Fun and Mart Korean Grocery

I was so happy discovering this new shop in our neighborhood.  It's called Fun and Mart Korean Grocery.  My mom had been to it first, buying frozen dumplings for my children (which they loved fried or steamed).  The frozen popcorn chicken is easy and good for young and old alike.

I soon visited too, and I unearthed such great finds.

They have great fruit juice drinks.  I especially took a liking to their crushed peach juice. I have been buying them in boxes! It's not too sweet, and the pulp is not too much that it's annoying. It's refreshing and a great pick-me-upper for me.

They have different kinds of soy sauce and salad dressings and soba sauce.  Also bulgogi and kalbi marinades which are very reasonably priced.

They also carry the popular ginseng chicken stew Korea is famous for.  They are packed ready-to-eat. Just heat them. Nutritious and fortifying!

They have all sorts of canned goodies. Even the Korean snack of high-protein silkworm pupa! I hear it's a popular "pulutan".

I found my favorite frozen salted mackerel in Fun and Mart, also very reasonably priced.  We just pan-grill it with olive oil and some garlic.  It's very tasty, doesn't get dry when cooked.  It's very easy to prepare for packed lunch.

They carry premium beef for shabu-shabu hot pot and for bulgogi.  They even have wagyu steaks!

They carry all sorts for the potato-chip lovers out there.  Even the hard-to-find Calbee honey butter chip! My personal favorite is the Crown Gold White Cheddar Cheese which has sweet honey and is low in salt. 

They carry Korean beauty products too, like BB creams and Envisage Collagen Face Cleansing lotion, and Hairfull products.

I also love their home-made yogurt and shakes. They're just the right yummy level of tarty! I am eager to try their snow-flakes next!

 

Now, this is my treasured find from Fun and Mart-- the Honey Butter Macadamia.  It's my most favorite snack these days.  Great with beer too.  They run out quickly, but you can always give them your name and number.  The staff is very efficient with orders and they send me messages once what I need are back in stock. 

They are open til 11pm in the evenings, so I can easily catch them after work when I want to (which is often). Fun and Mart is at the ground level of the Bellitudo, along Katipunan in White Plains. 

read more "Fun and Mart Korean Grocery"

lunch at Tapella

A meal of Spanish cuisine is always something I look forward to, and my recent lunch at Tapella in Greenbelt 5 did not disappoint. The place has such an inviting, comfortable feel to it. It was a great place for business lunches before during my banker days. And it still is an apt choice now for enjoyable meals with colleagues, friends and family.

We started with this generous salad of mixed greens with a tasty tamarind balsamic dressing.  It also has some of my favorite things-- candied walnuts and goat cheese!  The greens and tomatoes are the freshest.  It is an appetizing sweet-sour start to a good meal.

Next on the menu is the refreshing Mango Gazpacho. This is a classic Spanish-style cold soup of tomatoes and olive oil, and Tapella's version has crab meat, salmon roe, and mangoes as a twist!   

The next starter dish is another must-try! This very tasty sisig is made with eggs, morcilla or blood sausages, and pork over shoestring potatoes. It's very special! I can imagine sharing this with some friends over drinks at happy hour!

Truffle-based pastas are popular these days. Tapella's Truffle Cream Pasta, though, is a real feast for the senses.  It reaches you at the table with a heavenly, mouthwatering smell. The use of Spanish jamon as bacon makes it a truly singular experience, delicious yet not overpowering at all.   It is a really delightful dish even my picky children will surely like.

Tapella's Maya-Maya fish recipe is a hit with me too-- it is garnished with lots of my favorite mussels and mushrooms! This is indeed a light and pleasant dish with its white wine parsley sauce.

For dessert, chocolate is always a no-fail choice.  But this Lava Cake turned out to be one of the best I have ever tried.  I love warm chocolate desserts, and this cake is not too sweet, moist and thoroughly warmed just right.

Tapella is offering Christmas set meals til the New Year. Check it out.

Or if your celebrations are at home or in the office, you may call them for catering services. You can choose from set menus or have them customize one for you.

I can't wait to go back for some wine, tapas, paella, and lengua. Here's their menu!

Tapella is at the Ground Floor of Greenbelt 5, Ayala Center in Makati City.

Phone Nos.: (02) 757-2710; Telefax: (02) 757-27-11

Mobile No.: +63917-712-4546

read more "lunch at Tapella"

Elsewhere

"Elsewhere", a solo show by artist Jonathan Ching opened at the Silverlens Galleries last October 29.  This successful show of photographs and paintings will end this Saturday, November 21.

Just like before, this artist presents us with an unconventional view of aesthetics. In his multi-panel paintings and his photographs, we glean insights into the memories and interpretations of the artist--the allure of the simple, the attraction of the broken-down, and the beauty in the unexpected.  

Big and proud, these signature detailed impastos must require so much both physically and mentally. All the work and time to translate thoughts and experiences and plans into creating these evocative artworks must be a repetitive cycle of exhaustion and gratification. From one small moment when Jonathan Ching sees something we are blind to, and feels something we are numb to, the knock on his door opens us to a whole new world, a step into beauty and hope. The whole process takes the artist "elsewhere", just as we eventually are too. 

As Paulo Coelho says, "Not everyone can see his dreams come true in the same way."

