tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-237778302024-12-20T07:42:42.248+00:00Join me as I look for fish and seafood options in restaurants and try out pescetarian/vegetarian/vegan recipes. Happy eating!Alex A.http://www.blogger.com/profile/06391279951619433059noreply@blogger.comBlogger290125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-23777830.post-71764864318153208402022-01-05T23:01:00.000+00:002022-01-05T23:01:08.684+00:00

One good thing that came out of the pandemic was that people started cooking more. With so much time spent at home and with dining out suddenly becoming a high-risk activity, people have flexed their culinary muscles- often with amazing results, if social media is to be believed.  I’ve seen these kitchen experiments by my friends on their posts and they gladly share their recipes if I

Alex A.http://www.blogger.com/profile/06391279951619433059noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-23777830.post-25479750287095153362020-10-06T01:19:00.001+01:002020-10-06T01:19:57.852+01:00

My friend Brooks had just moved to a new apartment, so I decided to check out his new place and neighborhood by having lunch with him somewhere in the area. He suggested La Mucca Fuencarral, and the biggest advantages of going to this place were, one, they were open Mondays, which can’t be said for many other restaurants especially after the onset of the pandemic, and two, they didn’t close

Alex A.http://www.blogger.com/profile/06391279951619433059noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-23777830.post-19424751290362483142020-07-08T21:00:00.000+01:002020-07-08T21:00:30.688+01:00

I recently went to an Asian supermarket (something I should be doing more frequently to access stuff that I sometimes miss), and I came across some firm tofu. I thought it was the perfect time to try the tofu sisig recipe that my friend Anjou had sent me a few months ago. I also found some red and green chilis, which I remembered that the recipe called for, so I was all set. As I was getting

Alex A.http://www.blogger.com/profile/06391279951619433059noreply@blogger.com0Madrid, Spain40.4167754 -3.7037902-3.888004554575538 -74.0162902 84.721555354575543 66.6087098tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-23777830.post-6687954231106635032020-06-05T20:22:00.002+01:002020-06-05T20:31:31.034+01:00

Fried rice is one of my absolute favorite things to eat in the world. Chinese. Japanese, Thai, Indian, Indonesian- it doesn't matter what kind- I love them all. This is one of the things I cook often, because it's so easy to make, and I don't mind eating it for days at a time in case I end up with too much.I recently made some that turned out super tasty, because I used more ingredients than I

Alex A.http://www.blogger.com/profile/06391279951619433059noreply@blogger.com0Madrid, Spain40.4167754 -3.7037902-37.563799544426537 -144.32879020000001 90 136.92120980000004tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-23777830.post-7206195642200887962020-06-02T23:19:00.005+01:002020-06-05T20:30:47.733+01:00

Pansit palabok is one of my favorite Philippine dishes, and I've missed eating it since I moved to Spain. I loved eating it back home, wherever I found it. Whether it was in Jollibee (without the pork or chicharon), a little stall in a "palengke", a takeout "bilao" bought for someone's birthday, or in a Filipino fusion restaurant, I always enjoyed this plate of noodles. The orange sauce, the

Alex A.http://www.blogger.com/profile/06391279951619433059noreply@blogger.com0Madrid, Spain40.4167754 -3.7037902-39.429178783527014 -144.3287902 90 136.9212098tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-23777830.post-27467988992235721782019-04-03T17:24:00.000+01:002019-11-05T17:26:32.719+00:00

I’ve said many times that having friends prevents me from losing weight- because when you have friends, you often meet for lunch, dinner, coffee, or merienda, as well as hold drinking sessions (including those done over the internet). I think that if I didn’t have friends, I wouldn’t eat nor drink so much. But you could also say that my friends are not the cause but rather the excuse for eating

Alex A.http://www.blogger.com/profile/06391279951619433059noreply@blogger.com0Madrid, Spain40.4167754 -3.703790199999957640.0300434 -4.3492371999999575 40.8035074 -3.0583431999999577tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-23777830.post-43795014857257688232018-06-11T00:36:00.000+01:002018-06-11T00:36:44.229+01:00

I generally like the food in Tapa Tapa in Plaza de los Cubos along Calle Princesa. I've been there several times, usually when I felt like having some tapas with friends. There's a lot of seafood and vegetable options, so even if the portions are quite small, I've been happy enough to go to the place. One of my favorite things to eat there is their gambas al ajillo, which I've found to be very

Alex A.http://www.blogger.com/profile/06391279951619433059noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-23777830.post-72162116126005085182017-04-06T10:18:00.000+01:002017-04-06T10:18:45.417+01:00

