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August 10th, 2010

What’s inside my handy knife bag?

On some days that I don’t feel like lugging my toolbox around, I use my compact Chefy Lite to put all my stuff in. This really comes in handy, especially for those duty days where I am needed in the kitchen. So here’s what I stuff in mine:

my full chefy lite

Because I designed it to be like a knife roll with handles, it can easily accommodate the essentials, plus a little of the extras. Right now I have a Henkel’s honer for easy knife sharpening, a 10″ Henkel’s Pro Chef’s knife (a 12″ is too big for my hands!), my trusty red Microplane for fine grating, my set of red Le Creuset silicon rubber scrapers, a large wire whisk, food tongs, a white rubber scraper, measuring spoons and a pastry brush. In the pocket, I have my mini-first aid kit containing my Garamycin and my Boots band-aids.

I also use this for vacations and picnics. But most of what I really like about this bag is the fact that it holds everything in AND gets a whole lot of compliments from everyone since it doesn’t look like something you would keep knives in (=usually the boring old toolbox or the generic canvass knife bag).

If you’re thinking of purchasing on of our knife bags, I have new designs up in our e-store at www.chefystore.com


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August 10th, 2010

LA Cafe – I love dark places

interiors
We’ve been putting off eating in this place since forever, but we’ve always been so intrigued by another place that’s dark with the antique-like setting and interiors like Cafe Ysabel. Mig took me to Quezon City’s LA Cafe.

nice date place

This place has been around for maybe 10 years. My cousins live a few houses away from the place so I’ve been seeing it ever since it opened, but we haven’t really gone inside. It reminds me a lot of dad’s Gene’s Bistro which used to be in Morato.

mig and i

When we went inside, the white couches and low tables gave us the impression that this was a drinking place, or maybe they just opted to put us in a more private spot. It was so nice and cozy…and dark! I’ve always enjoyed dark places like these, where you sort of open your eyes bigger when the food comes and where all blemishes seem to melt away because of the lighting (this is exactly why many people should not go on blind dates here and make sure that you see your potential date first in bright, bright, fluorescent light! hehe). We were seated in a very nice and private corner, I loved the white rounded couch and low table. Suddenly it was cozy and informal.

he looks so lonely

Though I wasn’t really sure what to order, I noticed a giant brick oven by the entrance…so I guess the pizza is in! I think you can really roast a person in their oven with the size of it…the place makes your imagination wander into all sorts of areas you haven’t really thought about. I guess this is how prospective guests feel when I try to tell them that Cafe Ysabel, despite being dark and full of antiques, really is an informal place.

After seeing their menu, I had a few ideas on what I wanted to eat, but I also asked the waiter for the best-sellers and this is what he recommended that we actually picked:

chayo

Cha-yo or Vietnamese Spring Rolls (I was feeling a little hesitant about this since my standard for a good spring roll is the authentic stuff I was eating in Vietnam last year). Not really that great. The spring roll was stuffed with some crab and mushroom, the sauce was okay…I think this one is bar chow…you drink beer and eat this. You can’t expect authenticity on this one.

porkchop

Pork Chop – dry and salty. Thank God there was a tomato salsa which helped it juice up a bit, but even the salsa was salty. Thank God there were grilled bananas to help cut the salt. With the right salting and maybe a better marinade and cooking techinique, this would’ve been real good.

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August 9th, 2010

One Rainy Saturday: Sakura Yakiniku and Qoola Yogurt


beef on the grill

China and my brother invited us to join them last Saturday in Sakura Yakiniku. We’re not really sure, but apparently, they’re the same group as our fave Japanese resto, Izakaya Kikufuji (still not certain if they really are under the same group). The first thing I noticed about this place, is that it seems like time stopped and this shop looked like the interiors were done in the 70′s or something, I think this place has been around for a long time.

tuna chutoro

We had some sashimi — Chutoro (Medium Fat Blue Fin Tuna Belly), this is one of the higher grades of tuna sashimi. Unlike what most people think, the more expensive grades of tuna are the lighter colored ones rather the deep red color. The most light and most highly prized of which is the Otoro…the chutoro is found just in the peripheral of this prized sashimi. It is tender and has a slightly creamy note when very fresh. It has that melt in your mouth feel (well it better! considering the price we paid for a mere 7 slices!).

uni

Uni (Sea Urchin) – you can tell that this was very, very fresh. It had an unusual sweetness and yes, another melt-in-your mouth feel. It was really creamy, without a single hint of fishiness! I didn’t even really have to dip it into the soy sauce. I used to find this so sick back in the 80′s, but I realized that maybe most restaurants just didn’t have that kind of access to fresh sea urchin, especially in those hole-in-wall Jap places we used to eat in.

first sides

Then came the tiny sidedishes…nothing really to write home about. Kimchi wasn’t so great, but at least it was fermenting.

beef

The Beef was good! It was nice and fatty with that creamy, melt-in-your mouth texture. And it was sliced so thinly that it was absolutely tender. I ate this rare. Yum! The marinade they used was soy sauce, with a bit of mirin and leeks. Melt-in-your-mouth means fatty…fatty means tasty & delicious! Sorry guys, I am a big fan of fat! The sauce was a mix-your-own type of thing and it included garlic pasta and this fermented bean. It was really good and gave an entirely new dimension to an otherwise boring yakiniku sauce.

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August 8th, 2010

Left Over Grapes = Grape and Wine Jam

Because of my shoot the other day, I had a major surplus of different colored grapes and I didn’t think we could consume it in time. And so I made and impromptu home made grape jam. So this is what I used (approximations):

3 cups Grapes, cut in half, seeds removed
1 cup sugar
1/2 Tbsp gelatin, mixed in hot water
2 cups wine (left overs mostly)
3 tbsp honey (or more), i used our home-infused lavender honey
a dash of salt

1

Put the grapes and sugar in a non-stick pan and set it over medium heat. I used a wooden spoon to stir this occasionally till the fruit juices come out. You will notice that after the sugar has melted, the mixture will start getting watery.

2

Then I added the wine. And I let it simmer for a few minutes until the mixture reduces and the wine and juices have become syrupy.

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August 8th, 2010

Back in Little Store and their “Dinuguan”

Went for a short ride to Little Store the other day since it was so traffic and Mig and I were just so hungry. Sorry for the ugly photos, I left my Powershot at home (yet again?!).

our chinese "tapas" like spread

What I like about Little Store is that everything is tapas style, or in tiny plates. But what I’ve also noticed is that their prices have gone up! For four dishes and 2 rice, 2 drinks, it nearly costed us P500 smacks…that’s already 2 Angus burgers at Charlie’s with drinks. Thats 2 plates of Korean Chicken BBQ in Seoul Condo. But anyway, it was well worth it for the “new” item we discovered.

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