IceBreakers Sours, Lay's Potato Chips and French Onion Dip.

A commercial from my usual food posts.

My taste buds are screaming for these:

IceBreakers Sours (I like the Berry Sours though).

Baked Lay's Sour Cream & Onion.

Lay's Original.

Frito-Lay's French Onion Dip.

Unlucky for me, only the Lay's Original is available here and I have to go to Duty Free for the rest. :(

Anyone feeling generous today and wouldn't mind shipping me these (or just the dip and/or IceBreakers)? :D Tee hee!

Love you all!

Solomon Guest House: Batch 12 Desserts.

I mentioned earlier that I used to have my practicum in SGH and that the food depends on the batch so last Monday when I ate there, I missed a lot of things! I miss my friends and batch mates in SGH (Batch 12) AND I miss our desserts.

Batch 12 Desserts: from top left-bottom: Charlotte, Tiramisu and (my ultimate favorite) Chocolate Eminence.

The only main stay there is the Tiramisu, the other 2 is from our kitchen pastry batch mates. Chocolate Eminence is LOVE. Okay, I'll go find a much close-up photo if I have one and I'll upload. :)

Seattle's Best.

Ham and Cheese Croissant and Iced Tea.

I haven't had lunch and we met up at 5PM. My first meal of the day! :)

When I meet up with my friends, it's either in a coffee shop or in a booze place or yeah, they pick me up at home.

So, when one of our friends who's been working in the island of Boracay came back here in the city for a week's leave 2 weeks ago, we met up at Seattle's Best Coffee in Greenbelt 3.

Solomon Guest House.

I had my Practicum 1 at Solomon Guest House, an in-house site still owned by the school but is being fully operated by students, from the kitchen staff to service. Every school term, the theme and menu of SGH changes depending on what the batch decides.

I was able to try this term's SGH Batch 18 menu. Here's what I ordered:

Albert's Chop w/ Spanish rice.

SGH food prices range from P50-P95 and drinks for P20-P30. Student-friendly prices for a fine-dining experience. And no, we don't get paid for the service that we do since it's still part of the curriculum.

If you want to try different food that's being prepared (prep and cooked) and served by the Hotel, Restaurant, Institution Management students of De La Salle- College of Saint Benilde, please visit the Solomon Guest House at C. Ayala St. Arellano Ave. Manila.

Jack's Loft.

I love sandwiches and well.. all other foods. Here's another panini I had for dinner when one of my grade school friend and high school friend (both knew each other from college) decided to meet up after years of not seeing each other.

Jack's Loft: Ham and Cheese Panini and Iced Tea.

It's much bigger in actual size though. I was only able to finish one half and the chips and to think that I was starving. :)

Mapecon (Eatery).

One of our favorite places to eat and hang out during breaks when we were in college was the eatery just beside our campus building. It only got its name because they were beside the Mapecon (pests terminator) "office".

Almost everybody knows Ate Alma, the owner of the eatery. I always order Beef Garlic and once she sees me walking in, she knew what to prepare. One Saturday, my friend and I decided to have late lunch there. I was so excited because I haven't had Beef Garlic for so long, I miss it! I was almost running out of the car to Mapecon (or Mape), I was all smiles and then I saw Ate Alma, I greeted her with my usual jolly tone and then she replied:

"Hi Mara! Uh, sorry wala ng Beef Garlic." (Hi Mara! Uh, sorry we ran out of Beef Garlic.)

My heart broke. I was so hungry and so craving for it already. I have no energy to think. I told her just cook anything beef for me and here's what she prepared:

Sizzling Beef Tenderloin.

YUM! But Beef Garlic is still my all-time Mape favorite.

Mape foods only cost P40-P60. So cheap but the foods are delish! Not bad for an eatery. :)

Can't wait for tomorrow's lunch date there with my friend. I'll take a picture of the place so you'll get to have a look and see what I mean. I hope Beef Garlic is available! :)

Figaro Coffee.

