The New Gloria Maris Greenhills

Gloria Maris has been a fixture in the Greenhills area for as long as I can remember. I have celebrated with family, relatives and friends so many events and happy occasions here - birthdays, baptisms, weddings, ting huns, even just ordinary Saturday dimsums with the kids. 

This is one of the fave dining spots of the Greenhills Chinese community.

For my own mommy group, one of the fave brunch/lunch meet-up places is Gloria Maris because of its proximity to our kids' school and if we can't decide where to eat, this is usually our default choice because we also really can't get enough of its' food.

Why I Still Make My Teens’ Lunches?

I still prepare lunch and snacks for my teens. I know they can very well do it on their own, but I enjoy doing it for them. Acts of service is my love language and this is the best way I show my love.

With 3 teens (1 turning into a young adult this year), I am very much aware that I will soon be an empty nester. So while I still can, I want to do this for them. 

Even my college girl still prefers home-cooked baon. She tried buying lunch from the school canteen for 3 months when her siblings were on their summer break, and she wanted to cry as she found herself putting on pounds. But other than that, she also still appreciates my effort in still preparing food for her.

On my part,  I get great satisfaction and joy from doing things for them that's not out of necessity but as an extra. I mean, I know how busy their lives are - from studies, to extra-curricular, to sports. If I can show them that I support them by preparing food to nourish them and satiate their hunger, why not, di ba?

I chronicle the lunch baon that I prepare for them on Instagram and Facebook. If you search for This Momma Loves, this is what you'll see:

Weekend Footnotes: La Vita Ristorante Italiano at Podium Mall

Every so often, usually on weekends, I get a taste of the empty nesters life when all the kids have plans to go out with friends. When that happens, c and I try to enjoy our time together by trying out a new resto. We enjoy these long dinners together when we can take our time and not worry about having to pick up a child from training or a late law class.

It's a good time to have time as a couple, instead of just functioning as mom and dad.

A few weekends ago, we had one of those nights and we chose to try La Vita Ristorante Italiano, an newly opened Italian restaurant at Podium Mall. I wanted to try La Vita because I've seen friends post about their Burrata Pizza. Imagine a whole burrata ball on top of a pizza! Yum!

#TPMkitchen: Honey-Soy Glazed Salmon

Salmon is one of my family's faves. My kids enjoy it and they really look forward to having it that I have learned many ways to cook with salmon. Aside from the kids, C  has also learned to appreciate the health benefits of salmon now that he's older and has a lot of dietary restrictions.

Salmon is loaded with heart-healthy omega-3 fatty acids 

I usually cook salmon with just salt and pepper and a bit of butter. Taking it out of the pan when it's medium-well, cover it and letting the residual heat cook the fish.

We also enjoy salmon when cooked with honey and soy sauce. The combination of honey and soy creates this umami combo of sweet and salty that's a perfect foil to the salmon. I figured that since I'm using the Keta Salmon variety, cooking it with sauce is one sure way to ensure a juicy and tender flesh.

When I first made this years ago, I followed the recipe that says to marinate the salmon in the honey-soy sauce mixture, but then I find that it burns so fast because of the caramelization of the honey. Through the years, I've tweaked the recipe, and the one I'm using now is, in my opinion, the easiest way to do Honey-Soy Glazed Salmon.

Salmon is quite pricey, and its a good thing my kids love to eat everything - including the skin!

How To Get That Crispy Salmon Skin

First thing I do is to make sure that the scales have been removed.

Then, I dry the salmon very well with paper towels to make sure I can get the skin to sear and crisp. I also season the skin with a generous amount of salt.

I place it on a pre-heated lightly oiled pan. You'll know its hot enough when you hear a sizzling sound when the fish touches the pan.

Let the salmon cook for 80% of the time on the skin side. This allows the skin to crisp up, and also results in a gentler cooking for the flesh.

