FOOD QUOTE OF THE WEEK

REPOST: Top 10 Things You Didn’t Know Taste Delicious With Chocolate

From the title alone, you already know that this article from Endless Simmer of  Huffington Post is an interesting read. What does taste good with chocolate? You'd be surprised when you find out!

Just click on the pic to get linked!

TRIED AND TASTED: RE-DISCOVERING POCKY AND ITS NEW FLAVORS

Back in my 20's, I took my first trip abroad to Hongkong.  In those days, airline promo fares were non-existent and travel was a luxury even for my middle class family. It was for work and my boss had generously booked me a business class seat ( jackpot!). I made sure to prepare everything ahead of time. 

Image courtesy of www.discoverhongkong.com

On the day of the flight, everything that could go wrong went wrong. I couldn't get a cab for about an hour. On the way, a truck had fallen over and traffic stood still for three hours.  And it was before the advent of the mobile phone so I had no way of calling my boss who, I was very sure, would fire me the next time she sees me. StillI plodded on and after 5 hours, I got to the airport. The plane had left and I was left on my own to re-book my flight, contact my boss and get my ass to Hongkong. I did all that while think up ways of how to beg and grovel at my boss' feet when I finally see her.

It was already dinner time when I finally reached Kai Tak Airport. I was going to have to find the hotel on my own, have my dollars changed to the local currency and check in with the Manila office to see if my boss had fired me and I should just go straight back to Manila. Hungry, I saw a Watson's stall and picked a box of the only thing that looked good to me- a box of pretzels dipped in chocolate. Pocky.

The name sounded funny, like the Filipino word for vagina. But I didn't want to spend any of my money as there was still a chance that  I was already jobless. I bought the box and just like in a TV commercial, the first bite just made me smile.  Things went right after that. I found a kind cab driver who could speak in English, and when I got to the hotel, my boss was in a good mood and didn't fire me.  Pocky had become like my lucky-charm and feel-good food.

Just today, I got boxes of Pocky's new flavors: Matcha, Cookies & Cream and, Banana.

The Matcha flavored pretzel sticks approximates the non-commercial taste of the green tea chocolates you find in Japanese wet markets like Tsukiji. I'm not a big fan of matcha chocolate but this one has that right after taste, a mix of slight bitterness from the tea which balances the sweetness of the chocolate.

The Cookies and Cream variant is just your regular chocolate dip, the cookies are too small (since the sticks are too thin to hold anything bigger than a grain of salt). Not very exciting for me. But if you're a fan of this combination, you'd probably like it. 

The Banana-flavored variant is my favorite among the three. It tastes and smells like Tokyo Banana, a sponge cake that is popular as a souvenir sweet in Japan. This is a treat for sweet-toothed snack lovers. 

TRIED AND TASTED: DESSERTS AT ZUNI

Zuni is one of the posh restaurants you can find in Greenbelt 5. Well received by its Makati clientele for its wide selection of perfectly done meats and seafood, the restaurant has a relaxed yet elegant ambience. 

To get a 360 degree of the restaurant, just click on the pic to get linked to their website.

My friends and I found ourselves gravitating towards the restaurant after attending an exhibit opening in the nearby Ayala Museum. Since we were full, we skipped the entrees and went straight for the desserts.

The Zuni Obsession is a drool-worthy platter of moist chocolate cake with chocolate ganache served with assorted fresh fruits and vanilla ice cream on hippen mush. 

It's such a pretty dessert, you almost don't want to eat it. Almost. The cake was moist and not overly sweet and went well with the vanilla ice cream. It's a sophisticated version of brownie a la mode. What intrigued me was the term "hippen mush." It turns out, it's not mush but rather, masse as in hippenmasse, the baking term for a crusty wafer-like pastry shell that tastes like barquillos or an ice cream cone. Funny that they made the dessert so pretty but forgot to check the name on the menu. 

We also tried the Peach and Apple Crumble. Again, wonderfully plated.

 

The mini pie contained a mix of peach and apple and served with apple sauce, mini peach halves, mint leaves and a patina of powdered dark cocoa, which I believe was more for show than to tie in all the elements together. It's forgivable, though, since you could choose to skip the bitter cocoa since the tangy apple sauce was enough to balance the sweetness from all over.

Zuni Greenbelt

Address: Level 1, Greenbelt 5, Ayala Center, Greenbelt, Makati City

Telephone:  +63 9175349197 / 02 7570361

Website:  http://www.zuni.com.ph

 

FOOD QUOTE OF THE WEEK

FOUND ONLINE: FOOD YOU CAN PLAY WITH

Image from thiscollosal.com

Toys made of chocolate. Now you can really play with your food.

