I apologize if the picture quality offends. I couldn’t help but document the brunch I made (and had) just moments ago :9

Today I made egg on toast with hash browns. I was supposed to make eggs benedict except I didn’t know how to make it. I didn’t bother with looking the recipe up because I was really hungry.

For the hash browns, I used those frozen, ready-made hash browns you can find in any grocery. Instead of toasting them for 15 minutes, I decided to dice 2 frozen slabs of the shredded potato and sauteed them in a pan with one chopped shallot (sweet white onion), a clove of garlic and a tablespoon of olive oil. I did this until the flakey bits of potato came apart and the onions were nice and translucent. I then seasoned with salt, pepper and a pinch of dried rosemary. Because the onions started to sweat, I popped the potato mixture into the toaster oven for 5 minutes so they dry up.

I toasted a slice of white bread and placed a runny, sunny side up egg on top an seasoned it with salt and pepper. I plated the hash browns next to the toast and voila, A delicious brunch, perfect for a quick fill for a hungry tummy.

I hope you try this recipe out for yourself. It’s easy to make and all the ingredients are available in your local grocery :) If you have any comments or suggestions, feel free to leave them below!

I had a story planned for this post since it did start out as funny quest for Thai food that soon turned into “any place with a bottomless drink”, but alas, I can’t seem to find the words to make said story funny. So let me just start you off with this:

The boyfriend and I ate at Chili’s last night because he had a hankering for bottomless tea and I was celebrating the end of my unemployment! Huzzah! Plus, Mum gave us a gift certificate so we didn’t have to dish out a lot. Thanks Mum!

So the boyfriend got a Texan-whatsit burger (I forgot to write it down, sorry!) which was really good because it had a nice helping of sliced jalapeño peppers and shredded, crispy tortillas for that extra crunch. I had a plate of Chicken Crispers because I’ve been seeing it ordered in my Southern Vampire Mysteries. The chicken crispers were a delight to eat because the coating was crunchy while the chicken inside remained juicy and delicious. The corn on the cob was sweet and well-buttered. Both our plates came with a heaping order of real!potato fries which was fantastic when dipped in Heinz Tomato Ketchup (my favorite!). We had bottomless drinks, of course, and both of us had lemonade. I love drinking lemonade, especially with greasy and/or fried fare as the acidity of the drink really cuts down the “umay” or greasy factor of the food.

I don’t know about you guys, but every time we eat at Chili’s I want to just curl up and sleep right after. I felt so heavy and sluggish after that meal, that it was obvious we needed a sweet, chocolatey pick-me-up!

We crossed the street to Kitchen of Cakes and Coffee (or KoCCo) and ordered two Chocolate Espresso rhumballs and a cup of Montezuma Hot Chocolate for the boyfriend.

The texture of the rhumballs reminds me of a refrigerated fudge brownie that got smooshed in your lunchbox accidentally. Did you get it? The rhumballs, which are as big as doughnut holes, were dense, moist and chocolately without being too sweet (everyone who knows me, knows that I don’t have a sweet tooth). The bold hint of espresso was good for grounding the chocolateyness while the subtle kick of the rhum gave, what appeared to be a brownie ball, a whole new dimension. Don’t worry, you won’t get drunk with this, unless you managed to scarf down 3 trays of it.

The Montezuma Hot Chocolate, named after the chocolate-loving Aztec Emperor, was thick, dark and frothy. Sadly, I only a sip or two of this and I wasn’t able to try the biscuits that came with it (I was so full!) so I can’t properly comment on this. :(

We ate so much last night that when we got home, we collapsed on the couch and wondered if we would still be able to eat breakfast the following day. x3

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On a different note, there will be a slowdown of Ano Ulam posts this weekend up until Wednesday as my mum has the camera for her Vigan Heritage trip! I hope my mum has great time there (Vigan longganisa is the best!!). I’m also half-wishing I don’t get to eat anything exciting this weekend so I don’t feel bad for not documenting it (not really).

Again, if you want to see a restaurant or a recipe featured here at Ano Ulam, just post it below at the comments section :)

Happy weekend everyone!

I woke up very early today and I decided this is pretty much the best time to try out a simple cheese pancake recipe I made in my head. When I make pancake recipes, I do it with ready-made pancake mixes like Pillsbury because I’m too chicken to whip up my own mix.

So I went ahead and made the mix (using butter instead of oil), but instead of adding the frothy beaten eggs, I separated the whites and the yolk so I can whisk the whites into soft, meringue-like peaks. Whisking egg whites require a bit of elbow grease and would take a non-pro around 10 minutes of continuous whisking. You know you’re good to go if you can “slice” the egg white froth without it going back together. Mix the yolks in with the batter and fold in the egg whites, making air pockets inside the batter for an extra fluffy pancake. Don’t fold the whites in too well though, as the whites help with the fluffy factor as well.

Ladle in your pancake mix into a hot pan and place a grated cheese on top (I used my fingers) and then cover the cheese, to avoid burning, with a tablespoon of the batter. If you’re well-versed with pancake making, you know it’s safe to turn your pancakes if the bubbles in the middle of the cake don’t close over. Flip your pancake when this happens and wait for a minute until the other side is golden brown.

