Author Archives: Arbet Bernardo

16
May

Is Oki Oki OK?

Posted by | Categories Food | Tagged

Yesterday, I met a friend at TriNoma (it was his birthday yesterday). As he was hungry, we decided to eat, and I thought revisiting Oki Oki would be nice. I had tried that restaurant months ago, and I was craving for ramen yesterday, so Oki Oki we went.

The restaurant is located on Level M1 (TriNoma’s floor configuration is very confusing), near Super Bowl of China. It has two entrances, one at the mall, the other at the garden area. The garden side has glass for a wall, and the mall entrance is quite wide open, with traditional Japanese eatery banners. There were padded seats at three sides of the resto, while there are benches and tables at the middle area. Funny thing was, yesterday, they were playing Filipino music; first time I visited, they were playing enka.

Now, to food.

My friend ordered this Gyudon for Php 185.

If you order this one, you would be asked if you want the egg raw, or scrambled together with the beef. My friend chose it raw; the heat of the food cooked it some. The beef were cut into strips. I couldn’t say anything on the taste since it was not the food I ordered. But he did gave me some beef strips. The beef wasn’t tough, but the texture was like bacon. No, it doesn’t taste like bacon.

I ordered Tonkatsu Ramen for Php 225. The last time, I ordered Oki Oki Chicken Teriyaki Ramen. Maybe I should have ordered it yesterday instead of this one.

If you will notice, the presentation appeared to be disturbed. Because it was. I already ate few pieces of pork, put the egg on the side, and stirred the noodles when I remembered to take a picture. (You see, this is what Juned always says about food blogging: sometimes the food appears so inviting you devour it immediately.) The breading of the pork tasted a bit salty. The vegetables were crisp, not overcooked, which is nice. There were two pieces of what I think was the Japanese version of squid balls, except that these don’t have distinctive tastes, as if they were just pastes. The soup had a hint of shrimp stock, which surprised me, but I think it worked well.

I also ordered Mushi Gyoza for Php 125. Basically, it was just five pieces of steamed dumplings.

I’m not sure what’s in them, but they were tasty, with a hint of vegetables in them. There’s a dipping sauce of soy sauce with a bit of vinegar. The vegetable leaf is edible, but we did not eat it.

If you are a light eater, avoid Oki Oki. Their servings are huge. Otherwise, if you really need to eat large and craving for Japanese food, you may want to try Oki Oki. And no, this is not a good day-to-day eat – it will burn a hole in your pocket, and it will make you obese. Is it a good date place? Depends on your date – if she’s a light eater, avoid Oki Oki, or try their hot pot, which might be good for two. Next time I should try that out with friends.

Maybe next time I will do a Oki Oki v. Teriyaki Boy post. Any sponsors? =P

15
May

oKKK lang

Posted by | Categories Food | Tagged

(this is posted as a separate entry as apparently recipes are supposed to be separate from restaurant reviews. ktnxbai.)

The other night I took visiting friends from Europe to K.K.K. Pinoy Food Revolution Restaurant at 74 West Avenue (tel. 371-9099), and they liked the Filipino food very much. I think the best thing about the place is the menu, lots of pretty historical pictures.

I discovered that a cellphone camera isn’t exactly ideal as far as taking photos of food in a dimly-lit place is concerned.

Our consumption, for four people:

1 Sinuglaw KKK style 145.00

The peculiar thing is that the Crispy Pata and Kare-Kare were served first, then the rice and Talong, then the Sinuglaw and the Laing. This sort of haphazard delivery of courses isn’t appealing.

Anyway, Sinuglaw is their version of Kilawin, except it’s made of diced tuna chunks, with coconut milk and bits of pork liempo. They use a sweet kind of vinegar which was a bit cloying, but the whole thing was fairly pleasant.

1 Laing 125.00

Nondescript.

1 Krisping Krispy Knuckles 440.00

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Zero points for presentation, it looked like the pork knuckle was part of a victim of the Glorietta bombing. Tasty though, and for once, this seems to have come from a pig that was actually fat and not suffering from anorexia. Well-cooked skin, evenly crunchy and not oily at all. The sauce was conservative and that’s just to my liking, garlic, onions, vinegar and soy sauce, period.

1 Pinakbet 155.00

I have an irrational horror of Pinakbet so didn’t bother to try it. My European guests are, however, passionately addicted to it and proclaimed it some of the best they’ve ever tasted (this is their third visit to the country).

1 Ensalada Inihaw na Talong 100.00

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This time, the sweetish vinegar the restaurant seems to prefer went well with the naked eggplants and the diced vegetables heaped on them: nothing fancy, or nouveau, about the dish, lots of onions and a discreet amount of red chili.

