Finding the Puto Bumbong of my Dreams! ;-)

As you can probably already tell from the title of this post, puto bumbong is my most favorite Filipino dessert ever! I don't think it's because of the fact that it's a dessert associated with Christmas and therefore, have to wait in anticipation all year before I can have it. It's not that. It's because it's just soooo damn good! I like how the butter/margarine, muscovado sugar, and grated fresh coconut go so well with the soft and gooey sweetness of the puto bumbong itself. It's just heavenly! ;-)

Being a big fan of puto bumbong, naturally, I've had them in so many different places. I've tasted the food court-type puto bumbong, from a stall near the churches I went to after Christmas mass, to the fancy type in restaurants, and finally, even the ones that you can find in public markets. Out of all these, the one that impressed me the most is one that Jojo's sister, Del, buys us from Sta. Clara de Montefalco after Sunday masses during the Christmas season. This church is in Pasay City -- near the intersection of Pasay Road and Burgos Street. She gets them for the outstanding price of....20 pesos!!! And that comes with two long pieces of puto bumbong and all the accompaniment that goes with it.

I didn't think the puto bumbong there could possibly be outdone since it's really already very very good! It's smooth and with just with the right amount of gooey sweetness as it is. Well, you know what? It has been outdone and I'll tell you exactly where I found THE best puto bumbong in Metro Manila!

The answer? It's at Benny's at Rustan's Makati. It's across Glorietta 5 and right in front of Rustan's grocery store. One order comes with fine muscovado sugar, freshly grated coconut, and 2 pieces of the smoothest, chewiest, and yummiest puto bumbong ever!!! Most puto bumbong sellers use margarine as a topping but the puto bumbong at Benny's is a little more sinful and 'decadent.' They use butter! Woohoo! ;-) Combine all of these perfect little details and there you have it -- a perfect Puto Bumbong by my standards! ;-)

The price is a little steep in comparison to those sold near churches or inside public markets. One order at Benny's costs 60 pesos. Yes, that's 200% more than the usual but trust me when I say it's oh-so-worth it! ;-)

If you order it for take-out, it only costs 60 pesos. But if you choose to sit down and eat the puto bumbong inside Benny's, you'll have to pay additional for service charge. It's not a lot. For one order, you'll end up having to pay 66 pesos just like I did. It's still not bad.

I'm not sure if they'll be offering puto bumbong all year or it's only available for the holiday season. Either way, hurry on in and try out my most favorite puto bumbong in the metro. And if still, you find one that can outdo this one, PLEASE leave me a note and let me know where. Frankly, I don't think the puto bumbong at Benny's can be outdone. But this is one time when I would really like to be proven wrong...;-)

My Current Addiction

If you know me or are a follower of this blog, you're probably thinking that this is another shopping entry. ;-) Yes, I AM addicted to shopping too. But no, this is not a shopping entry. It revolves around my second love, actually. And that is: eating! ;-)

In particular, I'll be talking about some of my favorite grocery store-bought snacks. When my husband and I watch a movie at home, our go-to snack is Ruffles Cheddar and Sour Cream. The chips are not only very crunchy but the combination of the sour cream and cheddar (lots of it!) is just perfect! We don't even need a dip to go with it. Actually, eating it with dip is not a very good idea since the chips alone seem "sinful" as it is. The dip will just be piling the calories some more.

When we have a hankering for chips with dip, we go for the cheese or sour cream-flavored Piattos. It's a local brand and it tastes very light. It goes really well with a homemade dip. Just buy some sour cream (we go for Nestle), chop some garlic, mix it together, and let it cool. Take it out of the fridge after a few minutes and there you have it! Just remember to gargle with mouthwash or at least, pop in some breath mints after eating this. Pity the people around you who will have to stand your dragon breath if you don't! ;-)

Here in Asia, seafood-flavored chips is a big deal. Give it a chance. They're really not bad. Our favorite is Okeji Tempura Chips. The chips are light and airy with a mild crunch. There are bursts of flavor everywhere and because it seems like a light snack, it would be easy to eat it mindlessly. You're watching a movie, you have a large bag in front of you and before you know it, you've actually finished more than half of it on your own! ;-) That's probably why they only sell large bags of Okeji. I haven't seen any grocery store sell them in small bags...