There's no coffee in this post but I do have BLT panini and iced tea (not photographed). This was from my lunch date last week with my former boss and 2 other friends. I had this coupon where I get to have a few free drinks like brewed coffee, iced blended (frosts), and several coupons with buy one get one for free for the same price or less. It was a huge help for me especially since I'm the only one with no work yet. My boss and I "shared" with the bill but she paid for most of it. I spent only P100 ($2) for my BLT and large iced tea. :) That's good enough since prices in Figaro are at least a hundred for coffee and their food costs more than 100 except for the few pastries they have which costs 50-100. I saved a lot using the coupons.

BLT (bacon, lettuce, tomatoes) Panini with my "un-photographed" Iced Tea.

I was too hungry that I almost forgot to take a picture of it. I like Figaro's sandwiches and pastas. They only have a number of

sandwiches and pastas

available but they're delicious. I was supposed to have my favorite sandwich Chicken Caesar but then I started getting allergies with chicken, eggs and other poultry products so I'm limiting eating them, maximum ONCE a week.

I hope to use up all or at least half of the coupons before they expire on the 30th of September. :) Might go back and use my free coupons and ask some friends to go with me for the remaining "buy one take one" ones.

Starbucks Coffee.

* Don't forget to check out MY GIVEAWAY!

I have always been a coffee drinker... I think? I love coffee candies when I was still young enough to drink a cup, I enjoyed "flavored" coffee when I was a teenager and then I bloomed into a full time coffee addict during the latter part of my teenage years. Starbucks was my first taste of real adult coffee and I loved it.

My Hungarian Sausage, Egg and Cheese plus Iced Cafe Latte.

Since I am on a mega tight budget especially this month, I think my next Starbucks visit would be on September. I hope. I miss my Double Vanilla Latte and Chicken Asparagus Sandwich, or the Tomato and Mozzarella and Caramel Macchiato. For now, I would settle with my Nescafe coffee. It tastes as good nonetheless. :)

Any of you guys coffee drinkers too?

OFF TOPIC: Giveaway!

This entry is for the celebration of this new blog and a way of saying thank you to my friends and regular visitors over at Mara's Personal Bubble who followed and supported me here at Mara's Appetite.

I will be having 2 giveaways, 1 until the end of this month and 1 until the end of December 2009.

All you have to do is to drop your ECs and I'll send you EC credits if you make it to my Top 10 Droppers for this month. Another prize is a $2 and $1 PLUS EC credits if you sign up on Adgitize.

For those who don't have Adgitize on their blogs, here's what Adgitize can help you with:

1. Gain a lot of traffic (especially when you advertise).

2. Can earn you a little (or a good enough) amount by doing what you normally do: publish articles/blog posts, visit other blogs, having page views, etc.

3. You can discover other interesting blogs, gain friends.

Advertising in Adgitize is worth it. For only $14/month, you could earn it back with a profit before the month ends, gain at least 1,000 traffic and you can meet new bloggers. There are also other advertising options if you would like to "test-advertise" first.

I have been a member of Adgitize since December of last year and started advertising February of this year if I'm not mistaken and since then I renew my ad each month (except for April/May) and I always get my $14 back WITH profit. :) So I can say that I am a very satisfied member and that's why I am promoting them.

To know more about the details of my giveaway please visit me at MARA'S PERSONAL BUBBLE.

Pepper Lunch's Double Beef Pepper Rice.

If you are a regular visitor of Mara's Personal Bubble or have been there at least once, you would have seen an entry about one of my favorite places to eat: Pepper Lunch.

Double Beef Pepper Rice.

My favorite (after the Curry Beef).

My friends know I LOVE PL so much that they would tease me every time I say I'm hungry they say "Okay, Pepper Lunch?". Haha!

I am a member of PhilMug (The Philippine Macintosh Group) forum and there I met Jeroen, the owner of PL suggested I try something new. Yes, I eat Beef Pepper and Curry Beef alternately every visit and as much as I want to try other food in the menu, I just keep on craving for either of the two. Whoops. Don't worry about the price because not only would you get your money's worth (and it's not too pricey), you'd get your stomachs full too.

Those who haven't tried Pepper Lunch yet, you can visit them at Powerplant Mall, Shangri-La Plaza and in the newly opened store in Alabang Town Center. Or you can visit their website and blog: Pepper Lunch Philippines and Pepper Lunch Blog.

