Karate Kid Karatepid Meals

I am not much into Japanese food, but certain dishes I love and my favorite is the Ebi Tempura. When we went to the mall after visiting the MV Logos Hope early this month, I was handed this coupon by a Karate Kid staff. It occurs to me then that of the "old" (meaning has been there for many years) food establishments in SM Fairview, we still haven't tasted their food. Seeing that the food were quite inexpensive, I asked my companions if we could try it.


List of food on "sale" are:

• Gyoza (5 pieces) - p69, you save p6
• Japanese Wrap and Roll - p89, you save p10. Flavors to choose from: Kani Mango and Cheesy Tori
• Ebi Fry with Rice - p89, you save p10
• Fish Katsu - p89, you save p10
• Chicken Burger Combo - p89, you save p10
• Japanese Bolognese Pasta - p89, you save p10
• Miso with Kani and Corn Soup - p19, you save p6
• Yakisoba - p59, you save p9
• Takoyaki (8 pieces) - p59, you save p10
• California Maki (8 pieces) - p69, you save p11
• Crunchy Maki (8 pieces) - p79, you save p10. Flavors to choose from: Tempura Maki, Hawaiian Torikatsu Maki, Ham & Cheese Maki, Spicy Tuna Maki

That day, we tried the Ham & Cheese Crunchy Maki. It was a great snack, but I am not much into wasabi, so I scraped off the wasabi on my share of the maki before I ate it.

With so many great choices and food actually delicious, I sort of wondered why we didn't eat here since then. I am thankful that now we know about this place, it will be our choice the next time the family goes out to eat. I wanna try their ramen and their octopus burger!

Anyway, the Karatepid Meals are available until the end of April, but what I love the most was that the coupons are valid 60 days after the end of the promo, which means, I can still use it until the 30th of June. Affordable Japanese food... now that's what I like!

Tomorrow, I will visit their Trinoma branch and I will eat their Fish Katsu.

What We Ate at the Best Food Forward 2

Hello foodie friends!

It was last year when I learned about the Best Food Forward event, but I wasn't able to attend it due to some circumstances. This year, when they announced that another event was coming up, I told myself I won't miss it, and thankfully I didn't. I personally had to thank Nuffnang Philippines, too, because through them I was able to get free tickets for the event.

It was scheduled last Saturday and Sunday, but because of some reasons, I went to the NBC Tent in Bonifacio Global City (Taguig) yesterday with my two favorite food buddies: my sister and my friend Ria.


We arrived at the venue around 10:30am, and we were in awe at just how much concessionaires where there showcasing their products. Some booths allowed free tasting of their food - which was a good move as people are often skeptic in buying from a not-so-familiar merchant, and we still haven't covered half of the venue and we were already a little full from the free food sampling! :)

Around 12 noon, we decided to choose where to buy our lunch. I have had quite a lot of food trips with these two pretty ladies, so we already knew how to do it: we each choose what we want to buy and share it so everyone can taste different food. Our choices:


Ria's Meal -

All-Meat Panzarotti by Mama Lou's. All of us wanted to eat pizza that day, but when we stopped by Mama Lou's and tasted their Panzarotti, we all fell in love with it. It's basically calzone with a choice of dip - Ria chose blue cheese. Underneath that arugula leaves were alfalfa, which completed the meal.

Green Tea Shake by Roots & Herbs . As for the drink, Roots & Herbs were actually selling the powder form of the tea (they also sell coffee), but they have this dispenser of ready made iced green tea drink for sampling, and for that day they were also selling the Green Tea Frappe - green tea drink with whipped cream. Ria loved the taste of the drink and ordered for a cup, but asked for them to omit the whipped cream as she would like her drink as healthy as possible. Ria was expecting for them to just get some drink at the dispenser, but people at the booth were so nice, they opened a new pack of the drink so that it will be super fresh. Since Ria didn't want the whipped cream, they blended some of the drink with ice to make it a little more special than just having the drink. Very nice!


Jessie's Meal

Classic Wagyu Burger by Malcom's. My sister loves Angus more than Wagyu, but Malcom's the only one serving burgers at the event, so she decided to go for it, afterall it was only p120 pesos. I personally loved the taste of the patty. It was clearly different from the typical burger patties... and it was so great to see the patty's slightly much bigger than the bun. Two thumbs up!

Original GF with Meat by Eat My GF (Eat My Garlic Fries). I am not sure what made it really "garlicky," but I did see some toasted garlic bits at the bottom of the container, but the fries taste a lot like garlic, too, so I am thinking maybe it had garlic powder as well. Anyway, the fries at the top of the pack were crispy and slightly grease-less, but the ones at the bottom were a little oily. Tastewise, it was indeed much better than the ones we usually eat from the fast food joints, and because I love the taste of garlic, I surely loved this (except for the oily ones). :)

Royal Milk Tea by Bubble Tea (not pictured). Sister was still buying her drink when I took the picture above, so I wasn't able to include the image of her drink. Well... I only had a sip of her drink, so I can't tell if I liked it or not.