I rarely put maple syrup on home-made pancakes and this particular one works well with just a sliver of salted butter. I serve this with a spoon of strawberry jam for extra flavor and maple syrup alternative.

Last night, my mum and I went to Greenbelt 5 to check out Manila Design Week’s Future Design only to find out that it was being held at Glorietta 5. Phooey. So before we headed to the other end of the mall block, we decided to have dinner at Oody’s, a Thai resturant at Greenbelt 3.

The Oody’s here is not the same as the Oody’s Express you’ll see in some malls where they offer value lunches. Although there are rice meals, we decided to order our favorite, no-brainer Thai favorites: Crispy Catfish with Mango Salad and Shrimp Pad Thai while we enjoyed the crispy, wafer-think prawn crackers and spicy peanuts they served as a pre-meal snack. I washed this down with a bottomless glass of Pandan Juice, which tasted slightly like diluted arnibal (taho syrup). This was so refreshing I had 5 glasses, which is a feat considering I only need a glass of water for a meal.

For dessert, I had a cone of Boncrock Gelato from Gelatone which was delicious. I didn’t enjoy it as much though, as the heat literally melted the 100 peso scoop down my hand.

We reached the MDW exhibit and was quite disappointed with the featured works, a real downer after a night of good food.

Sorry for the sudden hiatus, I had things to settle and my camera wasn’t available which is a a shame since I ate a lot of great things last week. :( Oh well, time to move on!

This is basically what i had today so far!

Breakfast: Mum made some cheese, tomato and basil pan de minis. It was so good! Especially if you drizzle a bit of extra virgin olive oil and sprinkle rock salt for that extra crunch :)

Lunch: Pinakbet with homemade bagoong (shrimp paste) from lola. Breaded creme dori with poached tomato in sour cream, paremesan and basil sauce, brown rice. Half a cake from Nikki

Hopefully I get back to the swing of things and take more delicious pictures. If you have any questions or comments, you can post them below!

Today I attempted making fish tacos for lunch and it was a success! I looked up a couple of recipes online but saw they used grilled/fried fish, so I decided to put a new spin to it by using canned tuna :D Recipe below!

Spicy Tuna Tacos

You need:

• 1 large can of Century Tuna Hot & Spicy
• 1 large white onion minced
• 3 diced tomatoes
• 1 bowl of shredded lettuce
• Cilantro
• 1 cup grated cheese
• 1 lemon/lime
• 1 cup sour cream
• Olive oil
• 1 clove of garlic
• 1 pack of soft tortillas
• 2 green chilies (optional)

Fish taco:

Drain the oil and water from the can of tuna. While draining, sautee 3/4 of minced onion in pan with 1 tbsp of olive oil. When the onion starts to clear, add drained tuna and sautee in semi-dry heat, you want the fish to be as dry as possible.

Place tortilla on grill/stove top until warm/blistery (your choice how charred you want your tortilla to be). Place tortilla on plate and scoop generous amounts of tuna on top.

Sour cream sauce:

Flavor the sour cream with grated garlic, lemon juice, salt and pepper. Don’t go overboard with the garlic because a little goes a long way. spoon sauce on top of fish.

Side salad/ veg:

Lightly dress the shredded lettuce with olive oil, lemon juice, salt and pepper. Mix tomato, cilantro and what’s left of onion in one bowl. Plate salsa on top of the bed of lettuce.

Spoon salsa on top of the fish taco as well.

If you want extra heat, place green chilies on the stove until charred and blistered. Gently peel off the charred skin. If you want it to be really hot, go ahead and slice it up into small disks. If you want it milder, slice the chili lengthwise and remove the seeds, slice it and mix into salsa.

How to eat:

You can add the salad to the tortilla and the cheese and eat it as a wrap, or you can eat it separately.

If you have any questions, feel free to comment below! :)

Today’s meals!

For breakfast I had daing silog: butterflied salted fish, tomato and red egg salsa, fried egg and garlic rice. This meal reminds me of college <3

For lunch I had chicken curry and fried eggplant slices. The curry was intended to be “pinoy curry” which contains a lot of coconut milk, but we had the traditional Indian one instead. The eggplant slices were super good and sweet!

For dinner I had the same thing I had for lunch but with Sprite.

I love Sprite. I love, love, love it. It’s my hang-over cure and it’s the perfect drink when the sun is too hot and high and you need to get rid of the dizzies. I enjoy it with vodka or gin too :D

Office snack of choice: Banapple’s Oatmeal and Blueberry muffin.

Taken when I was still employed lol

Today’s lunch:

Pesto in penne pasta and garlic bread.

Lunch was simple but really good, but too bad I didn’t  enjoy as much. :( My camera was wonky and I was really nervous about the interview I had right after.

Today’s breakfast:

Toast with butter and strawberry jam, soft-boiled egg and oatmeal (no picture).

Sorry for the late update, but it was a pretty busy day :O

Lunch is coming up!