Yamato Bakery, the neighborhood Japanese bakery

There is this little Japanese bakery along Jupiter St in Makati. It’s beside a ramen house (Mitsuyado-Seimen ) and Razon’s. We chanced upon this place last summer when we had halo-halo at Razon’s. 

I love their blueberry danish. 

You can see what's baking in the open kitchen too.

Try the hokkaido milk bread too. Eat it on it's own or use your favorite spread. It was Php 90 per bag, which has 4 thick slices. It may seem a bit expensive but it does taste good.

Cakes and deli sandwiches

Pizza

Before there were cronuts, there was the pizza croissant of Yamato. Flaky pizza dough with bits of bacon, pepper, onions and a smothering of cheese on top. Delish! I would spend on this than on the over-prized cronut. Speaking of cronuts, heard they started baking their own version recently. I'll try to visit again soon, perhaps after we've tried the raved about Mitsuyado Sei-men.

Assortment of bottled drinks

Interiors

22 Jupiter St.

Bel-Air, Makati

(02) 511-1390

Recipe: Sauteed Kale and Tofu

This recipe is packed with protein both from the tofu and kale. Bountiful with vitamins and minerals, kale is the new super food. It helps lower cholesterol and fight at least 5 types of cancer. A cup of chopped raw kale only has 33 calories and packs 206% daily value of Vitamin A and 134% DV of vitamin C.

We normally steam a few leaves for the baby and give it to him with his favorite sweet potatoes. We used to mash it in when he was younger but now that he has more teeth, we just sandwich it in between slices of steamed sweet potatoes. We cook the rest for the adults.

This recipe serves one. Just multiply the number of servings you want to the ingredients for your purpose.

Ingredients:

1 block of tofu chopped

About 200 g of kale

Chopped onions

Chopped garlic

Rice wine

Salt and pepper

Oil or butter (I used about a tablespoon of butter)

Dash of cayenne and paprika (optional)

Saute garlic, onion and tofu. Add the chopped kale. You can add a little bit of water if you want. I used a little rice wine to give it a little moisture and sweetness. Then, put a dash of salt, pepper, cayenne and paprika. I love my food to have a little kick to it so you would find most of my recipes to have cayenne and paprika. This recipe should be good for dieters. Very low in calories (replace butter with olive oil or just water if you like), high in proteins and power packed with a whole range of vitamins and minerals. Enjoy!

Recipe: Creamed Spinach

I tried this recipe I saw on Kitchen Boss on TLC. I tweaked it a little to fit what I already have in my pantry, I think Buddy (Yup, same guy on Cake Boss) used more ingredients than I did.

Ingredients:

Spinach

Button mushrooms

Cream

Garlic

Onion

Olive oil

Dash of salt and pepper to taste

Boil the spinach first and strain. Cut it coursely then set aside. Saute garlic, onion and mushrooms. Add the spinach and the cream. Put a dash of salt and pepper to taste. So simple!

My picture doesn't look too appetizing but this is quite good. It should go well as a side to grilled pork chops or steak.

Try it, this weekend Mommies! Let me know how it goes :)

Recipe: Spinach and Kale Omelette

How do we recycle leftovers? Why, include it in your omelette, of course! For this recipe, I used left over spinach and I included old kale leftover that was meant to be steamed for my baby to eat for the week.

Ingredients:

Eggs (I used 3 here)

Left over spinach

Chopped kale

Tomato

Garlic

Onion

Cheese (optional-advise is for dieters)

Cooking oil

Saute garlic, onion and tomato. Add the kale. Once partly cooked, add the spinach. Set aside. I normally use the same pan to cook the eggs (bawas hugasin). Beat the eggs, season with salt and pepper. I added a dash of cayenne and paprika but this is optional. Put oil on the pan and add the eggs. Once half cooked, put the filling on top preferably to one side to make it easier to fold later on. Add your cheese too. Then the tricky part , folding your omelette. I normally botch this part but I got lucky this time.

This was the healthy part of our breakfast. We had hotdogs and fried rice with this. 