How to Ensure Tender, Flaky Salmon 

Depends on the size of your fillet, but for me it would be approximately 3-5 minutes on the skin side and another 2 minutes on the other side. Again, this would depend on the size of your fish and the heat of your pan. If it's a big and thick fillet, I partially cover the pan to make sure the insides cook at the same time. I don't cover it fully to allow steam to escape because it is important for me to have crisp skin. Pinag-aagawan kase yung balat dito sa bahay.

This will give you salmon that is perfectly cooked to medium – the flesh is flaky and moist inside. It should retain that slightly pink color. You know you've overcooked it when the inside turns into pale pink that's bordering on white.

Honey-Soy Glazed Salmon Recipe

For a quick and easy meal, serve it with a side of steamed bokchoy or any other vegetables. You’ve got a quick dinner on the table in less than 20 minutes!

Ingredients

SAUCE
2 tbsp honey
2 tbsp soy sauce
1 tbsp oyster sauce
1 teaspoon sesame oil
1 heavy dash white pepper
1 large garlic clove (or 2 small) , minced

SALMON
2 SeaKing Keta salmon slab
Olive oil
Salt and pepper

OPTIONAL GARNISHES
Sesame seeds
Finely sliced chives or shallots/scallions


Instructions

1. Take salmon out of the fridge 20 minutes before cooking. Pat salmon skin dry with a paper towel and sprinkle with salt and pepper.

2. Whisk together the Sauce ingredients in a small bowl.

3. Drizzle oil in a non stick fry pan and heat over medium high heat. Place salmon in the pan, and cook skin side up 3 - 5 minutes until skin crisps up. Turn, then cook the other side for 2 - 3 minutes.

4. Pour in the honey soy mixture all over the pan as soon as you flip the salmon, and cook until the fish is tender and flaky.

5. Serve salmon drizzled with sauce, sprinkle with sesame seeds and chives/shallots/scallions, if desired. Arrange bok choy/vegetables on plate.

I also like to make extra of this because the kids like it when I turn the leftovers into Salmon Onigiri the next day.

Give this Honey-Soy Glazed Salmon a try and let me know if it becomes a greatest hit for your family, too!

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SeaKing Wild Alaskan Keta Salmon

I used SeaKing Wild Alaskan Keta Salmon slab in this recipe. One of the things I appreciate about SeaKing is that each slab is individually wrapped in serving portion. Unlike the other brands that I buy where I have to purchase a very big slab and cut it to serving portion size by myself.



It's my first time to try the Keta variety. When I opened the pack, I immediately noticed the paler color. It also doesn't have the strong salmon flavor that I am accustomed to, so this is perfect for people who prefer a milder salmon flavor. No fishy after-taste whatsoever.

While cooking, I discovered that Keta Salmon is leaner. I'm used to cooking salmon with a higher fat content, and I had to adjust my cooking time and method to make sure that I don't put a dry salmon on the dining table. I found that the best way to cook Keta salmon is to let it simmer along with the sauce to ensure that the meat stays tender. Overcooking salmon is a sure way to get tough and chewy meat. Not appetizing at all!

SeaKing Wild Alaskan Keta Salmon is imported from Alaska and is caught in the wild, 

and not farmed.

When C was diagnosed with very high triglycerides levels a few years back, I have added salmon into our diet. I have researched about the benefits of Salmon and found out that

Salmon can contribute to a healthy heart by:

Lowering triglycerides and cholesterol levels

Contributing Omega-3s to maintain healthy arteries and veins

Strengthening cardiac muscles and repairing cardiovascular tissues

Salmon can contribute to a healthy brain by:

Promoting mood related signals and optimal brain function

Reducing the risk of depression, ADHD, schizophrenia, bipolar disorder, and dementia

To know more about SEAKING: 

Webpage | Facebook

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#TPMkitchen: No-Bake Cookie Butter Cheesecake

A few months back, I worked with one of the brands I often use in my kitchen. I did a blogpost for them (which you can read here) and posted some of the photos on my social media accounts. 

Since then, I got a lot of request from friends and followers to share the No Bake Cookie Butter Cheesecake... so due to public demand, here it is! 

Serenitea X Sesame Street

🎵🎶Sunny Day Sweepin' the clouds away 

On my way to where the air is sweet 

Can you tell me how to get, how to get to... 🎼🎵🎶

Napakanta ka ba?

