Where in Cebu City can you find this?

We went to dinner in one of the newly opened restaurants in Cebu City and ordered shrimp rebosado we found on their menu. It only said the best and sumptuous words restaurant copy-editors could think of and nothing of its simplicity and minimalism. Never mind the 170 pesos price if it could have been more than just a fried shrimp.

Guess where it could be ordered:

a. ZUBUCHON

b. NEONEO

c. SUGBAHAN.

In case you'd wonder what a Shrimp Rebosado is, here is a recipe I got from filipinovillage.com:

Ingredients:
1/2 kg. med. sized raw shrimps
vegetable oil for frying

For marinade:
1/2 white vinegar
4 garlic cloves, crushed
10 peppercorns, crushed
1/2 tsp. salt

For batter:
3/4 tsp. salt
1/4 tsp. black pepper
1 tsp. baking powder
1 c all purpose flour
1/4 c water
1/4 c evaporated milk
2 tbsp. atsuete (anato seeds) water
1 egg, well beaten

Instructions:
Combine marinade ingredients and marinate shrimps for 1-2 hours. Cover and set aside.

Sift together salt, baking powder, and flour. Set aside. Combine water, evaporated milk, black pepper, atsuete water, and egg. Gradually pour this mixture into the flour mixture, stirring constantly. Mix until smooth texture. Drain shrimps. Dip marinated shrimps in batter one by one and deep fry in vegetable oil. Drain in paper towel. Serve hot with Sweet & Sour sauce.

This is the PhP170 shrimp rebosado we ordered from a newly opened restaurant. Make a guess where, above.

> > > = = = = = = A N S W E R = = = = = = < < <

The answer to the question above on where we could order shrimp rebosado is B or NEONEO! Neoneo opened its SM branch a few weeks back at the 3rd floor of SM City Cebu. When asked if shrimp rebosado was available, the waiter readily answered a yes and so we ordered on at the hefty price of 170 pesos excluding government taxes.


Much to our dismay, the rebosado arrived in a white saucer unadorned, literally running around the plate due to a very spacious container since they were only five small pieces of them.


We called up the waiter to asked if they were wrong in serving the shrimps but their head waiter came and told us that shrimps that costs 170 pesos were actually for a hundred grams or so. He told us if he was the one taking our orders, he would tell us such. But I argued that it was not fair and that all people ordering shrimp rebosado have to see him. The girls who were with me asked me to just eat them so we could get out of the place.


I cried when I took a bite on one of those cute but dead headless shrimp that costed 34 pesos apiece.

Back at Garden Cafe in Tagbilaran

When I was in my college days and later when I worked at the provincial government of Bohol, my favorite hangout in Tagbilaran was the Garden Cafe, a restaurant owned by the Bohol Deaf and Disable Foundation (IDEA).

When you go there, you are doing a two-pronged activity- enjoy their food and help the deaf of Bohol. In fact, the waiters and waitresses at Garden Cafe are all deaf. 

From a simple hut-inspired building, the Garden Cafe is now a showcase of American dining. The place has changed into a sort of cowboy-inspired diner, with all the boots and other Americana. Even the waitstaff are donning cowboy regalia sans whips. Interesting.

And the food too has become interestingly varied to suit the Montana theme. My friend brought me there to have a late iftar celebration. I ordered a chicken quesadilla and avocado shake. The quesadilla was quite exceptional specially with lots of salsa on it. I finished my meal with a slice of blueberry cheesecake which was so-so. I could have ordered coffee but my friend planned to do it somewhere.

If I will be in Tagbilaran, I will visit once again Garden Cafe.

Chicken quesadilla is the best (you can order beef, too)

Their blueberry cheesecake has more gelatin than cheesecake

The avocado shake I ordered is creamy and nice

Garden Cafe opens daily from 8 in the morning until 10 in the evening with exceptions on Sundays. The restaurant opens 1PM til 10 on Sundays. Garden Cafe has a themed room upstairs called Montana Room with several displays of Americana- stuffed animals, boots, skates, pictures, and the like. They also have a small function room and a music room. You can call for reservations at telephones (038) 4113701, 4112028.