1 Kare-Kare 330.00

DSC00020#1.JPG

Pluses: made with fatty beef. Good sauce, not runny, lots of vegetables and they weren’t cooked to death; good quality tripe, well done and with no suspicious aftertaste. Minuses: the restaurant likes to use the kind of semisweet bagoong that has the consistency of bird poop. This tends to ooze around the plate. But as kare-kare’s go, while modest in serving size, it was obviously a dish made of good, wholesome ingredients and while runny, the bagoong was tasty.

4 Plain Jasmine Rice 120.00

Not the biggest measuring cups were used.

The restaurant has a pleasant outdoor area, and we actually moved there after initially settling in the airconditioned area, which is more brightly lit. However, the airconditioned area was full and the noises being made by the other customers made pleasant conversation impossible. If there’s a near-universal defect of Philippine eating places, it’s that absolutely no thought is given to accoustics.

15
May

Poaching Eggs Is Easy

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We’re used to two ways of having our eggs – boiled (either soft or hard-boiled) or fried (whether scrambled or sunny-side-up). Taste-wise, people usually prefer fried eggs, but due to the relatively unhealthy preparation, most people actually hesitate to have it as often as they want. There is one way where one could get a consistency close to fried egg and it is through poaching. Poaching is not really big outside of the culinary world and is virtually unheard of in the Philippines. Poaching combines the best of both worlds, you get the light and delicate feel of an egg that has been while keeping your breakfast relatively oil-free.

Here’s how you poach eggs:

1. Prepare about 400-500 mL of water in a deep sauce pan. Put it on a stove set to medium.
2. Add 2 tablespoons of vinegar.
3. Crack one egg and place it in a small bowl.
4. Once the water is almost boiling lower the setting slightly and ever so gently drop the egg as near to the water’s surface as you can. Let it simmer.
5. You’ll know that your poached egg is done when all the white has sort of solidified (fancy term: congealed).
6. Season with salt and pepper.

Your main concern would be the vinegar, right? The vinegar does not lend anything to the dish flavor-wise. The acidic properties of vinegar simply ensures that the egg won’t break apart and just diffuse in the water. Boiling water might create a similar effect of breaking apart the eggs so it’s important to keep it at a particular temperature just below boiling.

You may also poach eggs using a microwave. Simply use a microwaveable container and estimate when the water is about to boil. Then in one quick go, open the oven door, drop the eggs and wait for it to cook! The result may not be as pretty as the ones you’ll make on a stove but your palate won’t really be able to tell the difference.

There you go, guys. Poached Eggs! That was easy, right?

15
May

Festive Cheesedogs

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Later that night I had Festive Cheesedogs.

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The cheesedog is all about faith. Faith in its really being made out of meat (you just don’t want to think too hard about what kind of meat, or if you do, not to discuss too thoroughly what offal consists of), and that it also has cheese. However, the cheesedog is handy, and can be consumed without the benefit of bread.

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You must consume cheesedogs two at a time. Eating only one leads to feelings of deprivation which will only make you want to eat something else, leading to a dangerous food spiral which may result in you becoming morbidly obese by the next morning. Eating three or more cheesedogs in one sitting, however, is overdoing it and will not result in a food spiral but possible late-evening indigestion.

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Being a processed meat product, and one priced to appeal to the quantity over quality market, the cheesedog has to go through various procedures to look like a real sausage, which it isn’t -not quite, anyway. For example, the type of cheesedog illustrated above, is encased in a kind of industrial plastic condom, which should be eased off the cheesdog prior to cooking. It is quite possible to cook the cheesedog while it’s still in its industrial condom, but it makes removing the condom more difficult prior to consumption. It is also possible, theoretically, to eat the industrial plastic sheathing but I don’t see why you’d want to do that. The cheesedogs, post de-sheathing, and the discarded plastic sheaths, are illustrated above. It’s a good idea to pierce the cheesedogs several times with a fork, if only to prevent their becoming deformed during cooking.

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Microwave on High for 1 minute. Remove from the Microwave. Marvel at the oily goo that has leaked out of the cheesedogs during cooking. The fussy consumer, at this point, could add to the pile of dishes waiting to be rinsed, by moving the cheesedogs to a plate, to divorce them from the oily goo. But the goo’s actually tasty and at 2 a.m., it’s not worth doing the degooing.

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And so, apply liberal amounts of tomato ketchup and Kewpie Japanese mayonnaise*, for that festive look and added flavor! Enjoy by piercing one cheesedog with your fork and swirling it around your festive sauce. Repeat until everything’s consumed.

*Kewpie Japanese mayonnaise is a basic bachelor food group, in the league of essentials such as tomato ketchup and hot sauce.

