Lunch at Chili’s

If you’ve been following this blog you’ll know how much I love burgers. You’ll also know that I’ve tried several burgers around Manila. Some were good while others were disappointing. Elisa and Elaine told me that the best burger can be found in Chili’s.

I dragged Sergei, who jumped at the chance of a free lunch and my excellent company, to Chili’s. To be fair with my burger comparison, I ordered the plain Oldtimer burger without cheese. I always order a plain burger so I can taste the quality of the beef and not all the cheese and other toppings that also add a ton of calories and fat. I ordered my burger medium on a whole wheat bun.


oldtimer burger P280

The heel of the bun had mustard, pickles and onions -things I don’t like in my burger. So I flipped the burger and just ate it with the crown and the lettuce and tomatoes. I loved their fries which were thick, crisp, lightly salted, not greasy and still had their skin on.

At first bite I knew this was it. The burger patty was thick and made of 100% pure beef and nothing else. All it needed was a few shakes of salt and it was perfect. It was a tad dry but it was probably due to the lean meat. This is my kind of burger. It tasted like ground steak. I offered Sergei only tiny taste of my burger because I didn’t want to share. This burger was worth every peso. Some may say it’s expensive. I don’t think so.

Sergei ordered this smoked turkey sandwich with swiss cheese, mayonnaise, lettuce and tomato. His only comment was it lacked mayonnaise. I think I left happier than him.

smoked turkey sandwich P395

Chili’s Grill and Bar
26 Missouri St.
cor. Nevada St.,
Northeast Greenhills
San Juan, Metro Manila
telephone: 727-2959

Profound Thoughts

I Believe…

That just because two people argue,
It doesn’t mean they don’t love each other.
And just because they don’t argue,
It doesn’t mean they do love each other.

I Believe…
That we don’t have to change friends if
We understand that friends change.

I Believe….
That no matter how good a friend is, they’re going to hurt you every once in a while and you must forgive them for that.

I Believe…
That true friendship continues to grow, even over the longest distance.

Same goes for true love.

I Believe….
That you can do something in an instant
That will give you heartache for life..

I Believe…
That it’s taking me a long time
To become the person I want to be.

I Believe…
That you should always leave loved ones with
Loving words. It may be the last time you see them..

I Believe…
That you can keep going long after you think you can’t.

I Believe…
That we are responsible for what
We do, no matter how we feel.

I Believe….
That either you control your attitude or it controls you.

I Believe…
That heroes are the people who do what has to be done when it needs to be done, regardless of the consequences.

I Believe…
That money is a lousy way of keeping score.

I Believe…
That my best friend and I, can do anything, or nothing and have the best time.

I Believe…
That sometimes the people you expect to kick you When you’re down, will be the ones to help you get back up..

I Believe…
That sometimes when I’m angry I have the right to be angry, 
But that doesn’t give me the right to be cruel.

I Believe…
That maturity has more to do with what types of experiences you’ve had
And what you’ve learned from them and less to do with how many birthdays you’ve celebrated.

I Believe…
That it isn’t always enough, to be forgiven by others.
Sometimes, you have to learn to forgive yourself.

I Believe…
That no matter how bad your heart is broken the world doesn’t stop for your grief.

I Believe…
That our background and circumstances may have influenced who we are,
But, we are responsible for who we become.

I Believe…
That you shouldn’t be so eager to find
Out a secret. It could change your life Forever.

I Believe…
Two people can look at the exact same
Thing and see something totally different.

I Believe…
That your life can be changed in a matter of
Hours by people who don’t even know you.

I Believe….
That even when you think you have no more to give, when
A friend cries out to you – you will find the strength to help.

I Believe…
That credentials on the wall do not make you a decent human being.

I Believe…
That the people you care about most in life are taken from you too soon.

I Believe…
That you should send this to all of the people that you believe in, I just did.

‘The happiest of people don’t necessarily have the best of everything;
They just make the most of everything.

Thank you God for all the wonderful people who help us throughout the journey of life…

May Angels guard you and guide you

Thanks again to Judie for emailing me this.

Wasabi Cashews

I have a very low tolerance for hot and spicy food. I don’t add hot sauce to my food nor do I add it to the food I cook. The most I use is a teeny bit of red pepper flakes I sometimes add to pasta for a slight kick. I definitely don’t put wasabi in my soy sauce when I eat sushi.

