David Gerstein's Artwork at Manila Art 2015

In the recently concluded Manila Art 2015 held at SMX Convention Center, SM Aura, I saw for the first time some creations from David Gerstein.  It was while watching HGTV that piqued my interest in this particular wall décor that's colorful and 3D.  The video was taped from a house in Singapore that's being featured.  I knew instantly that it would come from a top caliber artist but I could never get a hold of this artists' name.

Rekindling Spanish Dining Feels at Alqueria Tapas, Bistecas y Paellas

 

One of my go to place whenever I'm in the mood to shop and dine (or is it to dine then shop) is Mega Fashion Hall at SM Megamall.  But then, I didn't go there last week to shop, (Booh!) I went there to try Alqueria tapas, bistecas y paellas .  Owned by the Sumo Sam Group headed by Manila's top celebrity turned restaurateur, Marvin Agustin, Alqueria is one of the restaurants in Mega Fashion Hall that's been written so many times.  It used to carry the name Boqueria but after a year of using it they had to change it for some legality issues.

 

Had to say, I was really sold on this Spanish-inspired restaurant, especially on how the interior was elegantly designed.  From it's namesake, an alqueria is a dwelling which evolved through time, what was once a farmstead to a palace-like building for the landlords.  It was said that only a few alquerias in Spain are left and are being preserved, now being used for agri-tourism.

It's unlikely that one may somehow look at this as an allegory.  If you know Marvin Agustin, as I did, belonging to the same era, you may know his background.  His life story is a classic example of "from-rags-to-riches."  Maybe it's just me, but I kinda feel the inspiration brooding out from every restaurants he owns or co-owns. 

555 Fried ng Barangay Cooking Showdown

Have you seen the newest 555 Sardines commercial? Glad to see Maine Mendoza aka Yaya Dub as their newest endorser singing to the tune of Sana dalawa ang Puso ko.  On another news...

Make your Barangay Proud, something 555 Fried Sardines would want to highlight in chosen Barangays from Pampanga, Pangasinan and Quezon as they go about the Barangay Cooking showdown. 

In each leg of the showdown, participants featured their recipes using 555 Fried Sardines as main ingredient to win. 

As Filipinos, we cook from the heart and have been known for it and this is so evident every time  we share meals with our family and friends.  555 Fried Sardines pay homage to this value thus they have come up with Fried ng Barangay - a Cooking Showdown organized by Century Pacific Food Inc. and 88ville Productions. 

The Real Oktoberfest Experience at The Fort

Here's a cool news to beer drinkers and munchers who needs the best downtime with the barkada.  THE REAL OKTOBERFEST EXPERIENCE AT THE FORT is for you!

Ready your calendar, your tummy and your break-money for this year's intoxicsting celebration of Oktoberfest brought to us Bonifacio Global City. On October 16 to 17 at the Fort Entertainment Complex Open Parking expect music x appetizing grub x fun games x your favorite brew.

The ultimate fun happens, beggining with overflowing Paulaner Oktoberfest Bier, a Munich blend prepared only for the said event and it will be sold exclusively at Draft Gastropub.  Funny but I just read the first producers of this celebratory brew were friars as a source of fund for their cloister's religious activities.  Paulaner is the brewery named after the founder of the order, Francis de Paola.

Beer drinking celebration isn't complete without food, and there is never a shortage of it in BGC.  In fact, together with Draft Gastropub, a line of top-notch restos and watering holes surrond the area and will be participating on the same event.
 

 
Huge discounts from BGC's friendly etablishments are up for grabs- Aracama, Kraft, Katsu, Scarlet, Tony Roma's, K- Pub and Cable Car.

For those who feel down-trodden, put those emotions into good use and join the #HugotQuizNight.  It's a trivia game full of surprising questions with that tug-n the heart moments, but be wary and ready your wits and memory, time to reczll those hugot lines you have been keeping in mind and make sure you know who's lines are those and from what movie?