During the visit of my friends, the Cobi sisters Lilliane and Girlie, I brought them to one of Madrid’s most fun Sunday activities- shopping (or window-shopping as the case may be) at the El Rastro flea market in La Latina. After a morning of going through the stalls and buying little knickknacks, we were ready for some nourishment. The problem with looking for a place near El Rastro is that

Alex A.http://www.blogger.com/profile/06391279951619433059noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-23777830.post-11944678624314601662017-04-04T09:14:00.002+01:002017-04-04T09:28:18.338+01:00

I enjoy staying at home (too much at times), and once in a while, more often than I care to admit, I am too lazy to cook for myself or even to go out to eat. So, I've become rather a fan of food delivery. And in Madrid, there are many services to choose from. Usually, I use the Deliveroo app on my phone for instant gratification for my cravings. But I saw that Uber had launched one too, called

Alex A.http://www.blogger.com/profile/06391279951619433059noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-23777830.post-69005101538004574332017-03-16T23:30:00.000+00:002017-03-16T23:40:06.335+00:00

It hasn’t been that easy to look for good Asian restaurants in Madrid. Some good ones I’ve come across are pretty pricey, probably because the ingredients are not all that easily available. I’m always on the lookout for good Japanese, Chinese, Thai, or Vietnamese restaurants, or even Singaporean, Indonesian, or Malaysian ones, none of which I’ve seen so far. Brooks and I were close to Plaza

Alex A.http://www.blogger.com/profile/06391279951619433059noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-23777830.post-87573640333904082482017-03-01T00:37:00.000+00:002017-03-19T20:51:27.297+00:00

I am a slow eater. All my friends know this, so they are very patient when I take more time than they do during meals. I hate being rushed to eat. In fact if I am told I am only given 15 minutes to eat (for example, during a break for a tour, a meeting, or anything similar), I prefer not to eat at all. I would rather suffer in hunger than rush through any kind of meal. This afternoon though,

Alex A.http://www.blogger.com/profile/06391279951619433059noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-23777830.post-67043249759603281962017-02-15T23:57:00.000+00:002019-11-05T20:21:12.322+00:00

(I'm copying and pasting here the story that I wrote for abs-cbnnews.com, and here is the link to the actual story.) Michelin Chef Mario Sandoval and Celebrity Chef Tatung MADRID, Spain -- Food experts from various parts of the world are predicting that Philippine cuisine will be the next big food trend and is set to conquer the world in 2017. It’s still too early in the year to see if

Alex A.http://www.blogger.com/profile/06391279951619433059noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-23777830.post-45903227674566011502017-01-28T23:27:00.000+00:002017-03-28T23:28:21.179+01:00

One highlight of covering Madrid Fusion for me was that I got invited to a meal to be jointly prepared by Spanish chef Mario Sandoval, who runs two-Michelin-starred restaurant Coque and who earned his first Michelin star at the tender age of 26, and the Philippines’ very own Chef Tatung. This special dinner was part of Gastrofestival, which was another set of events that is associated with

Alex A.http://www.blogger.com/profile/06391279951619433059noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-23777830.post-44515273346892266462016-12-16T12:00:00.000+00:002017-03-20T11:06:02.888+00:00

It’s been three years since my last visit to the US. I did miss a lot of food that can be had here, but one of the things that I wanted to eat first when I returned was nothing fancy, merely a sentimental favorite- lobster pizza from Red Lobster. I remember having this when I was still studying in Mizzou, and I wanted to eat something that would surely cheer me up. It would consistently

Alex A.http://www.blogger.com/profile/06391279951619433059noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-23777830.post-71831612407331077672014-12-07T10:48:00.000+00:002015-01-28T10:54:37.415+00:00

I don’t often get a chance to try restaurants in Alabang or even just go there in general, mostly because heading there always feels like an out-of-town trip. The distance and traffic from Quezon City and having to pay toll contribute to this aversion to heading south. So when I knew I was going to be in the area for the day, I was excited to have a chance to finally visit The Black Pig, which

Alex A.http://www.blogger.com/profile/06391279951619433059noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-23777830.post-27900235563355856772014-09-30T12:13:00.000+01:002015-01-02T12:18:51.830+00:00

It’s often said that breakfast is the most important meal of the day, that it jumpstarts your metabolism, that it fuels you for the day, that it makes you more alert, and that there’s a host of other reasons why the day’s first meal is good for you. For me, breakfast is the best meal of the day mostly because breakfast menus offer more to me as a vegetarian than any other meal, as eggs are

Alex A.http://www.blogger.com/profile/06391279951619433059noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-23777830.post-25547112816533468662014-04-06T11:09:00.000+01:002015-01-28T11:11:00.086+00:00

