pastameshugana

Ok, just returned from Manila with mixed success in my eating expedition. I did have some great food, although precious little of it was Filipino. I ended up at a Cabalen's, and enjoyed it quite a bit. I really like Sisig and experimented with Halo-Halo, which is a nice take on a 'healthy' dessert. One question: There was a dish (appetizer, really), that was a green leaf fried crispy with what appeared to be a sort of cheese (??) on it, it was served with a sour cream for dipping. What was that? And how would I duplicate that stateside? For other food, I enjoyed the (expensive) buffet at Shangri-La, and discovered that I do, after all, like clams! There was also a chinese fast food place called Han-Pao that I was determined not to like because it appeared to be a chain, but was seduced by Taosi Chicken and Pork dumplings. We also went to a seafood market where you buy your fish and then take it to one of the stalls to be prepared by people of dubious gender. Our hosts did the selection/ordering, and we ended up with an unrememberable variety of dishes, all quite good. I wish I'd had time to visit china town, but oh well, it'll have to be next time.

Say it ain't so! I love the flavors of them, but they take too long to eat. Luckily I discovered Jolly Rancher jelly beans. Now I can have more than one flavor every 20 minutes.

Chris, What shocks me is the number of places I've seen it on a menu without black pepper. In my thinking, riff-away to your hearts delight, but at least keep an excuse to call it 'carbonara'. $0.02

Or chalkboard paint. Heck, you could put the chalkboard paint over the magnetic paint and have both. We've got some 'boards' like this on playroom walls - works like a charm! /End Hijack

Thanks so much for all the suggestions - I'm making a pocket card to carry with me to help me decide!

I'll be spending a week in Manila, and need some food pointers. If my (hazy) memory of my last trip is any guide, I don't need restaurant suggestions, as the dining choices won't be up to me, I'm just along for the ride. However, what are some items/dishes I should be looking for at the local places? Is there a strong street-food culture in Manila? If so, what are some of the choices?

I'm glad someone resurrected this thread, even if just for the following, laugh-out-loud quote: Thanks, roosterchef.

kayb, that is absolutely brilliant! I am definitely making this meal this week. Would be great to make a few big ones to cut up for a party. What rye recipe did you use?

Ok, dcarch, now you're playing with my head! That has to be one of the most spectacularly composed salad plates I've ever seen. My brain was tripping as one half was convinced the watermelons were cropped by the edge of the photo, and the other half was trying to decide if it could convince the wife to buy square salad plates just for the sake of making a salad like that. Beautiful!

Very hot curry. Lived in India 2 1/2 years, now living in the southern part of NM - desperately impossible to even find hot salsa, let alone a face-peeling chili chicken curry. And bacon.

Oi - don't get me started! I live in a town (very near the Texas border) where most people drink folgers and think you're a sissy or 'swinging for the other team' if you order a latte or cappuccino. Not a SINGLE sit down cafe, two drive through coffee shops (the people buying 'nice' coffee are embarrassed), and none of it is good. Sometimes you just want to go have a coffee out with the missus or the guys... ...heck, it's so bleak here I'd settle for a st*rbucks as an upgrade. /rant Sorry to hijack the thread, I feel better now...

RRO - I must say I'm enjoying your heat fetish. Any dish described as 'devastatingly-spicy' is a must-try on my list.

So, I did what I normally do, and only took pictures the first half of the day and forgot by the end...oh well, I'll share what I've got. Since I'm in regular ministry (as an occupation), Monday is my 'down' day, so we decided to have some folks over and really do it up. Menu: Starters were bacon wrapped asparagus, sauteed in olive oil. Goodness. I think I could make this every day and love it. It's almost a food obscenity, the way you destroy all the healthy motives of the asparagus with that bacon lasciviousness! Lovely! We also had some fresh bread with olive oil & balsamic to start. Mains were chicken breast with chili-honey sauce. I used a local prepared chili sauce (just plain red chilies) and clover honey, a touch of salt, cumin, and ground mustard. This was a treat. Spicy and sweet, set off the chicken (baked with salt, pepper, garlic cloves and lemon quarters) perfectly. Second main was spaghetti with shrimp tossed in butter, roasted garlic, cilantro & lime. I zested & juiced three limes and chopped a handful of cilantro, two whole cloves of fresh roasted garlic and about 100g of fresh grated Parmesan. A little olive oil to lube it up, and it was a dream. Roasted garlic, ready to smash! I'm so sad I didn't get pics when it was done, it was lovely! Oh well, next time!

