Urbanista Manila Living in Style

Archive for June, 2009

With my cholesterol tirelessly shooting up, I have no choice but to deal away with red meat and shove greens down my throat as many as I can.
Goolai, a brand that offers prepacked green salad variations topped with seasonal fruits, nuts and other healthy stuff, is one of my favorite organic treats. It’s claim to fame is not its being organic though but its tangy salad dressings like the creamy mango, raspberry, garlic ranch and others. My hands are down to its amazing dressings but with the great packaging comes a heavy price tag. Each pack costs about P146.00 which is a pocket drainer considering that one could finish the hefty pack in one sitting.
So in this tough economic times, I tried to be a copycat and come with my own version of the green stuff.
Iceberg lettuce is way cheaper than the romaine so if you are really on a tight budget, you can be partial to it.
Olive oil, balsamic vinegar and walnuts are surely bank breaker but they are good for more than just one consumption. They could be stocked up in the pantry for future use.
Pepper and garlic are the cheapest ingredients.
For the toppings, I suggest that you go to the supermarket to get your produce weighed. From grapes, kiwi, fresh mango slices, cucumber, oranges and lemon.
You will be needing the lemon and orange juices and zest. combine them with the olive oil, balsamic vinegar, pepper and chopped garlic. There’s no measurement put everything according to your taste. You could prepare as many as you want and put them in the fridge for future use.
Tip though in preparing them is make the lettuce as the bed and just put the rest of the ingredients on top of it because they are too heavy that if you toss them up, they will end up on the bottom. So prepare it like the lettuce as the pasta and the toppings as the sauce.
I am telling you it is all good! All the goodness without breaking the bank.

I was thinking on making pesto today but finding out that I’ve got not enough of basil , I scoured the internet and found this Alfredo recipe.
I just modified the heavy cream part to Campbell’s cream of mushroom and I used spinach fettuccine.
It turned out fantastic. Kinda of carbonara-ish sans the bacon and the ham i.e. cholesterol.
So let me share the recipe, if you will:
250 g boneless chicken breasts (cut into strips)
4 tablespoons olive oil
4 cloves garlic (minced)
1 small white onion (minced)
1/8 cup unsalted butter
1/2 cup Parmesan cheese, grated
2 cans Campbell’s cream of mushroom soup
Pepper to taste
250 g spinach fettuccine
1/4 cup water

Heat olive oil in a pan fry chicken strips on medium heat until cooked through. Set aside
Sauce:
Melt butter in saucepan. Sauté garlic and onion on low fire. Stir in Campbell’s cream of mushroom soup and cheese. Add water and cook over low heat, stirring constantly. Add pepper to taste.
Mix chicken and Alfredo sauce together.
Cook fettuccine per package direction. Drain noodles. Put sauce and chicken over noodles.
Serve with a slice of double toasted whole wheat bread.
I do not know how much sodium and cholesterol this recipe serves but I think it’s way lesser than the original recipe.

Today marks that 111th Philippine Independence Day.
While everyone is busy celebrating the holiday either in a patriotic or pleasurable way, I decided to go to work to earn some bucks.
Yeah, since I do not have the budget to spend on a holiday spree and I am not allowed to go to crowded places.
The good thing being at work on a holiday is that the atmosphere is more relaxed. There are no bosses around.
We just pigged out while working. That is our way of giving ourselves a treat.
I am kind of disappointed though because when I went to the grocery after work, the cash register showed my bill was P1800+. I was looking forward to hitting the P2000 mark to avail of BPI’s treat to Chowking.
If you have charged a single purchase worth P2000 you get to choose between Chowking Halohalo and congee which I both love!
I wish I had put in the pesto sauce in my basket.
Note to myself, be sure to bring your calculator next time.

The season ender of Grey’s Anatomy has brought chills to my spine. I thought that Izzie Stevens will be the one to go first with the current health condition she’s presented with (on the show) and with the Emmy comment she has had (in real life).
I literally got up on my feet learning that the one was hit by a bus was George O’ Malley.
I can’t wait for the next season of this medical drama. I think it would be in September as Ellen Pompeo who plays Meredith Grey is on her way.

