Out of the Kitschen: Turning 30 in style

My friend, stylist Pam Quinones recently renovated her bedroom. Anyone who knows her knows she has impeccable taste and her own sense of style. When I entered her bedroom during her bday party, I squealed a little because it's so her and I love her room so much. I already invited myself over for a sleepover haha!

chair

HAPPY BIRTHDAY PAM! LOVE YOU!

London Calling Part 10: Goodbye Dinner

On my last night in London, I decided to cook a thank you dinner for my gracious hosts, Missy and Faisal, using stuff I bought from Borough Market! I love cooking in other countries because the ingredients are so fresh and there is such a wide selection! I wish I had more time in London to tinker around in the kitchen. Perhaps a trip to Sydney to visit family is in order later this year. I like our kitchen there ;p

Goat's cheese, grapes, honey and foie gras and truffle parfait. Yes. FOIE GRAS AND TRUFFLE PARFAIT. Do I need to say it again? I bought it from that stall that sells truffle everything. It was a bit pricey at 8 quid for 100g but foie gras and truffle never needs to be justified.

Abdul's favorite- my shitake mushroom salad. I think the couple enjoyed it too!

Butternut Squash tortellini with sage butter, fresh pepper and toasted almonds. I was so full from the market, I actually only ate very little for dinner. See how I tried to plate it nicely? haha!

Lastly, peach flambe! With fresh peaches and organic vanilla ice cream. Perfect ending!

See you again next year! ;p

London Calling Part 9: Borough Market Part 2

More Borough Market goodness for y'all!

Jamon Serrano, Iberico etc. in this little Spanish Deli in Borough Market

Made of Wild Boar!

Speaking of Wild Boar, this was stuffed with it and tossed in olive oil, black pepper and parmeggiano. Delicious!

The veggies there look amazing. It will make you wanna experiment and eat your greens even if you don't really like vegetables!

to-mah-toes!

and so many different kinds of mushrooms. I wanted them all! Look at the blue ones! So cute!

More goodies from our French friends!

Chili powder--different intensities. Shoulda gotten some!

Goat's milk ice cream! Vanilla Praline ftw!

Can't wait to go back to London for this next year!

London Calling Part 8: Borough Market Part 1

We have some pretty good weekend food markets here in Manila, and you will most likely find me in one of them every single weekend...but Borough Market in London is on another level. The diverse selection of food can cause anyone to get confused and not know what to try first.

Sign that shows all the sections of the market. From fresh produce, butchers, seafood vendors, crazy fresh veggies, to food you can eat there, treats you can bring home...OMG!

The first time I tried Turkish Delight was the Cadbury chocolate covered version and it was the most vile thing I've ever tasted. A few years later though, I tried the real thing and Hello, Cadbury, what were you thinking? I've been a fan eversince so when I saw a stall that sold like 30 different flavors, I had to get some!

Fresh breads- any kind you want!

Cured deli meats---oh look a pig's foot haha!

Olives, pickled garlic and other stuff you can bottle and bring home!

This wasn't the only stall selling fresh wheels of cheese!

And an entire stall devoted to truffles. I got truffle honey and brought home some foie gras and truffle parfait to share with my friends that night.

Thank you France for the lovely thing called goose fat. The world owes you for all the goose parts you use to make lovely food.

They were also selling duck sandwiches. I didn't get this because I was already stuffed but OMG, smelled delish.

More Borough Market next entry ;p

If you're planning to go, closest tube station is London Bridge :D

London Calling Part 7: When the East is in the house Part 2

A little more of East London...

Next up...Borough Market. *drool*

London Calling Part 6: When the East is in the house Part 1

When I'm not stuffing my face, thinking, dreaming or talking about food, I actually do enjoy other things, which is why from time to time, my blog entries don't involve me cooking, at a restaurant or raving about what I had for lunch yesterday.

One other thing I love doing is walking. Yes, using the two pretty feet ( narrow and dainty I must say) that God has given me to get around- which is almost unheard of in Manila where there are more wheels than toes. Whenever I am in what I like to call "Walking cities" such as New York, London and San Francisco, I jump at the chance.

East London is one of my favorite places because it still has that grit and rawness that other parts of the city seems to have lost. Street art and interesting characters are two important things in my book so I spent an afternoon walking around Shoreditch, which was about 10 minutes away from my old 'hood.

Welcome to Shoreditch

I was looking for some Space Invader pieces and couldn't find any! Where are they hiding?!

Location: Old Street station- Shoreditch-Brick Lane-Aldgate East station

London Calling Part 5: Busaba Eathai

Due to persistent demand by friends both in Manila and London, I ate at Busaba Eathai. It has a few branches through out London now but I ate at the original one right by Selfridges with Missy and Faisal. I found out it's by Alan Yau, the same guy that created Wagamama and since I like that place and I like Thai, I was quite excited to try it.

Ordered Coconut rice so I thought the heat of chili prawns will go well with the sweetness of the rice. I was right! It wasn't too hot though, which is of utmost importance. I can't have food that is too spicy. My palate just can't take it.

My friend Rachel made me swear to order her favorite calamari with green peppercorns and I'm glad I did. So good! It was tossed in this light, sweet sauce. Yum!

We also got Duck Curry, which I didn't bother taking a photo of because it wasn't very photogenic haha! It was really tasty though. We also got some veggies that had a smoky flavor that complimented everything else we ate.

I was famished and totally beat that day after having walked 6 hours straight, everywhere from Carnaby street to Marble Arch, to Knightsbridge and so many other places. I totally wanted to die. My meal made it all better!

Check out www.busaba.com for locations and restaurant hours