I've got some old birthday gift cards for amazon lying around - $50 worth - and want (don't need) something for the kitchen. What would you suggest? I don't need anything, but just need some new gizmo or tool...

Recovering from being ill and not eating for three days, eggs on toast. Toasted the bread in butter in the skillet, then sauteed onions & tomatoes, runny eggs and the last of my cave-aged gruyere. Too bad I couldn't finish it! The tomato and gruyere was a really nice combination.

Bhuwhahahahaaaa!! I hereby award you three Internets!

DCarch - I think it was easily missed that your statement was a double-negative. You said you assumed the materials used 'cannot NOT' be contaminated...and it was read that you said the materials 'cannot be contaminated.' I got where you're coming from!

My first dinner in Buenos Aires, at a little hotel. It was a simple buffet (salad bar, really), with a grill in the back. My friend ordered 'lomo' for me, and it was the only beef I've ever eaten that caused me to involuntarily smile. I'm smiling now...just thinking about it!

Ok - I just got delivery of my new sani-tuff board. I love the size and heft of it, plus it feels very nice on the knife (does that make sense?). It's got a little bit of a bite, but not too much. My question: It was delivered with a fine dusting of what I assume is rubber powder on it. I've tried rinsing it, scrubbing it - it just keeps generating it. Obviously this won't work for actual use. Does anyone have any ideas? It seems like when I scrub it the rubber is 'pilling' into a very fine dust.

I got blessed with a purty, roomy kitchen in the house we just bought. However, the big open space in the middle is about to give way to a prep island. We were about to get it custom made when we found this at Sams Club. It's the perfect size, matches the decor/appliances, and has space underneath for whatever. That with my new sani-tuff cutting board and I ought to be happy for a week or so! Oh yeah, and I asked DW for a new range hood for my birthday. She said she would if I bought her a 60's mustang for her birthday (two weeks after mine), so we'll see how that works out.

I just picked up an 18x24 sani-tuff through Amazon. Who else has opinions on these boards?

Nayan, Thanks for the lead - I think we're on the right track.

Okay, My wife/kids and I lived in Bangalore for 2.5 years, and one of the dishes we fell in love with that I've yet to be able to reproduce was called chicken sholay kebab. I've googled like crazy and can't find anything like what we had. I know each region/restaurant puts their own spin on things, so we were (obviously) in Bangalore, the restaurant was a small chain called Nandhini's, which purported to be an Andhra-style house. The kebabs were red in color, seemed to me they were fried. The red was a ground paste of spices that was fried onto the chicken. They were plated with a handful of fresh curry leaves. The flavor was a mild spiciness, with all the richness of mixed spices, and a bit of a garlicky hit. Has anyone seen a dish like this - have any ideas on how to start? Thanks in advance!

When we lived in Bangalore, I tried quite a few of the local ones, and my favorite was always Kho-Cha. Just seemed to be 'right'. I'm not enough of a tea person to describe in detail what I liked about it. Of course, I also took a liking to mixing my kho-cha assam and darjeeling in the last year or so we were there... I don't know if you can get Kho-Cha here, I haven't tried as I brought back a big pile when we came back to the us.

About MSG, but from a completely different angle: I was totally ignorant of MSG when I moved to India a few years back (I'm since back in the US). My favorite (absolutely) chinese restaurant was a little hole in the wall tucked away in a Bangalore Neighborhood (Xian by Ulsoor if you ever make it to B'Lore). Absolutely amazing. I still dream about their food. One day we took another couple there, and the man said 'no msg' when ordering. Since we eat family style, it was no MSG in everything. I had no idea what he was talking about (ignored it, really) until the food came and was quite bland in every area. We made it a point to not eat there with them again! Since then, I've become of the opinion that MSG is a gift from God to make Chinese food taste 'more wonderful-er'. I've even got a package of it in my pantry right now. My $0.02,