Regular branches I eat at are Powerplant's and Shangri-La's since it's way nearer my house than in Alabang. I hope they won't open too many branches. It would be like Gonuts Donuts, Krispy Kreme, and we all know what happened to them (especially Gonuts). I think having 3-5 here in Manila is enough. One in South, one in North, and 2 here in between. That's just me and my 2 cents though. :)

Homemade Mango Float.

Desserts, desserts, desserts. One of my favorite parts of the meal is having desserts after. Ice cream, cakes, chocolates, what have you. So, I was browsing through my photos folders when I stumbled into these:

Mhe and Migby's homemade Mango Float.

The L stands for "Lucas", their son's and our godchild's name. :)

Our friends ate the whole thing. We shared the slices in a plate and we didn't notice how many we already consumed until there was nothing left.

We had this Mango Float (or refrigerated cake, Graham cake, etc.) during my friend, Mhe's baby shower last year. It's so addicting. A lot different than what we normally have here at home when my aunt makes one.

I miss this. And I miss the Torres family. Hopefully, they'll be here in the Philippines on December for Mhe's birthday and the holidays.

Booze Stop's Spicy Spareribs.

Hello cravings. I hate you. I have been craving for Booze Stop's Spicy Spareribs since yesterday and I cannot, and I mean I cannot wait until Friday when I get to eat 'em again.

Spicy Spareribs.

Around P160-P180 ($2-$4). Really spicy and really addicting. Really! :)

Sorry for the not-so-presentable photo, every time we order this we can't help but munch on them as soon as the plate touches the table. I am almost at Booze Stop every week and every week I order this and the only photos I have are empty plates. Ooooh! Now, I'll make sure to try to take photos first. Hello again spareribs on Friday!

Booze Stop is located at Kamagong St. in Makati City (near Shopwise Vito Cruz). They will be celebrating their first year anniversary on Saturday too, so for all my Filipino readers and followers please please feel free to drop by (and maybe we could meet up?). The celebration would start at 7PM and would go on until 4 in the morning.  Bring your friends, your family, every one! :)

Here is their Facebook profile: Booze Stop Bar and Booze Stop 1st Anniversary. You can find their map location and other details there. I'm not sure if you could view the profile if you don't have an account though. Let me know if you're dropping by! :)

Buon Giorno!

Have I mentioned that I love pasta? Well, I love almost all cuisines and I enjoy trying out new dishes. This one isn't new though. What's new is the restaurant that my friends and I dined in. It's not newly built, but it's out-of-town so it was our first time to try it there.

It's in Tagaytay (just a good 2-3 hours from the busy streets of Manila), the establishment is called Buon Giorno!, they serve Italian dishes.

Seafood Puttanesca (in Penne pasta) and Green Tea Iced Tea.

I spent roughly P500 ($11) for the meal plus the bread (free) before the meal. Yummy! Very worth the money. 

Good thing now we don't have to go to Tagaytay for a taste of Buon Giorno!, there is a new branch at Liberty Center, Shaw Blvd. here in Mandaluyong City which is 5-10 minutes away from my house. Yey!

Tender Bob's: Baby back Ribs.

My brother and I almost have similar taste when it comes to food. We both love pizza, steaks, seafoods, etc. but he's a lot more choosier. :) Last night, we were talking about the food we'll prepare for his birthday which is exactly 2 weeks from now. Almost half of his favorites are a no-no for him (so he says): "NO FAST FOOD ON MY BIRTHDAY." Okay, fine. We were down to Lobster (or not, since it's pricey), birthday cake, and spaghetti. That's how choosy he is. When he eats, even in a buffet, he only sticks to one food. Weird. 

Anyway, I was thinking of buying him a baby back ribs from Tender Bob's since it's gonna be his birthday and he has been bugging me about food for months! "Ate (older sister), I want lobster.", "I want pizza Ate.", "Ate, BABY BACK RIBS!!", "Ate, buy me food.". Argh okay okay. I spoil my younger brother... a little.

So, maybe I'd finally give in to his request on his birthday given that I would have some budget for it. Hopefully.

Tender Bob's Baby Back Ribs (half) with Java rice and corn on the side.

