new home

unfortunately, this one has too limited a space for pics and I like doing pics for my blogs so I'm moving HERE.  Too bad, I really liked this one

dummy cooking 2: beef stroganoff spaghetti

I've been wanting to make beef stroganoff for more than a week now but somehow never got the time…and whenever I did, there was always some ingredient missing. 

I was finally able to make it today. 

  Ingredients:  Beef, cut into thin strips; chopped onions;  sliced button mushrooms; sour cream; butter; beef broth; salt; black pepper; paprika powder.

 Heat oil in skillet and fry beef strips.  Fry meat in batches so as not to overcrowd pan.  Set aside.

 Saute onions in skillet.

 Add button mushrooms once onions have softened.  Cook until mushrooms have softened.

 Pour in beef broth.  Simmer for 5 minutes.

  Pour in sour cream. I skipped a step with making a roux (mix of butter and flour before pouring in beef broth and sour cream).  Stir and let simmer for about 2 minutes.  Do not let it boil as this will ruin the sour cream.

 Put in fried beef strips and mixt thoroughly in sour cream mixture.

 Add salt and pepper to taste.  Simmer a bit then add paprika.

 Cook pasta in boiling water. 

  Once pasta is ready, transfer to plate.  Pour beef stroganoff sauce over pasta.

*** I tasted what I've made and it's kinda bland because I didn't put in much salt…I prefer my food with less salt than normal.  However, I think I should've added more broth and more sour cream (made only 1 cup broth and used 1 container of sour cream) because after a while the sauce just starts to dry out.

Will do better next time.

bite me

My day started out relatively uneventful.  Got up, had my morning milk and did some jigsaw puzzle while I waited for 10 o'clock.  I was heading over to Shopwise to do some grocery shopping.  When I got there, I rummaged around my bag to look for my grocery list and as always, realized that I had left it on the dining table.  *strike one*

What was supposed to be a 30-minute dash to the supermarket to get the stuff I needed ended up as a 2-hour thing.  I had to wait around for the roast chicken because I had my heart set on it for baon and corn & carrots.  *strike two*

So I waited.  And ended up buying some other stuff I know wasn't on my list…like pizza crust, chips, chocolates. *strike three*

At the check out counter, the girl asked if I wanted to get a reusable bag.  She said all my items that fit into the bag would automatically earn me double points.  Since they were selling the bag for 99.75 (really if they're that concerned with the environment, shouldn't they be giving this to cardholders for free??) and I wasn't in the mood to lug all my groceris in one bag, I decided not to get one…yet. *strike four* (what's a hundred bucks compared to the environment right?)

So I got home, rushed through packing the baon and gobbling down lunch, took a quick shower and left the house.  Two of the elevators were out of service.  The only one that was working passed me by and went straight up to the penthouse floor then came down painstakingly going through every floor.  By the time it reached my floor, there was barely room for two more.  So when it came to the 11th floor and I saw a guy, 1 big American and a girl waiting and they all insisted on boarding the elevator, I knew we were beyond capacity.  And I was right.  The elevator refused to budge.  Annoyed to my toes, I opened to elevator and told the newcomers to get off since we were overloaded and that they'd have to wait for the next round.  At this point, I didn't care much about being nice.  I was getting really hot with in the crowded elevator and I was getting late. *strike five*

As I was walking to work, I felt something slide.  To my utter dismay, I saw that the rubber of the heel of my shoe (the one I had fixed just last week) was falling off again. *strike six* (it's a good thing my boyfriend was still on his way to work so he was able to buy me a bottle of mighty bond.  Thanks b!)

Work was the pits.  Issues opened since last week still unresolved.  I wasn't in the best of moods to work at all.  On top of that I ended up picking a fight with my boyfriend…almost.  Hormones can be such a bad thing. *strike seven*  (it's a good thing he reminded me that this month would be a record-breaking first without our "monthly" fight

One good thing about today?  no curlywurlies for me.

plugging: scholl sore spots gel

I don't like to plug about products much mainly because effectivity is usually relative.  What may work for me, may not work for others.  But for once, I'm actually taken enough by something to want to talk about it…and well, plug it.

I've been cursed with embarrassingly huge feet (well too big for my height that is) and what's even worse, sensitive feet.  I've always gone through blisters and sores and whatever disgusting other things that could happen to ones feet when squished into shoes that supposedly fits but somehow seems not to. 

