Weekend Eating | Food Finds at Quezon Memorial Circle

My Saturday was a bit of a blah because of a cold virus that left me sneezing and feeling drowsy, but Sunday was a breathe of fresh air. I met a fitness buddy online (quite a strict person when it come to my diet and exercise, but very sweet of a person as well), and we decided to meet personally yesterday (Sunday). We walked around Quezon Memorial Circle - me going with his pace, and after a few rounds and a break at the Flower Garden and a few more rounds of walking around, we decided it's time for us to check the weekend market and go grab something to eat.

Compared to Salcedo Village and Sidcor Weekend Markets, the one here didn't have that much to offer - but there were some stalls that caught my interest. Before going here, I already thought about my Weekend Eating post, and told myself I will go find the "healthier options" once I come here.


First to caught my interest were these bottles of Fruit Concentrates. When we stopped by here, there was this one person inquiring about the products, and Pipoy (my fitness buddy) told me about the health benefits of Guyabano. Anyway, these concentrates were sold for 150 per bottle, and the vendor told us to prepare the concentrate with 1:2 ratio - 1 part concentrate, 2 parts water. The guyabano one also had the "unsweetened" variety, and aside from these three flavors, there's also the Dalanghita kind.


Walking further, I saw a stall that sells Soya-based products. I wasn't able to inquire how much their products are, but aside from Soya Milk, they also sell Vege-Meat, Vege-Tocino, and Tofu.

I didn't bring much that day - just enough for fare and some snacks - so I didn't buy anything, but I am looking forward to come back here and buy myself a bottle of that Guyabano concentrate and a pack of vege-meat.

Other healthy products I saw that day include: carrot juice, some leafy veggies - sayote tops and fern, and wheatgrass.

Of course, walking around the market trying to look for something to eat, I also got to see food products that I so want to eat, but wasn't able to.


Piaya and Japanese Cakes. I wasn't able to see how the Piaya were made - if the discs (hehe) were already like that and the vendor would just cook it, or he would prepare it first before cooking it. Each piaya costs p6, something I am sure my sister would love to buy if I ask her to come with me here.

The Japanese Cakes aren't new to me... I got to see a little stall outside of our neighborhood selling that, but I still haven't tasted it, hence my interest. I don't know if this is basically hotcakes (or pancakes) shaped like that, or maybe it tasted a bit like Oishi Manju (spell cake), which can be bought at the malls.

Obviously, I didn't buy any of these, but next time, I might.

As for our snacks, we had:


Toge Lumpia and Lugaw. I did eat a piece of bread before traveling to QMC, but of course I felt quite hungry that time, and thought of eating rice or pancit so I would eat something heavy, which could also be my early lunch. However, hearing Pipoy say he would just go for lugaw, I opted to eat the lumpia instead. At p10 each, I initially went for two pieces, but I only ate one and a half - I gave Pipoy the other half of the lumpia.


Dragon Fruit Ice Cream. I am not a big Ice Cream eater, but I kept bugging Pipoy about the Ice Cream (just to test his patience in a way - haha), so when we saw this, he told me I could eat it because it's dragon fruit and it's healthy compared to other ice cream flavors (vanilla, chocolate). I liked it, but I personally didn't like the cheese bits in it. Somehow, it didn't have that much dragon fruit flavor. I actually loved the one I ate at the Simply Butterflies Conservation (Bilar, Bohol) because it was creamier and had more flavor. Well, traveling to Bohol would be more expensive, so this one I appreciated. At least I knew I had the healthier option.

It was around 11am when we had our snacks - and me going for the lumpia made me think I will just eat lunch at home, but surprisingly, I wasn't hungry when I got home - even if the family was eating when I arrived. My tummy is now getting used to eat lesser than the usual, and for that I am thankful.

- * - * - * -

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 | Buffalo Wings a la Certified Foodies

One of my cravings this week was a good serving of Buffalo Wings. Our family was able to try out the McCormick Buffalo Wings mix, and even if we liked its taste, part of me still wants to try my hands at cooking the dish "from scratch."

I then remembered, days after the first Bloggers' Buffet at Carol's Texan 5 where we had a good serving of Buffalo Wings, siblings Mhel and Ken (of Certified Foodies) shared their own version of the dish. I quickly copied their recipe and tried to re-create it.


Homemade Buffalo Wings
Recipe by: Mhel and Ken of Certified Foodies
Yield: 2 Kilos

Ingredients - Chicken and Breading Mix

• 2 kilos of Chicken Wings, each cut into two
  
• 1 cup flour
  
• 1 teaspoon paprika
  
• 1 teaspoon cayenne pepper
  
• 1 teaspoon salt
  
• 1 teaspoon ground pepper
  
• 1 teaspoon thyme
  
• oil for deep frying

Ingredients - Buffalo Sauce

• 3/4 cup cayenne hot pepper sauce or any hot sauce
  
• 1/4 cup brown sugar
  
• 1 teaspoon cayenne pepper
  
• 1 teaspoon ground pepper
  
• 2 teaspoons garlic powder
  
• 2 tablespoons honey

Ingredients - Cheese Dip

• 1/2 cup mayonnaise
  
• 1 teaspoon garlic powder
  
• 2 tablespoons cheese spread
  
• 2 tablespoons parmesan cheese

How to Cook - Chicken

• Combine the ingredients (except chicken and oil) and mix to evenly distribute each of the ingredients. Coat each chicken pieces and fry in hot oil until golden brown. Once cooked, place on a plate lined with paper towels to drain excess oil.

How to Cook - Buffalo Sauce

• Combine all ingredients and cook for a few minutes (or until the butter is completely melted) over low heat.

