A Gluttonous End for September

I and my close guy college friends (the ones I was with in Hong Kong three months ago) got together again yesterday, this time at TriNoMa. Itinerary for that day: have lunch, watch Resident Evil: Extinction, and do spontaneity afterwards (e.g. shopping, coerce me to play DotA, gallivant along the mallways).

As planned, we had lunch from Mexicali (my treat 'cause of my forthcoming natal day), and viewed Resident Evil afterwards. I even managed to grab Darwin's Origin of Species: A Biography from Powerbooks, which I did not pretty much expect from myself then (why the heck did I get that book anyway?).


Anyway, our repasts from Mexicali, I would have to say, was hefty enough to our average stomachs. My two friends got each one a California-sized burrito (one Grilled Steak and one Ground Beef, which they hardly consumed because of the enormous serving), and I ordered a good-for-two serving of Chicken Fajitas.

Darn, the food was too much for my appetite (I underestimated their good-for-two serving. Apparently, it was "really" meant for two persons). Though the chicken was very tender and tasty, with all the sliced onions and julienned red bell peppers mixed, I was feeling almost sated after having just a couple of tortilla wraps. That was quite surprising as I often have big appetites, especially when rice's not included in the course. Good thing they had garlic dressing served, which helped my craving last long enough to take in all the remaining tortillas and chicken strips.

For dessert? Oh yes! We had dessert after that filling Mexican meal. One of my friends then was compelled to buy the trio afters as a penalty for arriving half an hour past our meeting time.

Exiting from Mexicali, we saw a nearby Mrs. Fields cafe. I thought it was a good idea to have a white chocolate macadamia cookie from the said store so I suggested he get us our sweet treats from there. Unfortunately, instead of getting cookies, my other friend suggested we get ice cream. Being complaisant enough, I submitted to the suggestion as I haven't tasted Mrs. Fields' frozen delights. From the six flavors available, I sticked loyal to my taste and chose the macadamia-flavored one. To my disappointment, the ice cream was too sweet and had more of a sorbet feel on the tongue.

After watching Resident Evil: Extinction, the three of us waited for the fourth member of our clique. He was late to arrive due to some Sunday work in his company.

It was already dinner time when our group was completed. My late arriver friend came in famished. Though my stomach wasn't aching for more food then (as I could still taste Chicken Fajitas from my occasional belching), we decided to get our evening meals. This time, we went outside the mall and into TriNoMa's facade, where Terikayi Boy was installed. Here's what we had.

The Tempura Maki, Tofu, and Asparagus Wrapped in Bacon Strips are the ones I ordered for sharing. Unlike my friends, I did not get a rice bowl of my choice because I was still feeling sated. Then again, I enjoyed the food we had - of course!

After that satisfying dinner, I thought we were to do some strolling along the mallways just to let the food sink deeper into our gastronomic systems. We debated on what to do next: Watch another movie? Play DotA, which I really do not know how to? Sing karaoke at Red Box?

When we seemed to be going into a futile discussion, one of my friends butted in and suggested we get dessert from Razon's of Guagua - his treat. What?!? Food again?!?

Much to the delight of me and my other two friends being regaled, we agreed and apparently became oblivious of our satiation.


Gosh! I could hardly finish by serving of Halo-halo. In as much as I wanted to enjoy it, it was more of a chore for me to even spear a spoon of milk and ice to my mouth. Only my late arriver friend managed to finish his. I... just half of the plastic cup.

After that icy treat, I thought we were about to call it a day. Surprisingly, again, one of my friend, this time it was late arriver, volunteered to take us to Five Cows to try their ice cream cakes. Waaah! Dessert again!


And guess what? Without much hesitation to disregard the generosity, we accepted his invitation as it was on him this time (Well, we don't reject blessings do we. Haha!). Check out these fancy creations.

The cakes: S'mores Cake, Rocky Almond Bar, and Torta de Manila. The first two are too sweet for me, especially their crusts (I suspect embedded granules of white sugar to be the culprit to over-sweetness). The last one, which was the most intriguing of the three, was actually a cake made of vanilla ice cream and saging na turon (banana spring rolls). Yes, you read it right, saging na turon (what a clever idea!). I liked it the most because of the vanilla ice cream used - it made it less sweet compared to the two chocolate-based ones. But then, my gustation was just too tired from over-indulgence and I couldn't be righteous enough to criticize and savor the delicacy of each cold wedge.