A couple months back, while on a shopping date with a friend at Megamall, we went into Watson's to look for hot oil shampoo.  As always, I went around the store checking out new stuff that might catch my interest.  Something did.  Scholl's Invisible Gel Sore Spot.  As I am an avid fan of lavender and purple and any color in between, its packaging grabbed  my attention.  Then I realized what this nifty thing was.  I've already seen something like it at Debenham's before (never got around to buying that too).  It's this tiny gel thing you stick onto the part of your shoe(s) that's hurting your feet.  Instant useable shoes! I am a sucker for anything that would make my office shoes more comfortable and since I had bought two pairs of Scholl Leather Heel Lining when I was in Singapore and it worked beautifully, I figured this one might do the trick for the sore spot I'm getting from my open-toed shoes.  But by some quirk of fate, the voice of reason (read: nabarat ako) prevailed and I ended up saving myself Php400…or so I thought.

After attempting to use my open-toed shoes again for a couple of times (and finishing up two boxes of band aids in the process).  I finally gave up last weekend and went to Watson's to get myself those gel thingies.  It cost me Php510.  So much for saving.

  But so worth it.

hungry hippo…again

Had dinner with B at Hungry Hippo earlier.  We both had their steak and eggs all-day breakfast.  It's actually just tapa and eggs…in this case, two eggs.  But definitely much cheaper than tapa king.  And although initially it looked as though the "steak" (or tapa) seemed a bit dry and hard, it was actually quite tender and tasty.  The eggs were too runny for B's taste but I liked it.

Though I liked it, I'll stick to their gourmet sandwiches anytime - steak and cheese burger to be exact. 

  Here's their flyer (menu), you might want to order something

sunday date

B and I watched "I Now Pronounce You Chuck & Larry" last night.  It was hilariously funny.  I've always liked Adam Sandler and Kevin James is one of my favorites in comedy (King of Queens).  I'm not gonna talk about the movie much since I'm sure anyone who's seen it would agree that it was funny.  That's that.

Before the movie, we had a quick dinner at one of the places that B introduced me to:  House of Minis.  Their Salisbury steak is served with veggies and their fried potatoes on the side and rice.  Generous servings for just 99 bucks.  Filling too.  Their cream of corn (or is it mushroom) is like any other foodcourt cream soup…tasteless and starchy.  Hence, my difficulty in identifying whether it was cream of corn or mushroom.

I had NY Fries & Dips to go with the movie though.  I ordered their large one (300g) with 2 dips - pesto and garlic mayonnaise for 100 bucks. Expensive fries according to B.  The fries was surprisingly bland but with the dip, it was passable.  The mango juice for Juice Avenue was cheaper than most juice stands I've tried and has more of the mango taste too.

Beers vs. Cupcakes

Guess which won?

Went out with the girls last night…first time in years since we had our girls' night out.  We got together around 10PM and headed over to Beers Paradise.  It's a haven for beer lovers and they boast of having 100 imported beers (draft beers, fruit beers, amber beers, pale pilsens and their famous Monk Trappist beers) not normally found in our local stores.  What was ironic was despite all those beer listings, our initial choices were all "unavailable".  So my friends settled for Cassis (blackcurrant beer), grisette (apple beer), some sort of cherry beer and a Trappist bestseller…Chimay Rogue.  I had a Stella Artois…same beer B bought in the US.

 Beers Paradise along Polaris St., Bel-Air Village, Makati City (next to Alba's Restaurant).

 entrance of Beers Paradise.

 bar of Beers Paradise.

  their menu.

   our beers.

 their spaghetti.  Unfortunately since their chicken fingers was so sparse…we devoured them in 2 minutes.

Surprisingly the place was near empty.  When we arrived, there were 3 groups in the non-smoking area and the smoking area had a group of high school looking kids.  After 10 minutes there, while we were ordering…everyone else left except for the couple seated on the next couch.  And it stayed that way during our entire stay.  The beers were expensive to say the least but then we were there for the experience.  The spaghetti was delicious…surprising for a beer place.  Their chicken fingers on the other hand was laughably poor…poor in the sense that there were only 4 pieces of really thin chicken fingers and a handful of fries.  Each beer cost us roughly the same as per order of food somewhere around 200 bucks or so.  Our bill totaled to around Php1,400.  Since we were paying that much, my friend opted to take home all the bottles of beers we consumed and the bartender was nice enough to throw in a couple other bottles into the bag.  As souvenirs, we also took a couple of the coasters that were generously displayed on the tables (additions to my growing collection).

