Tag: food

Catzie’s Creamy Carbonara Recipe
When it comes to pasta dishes, I like it when the sauce is thick and really clings to the pasta. And when eating white sauce pasta, I want it really creamy.

I’ll share with you a creamy carbonara recipe, with sauce that’s thick and creamy, and doesn’t use flour or cornstarch to thicken.

The recipe you’ll find here is not classic Italian spaghetti carbonara. The classic carbonara sauce has eggs and parmesan cheese, but my recipe uses cream, butter, and a local processed cheese.

This recipe won’t tell you exactly how much salt or pepper to add — add as much as you need and taste the sauce as you do.
Serves about 6 people.

Ingredients

salt

pepper

1/4 cup butter

1 Tbsp olive oil

1 medium red onion, minced

4 cloves of garlic, minced

1 large chicken breast half, sliced into cubes (or 2 small breast halves)

1 cup canned sliced mushrooms

1 cup all purpose cream

1/4 cup water

1/4 Eden cheese, grated

250 grams bacon, cooked until crispy then cut to small pieces

about 250 grams spaghetti, prepared according to instructions
Procedures

Cook spaghetti pasta according to its instructions. Make sure not to cook too much or it might get soggy! We want it al dente

Slice the chicken breast half into cubes, then season with salt and pepper

In a medium or large sized frying pan, melt the butter then add olive oil.

When the butter and oil mixture is hot and bubbly, add minced red onion and cook until a little translucent, then add garlic.

Add the sliced chicken and stir fry.

Add the mushrooms. Make sure to cook until the chicken slices are slightly browned.

Pour the all purpose cream and water and mix well.

Add grated cheese then mix well again

Add as much salt and pepper as you like, but taste as you go to avoid a sauce that’s too salty.

If the sauce is too thick, add a little more water and salt. If it’s too thin/runny, let it simmer until thick enough for your liking.

Serve immediately with the spaghetti you cooked earlier. Add as much sauce as you like into the pasta.
Enjoy! I hope it turns out well.

Leftover creamy carbonara sauce?

You can place leftover creamy carbonara sauce in an airtight container in your refrigerator for up to 3 days. Reheat, then serve with pasta.

I haven’t tried freezing this carbonara sauce so I’m not sure if it will reheat well after becoming frozen. But the sauce will last longer in the freezer — maybe for up to 2 weeks?

You can also use the leftover sauce in your omelette or in your sandwich, or wherever you think it will go well. 😆

My preferred brand of Spaghetti pasta

I like Royal Premium Spaghetti because based on my experience, the pasta doesn’t easily sog. It’s perfect for those who try to achieve “al dente” spaghetti! 😀
October 31, 2015
Meat Plus Cafe menu and review (Subic, Olongapo)

“I can’t leave Subic without eating at Meat plus”

There’s a huge banner at Meat Plus Cafe in Subic that says “I can’t leave Subic without eating at Meat Plus”, and I think that when I go back to Subic, I would be saying exactly the same thing. 😉 Meat Plus Cafe sure is a must-visit when you travel to Subic. Why, you ask? Because they serve good quality steaks at low prices. U.S. Steak Meals cost P260 to P405. Yessss, they’re very affordable for steak meals!

And there was a really good food item at Meat Plus Cafe that can give you tongue-gasm. I’ll talk about it later in this post. 😀

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October 19, 2015
Duncan Hines red velvet cake mix review and my red velvet cake adventure

Say Aaaah!~

Say Aaaah!~

Taste this soft, moist red velvet cake. It’s made from the Duncan Hines red velvet cake mix.

I liked this product, but I won’t use it regularly because I like making cakes from scratch. The cake was also a bit too fluffy compared to all red velvet cakes I tried before. Still, my first experience in using a boxed cake mix is reason enough to write this Duncan Hines red velvet cake mix review.
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September 24, 2015
Kumori: Japanese baked goods review

Blueberry Brioche and Hanjuku Cheese (Original) were two items that I first tried at Kumori. There’s a Kumori store in the lower ground floor of Landmark Makati, and if you want to try some heavenly spongy-but-melt-in-your-mouth cheesecakes, you know where to go. 😉

A couple of months later, I also tried Kumori’s “Tofu Cheese”.

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August 19, 2015
Melliza Cakes and Pastries: review

When I go to Robinson’s Place Manila, I often buy a red velvet cupcake or two from the stall of Portobello Bakery. Their red velvet cupcakes are moist and have that nice “chew” to it, and the cream cheese frosting’s tang and sweet level are just right. But then I found out that the stall was no longer there.