14
May

Palace: Attack v. Meralco a diversion =P

Posted by | Categories Ink | Tagged ,

There are a few things we can learn from the Fortress’ reactions to the pictures and the new witness-of-sorts in the NBN-ZTE deal. There are two deputy spokespersons who goes by the names Anthony Golez and Lorelei Fajardo, and their shenanigans always show a semblance of truth, even if that word is not in the official Fortress dictionary.

As a background, this supposed witness supposedly saw Gloria Arroyo, her husband Mike, and her Comelec chair Ben Abalos playing golf with officials of ZTE at a golf club in Szenzhen, China. The said golf course was near the ZTE headquarters, and the trio went there after a golf game.

The first salvo came from Golez, who said that the witness should charge Gloria Arroyo in the courts. Of course, let us pardon Golez’ ignorance of the law (even if ignorance is not an excuse, as per Civil Code), and tell him gently that we cannot sue Gloria criminally since his amo enjoys immunity from any suit. And to remove that immunity, she has to be impeached first. But, the House of Reprehensibles will never do that, however substantial the impeachment complaint is. Golez tries to be cute, but he instead insults every consciously-thinking (there are those who chose not to think) Filipinos.

Oh, he continued trying to be cute, first by stating that the meeting with ZTE officials were official. Mr. Golez, if it was official, how come it was not reported in the media? How come there was no press release? Second, he said that the picture hasn’t prove anything malicious, that there was nothing wrong with Gloria playing golf with her husband. Well, this proves that delicadeza is dead, a Filipino value that is left forgotten, for it hinders corruption. Mr. Golez, there is nothing wrong with a president of a country courting foreign investors. But to do so in secret is not right. And who paid for the golf game? Can you show us some receipts, please?

The second salvo came from Fajardo, the most effective spokeswoman that Gloria has ever hired. First, she admitted that her amo met with ZTE officials, confirming part of what that witness had said: that Gloria did had a meeting with ZTE officials, and insisted that it was not a secret. Ms. Fajardo, please read my comments to your colleague’s failed attempts to be cute, you might learn a thing or two.

And what she had said next implicitly stated the rationale for the Fortress’ attack against Meralco: it is a diversion, plain and simple. She said that the public should not be diverted from the true issue at hand, which is high power rates. Kaboom! There you go!

Gloria Arroyo must be paying top bucks for these two. She gets what she pays for. We are paying for them? We are f*cked!

14
May

Question of the Day: On vienna sausages

Posted by | Categories Food | Tagged ,

Inspired by MLQ3‘s Beantastic South of the Border Vienna Sausages:

What do you do to the broth of vienna sausages?

Leave your answer at the comments.

14
May

Beantastic South of the Border Vienna Sausages

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The advantage of anything canned is that if you maintain a minimal level of vigilance (if the top’s bulging, you know there’s a risk of Botulism, so don’t consume the contents of that can), you can derive a maximum of eating convenience. Back in 1995 I had fun writing Canned adobo and other S&T adventures, showing how before the war, being able to can Adobo was considered a highlight of Filipino scientific achievement.

The problem with something canned, though, is that it’s a set recipe. You could turn the canned item into something else by making it part of a recipe, but that defeats the purpose of having handy, canned food, doesn’t it? The point of bachelor living is you have better things to do than actually fuss around the kitchen.

So, the easiest thing to do, requiring minimal effort, is to combine one canned thing, with another canned thing, and warm it up in the Microwave.

Last night’s piece de resistance was Beantastic South of the Border Vienna Sausages. Amazingly easy!

All you need are:

DSC00015#1.JPGA can of Chili Beans with Beef. Usually, this is too spicy to eat on its own, unless you have it with rice, but if you don’t have any rice to eat it with, then you need something to cut the spice.

DSC00016#2.JPGAnd a can of Chicken Vienna Sausages. Actually, I prefer normal Vienna Sausages but these were on sale.

Open each can. Pour the Chili Beans with Beef into a microwave-safe bowl.

DSC00017#2.JPGPour out the broth from the can of Vienna Sausages, then plop the sausages over the Chili and Beans.

Heat on high in the Microwave for 30 seconds.

DSC00018#2.JPGSprinkle some Kraft Parmesan Cheese (grated Cheddar would be better, but since it doesn’t come pre-grated in a can, it’s too much of a bother to be grating at midnight) over the whole thing. Let it sit happily for a couple of minutes so the sausages absorb some of the sauce, and consume!

13
May

You only live once, so get the most out of food

Posted by | Categories Food | Tagged

Well, you know the story. You just came from work, you live alone at home, and you are hungry. What’s to eat is a universal question, and bachelors are not exempted. A bachelor always has two choices: cook or eat out.