Like I said, we were after the experience and I must say after this, you won't see us back at Beers Paradise.  It's too much of a "happening" place (pardon the pun hehehe).

So to satisfy our craving for something to do, we headed over to Serendra and had Cupcakes by Sonja.  As I am not a cupcake person, this was again a purely "for experience" time for me.  I ordered the Red Velvet Vixen cupcake (Php65) for me and took home a Chocolate Surprise (Php 62) for B.  My cupcake was surprisingly so-so;  the icing topped on the cupcake was the saving grace…it was Belgian cream cheese and that I'm a fan of.  The cupcake itself was a bit dry and hard.  I had a bit of a taste of the Chocolate Surprise and it was too sweet for me.  I like their packaging though (I think I'm paying more for it than the cupcake itself).  This is one trend I'm not following for sure.

So back to the question…who won?  Beers Paradise and Cupcakes by Sonja, who else???  After all with all the hype about them, we ended up spending a chunk of money just to test them out.

cozy warm

It's raining…there's some kind of fog or mist in the air and it's darn cold.  What would you do in this kind of weather?

I stayed home instead of going out as planned.  Made some hot coffee and took out a bag of oatmeal raisin cookies, and just holed up in my couch watching TV.

The world can wait. 

have you ever wondered why…(1)?

…some people automatically position themselves by the door, the elevator control panel or in any corner of the elevator (just never in the middle if possible) once they board it?

…some people have this habit of talking loudly inside the elevator? Don't they realize that such small space carry sound twice louder than normal?

…some people carry their long umbrellas in a way that could easily cause injury to other people or bystanders (either the pointy end is swinging towards the back with the tendency of hitting people walking behind them or pointed towards people walking towards them).

…some people would stupidly risk life and limb by stopping in the middle of the train tracks during a red light just to get ahead of other cars in the traffic?

…some people instinctively press the elevator button even though the button is already lit? (My boyfriend thought this one up)

…some people refuse any offered help when they so obviously need it?

Will add more as I go along

the hippo is hungry

I have such fond memories of Hungry Hippo when I was working at the PSE Center in Ortigas years ago.  My favorite is their steak and cheese burger.  Back then it used to cost around Php50.  And even then it was more expensive than the regular Jollibee or McDonalds burger but cheaper than Brothers Burger.  So in comparison, it was like eating an order of Brother's burger for the prices of Jollibee or McDonalds.  Can't recall though if their burgers used to come with fries and soda.

When I first moved to my apartment building, I was delighted to find that there was a Hungry Hippo just across the street but for some reason, I've never had time to drop by for a burger.  When I started my current job though, it was like a sign from heaven.  There was a branch near the office.  I had to have their steak and cheese burger again. 

Had dinner there tonight.  The price of their gourmet burgers had gone higher by around 30 bucks.  No matter.  I was hoping against hope that it still tasted as good as I remembered it.  And it was.  The burger was the same size as before.  Same taste, same "meatiness" and same size. 

This hippo went home not hungry at all. 

And yes, it's a great pun…a burger joint  for an herbivore.  Hungry Hippo.

*Sorry no pictures though.  Was too hungry for that.  Maybe next time

the unoriginal dummy cooking

I was never interested in learning to cook until the time I started living on my own and I realized how expensive, not to mention unhealthy, it was to keep on eating fastfood.  So I started to learn the very first thing about cooking.  Making instant noodles. 

After instant noodles came the tentative attempt to learn to cook rice, in a rice cooker and in a kaldero (pot).  I found it easier to cook rice with the latter and for some strange reason always ended up burning or undercooking rice with the former. 

Then it was eggs…scrambled or sunny side up or poached.  Next came the "prito" stuff…pritong isda, pritong manok and etc.

Until I started gaining enough confidence to buy those pre-packed ingredients for certain dishes such as pochero, sinigang, bulalo and the likes.  After a while, I started reading cookbooks and checking online for simple recipes. 