BOTTICELLI'S DAUGHTER

SOMEWHERE CALLED RED

INTO THE FOREST

WARM IS THE COLOR OF MY DREAM

THE MOUNTAINS AND THE SEA

ELSEWHERE

ELSEWHERE

read more "Elsewhere"

FATES and FURIES by Lauren Groff

It is utterly conceivable that one marriage can have different meanings to the couple it brings together.  The ideal is a true unity of spirits, a true communion of souls.  Yet it connects two people with different histories, different upbringings, different psyches, and different needs.  Thus makes a conventional marriage with two different realities. Two people inhabiting two completely different spheres in one marriage.

Using the female deities of Fates and Furies as metaphors, the novel is divided into two parts, each part aptly and respectively named.  The first part, Fates, is the story as seen from the view of Lancelot, nicknamed "Lotto".  This half of the narrative personifies destiny, portraying Lotto as the knight-in-shining-armor that his namesake is.  Lotto was fated to be born into wealth and privilege. Lotto was fated to be actor-turned-genius-playwright. Lotto was fated to have a solid marriage with the ever-devoted Mathilde.

The Furies half of the narrative is the story of justice and vengeance. For Mathilde, who comes from a history of tragedy, abandonment, and exploitation, this marriage is a lifesaving act.  She will do anything and everything to save Lotto and their commitment to each other.  Thus her fears harbor her secrets. Her story lets us in on her behind-the-scene life: a life of both devotion and betrayal, filled with acts that save and acts that squander.

It is difficult to judge who is the good and who is the evil, which secret builds up and which secret destroys. Characters, in life and in fiction, have to deal with complexities and surprises using tools they have acquired growing up, resulting in equivocal acts that are difficult to clearly classify.

This book, though, is undeniably a good read.  It is completely satisfying--  shifting versions and emotions, two points of view, and all its beautiful sentences.  I end this entry with some of my favorites.

"If one might die at any moment, one must live!"

"Some Cupid kills with arrow, some with traps."

"Please. Marriage is made of lies. Kind ones, mostly. Omissions. If you give voice to the things you think every day about your spouse, you'd crush them to paste. She never lied. Just never said."

"Paradox of marriage: you can never know someone entirely; you do know someone entirely."

"Never's a liar."

"Happiness feeds but doesn't nourish."

"Because it's true: more than the highlights, the bright events, it was in the small and the daily where she'd found life."

read more "FATES and FURIES by Lauren Groff"

A Quick Getaway to Puerto Princesa

My girlfriends and I planned a quick trip to Puerto Princesa in Palawan last August.  Despite the torrential rains in Manila, Palawan only had intermittent showers, so we were able to experience and enjoy roaming around and visiting their notable tourist spots. And we saw many of its famous mountains and mountain ranges.

We stayed at a family room in Aziza Paradise Hotel. This hotel is clean and convenient. And they have great breakfast food, including my favorite marinated danggit! 

We wanted to get immersed in the local culture for three days, so we opted for local food for our first lunch.  We were brought to Ka Inato. We enjoyed their seafood dishes, especially the Panginas Anghang (sisig made of shell meat), the Palawan Inihaw na Isda (very fresh parrot fish with okra, talong, and kamote tops), and the Bulalong Yamang Dagat (seafood in thick gabi soup with malunggay and other vegetables).

 

Then I noticed these bags of water with a coin inside that hung near the ceiling all around the restaurant. I could not resist asking what they were for. Guess what? They are to ward off flies! The idea is that flies will get scared when they go towards the bags of water.  What they see will be their own magnified reflection or the flash of light from the metal coin within and be frightened off!

Dinner was at the famous Kalui Restaurant.  We took a tricycle (roomy tricycles are numerous around the city) to get to the place.  The place has a warm, local, homey feel.

Their menu is very simple, comprising of mostly seafood.  We hear that reservations are required as their kitchen never stocks up.  They buy enough for what they need for the day as they don't freeze the day's catch. Everything is served fresh; you will notice it. It was a delicious and satisfying dinner.

We were also able to go thru the world-famous subterranean river. We saw the caves, the bats and the limestone structures. Along the way, we saw monkeys on the trees.

This is the cave entrance, where you enter, riding small boats with no more than 8 passengers and one boat man / tour guide. It's very dark inside the caves.  It's an experience too enthralling for pictures to describe.  The limestone structures formed slowly thru the passage of time are truly sights to behold.

After the underground river tour, we had a local lunch by the beach.  And it featured the tamilok. Tamilok is actually a shipworm, a bivalve mollusk that burrows into the woods of mangrove. It is my very first time to try this native Palawan delicacy. It is eaten raw, dipped into spiced vinegar, like a kinilaw.  It's taste is very similar to raw oysters. Not bad at all! 

And since we are talking about "firsts", I had the chance to hold on to a live python in the Palawan Butterfly Eco-Garden and Tribal Village on this trip too! 

Another not-to-miss attraction is firefly watching in Iwahig. You take a small banca and go around the river among the mangroves in the dark of the night.  It is serenely beautiful!

I end this blog with another must-try food place. Go to Rene's Saigon.  It is located very near the airport. Mang Rene is always there to give recommendations. The noodles soup and the spring rolls are very good and affordable to boot.  And don't miss their homemade french bread.

read more "A Quick Getaway to Puerto Princesa"