Hello 🙂 I’ll try to visit as many posts as I can later this week. I’m coming down with something 😦
But I hope you have a great weekend:) xox
Tag Archives: Philippines
Weekly Photo Challenge: Sea
Weekly Photo Challenge: The Golden Hour
Golden 😉
Tagged R ~ Raw Recipe : Lato Seaweed Salad
I was planning on posting this next week for Frizztext’s ‘Tagged S- Simple Seaweed Salad’ but plans changed and I decided to pass it off as Tagged R- Raw Recipe. ^^ I simply couldn’t wait to share this recipe on my blog coz it’s been such a long time since I posted one. But this one’s bound to be interesting coz it’s Rare and Refreshing
Lato (Caulerpa lentillifera) is an edible seaweed farmed in the Philippines and in Japan where it is known as umi-budō (海ぶどう) or sea grapes because of its grape-like appearance. Compared to grapes though, they’re pretty tiny and has a mild, very slightly salty taste. The best thing about this seaweed also known as ‘sea caviar’ is probably the texture; it’s robust, watery, a li’l slimy and they pop in your mouth while you eat ‘em. Fun. ^^ They are known to be a rich source of essential minerals such as iron, iodine, and calcium as well as vitamins A and C.
Lato is usually sold fresh and eaten raw. Be warned that this seaweed with its delicate structure tends to wilt quickly. Hence, careful handling is required. Unlike most seaweeds, it’s impossible to dry and preserve the Lato. Also, cleaning it with bare hands requires effort and plenty of patience on the part of the market vendors. Nevertheless, they’re quite inexpensive. The great thing about preparing the salad is that it’s pretty easy and doesn’t take much of your time. ^^
First of course is that you have to wash the Lato well. Salted water may be used.
Then mix the seaweed with chopped onions or shallots, chopped tomatoes, and the vinaigrette of your choice. (vinegar with some salt and sugar usually works best). However, be sure to add the vinaigrette just before eating the salad unless of course you wanna end up with a dish of shriveled seaweed. lol ^^
I prefer my Lato salad with just some calamansi (a local citrus fruit) and plenty of sesame seeds. (shown above). Another dish to try if you ever find yourself in my part of the world 😉
xo
Carpe Diem: Daily Haiku 102 : Chocolate Hills
This kinda came to me at the last moment.lol though I prolly shoud’ve suggested this to Kristjaan for a separate prompt. The Chocolate Hills is a geological formation in Bohol, Philippines. The vast spread of almost-symmetrical mound shaped hills are covered in green grass that turns brown, like chocolate, during the dry season, hence the name.
These majestic wonders of nature consist of Late Pliocene to Early Pleistocene, thin to medium bedded, sandy to rubbly marine lime stones with abundant fossils of shallow marine foraminifera, coral, mollusks, and algae. They were created by a combination of the dissolution of limestone by rainfall, surface water, and groundwater, and their subaerial erosion by rivers and streams after they had been uplifted above sea level and fractured by tectonic processes.
earth and sea makes love
from fiery undulations
majesty was born
恵
Legend has it that two battling giants once hurled rocks, boulders, and sand at each other. (From the story I heard as a kid, it was actually cacao that the giants threw at each other). The fighting lasted for days, and exhausted them to the point that they simply decided to kiss and make up. But they kinda forgot to clean up the mess they had made during their fight, hence the lovely Chocolate Hills were formed. This is just one of many many stories. The others range from romantic to gross (like the one about the hills being the result of a gigantic Carabao’s poo) ^^
even clumsy hands
when fueled with strong passion
can create greatness
恵
nature’s elements
thrown in a flight of whimsy
to conceive beauty
恵
Weekly Photo Challenge: A Day in My Life
Never too busy for a quick post ^^
Everyday is like summer ^^ Welcome to my life.