Well not literally.
I have been on steroids since October 2008 and while it has been gradually reduced from 50 mg to 10 mg, its side affect of hirsutism or unwanted hair growth and alopecia (hair loss of the head) still kicks in.
I have been thinking of getting a facial wax. I have been doing the hair threading of my eyebrows and of the hair on my upper and lower lips through Nisce in Megamalll but since that place is a bit far from my place, I decided to go somewhere nearer to my officer or home.
I learned about Lay Bare on the Internet so headed for their branch on Scout Ybardolaza. The place is not isolated and is accessible by public transpo. You may take a jeepney ride from Philcoa to Cubao Arayat or from Cubao Arayat or Kamuning, take Fairview or Philcoa. The problem though is, the business sign is hardly noticeable because of its dull color so it took me while to see it. I was actually standing in front of the building already and I was just texting my officemate to dial !87 for telephone directory to check on the branch’s phone number.

After staring a a pile of signs on the building, I was able see that Lay Bare is actually situated there. Goodness!

So I went in and requested for eyebrow threading, facial and half leg wax.

Eyebrow threading is damn right smack in the middle painful as it is! I literally cried. I have tried eyebrow waxing and it less painful but still painful.

Lay Bare’s claim for fame is the use of cold sugar wax and my hands are down to it. It is indeed pain less but I was horrified to see my face after the session, I was all red, swollen and burning hot!
I was so scared that I am allergic to the sugar wax but I was told that it was normal.
It’s a relief to see now that there’s no more redness, swelling and burning sensation
What I do not like in the entire process is that the attendant would instruct you to use both of your hands in stretching your lids while threading your brows. This really startled me. Imagine, you’re in total pain and you have to bother stretching your lids so that the attendant could get the tiniest hair.

While waxing my upper lip and cheeks, the attendant told me to push them out with my tongue. It’s a bit weir. Seriously, why can’t just let another personnel assist the attendant in performing the procedure to make it look professional and to make the customer experience a pleasant one.

Although the experience was surely unforgettable and unpleasant, I must say that I got the value for my money at a certain extent. I even tipped that attendant because she’s pregnant and she’s generally nice.
There are still some tiny hair left around the nose and on the areas.
The entire procedure cost me P550. To break it down, eyebrow threading: P100, face wax: P150, half leg: P300.
I would definitely go for their services again but I think I will try their branch on Banawe.
Oh btw, I had my mani and pedi at a salon on Espana cor. Vicent Cruz. I want to rock some rocker nails (read: black).
I though the salon has nothing pleasureable interiors but I was surprised that it is actually well designed and furnished. It even has a flat screen TV although it was switched off then. I endured Karylle’s voice all through out the session as it is being contasantly played on the radio.
I will check out the name of the salon tomorrow.
The manicure costs P60 while the pedicure costs P70.
There were two people who attended to me. One for the pedi and the other for the mani. I was pleased by their obedience as they followed my instructions not to cut my ingrown nails and my cuticles.
I had horrible experiences of mani/pedicurist who despite being repeatedly instructed insistently had it their way.
They also offer foot spa service with pedicure for P300 but I skipped it since I am not allowed to wet by legs four hour after they have been waxed.
This is just an Urbanista Manila day for less!

I know that the Season 4 of Top Chef is so yesterday but I have not seen it all yet and it is actually the one being shown (as the latest season of the show) on 2nd Avenue.

I do not know yet who won that season and I’d like to keep it that way.

For a foodie like me, I find it enticing to watch cooking shows especially those being hosted by true chefs but I must tell you that although there’s a little voice in my head telling me that I want to be a chef, I know that there are dreams that are best to be kept as dreams.

At the moment, I can state two reasons why I am not entertaining the thought of me becoming a chef or even a sous chef:

1. I can not plate. I can’t even fix my room how on earth could I arrange food on a plate?
2. I almost failed my French class, how would you expect me to invent food, plate it and name it in French?

So letting go of this unreachable dream, let’s switch back to Top Chef.

I remember reading an article about Dale Talde of Season 4 on a local broadsheet. I learned from it that he is 100% Pinoy but it left me guessing who he was in that season as there was no picture of him to accompany the article.

I was able to know him (on TV) through 2nd Ave.’s teasers.

I am still not a regular viewer though. But in every episode of TC that I have seen, I must say that I was really impressed by Dale’s genius and attitude towards cooking.

What makes watching in action more exciting is how he proudly and fearlessly incorporates in Asian side and Pinoy side in every dish that he serves.

Screw Vanessa Hudgens and Nicole Scherzinger! They’re famous yeah, and most of our kababayans would love to ride on their popularity forcing them to acknowledge their Pinoy roots but in reality they are not.

They grew up and raised abroad in the culture that is all but Pinoy.

If my marriage to Curtis Stone fails, then I would marry Dale. I would not mind living with a Butterscotch Pony.