Although I don't get to have it very often, another favorite of mine are Ikea's Dill-flavored chips. I only get to buy these when we're out of the country since it's not available here. The flavor of the chips certainly wakes up your taste buds. It's a unique taste, actually. I imagine not everyone will like it. But if you enjoy eating salt n' vinegar-flavored chips, this should become a favorite. It's sour and salty combined really well. I love it!

Just recently, Jojo and I found two new faves. That's actually an understatement. More aptly, they should be called our current addiction! ;-) One of them is called Red Rock Deli Chips. We discovered it by chance. We were at Rustan's grocery and there was a stall that offered us a free taste of the different variants. The flavors that are available here are Honey Soy Chicken,
Sea Salt, Lime and Black Pepper, and the one that we liked the most -- Sweet Chilli and Sour Cream. We got to try the others and none of them were bad. In fact, a close second favorite would be Lime and Black Pepper. ;-) We only needed to buy one bag though so we chose to get Sweet Chilli and Sour Cream -- the flavor that the the two of us unanimously voted as our number one choice! ;-) I found out that Red Rock Deli also makes chips with the Tzatziki flavor. Wow! This might potentially bump off Sweet Chilli and Sour Cream as my number one! It's too bad that it's not available here yet. Just gotta wait! In the meantime, we'll be stocking up on our new favorite chips which brags that they have "authentic seasonings, no artificial flavors, and colours or preservatives." How great is that! ;-)

Another healthy snack that I discovered was actually introduced to me by a co-worker. My friend Yazmin, being a mother of five, always has a bag full of snacks wherever she goes. ;-) She's one who likes to try new things at the grocery too. One time, she shared with me a new find. They're rice crackers so at first, I wasn't interested. I'm not really fond of rice crackers. When she offered it again and convinced me that I would like it, I decided to give it a chance. They're called One One Hot Chilli-Flavor Rice Crackers by Monde. It says in the package that it has no cholesterol and that it's baked which translates to a healthier snack. One bag comes with 10 small packs of rice crackers with two pieces in each bag. I wondered why they had to be wrapped individually like that. I was thinking what a waste it was of plastic. But when I took the first bite, I understood why. Man, these rice crackers are VERY crunchy! Oooooh and the flavor, wow! There's a burst of flavor from the first bite to the last! I absolutely loved it! Now to be honest with you, of course it does not compare with Ruffles chips. But for a much healthier alternative, it will do. It has the flavor, it has the crunch, what else do you need? ;-) I imagine that in the future, they'll have variants of this in other flavors. Hopefully they come up with a cheese-flavored one! ;-)

Planning for a movie night at home? You might want to try one of my favorites above. You might end up liking it. In the mean time, 3 more days till the weekend! ;-)

SOURCES:

http://www.fritolay.com/assets/images/blue/RUFFLES_Cheddar_Sour_Cream.gif

http://www.philamfood.com/images/P/4800016671500.jpg

https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEg55sw01pgJfHUqdLjcdVcRgx5IR3mvaoRRZh7KJORG8p1jSGpHByqIYeQz0xwqymnZLuLaC2Q7K7mb9tXkuhSd_yS08nQHTnuWZBRE7-F6r-V1FkT5wX_vDtuCYAC_i7dMTsfP3LczaTL3/s400/21062008394.jpg

http://www.pinoygoods.net/img/p/121-167-large.jpg

https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgNPukBbb-OdQswi4PZnZkWABE3fPZblz5KFNaL9iBhXhVoIMjSoUZoCCXy4mgOleFqcKnmuN4NN0mLWWujT538DXSjJuZEftJbSfAL24zvrq2yCk7MenXoFBI4aLQyKSyGUE7KiWkYbs8/s400/IMG_0650s.jpg

http://www.mondenissin.com/images/products/large/monde/monde_products/one_one_rice_crackers.jpg

Giving the House Some Love....

