Queen J Left..

..so it's the beginning of a new phase for me because I'm officially on a diet.

To support Earth Day on 22 April, I will be a vegetarian for the week. According to research, gas emissions from livestock raised for human consumption is 4 times that of gas emitted by cars. Hopefully, I will be able to keep this up after this week. Hmm...will keep you posted about that.

To accommodate my Filipino-food-addicted big sistah, we went to Abe again in Serendra. I was surprised to find the place packed on a weekday. Good business!

So while waiting, Queen J and I had cupcakes from Cupcakes by Sonja. Last year, I tried 4 and vowed never to buy again because the cupcakes were simply too sweet! But I was weak and easily tempted and hungry and forced to wait for a table in Abe so I ordered Berries N' Cream. Yum! Way better than I remembered!

(Photo by Dad, Queen J had a choco cupcake w/ vanilla icing)

Abe time was crispy pata time. If The Day After (lechon paksiw) was that good, the ingredients used to make it should be even better. Of course, I wasn't wrong. Tee-hee. The crispy pata was crunchy on the outside but tender on the inside. It was not too salty and had just a little bit of spiciness. The best part was it wasn't too greasy, which is what I love most about Abe.

We were all woozy from lunch so we stopped by my other fave, TCB&TL! I only had black coffee as I couldn't take the taste of dairy after our crispy pata lunch, and I was delighted to discover that even their plain black coffee was perfect! Both Queen J and I became addicted to this coffee shop.

Yum! I love how visible TCB&TL's logo is in this pic. Thanks, Dad!

If it's not been mentioned yet or it's not all that obvious, here's a little note about our family. Once we discover a fantastic resto, we keep going back to try different dishes from the menu.

Breakfast in UCC Coffee again. This time I tried their Chicken Adobo so as to avoid ordering one of the many processed breakfast choices such as tocino or corned beef. It was a good choice; the chicken adobo was delicious! The chicken was cut up in tiny pieces, and the sauce is both sweet and salty and with just a hint of vinegar. Mmm..

Later in the week we went to Astralis by Diamond Hotel in Powerplant. Dad loved the interior; the place looks as posh as a hotel restaurant. We ordered Baked Camembert with Phyllo Pastry Php 280, mushroom spaghetti in white sauce for the veg parents (this was a special request not in the menu), and tenderloin steak with mashed potatoes Php 600. I'm still not quite sure what phyllo pastry is except that it's made from flour and water (source: http://www.encyclopedia.com/doc/1O39-phyllopastry.html) so I'm guessing the phyllo pastry was the white crunchy shavings in the appetizer rather than the green sweet thing. Hmm..so what then was the green sweet thing?

In a nutshell, the food was great. The taste of each dish was drawn from the natural ingredients used to create it. The price was just right for the whole package which includes the place, the quality of the service and the food. The baked camembert was a great idea. Now I have a new way to eat my cheese in addition to eating it straight out of the fridge.

We went to SNR for some pizza and churros. Loved that their churros are baked and not fried. Loved the cheese pizza too, very juicy! I ordered Cafe Latte Shakerato (not quite sure where the shakerato term came from) in Cafe Enzo, a stall selling Lavazza coffee and some pasta and sandwiches inside SNR. Very pleased that my Php 100 beverage tasted far better than Starbucks here. I only wished they put a little less milk and a little more coffee in the mixture.