Oysters Rockefeller

Oysters Rockefeller--an appetizer I shared with my mother at dinner last week at the Mall of Asia.  The oysters were baked with a generous amount of butter, cheese, some herbs and bacon bits.

Oysters Rockefeller was created in 1899 by Jules Alciatore in their family restaurant in New Orleans called Antoine's.  The dish was named after John Rockefeller, the richest American at the time, for the intense richness of the sauce.  Although many restaurants in New Orleans serve dishes purporting to be Oysters Rockefeller, Antoine's claims that they're all knock-offs because Alciatore  took the original recipe with him to the grave.

Linking to Food Friday and Food Trip Friday

Callos

I wasn't really hungry but I missed eating at Almon Marina, so I came in and ordered an appetizer of Liver Pate.  I was planning to get a sandwich-to-go but the delectable flavors of Callos teased my taste buds memory. So here it...

Ponder well on this point:  the pleasant hours of our life are all connected by a more or less tangible link, with some memory of the table. ~ Charles Pierre Monselet

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Seaweed and Lukot Salad

I hope I remember the names correctly---lato, guso and lukot.   These cold appetizers at Zubuchon-Escario were perfect complement to the lechon J and I devoured for dinner.  Yes, it was Holy Week, and J is a Catholic, I'm not---I ate lechon without guilt.:p   Lato and guso are types of seaweed, lukot is something else.

I was always wary of eating seaweed ceviche because of the briny, fishy flavor that seems to persist on seaweed.  But I was pleasantly surprised that this seaweed ceviche has none of that fishy flavor.  These were fresh and refreshingly good!

Among the 3, lato is my favorite---I love the texture, the crunch, and the sweet-salty flavors of the ocean.  Guso is gelatinous and slimy--the mouth-feel is so different from any salad I have eaten before.  I assumed lukot was also a seaweed---I was wrong.  Lukot looks like noodles, has the consistency of noodles, and has a distinct flavor that I can't describe.  It's a poop of sea hare, locally known as donsol/dongsul.

These were blanched and served with coconut vinegar/onions/tomatoes/ginger dressing.

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Salmon Sashimi/Mandarin Orange Monday

Salmon Sashimi for Mandarin Orange Monday

"Sashimi is velvet dust, verging on silk, or a bit of both, and the extraordinary alchemy of its gossamer essence allows it to preserve a milky density unknown even by clouds...my cheeks recalled the effects of its profound caress." ~ Muriel Barbery

Pako/Fiddlefern Salad

Happy New Year, foodies!  Let's start the New year with something healthy after the artery-clogging dishes we consumed during the holidays.

Here's Pako Salad that I made at home---the salted egg was inspired by the Pako Salad I had at Abe in MoA.  The fiddle-fern was blanched, mixed with tomatoes, onions, salt & pepper, a sprinkle of sugar, coconut vinegar, garnished with slices of salted egg and served chilled.  A lip smackin' appetizer!

 

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Rolled Parma Ham with cheese

 Here's something you can do even in your sleep---rolled Parma ham with Emmental cheese.    An improvised appetizer I made the other night paired with a full-bodied white wine a friend brought over for our small get-together dinner.  Not very creative---but this was delicious!

 

 

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Appetizers @ Mongkok

I had a meeting near Santana Grove last week and decided to have an early dinner there before driving home.  U haven't been to Santana Grove and decided to join me for dinner.  Santana Grove is a cluster of restaurants and cafes along Sucat Road right beside Max's (if you're coming from SSHW) and ShopWise.  I remember there was a Starbucks, also a Yellow Cab Pizza, Tapa King, Jollibee, Chowking, Serye, Behrouz, Ice Monsters, Mongkok, plus a few others. 

We were walking towards Behrouz, a Persian restaurant, when U noticed Mongkok and asked if I have been there--I said, no.  My craving for jellyfish salad a few days before suddenly kicked in as U pulled me towards Mongkok to check out the menu.

Mongkok serves jellyfish salad so we decided to eat here.  We also shared a dimsum--tofu with shrimp puff, which was very good.  I love the cold jellyfish salad with century egg---couldn't get enough of this stuff!:p

More about Mongkok next week...getting hungry again!*LOL*

 

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Pomelo Shrimp Salad

It's been awhile since I posted a pomelo shrimp salad, so here it is.  This is from Jatujak, a Thai bistro.  I love the succulent shrimps and luscious pomelo in this sweet-spicy concoction.  A scrumptious starter!

