Food Shopping Experience

Growing up eating natural food is the key on how we stay healthy. Being blessed with a father who does work out of town, he makes it a point to bring home food, crops and other products harvested or processed straight from the farm or garden. Cooking with fresh ingredients makes every dish taste authentic and healthy. If fresh, the vegetable, fruit, fish, herbs and even animal products maintains its natural state and nourishes our body with the proper vitamins and minerals.

Eventually, my siblings and I had to move out of our comfort zones and live on our own. I really want to feed my own family with food cooked with fresh ingredients. Just like what my parents did to us. But since we're living in the city now, and my husband's work requires him to stay in the office, that goal of serving something fresh ended up being on the table once in a while.

With our dad still working full-time, he would still buy us fruits, organic products and vegetables every time he'd go out of town. We're very thankful for that. Nowadays people just go to the grocery store and buy whatever there is nearest to the freshest. Would you believe, you can now buy fresh ingredients online. I just discovered this yesterday. It's the best offer that you can get with just a click away. From fresh dairy products, fruits, coffee, vegetables, poultry and buy California wine .

AgBASE is an e-service which connects U.S. farmers and consumers. They deliver online wine connoisseurs, specialty food consumers or produce buyers directly to their choice of farm and winery sources with the ease of shopping at a farmer’s market. They made this virtual farmer's market that serves as a one- stop shop directing buyers to a virtual farmer’s market. They have become the premier world-wide one-stop source of local fresh foods and wine at a fair price.

To make it easier, they connected buyers and sellers across the globe, enabling people to locate and order rare and specialty foods and beverages, ethnic cuisine online.
The whole purpose is to provide U.S. and non-U.S. visitors a chance to shop for food products directly from farmers and vendors.

What does it mean - it means that any consumer can pass the re-sellers, by purchasing products directly from farmers for the freshest ingredients and at a cheaper price.

This is just so ideal for families, especially the moms who can't go all the way to the province and buy straight from farmers.

Scrambled Eggs with Ham and Cheese

As requested by my husband. It took me months to prepare this easy scrambled egg dish for breakfast again. Aside from serving it with hot rice and coffee, I enjoy eating it with bread.Mix your preferred omelet ingredients in a pan.
Stir for about a minute. Add beaten eggs.
Add quick melt cheese.

Join Us Friday Food Trippers at: Food Trip Friday

Icebergs

Location: Robinsons Galleria

It's not just an Ice Cream Store.

It was our first time to order something different from Icebergs. We would usually end up in Icebergs for dessert. We were looking for a restaurant where we can just order something lite since it was only 4 o'clock in the afternoon.

Hey, a Classic Chicken Sandwich sounds great for a snack. A Beef Burger for only php135 sounds lite and an ordinary Chocolate Sundae fits the whole snack idea. Thinking that my Chicken Sandwich wouldn't be as big or heavy, I ordered some fries with melted cheese and chili as well.

So what did we enjoy at 4 o'clock?

Classic Chicken Sandwich (php128)---
That was served twice the size of the "usual" Chicken Sandwich. Stacked with layers of cheese, real chicken spread, lettuce and cucumber. Plus some potato chips and mayo-garlic.

Mighty AJ's Beef Burger (php 135)
Served with 100% beef lettuce, onions, pickles some fries and mayo-garlic.

Add ons: Bacon php25 Cheese php20
The knife on the side will explain how big this burger was.

Chili Melted Fries (php 158)
A new favorite. Gave me an idea on what to serve for our next guests who will drop by our new place.

Chocolate Sundae (php128)

The extraordinary Chocolate Sundae with scoops of both Chocolate and Vanilla Ice Cream topped with Chocolate Syrup, whipped cream and a long-stemmed cherry.

*Icebergs Signature Drink "MANGO ICED TEA" served with real mango bits. It was the highlight of my dining experience. (But I accidentally deleted my picture. )

Photos: SE P990i

Charlie's Grind and Grill

Charlie's has always been the place to be. Famous for their signature hand-crafted, freshly ground burgers. I've learned about Charlie's thru Mommy Salen of Tasty Feast. But my husband has been a frequent visitor ever since. He would usually have meetings at Charlie's. What a way to do work right? Yummy!

Location: 16 East Kapitolyo Drive, Pasig City

Open from 11am- 2am

Price Ranges from Php180- 450

In celebration that we're all settled down in our new home, we decided to drive all the way to Kapitolyo Pasig just to get a taste of Charlie's Burgers once again.

Fish and Chips (Php220)

Hand battered cream, dory fried to a crisp, served with homemade tartar sauce and fresh fries chips with malt vinegar upon request.

Black Angus Burger with Fries (php195)

Philly Cheese Steak Starving size (php435)

Batangas sirloin with caramelized onion sauteed peppers, topped with cheese sauce, served with smokey Ranchero sauce.

