The Search for the Scale-less Sardines

Have you ever wondered down the aisle where all sorts and brands of sardines are neatly displayed and asked yourself... hmmm... now which one of these doesn't have scales on them? Well, I have! And I kept forgetting which ones they were! So this time, I have documented all the sardines I could eat and rate them so as I won't ever forget again. Hopefully, you'll also find the perfect sardines for yourself as you read on.

Note: This is a work in progress... will keep updating this post till I find the perfect one! Enjoy!

Mega Sardines

Pros: - Easy to open can

Cons:

Resto Review: Little Quiapo, Quezon City

After my bread making class at World Citi College, we went to Little Quiapo, Quezon City to have our lunch. This place is well-known for their Halo-Halo and pancit palabok.

My husband ordered their Kalderetang Baka (Php 293) - rice not included. I so love its sauce, it was

Learning How to Bake Breads

I have now been using my convection oven for more than a month now and I am so excited to bake more goodies using it. Luckily, CashCashPinoy has ongoing deals on bread making and basic baking so I right away bought vouchers and scheduled my classes for this September.

My first class with The Baking Workshop was last September 7 (Sunday) from 8AM to 12Noon at World Citi College's Culinary Kitchen located along Anonas, Quezon City. Chef Voj was our

Getting healthy with Sexy Chef's Healthy Plate Diet Meals

After having a really bad experience with a certain diet meal delivery, I didn't go back to having diet meal plans for some time. But now I feel like I'm once again gaining weight and since I'm afraid of exploring new diet meal companies - I'm relying on one of the most sure companies I know - The Sexy Chef.

I received an SMS from them offering their new diet program, The Healthy Plate Diet, at half the price just by replying to them my company name. The Healthy Plate Diet is originally priced at Php1,000 per day but for a limited time they are offering it at half price which will cost you Php2,500 for 5 days. The Diet Plan provides 1,200 calories per day which includes breakfast, lunch, snack and dinner. Meals will be delivered to you a day before consumption usually around 3PM to 5PM in the afternoon.

Day 1
Breakfast: Mediterranean Omelet
My breakfast for today was omelet stuffed with eggplant and ground meat (I think) in red sauce. I

My first muffins: Boracay Calamansi Muffins

I have always wanted to make muffins for myself and since my husband got me an oven - I can now make my dreams turn into reality. hahaha

My husband bought a convection oven for my birthday, you can read about it here. But I can't start yet, I have to find the perfect muffin/cupcake pans that would fit my cute oven. I finally found one in Landmark Makati - it was a myKitchen 12 cup muffin flower pan which costs Php200+ each.

My friend also gave me a EuroPro 12 cup muffin pan and cookie tray but unfortunately the muffin pan was too small and the cookie tray was too big. My husband was able to make alterations to the muffin pan, he bended both sides a little bit and voila! it now fits. My husband is really so supportive. (",)

Anyways, we recently just went to Boracay and we tried the famous Real Coffee Calamansi muffins and it was delightful and I would love to be able to do one for myself. So after searching the

How to Apply for Philippine Passport

Did you know that you can now apply for your Philippine passports in malls? If this is your first time hearing this then read on.

Getting a Passport is now made easier and more accessible as we can now schedule for an appointment online and make our personal appearance in their satellite branches located within malls! Yehey!

My passport has two more years left before its expiration but my husband insisted on renewing it to update my last name to my married name so that we can apply for a US VISA. So here's the steps on

Product Review: Imarflex 3-in-1 Convection & Rotisserie Oven

My husband recently just bought me one of my dream stuff in the whole world - my very first cute li'l oven! Well, actually I was the one who ordered the oven but he paid for it. hehehe

The 30L Imarflex 3-in-1 Convection Oven costs Php 4,999 in malls, but if you order directly in their warehouse branch they will give you a discount. Plus you can also order from them another rack for Php 370 only - this way you can place two cookie trays at once to save on electricity. I have mine delivered to my doorsteps at no extra cost! Such a great deal! (But I think they now charge a certain delivery fee depending on the area)

The oven's temperature is in Celsius and can be adjusted up to 250C. It has 5 function selectors: (1) Upper Heater, (2) Lower Heater, (3) Up & Down Heater, (4) Rotisserie + Convection + Upper Heater, and (5) Convection + Both Heaters. I have only tried using function 5 to bake some goodies which I will be writing on a separate post soon.
Your oven should come with the following parts: Rack & Tray holder, Skewer, Grill Rack, Baking Tray and a Crumb Tray. Mine came without the Crumb Tray so I called up their office and they came back to my house the next day to deliver the missing item. Two thumbs up for the really great service.

