Hey, everyone! I’ve been on a roll both here and on Youtube and I decided to also start cooking again. Damn, quitting smoking seems to have kicked in something really good for me. I hope this lasts though cause I get days where I really just want a puff. Hope this goes away soon. Anyway, today I’ll be sharing a go-to recipe I usually do whenever I feel home sick—like literally missing home and also getting sick lol. I used to hate vegetables but when my Mom started making me this dish, I don’t know, for some reason I didn’t hate vegetables anymore. All of these ingredients you can find in your friendly neighborhood palengke if not in the grocery so let’s get started!

Whenever people ask me where I live, I have a tendency to say Ortigas when in fact, I live in Mandaluyong. My place isn't necessary like a border between Ortigas and Mandaluyong so you can scratch that A Walk To Remember reference if that's what you're thinking, lol. But it's literally a few kilometers from Ortigas which is why I also get confused! Several online deliveries later, it finally dawned on me that I do live in Mandaluyong and not Ortigas, lol. 

Enough about my where do I really live dilemma. Let's talk about this new gem of a restaurant that has been around for quite a while, but I was only able to try out recently. Ever since I read about Kanto Freestyle Breakfast, I've been dying to try the experience of eating in a carinderia-like setup while enjoying gourmet food at a friendly price. I initially wanted to try their branch at Plainview because of the authentic carinderia feel but somehow I ended up at their Kapitolyo branch. If you haven't been there, I'm thrilled to show you how the food looks like!

Moving to Maginhawa wasn't easy for me. Tomas Morato has been my home for 3 years and being surrounded by bars, pubs and restaurants that operate 24/7 isn't actually a bad thing. But whenever I remember all the times I had to feel like a survivor just to get home while battling the rain, moving makes sense all of a sudden. 

Looking for a place close to work wasn't easy either. Sometimes I begin to think, why did I decide to work here in the first place if I had to endure all the evilness this place has to offer? Business-wise, Manila is a pool of endless job opportunities and aggressive career growth, but it's not a conducive place for a healthy and productive life--unless you're rich and can actually afford a nice place to live in. I have more to say on the topic but that deserves a separate blog post, back to the topic. Maginhawa is like a more laid-back version of Tomas Morato. There aren't a lot of establishments that are open 24/7 but the selection of places you can go to are eccentric and fascinating. One of which is Gerry's Jeepney. 

After a few weeks of starving myself to death in preparation for our Iloilo trip, I was finally ready to harvest the fruits of my labor and indulge for 4 fucking days in glorious food. I didn't really know what Iloilo had in store for us. Good thing a co-worker who's from Iloilo went with us. We told him that we'll leave things to him when it comes to food. Hence, lunch at Ponsyon by Breakthrough.

Some of the other dishes that we tried were Native Chicken Liempo, Adobong Kangkong and Grilled Managat. I love fish but I hated their Grilled Managat. While having a bite, I felt like the stench of the fish was all over the place that I almost lost my appetite. I don't have anything against Ponsyon, it was probably just the fish. 

Before summer started, I had this thinking that my body was okay and I'm not fat in any way. Yes, I wasn't THAT fat but I was definitely unhealthy. To make things worse, I committed myself to the GM diet program without prior preparation nor was I fully educated about the whole thing.  I did lose a lot of weight but I think it only made my body's state worse!

A couple of months after that, I realized that I'm not getting any younger and therefore should be living and eating healthier. I started engaging in physical activities, from Zumba to Boing to the Ab Ripper workout. Eventually, I changed my eating habits too and it involved less fast food and more home-cooked/prepared meals. Yay!

And that's what I'll be sharing today, my go-to weekday salad recipe!

Ola! I'm not Spanish in any way, I just love using that greeting. Meh. For today's post, I'd like to formally introduce a new category on my blog, 'Kitchen Chronicles'! I'll be sharing recipes and my kitchen adventures! I just want to over share and go all out, the boyf and I not so formally moved together (This I will share in another blog post!) 2 weeks ago. And can I just say, I love love love our Kitchen! I don't know what's been up with me lately but I've been addicted to cooking! By the way, just a disclaimer, I'm not really a good cook, I'm just a normal person who loves to cook. The good thing about this new category is that I'll be sharing my boo-boo's too so you can avoid them in the future. Yay!

Sorry for the text overload, let's proceed with the recipe! For today, I'll be sharing my recipe for Spicy Tuyo Pasta! Yummmmm!

Ingredients:

Quick post before I head to the kitchen to cook dinner! Here's my cheat entry for the week, I've been quite obsessed with home cooking since I moved to a different unit and I love my kitchen so much! It has been rather easy to resist temptation with the new set up, but of course, I still cheated. LOL. 

For those who know me, Baguio being my safe haven doesn't come as a surprise. Even my agents talk to me about the slightest Baguio-related stuff that they know about simply because they know I love the place. After college, I've mad it a point to visit the place once a month if my schedule permits, or every two months. The boyfriend also hails from Baguio so it's not really a hassle, we get to visit family when we go there. 

During the summer, Baguio was the perfect place to be for Manila was starting to become a hell hole or burning citizens. The heat was scorching and one can just wish they were in Baguio, so did we. We then decided to spend a few days of staycation, and the occasional visits to the best food places in Baguio--of course.

Summer's over but continuing the diet plan I started isn't. Over a month ago, I remember dropping by the clinic to get me some Advil and I decided to hop on the scale. I was surprised while looking at where the arrow was pointing at--55kls. The last time I hopped on a scale I was at 45kls, during our last physical exam I was at 48kls--at this rate, I couldn't believe I didn't notice how much I've gained weight over the years! 

I wanted to workout rigorously but my schedule at work wouldn't let me, so I opted for the next best thing--a diet plan! I started with the GM Diet plan, it was very difficult since I had to cut down on rice.The succeeding weeks were easier. I don't follow the diet plan anymore but I decided to totally remove rice from my daily meals, I would slip back in every now and then during cheat weekends, but I try to avoid anything white and sweet as much as I can. 

I'll also try to post more entries into my food diary, I know I haven't been religious in posting lately. A lot of things happening in the real world!

This is a long overdue post. The boyf celebrated his birthday last August but I'm only posting this now! Lol. The enthusiasm to say something about the photos is not there anymore. Probably because this is not all about me. I'm so self-centered. Kidding!