Je Suis Gourmand

 

Je Suis Gourmand

Address: G/F Net One Center, 26th St. cor 3rd Ave

Cuisine: French

French cuisine is almost exotic or unheard of here in the Philippines. And it doesn't really get that much attention unlike other international cuisine wherein you get a sit-down menu. The closest that I can think of with French cuisine is the choux pastry (cream puffs) and their breads (baguettes!). Of course, there's the ubiquitous Le Coeur de France in Shangri La Mall and Delifrance but then they are more of the boulangerie type. Hah! I can still remember some of the words I learned from my French classes.

I am fortunate enough to celebrate my 26th birthday in Je Suis Gourmand. I wanted to try something different and special for my birthday. I read numerous positive reviews on the menu of Je Suis Gourmand. Actually it was a battle between Ninyo's Fusion Cuisine (French-Japanese) and the Je Suis Gourmand. But in the end, Je Suis Gourmand won because we still have to try what French cuisine is about.

Je Suis Gourmand is a bit of a drive from Bonifacio High Street and I am totally clueless with its commuting directions.

BF and I were promptly ushered to our reserved table. The arrival of the courses we ordered were perfectly timed. It was like they've orchestrated everything down to perfection. They gave us enough time to enjoy each course and appreciate it after. The succeeding courses weren't hurriedly served.

We shared two main courses and a dessert.

They served the pan-seared foie gras in honey-balsamic sauce first. This one is not in the menu but you can request it from the staff and they'll prepare it for you. I haven't tried goose liver before, so I kinda lowered my expectations with this. But I've read rave stories about eating foie gras, about it being too sinful to eat. One bite and we were hook. BF claimed that this is his new favorite. The texture was impeccably smooth. And the taste wasn't strong like other animal liver. You wouldn't even notice that you've already finished the serving. Well, that's what happened to my foie gras.

The next course is the Grilled Prime Black Angus US Ribeye. The words black angus is more than enough to aptly describe this course. It was sooo good. Of course, we had it in medium rare. We finished this in minutes. Red wine could have been a perfect match to this course. Except that we didn't order one because I have a very low alcohol tolerance and might find myself nodding off to dreamland before desserts!

We capped the dinner with a serving of dark chocolate and ginger souffle. I am a bit apprehensive when I read the word ginger, and boy was I wrong. The souffle had a light whiff of ginger that balanced the flavour brought by the dark chocolate. It was really good. I can't describe the taste but it was so good. You have to try it for yourself. We had fun eating this one because this is something entirely new to us.

All in all, it was a simple yet special dinner. The place was really romantic and a perfect dating place. The location of Je Suis Gourmand is not where you'd most likely bump into somebody you know. Well, that is mainly true in my case. Hehe I wish that BF and I can eat there again before they have their final run by yearend.

BRGR: The Burger Project

BRGR: The Burger Project
Address: 122-A Maginhawa Street, Teacher's Village Quezon City
Cuisine: American fastfood

Lately, Maginhawa has become a popular destination or spot for places to eat. Restaurants sprouted like mushrooms. Last week, we went to Pino Bar (and that's for another blog post) and we chanced upon a flyer of the The Burger Project. We always pass by The Burger Project but we're wary if it is any good because the number of people dining there was inconsistent. But then again, it was already past 9pm.

BRGR flyer

The Burger Project (or BRGR for short) can seat around 25 people inside and I think another 15 or so chairs are available for an al fresco dining experience. The place is well-lit and looks clean.

Each customer is given a clipboard with a checklist of items that you'd want to be included in your burger. It took me a long time to decide which to select from their choices because everything was so appetizing. Of course, I chose everything that can be added for free.

 

This is my personalized burger. Too bad, it would have been perfect except that they ran out of tomatoes. The mozzarella that I included made the burger yummier! The bun was huge and so is the patty. I think they also used 1/3 lb of meat here. And as usual, I ended up with a bloat-y belly after eating everything. Not to mention the mess I made after eating everything.

They also have pre-designed designer burgers that are aptly named like Western Bacon Melt, Tokyo Pop and French lick.

BF said that the burgers is almost at par with the angus burger of Charlie's Grind and Grill but Charlie's still tops his list. The pricetag is a bit higher than most angus burgers that we had tried, but the fact that it is near UP would mean that we will visit the place again.

