Photo credit from http://www.flickr.com/photos/disneymike

This is beyond fashion, but I just wanted to note that with my upcoming anniversary I’ve been thinking of cooking for that special someone. And when I say cooking, it makes me think of myself in all sorts of metal armor, and not the apron or even gladiator platforms. Cooking to me is something waaay beyond glamorous. In my two decades of existence, I have never once decided to cook or become a cook or a chef or even a domestic goddess in the kitchen. I always believed that I should leave cooking to the house cook or whoever wants to cook (moms, for instance). Also, I’ve left the cooking, baking, food experimenting to my brother who in fact, wants to take cooking to the next level by taking classes after he’s done with uni. On the other hand, I’ve just been always left with the eating.

Last week, my mom fooled me into the kitchen and decided that I should cook lunch. It made me all queasy, angry, and to a certain point betrayed. I then cooked, chopped potatoes, threw in veggies in the pan, mixed them - all without the slightest sight of passion or even interest. My eyes were glued on the telly, I was pretending that I hated what I was doing, when in fact I wasn’t. The act of cooking was, in fact, (to me) a bearable experience. I guess that’s a step up from my usual cooking attempts that involve heating pre-cooked meals and frying what-ends-up to be burnt hot dogs. This time, I read one of my favorite sites which actually happens to be a food website and it detailedly narrated a steak experience which left me all drooling and carnivorous after reading the last sentence. This post then led me to Elbert’s Steakroom. I’ve known about this resto for quite some time, but have never had the chance to actually look for it, as it is hidden in a building somewhere in Makati. The “How We Do It” section of their site actually conjured me to daydream of cooking steak (or could I have confused it with thoughts of eating the steak?). At least finally, I have thoughts of cooking. Reading through it though, I realized it’s too unrealistic for me to re-create everything (or a single part, yeah). I mean, I don’t even have a single clue about food and cooking, let alone look for USDA Prime meat, grape seed oil, and Sicilian sea salt. And from the sound of it, I doubt that I’ll find all these items here in 90 degrees (this country) or even have them shipped here just in time for the anniversary, all while learning how to cook the perfect steak. So I guess I’ll settle for something more realistic, say cooking decently fried hot dog or something. Or I can suggest Elbert’s Steakroom just because someone said Outback can’t even compare to Elbert’s and to think I’m crazy about Outback. Oh well, I’m going to the kitchen now in an attempt to cook, and hopefully not accidentally burn myself in the process, all in the name of love.

Other notable sites:

The Next Nigella - been defunct since 2006, but I still like to browse through it

Trainee Domestic Goddess

Cook Almost Anything

Pinoy Cook

Cooking With Amy

Cook Sister

Our Awesome Planet

Eat and Run

Have you ever had those days when all you want to do is explore something new, try something different? That’s how I felt yesterday when I met with le boyf. I literally begged him that we go to Cubao Expo formerly Marikina Shoe Expo (an artsy place I’ve been accidentally reading about for some time that I wanted to go to). Prior to meeting, I warned him to wear shorts as it was very hot outside because I so wanted him to be comfortable in case Cubao Expo ends up to be a huge walking ground. As it turns out, the place is quaint and tucked in Cubao. It’s near the Gateway Mall, Rustan’s Supermarket, and the bus terminal in Cubao. Cubao Expo is beside Puregold. To those planning to check it out don’t worry, there’s a spacious parking lot inside, but since we didn’t know, we ended up parking outside luckily in front of a thrift shop which happened to be one of our stops. We were starving so immediately we looked for a resto to have lunch in and we saw Bellini’s. I thought it was closed because of the stiff exterior of the restaurant. When we went inside it was lovely! Almost the entire place was hand-painted, even the ceilings. They also consistently played Italian music which is a plus and most of the diners were quietly enjoying their meal or just feeling the ambiance. It was lunch time, but the place was far from packed which le boyf loved because he disliked crowded dining places that resembled wet markets. The food was fantastic - we had pizza and pasta, typical Italian meals. I didn’t want to leave because it was just so cozy and quiet, it felt like I was in someplace different. Moving on, we went inside the quaint little shops which ranged from thrift shops (the Grand Thrift Shops is here) to outlets to art galleries. But the place sadly, seemed to have only a few fans as there were only a few people going around. I guess most people are now in malls nowadays to escape the scorching heat. Our next stop was MegaMall as I had to buy a couple of (unusable) things such as leggings. I can’t believe I bought leggings again that I won’t be able to use because it’s just too hot. And I just bought sparkly leggings last week. Ironically, we also happened to finish our date by eating in an Italian fast food, Sbarro. This is what I wore yesterday (suicidally uncomfortable high heels):

This is my first ever personal post, but since it’s Valentine’s season I’ll go ahead and spread some romantic germs on everyone’s spirit.  My beau told me that he reserved seats in Vieux Chalet because that’s where he wants to give me a Valentine’s day treat here. I was ecstatic of course because I’ve heard the place is posh and what better way to celebrate Valentine’s than to dine in fashion! Oh well that’s just me raving.

Photo courtesy of ourawesomeplanet.com

* For a more extensive review, to view more pictures, or to get the directions of Vieux Chalet go to Our Awesome Planet