Yummy Eats 2012

Last Saturday, my sister and I were at the Rockwell Tent for Yummy Eats 2012. We enjoyed last year's event, so receiving invitations for this event made us really excited about it.

Biggest part of the event was sampling (and buying) food products from different concessionaires, but since that will be a long post, I will talk about my Top 10 finds on the next post, for now let me talk about the Food Demo and other parts of the event.

When we got there, Century Bangus was about to do their Food Demo, but since my sister and I were making rounds at the different concessionaires, we weren't able to watch it.


After eating our lunch, sister and I found empty seats at the demo area, which allowed me to watch the McCormick demo, featuring their new product: the Bread Spread.


Five dishes were made, but we (sister and I) only got to taste three because whenever we would ask for our share the staff would give it to others (haha): (left to right) Baked Butterflied Prawns in Garlic & Herb, Easy Caesar with Herb Parmesan, and Angeled Eggs with Pesto. Sister and I loved the three dishes and were very much convinced that the McCormick Bread Spread is so versatile and very tasty, too! Among the three flavors, we loved Garlic the most.


A few minutes after, Hunt's had their demo presented by celebrity chef Nino Logarta together with Hunt's celebrity endorser Jean Garcia. They prepared dishes using Hunt's tomato and spaghetti sauces.



At the same time, three mommy bloggers at the far end of the stage were also cooking it off using Hunt's products. Together with their kids as their assistants, they were asked to whip up three (or more) dishes in one hour. I wasn't able to follow the names of the dishes they made, but I admire them for coming up with three dishes in one hour while cooking in front of many audience.


In the end, it was mommy blogger Jackie Go who was named the winner, but of course all three contestants are winners in their own rights.

There were a few more demos after this, but my sister has to report for work already, so we decided to leave. It was indeed a fun event, and this early, we are already looking forward for the next Yummy Eats event.

Tomorrow, I will share our favorite food and dishes at the event.

ABC Wednesday | R and S

Another two-in-one post for me, simply because I forgot to take an R picture. :)


R is for Raisins.

I never really liked raisins. Not only did I find the appearance unappetizing, I also didn't like its taste. My brother on the other hand loves raisins and would often get all the raisins on my food. :) I do take out all the raisins on my food, but of course if it's in a cookie I don't take it out anymore for it will be such a hassle to do so; I will just chew on the cookie instead.


S is for Sky Flakes.

This has been a very popular brand of crackers here in the Philippines. It's light, had the right amount of saltiness, which makes it a good snack. For some, they eat this as their "diet" food - some people eat tend to just eat a pack of this (3 crackers inside) for dinner. I am in a weight loss journey, but I never really considered eating this for dinner as I find it very tasty I tend to eat 2 packs.

There are many flavors now, but aside from this one (the original flavor), I like the Onion and Chives flavor. Here at home, we oftentimes fix some tuna spread to go with the Sky Flakes crackers.


 

Firmoo Eyeglasses

This post is not directly about food, but as a foodie who blogs, it is very important to me that I can see things clearly, as not only do I write about the foodie experiences, I (at times) cook the food and photograph the plated dishes before I could share it here on my blog.

It was in 2008 when I had my "last" pair of eyeglasses, as it was still the pair I am currently using. Late last year, I already felt it was giving signs of retirement, but I held on to it as new pairs of eyeglasses are quite expensive.Early this year though, I already felt the need of having it replaced, so it was a good timing that I learned about Firmoo Optical - the world's leading online optical store that offers various high quality, fashionable, and professional, but affordable eyewear.

Early this month, I went to my optician to have my eyes checked, and upon giving me the prescription, I gave Firmoo Optical the copy of it, along with my choice of frame. I have been using eyeglasses since I was 11 years old, so I already know what type of frame I want, and I am thankful that Firmoo Optical has a wide selection of eyeglasses to fit one's preference. I also found the site very user-friendly, as each eyeglasses frame have every detail one must know about, including a "Try On" feature to give you an idea of how the eyeglasses would look based on your facial features.



My eyeglasses arrived less than a week after I sent them the details. Pretty quick for an International company, and I am impressed! Inside the package, I appreciated that they put on some bubble wrap to protect the eyeglasses, but the one thing that made me smile was the little packet containing a little tools for the eyeglasses.



This was the frame I chose, because purple is my favorite color and I liked that white part on the sides that gave it more beauty.



For a prescription eyeglasses, they certainly had the lenses right. It sure is like the one I am wearing now, so I am definitely happy with how it all turned out.

Malunggay Pastel Bread

What a lazy week that was, really... I think I lost enthusiasm in many things last week, but I hope to pick myself up and make this week a great one for me. :)

My brother's girlfriend was in NCR last weekend attending a seminar, and while she didn't visit us here anymore (due to schedule constraints), she did give us a present:



A box of Malunggay Pastel Bread!