Now I'm a relatively passable cook.  So far I haven't poisoned myself or anyone else.  My family hasn't complained about my cooking yet.  Once in a blue moon, I even get compliments from friends about my cooking (hehehe or maybe they're just being polite since they're visiting).  I've read so many blogs and online journals showing how they cooked this and that.  Being the most unoriginal human on this planet, I have now decided to follow suit.  Of course since I'm not capable of cooking up gourmet food or baking heavenly goodies, I've opted for my own dummies version.

Chicken Fingers and Mash Potato:

  I always like using whole chicken breast…I find it soothing to fillet it, not to mention it's way cheaper than getting fillet chicken breast.  Given a whole one, I could cut it up the way I like it.

  I was feeling too lazy to even take off the skin…it's one of those days when I'm craving for unhealthy, fatty food.

  This is perhaps one of the best things I found that's so rare if not, impossible to find here.  McCormick's Old Bay Better Batter.  You can actually find copycats recipes online but somehow even the ingredients are hard to find here. SIGH.

In any case since I'm using this batter, I don't have to make anything from scratch.  YIPEE.  I like to add a dash of salt and pepper to the batter as well as a good helping of Parmesan cheese.  Dunno why, just like to.

Coat chicken fillets really well with batter and drop into hot oil. 

Viola! Chicken fingers

My version of mash potato is perhaps the simplest you'll find.  Trust me, I've scoured hundreds of cookbooks and the internet for so long trying to find something as simple as this and ended up making my own version.  Sorry no step-by-step pictures though, got too impatient by the time I started doing the potatoes.

Bring to boil a pot of water and add a dash of salt.  Drop in quartered potatoes and let boil.  Once potatoes are softened, transfer to a bowl.  Add Magnolia's Dari Creme Buttermilk…I always use the buttermilk instead of the regular one because it's tastier.  Mash potato with a fork along with chunks of Dari Creme.  Once potatoes are completely mashed, add a dash of salt and ground pepper.  Mix well.  If you like, you can add a bit of milk to make it more creamier and maybe sour cream or minced garlic for variety.

Serves 2.

story of the growing gator, day 3

  Last night when I got home, Terrence was halfway out of his shell.

Today, he looked like this: 

You can see his hind leg already. hehehe. 

eating blind

Have you ever wondered what it's like to be blind? To not see the sun everyday or see what you look like in the mirror?  I have.  Call it weird but there were instances when I found myself thinking how I'd cope if I became blind; like those panicky times when my contact lens got stuck inside my eye for a day and I couldn't get to my opthalmologist fast enough. 

During one of those numerous teambuilding activities I've been to, there was this one activity that asked us to choose our own partners and each of us would take turns being blindfolded while the other does the leading.  The lights were then dimmed.  This gave the illusion of blindness to the ones in blindfold.  I can tell you right now it's not a pleasant feeling.  It's not so much as not being able to appreciate things with your eyes but rather the helplessness of it.  Having to depend on someone else to guide you while you walk, eat or even sit isn't fun at all.  Total dependency and trust on one person is kinda scary don't you think?

Anyway, thoughts of blindness was triggered by this article I just read in the NY Times.  It's this new concept restaurant that is cropping all over the globe that calls for dining in the dark.  In this setting, you are literally at the mercy of the waiter.  Some believe the concept allows the other senses to be heightened when sight is deprived, allowing for better appreciation of food in terms of smell and taste;  other such restaurants simply have the most basic reason: to allow the blind to have decent jobs.  It's an interesting concept whichever way you look at it.  One that I'm interested to see happen on our end of the spectrum.

And yes, the waiters/servers are wearing night-vision goggles.

story of the growing gator, day 2

The first thing I did this morning when I woke up around 9 AM was check on my hatching gator.  Much to my delight, it's half out of its shell already.

By noon, my gator was almost out of its shell.

I'd better start thinking of names for him.

icky things 1: airbugs

UGH.

If there's one thing I hate the most in this world, it's bugs.  Particularly the ones that fly (or airbugs as I call them).  For reasons that continue to baffle me until now, they have this knack of flying in from the outside and I live more than 10 storeys above ground level.  Understandable if they crawled in from the walls, under the door or from the hallway outside my apartment but fly in…through the window? 