Still wanting to take home any dessert, I decided to try a slice of something from Melliza Cakes and Pastries, also known as Cheesecake Melliza.

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August 12, 2015
Yamazaki, Little Tokyo (Makati) – review

Friends and I wanted to catch up over dinner after work. Most of us were Japanese food fans, and we decided to eat at Yamazaki in Little Tokyo.

I would definitely come back again for their delicious fried gyoza and would try the Yamazaki ramen, hoping there will be someone to share a bowl of it with. 😀

Yamazaki Ramen

Three of my friends ordered the Yamazaki Ramen. They were all surprised by the huge bowl of ramen. I told them, maybe the bowl is just full of soup but not so much noodles in it. But I was wrong. They’re boys (I think it’s usual for men to be able to eat more than women), but the bowls of ramen were still too much for them.

So, I would recommend that you split Yamazaki Ramen into two bowls if you’re not a heavy eater. That’s 218 pesos for a huge bowl of Yamazaki Ramen.

Steamed Gyoza

Gyoza is a dumpling filled with vegetables and ground meat.

I had a heavy lunch that day so I wanted something light for dinner, and gyoza was what I thought would fit the bill.

First bite and I was like, Saraaap!!! The exterior had a crunch to it, as the bottom of this dumpling was fried, and the interior was moist and very flavorful. I think that the gyoza at Yamazaki is perfect! 😀

Yasai Itame (Vegetable Stir-Fry)

Aside from the “perfect” gyoza, I also ordered yasai itame to complement my meal.

The yasai itame was very tasty and had that “grilled meat” flavor. Try it as a side dish! One plate of Yamazaki’s yasai itame is 106 pesos and can be served as side dish for about 4 people.

Update: more Yamazaki food items

This page shall be updated whenever I try something new at Yamazaki. 🙂

Fried Gyoza

The gyoza in the above photo is the “fried gyoza”. I thought that the gyoza I previously had was the fried one. Well, only the bottom part was actually fried and the waitress called that kind “steam fried gyoza”. I liked the steamed one better, since it’s juicier and tastier.

Chicken Karaage set meal

And the set meal you see above is Yamazaki’s chicken karaage set meal. The karaage set meal included picked vegetable, meat stew with potatoes and carrots, miso soup, a generous bowl of rice, and on the karaage plate there was shredded cabbage, spaghetti with mayo, tomato, and garnish of parsley.

You might be wondering what the spaghetti with mayo is. Imagine macaroni salad that uses spaghetti instead of macaroni. 🙂 I think it tastes fine but some of the friends I brought along at Yamazaki didn’t like it.

The shredded cabbage didn’t have mayonnaise or any dressing! We asked for mayo for the cabbage, but the waitress said there’s additional charge of 25 pesos, and that the dressing provided for it was the tonkatsu sauce. Meh.

However, the chicken karaage was delicious! I had boneless chicken on my plate that were very tasty and juicy. Yamazaki’s chicken karaage is perfect for me. 🙂

Menu from Yamazaki Little Tokyo

Not the best quality for a food menu’s photo. If I ever take a better shot, I’ll update the photos here.

Yamazaki, Little Tokyo, Makati – Contact

Yamazaki Address: 2277 Fernando St. cor. Pasong Tamo Street, Makati City, 1231, Metro Manila, Philippines

Yamazaki Phone Number: 02 8932163

August 11, 2015
Conti’s Desserts: a review by a dessert-eating monster

I love desserts. Dessert is usually the best part of meal for me, if not the best part of the day. 😋

Being a desserts lover, I like visiting Conti’s Bakeshop and Restaurant occasionally because they sell a variety of interesting desserts. They have turtle pie, cheesecakes, and one of their most popular cake: mango bravo.

In this blog entry, I shall take the time to describe the desserts, especially cakes, that I tried and will try at Conti’s. 🙂 And hey, if you love mint chocolate desserts, you may want to read my post about Mint Chocolate Desserts in Manila.

Turtle Pie

The dessert in the photo above is Conti’s Turtle Pie. Based on a chocolate crust, it has a layer of salted caramel cream mousse under a well-chilled chocolate mousse. At first, I thought it was chocolate ice cream until a friend pointed out. 🙂 A generous amount of walnut chunks tops this dessert. There’s also whipped cream piped on the edge. I think the whipped cream they use on turtle pies is non-dairy. Each slice is 115 pesos.