Before, when one speaks of Cagayan de Oro, it's quite automatic that the food "Pastel" is associated with it. I haven't been to Cagayan de Oro, but my brother told me almost everyone boarding the plane from Cagayan de Oro to Manila would have at least one box of Pastel to take home. It is quite funny, though, that the famous Pastel actually originated from Camiguin.

In 2010, a group of students from Xavier University came up with a feasibility study of adding bits of Malunggay leaves into the soft bun and now it is considered Cagayan de Oro's own delicacy.



I love it more than the more popular brand, really. The filling wasn't overly sweet and the bits of the malunggay leaves did give it a nice interesting twist to the taste. Priced at 60 to 70 pesos per box (6 buns inside), it sure is a great pasalubong that everyone will enjoy.

Brother said the Malunggay Pastel Bread is available at Limketkai Mall, Divisioria (CDO's Divisoria, not the one in Manila), and at the Cagayan de Oro Airport.

Lami Jud Kaayo!
Thanks for the gift, Ms. Emmy.

- * - * - * -

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.

Malabon Kulinarya Festival 2012

Eat's More Fun in Malabon.

Printed on one of the souvenir shirts, the City of Malabon truly boasts a wide array of food and dishes that all of us have tasted, if not considered as a favorite or a choice of comfort food. In my lifetime, I have been to Malabon just twice, but I could certainly tell a lot of Malabon food and dishes. In fact, Pansit Malabon is my most favorite type of noodles.





In celebration of the 413th founding anniversary of the city of Malabon, they launched the Malabon Kulinarya Festival, which aims to feature the rich culinary history of the place. Led by its acting Mayor Len Len Oreta, the kick off of the event happened at Dampa sa Paseo (Niugan) last Tuesday.


Part of Malabon's rich culinary heritage are the people who continuously showcase and improve the many flavors of Malabon. At the event, there was a cooking demo by CCA's (Center for Culinary Arts) very own,  Ms. Annie Guerrero and Chef Mira Cruz, who both hailed in Malabon.


They demoed two dishes - Adobong Pusit and Sumpia with Garlic-Vinegar Dip, which may not really be originally from Malabon, but the way it is cooked is traditionally from Malabon. While the adobo is usually the way we all do the dish, it was the Sumpia that got me really interested. Imagine lumpia with veggies and garnish like that of Fresh Lumpia with a wedge of hard boiled egg inside. They shared to us the recipe, which I will be cooking this weekend.

At the event, different known and new names in the Malabon food industry were present to showcase their products. Among the food and dishes I was able to photographed and tasted include:


Nanay's Pancit Malabon. Well yes, it's my choice of pancit, so when they told guests that we can sample food from each booth, I made sure I taste this one. Well, I don't really have a favorite "brand" of Pancit Malabon, but this was really flavorful.

Aling Upeng Kikiam. Growing up, my parents would always buy one Kikiam every Friday, but when we transferred here in Caloocan City, we didn't get to eat it anymore. Seeing this and tasting this brought back so many memories.


Tita Rowie's Special Bagoong. I wasn't able to taste it, but it seemed interesting.

Pastry by Miko Manzano. Miko is one of the contestants of Junior Master Chef Pinoy Edition, and is also from Malabon. These cute pastries were baked by Miko and I appreciated that it was light and not-so-sweet.

Maid in Heaven Acharap. Another product that I didn't get to taste, but I was told that their product is really good.


Okoy ni Jr. I have tasted many kinds of okoy, but while I cannot tell if this is the best, I did love it because it was crispy, it had lots of shrimps as well as vegetables...and it wasn't soggy with oil.

Judy Ann's Crispy Pata. When we arrived at the event, we were greeted by acting Mayor Len Len Oreta and one of the products he raved about was this crispy pata. Well, not only was it visually appealing, it was really worthy of such praises because it was really delicious! The meat was so tender yet the skin was so crunchy, and what made this a new dish for me was its sauces. I wasn't able to ask the exact names of the sauces, but clearly one is soy sauce based and the other was somewhat sweet spicy one, which was my choice of the two sauces. It was really good!

There were still so many food and dishes at the event, but I guess I will have to make another post for that because there were just a lot to share.

The bazaar at the parking lot of Malabon City Hall just wrapped up this afternoon, but the celebration will continue on May 21, with a big Cooking Competition among food enthusiasts and senior citizens. Miko Manzano will also do a cooking demonstration, so if you're interested to watch that, just head on to the Malabon Amphitheater on the 21st of May.

Eat's More Fun in Malabon?
Oh yes!

Big thanks to the city government of Malabon and to Mhel & Ken of CertifiedFoodies.Com for the invitation.


ps - the cake on the first image was made by Simon's Online Bakeshop.