Let's eat!

Kanto Freestyle Breakfast: The "Sossy" Tapsihan

Kanto Freestyle Breakfast is not your usual karinderia at the kanto. From afar, the facade looks like your ordinary sari-sari store but the food that comes out of it's kitchen is something you won't expect from this establishment. From the usual silog fares, the menu also lists french toast, mixed berry pancakes and hashbrown topped with poached egg are few of the unexpected food items served at this place. Tunog sosyal talaga.

One fine morning, I decided to check out this place that was five tumblings away from where we lived because I was mostly lazy to prepare my own meal. Guided by our trusty map, Mr. S and I found our way to KFB. 

If it's rainy, they actually have an extension a few steps from this spot. It's a small room that could probably fit about 15 persons max.

This is what came out of their kitchen.

Tapsilog Php 90

This is the Batangas tapa. The meat was tender. The marinade was a little on the sweet side and I like my tapa salty and a bit crispy around the edges. The serving was big for 90 pesos. Yes, that's pesto on top of the tomato. Sossy nga, di ba. The rice was really garlicky, which was great. Thing is, it was cold. Not sure what happened but the tapa, tocino and rice were all at room temp when it got to us. We did wait for our food a while but I thought it was because there were about 12 people who were there before us. That was disappointing.

Tocisilog Php 90

Mr. S ordered tocilog. The bacon on the side is Php20 per strip. It was well done and crunchy just the way I liked it cooked. Yes, that was for me. Naligaw lang sa plate ni Mr. S. The bacon had a smoky flavor. I like the sweeter kind but who says no to bacon, right? The tocino was saucy and too sweet for my taste.

Mixed berry pancakes Php 90

The mixed berry pancakes was alright. That is if you like your pancake to be a bit chewy. It wasn't your usual fluffy kind but the blueberry compote and the strawberries are to die for. Sulit sana sa Php90 kaso nga kakaiba yung pancakes.

Food would have been pretty good if it was served hot. Since you are eating in the side walk, expect funky smell. The price is reasonable and you can get to try sosyal breakfast without having to break the bank.

Kanto Freestyle Breakfast

549 San Joaquin St.

Brgy. Plainview, Mandaluyong

Contact No. 4002268

Datu's first birthday: Supplier review

We celebrated my dear son’s first birthday one rainy Sunday afternoon. August is the monsoon season and it was inevitable to celebrate one of his birthdays with stormy weather. They say rain during one’s birthday is a blessing. That would mean amazing blessings for my baby, then. We almost were not able to get home as we lived in a flood prone area. We really felt the love of our family and friends who braved the stormy weather to be with us to celebrate our son’s first year.

Let's get on with my supplier review, shall we?

We learned from Datu’s baptism that we need to book venues early to get the date and schedule we wanted...much like weddings. Di ppwedeng tatamad tamad. We booked our venue in June and then got our other suppliers nearer our date. More on the supplier ratings below.

Venue: Jollibee, Sheridan 

The birthday celebration was not extravagant at all. We wanted it that way since Datu will not remember any of it so we didn’t want to invest too much money and time for it. We plan to have a bigger celebration when he is older (if he chooses to do so and if our wallets permit). Contenders for our party venue were Jollibee, McDonald’s and Max’s. The only reason why we chose Jollibee was because it was cheaper than the other two. The theme we chose was Batman. We did not buy our cake there since I wanted a more personalized one. If you bring your own cake, you won’t be able to serve it to your guests though. That was explained to us when we made our reservation. We paid Php 1700+ for the party fee. The venue, host, Jollibee’s appearance, prizes and the balloons (30 pcs) are part of that fee. You have to pay extra for the party hat, place mat and invitations. I think that’s Php7 per set which isn’t that bad. We only got 30 sets, mostly for the kids. At this age though, I recommend not to get the invites anymore since we do most of our inviting through FB anyway.

It was a breeze working with the Jollibee staff. They catered to most of our simple requests like making sure that they don’t serve melted sundae ice cream. I attended another birthday party a month back at another Jollibee branch and we were served sundae slush.