Aside fom that there will be more games such as beer pong, Jenga, Snakes and Ladder, Tic-tac-toe, etc.

Finally, this open-event will be capped off with a free concert of Up Dharma Down on October 17 at 7 pm.

For more info, do  visit www. facebook.com/bonifacioglobalcityph or download the Bonifacio Global City app through the App store or Google Play, for free.

Reboot your Health with Juicing, #BrevillelizeYourHealth

Reboot.

 

An audacious move was made by a man who saw himself as Fat, Sick and Nearly Dead. What many think as  a crazy plan, one that he considers a circuit breaker to help himself reset  his food habits, to save himself from more chronic sickness.   

Meet Joe Cross.  One of the world's juicing advocate who made a documentary film called "Fat, Sick and Nearly Dead" and had inspired many others to apply juicing and plant-based diet for sustainable health. 

According to Joe Cross, in his awe-inspiring book - Reboot with Joe, Juice Diet, to reboot means to do a 100 % intake of only fruits, vegetables and water, to get your internal systems back to good condition.

A reboot will help you to...

• Reset your system so that the foods you crave are healthy ones.
• Jump-start weight-loss.
• Boost your immune system.
• Promote beautiful, clear skin.
• Ease digestion and reduce inflammation.
• Increase energy.

*Taken from Reboot with Joe by Joe Cross

I've never really seen that movie, nor have read his best-selling book from cover to cover, but I've been believing in juicing.  I have reaped benefits from juicing, however I haven't really convinced myself to do a juice-diet, since I love food.  But I am aware of what and how I eat.  Ever since I saw Breville's the Juice Fountain Max (BJE410), I told myself, I need that for my family, so that same day, I went home with one.

If you happen to be a reader of this blog, you might know about my diabetic daughter.  It's not only that I've been looking for alternative medications for her (in replace for insulin, maybe) but I do value every member of my family's health and well being.  Another thing is that, my kids have poor immune system and they always get colds and easily carry viruses.  I knew, the best thing is to go back and revert to the natural remedies, naturally means every sense of it, from plants. 

But!

Yes, there is always that but...But my kids don't eat fresh leafy veggies.  But my kids hate salads, the husband too.  But my kids never liked eating more than two fruits at the same time, two kinds of chocolates might convince them, though.  The best answer to that is juicing.  I literally had them make their own juice, and they loved the activity, had to thank Breville for that!

So when Breville invited me for a juicing party at their sales office, I could never say no.  I've asked some of my blogger friends to come with me, but they thought it was a bit absurd.  They didn't know what they have missed.

Several activities were prepared by the people from Breville and they've even made the whole place look like a mini-Hawaiian room.  There were three booths each with different types of Breville juicers.

The first activity up for us bloggers is the juicing challenge with other brands.  The objective of this challenge was to compare two leading juicer brands, one of which was the same machine I have at home, thus, I gladly volunteered myself to participate.   For the other juicer, Peachy's husband (whom I know as her "Peanut Butter") took over.  Peachy blogs for The Peach Kitchen.

My husband who was with me, was telling everyone, that I'm "lamang" (way ahead of him) as I regularly use the Juice Fountain.  He knows I'm going to win the challenge cause he knows the capability of the machine.

A timer was used to check how fast we have juiced a tray-full of cucumber, malungay, petsay, kangkong, green apples and lemon.  They have given Alvin a head-start by helping him cut some of the fruits and removing the stems from the malungay.  As I, on the other hand, never touched a knife.

It took me only less than two minutes to finish all that I have on my tray, which is the same amount as my counterpart has, while he finished juicing at five minutes, that's after cutting everything first. 

Tsaran!  See how fast I was able to fill up my pitcher, while Alvin wasn't even half-way with his.  Now, I'm ready to have my Mean Green juice.  A low calorie, low sugar, but loads of nutrients and heck, tastes good too.

