The Chocolate Kiss Cafe's February Specials

UP Diliman's Chocolate Kiss Cafe just posted their February Specials:

MON: Chicken Pastel
TUE: Kare-Kare
WED: Stuffed Pork Chops
THU: Shrimp Relleno
FRI: Seafood Paella

Served with Pandan Rice, Leche Flan & a glass of Iced Tea.
P175

I've never been disappointed with the dishes Chocolate Kiss served up and I'm sure these dishes won't either. (if you feel otherwise, though, feel free to comment! :) )

Hope you had a great weekend!

How to get there:
Ground Floor: +63 (2) 433.3782
2nd Floor: +63 (2) 434.7430 / 332.3502
Roces Cafe: +63 (2) 412.7876

Their FB Page: The Chocolate Kiss Cafe

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O'Sonho

Portuguese Fushion... Taste the Dream

When we thought we have tasted them all - Chinese cuisine, Japanese food, authentic Italian dishes, etc., a restaurant like O'sonho is built. O'sonho is the newest and probably one of the few Portuguese Fusion restaurants in the Metropolis. Personally, I do not know of others as of yet.

My first encounter with this restaurant is when we visited its branch in Jupiter. The amazing wall paintings or murals captured the and said much about the cuisine of the place.

In my initial visit, I ordered the Peri-Peri Chicken on Fragrant Chicken Rice. I immediately loved it. I love the spicy flavor of the dish and the way the chicken was cooked was just right. The skin was a little crispy but the chicken meat was left tender. They say they only use the purest olive oil, so not only is it a very appetizing dish, it's also a healthy one.

On our second visit, we visited their new Eastwood branch located near Make Room. The only downside right now is that the location is not visible when you exit the new Eastwood mall. The restaurant is facing the main street. But the visit to the restaurant is worth it!

For starters, we ordered the Cerveza Battered Fish and Chips (Php 260). This is their own rendition of Fish and Chips. Each order had around 5-6 long strips of fish with potato wedges. I loved that the batter was a little spicy and their signature perinaise went well with the dish.

For the vegetarians, the Avocado Cream Salad (Php 310) is a must try. The dish was presented beautifully. The salad was made with the following ingredients: crispy lettuces, cucumbers, oranges, apples, cashew, walnuts, shrimps, and tomatoes. The dressing was quite unique -- a healthy creamy avocado pulp dressing that made the whole dish feel refreshing.

EJ ordered the Bacalhau de O'sonho -- a Portuguese staple - the dried salt cod. It was pretty salty (as expected) but the tomato complimented it nicely and the flat pita bread made the dish feel light. Although light, it was still pretty filling.

If you have never tried Portuguese cuisine, drop by O'sonho!

Contact Details:

20 Jupiter Street, Makati City

Tel. No.: 8963289 or 0922-8707844

1880-5, 1880 Building, New Eastwood Mall

Eastwood Cyber Mall, Bagumbayan, Quezon City

Tel. No.: 4701768 or 0922-8707844

You're A Good Man Charlie Brown

Pinoy Interpretati on of a Well-loved Musical

Last February to March 2009, the UA&P Kultura had a production of a hit Broadway Musical, "You're a Good Man, Charlie Brown". This plays tells of a day in the life of a well known comic character, Charlie Brown, created by Charles M. Schultz. I personally haven't watched it yet, but people say that it is about Charlie Brown's "day made up of little moments picked from all the days of Charlie Brown, from Valentine's Day to the baseball season, from wild optimism to utter despair, all mixed with the lives of his friends".

There will be a four show rerun of that in-demand play to be sponsored by the Friends of Woodrose Foundation, Inc. with the support of PAREF Woodrose School. The fundraising event will be for the scholars of the Friends of Woodrose Foundation, Inc. The show will be at Insular Life Alabang Auditorium (Insular Life Corporate Center, Insular Life Drive, Filinvest Corporate City, Alabang, Muntinlupa).