Jalapeño (Whole php20)
OMG! this is the ultimate! I'm willing to drive all the way just to buy some of their pickled Jalapeño. It's the best, it goes well with everything. So good, had to order 2 for every meal.One happy and hungry camper waiting... (this photo: SE P990i)

For a Sunday, the place was pretty full so we decided to order our food to-go.

On-Off Online

Been very busy moving to our new home. Had to apply for a new broadband and when everything was perfectly running again online, a virus got my computer. It took me another 3 days to finally get back on track online. But that was only for my main site. A pretty bad virus hit my computer that I had to reformat everything. And so I lost all of my food photos and data. Especially the new ones I have been reserving to share once I get back with blogging. It was kinda hard to start again. My food blog was left hanging for weeks.

I learned a lot from that terrible virus experience. Once you're hooked up online, you're really subjected to get all the safety features you can get with several risks at hand.

What more for the people who does business online. It would be advisable to get a reliable party for business hosting. For every transaction, especially when money is involve make sure you are secured. We can't live without a computer nowadays, that's a fact. Online research, online shopping, blogging and as a source of communication, makes it already an essential.

Viruses and malfunctions will always be part of it. It's up to us to keep safe.

Red Carved Heart Pendant

I was looking online on possible pendants to replace the heart locket I have. It is a sterling silver locket that came in with a 16" sterling silver chain. I thought of preserving the old locket by replacing it with another pendant. My heart has been looking for this Red Heart Pendant for so long. I found one at a Tiffany's store in one of the malls we have here. If there's something nice about Tiffany & Co. that has to be their adoring line of jewelries. I just gotta have one.

Tiffany jewelery, the symbol of America, has taken love-beauty, romance and dream as its design subjects for two centuries. Tiffany soft slender perception meets all the world’s feminine fantasy and desire. This world famous store sells high-quality jewelry, china and crystal. While many items might cause sticker-shock, there are also a selection of less expensive items (key chains, money clips, etc.) that make good great New York City souvenirs. Even if you can't afford to make a purchase, you can make like Holly Golightly from "Breakfast at Tiffanys" and window shop. This is an excellent store for browsing, with so many of the goods in glass displays throughout the store. I enjoyed window shopping for possible purchases soon.

They say that every girl must own a jewelry from Tiffany & Co. This is the perfect store for me. On a personal note, I don't really prefer Gold for my jewelries. Silver has always been my choice when it comes to my accessories. Gold sometimes over-dresses a person. And here in the Philippines, accessories made of Gold are preferred to be worn only at night or if you have your own car. With Silver, it goes for all occasions, anytime of the day, it goes for every outfit in your closet and for every watch in your drawer.

Tiffany & Co, a true dynasty of elegance, is known for world by its luxury diamond and top quality silver jewelry. They have an online store at www.tiffanys-store.com that provides authentic Tiffany & Co jewelry, including Sets, Bracelets, Necklaces, Pendants, Rings, Earrings, and to our customers at the lowest prices possible.

A mere pendant will say it all. I have the purpose for it, I know that my money is going to be worth it and most of all, I know it will make me happy.

Food Trip Friday--- Homemade Turon

Turon or fried caramelized banana. Banana wrapped in spring roll wrappers.
Recipe Here

I prefer making Turon with white sugar. I coat the banana itself with sugar before wrapping it. Then, I will coat the whole wrapped banana again. I don't deep-fry my turon, I pan-fry them. That way, I have control on caramelizing the sugar. I would often buy Turon coated with burnt sugar and the taste is awful. And I also like making small, bite- size Turons.

Food Trip Friday--- Beef Steak

When you're busy and always on the go but you still want some good food on the table, this Filipino dish is highly recommended.

Just make sure to buy the freshest meat in the market so that tenderness of the meat is guaranteed. All you have to do is marinate it with soy sauce, garlic, a little salt, pepper, sugar, and Calamondin juice. In a pan, boil with enough water to cover the meat. Fry after and add the excess marinade. Simmer for a few minutes then top with white onion slices.

To share you Food Trip join us at: Food Trip Friday

I Have 3 Choices For Valentines Day

Red Ribbon's Roses and Kisses

If you're planning to go beyond the usual flowers and chocolates, or still undecided on what to get your loved one on V-Day. Red Ribbon's Roses and Kisses is the answer. It's a cake package made out of Beautiful sugar roses and creamy Hershey's Milk Chocolate Kisses top this pound cake with chocolate chip filling.

Red Ribbon's Chocolate Heaven

Though this cake is Red Ribbon's new addition. I highly recommend it also for Valentines Day. For a chocolate lover like me, this can also be the ultimate gift for all occasions.