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Spinaci Zola

An antipasti U and I shared at Cibo---Spinaci Zola, or spinach and gorgonzola (Italian blue cheese) dip with warm crostini (small toasted bread).

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Garlic cheese focaccia

@ mirandablue
Garlic Cheese Focaccia with Checca

I was faint from hunger while waiting for my newly-married friend [and hubby] at CPK-Greenbelt.  Apparently, they were caught in a Makati traffic jam. My lifesaver was an Italian-style pizza bread topped with Mozzarella cheese, garlic and herbs, hearth-baked and served with a combination of fresh tomatoes, fresh basil, garlic and evoo. By the time the couple arrived, I already finished off four slices of focaccia!  As for the rest of our food...I got a bit shy to take photos--it was my first meeting with my friend's husband, I didn't want him to think I'm a camera-freak. *LOL*


P.S.  I'm having a hard time uploading photos.  Is it just me, or are you experiencing it as well?

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Lor Bak

@ mirandablue

One of the famous "hawker food" in Penang cuisine is Lor Bak.  The waiter at Penang Hill-Shangri-la explained that it tastes like kikiam (or Que-kiam, a Chinese dish adapted into Filipino cuisine).  But I assure you, it tastes a lot better than kikiam.  Lor Bak is marinated minced pork rolled into thin soybean sheets and deep-fried.  It was served hot and crisp with sweet and spicy dipping sauce.  A scrumptious appetizer.

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Baked oysters

@ mirandablue

Too bad these succulent oysters were literally drowned in butter.  Personally, I prefer to eat oysters on a half-shell including the juice, raw or blanched with just a twist of lemon or vinegar dip.  Other preparations with added condiments "spoil" the distinctive flavor of oyster. But outside the family, I only have a few friends who can eat oysters the way I do.  On a dare, they'd eat baked oysters---but too squeamish to chew.

So this was another appetizer on a Saturday night-out with a couple of friends.  We drowned our sorrows, laughed at our faux pas and ate oysters to awaken the senses.

@ mirandablue

I'm linking to Willa's Food Trip Friday

Fried Crocodile meat

@ mirandablue

Yes, I took a bite on the wild side recently with this fried garlicky crocodile meat.  It was actually a dare from a friend while we were getting a little tipsy on SMB Light, sisig, calamari and baked oysters.  Why not try something different?  So there---fried crocodile with blue cheese dip for pulutan.  Crocodile meat is light-flavored so the garlic and blue cheese dip were probably a great idea to add flavor.

The bar manager told me they got their crocodile meat from Morong, Rizal---I didn't know there's a crocodile farm in Morong, do you?.  Let me assure you that this was before the recent crocodile attack in Palawan.:p 

Compared to other meats and if well-trimmed, crocodile is low in fat, low in calories and high in protein, and is considered as a good source of niacin and Vitamin B12. In Australia, crocodile carpaccio is pretty popular as well as crocodile rolls, known to the Japanese as Wani Rolls.

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Appetizers @ Golden Cowrie

@ mirandablue

Friends invited me to dinner at the Golden Cowrie in Marina a few hours before my return flight to Manila in mid-April.  One of our appetizers was the crispy tuna fingers served with mayo dip.  I wasn't too crazy about it, didn't make an impression.  But I did enjoy the other appetizer...green mango with bagoong (shrimp paste)!

@ mirandablue

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Spicy Calamares

@ mirandablue

Fried squid with chili and green onions at Pho Hoa--one of our appetizers on girls' Friday night out.

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Honey Mustard Pork Steak

@ mirandablue

I've heard many good things about the Cookbook Kitchen, and I promised myself to check them out the next time I'm in Eastwood.  Didn't find the restaurant during my first attempt---I was too hungry to look around.  

U and I finally made it to Cookbook Kitchen about two weeks ago.  The place was crowded and we almost didn't find a table.  Browsing through their menu, I find their prices affordable.  We got Parmesan Herbed Fries for appetizer and this Honey Mustard Pork Steak.  This pork steak was tender and scrumptious.  The other dish I ordered is here.

@ mirandablue

Posted for Food Friday and Food Trip Friday