Salted Caramel Cake

This one’s the Salted Caramel Cake from Conti’s that I ordered in August 2015. It’s a very light dessert, with plain chiffon cake layers frosted with light whipped cream (not sure if dairy). The bottom layer is darker than the others, and I think it might be butter cake instead of chiffon cake. Maybe they needed a sturdy base for the cake. On the top of the cake is salted caramel, which I don’t really remember as salty. I think the caramel at the bottom of their turtle pie is actually saltier than the one on their salted caramel cake. If you want a cake that won’t fill you up, go for this salted caramel cake at Conti’s. 🙂 It’s 95 pesos per slice.

Yummm!

Peach Walnut Torte

Here’s Peach Walnut Torte, with a delicious thick meringue-like crust where the walnuts are mixed in. It has a thick layer of cream above that, and of course – peaches! The crust made this an interesting dessert to me. Only 95 pesos per slice.

More to come! 😉

August 10, 2015
Hatsu Hana Tei: perfect for heavy authentic Japanese meal in Makati

Hungry and craving for Japanese food? A heavy meal of Japanese food is waiting for you at Hatsu Hana Tei. It’s at the second floor of Herald Suites in Chino Roces Avenue, Makati City.

Japanese foods weren’t my favorite… until now. 🙂 Just this year I found myself craving for more and more Japanese food. I’m lucky to be working near Family Mart stores (tonkatsu maki, futo maki, california maki, onigiri, noodles, etc) and Little Tokyo (authentic Japanese restaurants).

Last week, I told my friends at the office that I wanted us to eat lunch at Tokyo Tokyo. Friend “G” was up for the idea, but friend “C” told me he’s sick of foods at Tokyo Tokyo and wanted to eat ramen elsewhere. “G” said that the ramen place that “C” was suggesting was too expensive, and so she suggested Hatsu Hana Tei at CHino Roces Avenue, just in front of Little Tokyo, because food there is sulit (great value for money). About 300 pesos could get us a set meal with a generous serving.

And she was right. Even the one-bowl rice meals were too much even for our male friends to handle. 😉
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July 9, 2015
The Food Club review (Pasay) – had diarrhea and they are without accountability

This is a The Food Club review. It’s gonna be a quick one because I will only feel worse if I take long in writing this.

Me and my friends are not coming back to The Food Club again because of bad experiences.

We had buffet at The Food Club on a Monday, and 5 out of 6 people in our group had diarrhea. Our symptoms began 1 to 2 days after eating at The Food Club.
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January 20, 2015
Contact lens for Sept. 2014 to 2015, affordable multipurpose solution with free case, and travel size multipurpose solution

As a person with myopia (nearsightedness) who never feels comfortable with eyeglasses, I resort to contact lenses. I’m really glad contact lenses were invented. Without contact lenses, I would always have headaches from eyeglasses even if the lenses’ grades are updated.

Last Saturday, my mother and I went to Paterno St., Quiapo. Goals were to get me a new pair of contact lenses, buy huge bottles of multipurpose contact lens solution with free contact lens case, and buy travel size multipurpose solutions for an upcoming flight with colleagues to Rootcon 8 in Cebu.

Vista Prima Optical in Paterno Street for Contact Lenses

Our feet took us to Vista Prima Optical. See the map:

If you know that you should look for a colorful interior with greens and yellows, you won’t miss this optical shop. This was where I bought my 2013 to 2014 pair of contacts. Their contact lens price and quality were not bad, the shop is not far from my house, waiting time is short, and the staffs are accomodating and are all Pinays… so I had no reason not to come back, right? xD Chinatown/Binondo is another not-so-far place from my house and there are optical shops there, but I’d rather go to Quiapo because the Chinese doctors in Binondo area make me feel uneasy. Think language barrier.

Clear contact lens for extended wear (approximately 1 year of use) cost 1200 pesos. The brand they sell is New Look. The doctor first checked my eye grades with that apparatus where the patient leans forward and see a hot air balloon photo. xD I think it’s called an autorefractor. Then she proceeded with the other eye exam where she made me wear that heavy eyeglasses where she added and took away lenses from. Through these two test, the doctor would determine the best power that your contact lenses (even eyeglasses) need.