Last May when we were in Perth, Chris bought a small container of wasabi peanuts. I tried a piece and almost immediately regretted it. When my tongue calmed down I found myself reaching for another piece and another. It was strangely exhilarating to eat wasabi peanuts. Thus began my search for the same wasabi peanuts. I searched in Perth and Singapore to no avail. All they had were wasabi peas.

I didn’t expect to find it in my own backyard – Unimart. Although these are cashews they taste exactly like the wasabi peanuts Chris bought in Perth. Dan-D-Pak wasabi cashews are made in Vietnam then exported to Canada then imported into the Philippines. With that long journey the cost of P379.95 for a 16 oz/454 g jar is not too bad.


wasabi cashews


ingredients


nutrition facts

These cashews have a thin crunchy outer layer and have a fine dusting of wasabi flavored powder. Eating these cashews are like play Russian roulette. Some cashews are mild while some are so hot I can feel the heat coming out of my nose! I never feel the heat in my throat just in my nose. The good thing about these is you can’t eat too much. Well I can’t. So it makes a good snack for me.

Unimart
Greenhills Shopping Center
Ortigas Ave. Greenhills
San Juan, Metro Manila
telephone: 721-0592

Gloria Maris Take Out

It’s Monday again. In most offices that means you’ll be in one meeting after another. What do you eat during a meeting specially when your meeting overlaps into lunch break? Since my store Small Office Solutions is in an office building we constantly deliver lunch packs, sandwiches, junk food, dessert and drinks to various offices who have employees in a meeting.

I recently attended a production meeting for our upcoming high school homecoming at the office of our show producer. It was my first time to attend a meeting there and luck was on my side. The meeting was set for lunch and my classmate Cherry was tasked with bringing food for lunch. I was expecting maybe some sandwiches or fast food fare. We were ecstatic to learn that Cherry brought food from Gloria Maris. Look what Cherry brought to the meeting. It was really my lucky day.

what a spread!

The sauce for the noodles were in the plastic containers above. It was good even without any sauce.

fried noodles

salt & pepper spareribs

The roast chicken was served on top of man tao or fried dough. The chicken was good but the man tao tasted a bit oily unlike my favorite man tao from Choi Gardern.

roast chicken on man tao

beef w/ broccoli

This was my favorite dish. I’ve never tried it before. Strips of roast duck were mixed with mayonnaise and jelly fish and topped with an assortment of fruits and glazed cashew nuts. It was a very hearty and refreshing salad.

roast duck salad w/ fruits

I think one of the containers of sauce was supposed to be poured over this fried rice for it to be Fookien fried rice. In our eagerness to eat we forgot all about the sauces.

Fookien fried rice

We had a great lunch. Thanks Cherry! Too bad our next meeting is scheduled for after lunch.

Gloria Maris
G/F Greenbelt 2, Esperanza St.,
Ayala Center. Makati City,
Metro Manila
telephone: 757-4171 to 74

How to get the last drop out of containers?

I usually squeeze the life out of my toothpaste tube to get every last bit. I also invert shampoo bottles to get the last drop and scrape the mayonnaise and peanut butter jars til the sides are clean. Hey times are hard and we must conserve!

Check out this consumer report article on how much is really left in lotion tubes and other containers we can’t squeeze to death. You will be surprised with their findings.

Another Sunday Lunch at Choi Garden

Have I mentioned Choi Garden is my favorite Chinese restaurant? We eat there at least 2 Sundays a month. Add to that the occasional friends get together and hot pot yearning, I’ve eaten there 4 times in the past month! I don’t mind since I never get tired of eating their excellent food.

When we ate there last Sunday we made an effort to order all new dishes. By the way, all the non-food pictures here were taken by 10 yr. old Michelle. Don’t you think she’s good? She’s my official assistant every Sunday.


entrance of Choi

This is the small dining area right after the main door. The lighting is really red!