I'm on the latter part of my 10-day semester break at work and I had a lot of time to organize at home. In fact, I've put up our Christmas tree and decor too. I was able to get rid of some of the things that we don't need anymore. And as for the things that I decided to keep, they've been put in their proper places together with similar items and labeled. Wow, I felt like a complete Martha Stewart! ;-) I consider it a great accomplishment and as you can probably tell, I'm very proud of myself. ;-) So let me share with you what I did and some great finds that helped me do the job!

There are four magazines that I subscribe to. That's Real Living, Good Housekeeping, Yummy, and Travel Life magazine. So over the years, you can imagine how fast they accumulate! But it's just so hard for me to let go of them. That's especially when I use them as resources for deciding what to cook, where to travel next, and a trove of ideas and inspiration on fashion and decorating. With this dilemma, what is there to do? Well, for one, I did not let go of any of my magazines. ;-) I just decided to be smarter when it comes to storage. I bought these colourful magazine file folders from National Bookstore for 19 pesos each! Not all National Bookstores have these as they quickly run out of them. I actually bought half of them from the National Bookstore at Cash & Carry. As for the other half, I got them from the Metro department store at Market!Market! Just go to the third floor near the Kids' section.

See the labels on the magazine folders? Aren't they cute? ;-) Well, I found these from the Kids' section as well. But this time -- at Landmark! I found it quite odd that they didn't have these on the main floor of Landmark. You know, where they have all the paper and gift wrapping supplies. You'll have to go on the third floor as well. As I said, it's in the Kids' section -- by the toys and near where they display pencil cases and the like. I got these for P54.75. One set has 12 pieces and they come in three different sizes. What a find, hey? ;-)

Aside from hoarding magazines, I also hoard writing utensils, pretty binder clips, greeting cards for all occasions, notebooks, gift tags, and many others. Heyyyy, you never know when you'll need these! It's good to be prepared right? ;-) Admittedly, before getting them organized, I just kept on accumulating them without having the chance to use them. It's not because I never needed them. It was because I couldn't find them! They were all over the place. It was high time for me to put them all together and organize them for easy access. My solution to this? Put them together in pretty boxes, label them, and place them in the guest's bedroom! ;-) The boxes had to be cute and pretty so that they would complement the decor. Although it's not being used in the mean time, I didn't want to turn the guest's room into a storage room. Essentially, it is that but the pretty boxes surely mask it. ;-) So where did I get my pretty boxes? The colorful striped ones were from Ikea. It's a set of 3 and they cost 80 HKD. That's about 480 pesos. As for the other one, it also came in a set of 3 but I got them at Glorietta. I can't remember the name of the store. But it looked like a Gourdo outlet store. It's beside Burger King on the second floor. You'll find it on your way to SM from Glorietta 4. The set only cost me 200 pesos.

Along with magazine folders, I placed the box sets in the guest's room too. Since the furniture and chandelier in the guest's room are all white, the boxes and the magazine folders surely added the much-needed color in the room. Everything's looking good together! ;-)

For even more color, my husband and I also bought this retro radio from Dimensione. I fell in love with it when I saw it! They were selling it for 10% off so the radio only cost 986 pesos! It has an AM/FM radio and you can also plug your MP3 or iPod in it. You can choose to plug it to an outlet although you have to buy the power adaptor because the radio doesn't come with it. Or during blackouts, you can put 4 AA batteries instead. We're really loving it! I was teasing Jojo, my husband, that the guest's room looks so nice now that I plan to sleep there instead of the master's bedroom! ;-) Hahaha! ;-)

Not only is my stuff all over the place, my husband's too. He's got all these home improvement supplies like nuts and bolts, tape (tons of them!), rope, tools, and so many other "guy" stuff that I don't know what to call. ;-) All these were just plopped inside our two ottoman chairs. We got those with storage inside. To organize Jojo's 'guy' stuff, I put them in these Ikea zip lock bags that we got in HK. These bags come in two sizes and in a box, there are about 50 bags in all. We got these for only 20 HKD. That's roughly 120 pesos, I think. What a steal huh! You might be able to find these at Mobler here in Manila.