By the way, you can also book the party online which makes things easier. We wanted to check the place out first, since we have never attended a party at the Sheridan branch before. And so we went there and made our reservations on site.

The day of the party, we met this guy Rain who said he was going to host the party. He made the event lively. There were times when I felt I was at a comedy bar. I am just glad that our guests took the host’s jests good-naturedly. Everybody had a good laugh.

We were asked at the start of the party if we wanted to have Jollibee stay for the games. I felt cornered so I said yes. For Php 550 extra, Jollibee hung around with the kids during the games. In hind sight, it seems to be 500 pesos well spent.

Why did I give a 4 instead of 5? There were few parking slots which made it difficult for our guests. We were told that someone was going to assist with the parking but some of our guests said nobody assisted them. Not sure if that was because it was raining really hard (yes, habagat level! It was starting to flood outside). The up selling attempt, though ended up to be a good thing, took me by surprise since that really was not in the budget and I felt should have been done when we signed the contract.

Overall, I think it was a good day. We had fun, the guests had fun and we didn’t spend too much for the party.

Rating: 4 (out of 5)

Budget: about Php 18,000 for 80 adults and 20 kids

Cake by Sweet Avenue Cake

I have been looking for cheap suppliers when I came across a deal in Ensogo. I read good reviews about this shop. I saw their final products in their FB page and decided to purchase a voucher. Our cake had a Batman design. We went to their shop in Malate to talk to Lawrence (the owner/baker) about how we want the cake to look like. He made a sketch and I think he delivered on the design.

We had to pay Php 500 extra for the delivery fee. They came on time but I still feel that the charge was a bit expensive.

We couldn't serve the cake to our guests due to Jollibee policy so we took it home and ate it the next day on Datu's actual birthday. It was a simple chocolate cake with caramel icing in between layers. It was not too sweet, which is good but it was dry. I'm not sure if storing it in the fridge overnight caused that so I'm giving them the benefit of the doubt.

Rating 2.5

Budget: Php 2999 + Php 500 delivery charge

Photographer by RAS Photography

I found out about Ras through N@W. He had good reviews and had the cheapest package so I decided to book him for our party. 

This was a last minute thing.  I have a photographer friend I asked to take pictures at the party but he said his camera had problems and can't do it for me. I don't want to have to think about taking pictures while entertaining guests so I decided to hire one. 

Ras said he was not available on the day of the party but could send someone else who was also good. I had another choice but she was more expensive by Php 2000. I looked at the guy's FB pictures and they were ok so I took the chance.

What I liked about RAS photography is that he tried to enhance as much of the photographs taken unlike with the others where they only take 20-40 pictures to edit. However, this effort takes time and it took almost a month for us to get copies of the photo. Although, from time to time, he'd text us to say that he had posted some of the pictures on his FB page.

After a couple of weeks, we finally got our copy of the pictures burned in a DVD with our family picture as cover. It was a nice touch and was a pleasant surprise. He even made a video montage for us, which again was a freebie. To be honest though, I felt that the pictures could have been taken better. There were a lot of candid shots but only a few actually told a story. Even the posed shots were somewhat lacking. Even my husband said so (he said he had a feeling that would happen when he saw the photographer--who was Ras' sub). 

Looking at the photos, I almost wish that I booked the other photographer instead. But to be fair with Ras, he gave us a free outdoor shoot a week after our event. He said that it was to make up for the fact that he was not the one who covered our event. There were a lot of good pictures that came out of that shoot. 

I would still book Ras in our next event but will make sure he covers it himself.

Rating: 3

Budget: Php 3000

Balloons

This was a gift to us by an officemate who does party planning.

Rating: 5

Budget: NA

Outfits

Baby's Batman Costume - Baclaran

Parents' shirts - SM Department Store

Budget: Php 1000

Overall, I think it was a pretty fantastic party. We stuck to our budget and everyone had fun.

