Maine Course

     

       While in Maine, I had a nice dinner in a quaint fine dining place with my brother and mom called Red Sky which serves new American cuisine.

Smoked Duck. Wish there was more of this! The slices were thin. The smoked flavor was subtle; just enough to mellow out the gaminess of the duck.

This is their house made duck and pork sausage. It was a little dry for me but it was full of flavor. It tasted great with the condiments. My favorite is the cranberry/pear relish.

       For my main dish, I got the Mussels, Scallops, and Maine Shrimps with house made linguini and ginger cream. Again, the mussels were big and meaty. The scallops were very soft and not overcooked. For me, the ginger cream was a little too light. I would've wanted more ginger flavor in it. Must be the Asian in me!

      Will try to post tomorrow what I've been eating here in Chicago so far. May not have a proper internet connection for a couple of weeks so we'll see how that goes!

Maine Event

     After 30 hours of traveling (Manila-Nagoya-Detroit-New York-Maine), I arrived in Bar Harbor, Maine 2 weeks ago. I stayed there for a few days to visit my brother. It's a great place to relax. Of course, I had to try the food!

BRB Manila

I'm Back!

 Really sorry for neglecting this blog for quite some time now! I promise to update more often, seriously. 

       I'm currently in Chicago and won't be back in Manila til the end of October. I haven't mentioned it in this blog at all but for the past few months, I have been fixing my paperwork to do an internship in America. I can finally announce that I did get everything done and I will be interning at Moto Restaurant here in Chicago from June to October! I'm really excited to intern at Moto which will be great in honing my skills and exposing me to different techniques. They've got such an enormous amount of creativity and are very innovative. I'm sure it will be a great experience! I will probably write about my experience here in the blog.

     I'm in the Wicker Park area right now in Chicago. Walked around the area a bit. I had this Pistacchio gelato at Caffe Gelato at W Division. It was so good! I ate 3/4 of the gelato before I realized that I should probably take a picture of it. It was so soft and velvety. It was the perfect thing to eat at night since the weather here has been pretty hot (...and I thought I was going to escape the Manila heat.) Lots of young urban people around the area. Great energy!

     I've only been in Chicago for a few days so I'll still have to figure out my way around here. Will definitely check out the food scene. Can't wait to try all the great restaurants!

*Last week, I was in Bar Harbor, Maine. Will write about my Bar Harbor experience in my next post! Just really wanted to post the gelato pic right now. haha

do check out:

www.motorestaurant.com

www.caffegelatochicago.com

Lost at Sea

My grandmother came from the wet market this afternoon and bought some seaweed and oysters. Perks of living on an archipelago.

I love this seaweed thing! The little blobs burst with saltiness in your mouth. I dip it in some vinegar before eating.

Didn't feel like eating this raw so I decided to bake it. Baked it with some olive oil, butter, white wine, garlic, onions, chives, cheese, and japanese breadcrumbs.

Yum.

Forever Young

     Last friday, I went to a surprise birthday party for my friends, Joy and Jam, who are brother and sister. Since they both have never been to a Prom in high school, we had a prom for them. It was mostly organized by Pesty and we all helped her with it.
     It was kinda nostalgic to be honest! It felt like high school all over again. I can't believe it's been 4 years since prom and high school. Almost everyone's graduating (I still have a year though) and it was fun to see everyone dressed up and reliving prom.

Joy and Jam. They were extremely surprised and a bit confused, I think, for the first few minutes.

HAPPY BIRTHDAY GUYS!

 the coolest table that night

     Dinner was arranged by Den. Her family owns Bravo! Ristorante.

 

Artichoke and Spinach dip. Our table literally asked for 4 baskets of bread for this. It was really good.

 

Insalata de la Casa with balsamic cream dressing.

It had lettuce, tomatoes, chicken, olives, cucumber, and feta cheese. I liked the tanginess of the balsamic dressing with the chunks of feta cheese. The dressing is available in most supermarkets in Manila!

Cotoletta Pavarotti with Risotto di Funghi. Breaded chicken fillet with mozzarella, parma, parmigiano and tomato sauce.

The chicken was surprisingly still moist inside. Very cheesy and filling. The tomato sauce was thick and gave a good contrast and bite to the chicken. Loved the risotto! 

obligatory people mosaic!

Forever Young

class of 2010

*check out Bravo! Ristorante

ICONIC

Last week, Alain Ducasse visited school for a couple of days to check out the campus, have a dinner, meet press, and give a talk on "before cuisine, there was nature."

 

Here's the panel during our General Assembly with him for the students. He had such a presence from the moment he entered the room. I was struck with awe for the rest of it. You could tell how much he respected ingredients and how passionate he was about making good food.

 

 last one!

 

MegaBites

I'M BACK

     Haven't updated this blog in such a long time. Been busy with school and things so I haven't found the time. I promise to update as much as I can though. I don't want the blog to just fizzle out. So yeah, I shall post more often!

     About a month ago, I celebrated my 22nd birthday with some friends. Had them over my house for a small party with after dinner drinks and food.

I made some fried cream dory fillets with a squash puree.
I paired this with some popcorn sauce which you see on the right. I made them use pipettes to get the popcorn sauce which they could either squeeze onto the fish or into their mouths directly.

 On the left I made some maki which I topped with some blueberry vodka cruiser caviar.
On the right are lettuce wraps with tenderloin strips, roasted bell peppers, and a balsamic reduction.

 Smoked salmon with dill and capers on the left. Different cheeses on the right.
I forgot to take a picture of my "dessert". It was layered vanilla cream, TAZO passion tea gelatin, green tea foam, and hazelnut meringue in a shot glass. I called it imaginary dessert since the textures basically were soft or smooth so they just disintegrated in your mouth.


Good food, drinks, music, and PEOPLE!