My Meal

Roast Beef with Mushroom Sauce Rice Bowl by Bonanza Roasted Calf of Feast of Flavors. The beef itself was awesome. It was so tender, so juicy, so flavorful. What I didn't like was the mushroom sauce - it tasted like the store bought mushroom soup powder turned into soup (or thick gravy).

Thai Cha Yen. They had a few choices for drinks, but I went for their basic drink, just so I could taste what Thai Milk Tea was like. It was a little milkier than the last few milk teas I tasted, but it still had the taste of tea.


My food buddies - Jessie and Ria. I just love doing food trips with them!

We stayed at the NBC Tent until 3pm. Before we went home, we bought some mini cupcakes and dumplings to take home. Sadly though... I forgot to buy myself a pack of the Yellow Corn Nachos! Hmpt.

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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.

Recipe | Tocinokatsu with Cheese Scrambled Eggs

I have a lot of things going on in my head lately that I neglected my fitness routines, I am eating irregular - I'd have breakfast at 11am, lunch at 4pm, and eat dinner before I sleep at night. I feel bad at many things that I am starting to lose focus on things I need to concentrate on. With that I have a confession to make: I lost track of many things that I forgot today's Friday - a "no meat" day supposedly, but I woke up real early to prepare this breakfast for my family.

My main reason of serving this is because my sister has been waking up real early everyday to get to work on time, but because she gets home late and would like to sleep longer, she would use a little more extra time catching up on sleep rather than cook herself some breakfast. I felt a little guilty and worried about it, so I decided to wake up and cook all of us breakfast, just so sis and mom would take a break from eating cheese sandwiches.

This recipe I am about to share is taken from YUMMY Magazine March 2012 issue.


Tocinokatsu with Cheese Scrambled Eggs
{Serves 4}

Ingredients - Tocinokatsu:

• 1 (500-gram) pack ready-to-cook tocino
• 1 egg, beaten
• 1 to 2 cups Japanese bread crumbs
• oil for frying

Ingredients - Scrambled Eggs:

• 5 eggs
• 1/3 cup Cheddar cheese, grated
• 1 to 2 tablespoons butter

How to Cook:

• Make the Tocinokatsu: Toss tocino with the beaten egg, then coat each piece with breadcrumbs. Heat oil to medium and pan fry coated tocino in batches. Drain on paper towels. Set aside.
• Cook the Cheesy Scrambled Eggs: Beat 5 eggs in a bowl then add cheese. Melt butter in a nonstick pan, add cheesy eggs. Cook to your desired doneness.

What I loved about cooking this dish is that coating the tocino with breadcrumbs actually made it easier to cook, as we know tocino can be a little messy to cook - because of its caramel. When I served this, brother exclaimed, "It did taste like katsu!" A great indication that he liked what I served.

As for the eggs, the addition of cheese was a nice change, but as we ate more and more of it we tend feel "suya." Good thing I garnished it with spring onions, it added a little bit of dimension to the taste.

According to the magazine, you can also use beef tapa to this recipe, or use a different kind of cheese for the eggs. They also recommended serving it with salted eggs and tomatoes, but I felt it was a little too much eggs for the day, but of course, it is something you can also serve - not everybody wants scrambled eggs anyway.

Janet's Pares House

This was a very, very old food trip that I had; I didn't have the intention of blogging about this as it wasn't really that nice of a food experience, but since it's now letter J on "ABC Wednesday" and I didn't want to put another "Jollibee" related post, I decided to post this as well.


I have seen Janet's Pares House for a long time, but never really got the chance to eat there, because family doesn't really go to Lagro that much (we would always go straight to the mall), but one time before this food trip, brother took home a box of Janet's puto (rice cake) and us liking the taste prompted us to plan of dining there. That time came when brother needed to go to the clinic and asked if I would like to come with him and have lunch at Janet's Pares House right after.


They do have a big board of menu for people wanting to take out the orders, but for those dining in, they will provide a menu and one staff would approach the table to get the orders.


I like how spacious the place was - but it didn't have airconditioning system (they have electric fans though). We found a table near the window so it wasn't such a big deal for us, though people sitting near the entrance might have to put up with a little air pollution as the place is right next to a busy street where private vehicles as well as public utility vehicles (jeepney and taxi) pass by.


Beef Pares. It may be a "Pares House," but they only have this one on the menu. It was a wee bit sweet for our taste, but brother liked how tender the beef was.