Indulge your loved one with Délifrance's Sweet Pastries- Related Post

Another Tuna Pasta

I actually learned making this dish through my close friend Loie and her Mom. They prepared this one evening when we visited them. The only difference is I prefer mixing the sauce with the pasta upon serving. 2 nights ago I made a spicy version using Century Tuna's Spanish Style Tuna. I must say it was good but it was pretty hot because my son showed some disappointment on his face and with plenty of water. Don't get me wrong, but I've known my little boy who can handle anything that is spicy and bitter, but then again, that made me realize the big difference between spicy and hot. So yesterday, I made a new version, a non-spicy Tuna Pasta so he can enjoy eating this dish again.

Here are the ingredients:

5oog any pasta of your choice
2 cans Century Tuna (flakes in olive oil)
1/2 cup sliced button mushroom
1 to 2 pcs. baby carrots sliced thinly
5 cloves garlic minced
1 medium white onion chopped
2 medium red tomatoes chopped into quarters
3 tbsps EVOO (extra virgin olive oil)
1 tsp dried basil or chop fresh basil
2 pcs. dried bay leaf
salt and pepper
Parmesan cheese

Easy: Same procedure as my first Tuna Pasta entry

Just cook pasta, drain. Set aside
In the very same sauce pan, saute garlic in olive oil until light brown.
Add onions and tomatoes. Stir for few seconds.
Add dried Bay leaf and tuna. Pour everything, even the tuna oil. Stir for a few minutes.
Add Button Mushrooms and Carrots and Basil
Add pasta and mix everything together.
Add salt and pepper to taste.
Parmesan to top it all!

My Tuna Pasta

*I used thin slices of carrots because carrots gives that crisp and sweet flavor to the dish. More carrots the better. It will also make your dish appetizing to the eyes. The kids will love it!

Food Trip Friday--- A Spicy Slice Of Heaven

I actually prepared my pasta late last night, but I was caught eating it with a cold bottle of beer midnight while making a blog for Sweet Nothings.

Servings: 3-4

400g any pasta of your choice
1 can of Century Tuna Spanish Style
3-4 pieces Shitake Mushroom Sliced thinly
5 cloves of garlic minced
3 tbsp extra virgin olive oil
1/2- 1 tsp dried basil leaves

* you can also add the ff:
sundried tomatoes
fresh tomatoes cut into quarters
chopped asparagus
chopped black olives
Easy:

Just cook pasta, drain. Set aside
In the very same sauce pan, saute garlic in olive oil until light brown.
Add tuna. Pour everything, even the tuna oil. Stir for a few minutes.
Add Shitake Mushrooms and additional ingredient of your choice
Add pasta and mix everything together.
Add salt and pepper to taste.
Parmesan to top it all!

Dessert? I had a heavenly slice of Red Ribbon's newest addition to their cake selection.
Are You a Food Tripper? Join Us @ Food Trip Friday

Fashion Online

My only rubber shoes died on me last Saturday. It officially said goodbye, and when I saw the damage, no shoe repair shop will ever think of reviving it again. In a few days we will be moving out, priority is to buy new furniture. I feel really weird knowing I don't have any rubber shoes or walking shoes at least, that I can use just in case something comes up. As always, I ended up searching online. Luckily, I came across a fashion directory and they have the top websites that sells quality items. From bags, shoes, baby products, ladies accessories, shirts and clothes in all sizes, hats and caps and jewelries.

For my next rubber shoes, I am up for Nike Women Airmax 2009 this time around still in red and black. They also have this in pink and black if you're interested. Online shopping really helps. After we get settled in our new place, the weekend after that, I promised my sister that we will play Badminton every Saturday. And if I didn't look for my shoes online, it would be very disappointing to move again our Badminton date, just because I need to look and buy for a new pair of rubber shoes.

Korean Red Ginseng

Korean ginseng is a perennial herb with typical light colored fleshy root. For years I have been seeing Ginseng as part of my Dad's health options. The taste is sweet but has a bitter aftertaste. It's medicinal and I guess the bitter taste is the substance that's why Ginseng is very healthy. Korean Ginseng bears a red berry- like fruit. The ginseng stem is deep red in color. It is grown in moist and covered parts of Korea.

-photo source-

Ginseng helps fight colds and flu viruses. Research shows that when Ginseng is taken before the onset of a cold or flu-like virus, it can help lessen the chances for the virus to get stronger and sometimes kills the virus in an instant. It is also good in lowering the blood sugar content and lowering cholesterol levels. There are several Ginseng products being sold in the market at the moment. Ginseng Extract Gold , that comes as Ginseng Capsule .

The root is the part of the plant that is used for medicinal purposes. The root is long often resembles different shapes and sometimes the shape of the human body. It is dried and made into powder, and made into capsules, tea drinks and other forms for Ginseng extracts which are mostly used as herbal medications and sold in the market.

It's a good thing that some had the idea of selling it commercially. It will really help aid the sick and maintain our body to be healthy without going through the traditional process.

*Authentic Korean Ginseng that has been imported directly from Korea. Korean Red Ginseng Root is Korean ginseng that has been cultivated and aged for 4 - 6 years or more, and goes through an extensive cleaning, steaming and drying process to improve its efficacy.