Tagged L / Weekly Photo Challenge: Lunchtime Day 6: Ox Tail and more ^^
I’m now on my Day 6 entry for this cool iPhoneography challenge ^^ I’m obviously loving it. Yesterday, Frizz ( and L is also for Lunch ^^ ) made a comment on my Ox tongue post about a recipe for Ox tail. That seriously made me crave for one!! So I went to one of the must-visit local restaurants. It offers a wide variety of Filipino and international dishes… and cakes, they have cakes! ^^ Anyway, one of my favorite native dishes ever is the Kare Kare — a stew made of beef, ox tail and ox tripe and vegetables in peanut sauce. For the love of blogging, and because I’m really a glutton, I decided to go all out.lol We also ordered a couple of sandwiches: beef burger and a beef steak sub. There’s grilled squid and for dessert, a mango crepe and an apple muffin. But if there’s one dish that I keep coming back for, it’s the Crispy Beef Riblets. That’s exactly how beef is supposed to be cooked, plain and simple, and you can really taste all the yumminess oozing from the beef fat! It’s served with coleslaw and sweet potato fries. I also love their chicken potato salad but we skipped that ^^
Kare Kare – dish of ox tail and ox tripe
Crispy Beef Riblets
I have a feeling this week’s theme just made me fat. Hope you had a fabulous lunch! xo ^^
*for day 7, I went back to the local diner an took some actual food photos ^^ view my posts here
Weekly Photo Challenge: Lunchtime Day 2: Craving Thai
I feel really inspired by the Weekly Photo Challenge in iPhoneography ^^ And I haven’t been living up to the “Foodie” part of my blog. So this week, I’ve decided to feature at least 3 restaurants that I love dining in. Today, we’re having Thai and if you happen to be in Manila, there’s no better place to get it than at People’s Palace at Greenbelt 3, Makati. Their food and service has been consistently good and you can see by how the place is jammed during lunchtime!
Thom Yum Goong, Prawn, Pomelo and Coconut Salad Chicken, Mixed Vegetables, Larp Gai, Aromatic Chicken Curry, Phad Thai, Red Curry of Prawn and Roast Pumpkin
Of course, that last photo right there is dessert. Serious question, have you ever tried J.Co donuts? Well you have to! They’re so damn good. It’s not so shocking that the queue on their stalls is usually sooooo long! KK has nothing on these donuts! Sorry Krispy Kreme lovers — I used to be one too ^^ lol
PS not affiliated with any of these places. lol just another glutton :p Have a hearty lunch! ^^
Weekly Photo Challenge: Lunchtime
The theme for Weekly Photo Challenge is great coz it’s been a while since I posted about food or restaurants. ^^ Yup, I happen to be one of those people who sometimes takes photos of their food before even touching it 🙂 lol When I’m at home, I try to eat only grass-fed beef but when dining out, it’s really not that easy. ^^ Here’s what I’d always call a “once-in-a-while” thing ^^
RACKS can be found at GF Entertainment Mall, SM Mall of Asia
Of course, lunch won’t be complete without dessert. ^^ Also at the ground floor of MOA, you’ll find this cool kiosk that sells Japanese Mochi. They’re really yummy! I had the red bean mochi which is my fave and boyfie had durian flavored mochi -ewww…I’m not a fan of durian but he likes it ><
Cee’s Fun Foto Challenge: Earth / Sand
Earth/Harvest: Clay, Rock, Dust, Sand, Mud, Crystal, Powder, Shadow, Space, Darkness, Gravity, Bone, Silicon
Photos taken At Aguirangan Island. Damn, damn, damn but Caramoan Islands have PLENTY of MAGNIFICENT rock formations. It just sucks that I couldn’t spot a rock photo without either me or my boyfriend in it. Usually, it never really occurs to me to take photos without me/someone in it cos I never thought I’d be blogging but now I could only sigh cos I couldn’t very well post itsy bitsy bikini photos or my bf’s “Ab-ulous” (LOL) photos for the world to see ><
Share your Earth photos @ Cee’s Photography Page
The Eclectic Eccentric 