Weekend Eating | Kakanin Sampler

Happy new week, foodies!

I guess most of you are busy for the Halloween / All Saints and Souls Day; me? Am just here at home, so I have all the time to blog. :) Well, I decided not to continue my La Union trip due to financial constraints, and since brother is currently up north with his girlfriend (they're in Vigan right now -- gah, I can only sigh about that, hahaha), the family decided to just let him light the candles on daddy's grave.

In our family, brother's the most strict one when it comes to eating fatty food. Before, he actually eats anything (he loves eating artery clogging food), but one time in 2008, while we were both in La Union, he complained about a headache. Our aunt Julie (a nurse), took his blood pressure and it read 180 over something - causing an alarm. Brother said he grilled some pork liver and heart for lunch (aunt and I were on a road trip, we got home 8pm). Aunt let brother took a pill, which he had to place under his tongue until it melted, and the feeling of all of it was a big lesson for my brother. He still eats liver from time to time, but after that day he really stopped eating pork fat, chicken skin, and animal internals.

However, that's not the case for us girls (mom, sis, and I), so when brother left Friday night, us three decided we would eat pork pata! Hahahaha. Yesterday morning, sis and I went to the market to buy pata and somewhere, we saw a food cart selling native delicacies. Sister still hasn't had her breakfast, so we approached the cart to buy something for her. I didn't know if it tasted good, so I just bought one of each.


There were two kinds of puto (one with cheese, the other with salted egg), pichi-pichi, kutsinta, and peanut roll - which is like the nilupak, but this one had grounded peanut paste (not really peanut butter) instead of cheese. I don't know how much each cost, but when the vendor was computing it, I heard him add 4, 5, and 6, and our total bill was 26, so I guess the kutsinta was 4 pesos, the puto with cheese and pichi-pichi were 5 pesos each, and the peanut roll and puto with egg were 6 each. Did I count that right? Yep. 26 pesos all in all.


I already had my breakfast that morning, but because I want to blog about this, I had to taste it. I just got an itty bitty piece from each, and all tasted good! Among these, it was the pichi-pichi I liked the best. My sister and mom loved the kutsinta. The puto were like the typical puto we eat (I figure this is "Puto Maya," - putong gawa sa Maya hotcake mix, lolz), and the peanut roll tasted good, but all of us prefer the one with cheese more.

The food cart had a signage saying it accepts bulk orders. Should I see the food cart again, I will definitely interview the vendor. :)

Oh, about the pata... we did buy one, and cook it for lunch (as always it's the Pinatisang Pata ng Baboy), and I am so thankful that the pata we bought wasn't really fatty. It's basically skin and meat, but some fat I took out before I cook it.

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So... what did you have last weekend? If you're new to the Weekend Eating meme, you can read the rules and get the badge codes HERE. My heartfelt thanks to everyone who joined last week.

Food at the Canon Pixma Event

Canon Pixma Event
Cyberzone - SM City North Edsa
18 October 2011


It's always amazing whenever I receive invitations from Nuffnang Philippines, and even if some of those events I wasn't able to attend, I still try my best to attend their events because it's my way of thanking then. Actually, the same principle applies to all invitations I receive... just receiving the invitation is reason enough to make me feel I am special.

When I received an invitation to attend the Canon Pixma Launch, I didn't hesitate to reply to it right away... afterall, I am a Canon Camera user, and knowing other Canon products (such as their printer) sounds like a wonderful chance for me to learn more about gadgets I would like to save on. One thing that made me happier: brother received an invitation, too. Sweet!


Brother and I arrived just in time for the event, and even if there were so many vacant seats (as most guests were either at the registration booth, or roaming around, or lining up for food), we chose to sit at the first row. During events, I try to sit at the second row (at least) so I won't be at the front, but often I regret doing so because it was sometimes difficult to take pictures with heads blocking my view. Anyway, seated at the front sure felt good, as we were able to watch the event without anything blocking our view. :)


photo grabbed from More Than I Can Chew
Before the actual program, we were given food and drink stubs, which we used to sample some good food by Las Paellas Cafe. Food served at the buffet table included:


Crispy Squid Tentacles. While traveling from our place to SM City, I saw a food cart selling fried calamari, and realized that it's been a while since we last ate that kind of food. I sure hoped we could eat it again, and I was just surprised to see this on the table. It came with a sauce that had a hint of garlic - which paired well with the food (super delicious, I wonder how they made it; however the garlic flavor sure left a lasting taste (and yes, smell) in my mouth. Good thing brother had gum! :)


Mozzarella Sticks. At first I thought these were 100% mozzarella cheese covered with breadcrumbs. Upon biting it, I realized the mozzarella cheese was inside the dough-like wrapper. It wasn't as gooey as I hoped it would be, but still a good appetizer. This had a tomato sauce on the side - perfect! Cheese and tomatoes sure make a great pair, don't you think?


