See you soon!

I've been keeping mum about it by request of Dodong. But I just can't help it as the date comes closer…Dodong's coming home! Weeeeee! We've actually planned out one of the long August weekends in Baguio and I'm just so excited! There is a whole lot to eat in Baguio. Cafe by the Ruins is definitely our first stop.

The beautiful photos are care of AllanKo.netThe last visit I've had to Cafe by the Ruins was when I was in 2004ish. So obviously, that was eons ago. But what I remember about it is the yummy freshly baked bread, which is just perfect for a hearty breakfast for two…

Kamote Bread

Chocolate Croissant for Dodong!

Fried White Cheese is Love.

Oh my. The photos alone are just making me sooooo freakin' excited for a Cafe by the Ruins date. If Dodong won't be able to wake up for an bright and early breakfast, I still wish I would be able to taste a classic Cafe by the Ruins dish: The Hubad na Longganisa.

Crunchy porky goodness with mountain red rice...drool!

Here's another Cafe by the Ruins dish that keeps me super excited:

Bacoooooooonnnnnn!

Bacon is just love…best shared with someone special? NOT! Hahaha! I think I'd be a bit selfish with my bacon. Hihihi!

Two weeks to go and Dodong will be here na! Yahoooo! Cafe by the Ruins here we come!

What other Cafe by the Ruins goodies could we order?

Love the distance,

Inday I. Nagintay

P.S. Thanks again to Allanko.net for the lovely yummy photos.

Pairing beer with food? YES!

Last Wednesday, I had the pleasure of joining the launch of the San Miguel Lifestyle Brews Degustation dinner at Chateau 1771, Greenbelt 5 as part of my work with Anton Diaz. Okay, I wasn't supposed to be there since I gave up my slot to somebody else, but fortunately another person forgot about the dinner and gave me a chance to sit in and enjoy great beer together with equally great food Yey!

But despite of being so happy I got to join the gang for dinner, I was also sad because this degustation dinner is something that Dodong would also enjoy. We both love food and eating out is not the same without him.

So what would Dodong enjoy on our future San Miguel Lifestyle Brews Degustation dinner date?

Okay before we go to that, what is the supposed guidelines for beer pairing? According to the brew masters at San Miguel Lifestyle Brews, the basic principles are (of course, these are pairings with their beer brands na):

• San Miguel Premium All-Malt goes best with poultry and seafood
• San Miguel Super Dry goes best with pork and beef
• Cerveza Negra goes best with anything sweet (i.e. dessert)

So now, what are the dishes that Dodong would enjoy on our San Miguel Lifestyle Brews dinner date? Hehehe!

DISH #1: GRATINATED SCALLOPS WITH SAN MIGUEL PREMIUM ALL-MALT

San Miguel Premium All-Malt with Gratinated Scallops

San Miguel Premium All-Malt beer is actually my personal favorite! I'm super kuripot but I'm willing to pay for this beer baby! And I think that this was the best dish of the night.

Scallops were the best I've ever tasted to far. It was fresh and light, contrasted by the rich, creamy sauce topped with crunchy breadcrumbs. Super YUM! And super bagay with San Miguel Premium All-Malt Kung pwede lang humingi ng second serving, I would have asked for another dish for myself. Hehehe!

DISH #2: BONELESS CRISPY PORKHOCK WITH RED ONIONS AND CABBAGE

Anything is good with pork and its crispy skin...drool...drool...

I would call this pinasosyal na boneless crispy pata I love, love, love pork so I do appreciate this dish all the more. Lalo na with the crispy skin! Cholesterol Haven! The bitterness of the San Miguel Super Dry actually complimented the slight tang from the cabbage, which was cooked sauerkraut style.

I just couldn't guess what the sauce was made of. Anybody care to enlighten me? Hershey? Spanx? Dedet? Meg? Hehehe!

DISH #3: DOUBLE GANACHE TART WITH CERVEZA NEGRA

A meal is never complete without dessert (and a Cerveza Negra!)

