Category Archive

When the TriNoMa (Triangle North of Manila) Mall opened last year, as everyone else, we could not contain our curiosity. We wanted to see how the Ayalas changed the mall scene in that part of the city — where SM North, one of tycoon Henry Sy’s department store chains, reigned over the area for some time. Unlike the SM department stores, the Ayalas have boasted of balancing nature with city structures as seen in the Glorietta architecture. Now, TriNoMa boasts of that, too!

True enough, the new mall offers a lot more under one roof: spacious supermarket, a department store (the Landmark), boutiques and specialty shops, coffee shops and dining havens, cozy cinemas with organized human traffic and seat assignments, gamers’ nooks, a lot of benches were tired window-shoppers can re-tire for the next stretch, washrooms that do not spillover, etc. It has lots of escalators and some elevators that are accessible to persons with disabilities. They do not provide wheelchair service, though.

Also one downside is, the concierges do not provide maps for the shoppers to have a guided tour. The way to the exits to the parking areas are quite confusing, every where you look, you see awesome distractions that will make you forget your point of origin. Your next steps will lead to another and another and another. Until you are so lost. Your only point of reference is the stage on the ground floor.

One that caught our eyes was the Heaven ‘n’ Eggs diner. A small restaurant at the far end of the second floor near the elevator by the fountain side. The selection on the menu is good and properly described (so you’d know what goes into your hors d’oevre). The drinks are freshly made using local available fruits or fruit preserves. Condiments are syrups that are also locally prepared as all the food.

The menu boasts of nouvelle cuisine divided into varied offerings for breakfast, lunch and dinner. The local favorites, as adobo and ‘bistek Tagalog’ have been renamed and superbly enhanced for both the eyes and the palate! The absence of MSG (monosodium glutamate) can be easily detected.

Food and desserts are served on big plates, in big servings; and if you usually eat small, you may share your meal with a friend. The service attendants will be willing enough to provide you with an extra plates to split your hors d’oevres. One good meal with desserts will average to P450. If you come in two, that is so filling. If three, that is still enough. Four or five, you may have to add P200 for a good eat.

The desserts are just great! You must try them yourself.

We usually go to Heaven ‘n’ Eggs with the kids (my daughter and her cousins), as there is no food wastage. The food and drinks are kid-friendly. You may share them your meal or they may split the meal among themselves. Unlike in other diners where most of the time the kids are left out from menu considerations you often end up bringing home doggie bags; but here, kids just love the meals.

If in other diners we could not experiment with other food choices, at Heaven ‘n’ Eggs, the kids order whatever they can read!

The service attendants are polite and they always smile — a contagion that permeates within the company, according to Jovelle, a service attendant in TriNoMa. They will promptly inform you how long the prep time is from the kitchen to your table.

Of course, I have to ask Jovelle if he is paid well. He proudly says he is, as all the rest are. They are paid the basic rate plus service charge plus tips! No wonder they always smile. He said, they are all happy to serve.

Heaven ‘n’ Eggs is a great place for the family, for friends and colleagues — young and old. My daughter even celebrated her birthday with her friends there. Heaven ‘n’ Eggs belongs to one of the restaurant chains of young restaurateur Raymond Magdaluyo.

Source: Dessert photo and logo from Red Crab chain.

Just yesterday, starting at mid-afternoon, the sky just turned dark, heavy with impending rain. The streets suddenly became jammed as motorists started hurrying, scurrying to their destinations. In a moment, my daughter arrived from school. It is just a short distance from where we live but her hair already smelled of the gases emitted by the vehicles on the road. I told her to go straight to the shower as she got a little wet by the sudden downpour.

While she was there, I decided to fix up a snack for the two of us so that by the time she’d come out fresh, she could have a few bites of whatever I could create in the kitchen. Luckily, there were eggs but there was no bread. So I rushed to a nearby mini-grocer to get a loaf.

By the time I got back, she was out of the bathroom and was doing her studies. Exam week is near and long tests are due this week.