The cacao-flavored blocks  were designed by Akihiro Mizuuchi, a Japanese illustrator, designer and lecturer at the Shizuoka College of Design and Tokoha Gakuen University of Art. He used molds based on actual Lego blocks and designed each character on his computer so he can calculate how many blocks he needs to make. Sadly, these are not for sale.

Mizuuchi is part of Gunchoco Club, a Facebook community dedicated to re-create Gundam, a popular Japanese anime robot,  out of chocolate. 

The colossal Gundam Robot in Odaiba, Tokyo.

Here's cute and quirky video of Gundam, who may now lay claim to the title, "Creamiest Robot Ever Made."

Click on the pic to get linked to the video

UK graffiti artist Hoakser, known for his custom-designed spray paint cans, has come up with the chocolate nozzles, "Chozzles." These come in dark and milk chocolate flavors and can be bought via his website.

These are the spray paint cans. Not edible.

These are the Chozzles. Highly edible.

Another UK designer, Robert Cooper, a graduate of Central Saint Martins, made chocolate-filled wafer snacks called Cooper's Chocolate Airfix for giant manufacturer Cadbury's.

Photos courtesy of stupiddope.com

While this looks fun, it makes you wonder if anybody has ever finished a plane model without taking a bite.

Meanwhile, Spanish product designer Diego Ramos, has been selling the Mr. Chocolate Moustache through ChocolatFactory, a Barcelona-based workshop owned by Belgian master chocolatier Michel Laline.

Photo courtesy of diegoramos.es

The artist encourages his formerly beardless customers to send their pictures that he can post at the website.

These are definitely food you can play with.

 

Oops, I Did It Again... Binagoongang Baboy with Tsokolate Tablea

There are things  I had done once and will probably never do again...spelunking for five hours in Sagada, rappelling in the rain in Batangas and ramming an RV into a pyre of burning trash in Boracay ... unless it involves a nice early retirement package.

And there are things that I dream of doing at least once...skydive in Australia, fly the Zero-G plane in Florida and wash the windows of the 100th floor of the Empire State Building  in New York.

I am not exactly an extreme sports kinda gal but I do like taking risks that make me feel like I am laughing in the face of death (even if it's just really lame stuff).  

When it comes to gustatory delights, though, I believe in a no holds barred policy. I like to live my life dangerously, at least in the dining table.

This food freak wants to have tongue wrestling with a live baby octopus in Korea, make an oven out of yak carcass  in Mongolia and, eat blowfish in Japan.

One thing that I don't understand, and it just irks me sometimes, is when people who have very low BMI or body mass index (also known as 'thin people') often ask me why I like eating fatty. I hate it when they make it sound like I'm committing suicide. asking me in an incredulous tone while they hungrily look at the dripping salty, oily mess I am biting into.  I retort that I want to die happy. If you have a perfectly grilled piece of fatty meat in front of you, and an earthquake happens or you see an errant vehicle about to crash into you, you wouldn't want your last thoughts to be, "Oh fuck, I should've eaten that barbecue!", would you? Such silly last words will never be heard from me.

And on that note... Here's one of my favorite salty, fatty recipes, not for the faint of heart and those who want to achieve unbelievably low BMIs.

BINAGOONGANG BABOY NA MAY TSOKOLATE

Ingredients:
0.75 kg country style pork liempo, cut into 2-inch thick strips
1 cup Shrimp Bagoong from Malabon (salty baby shrimp paste with a hint of sugar and spice)
1/ 4 cup cooking  oil
1 head garlic, peeled and finely minced
1 onion,  sliced into rings
3 cups water
2-3 pieces grated Tsokolate Tablea
1 Long pepper (Siling-haba)

Using 1/2 cup of water, boil the pork.

 When the water has evaporated, lower the fire and sweat the pork until it produces some fat, Add the cooking oil and  sautee the garlic as you brown the pork.

Once the pork is browned, add the bagoong. Add the remaining water and let the concoction simmer. Mix every once in a while so the bottom of the pan does not burn. When the pork is tender,but the sauce still watery, add the siling haba and onion rings.

This will give the dish an undertone of heat. Once the dish reaches a sticky consistency, add the grated tsokolate tablea. The bitter sweetness of the tsokolate  will temper the heat and bring out the saltiness of the bagoong. Mix and let it simmer for 1-2 minutes.

Separately, you may choose to blanche vegetables like okra, kangkong (water spinach), sigarilyas (winged beans), sitaw (string beans) or talong (eggplant) to serve with the binagoongan.

Serve with piping hot rice.

Discovery of the day: UBE MOCHI

Found this at the Unimart supermarket... Ube Mochi.

