke. Agree? (rolls eyes)

Japan, Japan, when will I see you again? (sigh)

 

Some seafood pasta with Japanese twist for my fiancé

 

and loco moco for my loco self! Kidding. Lots of gravy on my hamburger pattie and fried egg. I went loco over this one.

Nomnomnom & Some Post Valentine Benefit Concert

Nomnomnom

Tomas Morato corner E. Rodriguez Streets

Quezon City

February 18, 2011

My Canon Ixus left me a couple of days before this date, so pardon the substandard quality of my photos below. I did my share of reviving Canon back to life but to no avail. We'll see each other again soon, Canon! Hang in there! (crazy me, rambling)

 Nomnomnom's supposed to serve happy food. However, I'm not happy with this crappy photo quality. The food? Hmmmm.. not so nomnomnom.

It seemed like forever waiting for our food so we decided to take a picture of ourselves. Also, the concert tickets didn't come cheap (at Php 500 each) so we included them in this pic. Let's flash the pricey tickets! Check.

 A pitcher of dalandan juice to hydrate us

 Spinach lasagna covered with loads of cheese

 This dish is simply wonderful. Lotsa cheese and spinach I like!

 

This one is called "malinomnom" It's a log pizza topped with tinapa flakes, kesong puti and tomatoes. My verdict? Not so malinomnom!

Laws of Love & Laughter: A Post Valentine Benefit Concert*

Featuring Top Suzara

Polari Comedy Club

Creekside Square Building, Tomas Morato Street

 

 

It's not everyday that I get to hold a white heart-shaped balloon and, at the same time, drink and blame Tanduay Ice (and supreme nachos on the side) for my giddy look, be tickled to death by Polari's in-house comedians and be serenaded by Top Suzara.** So, smile for the camera!

*A project of Clerk of Court Association of the Philippines (COCAP)
** If you're an avid Freestyle fan back in late 1990's, then you know what I'm talking about.

Bohol Food Trip: Jo's Chicken Inato

Jo's Chicken Inato
Carlos P. Garcia East corner Matig-a Street
Tagbilaran City
Date of visit: February 13, 2011

We had our lunch at Jo's Chicken Inato before going to my father's hometown in Loay, Bohol.

It was a bad hair day for me, literally. From Dumaluan Beach Resort in Panglao where we stayed for 4D/3N, we rode a habal-habal (the ever reliable mode of transpo in Panglao, folks!) to the waiting shed, waited for almost 20 minutes for an old baby bus which brought us to Tagbilaran City, rode the jampacked baby bus (and finally met Spiderman - but that's another story) to the city and rode a tricycle to finally savor this much-talked about chicken meal!

Yes, a very long ride with fresh rural air. Forget the hair dryer.

The resto reminds me of the old houses in Bohol during my childhood days. Now, all you see are mansions, er, big concrete houses along the main road.

In lieu of those substandard napkins

Chicken inato meal for me

Kangkong to share

 

And chicken inato for my fiancé (yes, that's right!)

Buko pandan delight to cap our delicious chicken meal

Then off to sunny Loay we went!

Bohol Food Trip: DBR Grill

DBR Grill

Dumaluan Beach Resort

Panglao, Bohol

DBR Grill is most jampacked during dinner time. Why? It's the most convenient and affordable eating places in the heart of Bolod Beach - where two of the most popular beach resorts in Panglao is located, namely, Dumaluan Beach Resort and Bohol Beach Club. If you want the Boracay ambiance, then the most obvious choice would be Alona Beach. But if you want privacy and less noisy crowd, then head to Bolod Beach.

We spent our dinner here for three nights in a row. Oh, for the love of grilled Pinoy food.  

 

Foreign tourists usually troop to DBR Grill for seafood platter and some cold beer. Obviously, they came from the nearby Bohol Beach Club. On the other hand, Pinoy tourists (mostly DBR guests) go to DBR Grill for dinner. That simple.

Note that DBR Grill is right in front of the Bolod Beach. It's unpretentious dining amidst the sound of waves and cold night breeze. Below are the food we ate.

