Sale Alert: Buy 1 Take 1 on Cheese at Robinson's Place Malate Supermarket

My father is a fan of food sales. Buy 1 Take 1, 50% off, 30% off, 20% off, he's there. Tonight, he found this. Kraft and Eden cheese food on Buy 1 Take 1. This is at Robinson's Place Supermarket in Malate. I checked and they are not yet expired. We bought the Kraft cheese and one is about to expire in July and the other one in October. Which is so not going to be a problem. Can you say cheese sticks, cheese rolls, cheese ensaymadas, cheese cupcakes? Not to mention afritada or menudo with cheese.. I admit that I use these un-gourmet cheeses for everyday fare. I save the special cheeses for special occasions :) Like that Buy1Take1 Cheddar for a superb Mac n Cheese (from scratch). Yes, I got my Mac & Cheese wisdom from Alton Brown, and from an episode of Bones..

Chocolate Fire and Dinner at Brasserie Boheme

Last week, I found myself staying at the office late. Where to go for dinner at such a late hour? It was past 9pm. Luckily, I was with DB, and we were both game to try a new restaurant. Looking around, we saw that Chocolate Fire had already opened around the corner. I have been intrigued about that place ever since they started renovating the place but it took them a while to open! I had been wondering what it was going to be - a bar? A chocolate restaurant? What is "chocolate fire"? So DB and I went in and looked around.

Crispy Catfish

Last week, DB and I had dinner at Sentro 1771 at Serendra. I had not eaten anything the whole day and was famished. It was 5pm and the last meal I had was breakfast at 9am of 3 slices of Bag of Beans' Raisin Bread that dear sister brought home from her recent trip to Tagaytay.

As hungry as I was, I had just been reading food blogs, so no Jollibee, McDonald's or any of their ilk would do. I was adamant, even if I had to die of hunger (well, sort of. I think I would have caved sooner than later). "No crappy food" was my battle cry!

So I called up dear boyfriend to have dinner. We had just eaten at Brasserie Boheme the previous weekend and wanted to try another place. I googled and found Chef Laudico's Bistro. A friend had previously mentioned that it was good, so I wanted to go to Chef Laudico's. My bad, I did not take note of the restaurant's exact address, just took note that it was at The Fort. Needless to say, we couldn't find it in Bonifacio High Street, The Fort, or Serendra, and nobody we asked seemed to know what it was, either, be it security guards or the concierge lady. We ended up in one of our Serendra standbys, Sentro 1771.

Are the domestic arts on the way to extinction?

A few months ago I came across Jamie Oliver's School Dinners and a YouTube video of one mother who fed her children takeout and candy their whole lives (Jamie's Ministry of Food - A Kebab a Day). Her children were unhealthy, always sick and saw their doctors a lot. My first reaction was, "you should be ashamed of yourself!", then she said that she "can't cook", and I thought, "is anyone really that stupid?". I decided to give her the benefit of the doubt, and Jamie was quite nice to her about it, too. Maybe she was never taught how to cook and didn't have the confidence to try. At least she's willing to try now.

This got me thinking closer to home. Many women of my generation, mothers even, do not know how to cook. They can boil an egg in theory, but probably have never tried it. One friend I know just relays instructions to her maid from her mother-in-law on how to cook some dishes. I wonder how the food turns out. How does she know it's overcooked, undercooked, overly seasoned or not seasoned enough? Besides, in all probability the maid has no idea how the cooked dish is supposed to taste like. I have never been invited over to taste her maid's cooking. I have to admit I am a bit curious but more scared to find out.