Chicken Fingers. It tasted like regular breaded chicken strips, but I appreciated that the fingers didn't have skin. I normally don't like chicken breast, but this was a nice way to let me eat chicken meat from the breast. Also, even if the food were served a few minutes before the event (which can mean the food were cooked way before the event), the chicken fingers still had that crunch. It came with a cheese-like sauce; good, but I personally prefer the gravy more.


Chorizo Pasta. For some reason, I forgot to put some on my plate. Since they claim food stubs before one could get food, am not sure if the guests were allowed to get back to the buffet table, and since I already surrendered my food stub, I just thought it's much better if I didn't taste it - I am actually on a diet, and I thought what I had on my plate was enough for a meal.


Roast Beef Panini. Since I thought I had a lot to eat already, I didn't eat the bread anymore, I just ate the panini filling, and I loved that the roast beef was "real," and not those roast beef you can buy at the supermarket (those that looked like square sweet ham).


Canonigo. Am not a big fan of the leche flan, but since the base of this dessert looked a bit like brazo de mercedes, I decided to try it, as it was the first time I tasted such dessert. Good thing the canonigo was cut into two different sizes - the normal square cut (pictured above), and another cut half of the normal one. Of course, Miss "I-No-Longer-Live-To-Eat" (that's me) chose the smaller cut. It's true, this dessert was leche flan (because of the caramel) and brazo de mercedes (because of the custard - served separately) combined, and I liked how it tasted like. However, like what I always say about food like this - I don't quite like the fact that it had a lot of calories yet because of its airy texture, it felt like I didn't eat anything at all, yet I already put in a lot of calories into my system. Still, it sure tasted great.

For drinks, we were served Iced Tea, which tasted different than the usual iced tea drinks.


My Plate. I decided to just get two pieces each of the fried food, and a piece each of the panini and canonigo. I think the "Dietera" in me was okay that time, after all, I was able to satisfy myself by eating new food (new in the sense that this was my first time to try Las Paellas Cafe's food), without eating too much. I don't really restrict myself as far as dieting in concerned, but of course, I have to take control as to how much I eat.

Dieting and food blogging may be two opposing sides, yet somehow these two still have this tie that connects them together. As long as I am not going overboard, I know I can satisfy these two aspects of my persona. :)

Big thanks to Nuffnang Philippines for this invitation!

Recipe | Chicken Wings with Lee Kum Kee Chili Garlic Sauce

Like what I said last time, I am hoping to cook as much recipes printed on the Lee Kum Kee booklet given to us at the Cooking with the Masters event. I already posted one, and I was hoping to cook the Pork Binagoongan this week, but I wasn't able to buy the Lee Kum Kee Fine Shrimp Paste, so I decided to cook a different dish instead.

This recipe is created by Chef Ernest Reynoso-Gala, son of another culinary icon Sylvia Reynoso-Gala. This recipe, aside from being printed as part of the collection of Lee Kum Kee dishes created by celebrity chefs for the 123rd anniversary of Lee Kum Kee, was also featured in the October 2011 issue of Appetite Magazine.


Chicken Wings with Lee Kum Kee Chili Garlic Sauce
{Serves 5 - 6}
[Printable Version]

Ingredients:

• 1 kilo chicken wings, each cut into two
  
• 1/3 cup cooking oil
  
• 1 tablespoon Lee Kum Kee chili garlic sauce
  
• 1 tablespoon ginger, finely chopped
  
• 1/2 cup spring onions, chopped
  
• 2 tablespoons Lee Kum Kee oyster sauce
  
• 1 tablespoon Lee Kum Kee premium soy sauce
  
• 1 tablespoon sugar
  
• 2 cups water
  
• For thickening: 2 tablespoons tapioca starch, mixed with 1/4 cup water and 1 teaspoon Lee Kum Kee sesame oil
  
• For garnish: Romaine lettuce leaves

How to Cook:

• Heat oil in a wok.
  
• Add wings, cover and cook for 3 minutes per side.
  
• Remove cover and push wings to side of wok.
  
• Add chili garlic sauce, ginger, and spring onions. Stir awhile.
  
• Add oyster sauce, soy sauce, sugar, and water. Mix well.
  
• Let boil, then cover and simmer for 25 - 30 minutes. Thicken with starch mixture.
  
• Pour on lettuce lined platter and serve.

Obviously, I wasn't able to plate this one well because there were no lettuce available at the nearby market. Anyway, the recipe calls for 1/2 cup chopped spring onions, but I only used about 1/4 cup, some I set aside for garnish. The recipe also calls for 2 cups of water, but I only used 1 cup, because my chicken was only about 3/4 kilo (just 4 wing pieces, one wing for each of us here in the family). Cooking the chicken, I didn't really brown it well, I just fried it until the skin was firm enough to handle the 25 minutes cooking time. I added the thickening sauce at the last 5 minutes of cooking.

