Ilocos Empanada - Farinas Ilocos Empanada

I like empanada. I've loved empanada since I was a child. I remember my mother bringing home empanada every time the person in-charge of the retail store where she works would bake some. That empanada was the first empanada I have had so that's my peg of how empanada should be. Through the years I have tasted different kinds of empanada but nothing could match what I call the 'original'. The only other version perhaps that I equally like is the Ilocos empanada. I always buy one every time I would see a store selling them.

One restaurant I know here in Manila is the Farinas Ilocos Empanada. You can find the store along Tomas Morato in Quezon City. It is near cor. Roces St.

Their Ilocos empanada is very tasty. It tastes real. I mean it tastes like the ones you can get in Vigan. They have various versions of it. There's one filled with bagnet. There's also one filled with Vigan longganisa. If you want both, do not worry. You do not need to buy two. They actually have a version with both bagnet and Vigan longganisa.

Farinas Ilocos Empanada has affordable empanadas. You can already have one for less than a hundred pesos.  

The store is small. They only have a few tables. You actually eat 'al fresco'.

Gift Ideas for Christmas - Food. Food. More Food.

We are already in the Christmas season so I'm sure many of you are already of thinking of what gifts to give to  your loved ones, friends, employees, teachers, neighbors, etc. I'm not going to suggest here material gifts but what you can find them in my other blog (click here). What I'm going to list down for you are food and food related items that you can give as gifts this Christmas. From time to time I'll include places and stores where you can find the best deals.

Let's start!

1. FRUITS.

Fruits are safe gifts. No need to worry  about sizes or colors. No need to worry if 'they have it already'. Fruits are almost always welcome. You do not have to worry about recipients who are price-conscious. They cannot check the price of your gift.

So what fruits are you going to include in your gift. You must have the 'basics' like apples -- red and green, oranges and pears. If it's available now, you can also add avocado to add color. Then add a few not-so-common fruits like dragon fruit, mangoosteen, marang or kiwi. Pineapple can be added because it's big which is good if you can only buy a limited number of fruits.

The challenge in giving fruits is how you are going to wrap/present it. The most basic way is to put the fruits in a nicely woven basket then cover it with cellophane with ribbon as accent. If you are giving it to a 'very special' person like a boss, you can include a small bouquet of flowers tucked on one side of the basket. The downside to giving fruits in a basket is that sometimes baskets are expensive.

A cheaper version would be to give it in one of those eco bags. Eco bags are 'in' now so you can find a lot of cheap yet nice ones.

You can buy fruits in Divisoria, Libertad (Pasay), San Andres (Malate), NEPA QMart (Quezon City) and in other public markets.

2. VEGETABLES

A vegetable basket is a very unique gift idea. You can include vegetables like talong, squash, ampalaya, puso ng saging, sweet potato, carrots, string beans, etc. Choose vegetables of different colors so your basket would look nice.

This is also a safe gift.The only thing that you really have to make sure of before you decide to give this as a gift is if the recipient does not eat vegetables at all. 

You can buy vegetables in the same places mentioned above.

3. FRUITCAKE

As early as October I already saw bakeshops selling fruitcakes. The nice thing about fruitcakes is that they don't easily spoil. You can buy them as soon as you get your Christmas Bonus this November and give them during your party in December. As an addition, you do not have to worry about wrapping your gift. They come in presentable boxes already. Many of them even have ribbons.

The only issue here is that not everyone likes fruitcakes. You can find out by casually asking them if they received one last year and what they did with it. I  know a lot of people who 'recycled' their fruitcakes. That means they give what they got away.

4. CAKES, PASTRIES and other BAKED GOODIES

Cakes, pastries and other baked goodies are nice gifts for a lot of good reasons. First, they are easy to find. There are so many cake shops now offering fancy cakes. They come in good packaging already. You can buy them in bulk -- order them ahead of time if you want. The only problem is if you do not have a car, it may be difficult to bring your gifts to  the school or to the office or wherever.

