May 9, 2014 Al-Shams Restaurant (Cooking Ina’s Kitchen Book 2 – My First 100 Restaurant Review)

I set another goal of having to review 100 restaurant all over the metropolis and targeting to finish it by end of this year. I have left my blog site empty since May 2014 and I am diligently praying that I would finish it before 2014 bids goodbye. Just this May, I was able to visit a restaurant along Aguirre Ave BF Homes Paranaque called Al-Shams. Among other reviews I read, they offer authentic Indian, Pakistan and Middle Eastern Cuisine so my curiosity got me. We visited, along with my cousin to find out if it’s really authentic. By the way, I love Middle Eastern Cuisine so much even though I haven’t been in the place and tasted an authentic one. This restaurant maybe can do justice in convincing me more to love the cuisine.We ordered Chapli Kebab/Lamb which is minced/ground meat blended with spices.Tasting the flavors carefully, I realized the spices used were curry powder, cumin and masala if I am not mistaken. It tasted so good and I honestly enjoyed it. Just don’t mention the serving portion because I just can’t get enough of it. We ordered the flat bread together with humus. I find my own version better, hey this is my blog site and I have my bragging rights in here haha. It’s not bad at all but it can still do better. Mediterranean cuisine requires strong flavors and spices so I guess they failed a little on this part. We added rice in our order but I hasn’t been delighted enough because it is just a plain steamed rice mixed over with butter or margarine. Nothing very interesting about it. On top of these meals are the dips that I, well honestly enjoyed too. The spicy one and the sour cream sauce in which we dipped our grilled meat on, it just tasted perfectly well. But just before serving our meal, they offered us a chips platter which I was amused and delighted because, you see, it was just nuts and chips but the seasoning they poured over it was just as perfect. It tasted like a curry chips and it is just so brilliant idea to start it over with your meal. We concluded the hearty meal with, what drinks do you think will  compliment this type of cuisine? Of course, it is always the cool and refreshing yogurt drink.

With this experience, I would say, this restaurant has influenced me a lot about cooking more of the Mediterranean cuisine. It’s obvious, I just had my last event with this theme, and lucky enough, people enjoyed my food so much.

By the way, the place is clean and homey, and the air is filled with heaven scent of spices :)

AUG 29, 2014 28th Annual Coconut Week Celebration (Philippine Coconut Authority)

It has been a couple of months or so since I last visited my blog sites because my plate has been so full with a lot of activities both my online and food business. No matter how I tried to manage my time and keep up with my writing, I never had the chance to blog the most recent event I had. Now that I am a bit relax, I became so excited again to rekindle my once true love, writing. It has been an honor and a great privilege to become part of the annual celebration of the coconut week for the Philippine Coconut Authority. For one, I have been invited to research and develop recipes using locally produced coconut products. Second, I was given the chance to do a live cooking demo at SM Mega Trade hall. And most importantly, I was asked to blog about the event as well. It is more than a great opportunity to do all these for the Philippine Coconut Authority because doors to a greater heights has been opened for me.

During the research and planning stage, I was given sample of products like Virgin

Coconut Oil (CHEMREZ), Coconut Sugar (SUCHERO), Amino Sauce (COCO WONDER), Coconut Noodles (COCO BLESS), Lambanog (ORGY LAMBANOG), Organic Wine (VINO DE COC), Coconut Milk(COCO MANILA) and Coconut Butter (COCO WONDER) to name a few. It was an enormous challenge for me and it took me sometime to research and come up with the recipes which I needed to prepare during the cooking demo. After a series of testing, I was able to present the recipes I have formulated and prepared. I began the list of my recipes with the appetizer called Summer Salad with Cous Cous. Instead of using the usual extra virgin olive oil and balsamic vinegar, I used extra virgin coconut oil and drizzled it over with coco vinegar and organic coconut wine. The result was amazingly brilliant because the taste and the looks may have been the same but economically speaking, this recipe is more practical because the ingredients are far more in-expensive compared to the original recipe. My second recipe is an Asian Fusion called Malay-Phil Beef Kalderendang. Aside from the usual ingredients which the local kalderata is prepared, I added some flavors and spices which gave the recipe a taste, more like of how the Malaysian cooked it but remained local and marks the true flavors of our native land. To conclude the recipe, I have poured in the creamy coconut milk that gave the nutty and sweet flavor which complimented the spices and flavors in it. The result of course is perfect. Give me the privilege of boasting that one though but you can ask the people who attended the expo and experience the free taste (haha this is my blog of course). My next recipe is another fusion dish called Hainanesse Chicken Rice, which originally came from Singapore. I added the twist of combining the recipes I was assigned to and the result was just as perfect as the other recipes I prepared. Concluding the list of recipes I have prepared is another Malaysian inspired noodle recipe called Malay-Phil Laksa. Just like the other recipes I prepared, I combined the original ingredients along with the coconut recipes I have and the result gave me enough level of confidence that soon, we will be able to have the local version of this Asian Fusion, Malaysian inspired noodles.

