Dim Sum at Luk Yuen

Before having dinner at a Singaporean restaurant the other night, I had some dim sum with T and D. Dim sum is like small portions of food usually steamed, fried and sometimes broiled earliest associated with drinking tea among travelers along the Old Silk Road (which can extend from China all the way to Turkey).

Our Dim Sum place of choice in Makati was Luk Yuen. We weren't planning to eat much, just a merienda, which is really just a light-in-between snack that most Filipinos have.

While waiting for them, I was served some crunchy and salty fried wanton wrappers as I ordered a serving of taro puffs. Taro puffs is my ultimate dim sum favorite and I only like it from Luk Yuen. It's fried mashed taro with minced pork filling. It's just always so divine with the chilli sauce. The only taro puff better than Luk Yuen is at the Mandarin Oriental's Tin Hau restaurant. Now that is very high end.

When they arrived, we ordered a serving of radish cake and hakaw (shrimp dumplings). They weren't the very best we've had but were good complements to the taro puffs and hot tea. The wait staff were even generous enough to give us hot soup. All in all, total bill was under US$7.00. Such a gastronomic bargain!

Working Class Foodies

My dear blogger-friend recommended Working Class Foodies over the weekend and now I am addicted! "Siblings Rebecca and Max Lando, her dogs, and friends and family, on a quest to find the best local and seasonal ingredients the city has to offer, and turn them into delicious meals - all while keeping the budget under $8/person." Check out this video.



I'd do the same from time to time and if only I have a video cam of sorts. Maybe a little project D and I can do at home. And we've got a dog too, Chewie. :)

Capones Island and Nagsasa Cove

Although I am from Zambales, I never really heard of Capones Island and Nagsasa Cove until a week before I joined some friends for a weekend off. I was familiar with Anawangin and was intrigued: how could the beaches have pine trees?

It had been a long first quarter of 2011, with three trips cancelled so far, I decided, I was not gonna flake on this one. I almost did but I was persuaded to show up, and thank God, I did! For roughly US$58, all we had to do was show up at the meeting point in Quezon City, and we were driven away from the city for a weekend. This rate included private roundtrip transport from Manila, meals at the cove (2 lunches, one breakfast, one dinner and one merienda), the tents we slept at, the service and humor of the tour group we hired.