It was almost mall closing time when we ended our gastronomic caprice (whew!). Thank God! On the other hand, I felt quite guilty being a glutton for a day; It was a total deviation from my mundane life. Oh well, I guessed an episodic food tripping wouldn't hurt much, especially if shared with good old friends. (^_^)
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Oatmeal Cookies

Last Saturday, my Tita-Ninang (auntie and godmother) asked me to bake some of her favorite oatmeal cookies (To tell you honestly, these are the only cookies I know and dared to bake). I've been in long suspension from baking then so I was so eager to do her a favor.

These oatmeal cookies I am talking about are just simple butterscotch cookies from a recipe found in my maternal grandfather's cookery book. I just tweaked the recipe to cater the tastebuds of my Tita-Ninang and grandparents as they are the ones who often request for these sweet cakes.

Below is the modified recipe I use to make these Simple Oatmeal Cookies.

The Ingredients:
1 cup soft butter
1 1/2 cups brown sugar
2 whole eggs
1 tsp vanilla
1 cup all-purpose flour sifted
1 tsp baking powder
1/2 tsp baking soda
1/2 tsp salt
3 cups quick-cooking rolled oats
1 cup cut dates/nuts/chocolate bits (optional)

Directions:
-----------
1. Preheat oven to 350 F.
2. Add butter, eggs, sugar and vanilla in a bowl. Mix Well.

3. Then add all the remaining dry ingredients. Mix with hands to blend well.
4. When no dry ingredient is visible, stop mixing.

5. With a tablespoon, scoop a mixture to prepared cookie sheet. Drop each cookie mixture at least 2 inches away from each other.

6. Bake in 350 F for 10-15 minutes or until set but not dry.

(Freshly baked from the oven - chewy cookies)

I often bake them with no additional nuts or chocolates, but I have tried using sweet dates before - the result was good!

My siblings and cousins just love these cookies despite their simpleness. The butterscotch sweet taste each cookie possess does not overwhelm the tastebuds because of the abundance of oats. On the contrary, the original recipe actually calls for a doubled amount of brown sugar and a one-to-one proportion of oats and flour. Imagine how sweet would that come out, having 3 cups of brown sugar in the bowl.

Using muscovado sugar instead of brown sugar will also yield satisfactory results as I have tried using it before - the difference in taste is very subtle. For the calorie and fat conscious people, you may opt to use muscovado and low-fat butter in place of the usual grocery butter. Of course, the taste would be less pleasing but still quite delectable.

The recipe yields around 36-40 cookies.

(Don't!) Super Size Me

One of my colleagues told me to see this documentary about fast food eating, which was released three or four years ago in the US. The title was Super Size Me: A Film of Epic Portions by Morgan Spurlock, the director and at the same time the "test specimen" of the documentary.

Super Size Me's an experiment regarding eating fast food and if the people can actually eat fast food alone without jeopardizing health, in its different facets e.g. mental, bodily, psychological, sexual. Morgan underwent a month-long McDonald's diet, eating McDonald's food all day and night, no exception (That's so taste fatiguing! I myself can't imagine eating similar foods with fairly the same taste in a row of days. And it's fast food! Gross...). Ultimately, the film delivers a message that fast food eating is not healthy at all (Err... that's a no-brainer!) and can cause drastic if not life-threatening diseases to the organic human body.

If you're fond of gorging McDonald's and any fast food for that matter, and it seems to be addictive to you, you better see this film. Though the experiment is extreme ('cause people don't really eat fast food "all the time", though a lot eat fast food "more often" than they should), I'm pretty sure you'd get a good insight and somewhat an "inspiration" to slow down your eating and focus on what you take in down your gut. As the adage goes, "Moderation is the key".

Note: Photo above is taken from the Super Size Website.

Emancipation Anniversary Part 2

Best friend and I met again yesterday evening to have coffee session at Starbucks in Shangri-La Plaza mall, the same venue where I had my revelation a year ago. We were not able to get the same set of table and chairs we sat on before, so we just sufficed ourselves with a vacant sofa set, pretty much perfect for us.


As usual, I ordered my favorite Raspberry Iced Tea. Best friend wanted to eat SB's Oreo Cheesecake but unfortunately, it wasn't available. So, I just got her a Mango Ref Cake (I forgot the actual name of the dessert). As for me, I ordered a chocolate frosted Cream Puff.

