Cooking with Rodents

We were mulling over what movie to watch last Friday night. The choices were Harry Potter, The Simpsons and Ratatouille. The hubby wanted the movie from Disney-Pixar since he is a fan of any Pixar creations and computer generated animations. My daughter and I wanted Harry Potter. I don't know how we were convinced to watch the Chef Rat instead. But we are so glad that we picked Remy over Harry and Homer.

Ratatouille is about a rat named Remy who knows how to cook and Linguini, the garbage boy who became the accidental cook. As in most movies, especially Disney movies, suspend your disbelief and eagerly wait what lies ahead. A fish-out-of-water story. And if it's Disney, trust that they will make even the most hideous creature to something sweet and lovable if they have to. Think Monsters Inc. So imagine a rat who maintains a kitchen of a famous restaurant and manages to speak to a dead master chef (Gusteau) and mentors a human (Linguini) to produce the best tasting dishes. You will never look at rats the same way again. Haha! Maybe not but at least for two hours your heart will go for these rodents especially for Remy. The rat who held on with his ambitions against all odds. "I want to add something to this world".

Conflicts arise among rats, among humans and between humans and rodents. There's a universal message of understanding, determination, love and loyalty which the adults will appreciate. There are simple lessons on stealing and eating dirty food which the children will easily get. I'm saying this Pixar offering might not really be appreciated by most kids (especially 6 years old and younger) but it still engages the children with its perfect animation, action sequences and comic timing.

As for me, I love the scene where it shows Paris by night never mind that it is computer generated. I love the scenes in the kitchen. They make me want to learn more about cooking and concocting new dishes. I'm not good in the kitchen, at least not yet, but as the catch line in the movie says, "anyone can cook". I better believe that.

I searched for a ratatouille recipe and landed on this site. Looks yummy! I learned that a famous chef, Thomas Keller, concocted the particular ratatouille recipe for the movie and it's called confit byaldi. Nice trivia.

As in all Pixar movies, expect an appetizer. This time it's called "Lifted". You will surely laugh your heart out.

Enjoy Ratatouille! :) And this is worth keeping in mind, "If you are what you eat, then I only want to eat the good stuff".

Photo Hunt 20: Creative

My daughter and I have visited Cocorama a few months back. It's a cute dining cafe located at Shangri-La Plaza Mall in Mandaluyong City. I find the theme and the decors really creative. The walls are very bright. It has the 70s feel but with 80s color combination. I love the "flower power" mural. Part of the wall decorations are vinyl records I posted in one of my photo hunt entries. There's also a disco ball hanging from the ceiling.


They also have creative names for their menu list. There's Travolta, LSD, Scream and Jackson Five which I took a shot of below. I'm just wondering why there's one pancake which is not supposed to be there. Or is that supposed to be Michael Jackson? No offense to MJ fans out there. :)


A big red VW Kombi serves as a wall separating the kitchen and the dining area. It also serves as the counter. The angus beef cooked and served Filipino style (well-done, with vinegar on the side and garlic rice) is good.

Photo Hunt 19: Tiny

I fancy this one so I thought I'd share it also with the rest of the Photo Hunters. Below is a picture of tiny paper soaps in different shapes and colors. I don't use them nor anyone in the family but they are nice "decorations" for the bathroom dresser and can be a substitute for a freshener for small cabinets or storage areas in bedrooms. At least for me, those are the main purposes of these cute paper soaps. :)


Another sharing is this tiny replica of a high cut rubber shoes sans the shoe lace. My daughter loves this one because it looks so much like her pink Converse shoes. She loves collecting key chains but this one is her favorite.



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To TNChick, get well soon. My prayers are with you.

Photo Hunt 18: Shadow

I'd like to share with you some pictures I took of the monastery I have visited in Malaybalay, Bukidnon - Monastery of the Transfiguration. Bukidnon is known for the Del Monte Farm and its golf course. It's a great site no doubt but this monastery is the best place I've been when I was there.

Benedictine monks take care of the place and run their own store near the chapel. They have Monk's Blend coffee which I bought but haven't tried yet, Monk's Peanut Butter, peanut brittle or the Piniato. Also, religious relics, mostly St. Benedict medals. They say St. Benedict medals is worn to drive away evil spirits and prevent exorcism. The medals bear the phrases begone satan and may His presence protect us in the hour of our death, both in Latin.

I am not a Catholic but I appreciate the beauty of the place. It's very serene. Perfect for retreats or just some quiet walk. It has a very scenic view. This place soothes one's senses.

Here's a picture in one angle where huge church posts cast their shadows inside.

One of the bells of the church

A part of the interior. Note the altar made of solid rock.

The church's entrance.

The scenic view from the monastery.