How to Prepare - Cheese Dip

• Combine all ingredients and mix well.

How to Assemble:

• Place the wings in a big bowl and pour the Buffalo Sauce and mix well, making sure each piece is coated well with the sauce. Serve on a platter with the Cheese Dip on the side.

Believe it or not, I am currently on a diet so parts of the recipe I altered. I still followed the breading, but for the Buffalo Sauce, I used lite margarine and I didn't add the sugar (only went for the honey), and I also opted to go for fresh minced garlic because I couldn't find the container of garlic powder. I decided not to make the Cheese Dip anymore because we didn't have parmesan cheese, and I didn't want to add more calories into my lunch. Actually, even without the cheese dip, the wings tasted so good. It was spicy and a little sweet - highly addicting! Good thing I only cooked 1 wing (cut into two) because if I went to cook all the chicken wings we have in the freezer, for sure I would have a difficult time controlling myself. :)

I told brother how good the wings tasted, but since I only cooked for myself, I will just cook this again some other time so the whole family can savor its goodness, too.

My deepest gratitude to Mhel and Ken for providing this awesome recipe. Do know that I really loved your version of this dish.

For the step by step (with picture) guide on how to cook this recipe, check out their blog post HERE.

Latte Love (A Latte Art Workshop)

Last Saturday, I attended the Latte Love (A Latte Art Workshop) by Krups at Landmark Trinoma. Though I received a Blogger's Pass prior to the event, it was actually an open to the public event, so my mom and my sister was able to enter, too.


Today's event was facilitated by Chef Michael Ross Canlas - a Barista Instructor / Trainer at the Philippine Barista and Coffee Academy, as well as a part-time owner and F&B Manager at Route 196 and Marjj. He was assisted by two champion Baristas: Adlher Miko Simangan and Kevin Israel Fortu, both products of Lyceum of the Philippines.

I do love the smell of coffee, but I grew up drinking those instant kind, so I am not that knowledgeable with good coffee. Thankfully, I was able to grasp some knowledge care of Chef Mike:

• Latte Art is "Art in liquid form," using coffee as the canvas and milk (as well as chocolate syrup) as the ink.
  
• A good cup of coffee latte is a product of good coffee (good crema), good milk (good textured milk), and the barista's passion.
  
• Latte and Cappuccino both have the same amount of coffee, only that Latte has more milk and is served in 10oz cups, while Cappuccino is served in 6oz cups.
  
• Coffee has to be warm (not hot) for you to fully enjoy the drink.
  
• When making Coffee Latte or Latte Art, it is best to use fresh milk - the more fat content the better.
  
• A good crema has to be hazel to reddish brown in color.

Coffee for this event was provided by Folger's. I already got to taste Folger's instant coffee and it was good, so I knew all the coffee latte made today will be just as good if not better. Of course, to make the crema, they used Krups' Espresso Machine, which actually looked so cool, I want one at home.


First up, Chef Mike showed the audience how a good crema looks like.


Then, he started frothing the milk. The machine will make a sound as it froths the milk - and even with this step, it still requires art and precision as the milk has to have a right consistency and temperature. Normally, one has to tap the little milk pitcher and swirl it a bit to check its consistency.


After that, it was time to create art. Some designs were created by pouring milk into the coffee, while some were created by adding milk and putting froth at the top to create the designs.


Chef Mike and his assistants created latte art one after the other and we were all amazed by it. They made it look so easy, yet coming from someone who hasn't tried it yet, for sure it will be a bit tough and tricky, too.


This time, we (my cousin - also a blogger and sister) just enjoyed a cup of coffee adorned with some art. I only took a sip and gave the cup to my sister, which she shared with mom (they seated three rows away from me).


They called in some members of the audience (pre-selected before the event) to try their hands at making Latte Art. All of them were first timers, and all were so good! After putting all the cups on the table, the judge selected the best latte art and the winner - an artist - won a gift pack. :)



After that, Chef Mike created more coffee-based drinks, using other Krups machines as well as Moulinex blender. I wasn't able to jot down all the names of the drink, but one had peanut butter, one had hazelnut, one had cookies, and one had bananas. I may not be a big hot coffee drinker... but these drinks surely made me drool, especially that one with Oreo Cookie!


There was another round of Latte Art contest, and this round's winner was a big coffee lover who surely wanted to learn more about latte art. Both rounds of competition had three teams (two members each team) and all were assisted by Chef Mike and his assistants from preparing the coffee and milk to the actual creation of designs.

Throughout the event, there were raffles and I was lucky to win two boxes of Pasabache drinking tumblers (4 tumblers per box). It sure would be sweeter if I won either the Krups coffee maker or the Krups bread toaster, but as a person who's so unlucky with raffles, I was really grateful to win something. :)

Before the event ended, there were small speeches from Chef Mike and his assistants. They all have something to say, but all of them stressed one particular word: PASSION. Chef Mike said that even if one has the best machine, coffee, and milk, if one is not passionate about it, it will not be 100%.

Anyway, if you want to make your own coffee art or host coffee parties at home, you might want to check out Krups products at Landmark Trinoma for they have an ongoing sale until the end of the month. To learn more about Krups and their products, you can check out their Facebook Page.

Now, if you want to learn about at the art of coffee making and be a bigshot barista in the future, you can check out Philippine Barista & Coffee Academy, Inc. for their classes and schedules.

Big, big thanks to Krups PH for the invitation. It sure was so great to watch how to make art using coffee, milk, and choco syrup. Hopefully in time, I can try my hands on it, too!