That’s the song going through my head as I ordered a drink from Serenitea.

I kept seeing my IG friends post about their Sesame Street metal straws from Serenitea so I decided to visit this week. It's so cute and my daughter really wanted to have one for herself!

Healthy Snacks for Teens

Lately, fave son is always hungry - round the clock it seems! When he gets his after-dinner hunger pangs, I usually ask him to go down to drink a glass of milk/chocolate milk, or eat fruits, fruits with yogurt, light sandwich. Something light lang. But he always complains that I'm starving him! He wants to eat another plate of rice after dinner. Ano ba yan?

Sa totoo lang, on weekend nights, he goes down and prepares food all by himself. But during weeknights, I often offer to do it for him. Naawa na din ako, because his swim training takes up a lot of his time, add to that his extra-curricular activities, there's hardly enough free time left in his day. When he gets home, I want him to have enough time to focus on doing his homework and reviewing for his tests. If I can make his life one less stressful by preparing his snacks, I do it na for him. Even if my girls tease me no end about spoiling him.

So to secure my sanity, I made a list of acceptable snacks that are good for the daytime and considered light enough to pass for late-night snacking, as well. I just plan to fill up the ref with ingredients for these so fave son and my fave girls can make their own snack every time they get hungry. I've read up that teens can have increased caloric requirements during major growth spurts, and may seem to never get full.

Beef Gyudon Recipe Using the Tiger Tacook Rice Cooker

I enjoy cooking – to a certain extent, basta di ako naghahabol sa oras. I want to cook when I'm relaxed and just taking my time. Luckily, I have the privilege of having the time to prepare the kind of food that I want for my family on most days.

I posted a photo of our dinner last week and got a lot of requests to share the recipe for my Beef Bulgogi, kaya eto na.

Sharing my recipe for Beef Gyudon at the end of this post

A Beginners Guide to Meal Prepping with Ready-Wrap

Several years ago, one of my good friends gifted me with a book called The Five Love Languages. The love languages describe the way we feel loved and appreciated. Acts of service is my primary love language. I express my love for my family by preparing home-cooked meals that require a great deal of my time and effort. 

Ways To Be Safe In the Kitchen with Petron Gasul

On days leading to holidays and family celebrations, we usually draw up our dinner menu and we each take charge of dish. It's like a doing a potluck at home, since I encourage everyone to make a dish of their choice. Here's how our table looked like during one of our celebrations.

I took charge of the pasta, grilled the the rib-eye steak and cooked the prawns and scallops.

{Weekend Footnotes} RACKS Honey Dijon Ribs

It's December already! There are certain things that are "constants" for me everytime December comes around: shopping and dining out.

TPM kitchen: Easy Hummus Recipes {Basic + Avocado}

One of the reasons that prompted me to make my own hummus is because of my daughters' gluten intolerance. I was looking for gluten free options for snacks. I wanted to serve whole foods like vegetable sticks or fruits. Something healthy and easy to prep. But it's hard to just serve them carrot sticks or cucumber slices without any dip, di ba? So hummus to the rescue! Because it just takes less than 15 minutes to make one with no cooking required.

basic hummus on the left and avocado hummus on the right

I know there are a lot of moms like me who don't want to feel like they have to turn the entire family's life 360 degrees because of dietary restrictions. It's a challenge. Because even if only two persons eat gluten free, they find it so much more difficult to follow the diet when there is baguette or ciabatta or cake in the house. So nakikisama din kami sa kanila most of the time.

What’s Hummus? 

Hummus is a Middle Eastern spread traditionally made from garbanzo beans, tahini, lemon juice and garlic. All ingredients are gluten free.

If you search online, you will find a lot of recipes for making homemade hummus, which all claim to taste better than store-bought ones. 

The hummus recipe I am using is all about convenience so it makes us of use canned garbanzos/ chickpeas, which are readily available in the grocery, and easily stored in the pantry for spur-of-the-moment hummus cravings.