Breville® revolutionized juicing in 1999 with the world's first juicer to juice whole fruit. Now, the chute is 25% larger to juice large apples, pears and cucumbers in seconds. And with its patented feed tube and filter, it extracts up to 20% more vitamins and minerals than other juicers. 

After Alvin had finished making his Mean Green juice, we all made a comparison of the two.  Apparently, both juicers have functioned pretty well and have extracted all the juice from the selected fruits and leafy veggies, well except Breville made it way quicker and no slicing or peeling involved.  They just made sure that every fruits and veggies are washed accordingly to its cleanest.

The Breville® Juicer’s exclusive feature is its pioneering patented Nutri Disc™. Breville’s Nutri Disc™ breakthrough design transfers less than 2.5’C of heat thus preserving fruits and vegetables efficacy & nutritional value. While at the same time extracting up to 40% more vitamins and minerals than other juicers.

After that, we were also asked to dismantle the machine to have it cleaned.  Well, it was easy-peasy again for me, and the other brand have to be handled by a pro, a pro-wrestler that is...

Breville's juice extractors automatically eject the dry pulp into a collection basket while juicing. Its smooth, rounded parts without food traps prevent pulp from sticking and make rinsing under the tap fast and simple. The easy clean models also come with a specially designed scrubbing brush to clean the filter mesh quickly and easily. 

It was this green juice that actually helped Joe Cross successfully lost weight and had freed him of all his prescription drugs.  Dramatically rebooting his life and freeing him from the autoimmune disease that he used to dread of.

Next is to put Breville's the Froogie Fountain Pro to test, with the hardest fruit to juice they could think of - tubo or cane sugar.

A novice in juicing was called on to the booth to do the next juice recipe for all of us to share. 

To add to the fun, two hunks were asked to do the juicing this time, and they were to make juice with veggies and fruits to their own liking.  On one table, a variety of green leafy and watery veggies and fruits were lined, the guys can choose all the mix they want, with only one tip on hand, follow the 80:20 rule of juicing, 80% vegetables and 20% fruits (as the sweetener).

This guy followed the rule of thumb in juicing and was just crazy getting as much greens as he could, correct me if I'm wrong, I'm guessing he used more than 6 varieties of fruits and veggies. 

Gerry of Dude for Food blog have twisted the rule somehow and made a citrusy blend that's part green and more part fruity.  Both of them looked like they were enjoying what they were doing. 

With a machine that's powerful as Breville's, juicing can be really fun.

 

While sipping away the last juice we had, we listened to Breville's certified nutritionists and personnels as they debunked several myths in juicing.

 

The Australian Government National Measurement Institute have conducted a study between Breville against other fast juicer and slow juicer brands, last December 2013.

 

Here are the key conclusions of the study:

 

MYTH #1: Slow Juicers yield more juice than Fast Juicers.

Fact: Generally, there is only 2% difference between the two.  In some cases, Breville juicers yield more juice especially when juicing hard fruits and vegetables like carrots and apples.

 

MYTH #2: Slow Juicers produce HEALTHIER juices.

Fact: This will depend on the ingredients juiced and the nutrients one is looking for.  In most cases, Breville juicers produce healthier juices versus the top selling slow juicers.

 

MYTH #3: There is NO HEAT TRANSFER when slow juicing.

Fact: Contrary to the popular belief; fast juicers transfer less heat than the top selling slow juicer.  Breville juicers transfer an average 0..85 deg C vs the 1.1 degree C transfer of the top selling slow juicer.

 

MYTH #4:  Juices from Slow juicers have longer shelf-life.

Fact:  There is No Evidence that suggests that juice made in a slow juicer is safer or healthier to store for a longer period than a fast juicer.

 

*For more info on this please visit www.juicingscience.com

 

What a fun-tastic and juicy afternoon it was.  The juice party ended with a raffle, more juice and a karaoke sesh.