Family Lounge and breastfeeding station at Greenbelt

I never really found the need to find a breastfeeding station when I am in malls. I found it was too complicated to look for one and by the time I got to the place, my son would have been screaming his lungs out. So when we're out together, I make sure that I either wear a nursing top or something that would give my baby easy access to my breasts. I  always have my trusty nursing cover in our baby bag too just in case. Then, we find ourselves a seat somewhere and we're good. I have even tried nursing Datu while he was on a sling and I was walking. I think I've done that at least thrice. Breastfeeding and baby wearing rocks!

We were at Greenbelt to have our trial class at Gymboree. At the escalator from the parking lot, we saw the notice about the Family lounge and where it was. We were up for a diaper change and feeding so we decided to look for it since we were at the mall early. The Family lounge was at the 4th level at Greenbelt 5 near the Nail place (forgot the exact name) and a Dental clinic (also forgot the name I think it's Metro Dental Clinic). When you enter the lounge you are welcomed by relaxing music. It looks like the business lounges at airports but better. There weren't a lot of people inside. There were only 3 when we got there. I guess it is because it was a VIP lounge. You need to have an Ayala card, VIPinoy card or BPI-Ayala credit card to get access. However, special access is given to Nursing moms (yay!) and PWDs. For us, we can only use the lounge for nursing and changing nappies for FREE.

What are the other things you can do at the lounge?

1. Well, malling is tiring. It can be difficult to find a place to sit that is not in a restaurant. If you go that route, you will have to order at least something to drink even if you are not thirsty. If you had access to this kind of place, you won't have to shell money out.


2. You can leave the boys there. There is free wifi. There is also a business center-like area where a desktop was available for use. There's TV too. So while mommy is shopping, dad can wait for her there and not bug her to go home when she's not done shopping yet.

3. There is a play area. If you do not want to shell out money for places like Gymboree, you can just leave yaya and baby there while you shop.

4. You can nurse privately. It was a really nice breastfeeding station. There is a comfy chair and stool so you can even raise your legs if you want to for extra comfort. The chair is spacious enough that you can actually lay on it and put baby beside you on a side lying-position when breastfeeding. There is also a socket in case mommy needs the area to pump milk or charge her phone :). 

Inside the breastfeeding station

5. Clean changing area. This can be problematic for us at times. There are restrooms that do not have changing area or are plain dirty. There are times when we find ourselves changing baby's diapers on his stroller. It is a bit challenging but better than having to lay your child in some dirty table. The lounge saves us from this. The restroom was clean and spacious.



If I were in that area again, and need to nurse or change, I will definitely use this facility again. I may even try to get a card so I can access the lounge for reasons 1-3.

Datu turns 1

And just like that, you turned one! Time flies so fast. It has been the best twelve months of my life thus far. I know it will only get better. I pray that we will continue to be blessed. May the Lord grant you good health, happiness and safety from harm. May He also guide us to be the best parents we could be. I am looking forward to getting to know you more as you grow up to be a fine gentleman. We have a long way to go. Know that Tatay and Nanay will always be here for you...ALWAYS! We love you infinitely!

Sophie's Mom: Baking the best Red velvet cupcake and Spanish bread in town

We discovered Sophie's mom from another blog years back. Their first bakery in Makati was near where I worked so it was very convenient for us to drive there. I have tried a few other red velvet cupcakes but we always go back to them as they just have the best. The best! The generous cream cheese frosting is smooth, not sweet. The cupcake itself is moist and yes, velvety! There are times when we'd keep it in the fridge for two days and the quality is not affected. But that happens very rarely as we normally devour these little devils in a day :)

We also love, love, love their Spanish bread. I remember we once bought three packs (each pack had 10 pcs)  just a couple of months after Datu was born. Breastfeeding made me super hungry even at night. The bread served as my midnight/dawn snack. I think we...ok, I consumed everything in a week. This is not your ordinary Spanish bread. It has a pastilla/yema like filling that's super yummy! I try to limit purchasing these since I tend to eat a lot in one sitting :p

They also sell cookies and mochie ice cream but I really just go back for the cup cakes and Spanish bread. They recently opened another bakery at The Fort area. They also have a stall at SM Megamall and Southmall.