Cream puffs are one of my guilty pleasures. I like their subtle sweet taste and creamy centers. As for the Cream Puff I got last night, too bad to say, wasn't at par to the other cream puffs I divinely enjoyed in the past. The bread was a bit tougher for its class ("makunat-kunat" if I'd say in the vernacular). The cream, though generously filling the whole pastry, was lacking its buttery taste. It actually tasted more of the commercial whipped cream, and wasn't gourmet at all. The epicure in me was unsatisfied. Then again, I did not let it spoil the occasion.

To console my bereft senses, I tasted best friend's Mango Cake. To my surprise, it was actually good! The taste was a tad different from that of the Sansrival, if not just for the mango.

While relishing our sweet treats, we talked about my coming to her and how I made my confession/revelation a year ago. We reminisce most of the details - how the talking started and ended. Though we both couldn't remember vividly everything, we still tried to pull out the memories we had left. It was nostalgia creeping through my veins as we tried to recap things.

Last year, I wasn't overly detailed about my revelation so as to be wary enough not to overwhelm best friend with the why-am-I-gay stuff . But yesterday, since we were just seemingly reminiscing everything, I decided to tell her the details. Of course, I asked her if it was OK with her 'cause everything I'd say required a very open mind and mature understanding. Giving a nod, I started to share with her the fragments of my incredible yore.*

We talked and talked, one piece of yesteryear segued to another. I tried to tell everything in chronology for her to understand everything well. The conversation went on not knowing that it's almost time for the mall to close. Though I wanted to extend the tete-a-tete, our personal curfews were cutting us short. So, we abruptly capped the day off and went to the MRT station, parting in opposite ways.

*I've been meaning to transcribe my past in this blog but haven't gotten the perfect time to do so. Soon is the time. ¡Adios!
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Emancipation Anniversary Part 1

Today is the first anniversary of my emancipation - my coming out! But not a coming out to the whole clan, friends, colleagues, society... no, I am not there yet. This day marks my first attempt to open up myself to a close friend, my best friend now, that I am homosexual. And not just my being homosexual, but also the profession of my heart's true desire - that my once high school best friend is not just simply a best friend, but is the person whom my heart has found refuge.

How time flies swiftly, I hardly noticed it's been a year already.

To remember this "somehow" liberating day of mine, my best friend and I went on for dinner last night at SumoSam, located at the Ledge of Shangri-La Plaza Mall. SumoSam has been a venue for one of the significant events in my life.

Marvin Agustin's SumoSam: Americanized Japanese eating place.

I haven't tried their California rolls so I opted to get them. (Yum yum!)

Best friend's Katsudon (we shared), my Green Iced Tea, and her Red one.

The California rolls were delectable to the palate - the mango tasted fresh. The only kvetch I had was that the rolls were not tightly made and sealed, and seemed to be a bit anorexic to my expectation. The Katsudon, which's often ordered whenever we dine at SumoSam, was fairly delicious, though the meat wasn't tender enough for me. Best friend thought that its taste was different from the first time we had it on our table almost a year ago. And so did I... (Probably because of change in chef(?)). Then again, the rice was still divine - glistening like sparkles of crystal to the eyes, and cooked well enough to achieve optimal pleasure while chewing.

For dessert, we bought each one a cup of ice cream from FIC. I was the one who suggested to have dessert so... I had to pay for our treat. Haha! Well, I actually volunteered. (^_^)

FIC Ice Cream Booth

LITE Mango and Raspberry Ice Cream

This evening, I am anticipating another meet-up with best friend. We hope to have an SB moment on the same venue, on the same set of table and chairs, where I finally emancipated myself, at least, to an important person whom I can now talk freely and confidently about anything, even if it's queer. ;)
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A cheap tip for a cheap treat

I just want to share this to fellow frappuccino fanatics out there, especially those who have a penchant for Starbucks'. My bestfriend told me a month ago or so about this "split-frap customization" a Starbucks customer can avail of. What I mean by "split-frap customization" is that a larger size frap, a Venti preferably, can be "split" and contained in two Tall-sized cups. It's like purchasing two Tall fraps for the price of a Venti! Isn't that an ease on the pocket or what?

Who would have guessed that I can get a 70-peso* frap from SB? (I'm such a fall guy for cheap treats!) As long as I have someone to share with the split Venti, there's no problem! (Except that we both should agree on what frap to get. Hehe)