I don't use tahini because it's not one of the ingredients I usually have on hand. I like hummus that has tahini in it; but for me, the flavor it adds to the dip is not something that I would not miss if it's not there. So if I don’t have it, which I often don’t, I make it minus.

I know purists will say that hummus is not hummus without tahini. But for this busy mama, a homemade kitchen hack version is still better than commercial ones that are laden with preservatives. Besides, hummus needs only a small amount of tahini. I'm sure if I buy one, my jar of tahini will just sit around in my fridge until it goes rancid. Instead, I substitute with UNSWEETENED nut butter that's readily available in my pantry like peanut butter or almond butter. I've also tried using Kewpie sesame dressing. Please do not judge me! Hahaha!

Get the kids involved by asking them to take out the skin from each garbanzo bean. My daughter loves doing this. You don't really have to do this, but if you decide to, it will result in a super smooth, silky hummus. Again, it's a matter of preference and convenience. If you want silky hummus and you have the pleasure of time, then take the skin out. If you are short on time, then keep the peel on, and just let it run on the blender/food processor longer.

Easiest Hummus Recipes

Basic Hummus

This basic hummus recipe is like a blank canvas. Feel free to mix in additional herbs, vegetables, and seasoning to flavor the hummus.

Ingredients
1 (15-ounce) can garbanzos/chickpeas
2 tablespoons extra-virgin olive oil

2-3 tablespoons of drained liquid from garbanzos (or plain water will do)
3 tablespoons almond butter or peanut butter
1 1/2 tablespoons calamansi juice (original recipe calls for lemon)
1 small clove garlic, coarsely chopped
1 teaspoon salt
1/2 teaspoon finely ground black pepper

1 tsp ground cumin

1/2 tsp paprika, for topping

Instructions
1. Drain the chickpeas into a strainer, reserving the liquid from the can. If time and patience allows, pinch the skins from each of the chickpeas; this will make your hummus smoother.

2. Combine the chickpeas, olive oil, nut butter, calamansi or lemon juice, garlic, salt, pepper, cumin and paprika in the blender or food processor.

3. Blend hummus until smooth, at least 5 minutes. Scrape down the sides of the bowl as needed to integrate any large pieces.

4. Taste and adjust seasonings. If your hummus is stiffer than you'd like, blend the 2 to 3 tablespoons of the reserved garbanzo liquid (or just plain water) to thin it out and make the hummus creamier.

5. Transfer to a bowl and serve with pita chips or raw vegetables. Alternatively, you can also transfer to a sealed container and it will keep inside the refrigerator for one week, inside the freezer for a month.

Avocado Hummus

Avocados are in season right now, so I've been buying a lot. There are so many ways to enjoy avocado, which I've shared here.

Ingredients:
Basic hummus recipe
1 large avocado, pit removed 

chili flakes, for topping


Instructions
1. Drain the chickpeas into a strainer, reserving the liquid from the can. If time and patience allows, pinch the skins from each of the chickpeas; this will make your hummus smoother.

2. Combine the chickpeas, avocado, olive oil, nut butter, calamansi or lemon juice, garlic, salt, pepper, cumin and paprika in the blender or food processor.

3. Blend hummus until smooth, at least 5 minutes. Scrape down the sides of the bowl as needed to integrate any large pieces.

4. Taste and adjust seasonings. If your hummus is stiffer than you'd like, blend the 2 to 3 tablespoons of the reserved garbanzo liquid (or just plain water) to thin it out and make the hummus creamier.

5. Transfer to a bowl and serve with pita chips or raw vegetables. Alternatively, you can also transfer to a sealed container and it will keep inside the refrigerator for one week, inside the freezer for a month.

How To Serve Hummus?

Hummus is great as a dip with raw crispy vegetables such as carrots and cucumbers. My kids would not eat carrots and cucumbers as is, but hummus makes everything tolerable.

For those of us without gluten sensitivity, we eat it with toasted pita bread or ciabatta. We love the crustiness of the bread against the smoothness of the hummus.