This was how the Makati shop looked last summer

Yummy!

Sophie's Mom
8760 Santol St.
San Antonio Village, Makati City

My Cronut experience

We were at the Podium over the weekend to visit the Belly blessed Feast. We passed by Wildflour Cafe and Bakery and I asked Mr. S if we could check out the Cronuts people have been raving about.. I first heard of cronuts from an officemate.  He described it as a fusion of croissant and a doughnut. I thought it might be good. I have tried pizza with croissant pastry as bread/dough and it tasted great. I thought this was worth a try.

I got a Dulce de leche cronut. It was the size of a regular doughnut but thicker. It's like two doughnuts on top of each other in height. It was pricey at Php 150. Was it worth the price though? Personally, I was thinking that I should have just gotten one of those yummy-looking chewies. For the sake of feeding my curiosity, we made the purchase.

Now goes the taste test. Because of the thickness, it was a bit of a challenge to bite. Is it supposed to be eaten with a knife and fork? Inosente e :p There was sprinkling of sugar with bigger grains than the usual and cream in the middle. The croissant tasted good, not too flaky. The outside has a crisp to it. I think it would have been a better experience if it was fresh from the oven. Even then, I still think it is over prized. I would probably try the cronuts version of Sophie's mom but I won't go for Wildflour's anymore. I may go back to Wildflour to get me some of those cookies though :)

Dulce de Leche Cronut

Assorted bread and pastries

Cookies and muffins galore

The Podium Mall
ADB Avenue
Wack wack, Mandaluyong

Breastfeeding Station at SM Megamall

We frequent SM Megamall as it is the nearest and biggest mall to our place but we never really go out of our way to look for breastfeeding stations to feed when the baby is with us. I just find it too much of a hassle when I should be able to feed my child almost anywhere. However, it is nice to know where they are just in case we need to feed at a more private place.

The station is near the Foodcourt, Lower ground floor Building A. We were on our way to have merienda at Razon's, my absolute favorite place to go to have halo-halo when I caught sight of the sign. We were not up for a feeding yet but the echosera in me wanted to make echos inside. Hehehe!

When you enter, you are asked by the nurses to write your name in a logbook. The breastfeeding area is inside the clinic. I was not able to take a picture as there was another mommy-baby tandem inside breastfeeding. The place is a bit cramped. It had two arm chairs and a sink. Per the House rules, only mommy and baby are allowed inside. When I got in the room, a yaya was also inside. I'm not sure how they got away with that since there were three nurses in the clinic.

In all fairness, though small, the station was clean and had comfortable chairs. Will I purposefully breastfeed there though? At this stage in our breastfeeding journey, I have become more confident to breastfeed almost anywhere so I probably won't. But for new mommies who want to nurse privately, you can definitely use this place.

My Belly Blessed loot: Jar of Hope/Love and Saya carrier

I had a few items I wanted to buy for the baby and I wanted to save on shipping charges from several online shops so I asked Mr. S to drive us to the Podium mall where the Belly Blessed Feast was held last weekend.

There wasn't a big crowd yet (which is a good thing if you want to shop in peace). I guess because we were there around 2 PM on a weekday too. We looked around and found the Indigomanila booth. I have been looking for something to help in the healing of insect bites for the baby. I heard good reviews about Jar of Hope First Aid Gel. Made of blue chamomile essential oil, aloe vera gel and witch hazel extract, it can be applied for inflammations, rashes, cuts, wounds, chicken pox and sore nipples. My son very rarely gets insect bites but I want to have something on hand just in case.

Recently, my boy had a bout with colds and I felt bad when I can only aspirate his stuffy nose. I know that I feel better when I use Vicks vapor rub. But by the label, Vicks can only be used for children over two years old. When I saw the Jar of Love Healing Balm. I bought one too just in case I have a need for it in the future. The main ingredients are peppermint essential oil, Apricot kernel, jojoba oil and pure beeswax. It's great for cough, colds, flu and can also be used for massages. I haven't tried it yet but the label says there is a cool minty feel when applied.

