Food & Recipes

Dessert and Coffee at Le Petit Cheri

January 6, 2013 by MrsC | Patricia Cuyugan Leave a Comment

After a very sad lunch at Cucina Victoria in Rockwell, the boys and I headed back south for some dessert and coffee. We decided on Le Petit Cheri, one of the new establishments in the Molito Lifestyle Complex. I pass Molito almost every day, so I know right away whenever a new place opens up. I like to wait though for good feedback from friends and relatives before I try a place out for myself. Bad service annoys me, and so does bad food, so I don’t like to take risks with new restaurants and cafes unless it’s a popular franchise. I first read about Le Petit Cheri on my friend Joei’s blog (do check out her post here for more photos).

What attracted me most to the place was this:

Cucina Victoria and a Stroll Around Rockwell

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

One fine Sunday in November, we decided to cross the Skyway for a visit to Powerplant Mall in Rockwell. We were actually there for the Global Pinoy Bazaar, since I scored free entry passes for participating in one of Yabang Pinoy’s Twitter/Facebook Games. We went early and did the bazaar thing first. It was already lunch by the time we were done shopping and browsing.

I got to choose the restaurant this time, and I picked Cucina Victoria. I have great memories of fun times with my family at the Cucina Victoria branch in Festival Mall in the 90’s. I can’t even remember when was the last time I ate at that restaurant. Come to think of it, this may have been my first time at the Rockwell branch. So I pretty much had high expectations of the restaurant and food.

Recipe: No-Bake Graham Cracker Crust

December 8, 2012 by MrsC | Patricia Cuyugan 1 Comment

We’re having a get-together at home tomorrow, and my mom asked me to make something for dessert. We have this big container of frozen mangoes that she really wants to use already, so we decided on a mango mousse with graham cracker crust.

I’ve never made this before so I went to my favorite website, marthastewart.com to look for a recipe. I found a recipe for a frozen mango cream cake recipe with macadamia crust that looks really good. Since we already bought bags of graham crackers, I decided to use a different recipe for the crust.

I’m feeling lazy today since it’s a Saturday, so I wanted a no-bake recipe. I ended up using this one from All Recipes.

No-Bake Graham Cracker Crust

1 1/2 Cups Graham Cracker Crumbs
6 Tbsp Butter, Softened
1/3 Cup Granulated Sugar

You’ll also need a 9″ Pie Plate, a Mixing Bowl, a Fork/Spoon and Measuring Cups

NOTE: Don’t forget to crush the graham crackers if you didn’t buy them already crushed, and soften the butter beforehand. It helps to cube the bar of butter so it softens quickly, although to tell you the truth, getting butter all soft and gooey has never been a problem in this hot country.

Here’s my assistant crushing the graham crackers

Combine all the ingredients in a bowl. Or, if you are lazy like me, bring out your handy dandy food processor and pulse away!

You’ll know it’s ready when it looks like this. Can you guess what Tristan said it looks like? Haha!

Press the crust firmly into the bottom and sides of a 9″ pie plate. You can use a spoon, a fork or your hands. I use a fork and spoon combo – the fork to distribute everything evenly, and the spoon to smooth out the surface. I don’t really like to get my hands dirty, and I find it’s more hygienic. Yes, there’s a little bit of OC in me.

Once it’s all nice and pretty, cover with plastic wrap and refrigerate for an hour or until set. Make sure the plastic wrap doesn’t touch the crust ok? Otherwise parts of it may stick to the plastic once you remove it.

And that’s it, nice and easy! You can fill this baby up with a whole lot of different things. My favorite is still Blueberry Cheesecake, but I really hope this Mango Mousse will come in a close second. Keeping my fingers crossed!

What other fillings would you recommend?

An Afternoon at UCC

November 18, 2012 by MrsC | Patricia Cuyugan 1 Comment

One of my favorite places to hang out when I want quiet time is UCC in Westgate Alabang. The coffee’s good, the cakes and pastries are good, the food is good, and it’s pricey enough so that I don’t need to worry about the usual noisy Starbucks inhabitants disturbing the peace. The catch is I only get to go there when I have extra money to spend.

UCC also serves one my my favorites among all of the Red Velvet cakes I’ve ever tried. So Red Velvet is usually what I order when I’m there, along with a nice cappuccino. That’s exactly what I had one afternoon when some friends from Festival Mall and I visited Westgate to check out an event setup.

Life in Style at Westgate. Sorry for the ugly photos. It’s my Blackberry’s fault.

This visit was in February, I think. You can see in the photo that the Hub was still boarded up. Now it’s all done and operational. Happy to see that Westgate is growing! It really is one of my favorite places to visit in Alabang.

I just realized that it’s been a while since I last visited UCC. Lately, I’ve been spending my money at Starbucks because of their Christmas drinks. I think maybe I’ll ask the boys if they want to have a meal at UCC soon. 🙂

UCC COFFEE CAFE
Unit C 801-802 Westgate Center,
Filinvest City, Alabang, Muntinlupa
Phone (+632) 771 1550

Lunch Feast at Don Henrico’s

November 17, 2012 by MrsC | Patricia Cuyugan Leave a Comment

So, my sister-in-law is getting married next year, which means our family is getting bigger again. Yay! We got to spend time with her future in-laws while they were in Manila, and they are just the sweetest people ever. They are a group that likes to eat and hang out too, so the two families really just mesh well together. Plus, they’ve got a little boy on their side, so my little kiddo gets to be kuya (big brother) whenever we’re together. Fun!