Yeng gave me a call late this morning to ask if I wanted to have late breakfast (though it was already close to lunch). Apparently she was craving breakfast food, so I suggested that we go to Chocolate Kiss along Roces Avenue. I knew that they carried Filipino breakfast items on their menu all day. She ordered the tapsilog. After a few bites, she said she wasn't too happy with the tapa (too

Alex A.http://www.blogger.com/profile/06391279951619433059noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-23777830.post-13968692051659409122014-01-23T10:58:00.000+00:002015-02-03T10:21:32.936+00:00

I’ve been pescetarian for the past 16 years, and in all those years I’d always wondered if I could ever become vegetarian. The term that some people use to be more precise as to what “vegetarian” means is ovo-lacto-vegetarian, meaning one would still eat eggs and consume dairy products. (Vegans eat neither.) I’ve long wanted to try it, but never really thought I could do without seafood. 

Alex A.http://www.blogger.com/profile/06391279951619433059noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-23777830.post-81449934040914560842013-12-23T23:04:00.001+00:002013-12-23T23:04:16.370+00:00

I like eating things that are a combination of sweet and savory, so the concept of chocolate covered potato chips (incidentally two of my favorite things), is appealing to me. I know a lot of people are grossed out by the thought of eating something like this, but this particular thought has the opposite effect on me. It makes me salivate and want to have some immediately. I have long been a fan

Alex A.http://www.blogger.com/profile/06391279951619433059noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-23777830.post-71708413750393677272013-06-27T14:53:00.000+01:002013-07-01T15:44:31.043+01:00

I'd been slacking off in terms of exercise recently, so when Girlie invited me and Z to join her for yoga at Beyond Yoga in Il Terrazzo, I was game to go. She was joining the Yin Yoga class, which I'd never tried, so I was looking forward to learning something new. Yin Yoga turned out to be more meditative than physical. It wasn't very strenuous (on the body at least), so I didn't really burn

Alex A.http://www.blogger.com/profile/06391279951619433059noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-23777830.post-15860251968429513002013-06-23T13:05:00.000+01:002013-07-04T13:42:21.543+01:00

My friend Kate wasn't joking when she said she wanted to celebrate her birthday all month long. This afternoon, she, along with other June celebrants Gel and Estelle, held a birthday party at McDonald's in Libis. This was a form of throwback celebration since they (along with Joan, who wasn't at the latest party) also had a joint McDonald's birthday bash in 1999. After the "children's party",

Alex A.http://www.blogger.com/profile/06391279951619433059noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-23777830.post-40287262559249136732013-06-20T11:32:00.000+01:002013-07-05T11:40:23.118+01:00

I’d been waiting to watch World War Z since I first heard that Brad Pitt was going to produce it. It seems he read the book and liked it, so he decided to get the rights to transform it into a movie. I really liked the book, and I really like zombies in general (yes, I am ready for the apocalypse of the undead), so I was anticipating the book’s transition into the big screen. The movie was

Alex A.http://www.blogger.com/profile/06391279951619433059noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-23777830.post-37684486698883124922013-04-14T22:53:00.001+01:002013-04-14T22:53:31.137+01:00

I just downloaded the blogger app on my phone and this is the first time for me to use it. I'm hoping that the app will help me update my blog more regularly. I've hundreds of photos I haven't uploaded, so I hope this will help with the backlog. I'm at the airport now, waiting to board my flight to Bangkok. I'm killing time at Sweet Ideas Cafe. It's my second time here, and I had spanish

Alex A.http://www.blogger.com/profile/06391279951619433059noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-23777830.post-28483020663128360522013-02-25T13:49:00.002+00:002013-02-25T13:51:02.633+00:00

I'd seen the construction of this new restaurant "Relish" going on, because it's right beside Cerchio, where Chi and I so often have lunch. This week, we decided to finally try this new place. The facade amuses me, because it's so positive about how your experience will go. In fact, the complete name of the restaurant appears to be "Relish, Hello Happiness!" (Yes, it comes complete with

Alex A.http://www.blogger.com/profile/06391279951619433059noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-23777830.post-24033579411828826062013-02-20T16:26:00.000+00:002013-07-02T16:43:48.238+01:00

I had a few hours to spend in Bangkok by myself before my flight, so I did what I do best, look for places to eat. I was in the mood to eat a lot of sugar, and since it was a very hot, sweaty, sticky afternoon, I decided to have some ice cream at Swensen's. Bangkok is the first place I tried this particular brand of ice cream some time back, so I revisited the exact same ice cream parlor where I

Alex A.http://www.blogger.com/profile/06391279951619433059noreply@blogger.com0