The sales person said the shelf life is two years. It would be great though if the jars also had the expiration date printed on them so the users don't forget. They were at 10% off at the expo so yay! Our discount paid for our parking fee :)

My biggest purchase was the Saya Versatekk Baby carrier. I have been thinking of buying a new carrier to supplement the sling I got from my baby shower. I wanted something that would distribute the baby's weight across both shoulders as he is getting heavier and heavier. My friend suggested I try a DIY from old shirts but I have not had the time to look for shirts with no seam for the project so I never got around to completing the project. I wasn't sure of the size I should get and comfort of the Saya so I was adamant of buying it online where it will be a bit challenging to return. I asked the sales lady if they had a Saya on hand and if I can try it with my baby. They had one in pink and gray. The sales lady helped me put it on and test it with the baby. It was an amazing feeling. It was so comfortable.

The Saya in action

I can't remember why we did not walk around more. I forgot that I was also looking for teething necklaces and a lavender stick. Oh well, I guess I'll just wait for another mommy expo to come up. It is world breastfeeding month in August so there would be a lot of activities for mommies out there, so exciting!

Staycation at Richmonde Hotel

We checked in at Richmonde Hotel, Ortigas to celebrate Father’s day this year. I bought a voucher from Ensogo a couple of months back to have a staycation for summer. I was finally going to reserve a room in May but was told that the pool will be out of commission for three months due to renovations so I opted to just wait for Father’s day in June to use it. The voucher was for a superior room for two. We brought the baby with us and the yaya. We just brought a sleeping bag for yaya because I didn’t want to pay Php 1500 for an extra bed.

 The room was small so it was a bit cramped with the sleeping bag on one end. Since there was no pool, we decided to use the sauna/steam room at the health club at the 4^th floor. We decided to have an early dinner before we went for sauna. There are a lot of restaurants near the area. We decided to walk along Pearl drive and chose to eat at Pancake house. When we got back to the hotel it was 7 PM and we got lazy so we decided to just prepare for bed and play with Datu.

The lobby

Add caption

The queen sized bed

No complimentary coffee/tea

Bathroom sink with toiletries

I know I really should practice more on taking better pictures. The bathroom here is rather small but there is a tub. My problem is that if you lifted the mat on the tub (the one placed to prevent slipping), it was grimy and gross. I appreciate the placement of that mat but if you wanted to use the tub for a bubble bath, you can't because of the grime stuck there.

The next day, we were up early, as with most people who have kids. We decided to go to the restaurant to have breakfast. The voucher I got included free buffet breakfast for two. The choices was better than Astoria. Yes, they had bacon! But it was not crispy…so I’m a bit sad but that’s alright, who says no to bacon :)

 

 

I liked the pansit they served. There was tapa, tocino, hasbrown, sauteed beans. There were a few others that they had but I really just concentrated on the bacon :)

Cold drinks

They will serve the hot beverage at the table. There's coffee, tea and hot chocolate to choose from.

Bread station

Omelette/pancake/french toast station

I loved that zuchinni was a selection as an omelette ingredient. I had mine made with everything on it. They used mozzarella cheese. I would have liked to use cheddar but the omelette was really good even without it. It was slightly sweet because of the ham they used. I was pleasantly surprised by the unexpected sweet taste. I loved it!

Dessert station

There's puto, ube rolled in shredded coconut and leche flan for dessert. The flan was not smooth so that was a fail.

After breakfast, we went back to our room to prepare for checkout. Overall, I'd rate our stay as average. The service was good, the staff were nice and accommodating. It has a convenient location at the heart of Ortigas center, very near malls and BPO centers. Will I stay at the hotel again though, probably not for a staycation with my family. I'd recommend it if you need a cheaper hotel in the area to stay for balikbayans or even for wedding preps.

Richmonde Hotel, Ortigas
21 San Miguel Avenue,
Ortigas Center, Pasig City
Metro Manila, Philippines
Tel: (632) 638-7777
Fax: (632) 638-8567
Email: rho@richmondehotel.com.ph