 

This one is manufactured in Taiwan where Mochi, a  traditional Japanese rice cake usually served during the Japanese New Year, is available year round.

Like the rice ball, the filling also varies. My favortie ones are from Dezato in New Manila where they have chocolate mochi with dark chocolate filling, green tea filling or the ones covered in crushed walnuts. Enjoy this sweet dessert with hot  tea.

Today's discovery- Dark Mint Chocolate sticks

Saw this box on the supermarket today.

And they're good! The dark chocolate is at 50% and it's a bit sweeter than After Eight british mints but I don't mind. I like.

Maturialism and Melty Kisses

IceCreamists photo from  trendwatching.com 

I subscribe to a site that looks out for global trends and Maturialism is one of the trends they listed. for 2010. These marketing seers predict that "rawer, more opinionated, more risqué, more in your face than ever before" cyber folk will come (pun not intended) to the forefront of  online content. Some sort of online sexual revolution.

IceCreamists, is one of the entrepreneurs they featured in the article. I've never tasted their  naughty,  creamy delights and I am adamant about food that is all about the concept. But the store looks intriguing and their saucy website is definitely entertaining on its own.

Food and sex have always been intertwined. Humans have visceral reactions to  any kind nourishment and  reproductive activities. Combined, food and sex can cause spontaneous combustion.  I guess I only have to say 9 1/2 Weeks and you'd get what I mean.

My biggest food turn on has always been chocolate and the first chocolate that ever brought out the Maturialist in me was Melty Kiss.  Bloggers have waxed romantic about it and recently I waxed (pun intended) erotic about it.

I am not a poet and this is my most recent try at writing something other than prose. So please forgive me if I disappoint and I hope you will be gentle in your reviews. After all, this is me popping my maturialist cherry.

ODE TO MELTY KISS

There you sit

In a pretty little box

Pouting

Waiting to be plucked

Here I stand

Reaching out for your

Bittersweet promise

Trembling fingers

Unwrap you

Thirsty

I bring you closer to my parched mouth

The heat of my breath

Melts you

My lips touch your velvet skin

A sigh.

Our kiss is nothing but a prelude

Between my fingers and my mouth

You lie naked

Willing me to take you

 

I part my lips

To let you in

Gliding, sliding

Your smoothness creating friction

Against the roughness of my tongue

 

You melt

Like my lover’s back

Aching

Wanting

My wet pink flesh on your skin

A river wells inside my mouth

Flooding my body with passion

Sweeping me to the shores of Paradise

I taste sweet

salt and sugar

Bitter brown

Sweet bitter salt

 

I moan your name

And press my tongue to my palate

Your nectar flows

Filing me with dreams

Of wine and fruits

Of leaves in meadows

A prayer escapes my lips

I bathe

In your goodness

I close my eyes

And take all of you in

One last time

Before you become

A memory.

Kiss the Cook Cafe

It has almost been a month since my last post. The series of typhoons and all the incoming work had kept me too depressed to write about food and too tired to make anything in the kitchen.

Yes, A. and myself have been living mostly on fast food deliveries, canned goods and left overs these past few weeks. I thought I would never get out of this processed food rut.

And today, I got a lip-smacking experience that made me sit-up and write... Kiss the Cook Cafe.

This cozy cafe is situated at 59 Maginhawa St., UP Village, Diliman, QC, across Holy Family School. Friends have been raving about the place since its soft opening last 19 October. A. and I finally got the chance to dine there tonight.

For starters, A. picked the Crabstick Mango Spring Roll with Nouc Mam dip. Once dipped,  the mix of  the slice of sweet mango, fishy crabstick and the neutral rice paper wrapper is coated in the salty sour  goodness of the dip. The dip is the rock star in this wrap and roll experience.

I had the  Curried Shrimp salad with grilled pineapple and curried cabbage. I am not a big fan of curry but this unusual mix of familiar tastes was a new experience for my palate as far as salads go.

We asked for the best pork dishes. A. got the  Asian Braised Pork Belly and I had the Five-Spice Spareribs (a.k.a. ang pinakamasarap na piniritong baboy sa balat ng lupa). As I am a guiltless pork-lover, nothing makes me happier than soft fried fat melting on my tongue.  So, this dish is a declared winner in my book. Augie's braised pork sauce was, thankfully, not overwhelming as some Chinese restaurants tend to make.

We capped our dinner with a dark chocolate gelato and Bailey's dessert, Truffette.  If you get off on chocolate, dig deep into this dark dessert and you'll pop a cherry by the time you get your last spoonful.  This dessert got me all worked up and I forgot to take a photo. All I have for you is the spent, empty cup of the highlight of my first time at Kiss The Cook Cafe.