The waiting time for the contact lens was only 30 minutes. Mom and I went to buy stuff from Isetann first to kill time. Vista Prima Optical is open until 6PM anyway. We ate at Phat Panda Fast Food at Bustos St. The “small” size servings of dishes were good for two people and cost only 100 pesos. We ordered mixed seafood with vegetables which was nice because it had oysters, fishes and squids. I like those. The other dish was sizzling beef. It’s like Chinese-style beef with buttery sauce and vegetables. It was so-so to me. We also ordered fried rice, and it was bad. The rice was so soggy and it was almost like eating paste. Service was bad. There were only three staffs walking around to serve – two ladies and one guard. And when I said service was bad, it’s about one of the waitresses. I asked her for service water when she took our order. I waited. But when every food was already served to us, the water was still not brought to us. So I asked the same waitress again for water, and she said “Sige wait lang po.” And so we waited again. But she never served us water. She just kept serving other tables and seemed to have no intention of getting back to us. Another table asked for hot tea, and she, the same waitress who wouldn’t bring us water, immediately served them hot tea. We asked the other waitress for water, and she gave us a pitcher right away. Geez! Was the waitress doing it on purpose? She shouldn’t, because there’s no reason for her to do so, since we were politely requesting stuff from her.

After the irritating lunch at Phat Panda, we went back to Vista Prima Optical to claim my contact lenses.

The New Look contact lenses came with a 60 ml bottle of Bescon Cliwell multipurpose solution and a free contact lens case. That small bottle gave me hope of finding a similar bottle that I could bring to a flight.

They don’t have huge bottles of contact lens multipurpose solutions there that had free contact lens case, so I told my mom I’d check out other optical shops.

All Comfort Formula multi-purpose contact lens solution and Lens Care brand supply problem

I saw bottles of “All Comfort Formula” multi-purpose contact lens solution being displayed at “I Sight Optical Centre” so I walked in to buy some. We realized that it’s the same optical shop where my mom purchased eyeglasses last year. Each 500 ml bottle costs 220 pesos with free contact lens case. It’s a bit more expensive per ml compared to my usual multipurpose solution called Lens Care (95 pesos for about 350 ml bottle), but Lens Care has a supply problem lately.

The reason why I wanted to look for multipurpose contact lens solution in Quiapo is because of Lens Care’s supply problem in Mercury Drug stores. Lens Care could be found in any Mercury Drug branch, until recently. I went to a branch in Sta. Cruz, in EDSA, in Binondo, and in Makati, and there was either the expensive Opti-Free brand or nothing.

I Sight Optical Centre did not sell travel size bottles of contact lens solution. I saw that they had small Lens Care bottles but they were not for sale. They are for bundling with purchased contact lenses. They do sell contact lens cases for 25 pesos each though. I shall take note. 🙂

Travel size multipurpose contact lens solution bottles

In the next few weeks, I’ll be on a flight bound for Cebu with office mates. We will be attending Rootcon 8. 🙂 We are not checking in any luggage, and that gives me a problem with my contact lens solution. 3.4 oz or 100 ml is the maximum volume of liquid per container for carried bags in planes, while my solutions are 350 ml and above. My original plan was to drop by a Mercury Drug store upon landing, and buy contact lens solution there. But I felt that there would also be a supply problem of Lens Care in Cebu. 2 years ago, I was able to buy Lens Care in Cebu, but that was a time when supply was not a problem. So I thought, I would either buy that expensive Opti-Free solution (300+ pesos, IIRC) in Cebu or wear glasses for 4 days while walking around in unfamiliar places. It will be a very tough stay in Cebu if I only wear glasses. There would be constant head and eye pain, and difficulty in moving around.

My mom didn’t want to check another optical shop. Getting tired, I think. But I told her I really need to find a small bottle of multipurpose solution similar to that freebie from Vista Prima.

Another optical shop with an array of contact lens solution being displayed caught our attention. It was called “New SOS Optical Supply Co.” And they had the very same 60 ml bottle of Bescon Cliwell! 😀 Each bottle costs 65 pesos… or was it 60? xD Each bottle comes with free contact lens case too.

Happiness. Thanks to Paterno St. in Quiapo

For days these thoughts had bothered me – not having enough multipurpose contact lens solution in stock due to the supply problem of Lens Care in Mercury Drug stores, and the possibility of enduring discomfort from eyeglasses for days. But thanks to the numerous optical shops in Paterno St. that are doing business even on Saturdays, I don’t have to worry about those anymore! 🙂

September 15, 2014