Food & Recipes

Celebrating Chinese New Year in a Japanese Restaurant: Ramen Yushoken

February 13, 2013 by MrsC | Patricia Cuyugan Leave a Comment

Our family had lunch at Ramen Yushoken in Molito last weekend, and I forgot to bring a camera. Winner. Good think I had the spare, super low-end Android phone in my bag, the phone I use for Instagram. It has a much better camera than my high-tech BlackBerry. So yes,we had lunch at a Japanese restaurant on Chinese New Year. Ramen Yushoken is said to be the best ramen place in the south, and Our Awesome Planet’s Anton Diaz agrees!

We had to wait a while for a table, but we didn’t actually mind. While waiting, we took a glance at their menu, which was short and sweet – just ramen, a few side dishes and drinks. At the bottom of the paper menu, it states that they don’t pack food to go and that they don’t have any forks at the restaurant. Mommies and daddies, take note of this! You might want to pack a set of utensils for your kiddos. It was quite an experience for us trying to feed the little guy with chopsticks and a soup spoon.

Breakfast Food For Lunch at Early Bird Breakfast Club

February 5, 2013 by MrsC | Patricia Cuyugan Leave a Comment

The little guy went on his school friend trip today, so Mr C and I had the whole day to ourselves. We planned to sort of stalk the school bus convoy, which went from Museong Pambata to Seri Fantasy World in Manila Ocean Park, then Go Nuts Donuts in the Fort as a final stop. We ended up spending the morning at home since I had some work to finish and Mr C had not yet fully recovered from the nasty stomach flu that’s been going around our family.

We decided to just have lunch in BGC, check out the kids at Go Nuts, and then drop by a wake at Magallanes church on the way home. We ended up in Early Bird Breakfast Club, a place I’ve been reading about all over the internet. It was actually Anton Diaz’ post on Our Awesome Planet, and Patty Laurel’s post on her blog that sparked my interest in the place.

Image borrowed from the Early Bird Breakfast Club Facebook Page

January Recipe Roundup (Yes, I Am Officially A Home Cook)

January 28, 2013 by MrsC | Patricia Cuyugan Leave a Comment

I cooked a lot this month! Honestly, if I told my teenage self that I’d be a good home cook in the future, I would probably have rolled my eyes and laughed. Before I got married, I was a terrible cook. I successfully burned everything from bread to eggs to spaghetti sauce, and that’s reheating, not cooking! I’ve made food that had no taste whatsoever, overly seasoned dishes, and sometimes just badly seasoned food.

It came to a point where my siblings got nervous when I’d attempt to make something in the kitchen, and no one wanted to taste my cooking. I actually almost burned our house down once. The incident involved a whole bottle of cooking oil, a pot that wasn’t deep enough, and a whole bag of squid balls. Pot was filled with oil, the entire bag of squid balls was dropped in all at once, oil overflowed. As a result, I found myself face to face with a giant fireball. Oh, did I mention that we had wooden cabinets above the stove back then? Yeah. [Read more…] about January Recipe Roundup (Yes, I Am Officially A Home Cook)

Recipe: Frozen Mango Cream Filling

January 25, 2013 by MrsC | Patricia Cuyugan 2 Comments

I made a few desserts over the holidays and promised to post the recipes and outcome of each. I started strong when I posted this no-bake graham cracker crust recipe right on the day it was devoured at a family get-together. And then I got lazy and haven’t posted any other recipe blogs since then. I promise to make up for lost time, beginning with the recipe for this frozen mango cream that I filled my graham cracker crust with. The original recipe can be found on the ever so reliable Martha Stewart dot com. Hers called for a macadamia crust, but we had already bought bags of graham crackers, and that’s why we ended up with a different crust. So here we go.

FROZEN MANGO CREAM FILLING
1/4 cup Fresh Orange Juice
1 envelope (1 tbsp) Unflavored Gelatin
2 Ripe Mangoes, peeled
1/2 cup Granulated Sugar
3 tbsp Fresh Lemon Juice
1 cup All-Purpose Cream
1/2 cup Powdered Sugar

Cafe Juanita: Pinoy Comfort Food At Its Finest

January 11, 2013 by MrsC | Patricia Cuyugan Leave a Comment

Last December, started adding Fashion Friday posts to this blog. I really hoped to be able to post an entry every Friday. but unfortunately I don’t go out often enough to have outfit photos taken. So, refusing to give up, I’ve decided to alternate Fashion Friday with Foodtrip Friday! It seems like an extra good idea because I have a bunch of restaurant and recipe posts waiting to be written. Here is the first one, and I’ve decided to do it on Cafe Juanita.

