Good Housekeeping "Let's Lunch"

     Was able to register and join Good Housekeeping and their reader get together party "Let's Lunch" This poster will greet you outside of Saisaki/ Dad's at EDSA, Greenhills.

      After registering the staff of Good Housekeeping usher me to another room and you can see the prizes and giveaway they plan to give their readers.

          The carton boxes are from Nestle and contain 2 carton of milk.

               Below are the prizes they plan to giveaway on their contest.

                    Some of the guest that have already arrive at the venue.

        Below is the food I got from the Buffet table of Saisaki. All Japanese.

      Below are the staff of Good Housekeeping who sit in every table to ask some question about what reader's wanted to add in their magazine.

     Below are the giveaway every reader was able to take home.  Really great.

     Inside one of the Loot bag Goodhousekeeping magazine, Nestle Milk, toothbrush and Surf Products.

      The Second Loot bag even more goodies: magazine, tupperware products, Nestle Milk, goya chocolate, Olatum soap.

                                      Below are the Maggi products.

          Below is the extra prize I won in their question and answer.

    Everyone enjoy the Q & A plus the food. Got to know the other member of Good Housekeeping. Hope I can still make it on their next get together.

Beso Cucina Vinoteka

Who say that you always have to pay for your food. In this time of hard cash everybody has to find a way. Some still believe there is no such a thing as winning in the internet. Got to win a P6K GC from Yummy website and got to redeem it.

       Beso Cucina Vinoteka at night. Located at 7th St., of Bonifacio High Street, The Fort, Taguig.

Operating Hour  :  Monday to Saturday 11am to 2 am    Sunday   11am to 12mn. They also outside sitting but with these summer heat my family prefer to seat inside with air conditioning.

      Below is the interior of Beso Cucina Vinoteka. Most of their client were Females employee as seen by picture below.

                   The kitchen of Beso Cucina Vinoteka a well lit interior.

     The table setting were the menu is the placement so you do not have to request for their menu (Picture below)  So many choices and only 3 of us to consume it.

    The All meat Paella (picture below) which is compose of Chicken, Pork, Chorizo, Bacon and Duck. This dish is delicious but one of my daughter doesn't like any tomato base in her rice; which she still said she prefer Jambalaya instead.

 Price for all Paella and Fideo (pasta version of Paella)  :  P580.00 for 2-3 people   P1,280.00 for 6-8 people

 The Beso Paella (Picture Below) which compose of Pork, chorizo, Bacon, Prawns, squid, Mussel, clams and Bacon. You can see the size of the prawn and mussel and they really choose the much bigger one for their kitchen.

      The Bread with Extra Virgin Olive oil (but with a touch of chili flakes) My grand daughter favorite dish are the bread.   Price  :  P55.00 per order

     The Crispy Fried Calamari with Chili Lime Aioli sauce.  Price  : P280.00 Not bad but my daughter complain is that when you bit into it the whole calamari will be pull out from its outer breading.

  Lamb Shanks braised in Tomato, Peppers, Chorizo and Chick Peas with Rice Pilaf (picture below).  The Lamb Shank is super tender that you do not have to pull hard to get the meat. Delicious. Able to consume this all. Price  :  P720.00

 Grilled US Angus rib eye served on a Hot Plate with Mustard Butter and Potato Ala Pobre. Everyone of us forgot to take the picture of the potato ala pobre but it almost like the Potato Au gratin. Super Tender but a bit oily due to the butter. Price  : P1,480.00 but if you love beef really recommend this dish but it's not quite that lean.

Ratings
Food/ Taste  :  4/4
Service         :  3/4 friendly staff but need to be a bit more accomodating
Ambiance     :  3/4 Not bad really but some of their guest is becoming noisy maybe because of the wine.
Price            :  3/4  a bit pricey for some middleclass.

For more picture of the menu and the other items they advice for our take out check FB page below
https://www.facebook.com/media/set/?set=a.413594575341982.100455.100000743306453&type=3

Tous Les Jours Cakes: An exquisite cake for a sophisticated taste.

                    Tous Le Jours Cake shop at SM North Edsa.

     Even if you want to resist buying extra food you will not resist their display rack of row upon row of bread and beautiful design cake.  Every one know the smell of freshly baked bread.

  As  you can see people people have difficulty in choosing bread because they don't know what to choose and buy first; even though they really want to try it all. Tous Les Jours baker even don't have time to rest and have to continue  to bake just so that their shelf will always be complete with bread their customer so wanted so much.

   Tous Les Jours bread all so unique; even I have difficulty in choosing which items to buy first.

   More delicious bread with filling. If only that Tous Les Jours is just within my walking distance then I can have their bread everyday. Can't buy so many as it's much better to have fresh bread everyday. Oh how I wish that Tous Les Jours can have many more branches in the Metro.

   Even their cake are so beautiful to the eyes if only we the client have a bigger refrigerator to keep them. So beautiful to see and hoping that it always stays that way. Even tempted not to eat them because you don't want to destroy the work of art the bakers have made and so delicious that you wanted for more. Can't get my eyes away from those beautiful cake.

