Moonleaf Tea Shop {Maginhawa QC}

My siblings and I received Moonleaf Tea Shop gift certificates that would expire by the end of September. I really thought I would never get to use my GC anymore, but because mom was able to finish submitting documents by lunch time, I asked them if they wanted to use it. Good thing that we were just near the Maginhawa branch.



Just like the many food shops along Maginhawa Street, this one was also a house turned into a shop. Because of its location, many students from schools near the area come here to enjoy their favorite Moonleaf Tea Shop drinks, pastries and choice savory dishes, while doing their school assignments. It was a good place to hang out with friends or enjoy a quiet time to study because not only does this shop have free WiFi access, they also have available electrical sockets for people to charge their laptops and/or phones.

One thing I liked was that aside from the foods and drinks was that this store has a craft corner that sells different stuff - washi tapes, twines, pouches, jewelry, even iPhone cases... all from Hey Kessy.

We just had our lunch so we were just there to enjoy drinks. I took my sister and my mom's order and allowed me to choose other drinks to maximize the amount of our gift certificate.



With the help of the friendly barista, I was able to get six cups of drinks:

• Wintermelon Milk Tea with nata de coco
• Peach Yakult with nata de coco
• Wintermelon Milk Tea with tapioca pearls
• Lychee Jasmine with aloe
• Yogurt Milk Tea with nata de coco
• Hakka Milk Tea with tapioca pearls

My sister's first choice was the Wintermelon Milk Tea (Oolong based), but it was not available so she just went for the basic Wintermelon Milk Tea, same as mom. My favorite Moonleaf Tea Shop drink is the Passionfruit Yakult, but when I saw the Peach Yakult, I decided to go for it instead. Peach Yakult was sweeter compared to the Passionfruit one, but very very delicious! Sister's next choice was the Hakka Milk Tea and my second choice was the Yogurt Milk Tea, and because I know their drinks cost near or a little over 100 pesos plus the add-on sinkers, so I thought I could only get five cups of drinks, but the barista told me I could still order for one more drink and suggested I try Lychee Jasmine with aloe. I love it when the barista knows which add-on goes well with the drink.

We were still full from lunch, so we only drank one cup of drink each and took home the rest. Supposedly, the Yogurt Milk Tea was something I chose for mom and the Lychee Jasmine would be for me, but when mom checked the chiller, she decided to go for the Lychee Jasmine and loved it a lot! 

If you want to visit this branch, you can take the Teacher's Village tricycle from Philcoa and just ask the driver to drop you off at Moonleaf Tea Shop. Fare cost 25 pesos.

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Moonleaf Tea Shop

103 Maginhawa Street

Teacher's Village, Quezon City

Monday Foodstagram VI

Lately, I haven't posted that much on my Instagram page, especially the food ones because at home we don't prepare a wide range of dishes and we don't get to dine out often, too... but these were the food pictures for the last two, three weeks ago.


Oatmeal and Egg
The past week prior to this breakfast, us three girls have been eating fried food each and every day and I experienced discomfort after mom's birthday. I told the girls that we won't eat fried food for that week, so mom boiled eggs for breakfast and cooked oatmeal for us to share. Oatmeal is not my choice of breakfast food as I would experience tummy ache, but because mom cooked one medium pot of oatmeal, I just had to eat at least a bowl of it. I mixed oatmeal and eggs, and even if the oats were cooked in just water, the combination tasted okay for me. Mom and sis ate their eggs separately because they added milk and sugar in their oatmeal.

Scallops and Veggies
Mom knew how expensive scallops are at the Chinese Restaurant, so when she saw a vendor selling scallops for only 50 pesos per half kilo, she immediately bought some and cooked it adobo style. I, on the other hand, chopped some veggies and steamed it then seasoned with light butter to pair with the seafood. Yummy dinner!

Maltesers Chocolate Creations at Krispy Kreme
We had a late lunch at Chowking and shared a large tub of cheese popcorn while watching OTJ, and because we were still full after the movie, we decided to eat desserts for dinner instead. We already tasted J.Co Donuts, it's now time for us to try Krispy Kreme. We shared 4 of their products, including this new product. I still love J.Co Donuts, but this one was great, too.


Ginataang Langka
Ria's father once shared this dish as their family's potluck contribution and my sister loved it tremendously! Since then, whenever they would cook this dish, they would always give us a small bowl of it, and we ate it for lunch the next day. We loved this dish because they used canned spicy sardines instead of pork.

PB&O
I follow quite a lot of fitspo people on Instagram, and peanut butter has been a favorite for these people. One person shared a picture of a bowl of oatmeal and peanut butter, so I tried it for breakfast. Mom cooked this one with milk, which made the peanut butter tasted creamier.

Ube Piaya
While waiting for our flight back to Manila from Kalibo, sister saw a kiosk that sells Bong-Bong's products and sister bought quite a lot of their Ube Piaya to give to her friends. She left two packs for us at home and today we just ate it for snacks. Namit!


Nilagang Baka
The brother of sister's godmother has a house in Tagaytay and they started buying beef from Batangas and sell it here (per order basis only). He offered it to mom and we bought a kilo because it was very affordable compared to the ones sold at the nearby market. Prior to this, I didn't know why people are raving about Batangas beef, and now I know... it was really flavorful!