It was a fine afternoon in November. We got together with Ate Baban and Cy for lunch that day, after the little boy’s Family Day Presentation at school. It was a bit difficult deciding where to eat because of all the new options that had just opened at the Molito Lifestyle Complex here in Alabang. In the end, we went for a tried and tested place, Cafe Juanita. I’d already eaten at this restaurant previously with my grandparents. To say that we were satisfied with the food is an understatement. As testament to this, know that my grandfather has requested for Cafe Juanita food to be send to his house many, many times after that first visit.

Meanwhile, it was the first time that my lunch dates were going to try the restaurant, which, if I’m not mistaken, has other branches in Pasig and BGC. We were all in yellow that day because that was Tristan’s class color for their performance.

Juanita-10 — Little Mr C, the only one not in yellow.

I love the decor at Cafe Juanita. It gives the place such a homey feel, and is a perfect complement to the food. The restaurant is spacious enough, and the whole of Molito has ample parking, so it’s definitely not a hassle coming here (at least for us, since we live only a few streets away). I just love how they give you small folding stools for your bag! I always carry a big bag with me, and figuring out where to put it is always a problem for me. Plus, any restaurant with cloth napkins always get bonus points in my book.

Juanita-4 — Long table, perfect for big groups

Lunch with a view? Check out Firelake Grill in Cliffhouse Tagaytay

So, here’s what we ordered. This was basically a repeat of most of the dishes I had here when I ate with my grandparents. I thought it would be best to order stuff I’d already tried, just to make sure that everything was good. So, drinks first. Coffee as usual for Mr C, fresh dalandan juice for me and Ate Baban, and strawberry milkshakes for Cy and Tristan. As usual, the little boy asked to play video games while waiting for the food to arrive. We were pretty pooped from our full morning, so no one objected to his request.

Juanita-5 — Little happy boy playing Star Wars Angry Birds

Juanita-2 — Fresh Dalandan Juice. My favorite! Super refreshing.

As for the food, we ended up with a good mix of dishes, all of which were just really, really, really yummy, from appetizer to dessert. These menu items have proven to be winners twice in a row for me, so I would definitely recommend them to first timers.

Juanita-6 — Crispy Catfish and Green Mango Salad

Juanita-7 — Tom Yum Soup. This is the only dish we ordered that I hadn’t tried before. Upon special request of the Cuyugan siblings. My dad in law makes fantastic Tom Yum.

Juanita-11 — Adobo cooked two ways. The top portion is super crispy adobo flakes. The botom half is really tender and tasty. And the sauce is thick and delicious. Mmmm!

Juanita-13 — Ginataang Gulay (Veggies in Coconut Milk). This one is super yummy. There’s eggplant in there, kangkong (water spinach) and green chilies.

Juanita-12 — And of course, a big bowl of rice.

If you like Pinoy food, you might want to check out Dong Juan in BF.

After all of that food, we still had room for dessert. The sweet treats offered at Cafe Juanita are also Pinoy (Filipino). I’m not a big fan of local desserts, but I do like Turon and Halo Halo. We got the Mini Turon ala Mode and the Crepe Samurai, both which I shared with my grandparents on my first time there.

Juanita-15 — Banana fritters, deep fried and covered in chewy caramel and sesame seeds. Served with a scoop of vanilla ice cream.

Looking for a place to have coffee after lunch? Try Le Petit Cheri in Molito

I would recommend Cafe Juanita to anyone looking for really good Filipino home cooking. Mr C and I can’t wait to go back there to try out their other dishes!

Cafe Juanita – THIS ESTABLISHMENT HAS CLOSED
Molito Lifestyle Complex
Alabang, Muntinlupa
+63917 3456568

Bonding Over Crepes and Burgers with My Forever Friends

January 7, 2013 by MrsC | Patricia Cuyugan Leave a Comment

I missed Christmas dinner with my girls because the little boy and I were down with the flu that week. We made up for it by setting up a post-holiday dinner with the girls, our kids and significant others at Cafe Breton in Westgate Center. I picked this restaurant because the last time we ate there together was in high school or college, and it’s always been one of my favorite places to go for crepes and for their ever so yummy Mozzarella Burger.

Doesn’t that look so good???