There are a lot of places where you can buy good cakes. Some of them are Cheesecake Melissa (Kamagong St., Makati), Classic Confections (Greenbelt 5), Becky's Kitchen (P. Ocampo St., Manila), Chocolate Kiss (UP Diliman), Conti's, etc. You can also try those sold in bazaars and weekend markets. I saw great choices at the Mercato Centrale, The Fort.

5. BOTTLED GOURMET FOOD
(Gourmet Sardines, Gourmet Atchara, Gourmet Spreads)

You can also give bottles of gourmet sardines, atchara and spreads. They are nice to give because they look 'classy'. You can usually find them in bazaars. They are reasonably priced and they also come in ready  to  give bottles. Some are placed in native bags or baskets.

You can also give specialty vinegars. Last year I received a bottle of vinegar with red chili and garlic. I loved it. You can also buy them in bazaars.

6. HAM

Pinoys love ham -- whatever flavor or form. This is practical because everybody wants to have ham for their Noche Buena. If you give them ham as a gift then they would not have to spend time (and effort) buying their own so they'll appreciate you for it. Just make sure that you give it at least a week before Christmas so they can change their Christmas shopping list.

You can find hams in malls. There are local and imported hams. You can also try your neighborhood meat shops. They may have their own homemade hams.

7. JARS

I know! Jars shouldn't be here. But then if  you are on a tight budget, you can try looking for nice, inexpensive jars to give as gifts. You can just fill  these jars with colorful chewing gums or candies.

I've seen nice jars at Landmark and SM -- home section.

I'll be adding other gift ideas for Christmas -- food -- in the coming days.

September 16 - Last Day for Mcdonald's twister Fries

It's September 12 already. Waaahhhhh. A few more days to go before the LAST DAY of the twister fries. What I don't understand is why they have to offer such a nice treat for a limited time only. Can they not like have the twister fries the whole year round? I think they want people to "MISS" it. But that's so brutal, lol.

Anyway, the last time I'm gonna be able to eat it for this period is on Saturday, before I go home to the province. I'll make sure to eat some for breakfast then order some more 'to go' so I have something to eat while watching movies on the bus on my way to the province. Hmmmmm......looking forward to that trip already. Is it Friday already? lol

McDonald's Twister Fries - Extended

Wow! McDonald's Twister fries will be available until September 16. They extended it due to popular demand. Good move!

ZARK's -- eating like a SHARK

I had a grand time at ZARK's last night. It was my first time there and bot was I surprised with the BIG burgers they have. I ordered Maverick's. It's not even the biggest. Actually, it's far from being the biggest but it was really filling. I even stopped eating the bread half way through. The burger I ordered is worth P 190.00 and it comes with fries and a tall glass of iced tea.

Some of my companions ordered the Jawbreaker burger. It has three patties. You can actually take their challenge if you order Jawbreaker. The challenge is to finish the burger in 5 min and if you succeed it will be free. And then they'll take your picture and post it in their gallery of winners.

Now if you think that's a big challenge already, wait 'til I tell you that they still have what they call Tombstone challenge. For 10 minutes you  should finish the Tombstone burger which has 6 (or is it just 5) patties. I can't take that challenge. For sure I'll be brought straight to my tomb if I try to do so.

Anyway, their burger patty tastes great. Real meat without extenders. It's juicy the way burger patty should be. My friends also liked the fries.

I'll be posting pictures next week. I have not put watermark in my pics so no uploads yet for now.

ZARK's is in front of De La Salle, Taft Ave., Manila. It's above another favorite -- Army Navy.

VOUCHERS and DEALS - do you really get a good deal?

What can you say about deals and vouchers that are very popular these days? Do you think we really save a lot by buying these vouchers?

If you look at the deals you will at once say you are saying a lot. I mean a 40 - 60 % discount is BIG, right? I've availed several food deals already and I must say they are all worth it. PANALO.

But you know what my problem is about these vouchers? Fake vouchers? Scam? No! I have not experienced those. My problem is that these deals are good it makes you become addicted. There are very good deals that sometimes, even if you do not need something, you end up buying because of the money you'll supposedly save. Hay! In the long run, instead of really being able to save, you end up spending more.

