Mall Parking Surprises

Blueberry Birthday Cheesecake

December 23, 2010 – Home – It’s been talked about and insisted upon months ahead. “We have to spend your birthday together,” he says. It wasn’t a banner year, but we persevere nonetheless. The circumstances are different, but I was still on my merry way.

Late December afternoons have been rather dull lately. Overcast and chill, the threat of rain pervades the atmosphere. “It just wasn’t conducive to celebration,” I said to myself as I wondered what he had planned this time. Pulling up to the curb, the rear doors opened almost immediately and what followed were rustling sounds of much activity and pleas for me to keep looking forward at the street – this was it. What next?

I had a few gift certificates left, so we decided to go to the mall and spend the rest of the day there. Tron was showing and GCs meant I could see the movie despite lukewarm reviews, guilt-free.

The parking annex was especially dark – bad lighting and an already somber sky didn’t help. He was excited of course. “Close your eyes. No peeking!” I did what I was told just when the radio started to play “Marry You.” And after what seemed like five long minutes, I opened my eyes to a lighted birthday cheesecake. I blushed. I loved the cake, and I loved how everything fell into place.

Lighted

We saw the movie and came back to a melted cake. It wasn’t nearly as presentable – okay it wasn’t at all presentable – but I’ll consume it with gusto (as soon as I get it firmed up in my freezer).

Someone told me that people take the beautiful things in life for granted because people expect that it is what is owed, while the few occasions things didn’t go as planned are remembered to bitter end – it’s human nature. We had a terrible year and things aren’t the way they were, but the few exceptional moments when everything went as planned will always be remembered, cherished, and in this case – preserved in cyberspace.

An Intimate Celebration

Getting a Feel for It

December 5, 2010 – Ortigas – The past few weeks have been about me asking – nay – begging people to help me feel the Christmas spirit. I long for the childish wonderment that came with witnessing the hypnotic cadence of Christmas lanterns, and frustrated sense of accomplishment that came with dressing the entire house for the holiday.

Evening walks home from the office to my parking space leads me inevitably to a mall or two. At 10pm, malls are still open and for a few days every year, I get to experience the unique energy that comes from excited and hurried shoppers. Any other day of the year, the legion would have annoyed me enough to strangle a couple of cats, but during the evening’s mad Christmas rush I like to stay a few minutes longer in their company. Across the shop, the enthusiastic and dangerously petulant child screaming for her mother to get the latest Wii game reminds me of myself during Christmas. I smile.

Holidays at Mercato Centrale

Maybe helping out in the kitchen during Christmas dinner preparations will help get me going. I’ve been trying out other people’s food for so long during my free time, I’ve neglected my own skills. It may be about time I got the dust off my apron and created something new.

Yup. I’ll definitely do that.

Cafe 1771: New Kid on the Pueblo

Cafe 1771 Welcome

March 17, 2010 – Cafe 1771, Ortigas Center – I love Chateau 1771 – well, in general. There have been a few misses, but none of which had been enough to prevent me from coming back for more. When not in the mood for experimental, Chateau 1771 at Greenbelt 5 is always a safe bet. The mood is lavish without being ostentatious. The food is always well thought and the flavors deliberate. I am a fan boy.

Working in Ortigas definitely has it’s challenges for the epi-curious such as myself. It’s an area inundated with call centers and fast food. Cheap. Fast. Single-serving death in a plate. Hardly any of the established sit down restaurants already in the area impress. There are some notable ones that I’ll talk about later, but for the most part, it’s a culinary wasteland.

Cafe 1771 is the latest, curious project from the Chateau Group opening in (Thank you, God!) El Pueblo, and I can’t wait to find out what they have to offer.

Caesar Salads: The Point is in the Dressing

Bizu Caesar Salad

March 6, 2010 – Bizu, Greenhills – There are staples you order that never change. You get a shrimp Thermidor today. Salpicao, the next. Canard in a few more visits. Or a chicken dish further down. You thumb through the menu and promise – like I always do when I find a really good restaurant – to try everything until the list is exhausted and you move on. Doña Nena’s Caesar salad was that quintessential dish I kept coming back to.

Coddled eggs, a touch of acid (lemon juice and wine vinegar), olive oil, Worcestershire sauce, cheese and anchovies (how can anyone hate these?) are the only requisites for any true Caesar salad dressing. I order these excitedly, and the waiter comes in with a trolley of all these ingredients to show you just how a proper salad is made. Break some eggs in a wooden bowl, and add the other ingredients only at the right moment.

It’s been years since the restaurant ceased to be. I don’t see the trolley anymore. But I still order the same thing at every other restaurant looking for tell-tale signs of yolk from a real Caesar dressing. Today’s dressings are bottled with yogurt, artificial emulsifiers and non-fat subsitutes. White, healthy(?) and repulsive. Restaurants adorn their salad with chopped nuts, fancy croutons and shaved cheese, but I still taste the bottled dressing.

I came back from dinner at Bizu with runfastrussia and themarklim. Of course, we ordered the Caesar salad. I don’t know how it was made, but the dressing was yellow and heavenly.

Thanks to themarklim for contributing these photos, and runfastrussia for great conversations.

Bizu’s Quiches and My Salty Experiments

Bizu Quiche

March 6, 2010 – Bizu, Greenhills – It’s 7:30 in the evening. My trusty food sidekicks,themarklim and runfastrussia, watch wide-eyed as I order breakfast, lunch and dinner items one after the next. They’re obviously intimidated. “Are you eating all that?”

My nose buried at page six and staring at the quiche photos, I absently replied, “Well, I’m on a diet, but that’s why you’re both here.”

The last time I made a quiche Lorraine was in high school. The pastry was both flaky and tender. It was a pretty good turnout considering I hate baking – everything about it reminds me of the Chemistry class I barely passed. I got good marks for the pastry which was supposed to be the most difficult thing about the dish.

“Sa susunod, kapalan mo yung pastry para may pang salo sa alat ng filling mo,” said my professor.

Bizu’s quiche was resplendent – like mine. Flaky and tender – like mine. And incredibly salty – like mine. A caveat to the waiter before I order it again.

My thanks to themarklim for remembering to bring your camera, and runfastrussia for your appetite.