I have already used my oven twice to bake a Calamansi Graham Pudding and Calamansi Muffins (both recipes can be found in Pepper.ph) and the results were great! There were no problems so far. As for its energy consumption, I would still have to wait for my next electricity bill.

Happy baking everyone!

UPDATE: They now charge delivery fee. Please log your inquiries to know their delivery fee.

UPDATE 7/28/2015: I have been informed that there will be a price increase of php500 effective August 1, 2015 which makes its SRP to Php 5500.

Resto Review: Kichitora of Tokyo

We were looking around SM Megamall for a place to eat and I was as usual indecisive of what I'd like to eat. After some time, we decided to try out Kichitora of Tokyo found in the 2nd floor of the Mega Atrium.

We ordered their set meals which had a side dish and a portion of their dessert. It price depends on the type of Ramen you choose to go with the meal.

My husband ordered one of their best sellers, the Paitan Ramen Zenbu no Se (Php 300 small). Honestly I am not fond of Ramen but when I tasted this one I instantly fell in love with it. The soup was so delightfully flavorful, its meat was so tender and noodles was just right. No wonder this is a best seller.

My husband's set meal came with Chicken Karaage (Php 150 single) which you drizzle with lemon juice. The breading was crispy but the meat was not as flavorful.

My order on the other hand was soy-based, the Hokkaido Miso Ramen (Php 290 small). It was also delicious but after some time it became quite salty for my taste. I do love the grilled meat - it was tender and added a smoky taste which complimented the overall dish.

My side dish was their Gyoza (Php 150) which I can attest was one of the best Gyoza I have tasted so far.

As for our dessert, we were served with their Almond Jelly (Php 150) which also came with some strawberry sauce to add sweetness. This was nothing special but I was still delighted because I just love jelly.

Overall, their food was delicious and was served fast. The only downside was that their staff were not friendly and attentive to their customers. But still, I would love to eat here again if we have the chance.

Loom Bands Galore

I just got myself a set of Loom Bands and I was so excited to try it out.

I bought my set at 1StopBiz for Php150 but for a limited time it's now sold at only Php100! This set is perfect for those who just want to try it out first before investing on those expensive ones.

The set consists of 600pcs bands, 24pcs s-hook, loom board, multi-purpose crochet, and instruction manual.

The instruction manual only had instructions on how to make a single loom band which in my opinion is not so nice to look at. I suggest you start your loom band adventure by making the basic fishtail.

But don't fret, youtube is overflowing with lots of loom band tutorials that you'll never run out of projects to do.

Warning: This is a very addictive hobby. I ended up doing 3 more projects for 3 straight days since I got the kit. Heheheh I really had a hard time doing the Star Burst pattern. I had to start over 3 times! But nothing beats the feeling of satisfaction once you complete it.

Fishtail and Star Burst

The making of the Hexafish

Paleo Diet by Vetri

I just got myself into another diet plan and this time it's Paleo Diet by Vetri. The one week meal package costs Php 1,800 and bought mine for two weeks at half the price through their promotion at Groupon. Vetri is owned by Chef Ric Loteria who's a celebrity chef and was awarded 2 Michelin Star - knowing this I have high hopes that his food would taste really good. Paleo Diet is composed of high protein meals with low or no carbs at all. The diet's concept is for one to eat what our ancestors used to eat. The diet is also known as the Caveman Diet.

Day 1

My first impression when I saw the brown bag "This is it?". The bag was so light and I wondered how can my entire day meal be this light and would fit in a small brown bag. I opened the bag and whoala! I just confirmed that I will be having really really light meals throughout the day. Their servings were so little! huhuhu What have I got myself into... But I must endure this challenge because I still paid for it. So here goes.

Breakfast: Organic "Asian Style" Scrambled Eggs
I don't know why it's called "Asian Style" because it tasted like just scrambled eggs to me that was a bit creamy. It was surprising fulfilling maybe it was because of the water I drank but my tummy still made grumbling noises from time to time.

Snack: Fresh Fruit Jelly
As I opened my fruit jelly, it gave out a weird smell and as I took a bite of its mangoes it was sour and the rest of the fruits were already spoiled. This is so disappointing. I had really high hopes for this diet meal and seeing food go to waste is frustrating.