Traditionally, I've seen hummus topped with EVOO and a few whole Chickpeas. But, since we are making our own, then anything goes! With mine, I added Smiked Paprika and Chili flakes.

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#TPMkitchen: Ways to Enjoy Avocado

It's avocado season! Is anyone here celebrating with me?

Fellow avocado lovers, you have to agree with me that bringing home a beautiful looking one is a good fortune that should be celebrated. When I get my hands on one, I slice them, fan them out to a long line, then turn them into avocado roses. 

 I like to play with them using my sharpest knife and make them into works of art, and show them off.

Sakura Tendon at Tenya

I just got back home from our Tokyo vacation, and I miss Japan already!

Osaka Castle Park 
click here to read all my Osaka posts
The “sakura” or cherry blossom is one of the most revered symbols in Japan. It symbolizes spring time, the season of the year that stands for the renewal of life. The bloom of the beautiful sakura, and its poetic meaning, is what drives thousands of tourists to Japan regularly.

#TPMkitchen: 3-Step Spinach Dip Recipe with Anchor Philippines

By now, you already now how much I enjoy my time in the #TPMkitchen. so much so that the kitchen is the place where my kids and I spend the most time bonding. If they are not helping me cook, they are seated on the stool by the kitchen counter talking to me.

A few days ago, my daughter was in the mood to make Spinach Dip. This is something that I am confident that she can make on her own. My spinach recipe only has 3 steps and is fool-proof, but it tastes super good! You have to taste it to believe it. I will be sharing my super easy, fool-proof, 3-step Spinach Dip recipe so be sure to read until the end of the post.

Spinach Dip, Fried Kesong Puti with Truffled Honey, Candied Walnuts, Baguette, GF Waffles

Weekend Footnotes: A Birthday + Chinese New Year 2018

This long weekend was a very busy one for my family.

We celebrated Valentine's, C's birthday + Chinese New Year. In between all that, J also was invited to 2 birthday parties, so the weekend was in full swing.

14Feb: Valentine's

It was a good Valentine's Day for me because I got the Cuyana bag that I have been eyeing for some time. In the early years of our relationship, C used to give me dozens of Ecuadorian roses. Ang mahal! Tapos in a few days, malalanta na and I have to throw them away. When we got married, and I was comfortable enough with him, I finally told him I would appreciate receiving something that I can keep for years.

More than 2 decades together. He gets me.

I'm not so much into flowers. But yes to practical gifts.

Holidays 2017

This is a very delayed post, but I still want to do it because I want to remind myself, again and again, of how lucky I am to have wonderful people to call family.

My husband and kids are indeed God's greatest blessing to me. They pretty much are the reason for the smile on my face, the spring in my step, twinkle in my eye... you get it!!!

Gluten-free Moffles (Mochi + Waffles)

For the longest time, I have been using this recipe to make gluten-free waffles for my girls. Until the time I saw my friend, Sabrina, posts something on IG. She called her creation Ube Mochi Waffles. It's my first time to hear of that. She used glutinous rice four and coconut milk. Naintriga ako, so when I was able to get hold of ube halaya from Good Shepherd, I made sure to try her recipe.

It looks like any ordinary waffle, but when you bite into it, you will discover that it is so much better. The outside is toasted, while the inside is chewy. And please let's not forget the ube filling.

Cowrie Grill by Manila Hotel

Every Sunday is family day for us. We go attend Sunday Service and then we meet up with my MIL and SIL and her family for lunch. My in-laws are creatures of habits. They like to stick to restaurants that they are familiar with and tested to be good.

One of the places we frequent for Sunday lunch is The Manila Hotel, especially when my FIL was still alive. I remember in 2011, when Manila Hotel rebranded Cafe Ilang-Ilang, my FIL booked reservations for all of us to try the newly renovated outlet as soon as it re-opened its doors.

Kalbi Jim Recipe Share

I originally shared this recipe in a guest post at Momma 'N Manila.

I've known Mish of Momma 'N Manila and one-half of Mothers Who Brunch since 2013. Because of the events that we attend together and because we share a common love for our family and cooking, I have gotten to know her and her family better.