Real or not real?

 

 

 

The bad, we choose to forget. The good, we always remember. 
In which I sleepily write about the most fun I have had in quite a while.

The Great Perhaps: Seattle & ferry boats

I'm a little down because someone I look up to has let me down.  And when I'm a little down, when I cannot make sense of strong women sinking into a level so low, I like writing about the places I love even when it's been years after I have been in them. I guess I do it to remind me of happier times, of where I can go, of what I can do and of how happy I can still be even on my own. 

I didn't realize I took so many photos aboard ferries, which neighboring residents use to shuttle to and from the city proper. From Bremerton, it takes roughly thirty minutes to get to the Seattle ferry port but those thirty minutes are glorious. It is a comfortable medley of the sea breeze, birds flying overhead, wonderful boats you wave to when you pass them by, and smiling people under the sun. Late in the afternoon, the deck is a good place for people lost in thought or for people like me, who fancy watching the last fire of the setting sun. I like to watch the sky and sea bathe in the golden orange blaze of the afternoon sun, I like watching as it turns  dark pink and then indigo, and then transition slowly into complete darkness as the ferry moves farther away from the city and the sun descends. At night, the ferry's deck becomes a place for lovers admiring the faint glow of the city lights and it just perfect. Perfectly lonely. 

This is a short photo set of that glorious thirty minutes of oneness, of mornings between the sea and self. A small reminder to ourselves of the vast oceans beyond us and the little that it takes to sail away. 

Seattle is a nice place. Personally, I think it is a cross between San Francisco and New York City, two of my favorite places in the world. It has the climate and the relaxed easiness of North California, and it's also surrounded by so much water much like that small but magnetic island on the Eastern Seaboard. I could live here, if neither New York nor San Francisco works out. It is a beautiful place, beautiful enough to be a part of my personal version of The Great Perhaps. It is so easy to develop a thing for ferry boats, Derek Shepherd style. Like the fictional McDreamy, I didn't plan on liking Seattle but I do now. It is a lovely place. 

A message from my dog

This weekend, my dog convinced himself that he was a cat. Also, he wishes you a happy day!

Crunchy Choose day

It's a Choose day! Choose chicken. I have a BIG test tomorrow but hardly big enough (nothing ever is) to deter my appetite after a study session. I can't wait for Wednesday to be over, mostly because I am in need of a drink to cap this week off.

Flaming Wings' buffalo wings (Mild and sweet, bleu cheese sauce)

Ramen to that!

Ahoy! This week has been a whirlwind. It started with Monday and my willing myself to get better so that I can do ALL the things I wanted/had to do, in the middle of the week, I had class which I attended with a disgusting coughing fit (the victory lap of the sickness in my body, I guess) and then the week ended with me being in a limbo (productivity wise) and throwing all caution to the wind¹. It disturbs me that my work ethic is a bit bipolar, in that if I want to apply myself, I get really bossy and very into what I'm doing but if I don't want to work at all, not even the hand of God can make me. I'm going to work on re-calibrating that work/semblance of a life balance soon enough.

I did get lucky with friends and food this week though! For one, I had the pleasure of dining at Ramen Bar early this week. I must say, my instincts were right. The food is terrific. I've been wanting to get in touch with my inner Ramen Girl for quite a while now so I made a beeline for the ramen-ya when I found myself hungry in a remotely unknown area (The Fort).

Ramen Bar has a simple menu. I like the fact that their whole selection is printed on paper placemats. I think it's a very novel idea because having the menu right in front of you as you eat leaves you with a pretty strong urge to order something extra, especially when the food is so good.

The choices are straightforward and I really liked that because there are very few things more annoying than fussy menus (see: any food combinations that end with "emulsion" and/or "...topped with a cloud of *insert name of non-descript cheese*") They have a small selection of Japanese appetizers like Edamame (Young Japanese soy beans boiled in sea salt for 120php, very addictive) and Kakuni Buns (Pork belly wrapped in a white bun very reminscent of the Cantonese mantao bread, 180php), and if you have all the money in the world, I suggest you sample both. But the star of the noodle house would be their ramen bowls, of course. I counted about six in their menu and judging from what I had that day, I'm pretty sure each bowl is so darn satisfying.