The play is directed by theater veteran and The Company's Sweet Plantado - Tiongson and features the following in its cast: Joel Guzman as Charlie Brown, Pam Imperial as Lucy Van Pelt, Ikey Canoy as Snoopy, Gmenier Mendoza as Linus Van Pelt, Rhenz Gabalonzo as Schroeder and Kelly Lati and Athena Tibi alternating as Sally Brown. Assistant direction is by JC Gotinga and choreography by Red Conception.

Show dates are on:

Jan. 30, 2010 (Saturday) 3:00 PM

Jan. 30, 2010 (Saturday) 7:00 PM

Feb. 6, 2010 (Saturday) 3:00 PM

Feb. 6, 2010 (Saturday) 7:00 PM

Ticket Prices are:

Php 500.00 - Orchestra Center

Php 400.00 - Orchestra Side

Php 300.00 - Balcony

For ticket inquiries, please contact Emy Cabauatan at 0917-3245166 or Leriz Yap at 0918-9281553. Check them out also in facebook: "You're a Good Man, Charlie Bronw" - the rerun! group:

http://www.facebook.com/ group.php? gid=296909251112 or the UA&P - Kultura Fan Page http://facebook. com/uapkultura.

Hope you enjoy the show!

Suelas

Flatten it, Fold it, Roll it!

We always want to travel light and yet for us, women, we always have this dilemma of choosing which shoes to bring. Of course, we have so many considerations - it should match our clothes, it should be light enough to pack (since we hate bulky luggage) and most of all, it should be comfortable.

I'm glad to have discovered SUELAS. These stylish, ballet patterned shoes has such a unique design that you can actually bring all kinds of colors when you travel and still be packing light. Every order comes in a compact black case wherein the shoes is slipped into two pouches and folded. To secure the fold, the black pouch has a little belt that you can use.

SUELAS comes in sizes 5 to 9. These shoes comes in different colors - Black, Brown, Gold, Silver, Snakeskin, Red and Blue. I bought the brown one and it's very comfortable.

SUELAS (Php 799/pair)

If you want you want to be ready for anything, without the bulk, grab your own pair of SUELAS!

Contact Details:

Mobile Nos: 09178255293/09229763058 (Kay One)

09176267788/ 09239046199 (Jackie Tan)

Email Address: suelas@ymail.com

Website: www.suelasonline.com

Pick Up Locations
1. Makati - H.V. dela Costa Street, Salcedo Village, Makati City
2. Quezon City – Teacher’s Village, Quezon City

Mismo

Ang Larong Nakakaaliw at Nakakabaliw



The market is ripe for a Pinoy gameboard. We've been making crazy parlor games on the fly that are almost impossible (or just no fun) to play in another language - Pinoy Henyo, Pass the Charades, Hep-hep-hooray just to name a few. It was just a matter of time before the fun-starved Pinoy got what he wanted.

And boy, did this game deliver. We were laughing from start to finish. Granted, the rules were just a little bit too complicated so we had to make our own, but we still had fun.

So how did we play it? The game comes with a couple of wheels that have the most random tagalog words: Masustansya, Malaki, Kadiri-to-death, Bagets, Sexy, Maasim, etc etc etc.



You also have 10 cards from a pile of the best pinoy words: Tawas, Zuma, Acebedo Optical, etc etc etc.



So what happens is you spin the 2 wheels and then you choose which of your cards match the 2 descriptions best. For example, when we were playing, the wheels stopped at Maasim & Makunat. The words played were "Madre, Tita, and Brief." The words are played face down, shuffled, and then all opened. This is so the players don't know who played which cards (except their own of course).

What happens next is that you vote (with the Boto Ko cards) on the word that best matches the 2 wheel words -- all at the same time and you can't vote for your own word. The word with the most votes wins. In our rules, you win when you have the most points. Simple and quick.



We bought the game to see if Pinoys really could come up with a game that could match all the Guesstures, Craniums, and Pictionaries out there. Guess what? We could. :)

Details:
Mismo Website
The game can be found in Hobbes & Landes, Books for Less, Papemelroti, La Monja Loca sa Intramuros, Handog Giftshop UP Shopping Center, Camp John Hay (Baguio). See more in their website.