Lunch: Pollo ala Cacciotore
Dinner: Classic Italian Minestrone
Seeing that both meal portions for my lunch and dinner were small, I decided to eat both of them over lunch.
The chicken that was supposedly my lunch wasn't even a quarter chicken size =( it was so small! It is tasty but only because it was salty. The corn was just a bonus just to make me feel full.
My supposedly dinner was only tomato soup with bits of chopped corn and carrots.

I really had high hopes for this diet plan but I can now picture my future meals for the next days. I should have tried reading more reviews about them and not immediately be enticed by the title of the chef. A lesson learned and it's just day one. =(

Day 2

Breakfast: Vegetable Frittata
Snack: Carrot Salad Fresh Fruits
Lunch: Chicken & Fish Cake with Pumpkin Sauce
Dinner: Country-Style Bacon Pork with Amatriciana Sauce

For my second day, the meal portions are more than yesterday. Thank goodness! Breakfast was nothing special quite bland actually. The fresh fruit salad for snack was more of papaya salad then a few pieces of pineapple. For lunch, I honestly liked the chicken and fish cake - I didn't think that chicken and fish together will blend well but it works - a bit salty though. The pumpkin sauce is completely unnoticeable. Dinner was sour but just because the sauce is made of fresh tomatoes but I just wished they did something to balance the overall taste of the meal. By the way, it had no bacon but had fatty pork slices.

Day 3

Breakfast: Corned Beef & Chayote Hash with Baked Eggs
Snack: Vegetable Thai Wrap Grapes
Lunch: Beef Rendang with Roasted Vegetables Corned Rice
Dinner: Grilled Fillet o Fish with Garlic Mushroom

I love corned beef but I am disappointed to get corned beef through diet meals. It would be ok with me if they made it from scratch but the corned beef used for my breakfast tasted like it came from a can. =(
For lunch, I liked the sauce of the beef rendang but unfortunately the beef was not tender enough and was fatty too. The meal is matched with corned rice which did not taste anything like corn - it actually did not taste anything at all. I just didn't get it.
As for dinner, it was not fish fillet! I don't know what it was but I think it was ground pork with a few pieces of carrots and peas.

Day 4

Breakfast: Asparagus, Tomatoes & Egg
Snacks: Fresh Fruit Salad Gelatin
Lunch: Rosemary Pork Steak, Corn & Carrots with Red Rice with cucumber
Dinner: Eggplant "Paleo" Lasagna

My breakfast for today was just terrible. I can't believe that they served me egg cooked in a microwave! How do I know that it's cooked in the microwave? Because the whites completely sticks the sides of the container.

But my day just got worse seeing what's for lunch - it was pork chop with a big chunk of fat! Are they really sure their giving out the right calories per meal. I am not so sure anymore. They just lost my trust just by serving this to me.

I was quite surprised seeing gelatin for my snack. I love gelatin so I thought to myself that I'm in for a treat but no... the gelatin did not have any taste at all. It smells of mangoes but it does not taste like anything. It was like eating an unflavored gelatin. What a disappointment!
Just when I thought that my day won't get any worse, one look at my dinner meal and I instantly got sad. It was so unappealing and the taste - it was sour and salty all at the same time. I am now completely frustrated and unmotivated to go on with the diet so I just eat what I want to eat from this day forward.

Day 5

Breakfast: Smoked Bacon & Organic Eggs
Snack: Fresh Fruit Cucumber Salad
Lunch: Classic Fish & Zucchini (not fried)
Dinner: Vegetable Marinara with Baked Prawns Thigh Chicken Stew Soup

Here comes the last day and once again they changed the menu. Breakfast was just so-so and once again had eggs. The fish was just alright for me but I am overwhelmed to see that they served it with Sayote and Singkamas. This is definitely not worth the money I spent on. The chicken was just stew and not enough to be called a soup.

Update 7/30/2014 - food from the second week of delivery:

The Verdict:

Paleo Diet by Vetri is by far the worst diet meal delivery service I ever had. I definitely do not recommend anyone to subscribe to their meals. Unfortunately for me, I have to endure another week of their food since I got their 2 week meal plan.
I can only think of one good point for them - they deliver on time. All other points are going downhill. Below are their cons:

• They don't provide utensils.
• They don't provide notes on how much calories your meal has or at least what's the menu for the day.
• They don't stick with their menu. They change their menu anytime they want.
• Meal portions were small.
• Their food were salty and fatty.

So if you plan to avail their meals, proceed with caution. I am definitely not listing them to my list of recommended diet meals.

For good diet options, click here.