I chose a side order of Chasyu. Chasyu is Japanese grilled pork. In Cantonese restaurants, it's called Char Siu and is often sliced thick and roasted with sugar and five spice powder. The Japanese version, Chasyu, uses pork belly instead of the usual shoulder. Judging by its clean and delicate flavor, I'm guessing Ramen Bar's Japanese chasyu is braised until it is soft and moist. This cooking process allows the chasyu to complement most (if not all) of the soup stocks in the ramen-ya. In Ramen Bar, each slice of pork belly has a wonderful layer of fat and meat and the ratio between the two is top-notch. Ramen Bar's chasyu slices are on the middle range, too. Not too thin but not too thick either, plus it wasn't greasy at all.  

I have to stop here and remember just how milky and savory these slices of pork belly were, served with a side of honey soy sauce, soy sauce, some oil and a dollop of mayo. Personally, I enjoyed eating the pork belly slices with a little bit of the sweet sauce and the crisp ribbonettes of what I think are leeks and chives. 

A plateful of Chasyu is priced at 120 pesos only. It's the same price you pay if you want Edamame. There was a very short debate going in my head at that time but eventually, the vicious carnivore in me won the argument. I'm glad it did. I regret nothing. The Chasyu was the highlight of my meal.

As for my noodles, I really wanted to get the Super Chasyu Ramen (380php), a soy-infused tonkotsu (tonkotsu means pork bone soup, usually boiled for over 20 hours) ramen topped with overflowing slices of chasyu and tamago since I knew that it packs so much flavor and would have a deceptively milky broth, but I didn't (because it was expensive and I already had a Chasyu plate).

I had a bowl of Shoyu ramen (280php) instead, a soy infused tonkotsu ramen topped with tamago (soft-boiled egg marinated for 48 hours), naruto (fish sticks), negi (dried seaweed) and chasyu (I believe this was explained at length somewhere in this entry). It was excellent. Imagine this: really hearty & savory (but fatty) soy-based broth, fresh kansui/egg noodles, superior slices of pork belly and that ni-tamago exploding with so much flavor you can't really explain. A good ni-tanago will have a set white part but a soft and runny yolk. It'll have a subtle flavor because it's steeped (not boiled) in stock for hours. There lies an entirely different kind of elation once you bite into the egg and the yolk oozes out to join the soup in your soup spoon. 

Noodles are always such a treat to eat. :)

Ramen Bar at the Piazza has two promos for its customers. There's the Ramen Bar Twitter Tuesday! where diners can stave off 10% from their bill by tweeting a promotional line for Ramen Bar. On Saturdays, they have a Facebook promo and though the instructions escape me at the moment, I would wager that it's probably along the lines of promoting the restaurant via the site. I'm not sure why I am telling you this but perhaps it will help if you're a cheapskate planning to visit.

I really enjoyed Ramen Bar. It is definitely worth your money, a bit more than your token Japanese fast food chains but personally, I believe expensive food is food you pay for even if you did not enjoy eating it.

Have some fun. Have a good bowl of noodles. Ramen Bar is located at The Venice Piazza in McKinley Hill, The Fort. There's also a branch at Unit 4-A, 1800 building, Eastwood City.


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¹  I have to say that the outcome of doing this was extremely satisfying, my superior flakiness aside.

A study in cupcakes

Honestly, I'm a better cook than baker, but there are not many dishes that can indulge my insatiable love for chocolate so sometimes, I turn to baking. Well, actually that's a bit of a lie. There are quite a lot of chocolate-based dishes out there (from foie gras, chocolate pasta, chocolate covered chicken wings, chocolate oxtail stew to what I believe would be my personal kryptonite once I finally make them, chocolate-covered bacon) but I'm not ready for any of them just yet. 

Today, we're going to do a study of the perfect manipulating tactic (up there with compassion and generosity): cupcakes that can and will kill. I am yet to meet someone who'll say no to cupcakes. I am also yet to meet a person who will turn down a box of cupcakes lovingly baked and boxed for his/her consumption. Cupcakes are the new red roses, I swear. Also, it's deceptive. Was it thoughtfully sent because you are liked or was it given to you so you can destroy your waistline with your own volition? Tricky, tricky. 

No, seriously, this is just a pseudo-process post of a small baking session I gave in to because I had nothing better to do (actually, I did but in typical fashion, I didn't want to do it so I baked instead). Warning: Too much chocolate is bad for asthmatics. Believe me, I know. Let's begin. 