Here in the Philippines, the Christmas season (the longest one in the world!) -- officially started last September 1st. With that standard, I feel like I'm running behind! My in-laws had their tree up more than a month ago and finished most of their shopping too! Wow. I'm nowhere near that. But I have decided on our color motif this year. The previous year was apple green and gold. This year is a bit more colorful. We, or rather, I decided on pink, apple green, and silver. ;-) My husband wasn't too sold on the pink part. But when he saw the tree, he loved it! I was so hung up on pink that I literally toured the major malls in the metro to find my pink balls. ;-) I normally buy our Christmas decor at the Metro department store. I find that they have the best selection and they're the cheapest too. In fact, that's where I got the silver decor for our motif. One set of silver balls cost under 200 pesos and the leaf decor (?), I got in SM for around 30 pesos. This year though, where's the pink? I had to scour Makati, Taguig, and Pasay to find them. Thankfully, I found them at my last stop -- over at Landmark. I bought the pink ribbons there. They cost around 300 pesos, I think for one roll. To get the six ribbons, I needed two rolls. As for the Christmas balls, the pink ones came in a large set. Around 24 pieces? I don't know the exact price but they were definitely under 300 pesos. I just recycled the apple green decor from last year and it all worked out perfectly. I LOVE our tree! ;-)

I was able to start buying a few Christmas presents too. And in true Martha Stewart fashion, of course, the gift wrapper and ribbons have to match the tree! ;-) I opted for pink and silver-striped wrappers which we got at Divisoria. As you know, you have to buy everything in bulk there. At least 25 pieces of the same type of wrapper. Not only did the wrappers have to match the tree, but I had to find ones that I could use for other occasions too. Clearly, 50 wrappers would be too many! So, the solution to that was to get these type of wrappers. I decided to make them more festive through the ribbons. The gift wrappers were only 3 pesos each, by the way.

After seeing the collection of ribbons at Morning Glory in Divisoria, I literally went crazy and bought tons! The ribbons were sooo beautiful! So many possibilities! With all these ribbons in stock, I thought, why stick with one or two types of ribbons? I can still follow our Christmas motif with an assortment of ribbons right? As long as the wrappers were the same. Anyway, I went for a bit of the polka-dotted theme too. There's the white ribbon with black dots and the pink ribbon with white dots. I also went for plaid. There's the apple green and white kind and also the black and white one. The ribbons ranged between 180 and 250 pesos. Our Christmas wrapping this year isn't too loud when it comes to the colors. But altogether like that, don't you think they look pretty? ;-) Sorry...you just gotta love your own right? I'm very happy with how everything turned out. Now if only I can finish my Christmas shopping already! ;-)

There you go. It's been a productive week by my standards! ;-) I hope you enjoyed hearing about my great finds! ;-)

Yogurts in Disguise

I must be one of the very few who just caught on to the yogurt craze here in Manila. It took me a while because I never was into yogurts to begin with. In fact, I hated it. I'm not fond of it's tart and sour taste. For me, it's neither dessert nor appetizer. It doesn't satisfy dessert cravings and it's a little too sour to start a meal with. I couldn't stomach it as a snack either. I feel like that sour taste needs to be accompanied with something else. In a nutshell, I was never really a fan of yogurts and I was so close to not giving it a chance at all. For me, yogurts are only good when used in Mediterranean cuisine for their sauces and dressings.

That is, until I came across a couple of yogurt places in Manila that have yogurts that well, don't taste like yogurt at all! ;-) They taste like ice cream or sorbet! They taste really good and they carry with them the list of benefits below too:
- boosts the immune system,
- reduces blood pressure,
- decreases the risks of certain cancers,
- aids in digestion,
- provides calcium, Vitamin B, etc.,
- AND most of all, yogurts have much lesser calories and sugar than ice cream!