Juice Jab: My 2nd Try on Juicing

After surviving my first juicing experience with Daily Jusa, I once again encountered a new offer in Deal Grocer for a 2 Days Juice Jab Jolt Kit (bought at Php 950 but originally priced at Php 1,100) which I reluctantly bought thinking if I could actually survive this. I still decided buying it because I wondered what if this one tasted better. The Juice Jab Jolt Kit includes 6 (six) 250ml bottles and a really cute thermal bag which had re-usable cold packs inside so you're drinks will always be cold.

The Juice Jab Jolt kit is intended for individuals who wants to try out juicing for the first time. You will be drinking one bottle per meal for two days as supplement to your regular meals. Each bottle has a number to indicate which drink you should take in a day. You will also be choosing what type of jolt you'd like to take: Energy, Immune, Heart, Skin, Pre-Jab or Post-Jab. Since I am still adapting to the juicing concept, I chose Pre-Jab which had 2 bottles each of Platinum Hit, Citrine Swipe, and Coral Burst.

For my breakfast drink, I had Platinum Hit which contains Cinnamon and Coconut Water and drinking it was a breeze! It was yummy! Wow! I am so amazed and wondered is this juicing for real?!

For my lunch, I had their Citrine Swipe which had Cucumber, Melon and Papaya and it was so refreshing! This drink was really fruity, even kids can drink this! Sorry for all the exclamation (!) but I can't help myself thinking that this might really be the one I can endure for the whole day. I'm already excited for my dinner drink.

Finally for my dinner, I had Coral Burst which had Carrot and Pineapple and it was also delicious! Carrots and pineapple was a great combination and I just love it.

My overall experience with Juice Jab was amazing! I didn't expect their drinks were delicious although I didn't have a chance to try out any of their green juices but with what I have tasted so far I believe their drinks are more tolerable. In the next month, I am planning to buy their Jabs but I need to stock up on fruits and vegetables if I am going through with that.

For more diet options, click here.

Resto Review: 8 Cuts Burger Blends

8 Cuts Burger Blends had been quite popular in the past months. There were lots of news that they serve really good burger. We decided to finally try it out for ourselves when they opened a branch in Trinoma.

I just had to take pictures of these really cute order number signs. You'll be hanging them on slots in the sides of your table.

Since I was on a diet, I ordered their White Caesar Salad (Php 185) which had romaine tossed with Parmesan cheese, bacon bits and croutons with Ranch and Roasted Jalapeno dressing. The salad came in a cute mason jar. You will have to put the dressing on the jar then shake it. It was a fun way to look at the salad. Serving the salad this way is quite deceiving because in reality the portion was too small for its price. I love the dressing though it was pleasantly sour, sweet and spicy all at the same time.

My husband ordered their Rising Shroom Burger (Php 280) which was a quarter pound patty fried on mustard. It had fried oyster mushroom tempura, white truffle creamed cheese and sauteed mushroom. A serving of french fries was also included. The burger was surprisingly small for its price. The patty was indeed meaty and flavorful and the mushrooms added a unique texture on every bite. Yet it was just so-so, we had better burgers.

We ended our meal with one of their Chocolate Milk Shake (Php 150) which mas creamy and chocolate-y good. Nothing special though just good old milk shake.

In finality, their food were flavorful and of good quality but their menu was quite price-y.

Resto Review: Vanilla Cupcake Bakery

Vanilla Cupcake Bakery just recently opened a branch in Trinoma and my husband suggested to eat there for dinner. I was surprised that they actually serve meals, I thought they only had cupcakes. hehehe

The interiors were so classy, artsy and overly cute. It's like having tea-time in Alice in Wonderland.

I ordered their All Day Breakfast, Garlic Beef Tapa (Php 225). Their meat was tender and flavorful but it was nothing out of the ordinary. What I really like from this meal was their atchara, it had the right mix of sourness and sweetness.

My husband ordered Signature Steak (Php 295) which was served with Sweet & Spicy sauce and Potato Salad. The steak was small in size but I guess you only get what you pay for. My husband requested it to be cooked medium well but he got it quite rare yet he didn't complain. The meal was just savory but was just okay, my husband was not that amazed by it. The steak sauce was more on the sweet side and the potato salad was also just okay.

For our drinks we ordered Vanilla Iced Tea (Php 75) just because I was curious on how it would taste - sadly it was not special since it was not that vanilla-y. And since we were really feel, we decided to only sample one of their cupcakes. It was really hard to choose only one because there was so many. After consulting with their staff on which ones are their bestsellers, we finally decided to get one of their Belgian Chocolate Cupcake (Php 100). As I took a bite of their cupcake, I instantly loved their icing - it was chocolate-y and buttery at the same time. As for the cupcake itself, it was good but not that amazing. Their cupcake was light but crumbly.