We cast no shadow

It isn't quite true. Places all have their own characters, and returning to a city where you have lived before is like coming home to an old friend. But the people begin to look the same; the same faces recurring in cities a thousand miles apart, the same expressions. The flat, hostile stare of the official. The curious look of the peasant. The dull unsurprised faces of the tourists. The same lovers, mothers, beggars, cripples, vendors,joggers, children, policemen, taxi drivers, pimps. After a while one begins to feel slightly paranoid, as if these people were secretly following from one town to another, changing clothes and faces but remaining essentially unchanged, going about their dull business with half eye slyly cocked at us, the intruders. At first one feels a kind of superiority. We are a race apart, we the travelers. We have seen, experienced, so much more than they-content to run out their sad lives in an endless round of sleep-work-sleep, to tend their neat gardens, their identical suburban houses, their small dreams. We hold them a little in contempt. Then, after a while, comes envy. The first time it is almost funny: a sudden sharp sting that subsides nearly right away. A woman in a park, bending over a child in a pushchair, both faces lit by something that is not the sun. Then comes the second time, the third; two young people on the seafront, arms intertwined; a group of office girls on their lunch break, giggling over coffee and croissants... before long it is an almost constant ache. No, places do not lose their identity, however far one travels. It is the heart that begins to erode after a time. The face in the hotel mirror seems blurred some mornings, as if by too many such casual looks. By ten the sheets will be laundered, the carpet swept. The names on the hotel registers change as we pass. We leave no trace as we pass on. Ghostlike, we cast no shadow.

Joanne Harris, Chocolat

London Summer Olympics 2012?

Photo courtesy of Time.com

People are torching buildings in different parts of London! Should I say the Olympic torch parade has started in London?

Ladies and some slimy issues: snails

I was with the girls last Saturday while they were at their "observation post" at MetroCentre Hotel. Observation may mean seeing who is coming in or out and who wore the weirdest outfits, who is who, etc. In a place like Tagbilaran, "observing" people might be a good hobby. Especially in a hotel like MetroCentre.

Over sandwiches and water, the girls were talking about the latest craze now- slime, snail slime, to be exact. To the rest of us who are not into these girls' stuff, this may sound yucky. I mean, these human species are actually inventing the weirdest beauty ingredients they could think of just to defy nature and get all the attention they deserved. 

Remember, they were the ones who used bird-poop facials and placenta serums just to be above the rest. But- ewww.

And now- snail slime.

We used to get snails when we were younger to feed our pigs. As part of our assignment, and perhaps training on how to secure family sustenance, we would go to meadows and creeks very early in the morning when snails feed on fresh grass. These snails (we call them Umang; pictured above) were then cooked and the meat taken from the shells to be chopped and mixed with cooked taro leaves and rice bran. Our pigs were the epitome of  healthy and classy lifestyle: veggies, bran and escargots (French for, yes, you got it right, snails). Maybe Marketman should take note of that.

Anyways, I never knew those slimy snails is now the latest beauty trend to hit the market. Who would have thought? Snail slime are thought to cure skin problems like acne, scars and burns, and of course, wrinkles.

Women!

Pic from Ecouterre

Why men shouldn't write advice columns

Dear John,

I hope you can help me. The other day, I set off for work, leaving my husband in the house watching TV. My car stalled, and then it broke down about a mile down the road, and I had to walk back to get my husband’s help. When I got home, I couldn’t believe my eyes. He was in our bedroom with the neighbor’s daughter!

I am 32, my husband is 34 and the neighbor’s daughter is 19. We have been married for 10 years. When I confronted him, he broke down and admitted they had been having an affair for the past six months. He won’t go to counseling, and I’m afraid I am a wreck and need advice urgently. Can you please help?

Sincerely, Sheila

==========================================================

Dear Sheila,

A car stalling after driven a short distance can be caused by a variety of faults with the engine. Start checking that there is no debris in the fuel line. If it is clear, check the vacuum pipes and hoses on the intake manifold and also check all grounding wires. If none of these solves the problem, it could be that the fuel pump itself is faulty, causing low delivery pressure to the injectors.

I hope this helps,

John

Departures

Vacuum frying has come in the province

There is excitement in new things, a challenge, a welcome respite from boredom. Especially if that thing is food, I mean, healthier food. 

When I was in Ormoc this weekend, an acquaintance introduced me a new food product from Baybay, Leyte: Vacuum Fried Jackfruit (Langka). And I fell in love with it.

Photo from web.evis.net.ph

Vacuum frying has been the trend nowadays since most consumers prefer healthier lifestyles. I am not that familiar with vacuum frying, but as I understood it the technology enables fruits or vegetables to be immersed in a vegetable oil at a controlled temperature to optimize the quality of the products fried.

In ordinary frying, the product is subjected to extreme heat thus scorching (burning) and darkening occurs. In vacuum frying or others call the process as atmospheric frying, the product is subjected to gradual reduction of moisture, like slow frying in extreme heat but not enough heat to boil water. This way, the fruit or vegetable undergoing the process retains most of its original color, taste, aroma and nutritional content.

Here in the Philippines, the technology is quite young and many entrepreneurs find it hard to acquire the machine since it is quite costly, thus, products undergoing vacuum frying technology are not for the masa (common people). Not yet.

But with Leyte State University's Department of Food Science and Technology introducing this vacuum frying technology in the provincial areas, healthy snack products will soon carve a niche in the Philippine market. Perhaps, no more oily snacks in the future?

(Leyte State University is formerly known as Visayas State College of Agriculture or ViSCA. A 50g pack of Vacuum-Fried Jackfruit costs about 45-55 pesos.)