We always order roast pork at Choi’s because they have the juiciest and most tender pork in town. And the kids just love it.

roast pork

For me their pigeon is the best. Even better than the ones I’ve tried in Hong Kong. It’s very juicy and the flavor goes all the way to the bone.

fried pigeon

This e-fu noodles have no meat and just a little veggies but it’s so good. The secret is in the intensely flavored stock and sauce they used.

e-fu noodles

wintermelon soup

This is my new favorite dish. Normally it’s served as 1 square of tofu with some veggies per person at a cost of P120 per plate. We requested them to cut the tofu in half and serve it in a big plate. This is made up of 5 orders. The tofu tastes like egg custard mixed with tofu. It’s doesn’t taste or look like your usual tofu that’s firm and white. This one is light yellow and very soft and flavorful.

tofu w/ polunchay

This is another of the kids’ favorites. It’s fried siopao dough without any filling inside. When it comes to your table hot eat it right away. It tastes better than Krispy Kreme donuts.

fried man tao

This is another new favorite recommended to me by my hs classmate, Jennie. Beef ribs are cooked with a liberal amount of peppercorn and soy based sauce. The beef is so tender and spiced just right. This is perfect with white rice.

pepper beef ribs

The taro and Chinese sausage fried rice was also very good but we were already full by the time it was brought to our table. And it didn’t go well with the beef so we just took most the rice home.

taro and sausage fried rice

What? There’s more food! Too full to eat anything else. Hmm this fish is good. So full already. I love the garlic and soy sauce on the fish.

steamed fish w/ garlic

Ok I can skip the veggies.

spinach w/ 2 kinds of eggs

Ok ok I had to taste 1 abalone. It was soft but canned abalone tastes better.

steamed fresh abalone

There’s always room for dessert. Besides these are all our favorite desserts.

almond shake w/ fruit cocktail


masachi


sesame paste inside


butchi

bean paste inside
Choi Garden has a lobster festival ongoing in case you’re interested.

Choi Garden Seafood and Shark’s Fin Restaurant
12 Annapolis St.
cor. Purdue St.
San Juan, Metro Manila
telephone: 727-6042

Google Me

When I started this blog I didn’t know a thing about SEO, Google visibility, etc. I thought once the blog was up and someone makes a search on Google my site will come up. This was not the case. It took a lot of tinkering, learning and pinging for my entries to show up on Google. So from time to time I do a search of Shoot First Eat Later just to see what comes up. I found this Google result so funny.


(click to enlarge)

Lunch at People’s Palace

People's Palace-8

We had an impromptu lunch at People’s Palace today. Thanks to Pat’s carpenter who didn’t arrive thus starting a chain reaction that led to our having lunch for no reason at all.

People's Palace

People's Palace-1

With only an hour’s notice and several text messages these are the classmates who made it to lunch. Some are supposed to be at work, some have errands to do, some just wanted to have a beauty day but all dropped everything to have lunch. We are just so easy!
People's Palace-2

People’s Palace is a Thai restaurant in Greenbelt 3 that has been around for a long time. It’s my first time to eat here. It’s a bit pricey and the servings are small but the food is good.

People's Palace-3
pandan juice P110
People's Palace-4
lemongrass and ginger juice P110
People's Palace-5
prawn spring rolls P310
People's Palace-6
prawn, pomelo and coconut salad P380
People's Palace-7
Thai prawn cakes P370
This was my favorite dish. It tastes just like Laksa. It’s a bit spicy and the curry is made with coconut milk.
People's Palace-8 (1)
kao soi gai – northern style chicken curry
w/ crispy egg noodles P380
People's Palace-11
stir fried clams P390
Their phad thai wasn’t as pretty as Azuthai’s but it’s pretty good too.
People's Palace-9
phad thai P380
This chicken curry was very mild. It’s perfect for those who don’t like hot curries.
People's Palace-10
aromatic chicken curry w/ sweet potato &
pineapple relish P360
All the desserts we ordered were fabulous. My favorite was the chocolate cake which initially tasted dry but it had a dense and moist center. The flavor was deep and dark just the way I like it.
People's Palace-12
people’s palace chocolate cake w/
vanilla seed ice cream P250
This has got to be the most sticky rice in one order that I’ve ever seen. It was so good although some of the mangoes were very sour.
People's Palace-13
sticky rice + coconut cream w/ mangoes P220

Deb was right. This was the creamiest, lightest panna cotta we’ve ever eaten.

People's Palace-14
panna cotta w/ cardamom & fruits P240

People’s Palace
G/F Garden side Greenbelt 3,
Ayala Centre Makati City,
Metro Manila Philippines 1223
telephone : 729-2888