We got together for lunch one quiet Sunday afternoon on their side of the city. We only get to go to the Cainta/Marikina area when we visit Mr C’s sister, so going there is always a welcome change of scenery for us despite the traffic. That day, we ended up at Don Henrico’s in the the Brick Road complex of Sta Lucia East Grand Mall.

Presenting our super extended family!

Don Henrico’s is an Italian restaurant that originated in Baguio City. If I’m not mistaken, my first Don Hen experience was actually in the Baguio branch, along Session Road. Then a few years ago, they opened up a restaurant in Festival Supermall, so it became really accessible to us Alabang people. The thing about Don Hen, everything is super tasty and servings are really huge. That’s why it’s a great place to come together to celebrate. The restaurant at Brick Road is really big, ideal for parties but too noisy for meetings.

I love how the food at Don Henrico’s is so colorful and attractive. Everything smells great too! Just try and imagine how each dish smells while you look at the photos.

Summer Salad (Share: Php245.00, Family:Php470.00)
Combination of three types of crisp lettuce with mango slices, grapes, kiwi, mandarin oranges and walnuts, served with a strawberry vinaigrette

Calamari Fritti (Php180.00)
Battered and fried calamari served with a marinara sauce

Crab Fettuccini (Share: Php290.00, Family: Php540.00)
Flaked crab meat in crab fat sauce over fettuccini noodles, topped with crabstick and basil

Chili Garlic Shrimp in Olive Oil (Share: Php270.00, Family: Php490.00)
Spicy spaghetti with shrimps and tomatoes cooked in chili-garlic olive oil sauce and topped with parmesan cheese
We got this for free because we paid using a Citibank credit card

Don Henrico’s Buffalo Wings (3pcs: Php380.00, 5pcs: Php570.00, 7pcs: Php730.00)
New York style chicken wings coated with a tangy BBQ sauce and served with a creamy ranch dipping sauce
They were all out of wings when we ate there, so they served us thighs instead. Huge!

Chicken Al Pesto (Share: Php260.00, Family: Php480.00)
Penne pasta with button mushrooms, tomatoes and garlic tossed in a creamy pesto sauce and topped with deep-fried chicken breast

Four Cheese Pizza (10″: Php270.00, 14″: Php510.00, 18″: Php750.00)
Mozzarella, gorgonzola, cheddar and parmesan cheese over bechamel sauce

Little curly-haired CJ was really impressed by the size of the pizza. It was great seeing him enjoying himself while eating and playing with our little guy.

Our groom Cy practice-parenting with his two nephews

Bride-to-be Ate B and Lola Yaya
Shameless plug: My brother, the future dentist Boyong, made Lola Yaya’s teeth. Need a dentist? Message me!

Happy Boy CJ!

Mr & Mrs C

After lunch, we stopped for coffee in Figaro, then went to Ate B’s house and made like kids playing X-Box. Weekends with family are always the best!

What do you guys like to do on weekends as a family?

DON HENRICO’S

The Brick Road, Sta. Lucia East Grand Mall

Cainta, Rizal

PHONE +632 6815242 / +632 6827095

www.donhenricos.net

#/DonHenricos

Much love and happiness,

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Aling Tonya, I Love You!

November 16, 2012 by MrsC | Patricia Cuyugan Leave a Comment

We had lunch at Aling Tonya’s Seafood Restaurant at MOA’s By The Bay last September for my sister-in-law’s birthday, and for our first meet-the-family session with her future in-laws.

If you love seafood like I do, you should really plan a visit to this restaurant. In my opinion, Aling Tonya’s serves some of the best seafood paluto (cooked on the spot) in the city. They also have branches along Daang Hari Road, which is the branch closest to where we live, and one along Macapagal Ave.

There are two things that I absolutely must order whenever I eat at this place – Buttered Prawns and Fried Calamari.

Prawns in Butter and Garlic Sauce (Php180.00 per kilo, Php140.00 per half kilo)

Crabs in Chili Garlic Sauce (Php170.00 per kilo, Php130.00 per half kilo)

Shrimp Head Sinigang (Sour Tamarind Soup) (Php170.00 per kilo, Php130.00 per half kilo)

The best calamari ever can be found at Isdaan in Laguna!

We also ordered Calamari (Php180.00 per kilo, Php140.00 per half kilo) and Crispy Kangkong (Water Spinach), and of course mountains of rice, but my hands were already too dirty to take photos by the time they got to our table.

After lunch, we decided to walk off all the rice we consumed, and so we headed towards MOA. The mall was on sale that weekend and there were so many people! I get claustrophibic and anxious whenever I’m in an SM mall during sale season. For some reason, it makes me feel unsafe.