The first step is to gather the chocolates you have lying around at home. Typically, I use chocolates that I don't like eating on their own. An example of chocolates you devour in its purest: Royce' Nama Chocolate with Cherry Marnier, an assortment of Lindt Lindor truffles and Patchi chocolates from Beirut. Chocolates you use for baking projects: Please see picture above. It's a simple analogy, really: If you're going to do crack, do grade A crack. Oh my God, I don't know why I'm writing these things down.

Next, pick out the basics. These are chocolates that do not have nuts or rice krispies in them. I have a fondness for dark chocolates so the majority of chocolate blocks in my cupcakes are dark. Special dark, actually. Mildly sweet, they have the flavor and consistency of baking chocolate. 

Then, you have to strip the chocolates off their wrapping paper. That sounds so dramatic but whatever. The fun part is that you have to take a knife and chop these beautiful morsels into even tinier pieces. Delightful, really. This is the highlight of the whole baking process, if I may say so myself. 

Chopped chocolates deserve three gold stars! My papa used to tell me that the stars and moon follow me around because I'm a very good little girl, and that they will stop following me if I misbehave. When I started getting stars in school, I immediately thought I must be very, very good to get so many stars around me. Thus, the birth of my inflated ego. That is a totally unrelated note but whenever I cook or bake, I get a tad nostalgic and I remember my father. I remember the disapproving look on his face which lasts up until he eats whatever it is I just made. :)  Oh-kay, moving on...

The next parts are the boring parts of the baking process. Of course, you have to dump all your cupcake ingredients in a bowl and beat them with an electric mixer. A lot of bakers have a beat this, beat that first, incorporate crap one by one into crap (LOL, JK. The eggs into the batter, not crap) kind of rule but I don't do that. I just dump mine in the bowl. (The recipe for my butter cupcakes is at the bottom part of this entry, right under the cut)

Next, you have to beat your mixture until it's smooth (make sure the lumps go away). I'm not sure if this is a legitimate baking tip but I like to aerate my batter so that my cupcakes come out light and fluffy. By aerate, I just mean incorporating a bit of air into the batter. (This is easier if you use a handheld electric mixer, which I do) At the end of mixing, the batter should be thick and rich.

The baking process gets better once you have to marry the chocolate bits into the batter. Oh, it is just lush, mixing the tiny bits of dark chocolate into a creamy, rich batter and then folding it over and over to ensure that the chocolates are, er, well-distributed.

This is what it looks like when you're done mixing. Strong-willed people are able to keep their fingers off the sides of the bowl. I have to say, I am not one of those people and although it probably puts me at risk for salmonella poisoning, I will keep tasting the batter for as long as I'm baking. The little things, people. Enjoy it. 

Next, you have to line your muffin pan with paper cups. I use two for each cupcake because my cups are on the cheap side (read: thin) These are not butter cupcakes you see in the picture but we need an example. I used a photo from when I baked chocolate cupcakes for my sister's end of exams celebration (Any excuse to eat, no?). By the way, it's more practical if you use an ice cream scoop to fill your pans. The cupcakes cook evenly that way.

See how Max from 2 Broke Girls does it? I'd like to think I bake like her but then she's from Brooklyn and  I'm a broke girl from the Third World. Also, she has a killer rack and I just walk along the lines of killer whale. By the way, this show is so good. It's even better than New Girl. It will also leave you craving for cupcakes and/or a chance to punch hipsters in the face.

The cupcakes go into a preheated 325F oven for exactly 20 minutes. My oven is a little wonky so I check every ten minutes and turn the sides of my baking pans for even cooking. When done, your butter cupcakes should be a nice golden brown. 

The cupcakes should taste fine on their own. The best part is when you bite into the cupcake and you taste the buttery cake and the bits of dark chocolate all at once. Eeez fantastic.  

The last part is leaving the cupcakes to cool on a rack but since I'm a lazy ass, I just leave them on a big plate to set. Of course, my sister had to talk me into making a small bowl of marshmallow icing for her own set of cupcakes (I gave her six). I don't pipe icing very well so I just use a spoon. 

When in doubt, add marshmallow icing! Personally, I think my butter cupcakes taste better without frosting. For me, they're best paired with coffee. ♥ 

There you have it, 24 pieces of cupcakes and an asthma attack waiting to happen. :) Butter cupcake recipe, as promised, is under the cut!