Check out the branches of Tous Les Jour Branches:

1. SM NORTH EDSA THE BLOCK

Address:
Ground Floor The Block (Main Entrance near SM Hypermarket and Almond Marina)

Opening Hours:
Sunday to Friday 9am to 11pm
Saturday 9am to 12am(Midnight)

Tel: (02) 921.8972
2. SM SOUTHMALL FOOD STRIP

Address:
Ground Floor (Near Etude House - Between Entrance 3 and 5)

Opening Hours:
Sunday to Friday 10am to 10pm
Saturday 10am to 11pm

Tel: (02) 621.0637

SOON TO OPEN branches 3. ALABANG TOWN CENTER Ground Floor (Next to Italianni's) - June 2012 4. ROBINSONS GALLERIA Ground Floor (Next to Gold's Gym) - June 2012 5. J CENTER MALL CEBU Ground Floor (Next to Jollibee) - July 2012 
 
For more information about Tous Les Jours go to their website : http://www.tlj.ph or their facebook account: http://www.facebook.com/touslesjoursph

My Culinary Center for Art cooking experience

    Got to win a 1 day cooking course from Center for Culinary Art from Bounty Fresh Chicken which has only 3 week left to use. Don't know why they kept it so long and have to gave it away when it's almost about to expire.

    Since 1 day course are available on Saturday and Sunday. I avail for the Sunday Course.  Since no admin personnel are present on Sunday, they advice me to pick up my apron, cap and recipe on weekday. Either to get the May 13 which is a Thai cooking class or the May 20 class which is the American cuisine. May 13 which is a mother day got a treat from Open Rice for a Mother Day Dinner at Nectar and my son want to give me a treat at Pepper Lunch. So choose the American cuisine.

                            The American cuisine was available on May 20,2012.

     The entrance to Center for Culinary Art which on the ground floor there's Craving and TCB. Craving have an unlimited Breakfast buffet at P188.

                                The grand staircase going up to CCA.

                         The Lecture room but we did not use the computer.

    The cooking area. Since there were 8 student each was assign a dish to cook

                       The Apple crumble which they assign to me to cook.

     The Mozarella stick with Marinara sauce. I was assign to cook the marinara sauce. The marinara sauce is also use in spaghetti sauce but you have to put it on a food processor to blend to become a thick sauce. I was assign also to cook the sauce.

      The Buffalo wings with Blue Cheese.  The recipe for Blue cheese was much better nothing overpowering and this is the first time that I like a blue cheese sauce.

  The Lone Star Fried Chicken steak w/ pan gravy and the Buttermilk Biscuit. Actually no chicken was use but instead the main ingreadients is beef. But the flavor is that of Fried Chicken due to the breading.

                                                     The Crab cakes

     Every dish in the recipe was not being cook by every students therefore some might not be able to learn the basic of cooking like frying and baking. My partner in the apple crumble never did any frying. So when we are advice to help the other group to fry the crab cakes. His crab cake stick to the pan.  Some even were talking about the difficulty in handling the oven.

      The group that I join in the 1 day course told me that everyday they have different cuisine each day; therefore there's no specialty. Almost every continent in every country are being cook. If the GC was given early maybe I have a better option to choose.

A Mother's Day Dinner at Nectar from Open Rice promo

   Got an FB notice from Open rice on the morning of May 13, 2012 (Mother's Day) the I won a Dinner for 2 at Nectar  and it was such a nice treat actually.

 Nectar Restaurant located at Ground floor of Cattleya Building in the corner of Benavidez and Salcedo St., Makati City.

Operating hour is from : 11am- 2pm and 6-10pm.
Cuisine :  Mediterrenean cuisine

                        The interior of Nectar Building very cozy and chic.

    The table set up wherein every table has a bottle of wine but in case you don't drink just set it aside.

                   The wine bottle and the reservation they made for us.

     The Mother's Day Menu price is P2,750.00 for a 7 course dinner meal. Actually the chef said the meal is good for 4-6 people.

               The Unlimited Ice Tea in a cute St. Paul glass price P120.00

 

    Our appetizer: The Grill Chorizo with Queso Belprado. To place the chorizo and the quezo on  top the cracker is super delicious and they compliment each other quite well.

  Cinnamon Apple pie salad with Rasberry Vinagrette. The salad has walnut in it which added the crunch  and bits of apple and  cinnamon that add sweetness to the salad. This salad is one of my favorite.

   Paella Colonial. This is the first time that I get to eat a real Paella with mussel, chorizo, green beans and green olives. Everything is great in the Paella, the one thing I hate is the olives never like it since it's a bit salty.

   Beef Stew Provocale. Delicious with a touch of crunch from the potato string, The herb they use are pepper, carrot and onion all compliment their flavor and taste to the beef stew  and if you happen to go to Nectar Restaurant  try this dish as you won't regret it.

      Fish in mimosa salad. The topping of the fish is compose of carrots, egg yolk, pickle and egg white. The fish they use is the cream dory which has a soft texture. I have made this dish during my younger year when my aunt first serve it in our family gathering but instead of the Cream dory she uses the bangus.

     Chocolate Truffles and Chocolate spring roll.  Oh so chocolatey and the spring roll was the first to get eaten up first.

   Their refrigerated section were you can also choose their other dessert.

Rating  :
Food/ Taste   :  4/5 since some of my kids doen't like meditererean cuisine
Service          :  5/5 even the chef came out to greet us and inquire about his cooking
price              :  5/5
cleanliness     :  5/5 their kitchen and washroom are separate so no contamination
ambiance       :  5/5 cozy and quiet