Van Marley's

van Marley's
Address: 10-A Xavierville Avenue, Loyola Heights, Quezon City
Cuisine: Dutch 

I asked a friend who went to study and finish his second Master's degree in Amsterdam about the typical Dutch food that he had. And apparently he subsisted mostly on eggs and noodles since his scholarship stipend is below the minimum wage. As he likes to put it, he's way below the poverty line.

So last night, BF and I heaved our butts to van Marley's. It is situated along Xavierville Avenue and is a bit of a travel from Katipunan. Basta, it is way further down the street from Ababu. I'm not sure if it is easily accessible since I am not familiar with the public transportation there. Tricycle, perhaps?

van Marley's only have a ramp in front of the restaurant as a parking space for their customers. But then, this could be the sidewalk that is common in QC. The place can sit around 20 people. We got there after my class, so we almost have the whole place. We also spied the van Marley's owners (cute, metrosexual looking guys! teehee) there. The whole place is dimly lit so you have this different vibe/aura of the restaurant. And walls were adorned with pictures like that of a canal common in Amsterdam.

We had Flying Dutch Wings (Php155) partnered with a Blue Cheese dip (L - Php40), Drunk Dori (Php135) with Turmeric Rice (Php30). And for desserts, combination of Whipped Berries Cream Cheese and Lemon Cream Cheese Dutchkins (Php127.50) with ice cream (Php12).

The Drunk Dori and Turmeric Rice came first. The fish was tasty and the flavor was further emphasized with cheese filling. It's like the fish version of the cordon bleu. And the good thing here is that it came in two slices so it was easy for BF and I to take a pick on which fish to eat. The rice was just plain good. I'm used to eating turmeric rice with kabab but this is not a Persian place so, I'll just hold off with my judgement. Before taking on the rice, the wait person informed us that it is more than one cup and advised us that we can order one serving of their Turmeric Rice and see how we would like it instead of ordering two servings of it.

The Flying Dutch Wings were hot. And just like any other buffalo wings, it went well with the blue cheese. We enjoyed nibbling on these and it was a good thing that the wings came after the fish because if not, we would not be able to appreciate the taste of the fish. The wings would easily overpower the dory.

Since it was our first time to go to van Marley's, the wait person advised us to try a combination of the Dutchkins, so that we can get more options. Dutchkins were like mini pancakes with fillings inside. Perhaps, the name was derived from Dunkin Donut's munchkins. We chose the mixed berries and lemons combination since the other combination that she offered was a bit redundant, both having nutella in their filling. BF became partial with the lemon flavored Dutchkin while I to the mixed berries. But we still halved each flavor.

We were so bloated after eating everything that we ordered. Their servings were good for one, so ordering two main course and a dessert was a bit of a stretch for us. But we just had to try van Marley's Dutchkins because this is something new.

I am not sure if it is recommendable to travel all the way to van Marley's location in Xavierville since you can get an equally good buffalo wings and fish in other restaurants. But I think you should at least try the Dutchkins, if you're within the area. How often would you see a dutchkin in a menu, right?

Planners

In grade school, we called them Diary. In High school, we had organizers. During college, I don't know what they are called or if they ever existed, but I made my own monthly calendar. And a few years ago, with Starbucks and other glamour-coffeeshops mushrooming in the metro, it became the planner.They were dead useful to me.

I realised that I've been using planners for almost 20 years, now. Grade school diaries were used in lieu of homework notebooks and doubled as excuse letters (and I really get to use these sheets since I used to vomit and nosebleed frequently). Teachers would also make a note on my diary whenever I was late for school. And thank God, they did not feel the urge to write on mine about needing disciplinary actions! Haha

Organizers in high school were really used to the last sheet. It was also the time when "customizing" the organizer to your taste became vogue. I had mine decorated with post its. I loooove post its! Not the 3M brand because they were so expensive. We used to trade post its in school and put stick them in the dividers of the organizer. And since I was studying in a very special school for very special kids, my organizers were really "bugbog" since we had a lot of homeworks and quizzes and other activities in school.