Sizzling Sisig. Back in the days when health isn't that much an issue for me, anything full of cholesterol is something delicious for me - hence the order of Sizzling Sisig. It was tasty, alright... but way too saucy!


Buttered Chicken. Now this got me a little pissed off. I don't know how the Indians do the dish (I knew their version is saucy), but from what I know of - based on what my ex boyfriend told me (they do catering services at times) - that it's steamed chicken then fried in butter. When I saw it on the menu, it made me want to taste it as I usually fry my chicken in vegetable oil... and when it was served I didn't know how to react. First up, it's not butter that's in here but melted margarine (Star Margarine)! Chicken tasted like ordinary chicken soaking in margarine. Yes I did say cholesterol is something I like, but I never really wanted to have this much margarine on my food! Clearly, who would want to use all that melted margarine on their rice? Not only was it a waste of ingredient, it didn't look appetizing as well.

Oh well, it's such a good thing we don't go to Lagro that often...

Yummy Everyday Pasta Cookbook

As much as I love collecting YUMMY Magazines, I also love their cookbooks. Yes, I know the recipes in the cookbooks were the same as the recipes they printed in several magazines, but if you're like me who would always try recipes, it is sometimes a little overwhelming to browse through pages of magazine just to find a recipe or two to try. The goodness of these YUMMY Cookbooks is that each cookbook is devoted to one topic, therefore looking for recipes are much easier.


The newest YUMMY Cookbook is "Everyday Pasta," which features 62 recipes that you can cook for yourself, family, friends, and maybe use it to start your food business. I am a big pasta lover, and this cookbook seemed to be something I will consult during days that I can't think of anything to cook... or during days that I want to serve people dear to me something special.

The cookbook's divided into categories (for easy browsing) -


It's in the Sauce.

14 recipes for this section... and the top 5 recipes I want to try are:
> Malunggay Pesto
> Creamy Salmon and Dill Sauce
> Tinapa Cream Sauce
> Smoky Bacon Tomato Sauce
> Roasted Tomato and Garlic Sauce


Flavorful and Festive.

For this section, there are 13 recipes... my top 5 recipes -
> Luxe Mac and Cheese with Truffle Oil
> Angel Hair Pasta with Sun-dried Tomato
> Creamy Prawn Canneloni
> Pasta Nero di Seppia (Pasta in Squid Ink Sauce)
> Gnocchi con Spinach Au Gratin


The Light Stuff.

My top 5 choices out of the 11 recipes?
> Greek Chicken Pasta Salad
> Linguine with Shrimp and Stir-Fried Vegetables
> Breaded Spanish Sardines with Garlic-Basil Pasta
> Chicken-Mushroom Pasta Salad
> Seafood Pasta


Weekday Wonders.

The biggest section with 15 recipes, and the 5 recipes I would try first (before cooking the other recipes) are -
> Linguine with Longganiza Sauce
> Stovetop Mac and Three Cheese
> Caesar Salad Pasta
> Spicy Spinach and Garlic Pasta
> Baked Ziti with Italian Sausage and Peppers


For the Kids.

Of course, kids do matter, too... and there are 9 recipes for them - but of course you can also serve them the pasta from the other sections, it's just that recipes from this section more for the kids. My top three choices are -
> Italian Meatballs in Marinara Sauce
> Tuna and Potato Chip Mac 'n Cheese
> Sweet-Style Spaghetti

Each recipe has its own image, for you to know how the end product would look like. These images aren't just there to inspire you to cook - these images would also inspire you how to serve your pasta dishes, giving your family or friends or whomever it is your feeding (even just yourself) that feeling that you're eating at a gourmet restaurant, when in reality, you're just eating at the comforts of your own home.

Whether you're an avid collector of the YUMMY Magazine or just someone who loves pasta, this cookbook will surely please you. As for me, I am already ready to cook the very first recipe from the cookbook I want to try - Spicy Spinach and Garlic Pasta - simply because the Aglio Olio is my current pasta addiction and adding spinach not only seemed interesting, it's healthier, too.

By the way, as of this writing, there are now 12 YUMMY Cookbooks available:

• Everyday Pasta
• Party!
• Filipino Favorites
• Baon
• 100 Everyday Recipes
• Give, Bake, Sell!
• Menu for a Month
• Good to Go
• Quick & Good
• Weekend Cooking
• So-Easy Sweets
• Meals in Minutes.

I own three cookbooks - 100 Everyday Recipes, Baon, and Everyday Pasta. I am looking forward in buying Quick & Good and Filipino Favorites... but of course, in time I do hope to complete all the collection.

The YUMMY Everyday Pasta cookbook is now available at newsstands, bookstores, and supermarkets nationwide for only p125. To get more YUMMY news, you can check their website at www.yummy.ph or follow them at Twitter - twitter.com/yummyph or like their Facebook page - facebook.com/yummymagazine.