FIRST NIGHT

 

 

Sinigang na hipon, grilled pork belly and teeny-tiny chorizo and RICE!!! An order of sinigang na hipon can feed 3 to 4 persons and hey, they don't scrimp on the shrimps!

SECOND NIGHT

Kinilaw na tuna, pork barbecue and grilled pork belly and RICE!!! Their kinilaw is to die for. So, on the...

THIRD & LAST NIGHT

... we got kinilaw again, inihaw na pusit (which, BTW, is too expensive for Php 280) and kinamatisang bulad (or dried fish cooked with lots of tomatoes) and RICE!!! It's a mortal sin not to try kinamatisang bulad because it's very delish!

And it's also a mortal sin if you miss their fruit platter. A healthy dessert indeed.

Bohol Food Trip: The Buzzz

The Buzzz

G/F, Island City Mall

Tagbilaran City

Date of visit: February 12, 2011

No need to buzz in

What's the buzzz?

Lemongrass and mango shakes and complimentary camote bread and homemade mango & pesto spreads

Herbed rice, honey cured ham and fried egg

 

Spareribs, organic rice (with camote slice) and fruits

Bohol Food Trip: Kan-anan Restaurant & Bar, Dumaluan Beach Resort

Kan-anan Restaurant & Bar

Dumaluan Beach Resort

Panglao, Bohol

February 12, 2011

After checking in to our seemingly pricey room at DBR (we booked a couple of weeks before HVD, that's why), we got hungry. So we decided to check out the in-house resto of this resort and the menu was more than enough to whet my appetite.

The menu with all the superlatives (to make you crave and order more, duh)

Fresh flowers and nice big jars

Grilled veggies (tomato, onion, eggplant, green bell pepper and zucchini)

 

Seafood pasta drenched in rich crab fat (sorry, forgot the dish name)

  

This dish is called "DBR Special". It's made of sweet ripe bananas wrapped in fatty bacon then deep fried and topped with hard-boiled eggs. Yummy!

Bohol Food Trip: The Prawn Farm

The Prawn Farm

G/F Island City Mall

Dampas District

Tagbilaran City

February 15, 2011

Before our flight to Manila, we dropped by at the Island City Mall for a quickie lunch. Since we didn't want to waste one precious minute...

... we flipped hurriedly through this haggard menu and told the wait staff in Cebuano (with my trying hard Boholano accent to complete my pleading) that we're in a hurry.

Hmmm.. Yes, my guess was right. This ain't a quickie lunch.

Drinks first. Four seasons for me and green mango shake for my fiancé

Clear beef broth to start with...

... and peanuts to make us wait and wait.

Finally, the main dishes arrived.

 

Grilled squid for fiancé

 

Grilled prawns for me. Hey, it's THE Prawn Farm after all. Yummy as in fresh & buttery.

 

Mango maja blanca to end our so-called quickie lunch.

Bohol Food Trip: Bohol Bee Farm

Bohol Bee Farm

Brgy. Dao, Dauis

Panglao, Bohol

February 14, 2011

For the greatest V-day ever in our lives, we decided to go to Bohol Bee Farm. Two major reasons kept me giddy happy en route to this famous farm in Panglao: (1) I just got engaged and (2) it's Happy Hearts Day! Although my Canon Ixus gave up on me 2 hours prior to our V-day lunch, I mustered enough guts to just let my worries be swept by the wind. Big, big effort on my part!

And a big, big effort to make this a candid shot.

Cabcab with pesto & mozzarella dip

Spicy ginger-mango & peanut butter-mango shakes

 

Just got engaged

Organic garden salad that made BBF famous & lasagna for me. Two thumbs up for the lasagna.

Grilled fish, organic red rice with camote and organic garden salad for fiance

 

I love the honey mustard dressing

 

Malunggay ice cream to end our HVD lunch

One and only downside is you have to endure a rocky ride (Panglao tourism people, hello!) before you immerse yourselves in this lovely farm.