Since there were fewer classes in college, I only saw the necessity of a planner in a monthly view, just like in MS Outlook. I'd just design a plain one using a spreadsheet and just fold it to fit my bag. The problem with it was that it was easily crumpled because of the absence of a hard front and back materials.

When I was in my previous work, I didn't see the need of a planner since everyday was redundant. But when BF and I started planning of returning to school late last year, we saw the need of using planners again. BF settled to a small weekly planner and I to a planner made by Belle de Jour. I got to actually used mine during the first half of the year. The thing with the BDJ planner was that it was heavy so I didn't really feel the urge to bring it to work. So I would just look at it in the morning, leave it at home and update it at night. I also didn't get to use much of the vouchers included in it since I don't really shop in the stores that were listed in the planner. I also realised that I prefer light-weight planners since I risk developing shoulder and back problems with a heavy one.

So last week, while buying some things at National Bookstore with BF, we chanced upon a very thin, datebook by Hallmark. We thought that we preferred this over most of the kind of planners available there because it was in the monthly view and we do not necessarily write in it everyday. So much for wasted untouched and unwritten pages. And the best part of the planner is, it was only 18.50 pesos!! I got the one with flowers and BF had the one with caricatures since flowers were too feminine raw. Ow, and it also comes with a sticker set!!! Talk about deal-makers!! I'm already excited to use my new planner!!

Overview of Technology Management & Technology-based Entrepreneurship

When first semester started rolling in, I asked Ate Jas for some tips regarding the classes that I will be taking. According to her, Drs. Posadas and Dayco have different teaching styles but both are very technical and detailed with their lectures. For this semester, however, both required a final exam and a case study to work on. Class participation and attendance, and a midterm exam were also needed for the Overview of Technology Management (TM 201) class. For Technology-based Entrepreneurship (TM 251), we were required to submit weekly reaction papers on the topics that will be discussed and half of the grade will come from the case study.

TM 201 is handled in an old-fashioned way. A bit too bookish, perhaps? Lectures where derived from the slides and class participation was graded with the number of questions/discussions shared by the student. The downside of this method is that some students tend to dawdle with their "questions", making the lecture unfinished or hanging come 9pm. It would be better if the class participation can be moderated, so that there will be equal airtime among students and nobody will have the monopoly on class discussions and become too one-sided. Both midterm and final exams were open-notes. (DocP even joked that we can refer to our notes and computers are allowed, but we cannot call a friend), and my hands suffered from these exams since you'd want to write everything you can write for the exam. I'd really recommend some warm-up writing exercises before the exam to prep the hands. As for the exams, you will survive by reading only his slides. Anyway the contents were lifted from his sources and not much were changed.

TM 251, on the other hand, is more of a story-telling session about the experiences of DocP and his friends on starting and running a business. I heard lots of industry gossips, or in the case, industry facts. Some of the stories were told a number of times, so, more or less by the end of the semester, you have memorized these by heart. As for the reaction papers required for the class, I jibber-jabbered my way by writing something related to the reading material required for that week.The case study required for the class is another story since a paper and a presentation were required, and some groups were really grilled during the Q&A part of the presentation. We were lucky that he only asked us what was our prognosis on the company we worked on. There was also a bit of misunderstanding for the final exam because we were given the impression that it will also be open books, only to find out that it will not be open notes during the exam. Good thing that we were forewarned about this by the TM204 class. The questions were answerable as long as you have a copy of the slides DocD used throughout the semester.

I'd say that I learned a lot from these two subjects since I really have no background whatsoever on management and entrepreneurial topics. Good thing, I got good scores this semester and made me still eligible to graduate after 2.5 years. Yes! Just two and a half years and I will get my first masters degree :)

Christmas Wishlist

I made this list for my wonderful, wonderful friends because I know the kind of stress they have to go through when they think of me during this season *grin*

- Reese' peanut butter cups

- assorted hair accessories (hair clips, head band), please no butterfly clips

- Eat, Pray, Love book

- Neil Gaiman comics/novels

- HP1/2/7 books

- Bath and Body Works hand lotion (any scent)

- Clarity GCs

- old horror Pinoy flicks (80s, i.e. Halimaw sa Banga, Shake, Rattle and Roll)

- Gloria Romero's old films (60s, 70s)

- prayers

- and World Peace