The Pinoy Food Photo Blog combines my family's love for eating and amateur photography.
Photography is also a hobby which I enjoy but am still learning. read more?
It isn’t a Pinoy Christmas without holiday ham taking centerstage during Noche Buena. If you haven’t gotten around to buying your Christmas ham just yet, check if the nearest supermarket still has CDO hams in stock. CDO has had over thirty years of experience in providing Filipino families with the most tender hams – the CDO Pista Cooked Ham and the CDO Holiday Whole Meat Ham. Processed and molded to have the perfect ham shape, the CDO Pista Cooked Ham is the one perfect for Noche Buena. Cooked fully and slowly on the other hand, the CDO Whole-Meat Ham is the ideal gift for loved ones, but is just as perfect for our own consumption on Noche Buena.
To make the CDO Christmas hams, prime cuts of young pork are cured to perfection using only the finest spices and ingredients. The ham-making process is very intricate and slow to maintain its moisture while infusing it with the delicious taste everyone loves. Best of all, CDO hams are incredibly affordable as they are high quality.
The CDO Pista Cooked Ham costs P360 a kilo while the CDO Holiday Whole-Meat Ham costs P410 a kilo. You can also try their other ham products – Hamon de Bola (PhP 295 a kilo), Pear-shaped Ham (PhP 220 a kilo), and American Ham (PhP 148 a kilo). Until December 31, 2009, CDO is giving away limited edition Christmas plates, one for every PhP 300 worth of purchase. So hurry and get your CDO ham today while supplies last.
Next to Trinoma, Megamall is my least favorite mall in the world. It’s huge, it’s crowded, and the taxi queues are ridiculous. But I would gladly brave all of those just to get my hands on a box of my newest favorite dessert.
After our Korean dinner at Kaya, my boyfriend and I made a beeline for the Napoloeones stand at the ground floor of Megamall A. I have never heard of Napoleones until my boyfriend gave me my first bite of this delightfully sweet, custard-y pastry. Napoleones is a delicacy from Bacolod loosely adapted from the French napoleon pastry – a square puff pastry with a layer of glazed sugar on top and custard cream in the center. According to Buciao, Pinoy Napoleones has many variations; for instance, fruit jams are often used in place of the custard cream. In Bacolod, however, custard is the only filling used for napoleones. I’m guessing the napoleones at Megamall is from Bacolod as they only serve the cream custard variety. I would love for them to come up with other flavors though!
You can buy Napoleones individually for P17 or get a dozen box for P200. Words are not enough to describe how amazing this incredibly underrated pastry is – it’s sweet but not cloyingly so, it’s chewy, and it’s incredibly satisfying. For the ultimate experience, try eating the Napoleones with the sugar glaze face-down so it hits your tongue.
After doing a little shopping at Tiendesitas yesterday, my family and I had an early dinner at Hacienda Resto & Deli across the street. My sister always passes by the place when she goes to work and suggested we try it out because she was intrigued by the old-fashioned signage and the homey-looking decor inside. We ended up discovering a little gem of a restaurant that serves affordable Filipino food in a casual, laid-back atmosphere.
You can tell that Hacienda Resto & Deli is a no-frills restraurant by the appearance of the chairs and the way the tables are out, and the prices of the food (around P150 – P200 per dish) pretty much confirms this. Yet the owners of the place made an effort to create a hacienda-like atmosphere, and it works. The large glass windows are edged with squares of colored glass, and the crystal chandeliers are a stunning contrast next to the sacks of coffee decorating the ceiling.
A pretty blackboard above the counter has today’s menu and specials. Hacienda Resto & Deli serves mostly Filipino food, but they also offer pasta and steak.
Most of the Filipino dishes are placed in labeled kawalis on the counter, turo-turo style.
Posted by Noemi | Under Pinoy Delicacies with 2,187 views
Tuesday Sep 1, 2009
Several days ago, I received a rather ornate mystery box of mystery from Jollibee. I had absolutely no clue what it contained because it was locked and delivered without the key. Later on, I learned that the key was to be delivered at a later date, and that the box contained information on Jollibee’s latest Pinoy fast food delight. What in the world could that be?
By now, everyone must have already heard of the expensive dinner bills our beloved President Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo racked up during her recent visit to the United States. For those of you who are unfamiliar with what happened, President Arroyo had two extravagant dinners during the weekend of former President Corazon Aquino’s death – one worth $15,000 at Bobby Van’s Steakhouse in Washington, DC, and another for $20,000 at Le Cirque in New York City. Although the President claims that these were all working dinners, her dining companions eventually admitted that they were held in honor of her wedding anniversary. You can read more about the issue at Manuel Quezon III’s blog.
Naturally, Filipinos were outraged by the extravagant dinners. Although the $20,000 Le Cirque bill was footed by Rep. Romualdez, the whole “Circusgate” scandal still caused quite a controversy because it was done in bad taste and because the Palace dealt with the issue in such a haughty manner. Take for instance her son Rep. Mikey Arroyo, who added more fuel to the fire when he condescendingly asked if we wanted our President to eat at a McDonald’s or some turo-turo.
“You want your president to eat in McDonalds or some turo-turo (food stand)? I think there’s more dignity in having your president and her cabinet members and members of the Lower House to eat in a decent restaurant.”
Sure, it would be too unrealistic to expect the President of a nation to eat at just any roadside canteen. But just because you’re President of a country, doesn’t mean you’re entitled to have lavish dinners at sinfully extravagant restaurants, especially when so many of your own people can barely afford to buy instant pansit canton, much less food at turo-turos. Instead of showing humility and restraint, Rep. Mikey Arroyo looks down on us and implies that we should have been grateful to the President for eating overpriced meals on our behalf.
Meanwhile, US Ambassador to the Philippines Kristie Kenney doesn’t seem to have a problem with McDonald’s takeout. She’s no president, of course, but at least she doesn’t abuse her position by demanding VIP treatment wherever she goes.
Then there is President Obama who ate at Ben’s Chili Bowl, in Washington DC, the kind of joint that Congressman Mikey sneers at.
Mr Obama personally ordered and wolfed down a Chili Half Smoke with fries, placed on waxed paper over a cheap red plastic basket (similar to what the local KFC uses).
Yes, we would like our President to show a little humility and compassion by eating at a McDonalds’ or turo-turo every once in a while.
Recent Comments