I gathered what I needed by what items were available in the pantry and in the refrigerator. It was like a puzzle, really, but I love inventing food in the kitchen. So far, I have received no complaints yet about my kitchen experiments from my two avid tasters — my husband and my daughter.

So for the ingredients: 4 whole eggs, large • a 4-inch long stalk of leek, thinly sliced diagonally (or you may add some more if you wish) • one whole Italian chorizo (about 5 inches long), sliced thinly and diagonally • a dash of fine
white or black pepper • about two tablespoons of Che-Vital’s cheese pimiento, grated (if not available, cheddar cheese will do as this will replace your need for salt) • sliced black olives, lightly drained (if you have the whole kind, diagonally slice the pieces into four parts; for this recipe, you will need about 7-8 whole black olives) • and about two tablespoons of extra virgin olive oil (sorry mate, there is just no substitute for this). You will also need a deep non-stick frying pan, a small bowl, and a wooden ladle.

COOKING PROCEDURE:

a) Heat non-stick pan to medium high and pour in the olive oil until just heated enough.

b) Throw in the chorizo slices and toss for about a minute or until you see the edges turn to dark gold;

c) Before adding the eggs one at a time, break each into that small bowl just
to be sure the eggs are fine before they get in the pan. Now lightly mix
everything in the pan with that wooden ladle, dash in the pepper powder and see how the colors converge.

d) After about half a minute or less, throw in the sliced leek and mix for about 10 more seconds.

e) Throw in the grated cheese while lightly tossing eggs in the pan and then turn off the stove. This becomes more exciting because the cheese is light pink. Such colors, such smell — so, hmmmm, Meditarranean!

Arrange what you have in the pan on a shallow dish and garnish it with your black olive slices. This great food serves three to four persons and only takes about 5 minutes to prepare and 2 minutes cooking time. You may either fix them as sandwiches or have them for an early dinner. And, hey, this is good for breakfast, too!

The sandwich just tasted so good! I had a second. It was an experience with texture, taste, aroma, and color. It is also a healthy alternative to the quick-cook instant pancit canton or the dull spaghettis they serve in fast-food
houses. Surprisingly, the other taster arrived earlier than expected and chowed down enough to filling while loving every bite of the scramble. He did not go for the sandwiches; he wanted the bare scramble into his mouth.

I remember I bought 2 packs of Italian chorizo from a meat deli about two months ago because we never liked the smell and taste of the Chinese chorizo. The Italian chorizo doesn’t have that annoying smell and is stouter than its Chinese counterpart. It is even more on the sweet side than the salty character of the other kind. We don’t regularly use it as we seldom cook pork or beef dishes; but it is a good taste enhancer and it gives off a very sophisticated aroma when mixed with some dishes like menudo, mechado, or chicken-pork adobo or even salsa. A sprinkling of it also goes well with meatball pasta or with simple pesto. And yes, paellas taste better with these chorizos! Besides, you can save them for longer periods in the freezer; as you can see they are sealed in air-tight packs. A pack keeps six chorizos; I forgot the price but it’s worth every chomp of it.

It was on Thursday last week when we got invited to the taste test night arranged by a friend, who is about to open a food stall near a big all-girls and all-boys school in Quezon City. Since it is a “sandwich and pasta food zone,” we were on for a lot of tomatoes and lots more of tomatoes. Just my favorite. And, hmmm, pesto will be in the air, making it so divine.

THE RECIPES ARE REALLY SIMPLE — and interchangeable —but it is not the usual things we do in the kitchen as we are not Italians yet. So the meals are targeted to high school and collegiate students with big and small appetites who can turn Italians anytime they wish.

I was the one who designed the logo, signage, and menu that will be used to represent the place. It is called tomato bomb! As how I understand it, the tomato is the basis of most of the food that will be served while bomb! is an alliteration and attribution to Bombi, my friend’s lover.