This blog is born to help bachelors in making their day-to-day (or night-to-night) food decisions. If a bachelor (that might be you) chooses to brave the kitchen, what can he cook with ease, within a tight budget, and have some semblance of taste? If he chooses to go out and eat, where is the best place to get crispy pata (Manuel L. Quezon III’s favorite, based on Twitter)? If you are a bachelor who lives alone and if you grapple with food issues all the time, then this blog might be for you.

The bloggers behind this blog will present you with easy-to-cook, outrageous, and out-of-this-world recipes, if you choose to do the cooking yourself. And if you are craving for the best siopao in the metro, we will try looking for it for you. We will be asking you where to get the best food, and we will try it out. If we are satisfied, we will feature it.

We will try to post healthy recipes/food trips, but being bachelors, who cares, right? You only live once, so get the most out of food. That is our philosophy (until we reach the age of forty, or our blood pressure is 190/100, or we get married, whichever comes first), and we hope we could impart it through this blog.

Bon appetit!

12
May

Earning brownie points at Meralco’s expense

Posted by | Categories Ink | Tagged , ,

Members of the Government Service Insurance System should sue Winston Garcia for outright stupidity. And for acting against their best interest.

GSIS takes “contributions” from government employees every month, and GSIS invests these so that it can provide pension and death benefits to its members and their beneficiaries. GSIS holds a stake at the electricity distribution monopoly. A company declares dividends (in cash or stock) when a company has surplus earnings. So whenever Meralco declares dividends, the GSIS earns.

meralco logoThat is why I am astounded by Garcia’s complaint that the Meralco rates are high, and that Meralco is overcharging its customers. See news reports here (ABS-CBN), here (GMA), and here (PDI).

As general manager of GSIS, Garcia’s primary concern should be the money of its members. His main tasks are to ensure that the members’ funds are in good hands, invest these funds soundly, and pay benefits on time. In short, he works for the interests of GSIS members. Isn’t it for the best interests of GSIS members if Meralco pays high dividends? Will it not benefit GSIS members if there is a large return on investment (ROI)?

As a member of Meralco’s Board of Directors, Garcia has a say on Meralco’s direction. And if he claims that the government owns 35% of Meralco, they why did he and other government directors allow Meralco to operate as it is operating now? And if he claims that Meralco is deliberately witholding documents from him, why can’t he just oust the current management team instead of saber rattling in the media?

I don’t think his comparison between Meralco and VECO should even be given credence. Unless he can prove that Meralco and VECO are both apples, the comparison is unfair. Besides, who owns VECO? Read this:

VECO is owned and managed by the Aboitiz and Garcia families of Cebu.

And Winston is part of that Garcia families. So there.

—

I agree that electricity rates are high. There are many factors to consider why we have high rates, and one of them is the high cost of crude oil. To that, we can’t do anything; it’s market forces at work. Also, your electricity bill includes VAT. So technically, you are being VATed several times on just one bill: oil is subject to VAT, electricity is subject to VAT, even systems loss is subject to VAT.

And there, this regime can do something, but it won’t. It can reduce the VAT rate to 10%, but it won’t. Because the finances of this regime depends on the taxes that we all pay. So it wants Meralco to lower its rates; I suggest that this regime instead revert the VAT rate for oil and power to 10%. Asa pa ko.

What the regime did was to lower Napocor’s rates. Did you know why we had RVAT? The law that slapped us 12% tax on almost everything we buy? Back in 2004, as par of her win-at-all-costs strategy, Gloria Arroyo lowered Napocor’s rates. The net effect was ballooning of Napocor’s debts, most of which were guaranteed by the government. It brought about budget deficit, and to cover such deficit, we got 12% VAT. Currently, Napocor’s debt is worth half a trillion pesos, which we poor Pinoys are paying through our taxes. And lowering such rates will not help easing that debt. Short-term, we might have a lower electricity bill, but long-term, we are burying three generations of Pinoys in debt.

—

Meralco should instead counter the regime’s propaganda with transparency. Open its books without reservation and qualification. If it has nothing to hide, it should have nothing to fear. But wait. The truth shall not set you free here in this country. Just ask all of those whistleblowers out there.

I suggest you read Tongue In, Anew’s Meralco v. Mafia for a technical background on Meralco’s current political woes. It should also give you some insight on the regime’s (and its factotums Garcia, Ermita, Bunye, etc) possible motivation for attacking Meralco.

11
May

Happy mother’s day 2008!

Posted by | Categories Journal | Tagged ,

Arbet and mom

That’s me and my mom (her name is Bernadette, but relatives and friends call her Bebot), decades ago. I think I was in elementary school when this picture was taken – late 1980s.

To all the mothers in the world, and most specially to my mom (I heart my mom): happy mother’s day!

Aileen Apolo
Liz Cochico
Noemi Dado
Dine Racoma
Janette Toral