rice cake confessional

I treated our party of 10 to lunch at Fortune (Hong Kong) Seafood Restaurant in Malolos, Bulacan during our stay. Located on a business strip right off of the MacArthur Highway it is sandwiched between a couple of larger, flashier chain restaurants. Fortune touts itself as being one of those ‘forreal’ Chinese joints. I’m not Chinese so I can’t tell you how authentic it is, but for what it’s worth the meal was pretty darn good. Instead of pouring over the menu we ordered a family meal that set me back about USD 60.

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I have always found it interesting that the McDonald’s menu changes to cater to local tastes. Different countries, different meals, different tastes, same brand. McDonald’s is lovingly referred to as ‘McDo’ (accent on the Do). The menu includes stuff like the usual BigMac and chicken nuggets but also has Chicken McDo, Burger McDo (sweeter than a regular hamburger, I think it’s made with pork), McSpaghetti, and taro pie.

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I’m sick as a dog right now. Cough cough, hack hack. Let’s blame the sickness on the lack of updates. I have a few pictures from Thanksgiving dinner but they have yet to be uploaded. For now, I’m pulling from the archives to post some old pictures that have been waiting in the wings.

My cousin in NY (hi Ate Neneth!) said that this picture was the one that made her mouth water the most.

A regular ol’ fried egg, garlic fried rice, and pan fried Vienna sausage (do you sense a theme here?). This was our first breakfast in the Philippines after a comfy evening in the air conditioned room and stuffed bellies from dinner the night before. The winning part of this dish is that you have to fry the sausage up enough so that the outside gets brown and wrinkly and kinda separates from the rest of the sausage.  Pass the ketchup and you got a big winner.

This picture hangs in the kitchen of our family’s house in Imus, Cavite, Philippines. It’s been there for a pretty long time but I never noticed what it was a picture of. That is, until my most recent visit. In this photo is a selection of fruits and vegetables like bittermelon, watermelon, grapes, peppers, potatoes, bananas, custard apple, and kiwis – a lovely addition to any home. Also included in the background is a bottle of COURVOSIER. I don’t get it.

Randomness at its finest.

Yay! I’m older! It was my birthday last week and I celebrated with Filipino food, karaoke, drinks and dancing (in that order).

First, the co-workers surprised me with a cake from Goldilocks. (Isn’t that nice that they also celebrate my Filipino-ness?) To make it extra special they made the ultimate no-no and spelled my name wrong. Yes, on purpose. I feel the love!

Then I dragged everyone to Patio Filipino where we ordered enough food to feed me until my next birthday. In addition to the kare-kare and sinigang that I’ve already featured on the blog. We also ordered gambas al ajillo – shrimp in oil, garlic, and paprika. It was shockingly bright but not overly spicy and the shrimp was cooked perfectly.

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