The logo was a fully collaborative work between me and the ever-changing minds of the husband-and-wife team of Bombi and Jeng — a lot of ideas were exchanged to be able to catch the market it was intended to. I prepared three studies on the logo alone in levels of how each will communicate to the target market and how the target market will respond back to it. It must be in money terms!

THE SIGNAGE was easy for it will be a giant version of the logo with minor changes here and there. The menu, on the other hand is another story. It must be impressively appetizing so the onlookers will be forced to feel hungry, salivate a little, and then pick their wallets.

I was handed the menu on the early stages of the project; but as the designs were coming alive, I suggested, and the team also realized, that the menu must present brand-name items that are unique to the place (read: establishment) it will come from. Some kinda like that. So the menu was pulled out and is now in the idea mill, to be renamed, or branded, to fit in.

THE BASIC MENU consists of lotsa pasta choices (penne, spaghetti, spirals, etc) with an option of either white or red sauce — the white, being cream-based with a lot of mushroom and the red, on the other hand, is tomato-based with lots of whole tomatoes and hmmm, again, divine pesto. The add-ons or toppings will either go with the red or the white sauce, depending on the order of the customer. And the trade secret lies there. So I cannot disclose anything further for fear of dear life.

SO ON THE TABLE, with the guests — friends and friends of friends — who make up the taste test night, we gave our orders and timed the preparation. The time to beat was two minutes. And there were seven of us.

The table ran a-buzz with a lot of chatting after all the hi’s, hello’s and beso-besos were exchanged. Photographs were taken and a lot of stories were told from different sides of the table. You know how it goes when people don’t see each other too much and suddenly they have to meet in a place. The scenario was like that; but all the while the air was filled with that smell of boiling thick tomatoes and creamy, creamy sauce, and cheese and some smoking grill somewhere beyond our sight. And, yes, hmmm, pesto!

FINALLY OUR HORS D’OEUVRES arrived! They (we were allowed to make more orders) were just splendid! Never mind if it took five minutes before it was delivered, the wait was worth it. Never mind if the pastas got mixed up. My penne pasta went to Marianna, I got the spirals; but my sauce was right. Sunshine’s ribbon-pasta went to Geene, but her sauce was right. Kate’s spirals went to Touza and her sauce was also right.

ALL PASTA tastes the same anyway, just like rice; except that the texture was compromised somewhere there. No big deal. The deal was in the taste and everything was really fine in that area. Afterwards, the sandwiches were delivered, and though they were not part of the hors d’oeuvres, we have to taste them altogether. Burger buns were used instead of the regular sliced white or wheat bread. And since I am not one who goes for burgers, they all looked like burgers to me. I just took a very small slice and oooohhhmmmp! It was another gastronomic adventure with tomato-based fillings! There were three kinds and they were all superb!

THE PRICE? Just yesterday I was asked to design “Everything P50”! Today, the CD, with all the designs in it, except the menu, was delivered to the large-format printer. There had been no more revisions on my part.

Your guess is just as good as mine. So whenever you see that tomato bomb! sign in Quezon City, you’ll know that whatever is served there had passed high-brow tasting standards. Never mind the rest because it is all worth the wait. You experienced it all first here!

Oh, and before I forget, the tomato face on the logo is a caricature of, who else, Bombi!

Credits: The photo without Geene was taken by Geene; the photo without Marianna was taken by Marianna; and they did not adjust their phone-camera settings so I took the liberty to take off the noise, apply some dust & scratches effect because we all looked like we were bitten by some bugs. The photos on the food were taken by me when they were served.

Erratum: On most of the links on the previous post (specific on the characters), if your browser will not take you there, simply right-click on the links, then Copy shortcut or Save as target, then paste it on the address bar in a new tab or window of your browser. I couldn’t edit the HTML page because FRIENDSTER generates it in a complicated manner. Its CSS repeats a lot of commands when it shouldn’t, even its HTML. Plus, the texts are just too small! It’s a headache getting down with it line by line.