This was the perfect match! You'd actually hesitate (like I did) because you would never in your life imagine beer to be paired with dessert. But one bite of the double ganache tart and a sip of that Cerveza Negra…ay grabe! The flavors all just blended together.

And the double ganache tart is something Dodong would love since he is the chocolate addict. Yes, you read it right. He loves chocolate and I don't. It's so not girl-like right?

I preferred the Filo Mille Feuille than the double ganache tart. Hehehe. But for a perfect beer match, the double ganache tart still reigns supreme with the Cerveza Negra.

I was so busog that night and so happy to have experienced a gourmand meal Hehehe! But still wish Dodong was there too Howell…

Kudos to the Chateau 1771 culinary team led by Chef Vicky Pacheco for coming up with the great food and to the San Miguel Lifestyle Brews team for introducing this wonderful concept with their world class beers Cheers!

I heard that they will be offering this beer pairing menu in Chateau 1771 for this month, so better get your asses there to check it out. Let me know how you find the pairings

PLUS they will be having another dinner with a new culinary team as well. Hmmm…what restaurant would be the next San Miguel Lifestyle Brews degustation dinner venue? Can you guess? I wish Dodong were home when the next degustation dinner happens. Sigh.

Love the distance,

Inday I. Nagintay

P.S. I know sorry for the pictures. Pls do continue praying that I get to buy my camera by next month

P.P.S. Pls do answer a quick survey to get to know you better here

Wish you and I were here...

Dodong and I super love food. It's one of those passions we share. And last Friday at Our Awesome Planet's (OAP) Ultimate Taste Test (UTT) 4.0 at the NBC Tent, I was just so sad that he couldn't be with me. All those new food finds to taste and no one to share it with Well, there were friends and family, but it would be different with Dodong…

I actually was quite busy overseeing some details of the UTT 4.0 as I closely worked with Mr. and Mrs. OAP and Creative Juice to make this event possible. Rushing around to make sure that we fulfill our client's requirements. Meeting, greeting and GRO-ing the clients. Checking up on Rache and the rest of the Creative Juice team if they needed help as well. So I really wasn't able to take pictures (no food porn) and all…FAIL!

But if Dodong were here, these are the food stalls we would definitely enjoy together…

Pepita's Kitchen Lechon

Ohhh lala. Of course, this is a Pinoy Feast staple. But Pepita's gives you lechon with a twist: 1) it's boneless! 2) it comes in five international flavors: Filipino (of course!), French, Hawaiian, Chinese and Spanish. I was so sad that I was not able to taste at least one bite. Dedet sample naman? Hehehe!

Email pepitaskitchen@gmail.com and add them on Facebook for more info and your special orders

Jam Food's Angus Beef Tapa

Oh my, this I was able to try! Thank God! REALLY Good melt in your mouth flavorful tapa. They even have a special vinegar to go with it. I forgot the variants though. Another fail! Anybody who remembers their vinegar sauces?

I would love to cook a batch of angus tapa for Dodong's brunch (He's not a breakfast person) or maybe pang midnight snack. With matching sinangag (garlic fried rice) and scrambled eggs. Grumble. Just imagining is making me a-hungry.

Oh anybody got some info on their contact details? I do want to order beef angus tapa too.

Muscovy Duck Ham

And this too, I fortunately got to try. Dodong also enjoys eating duck so this will truly be a treat when he comes home. It's sweet and salty and fatty all at the same time. Soooo yummy! I think it would be perfect with a slice of Queso de Bola and perhaps a slice of toasted pandesal. Nomnomnom!

Care to share where we can order? Perfect for Christmas right?

Dulcelin Gourmet

GRABE ANG SHORTRIBS! I super loved it! I was lucky enough to get to taste 2 slices of the oh-so-tender and flavorful short ribs because I was able to line up towards the end of the event. Food-gasm galore! I didn't like the pulled pork mac and cheese though. I found the pasta overcooked. And their mango torte is just a classic dessert. I remember eating a whole lot even if I had a terrible toothache.

Check out their website here

if you notice, these are all meat purveyors. Dodong is really a meat lover, that's why. So I am looking forward and crossing my fingers that Dodong would come home during the future UTT events this August and October. Hope to see you guys there too!

