Peking It

We had a little despedida for my brother, Carlos, at Red Table, a Chinese resto. My other brother, Iggy, chose the place--not surprising since he's a big fan of Chinese food. What we had was different from our usual Chinese orders (of course the salt-and-pepper spare ribs are a mainstay)--shrimp salad (I was surprised to find that it was hot--I expected it to be a cold salad with the fruits and mayo, but it worked), steamed shrimp dumplings on a bed of kangkong, and a bunch of other things H couldn't touch! The highlight was the Peking duck, served three ways: first, the scrumptious skin in lumpia wrappers; second, dipped in salt and pepper and fried; third, minced, on a bed of crsipy white noodles and served with lettuce leaves. For dessert, we had delicious buchi, and mango soup with little bits of sago (liked it! Kinda like mango Zagu sans the ice). Sorry, twas on Mumsy and Iggy so have no idea how much everything was.

Photo shows the salt-and-pepper Peking duck and the minced Peking duck. Red Table is located in El Pueblo, Ortigas Center.

First Attempt

None of the stylists could go to the Entertaining section shoot,* and although I was a little worried, in hindsight it might have been a good thing. (I say that now that the ed in chief has seen it and has said she loves it.) It forced me to try my hand at food styling, something I see myself doing in the future. (First I have to learn how to cook--which I'll be doing starting September. Yay!)

Shoot was for our October issue, theme was "fright night." Our props stylist was Genie Ranada and photog was Ocs Alvarez (no relation!), who both did a super job. A sampling of stuff:

The overall food shot (which wasn't used in the layout): nachos, fish and chips,
and dark chocolate bits topped with orange marmalade and rum.

Fish and chips with honey-mustard dressing. Genie fashioned fish-and-chip

packets out of black-and-white printouts of classic movie monsters. I lined 'em

with wax paper to prevent the oil from seeping through. I like how

the bucket of popcorn casts a creepy shadow.

Ocs was able to snap a photo right when the rootbeer float overflowed. Woohoo!
At the back is another glass with fake ice-cream (making it was another first for me!).
The drink is supposed to be spiked rootbeer float--mix 1.5 liters of rootbeer with 2 cups
of vanilla-flavored rum. Pour into glasses and top with vanilla ice cream. Good for 6-8.

*Special thanks to MFG and Dondi for allowing us to use their home theater as a shoot location!

Mmmmbuffalo!

I'm a sucker for buffalo wings* so any place that's built just for them is fine by me! Tried out Flaming Wings along Katipunan (beside Bento Box/World Topps). Their wings come in different varieties (we had original and barbecue), and they have a bunch of different dips too (we got the classic bleu cheese and the more adventurous wasabi mayo). Pretty reasonably priced--P69 for two wings (four pieces), P10 per dip. My all-time favorite buffalo wings remain to be Don Hen's (they're huge and tangy!), but I'm sure to go back to this place when I've got a non-Don Hen budget. Hehe.

H says they have really good coffee. They've also got pasta and dessert (apple pie a la mode, vanilla milkshake, etc., though I was too full to try any) and side dishes. Tip: Try their creamy mashed potatoes! P35 for a huge, delicious serving topped with crunchy potato strips. I didn't even need gravy with mine.

*No, Jessica, they're not made of buffalo. Buffalo wings got their name from Buffalo, NY where they originated. They're unbreaded pieces of chicken wings, deep fried and typically coated in cayenne-pepper sauce, white vinegar, butter, salt, and garlic.

(Left) The barbecue-flavored wings with wasabi-mayo dip; (right) mashed p!