It was a long day activity of live cooking demo, coffee and wine concoction demo and seminars but I never felt tired and exhausted because everyone has been very supportive of me. This event will not be made possible without the help of people from the Philippine Coconut Authority headed by Ms Josephine Nieva and her smart assistants Ms Fria, Sir Ganni and Ms Joan, Vino de Coco’s point person Sir Chris Esperas and all who participated during the event.

Some of the photos taken during the event is attached to this blog.

Go Green Go Veggies, Wellness, Nutrition and Healthy Living- Cooking Ina’s Kitchen Healthy Living Journey

Almost a week has passed, and I’m so thankful that after having so much things on my plate, I got this chance to write about this event from Mabuhay Temple. June 29, 2014 has marked the calendar for Fo Guang Shan Mabuhay Temple as they launched the very first of its kind event for wellness, nutrition and healthy living. An event with an objective to spread and educate “Vegetarianism”, to promote “A Habit of Eating Healthy” and to promote local ingredients to support local farmers. It has also been the event’s mission to help promote and enhance a kind of healthy living lifestyles through local ingredients which is easy to prepare and nutritious. It is also the event’s mission to empower and give support to local farmers by building a community in which each one is interconnected so that everybody has an opportunity to avail local, nutritious and culturally accepted and appropriate food. This event has also been very successful in terms of encouraging young and old in adapting healthy living lifestyle through vegetarianism.

A total of almost 300 plus participants who get to enjoy the food around, food samples from the generous sponsors and exhibitors and fun stuffs and raffle prizes drawn every hour.

Some of the generous sponsors during the event were, Fly Ace Corporation, makers of Dona Elena Olive Oil, Pasta and Jolly canned goods, Hela Eurospice and ingredients Inc, PAO Express, SOAP(Spread Organic Agriculture in the Philippines) Mulberry Hills Farm, Choco Loco Goc, Earth4us enterprises, Sweet Success Ingredients House, Fujidenzo, Philippine Star, Whirlpool, Writer Anson Lao of Philippine Chinese Chamber of Commerce and Agriculture, Prime Harvest Mushroom, Flavor Magazine and a huge numbers of generous sponsors. Cooking Ina’s Kitchen has been very lucky to be part of this one of a kind healthy food event and I am so honored and thankful for all those who enjoyed the Bean-nilia Beancurd and Chocolate Rhumballs.

Part of this prestigious event was the cooking competition among 4 schools who participated namely, St Scholastic College, Chiang Ka Chek College, Philippine Cultural College and bagging the first prize is the Philippine Women’s University. The competition was judged base on the high scores for Mise en Place 10 points, Correct Preparation 15 points, Taste 20 points, Secret Ingredients Usage 20 points, Creativity 15 points, Plating Presentation 10 points and Question and Answer portion 10 points with the total of 100 points. I was honored and a great privilege for me to be one of the panel of judges. There were cooking demos presented during the event from Chef Dorothy Ferreria and a whole lot of activities.

This healthy living event was also graced by the presence of some of the prestigious names in Food Industry,the former Binibining Pilipinas and healthy foodie herself Ms Sabrina Artadi, Carla Valencia of UNICOM Ingredients Phils and more.

I enjoyed, I was truly blessed and such a great honor to become part of this prestigious event and I hope this will be the beginning of a yearly gathering event of all the foodies. I have heard that since the event was a success, they are already discussing to have the second wave soon!