The Vanilla Cupcake Bakery is priced on the high-end but their serving are proportion to its price. Will we dine in again? Maybe... so as to try their other meals and other variants of their cupcakes too.

My Daily Jusa Experience

Since I will be working from home today, I decided to go ahead and try at least a day of Detox Juicing - which has been growing popular for health and weight conscious individuals. And since I am so curious as can be I just had to try it for myself at least once. So when I saw that Daily Jusa is offering their One-Day Cleanse on discount at Deal Grocer, I immediately bought one. The One-Day Cleanse normally costs Php 1,350 instead of Php 945. I emailed Daily Jusa a day before my planned juicing date and got a reply after 12 hours. They delivered my juices the evening before my scheduled date. The package includes 8 bottles of 250ml juices, 2 tea bags and a thermal bag - unfortunately they failed to give me my thermal bag because they ran out of stock (Sad).

Read on to know how my juicing went =)

AM Tea: EveryDay Detox Tea
The tea was strong and sadly I did not taste any lemon to it. But I'm already used to drinking teas so this one was no problem for me.

Breakfast: Daily Greens (spinach, romaine, celery, mustard leaves, watermelon)
This one is the scariest among the bunch. I was quite happy to see that it had watermelon thinking that it might give the drink some sweetness. But when I took my first sip, my gosh! I don't even know how to describe the taste. I do eat my vegetables but having them juiced was a different experience. This was really hard to finish up.

Breakfast: Sunburst (pineapple, orange, basil)
Now this I expect to be sweet since it has both pineapple and orange in it. One sip and I knew I was wrong. Of course it won't be that sweet, they don't add sugar to their juices. But this is one is tolerable than Daily Greens. heheheh

AM Snack: Clean Green (cucumber, romaine, broccoli, celery, apple)
Two hours have already passed from my breakfast, now it's time for my snack. I chose another green juice so that I can have a fruity juice for my afternoon snack. hehehehe Once again, I had a hard time finishing this one up but this one is doesn't taste as bad as the Daily Green.

Lunch: Green Energizer (broccoli, romaine, papaya, mustard leaves, pineapple, lemon)
It's been only past an hour from my last drink but I'm already feeling hungry. =(
Another green juice for lunch and surprisingly this one is much bearable to drink - the pineapple flavor really helped. But as the started to warm off, I had to take big gulps to finish it.

Lunch: A+ (carrot, apple, mint)
Now this juice I like. It tasted more of carrots, a bit of apple, but I didn't taste any mint though. One should really drink these juices really cold, because once it gets warm it's difficult to drink.

PM Snack: Code Red (watermelon, tomato, bell pepper, beets, grape)
I'm loosing my mind already. I really want something to munch on. Even though I'm having my juicing at home, there are still lots of temptation around. My husband eating his lunch with rice plus kids roaming around with cookies and chocolates. Oh such torture!

Of all the juices I expect this one to be yummy, but sadly it's not as I expected. I do taste the watermelon on it but I don't know why my taste buds thinks that this drink taste the same as all others. It is refreshing as long as its ice cold.

We will be off to watch a movie. Good luck to me to avoid all the temptation that surrounds me at the mall! I will be bringing my last two juices with me.

Dinner: Vitality Boost (watermelon, spinach, mustard leaves, grape)
Before I went in to watch the movie, I drank a bottle for dinner time. Once again, it was hard to drink. I was too bitter for me. I went on drinking big gulps to get it over with.

Dinner: Lemon Flush (lemon, maple syrup, cayenne pepper, water)
I'm so glad I saved the Lemon Flush for last because it was the best among them all. It was sour, bit of sweet and had the right kick of spiciness to it. How I wish all my 8 bottles were just this. hehehe


Before Bedtime Tea: Smooth Move
Before tucking to bed, I helped myself with a cup of their tea and it was delicious. It was really minty that it was soothing to the tummy. Just perfect to give you a good night sleep.

The Verdict:
Juicing is no joke, it's really hard especially for first timers like me. You really have to fight off all temptations and endure the whole day without nibbling on anything but it sure pays off! The next day I woke up early wanting to go to the toilet. Just after going to the toilet, I weighed myself and was amazed that I lost more than 4 lbs! Amazing right!

Will I do it again? Yes, but not anytime soon and if I'm going to do it again I'll only do the one-day cleanse again. I found it really hard to fight the temptation of eating anything other than the juices.

For more diet options, click here.