But boy I'm not complaining. I'm not also in denial. lol. For now I'm enjoying these great deals (mostly food vouchers for me) so....

Famous Food from Different Places in the Philippines

The month of August is called "Buwan ng Wika" (National Language Month). It is celebrated in Philippine schools in different ways. One is through exhibits of the 'best' from the different provinces/regions in the country. Exhibit of this kind naturally has to have the best food from the place being showcased. To help you with that concern should your child ask you for stuff to bring in school here are some simple suggestions.

Lucban, Quezon. A Lucban exhibit will never be complete without 3 famous food from the place. It can never go without Lucban longganisa. Lucban longganisa is a favorite of many Filipinos. It is very different from the longganisa you usually see in public markets. Then you should also have Pancit Lucban or habhab. If you usually put calamansi in other types of noodles, with Pancit Lucban you use vinegar. It is called habhab in different towns in Quezon because of the way people used to eat it. In the past ambulant vendors put your Pancit Lucban in a small piece of banana leaf where you eat it directly with your mouth hence habhab. The last important part of your exhibit is the kiping. It is the colored leaf like designs people in Lucban hang in walls or windows during the San Isidro festival. Decorating your exhibit with kiping will really make it attractive. In Manila you  can buy Lucban longganisa and Pancit Lucban at Buddy's Pizza (Market Market and Kalayaan Ave. in Makati and Timog Ave. in Quezon City).

Vigan, Ilocos Sur. A must have for a Vigan exhibit is the Vigan Empanada. It is a turnover with filling composed of vegetables, egg and Vigan Longganisa wrapped in shell made of rice flour. It is deep fried instead of baked which is how your typical empanada is cooked. When you go around the main plaza in Vigan you will see several stalls selling Vigan empanada. Like in Lucban, Vigan also has their own special longganisa. The Vigan Longganisa also has its own fans all over the country. Then don't ever forget the Bagnet deep fried pork. It is like your usual Lechon Kawali cooked in a special way only true Ilocanos know how. There are several stores along Tomas Morato, Quezon City that sell Vigan Empanada. Bagnet on the other hand is available in restaurants like Stoops (Mayapis, Makati City) and a restaurant near La Salle and St. Scholastica's College (Leon Guinto, Manila). The latter is reportedly owned by Kitchie Nadal.

Pampanga. A Kapampangan exhibit is definitely not gonna be ok if there is no Sisig - sizzling or not but better sizzling for the complete experience. Sisig is made of grilled pig's head, liver and choice parts cooked with vinegar. It is touted as 'pambansang pulutan'. Then of course you have to have the Pampanga's best products like tocino and longganisa (yes longganisa again). They may not really have come from Pampanga from they are very much associated with the place because of the brand. Oh, for dessert, do not forget the Halo-halo. A famous resto that serves Halo-Halo is Razons. Their Halo-Halo has only three 'halo' - macapuno, saba and leche flan but it tastes great.

Bicol. First food that comes to mind is Bicol Express. It's made of garlic, onion, pork, coconut milk and siling labuyo. It's something that spicy food lovers will really like. Bicolanos say that Bicol Express we normally get to taste here in Manila is nothing compared to the real thing. Aside from Bicol Express you can also have laing and pinangat. Laing and pinangat are dishes made of taro (gabi) leaves, meat or seafoods as fillings, coconut milk, siling labuyo and onions. For dessert you must not forget candied pili nut. There are various kinds of this dessert so you have a lot of choices to add in your exhibit.

Iloilo. Who has not heard of La Paz Batchoy? Make sure to have this in your exhibit. La Paz Batchoy is noodle soup topped with pork meat, chicken strips, slices of beef, chicharon and pork innards. You can drop an egg to make it special. It looks like mami but it has distinct taste. In Manila you can buy this at Ted's (SM MOA) and Deco's. For dessert you can have biscocho. This  is toasted bread with butter and sugar.

Zamboanga. Seafoods. Seafoods. Seafoods. One must-have is curacha. They say it looks like a cross between a crab and lobster. Those who have tasted it says its more flavorful than any of the two. The problem is I cannot give you suggestion where you can get this is Manila. =(