If I have convinced you into juicing your way to health, do give us a thumbs up by commenting below and you might receive a gift from us and Breville.

If you love your self enough to reward it with good health I suggest you #Brevillelizeyourhealth. 

 

Get a Breville loot (juice glass and chef usb figure) + Reboot with Joe by Joe Cross (worth $ 39.44) + 1 free entrance ticket to Best Food Forward on Oct. 10 to 11, 2015.

 

Just comment below with your thoughts on juicing with your name and contact numbers and follow Pastry Armoire on Facebook.

DepEd Celebrates Teachers as Living Heroes

Carl Jung, a renowned psychologist, once said, “One looks back with appreciation to the brilliant teachers, but with gratitude to those who touched our human feelings. The curriculum is so much necessary raw material, but warmth is the vital element for the growing plant and for the soul of the child.”

In one way or another, I’m sure each one of us have been touched by our teachers, being beyond just a person who talks the facts and writes lessons on the blackboard.  They are kind-hearted humans who speak life’s lessons, lessons we thought were just mere words but eventually gained ground later in our lives.  For a certain time in my life, I too became a teacher and realized that you can  build up better persons among your student and in return they will be better citizens in the future.

With this the Department of Education (DepEd ) have recognized the vital contribution of Filipino teachers in institutionalizing educational reforms in the country.  Together with its partners, they celebrated this year’s World Teachers’ Day (WTD) at Araullo University in Cabanatuan City, Nueva Ecija on October 5.

FOODGASM Goes to Maginhawa

LIVE. FOR. FOOD.

One of our favorite food event, FOODGASM is so back and they have taken it to a whole new degree.  This time they have taken the event to the famous foodie spot, Maginhawa St., Diliman, Q.C.

Are you up to a day filled with food, shopping and entertainment from some of the best upcoming food establishments and performers in the Metro?  Then come spend a day with us munching on food while enjoying some activities prepared by The UP Economics Society and Barangay Teacher's Village East in partnership with The Body Shop | Fight Factory Manila | Bacardi ‪#‎ItsNotAPartyWithoutBacardi and powered by Globe Proudly present

FOODGASM GOES TO MAGINHAWA

A Month-long Chocolate and Wine Festival at Newport Mall

 

It's beginning to sound and taste like Valentine's Day and Christmas Day all at the same time as Newport Mall, in partnership with Megaworld Lifestyle Malls, is celebrating the decadent duo of chocolate and wine with delicious pairings, chocolate carvings and more at its Chocolate and Wine Festival this October. 

 

  

In the launch that happened last Oct. 1, 2015 at the ground floor of Newport Mall, media, wine connoisseurs and chocolate-lovers have all mingled and shared common love for the

gourmet duo.  

 

Sumptuous cocktails and of course three of the highlighted chocolate and wine pairings from Bar 180 were sampled.

Saboten Japanese Cutlet's New Take on Japanese Comfort Food

I sort of understand how first time experiences can leave such indelible marks on our lives.  I guess you know that already, well, I do too, but a few days ago I was reminded.

I love the excitement of trying things out for the first time, first kiss, first party, first sleep over, first time to zipline and more.  But nothing keeps my blood alive even more when trying out a restaurant, either new and old for the first time.  With that said, let me tell you a delightful meal I shared with other foodies.

Though not my first time to savor Japanese cuisine or a katsu house, it was my first time to try out this franchised outlet from Tokyo.  Thanks Raintree Restaurants for bringing a jewel from Japan. Saboten Japanese Cutlet is a boutique-styled bistro with ample Japanese inspiration.  In 1966,

The Gastronomers' Top New Picks for Afternoon Foodie Breaks + Giveaway

Have you ever stumbled upon this idiom " A stitch in time saves nine"?

Well, I've forgotten about this until my daughter asked me about it in her assignment.  They are now into sewing, stitching and mending clothes.  In the assignment, she was asked to explain the meaning of the above phrase and corelate it to mending clothes.