FlipBooth.com

OPM Forever

I never saw quite a site like this one. Who would have thought that we would have a site equivalent to Youtube where we can actually watch past episodes of "teleseryes", listen to Original Pilipino Music (OPM) and Original Pilipino Movies?!

Gone are the days when I would rush home just to catch an episode of Kim Chiu and Gerald Anderson's "May Bukas Pa" or the past episodes of Marian Rivera's "Darna" currently being shown on television today (EJ, btw, is giving me that weird look!). I can actually check the site and just search for these shows.

Also, what I like about the site is that it's very easy to find shows. The tabs are tagged Kapuso, Kapamilya, Movies, Classics, Pinoy Radio, TV Guide and Live TV. When you browse over these tabs, it will give you a drop down of the time slots; after which, a list of the different programs are given as drop downs as well. Also, the Pinoy Radio encompasses even covering the local radio stations in our different provinces! They also have other categories that you can visit for other Pinoy videos.

It's about time we promote Filipino talent and electronic means are the way to go already. In this day and age of new media channels, it's good to know that Filipinos aren't behind.

Website: www.flipbooth.com

Assumption Fun Run

Here's news for all the runners out there -- Assumption is going to hold their own Fun Run! January 31, 2010 @ SM Mall of Asia.

See flyer (left) to get more details.

La Creperie

Quaint Little Crepe Place

Upon initial visit, one may mistake the humble interiors of this place as a simple crepe place, but La Creperie's dishes speak of such amazing different flavors and such elaborate flavors.

The ambiance was a replica of a little house on a prarie's kitchen. The interiors wee made mostly of white paint and beige and light yellow apholstery. The plates were made with ceramics and so were the jars on display.

We started our little journey in this quaint little place with a choice from the Les Soupes section. We ordered the French Onion Soup (Php 135). To be honest, this is one of the best onion soups I've ever tasted. I loved the way the cheese was melted. It was melted just right. The bread was also not too soaked.

We then ordered L'Omelette, country styled omellete. It came in a skillet in which around 5 eggs were beated and mixed with diced bacon, potatoes, cheese and jalapenos. I loved this dish. I think this would make a very good breakfast meal! I can see myself craving for this dish in the days to come.

L'Omellete (Php 235)

We also ordered one of their Les Gastronomiques. We ordered the Le "J.J."(Php 175). This crepe contained Ham, Emmental and Gruyere cheese, tomato, garlic and chili flakes. It was a bit spicy and I liked it that way. The order came with salad with vinagraitte dressing which was a good complement to the dish.

And for dessert, they said the Double Chocolate Fudge Brownie Crepe (Php 175) is their best seller but we ordered the Mango Hazelnut on Chocolat, since we were so full from our main course. The crepe covering was chocolate flavored topped with a layer of chocolate syrup and then layered with mango slices. The crepe was topped with whip cream and lots of slices of almonds. For the health conscious, not to worry since you can actually choose your fruit fillings and syrups. The restaurant allows you to make your own crepes.

Also, they serve Big Chill smoothies. The owner of La Creperie owns Big Chill.

So if you want to unwind in a restaurant in the New Eastwood Mall and you're looking for something that would fit your 200 peso budget, you can visit La Creperie to try amazing crepes and dishes in a comfortable little place.

Contact details:

La Creperie

Eastwood Mall

2nd Level (beside Italiannis)

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Kuse

There are a lot of new Filipino restaurants. One new restaurant right at the new Piazza in McKinley Hill is Kuse. Kuse is the local word for chef among the Tagalogs. The Kuse is incharge of organizing and aranging dishes for all salu-salos. It was our usual 'salu-salo' with my entire family as we celebrated the death anniversary of my Lola.

For our appetizer, we ordered "Something Chicki" Adobong Balot de Pateros (Php 140). I loved the Balot's distinct flavor and presentation. I loved the adobo sauce - it was a bit sweet with a hint of garlic flavor.



For the vegetarian, you should not miss trying the Pinangat na Laing Bicolandia (Php 150). It was quite different since the sauce was a little bit sour. For those who want it spicy, this rendition of the dish may not be what you expect.