My Simpson

This is cute. I couldn't resist posting this at this ungodly hour. It's way past my bedtime, *big grin*.

Here's my Simpson Avatar.


Haha, I'm way bigger than what is projected by this avatar. But not as big as the last choice in the 'built section'. It's just a movie anyway, so let me. :) I normally wear my hair down but lately, I keep it in a scroonchie. That means I am needing a haircut. (And I really have to explain my hairstyle, 'no?)

When you go around Springfield Town in the Simpson's website, you might just find yourself one of the characters, even "wanted" at that. Look at me. I'm there. :)



Have some fun and visit the site, The Simpsons Movie.

Photo Hunt 17: Fake

My family and I had our dinner last night at the newly opened Lamesa Grill at, where else, the second mall nearest us, Trinoma. As it had always been, I surveyed the interior and these caught my attention, the rain showers in the middle of the dining area and the bamboos which separate one table from another.

But of course, the rain showers are just coming from a shower hidden around the wooden band.


But the bamboo looks for real. Checking it further, the inside is not hollow but solid. It must be made of rattan.



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Last night was our second try at Lamesa Grill, owned by the Philippines' mega actress, Miss Sharon Cuneta and senator-husband, Francis Pangilinan. We had lunch at their branch at Mall of Asia a few months back. I would say the interior there is a lot better than what they have here at Trinoma. Here, it's very cramped. They tried to make the place cozy by putting in the falls, hanging veneer lamps, the rain showers, the bamboos but the place is not as comfortable as their first branch. Some tables have an awkward size that three seats make it all boxed in but leaving two seats make it really spacious.

The food is good though. We ordered the Lamesa Combo consisting of lengua, chicken barbecue, pork barbecue, baked scallops and tahong, grilled tanigue and prawns. Just take out those 'deadly black carcinogens' when you have your grilled food. One of our favorite dish is the tortang talong (eggplant omelette) - boiled eggplant with ground pork wrapped in scrambled egg topped with garlic and parsley. Very tasty.

The service is great. The food servers are very attentive and quick to respond to every query. Considering it was peak, it didn't take long for them to get our orders, deliver them to our table and bring in our bill. Normally, in most fast-casual restaurants, these three activities take around ten to fifteen minutes each.

What's good also was the 20% discount they offered for every meal. Just show the Lamesa Grill flyer and that will entitle you to a discount. Good enough. :)

***I'll be out, I will be visiting other photo hunters later tonight. :)

Photo Hunt 15: Shiny

I missed last weeks' photo hunt for hair. I was supposed to post the different "hair styles" my daughter since she was a year old up to the present. But I was out of town last week. I'm supposed to be in a mini-vacation right now with my family in a hotel somewhere in the metropolis but I squeezed in a few minutes to post. :)

Here's my share for this week's theme on Shiny. My daughter's got a lovely, shiny hair. She got it from her father. My hair is so hard to maintain whereas my daughter's, it's a breeze. Normally, Filipinos have black hair but my daughter and her father has brown-black. Well, that saves her from hair highlights when she reaches the age when beauty salon beckons. :)

Lakbayan

My Lakbayan grade is C!

How much of the Philippines have you visited? Find out atLakbayan!

Created by Eugene Villar.

Got this Lakbayan survey from various blogs. I took the survey four times, weeded out most "just passing through" answers. It's till A+. With Mr. Eugene's comment below, I checked and my booboo, I got them in reverse. Now I'm at ease with my score. Mostly I've been in Northern Luzon and the Visayas. A few places in the south and Bukidnon and Davao in Mindanao. I am in love with the Philippines. Why not? I may not love everything about this country but this is a beautiful place. There are lots of places to see and admire. My trips are both work-related and family vacations. If I may say, it's invigorating to get out of the metropolis once in a while and breathe a different air and see the greeneries.

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I was in the far north last week. It was my first time to try a grill house for lunch somewhere along the highway of Nueva Ecija. I always check out whatever local place we can try whether it's famous or not, both for dining and recreation. If my husband's main goal in going out of town is to rest, for me it's it's the excitement of discovering and exploring the places we go to.

My colleagues and I had lunch at Magellan's Grill before leaving N.E. and head to Isabela via the steep and zigzaggy road of Dalton Pass. The road here is referred to as "bituka ng manok" (chicken intestines) since it is shaped like that. That's how curved the pass is.

The eating place is simple, clean enough for our appreciation. The native motif looks nice too. The food is better than in fast foods. I like their pinaputok na plapla. Delicious. I don't know how to prepare this one. Think popcorn...that's how the plapla is served - inside a bloated aluminum foil placed in a sizzling plate. The novelty of it is in the opening of the foil using a knife. The smell of a well-cooked fish with onions, tomatoes, spices gets out of the foil which makes you salivate and devour the plapla at once.