We get the best of both worlds here. So if that's the case, I wonder, why have ice cream still? Just like what I will do from now on, I'll just visit one of these two places which have yogurts in disguise! ;-) Yogurts that taste like ice cream without the calories! Yay! ;-)

1.) Golden Spoon in Magallanes

WHAT I ORDERED: Cake Batter yogurt topped with cookie dough (Php 105 - mini cup plus one topping)
PRICES: Mini (Php 85), Small (Php 155), Large (Php 220), Quart (Php 499); Toppings (Php 20 each)
MY THOUGHTS: Their yogurts taste SO MUCH like ice cream that I just had to ask the server about it very suspiciously: "Are you sure this is yogurt??!??" ;-) Hahaha! Well, it is! And my face might have lit up so much that's why the server gave me this huge grin. ;-) The thickness, the creaminess, the texture and the taste --- it's all ice cream, I'm telling you! ;-) The only difference must be that their yogurts are not as sweet as ice cream and they're light. You don't get the same "ick" feeling after having two scoops of sinful ice cream. You still get your fill though. And it definitely satisfies the craving. The cookie dough was an excellent topping. It was chewy and really went well with the cake batter flavor! I'm willing to explore other yogurt places. But for now, I get the feeling that this is the best non-yogurt tasting yogurt place in the country! They have such interesting flavors too. For my next visit, I plan to have the Island Coconut yogurt (small instead of mini this time!) topped with English Toffee. Yum! ;-)

2.) Tutti Frutti at Glorietta 4

WHAT I ORDERED: A mix of coffee and chocolate yogurt topped with mochi balls and almonds (7 oz in total for Php 140)
PRICES: PhP 20 for every ounce (includes all yogurts and toppings)
MY THOUGHTS: The texture of their yogurt is between ice cream and sorbet. It's not completely as thick and creamy as ice cream but it's not as soft and watery as sorbet either. It's an in-betweenie. In comparison to Golden Spoon, their yogurts are a bit sweeter. I liked the fact that they have mochi balls as a choice for a topping though. Golden Spoon doesn't have that. Tutti Frutti has a lot more choices of fruit toppings too.

For me, I think that Tutti Frutti is a nice alternative if you're in the Glorietta area. You see, they only have Golden Spoon in Greenhills and Paseo de Magallanes. Tutti Frutti's yogurts are also light in "sorbet"-kind of way. Creamy enough but not as close to ice cream as Golden Spoon is. The good thing about Tutti Frutti is that it's self-serve. You can manage your portions and you're not bound by fixed cup sizes. It's like being a kid in a candy store. You can mix all the yogurt flavors if you want and put bits of all the different toppings too! It's really a whole lot of fun! ;-)

Zen Zest's Lavender Linen Spray

Do you ever find yourself in bed, unable to sleep because your mind is generating about a hundred thoughts per second? Or maybe you just saw a frightening film that you can't get out of your head? Possibly, it could be just because it's too hot and you're really too uncomfortable to sleep. Whatever the reason is, if I'm unable to sleep, there's one thing that I swear by. No, I don't resort to counting sheep or drinking warm milk. Just two spritzes of Zen Zest's Lavender Linen Spray (P200) always does the trick for me. I swear by it and it always works!

Zen Zest has a whole Aromatherapy line. I haven't tried the others yet. But I'm currently very satisfied with the one that I have tried. For their Lavender Spray, you actually have a choice of getting an air mist spray or one specifically to spray on linen. I like the linen spray better because the scent stays on longer. And I love being surrounded with linens and pillows that smell good! ;-)

On the bottle, it says that the lavender spray is meant to calm and soothe. "The stress-relieving aroma of its essential floral oils will bring peace and tranquility into your home." Very very true. I spray one spritz on my pillow and another on my blanket, close my eyes, take a full, deep breath, and within five or so minutes, I'm off to dreamland! The lavender spray really helps me relax my whole body and eventually, help in driving the thoughts out of my head. It just clears my head.

Could work for you too. Why not give it a try? You can find Zen Zest's stall pretty much anywhere. I get my Zen Zest loot at either Market, Market or Glorietta. ;-)

Sleep tight and have sweet dreams! ;-)