For our rice, we ordered garlic Dulong rice. You'll see the little bits of dulong that adds flavor to the rice (Php 95). One order is for 3-4 people.



My two favorite main course dishes were the Fried Suckling Pig Lechon at 250 grams with the kinilaw na labanos, liver sauce and tomato salsa (Php 495) and the Pato Tim simmered in Tuba, which is Palm wine and pineapple (Php 295). The minute these two dishes were placed in our table, it was gone in a minute. For those who crave the crispy skin of lechon, you will love the Sucking Pig Lechon. The meat of this dish was also very flavorful and the pork's meat was very tender. The skin went well with all three sauces, blending to make a unique flavor.

Fried Suckling Pig Lechon:


Pato Tim simmered in Tuba:


The pato tim was not dry at all. You will love the sauce that it came with. The order though was only good for two people (or was it because it was so delicious!).

We also ordered the Native Chicken in Coconut Cream (Php 295) with papaya and sili leaves. The sauce was a bit sour, as well. I loved the way they cooked the chicken. It was very tender.



We also ordered the Ox Tail Kare-Kare (Php 395). I loved it because it came with a lot of vegetables (being a veggie addict!). These dishes would be a great dish to go with hot and steamy rice.



The other thing that would be great to try in this place are the desserts. We ordered the following: Sapin-Sapin Creme Brulee (Php 110), Cheesy Cassava Cake with Ice Cream (Php 95), Leche Flan Napoleon (Php 95) and the Banana Lanka on filo with Caramel Sauce (Php 95). Our favorite was the Sapin-Sapin Creme Brulee. When it was served, I thought it was Crepe Samurai. It was served in an oval dish that made it look like such. When we tried it, it was delicious. The bottom portion of the dessert was made of real, 'home made' ube, kaong bits and other sahogs, which I wanted to identify but I would have to eat the whole plate! The condensed milk and cheese on top made it Creme Brulee. Everything was pretty good -- perfect to top-off a great pinoy meal.



Expect to pay around P300 per person. Parking is free (for now) in the Piazza parking.

Details:
Kuse can be found in the new Piazza, McKinley Hill, Taguig it can be found here:

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Il Pirata

Themed Pizza Place

There are themed children’s parties. There are themed store window designs and there are even themed weddings (like ours, of course!). But there are not many restaurants with ‘themes’ to speak of. Themes for restaurants usually come with the type of cuisine they serve (Japanese, Filipino, etc.).

I got to chance upon one themed restaurant recently. This particular restaurant was inside a boat shaped structure. Il Pirata is such an eye catcher, as it is situated on the heart of Eastwood city. This is an Italian restaurant that offers pizza, pasta, etc.

Fresh from our trip from Italy, we were craving for authentic brick oven Margherita Pizza. We checked out the menu at Il Pirata and we were amazed that it was actually an Italian restaurant. In the few times that we were there, we only had a few late night drinks, and never bothered to check the menu for food.

When we entered, we noticed that it was a bit dark inside. I guess this was part of the theme. The seats though were amazing. Almost all of the interior were made from wood, and really gave the feeling that we were inside a ship. Some of the highlights were colored in gold.

We ordered the Pizza Margherita. What I liked about their pizza was that it was baked in a brick oven. They also use olive oil when they prepare their pizza. It is not also drenched in a lot of oil, so one can actually eat half a pizza. The crust is a bit crunchy and the thickness is just right.

You could actually see them bake your order. The window to the kitchen was glass and everything inside the kitchen can be seen. It was good to see that they kept their kitchen clean and neat.

There were not a lot of people in the restaurant. I suspect it’s because the restaurant was not that well lit. From the outside, the place seems small but it’s actually pretty big inside. They also accept reservations for parties and meetings.

If you want to have a unique and healthy pizza experience, come and try it out. Pirates and treasures await you!

Contact details:

Il Pirata

Eastwood City Walk

Telephone Number: 4211994 to 95

Fax number: 4211996

Email address: il_pirata@yahoo.com

http://www.ilpirata.com