Burger Steak
Another day out with mom, another chance to eat at Jollibee. I usually go for spaghetti + chickenjoy meal, but for today, I ordered the Burger Steak because I just miss eating this food.

Tea Time
This was an image I came up with for FatMumSlim's Photo a Day with "Curve" as a prompt.


Muffins = Failed
They say you learn from your mistakes, and I learned a lot from this. The day before, I mixed up the box of Maya Butter Cake Mix and tried if I can cook the batter a la pancakes. It didn't turn out good, so I just lined the muffin pan with aluminum foil and poured the batter. This was my first time to use the oven toaster to bake muffins as I always used the steamer. With the steamer, I can fill up the cups and it wouldn't expand that much, but when I filled the cups and bake it in the oven toaster, I was so surprised that it overflowed. Good thing though, one of the cups was filled halfway and it looked okay. This won't make me a millionaire, but the lessons I learned will always be cherished.

Chef Robby Goco at The Maya Kitchen
I already blogged about this event, no need to repeat it. :)

Next Baking Project
Carrot muffins with sour cream frosting. I hope it turns out good.


Moonleaf Maginhawa
When I attended the 1st year anniversary of Moonleaf Makati, I was given a GC worth 500 pesos. It will expire on 30 September, and since we were already at East Avenue, we decided to make a short trip to Moonleaf Maginhawa and with the help of the helpful barista, I was able to order six cups of drinks. Us girls sipped a cup each at the store and took home the other half. The full story behind this food trip will be shared this Wednesday.

Tahong
Aunt Mary just arrived from Bolinao and gave us some fresh seafood, mussels included. One thing's for sure - mom enjoyed a very hearty dinner (I am not a big fan of it, though).

Chowking Siomai
Mom and I did a lot of errands today, and before going home, she passed by Chowking to buy Siomai as part of our dinner and Siopao for our breakfast the next day. Chowking's Siomai is not the best there is, but it is one of my guilty pleasures.

This week, I hope to try a recipe and prepare interesting dishes at home.


Hello, Monday!

Recipe | Sinampalukang Manok

It's been a long time since I last posted a recipe here on the blog... so allow me to share one, even if this dish is a basic Filipino dish that anyone can cook.

Sinampalukang Manok is Chicken cooked Sinigang style, but what made this different among the other sinigang dishes is that this uses young tamarind leaves as a souring agent, whereas other sinigang dishes used different kinds of fruits - calamansi, young tamarind fruit, guava, santol, kamias (bilimbi), and batuan.

I was able to cook this dish when I passed by a market and saw a vendor selling young tamarind leaves for 20 pesos per 1/4 kilo. Quite expensive, but then again, we don't have any neighbors who have tamarind trees in their yard, so I just have to go with it. There are so many ways to cook this dish, but this is how I cook mine.


Sinampalukang Manok
{serves 6}

Ingredients:

• 1 kilo chicken, cut into serving pieces
• 1/4 kilo young tamarind leaves
• 1 bundle string beans, cut 1-inch long
• 4 medium pieces taro, quartered 
• 1 small white radish, cut diagonally (1/4 inch wide)
• leaves from 1 bundle kangkong
• 1 big tomato, quartered
• 1 medium sized red onion, sliced
• 2-3 pieces finger chilies
• water
• salt (or patis)

How to Cook

• Place the young tamarind leaves in a cheesecloth and boil it in a pot of water with salt for about 5 to minutes. Take out the cheesecloth and squeeze out the water from the leaves. If you don't have cheesecloth, you can just boil the leaves in water and just use a strainer to take out the leaves.
• Add tomatoes, chilies, and onion into the pot and bring it to a boil.
• Add chicken and taro and continue simmering it until it's half cooked. Add the string beans and simmer further.
• Once the vegetables are cooked to your liking, adjust the seasoning and add the kangkong leaves. Stir lightly and cover the pot for few minutes, allowing the residual heat to cook the leaves. Serve hot.

Sinigang and Sinampalukan are flexible dishes, and it can be altered to go with one's preferences. Optional vegetables to use include eggplants and okra, and one can also add lemongrass or ginger to take out the "lansa" from the chicken (as well as adding flavors, too). Other people also saute the onions, tomatoes, and chicken in oil before adding the tamarind infused water, but here in our house, we don't go with that procedure because the chicken skin already gives the oil to the dish, we don't feel like adding more oil into it. What else? Oh... others also use rice washing water (the water you used in cleaning the rice before cooking it), although I don't really know the logic behind it, I do go for it once in a while. 

If young tamarind leaves is not available (as this is not widely available in markets), people also use the young tamarind fruit, as well as the store bought tamarind cube, powder, or paste. Since the objective of the dish is to have a bowl of hot, sour chicken soup, anyone can use whatever ingredients are available.

As for me, I enjoy my Sinampalukang Manok with hot steamed rice and a saucer of my favorite condiment - patis, calamansi juice, and mashed bird's eye chili. Hot and spicy. Yum.