I’m attracted to small pots, little stovetop receptacles that I can use to whip up a morning serving of hot chocolate, brew some chai, or cook an individual serving of spaghetti. I use my larger pots to make a batch of toffee or caramel sauce, though they’re still small compared to kitchen standards. My largest pot, which I use to cook the occasional stew or fabada, was given to me, and it’s the least used pot among the lot. My attraction to little pots stems from the fact that I have a small family: it’s just me, Boo, and my Bin. And most of my meals at home, at least on the weekdays, are taken solo. So I don’t really need large pots, although I confess to having fantasies about buying those colossal stock pots that restaurants use: I dream about making caramel sauce in them and then crawling in to luxuriate in it. This predilection for the puny progresses when I chance upon these two little pots. Too cute for words, they’re made for two or three-cup amounts. ...

index of all gifts l-r: tsokolate cake, caramel chocolate cake, caramel espresso crunch I guess if I wanted to be traditional, I could title this the “12 Best” instead of the “10 Best.” But 10 is always a good round number when doing lists – and we all have 10 fingers besides – much easier to cross names off sans paper and pen. When coming up with this list, I thought long and hard about what I’d love to receive for Christmas. Obviously, it couldn’t be just all desserts, though I of all people certainly wouldn’t mind – but variety is key and I myself would love to receive any, heck all of these gifts come December 25. So here then are my 10 chosen gifts that I’d give to the food lovers on my list this year. I did a lot of shopping, browsing, and tasting to find these items. I didn’t settle for just anything, since that would be totally missing the point of giving, wouldn’t you agree? ~~~ Taza Platito stands for cup and saucer, and the memorably delicious conversation that arises over coffee and ...

Provence is romanticized in the book series “A Year in Provence” by Peter Mayle. His vivid descriptions capture a region of turquoise skies, a blue sea, and the freshest of ingredients. It tells tales of a people who look to the land, its seasons, and its past for edible inspiration. The trinity of Provence’s cuisine consists of olives, wheat, and wine; it also boasts of prodigious amounts of olive oil and garlic. The people’s love for seafood is attributed to the Mediterranean that stretches just to its south. In a small space just off to the side of Shangri-la Mall’s second floor sits a place that takes me away to Provence. Aptly named Café Provençal, in terms of restaurant years, it’s old, having been around some seven plus years. A whisper of its former self when it spanned two floors and was situated right above Dreyer’s Ice Cream, it’s now a single level of coziness and wrought-iron chairs embraced in hues of butter-yellow. There are tables good for solitary diners, when one isn’t in the mood to socialize, just as there are larger tables set up for groups. The waiters sport ...

press photo press photo Yes, it’s really FAB for fabulous, Holiday Inn Galleria Manila’s newest restaurant. In a city where every hotel boasts their own theater kitchen – think HEAT or 7 Corners -- FAB strikes out with its own concept: unlimited appetizer and dessert buffet accompanied by an a la carte menu from which I choose my main course. press photo Unlike any other a la carte menu, I can choose from different kinds of meats: imported steaks from the US, racks of lamb and lamb chops straight from the rotisserie, grilled chicken, spareribs, fillets of salmon, sea bass, cod, and red snapper (maya-maya). Of course the beauty in a meal set-up such as this one is the ability to choose: surf and turf platters are available, combining the beauty of earth and sea; or skewered meats for that more rustic kebab experience. I also get to choose how I want my main course cooked -- ...

I have to pinch myself: today I’m given two dozen Krispy Kreme doughnuts to enjoy. With the imminent opening of the very first Krispy Kreme store in Manila on November 30, free samples of these precious rings of dough have become a hot, hot, HOT commodity. While I don’t plan on joining the manic crowd that will camp out at the City Center in Taguig the night before the big day, I’m just as giddy as everyone else that Krispy Kreme is finally here. YAY! Now, I am by nature, greedy when it comes to food. And having doughnuts around is making me nervous. I have absolutely no doubt that I can inhale all 24 of them if given a chance, I kid you not. But I just don’t want to have to suffer for it at the gym tomorrow. Luckily, my sister Tricia chooses that exact minute to waltz into my house, as if obeying the siren song of Krispy Kreme. She flips open a box and grabs a ...

me and Robyn at Ladurée I live vicariously through Robyn’s blog, The Girl Who Ate Everything. She’s a New York-based food blogger whose blog I love because it has all these obscenely drool-inducing photos of desserts, and close-up at that! Robyn writes with flair and a lot of humor: she calls sandwiches “sammiches,” and the inner crumb of any baked goods, “innards.” To say that Robyn and I met online implies some kind of creepy, this-will-lead-to-no-good friendship, but after communicating with her for over a year via email, I really feel like I’ve known her for a long time. Such is the connection of two people drawn together by food. When I read that she was going to Paris for a semester as part of her undergraduate degree, I felt that we were meant to meet since I was going to Paris too! (How cool is that!) After a flurry of emails and fumbling text messages on Robyn’s part (she admits she’s not adept at texting), we finally meet up in Paris one evening. She’s waiting for me at the Métro station near Rue Cler, her back is turned, and ...

I guess it was bound to happen sooner or later, but I didn't expect it to happen at the same time. My camera, my trusty Canon Powershot G2, has broken down, and so has my computer. (!) I imagine that taking 1000+ photos during my trips to Bangkok, Singapore, the Netherlands, and France has taken its toll on my little point and shoot. Either that, or it has indigestion. My computer on the other hand, wasn't working up to par so it's getting some down time too. With both my camera AND my computer out to lunch (aka getting repaired), I can't exactly say when I'll be posting again, sometime this week, I hope. I'll be back, and just in case you're wondering, no, this isn't a case of "death by dessert." (wink).

list of Paris posts Léon, best mussels in Paris Don’t bother going to France if you’re not interested in food. Period. The French don’t respect people who deny themselves pleasure (especially of the edible kind -- amen to that!) and despite what they might tell the world, they take food even more seriously than sex (or so I’ve read). For the French, a meal is an artistic and sensual delight, something to be savored and enjoyed with finesse. They even have a beautiful word for it: gourmandize -- a healthily sensual desire for the taste and texture of food. And just in case you’re wondering, French women do get fat; I see quite a few. But the French get fat more slowly because they just aren’t interested in eating processed junk all the time. They’ve got too much selection. A lunch in France takes 2 hours, and coffee alone takes 20 minutes. Ah, to live to eat. I think when I die, I’d like to come back as a French woman. Anyway. My eating in Paris isn’t all about little tastings here, and take away snacks there. I ...