A lot of Sundays, during my first year stay at my apartment, meant running around my place with a broom at one hand and a can of Baygon on the other.  After half a can of Baygon, total disarray of my living room furniture and an hour of my life, I would triumphantly dump the dead airbug into the trash chute.  It took me a while to realize where these airbugs were actually coming from and when I finally discovered that they actually fly in to my place through the window near my couch, I decided to close that window.  My airbug visits actually lessened.  What used to be a routine Sunday visit from this disgusting bugs has turned into a once in a while thing.  One Sunday while I was watching TV, I heard this distinct "plonk" and peered out.  Much to my glee, I saw this huge airbug on its backside, wriggling for dear life. One for mankind and Zero for the bugs. 

side story:  Maybe it's the window?  One time, a Maya bird managed to get in to my room through the window.  It flew around in a frenzy trying to escape and I couldn't do anything since the windows were opened to its limit and the panicky bird was actually scaring me.  So I just stood there watching helplessly as the bird flew around the room, repeatedly bumping into the walls and closet and window.  At one point, it got so tired that it flopped down my pillow and for a few seconds I actually thought it dead from exhaustion or from all that bump it took.  But then it suddenly flew up again and repeated the same process all over again. 30 minutes later it finally managed to fly straight out the window. I'm sure all the bumping around has left its mark on the poor bird.

Going back…

My 2nd year stay brought even lesser visits (about 5) since I was always out of town and my place was sealed like a tomb.  And yet, each I got home there was always a dead airbug waiting for me to clean up.  I didn't mind that much so long as nature did the killing instead of me.

This year was the best so far as I've only gotten 1visit.  That is, until today.  Since there was no airbug when I got home anywhere in the house last night, I assume the airbug I found in the common bathroom came in sometime early morning.  This one was lying prone on its backside. I got a broom and prodded it gingerly.  Got scared out of my wits when it wriggled around violently.  Why can't these things die after an hour on their backside???  Why??  So I gave it a good whack, shoved it into the trash bag and gave the bag a good 3 sprays of Baygon before sealing it tightly.  I was hoping it would suffocate to death.  Ah hour and 45 minutes later the airbug finally gave up its valiant fight for life.  If it were some other creature, I would've felt guilty when I heard it wriggling around in the trashbag.  Since it was my most hated bug nemesis, I've no sympathy for it.

2007 - Total airbug visits (and killed): 2

story of the growing gator, day 1

I've never had much of a green thumb.  Whatever I plant always flourishes for a week at the longest and dies a slow painful death.  Even the grass heads I used to have died after 3 weeks…but then I think they're supposed to have a shorter life than that right?  So I had to content myself with those toys that grow when you soak them in water. I used to have a couple of those things…one particular memory stands out though.  It was this red bug (kinda like a beetle) that felt like rubber plastic in its original form.  This one lasted for months with me.  By then, it got really big (about 7 or 8 inches long).  And by then, for some weird reason, I got so scared of it I wouldn't even touch it, much less look at it.  My mom got so tired of having it around that she threw it away.

So you can imagine my delight when I found this novelty toy at Hobbes & Landes.  It's Toysmith's Hatchin' Grow Gator.  It's originally inside an eggshell the size of your regular chicken egg.  Soak in cool water and supposedly by 48-72 hours, it'll hatch and grow. It's supposed to grow at most 600% of it's original size (about 6-7 inches).

Having nothing better to do this morning, I decided to start playing with my new toy.  I dumped the egg in a KFC bucket half filled with water (I knew there was a use for all those buckets I've stored) at 11AM. 

I got home almost midnight and this is what I found:

It didn't even take 24 hours!

a bone to pick - A Veneto Glorietta

A Veneto in Glorietta 3 used to be a good place to eat.  And though their service isn't as good as that of their QC branch, my friends and I hang out there all the time because their food is great and inexpensive enough and the location is convenient. 

Last night was another time when unable to think of where to have dinner, we ended up yet again in A Veneto.  Surprisingly, we easily got a table after waiting for 5 minutes.  Since we were waiting for our friend, we decided to just sit there and chat for a bit. 

Our food came about 5 minutes after we ordered, which wasn't really surprising.  The oil and garlic pasta was too dry and wasn't even the least bit warm.  Eating it was like pushing dry, starchy food down my throat. The A Veneto classic pizza we ordered was slightly hot enough and was the only saving grace of the meal.  We still managed to finish off the pasta and pizza because we were hungry.  As soon as we polished off the food and without a second to spare, a server came over and took away our plates.  So we sat there nursing our drinks and catching up when suddenly one of the servers came by again and took our not-so empty glasses without asking.  Then another dropped the playbill on our table.  I looked around and saw that there wasn't any waiting customers by the door.  It was just about 9PM so they weren't closing yet.  So why were they shooing us away?  Disgusted by the service, we paid our bill and left the restaurant. 