I found this dish lip-smacking good. While it is not as crunchy as the normal buffalo wings we know, the sauce was really something that made the dish wonderful. Personally, I loved this more compared to the Crispy Chicken with Hoisin Peanut Sauce, but both my siblings loved the other one compared to this. Oh well, to each his own, I guess, but I am sure I will cook this again some other time.

Pizza Hut Bloggers' Meet and Greet with Ms. Shamcey Supsup

Six days ago, Pizza Hut Philippines (via their Facebook Page) posted a message about an exclusive Meet-and-Greet with Ms. Shamcey Supsup. It's open to all bloggers, so when my sister read the message, she quickly told me about it. Obviously, we sent them our names and blog URL. A few days after, we got to receive the formal invitation, and we were so ecstatic.

I have many fond memories involving Pizza Hut. It has been part of our lives since we were young, and my late father would always tell a funny (and embarrassing) story when he treated brother and I to a Pizza Hut branch in Araneta Center. When I was in college, my dad and I would often meet in Cubao and travel home together, and since our house is way too far, we would buy the Pizza Hut pizza slices (buy 1 take 1), which we will eat while on the road.

Anyway, the event was scheduled last night (26 October) at their branch in Glorietta 4, Makati. Before we left, we got to read a message on their wall saying "The earliest bird will win a prize," so we didn't roam around the shops anymore. The minute we got off Ayala, we quickly went to the location. Well, I think we came overly early, as the registration starts at 5:30pm, yet we were already there at 4:50pm. Hahaha. Well, we were thankful we arrived that early, because just 15 minutes after, another blogger arrived.


This event is for Pizza Hut's newest offering - the Tuscani pizza. Their pan pizza ise something I will always love, but they are right - people's palate changes quite quickly, so the food industry must constantly innovate and come up with new ideas to adapt to ever changing demands of the costumers. The Tuscani pizza was actually a year in the making, because they wanted to serve quality pizza. Their innovation started with the crust - from their pan pizza, to their stuff crust pizza, and now to the Tuscani - they wanted to serve a pizza that is neither too thick nor too thin - just the right thinness that will highlight the flavors of its toppings.

The endorser of the Tuscani pizza is Ms. Universe 2011 3rd runner up Shamcey Supsup, whose life is quite similar to the Tuscani pizza - simple yet abundant, thin yet full-flavored. She arrived even before the event started, and even if she looked so simple when she arrived, her beauty still shines through. When I saw her and she started talking about the Tuscani pizza, sister and I agreed that she truly is the perfect endorser for this pizza.


Us bloggers didn't just meet her... she was also the one who served our Tuscani Supremo pizza! A Miss Universe serving our pizza? Just goes to show how down-to-earth she is.


Tonight's dinner included a serving of their pasta carbonara and two slices of the Tuscani pizza - the All Meat and the Supremo flavors. I was able to finish the pasta because it just tasted so good; I loved the diced bell peppers and the mix of creaminess and seasonings. The pizza were great, too, but I only gave each a taste (two bite-size slices per pizza) because I am actually on a diet. :)

Even if I didn't eat a lot of the pizza, I was able to taste how awesome it was. If you're a very close friend of mine, you'd know I will always choose the pan pizza over the thin crust ones, because the thin crust pizzas I tasted back then were either crunchy (it was like eating crackers with toppings) or too salty (because of too much toppings). However, what sets the Tuscani apart from the other thin crust pizza is that that it's not really hard - it has a light crunchy crust, yet even if it's thin, it still is chewy. And because the crust is quite thin, I was able to taste the flavors of the different toppings. Between the two flavors, I liked the All-Meat more.

The Tuscani pizza has five flavors - All Meat, BBQ Chicken, 3 Cheese Bacon & Spinach, Roast Beef, and Supremo. It's available in two sizes: medium (10-inches) and super family-size (14-inches). All Tuscani flavors are available as is, or as part of Value Feast Meals with Spaghetti Bolognese and Lipton Sparkling Lemon Tea.



After dinner, there were rounds of question and answer. Some questions were about the pizza, some were about Ms. Universe, and some were about both. She was so candid and natural when answering the questions - it was like a group of friends talking and exchanging messages, but of course, with poise. When one blogger asked her to match the different Tuscani flavors to the Top 5 candidates of the recent Miss Universe, she still matched herself to the "Supremo" flavor, as it is the "supreme" one. I admired how she values herself.

Before calling it a night, they awarded the early birds. Their wall message said "earliest bird," so I was thinking they will just award one person, hence I asked sister to register first. Since we arrived together, we were the earliest birds and we were both given a prize. What was the prize? All I can say is "I am seeing a Pizza Hut food trip anytime soon." I want to taste that 3 Cheese Bacon and Spinach Tuscani! :)


There was also a photo booth set up bySay Kawaii, and of course sister and I didn't pass up the chance to pose for pictures.

I want to extend my sincerest gratitude to Pizza Hut for this event. We were so happy to be a part of this exclusive event.

By the way, Pizza Hut has an ongoing contest for Facebook and Tumblr users... please check my post before this for the complete details.