Bonding with Banofee

Papa Giov, Embong and I, together, make up a little family here in our second home called Makati Med. Aside from being each other's confidant (med life, love life, no life...), shoulder to cry on or make pasan our downtrodden bodies, eager ear to make chismis to, and last but not least, companion in one of the loudest and heartiest bouts of laughter you've ever experienced. Together, mas malala pa kami sa Power Rangers or Pussycat Dolls or, sige, isama mo na yung Rolling Stones at Juan dela Cruz Band. We are a force to be reckoned with. And perhaps the one thing that binds our friendship for all eternity is our love for Banofee pie. Yup, that sickeningly sweet addictive little cream pie that appears quite innocent on the outside but is truly deadly on the inside. For the ill-informed, it is a pie made of a graham crust, succulent bananas surrounded by caramel, dotted with large melted chunks of milk chocolate, covered with whipped cream. It is a simple, comforting little dessert. I'm proud to say I was the genius who introduced it to them. The Starbuck's one, when it was P95 pa. We even made takas from the hospital one time to gorge ourselves silly, one pie each, mind you, in RCBC tower. They even surprised me with one for my birthday. So sweet.

Anyways, we had a taste of Banapple's version last duty night, care of Hazel Carandang (God bless you!). One bite...mmmmm punyemas talaga. Parang heaven. But after much contemplation, I give you my evaluation of Banapple and Starbuck's Banofee pies. Okay let's start with Starbuck's: It's big. Sorry, I'm such a glutton kasi when it comes to sweet things. Dapat satisfied and then some. Next, panalo yung melted chocolate chunks, strategically scattered all over the pie. Yun yung kilig factor. Plus, it goes well with their coffee. Banapple: It's cheap! (P65!) and it's big enough ha. Their caramel is definitely tops! It's creamier and more buttery. I just don't like the icing though, parang yung cheap icing ng Goldilock's cake na 99% made of air. Also, the chocolate shavings are kinda flavorless, like chocolate that you buy in blocks. The verdict: it doesn't matter what you buy, you'll always, ALWAYS end up a happy little kid.

Ano to? Scrotum? - Nov 19, 2007

My ate finally treated me out to dinner, after much cajoling. Being another food vagabond, she wanted to try New Bombay, a seemingly expensive Indian resto in Columns, Ayala, cor. Gil Puyat.
The prices were surprisingly affordable and to my relief, the food was kinda tweaked to suit the taste of Filipinos, which is more often than not, inclined towards anything sweet. We had shrimp curry and chicken tandoori, which were, suffice it to say, rather addicting. The chapatti was sad and so was the Lassi. I wanted big thick bread and sweet, thick Lassi like the stuff they had in Bollywood, Greenbelt. So anyways, on to dessert. I read the menu. Milk balls made from flour soaked in sweet water. Eh? Ano yun? Weird. My sister goes for it. The waitress laid it on the table. 3 pieces of sad-looking golden brown balls soaked in straw-colored sabaw, giving them a repugnantly wrinkled texture. Similar to… a guy’s scrotum. I pierced it with a fork. It almost falls off. It’s taste? Soggy bread dipped in sugar water. Oo, weird nga. It was probably a dish that only old people in India enjoy or were capable of eating. Yeccch…

Nuccio's Gelato - Nov 13, 2007

After a 2 hour heart to heart talk about tragedy of love, Ryki and I thought it appropriate to end a carb-laden Nuccio’s Italian pasta dinner with some gelato. Nuccio’s by the way is tucked in the middle of Jupiter St., Makati. “So are you gonna choose something gay like strawberry? Coz I know 2 guys who would (itago nalang natin sila sa pangalang Peej Bernardo at Justin Manlongat).”, I said. He replies, “It’s ok, Pistachio’s my favorite.” Good. I’ve always found strawberry-loving guys to be be quite disturbing. After 10 minutes of staring aimlessly at the freezer, I finally chose mocha, all because it looked like chocolate (I ordered chocolate before). After our first spoonful… silence…nibble, nibble…mmmmm… “Wow, talagang Pistachio nga to no!”, Ryki says, amazed. I was melting some caramel on my tongue and was near fainting. “Punyemas, oo nga. Di mapapagkailang mocha nga to.” Sure enough, both disappeared in a matter of seconds. To date, this is my favorite gelato, smooth and creamy but not milky, punched with super sweet caramel morsels, and screaming “I am Mocha!”. Amichi’s gelato is kinda watered down. And please don’t buy hazelnut, it’s horrible. Pazzo has my favorite flavor -- Mexican chocolate (dark chocolate, liquer and chili. Yum! Yum!) but melts in room temperature faster than when you say “Holy crap, it’s turned into a mud puddle.” I have no idea how much Nuccio ice cream is but guessing from the P250 pasta, it probably doesn’t come cheap. Just do what I do, ask a really good, EMPLOYED friend to buy it for you☺.

Masque L'Amour

I can’t believe I was even reluctant to go. Tito Met gave us a couple of tickets (P12,000 each, mind you), to a charity banquet entitled, Masque L’Amour, a gorgeous, formal event in Makati Shangri-La Hotel, my favorite, which was ultimately such a delight to the senses. So off we went, my dad looking adorably scruffy in his dark suit, my ate, in an intimidating silver serpentine dress and me in this strange black multi-level (which turned out to be all right). Oh wow, when I entered the ballroom…huge red curtains, dozens of blood red roses as centerpieces, glittery face masks, a table full of elegant china and goblets, and a stage illuminated by ballerinas and opera singers. I felt elated and simply joyful to be a spectator. The food, was of course, excellent, care of a German chef (who is supposed to be famous. I don’t know him but what can you expect from a person who’s cooped up in the hospital the whole day). We had lobster, filet mignon, and sea bass cooked to perfection, matched with red and white wine, making everything simply divine.
And of course, the grand finale…a huge slab of flourless chocolate cake, shaped like, what else, a grand piano! With a chocolate mask to boot. First bite…I felt my cheeks tingle. Afterwards, there was a remote feeling of guilt that something so good shouldn’t be eaten by mere mortals (and I didn’t want to ruin the design, too). Yup, it is definitely pure chocolate and I love chocolate, like I love medicine or art or Jimmy Eat World. And I was grateful to the high heavens that I was neither elderly nor suffering from diabetes. I only ate half of it of course because it was too rich. Haha as rich as those red curtains, roses, guests and that damn blasted opera music. Moral of the story: Try to say yes more often so you won’t miss out on stuff like eating a chocolate grand piano☺.

Dessert Vagabond

My love for dessert started to border on obsession when Justin and I started to date. He was such a big fan of anything sinfully saccharine and would require every dinner date to end with dessert. Some of our staples include the following: Mudpie from TGIF, Paradise Pie from Chili’s, Turtle Pie from Sugarhouse and the humongous Caramel and Pecan Sundae from CPK. Nothing fancy, just sweet, comforting treats that turned us into happy little fools.

My idea for this blog came from Doc Jeff, our Surgery Chief Resident, who, on the other hand, is obsessed with anything that can be chewed and swallowed (and chicks who are pretty and Chinese. Interested anyone?). So, Doc Jeff, if you read this, be rest assured that this blog was not intended to copy your work. It’s more of a tribute of sorts. You might actually learn something new (which I doubt very much coz I think you’ve pretty much covered every resto in this country). Readers can check out his food blog, Scalpel or Skillet, in this URL www.docchef.blogspot.com.

So on to my first entry.