The thing that I've started to dislike with this A Veneto branch is that their service was never that great to begin with. You would think that throughout time, they'd start improving on it.  I honestly put up with their bad service because I used to like their food.  But for some reason this year, when tables were starting to be so difficult to get by,  their service turned from not great to sucky.  You wait for a table for 30 minutes (if you're lucky) to an hour (if you're not), pre-order your food so you'd get to eat as soon as you're seated and when you do get a table, you end up eating lukewarm to almost always, cold food.  And although I understand that pre-ordering your food so you could eat as soon as you're seated facilitates faster turnover of tables to serve other hungry customers, it still doesn't justify serving cold food and practically hurrying people with their meals.

Maybe A Veneto should try to expand their premises to accomodate their growing clientele and perhaps, retrain their service crew on their hospitality skills.  Just because people clamor for their food doesn't mean they will put up with bad service.  Trust me, after years of putting up with that kind of service I'm through.  A Veneto is no longer a place I'm willing to spend my money on. 

stuffed to the gills - Fish & Co.

My sister and I went to Mall of Asia earlier today to do some shopping but with the sale crowd, decided to just walk around a bit.

After a while we ended up hanging out at Fish & Co. along the bayside.

I had their "the best chips in town!" and it was absolutely great.  Their fish fillet was soft, fresh and succulent.  The lemon butter sauce on top of it made it tasty enough but mixed with the side tartar sauce, garlic and pickles, the "umay" taste just disappeared.  It was indeed the best fish & chips I've had in a while.

My sister had their black-peppered mahi-mahi with sauteed vegetables and rice on the side.  The mahi mahi was fresh and tasted just right.

We also shared a jug (they said it was 1 liter but I really don't think so since the server took the liberty of dividing it into 2 regular glass and 1 small glass…which would've been around 700 ml only  hehehe) of Monkey Freeze which was a concoction of rambutan and pineapple and something else.  It was a light and refreshing drink that completed our meal just right.   

Needless to say, we went home stuffed to the gills (pun intended).

Oppa!

 We had a delightful dinner at Cyma, Greenbelt 2 last night.  My friends had already ordered several entrees - chicken gyros, Saganaki or "flaming cheese" (cheese soaked in alcohol and flambeed) and the Babay Clams Angel Hair by the time I got there.  Since I was really hungry I ordered a solo portion of Pastisado (Greek osso bucco with spaghetti) for myself with no intention of sharing

The place was loud and boisterous and just the right place for us to sit and eat and talk…albeit loudly as well.  A perfect place for us.  We kept getting startled though everytime the servers cried "oppa!".

  The Kalamarakia (crispy baby squid) was the only thing we ordered that no one would even want to touch.  All we could taste was the breading and salt.  We left this one the way we got it. 

Despite the calamari disappointment, it was a good meal all in all.  As the Greeks say when celebrating…Oppa!

in search of cheap good food (part 2): Php40 for 8 pcs.

I'm a dimsum snob.  Since I grew up to eating the real thing, it was hard for me to appreciate those joints that offered "dimsum" that tasted nothing like it.  Some of those places that served dimsum I abhorred was Chowking, Hen Lin and Dimsum n' Dumplings.  Well…I used to anyway, at least for the last one. 

My boyfriend, on the other hand, loves dimsum.  Wherever it came from.  But then he loves food, no questions asked.  As picky as I was with my Chinese food, he's the total opposite.   

Given time, my snobbish palate for the geniune dimsum ebbed away little by little.  I'm still picky but I've learned to appreciate that although the dimsum they serve weren't that authentic, it actually won't kill me to eat it hahaha.  One of the things I've learned to appreciate is the Dimsum n' Dumplings that he loves so much.  The D n' D stall at Philam Life's food park has this promo from 2PM-6PM everyday…buy 1 take 1 order for Php40.  That's 8 pieces of dimsum heaven for him.  At first I went with him everytime the craving hit simply to keep him company.  Then I got hooked.

It's actually value for money (though my sister says she can get fried siomai - 3pcs for Php11, how's that for cheap???); but for some reason, it doesn't take away the hunger. Maybe I need 3 more orders?  Hehehe.