Love the distance,

Inday I. Nagintay

P.S. Again, apologies for the crappy photos. I had to make do with my camera phone. I hope you pray with me that I get my new camera soon

P.P.S. Don't forget to answer the Loving the Distance readers' survey here. I'd really want to know what other stories to share

Words can make your heart melt like butter

Last weekend, I revisited Cubao X after a nice morning at The Collective. And so I finally got to check out the I Love You Store which, I wanted to visit for the longest time. I, of course, did not end up buying anything but was able to catch a glimpse of a very interesting exhibit which is the inspiration for this date idea…

Ge Mapa has this brilliant idea of sewing the words of Love Letters Never Sent. Yes, these pieces were handsewn by the artist himself. As in binurda in Filipino. I was not able to take pictures of all the pieces because I do want you to see it for yourself. Of course! Here are two of the pieces that struck me the most:

WOW di ba? These words capture the feelings I have for Dodong. As in! So cheezy but so romantic. I am more of the romantic type and I'd love if we could both write each other love letters at the same time. Then send them via snail mail (which would hopefully arrive safely in good hands).

Wouldn't it be sweet to surprise one another with old-fashioned, handwritten sweet nothings?

Sigh. I am a sucker for romance. How I wish Dodong would do this with me. But I highly doubt it, so I am sharing this idea with you guys instead At least, I could share the love with others right?

Love the distance,

Inday I. Nagintay

Entering the world of LDR dates

The past weeks have been sooo busy. But Dodong and I are still able to spend some time "together" long distance relationship style. And recently, we kind of caught up on a new habit.

To be honest, we are not big on the dates thing. Because we do love to eat together which is quite impossible with the situation. But another thing we do enjoy doing is watching TV shows and movies together. AND we've found a way to get around that date habit with our long distance relationship situation.

We're now hooked on The Big Bang Theory So what we do is we download all the past seasons and episodes (They are now on season 3 which is on going) and we watch it during our own sweet time. Then we laugh and chat about the show.

It's super fun! And we're quite competitive to see who gets to watch the latest episodes first. Actually, Dodong is very much ahead of me already. Mabagal lang talaga magdownload. Plus I had some movies and other TV shows lined up in between the Big Bang Theory downloads. Hehehe.

I'm actually wondering what other shows / movies we could watch together but apart. Gets? Do you watch your favorite TV shows and movies together like us?

Live Wais-ly,

Inday I. Nagintay

Sigh. Romantic

Dodong and I do enjoy watching the sunsets together. And when he came home a few weeks back, I made it a point that we'd visit this bar I saw on Facebook. It had a spectacular view of the Manila Sunset and had rockin' electronica tunes which Dodong and I love. So on one of those 3 days of quickie homecoming, I dragged him over to White Moon Bar.

I thought that the place was near SM Mall of Asia (MOA) where we could go around while waiting for the perfect sunset moment. But White Moon Bar is waaaaaay out on the other side inside the Manila Ocean Park, near the Quirino Grandstand.

Unfortunately, that day was one of the HOTTEST days pre-summer. So we were not able to enjoy and chill out the way we wanted to.It would have been perfect with a nice cold bottle of beer or cocktail.

We arrived at White Moon bar at around 4PM. To our dismay, the bar was still closed, even if it said that it opened at 4PM. I guess it was just too early for the sunset, especially that the sun was still waaaay too high. How high? Check it out…

ANG INIIIIIT! At 5:07PM, this was the sun…

The sunset at 5:07PM!

Eeeeep! So we just took shelter inside the cool air-conditioned comfort of Makansutra and just braved the heat when the golden sunset hour arrived at 6PM. Pretty late for a sunset right?

And since it was just too hot even post sunset, we decided not to hang out anymore…sadness. It would have been uber perfect if not for the heat. We'd be coming back the next time he comes home. Hopefully it would be cooler then. Hehehe.

Aren't sunsets just so romantic?

Love the distance,

Inday I. Nagintay