Some pictures of the grill house. They can do away with the plastic cover which serves as table mats.

Six Weird Things and an Interview

The first meme was a tag from Salen. Here are some "unique" things about me. :)

Six Weird Things About Me

1. I keep the DVD of Prison Break in my laptop's disc drive all the time. Anytime that I want to take a peek of any of the episodes (or should I say Wentworth Miller), I can. Anytime. I guess this is not weirdness but an obsession. Haha!

2. I love chocolate cake but I have to have something salty with it. Like potato chips or fries. Here's a proof. Had some snack at Chocolat. Since there are no chips sold at the said restaurant, I asked my husband if he can buy me some chips or fries from any of the stores nearby.



3. Listening to music is quite an extreme activity for me. There are times I don't finish a whole song. I go to the next song even before it's finished. I can't even stay put on a radio station. I keep on station surfing until I find a song that I like. And if there's nothing that I like, I play a cd but then I skip songs and listen only to the songs that I like, sometimes over and over. I guess my daughter Andz got this habit. :) This goes on usually in the car on the way to work. The hubby gave up asking me to stop this.

4. I love the smell of new books, notebooks and magazines. I go to my favorite bookstore to take time to browse on the pages of a particular book before I buy it. As I browse, I can't help but smell the pages also, well discreetly. Hehe.

5. I love watching horror movies but it gets into me. I can't sleep properly for a few days.

6. I text someone and right after sending it, I find myself calling the person to get a faster response. This is being impatient I guess. Guilty as charged.

I will be tagging some bloggers after checking if they haven't done this yet. :)

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The interview of one blogger to another has been going on in blogs. I wanted to join the fun so I asked Julie to send me questions. Here they are:

1. If you were to choose your fate, would you choose the life you have now or would have rather have a different life? Please explain.
I would still choose my life now mainly because I would like to have the same family. They're the best. My life too is generally good, great even throughout the years. With setbacks, yes, but nothing that God cannot handle for me. :) But to be realistic about it, I will edit the things that I should have not done in the first place especially when I was still a teenager and choose do the right and sensible things.

2. I know that you treasure your only daughter. What if one day she tells you that someone from school is bullying her, teasing and calling her names. What would you do?
*I will not go on a rampage but I will empathize with my daughter.
*I will get all the details so I can have a good reading of what is happening.
*I will also tell her bullying is not right but definitely, retaliation is out of the question.
*I will tell her I am going to do something about it. I believe it is important that a child knows you are listening to what he/she is telling and if there is something that needs to be done, he/she has to know one way or another. Like adults, I believe children also don't want to be kept in the dark. The assurance should always be there that whatever they are saying are important.
*Definitely I will inform the teacher so he/she will be extra observant of the students' behavior.
*I will teach or help my daughter how to "counter" bullying. I will tell her to seek help from her teacher or an adult when someone is bullying her.
*But the best "shield" I believe is to support my daughter's confidence level so she can face up with the bullying in school. This is not about hitting back or doing the same thing, definitely not. But having that confidence even as a child will definitely serve her as bully-proof. :)

Let me also say that when our child is bullied, we should also check why they are being bullied. Is it lack of social skills? Is it being poor academically? We just have to get to it further to correct them the soonest possible time.

3. If you were to choose a "perfect vacation" for your family, where and what would it be?
The U.S., either in California or Las Vegas. My whole family is there, my parents and my sister and brother. I just want us all to be together again. That would be a great vacation!

4. What charity or community or organization would you be willing to support? Why?
In my own little way, I have supported several organizations that take care of our old, our young, our single mothers. Participated even in Gawad Kalinga. But there are these organizations I have been looking at and wanting to be a part of actively but one at a time. What's the most doable for me is to get involved in Children's Hour (which is affiliated I believe with UNICEF).

5. If you were to put up your own restaurant, what kind of cuisine would you be serving? Why?
I used to be in the Food Industry. The most lucrative really is the fastfood - burgers, quick fix value meals, the like. But personally, I will go for Italian cuisine and a cake shop. I love pasta and I love baking! :)

Photo Hunt 14: Shoes

It's photo hunt time. I thought I wouldn't make it. Had a lot of errands to do today and the past days. But will I ever miss my weekly photo posting? Nope. :)

Shoes is the theme. I love shoes. I have so many shoes, and it follows that it's the same thing with my only daughter. I love buying her shoes, all kinds. And I am a pack rat kind of mom when it comes to my daughter's things. I kept almost everything she used when she was a baby.

Like this one...presenting the shoes she used on her first birthday, a yellow Sesame Street shoes featuring Big Bird. Her first stuffed toy was also Big Bird. :)




Not even the toes fit now. Of course, my daughter's going nine years old already this year. :)