I forgot how much this is exactly but I'm sure it's around P350-P470 ($7-$10). It's worth it though. I ate this as a first meal of the day at 4PM, so imagine how starved I was and I still didn't manage to clear my plate and I eat a lot, I'm not the kind of girl who always leave something on her plate. That's how big the ribs is. :)

Of course Tender Bob's has a variety of food to choose from. They also have salads, soup, steaks, pasta, burgers and sandwiches, desserts and platters. Budget for dining here would be P300-P1000 ($7-$22) for 2-3 persons at least since their servings are too big and you could share in 1 meal. Not bad, eh?

Tender Bob's can be located at The 5th in Shangri-La Plaza Mandaluyong and Ground Level in Promenade Greenhills.

Uncle Moe's Shawarma Hub.

I was never a fan of Mediterranean cuisine and I didn't get the craze over Shawarma and Kebabs before. The first time I had to taste Shawarma was when I was in my last year in college which was 2 years ago. Okay, don't laugh at me. LOL.

After I had my first Shawarma, I got addicted. Really really addicted. I craved for it for weeks. And then my friend suggested I try Uncle Moe's. So one day we planned to have dinner there. But instead of having Shawarma, I tried Beef Kebab with Buttered Rice. Man was it delish!

Now, I'm all for Beef Kebab. :)

Beef Kebab with Buttered Rice and All My Tea bottled iced tea. 

I forgot to put on the sauce before taking this photo and when I did, I was just too hungry to take another shot. :)

You can visit Uncle Moe's at Ortigas near Home Depot and they also have another branch at Kapitolyo in Pasig. 

*I'm craving for it now!

Frozen Yogurts: Lulu Belle, Red Mango and FroYo.

Oh no! My taste buds are in need of their dose of frozen yogurts. If you have been with me on my personal blog you would know how much I love 'em!

Fro-Yo (yes, that's the name) frozen yogurt with strawberries.

Red Mango frozen yogurt with Peaches.

Lulu Belle frozen yogurt Combination.

These delightful yogurts cost around P80-P150 ($1-$3) depending on the size and choice of toppings that you like.

They are a healthier (or so I think) alternative for ice cream as desserts. Yummy!

Among these three, I prefer the frozen yogurt of Fro-Yo. Red Mango is too sour, Lulu Belle is too bland, Fro-Yo is just perfect. I still have to try White Hat and taste for myself if it's really good.

Just in case you guys want to try them out:

Fro-Yo is located at Shangri-La Plaza and Bonifacio High Street (Hobbes and Landes).

Lulu Belle is located at Powerplant Mall.

Red Mango is located at Eastwood and Megamall.

White is located at Shangri-La Plaza.

Sandy's Pizza.

Hurray for my first entry here on Mara's Appetite!

I would like my first post to be about a food that both my brother and I love and could eat for most days of the week in one sitting and in less than an hour: PIZZA. This pizza that I will be featuring for today is not as famous as Pizza Hut or Domino's or Shakey's or Yellow Cab but it sure is making its name and is already known by many. I am talking about SANDY'S PIZZA. For less than P500 ($11) you already have an 18" pizza with huge slices of 8 that you can still ask them to slice in half to make it 16 slices. Their toppings are also new and different from the other pizza chains. They have the usual White Pizza, Plain Cheese, Pepperoni, Margherita and the new toppings; Spanish Sardines, Garlic Tuyo (one of my favorites!), Indian Chicken Curry, Filipino Adobo with Kesong Puti and a whole lot more. You could also try 4 toppings in 1 pizza by ordering Sandy's Sampler-- this is a must-try if you are a first time customer so that you can get a taste of some of the toppings and choose your preference (or favorites) from them. Other than pizza, Sandy's Pizza also have Extras such as Buffalo Chicken Wings, Carbonara, Pesto, etc.

My third time to order from Sandy's and I ordered the Sampler for the sake of my brother and my cousins who haven't tried it yet.

Toppings: Garlic Tuyo, Combination (a little bit of every flavor), Italian Sausage and Mushrooms and Meatzarella. I had it sliced into 16 slices. Please don't ask how many I ate. :) clue: DIET RUINED. It was very well worth it of my P500.

I highly recommend this for pizza lovers and food enthusiasts out there. Give Sandy's Pizza a try and you'll love it. You could visit Sandy's Pizza over at San Juan. They also deliver although in limited areas only. For more details about their pizza, prices, location address and delivery number, please visit their site by clicking HERE.