California Crunch Cassava Chips: Healthy Alternative to Potato Chips

It may sound weird that I am starting this post by telling that I love potato chips. Potato chips rule the world in terms of food snacks, well at least for me. Truth be told, I cannot live without it. Yet, a bagful of extreme indulgence to such would always send me into a mental sparring with an imaginary cardiologist named Dr. Guilt. It isn't always a good experience, I tell you.

Good thing that someone introduced me to a healthy alternative to my well loved potato chips, California Crunch Cassava Chips. While it is made out of cassava, in terms of taste, it is by far the best substitute for the usual potato chips we all grew up with.   

I have been impressed with how well cassava (Kamoteng Kahoy) fairs well as an ingredient for some of the best local desserts we all loved.  Now, I am equally impressed that it is now used as a healthy snack with benefits to boot.

Chef Gene Gonzales Partners with Cookworks and Maxim

Last July 27, renowned celebrity chef Gene Gonzales has once again sealed the deal for continued partnership with Cookworks and Maxim through a contract signing held at Café Ysabel in San Juan City.  The event was further highlighted with Chef Gene’s cooking demo using his trusted cookware brands and a festive lunch.

The force behind Café Ysabel and The Center for Asian Culinary Studies (CACS), Chef Gene was in constant search for a perfect cookware that is at par with the one he used during his culinary stint in France and Italy. During the time when Chef Gene together with his junior protégés Chef Gino (Café Ysabel executive chef & CACS head instructor) and Chef Giannina (resident food stylist and CACS school administrator) was mapping out the fate of their new restaurant, Buenisimo, they discovered the two cookware brand which finally met Chef Gene’s standards in terms of reliable cookware.

Pepper Lunch with The Breakfast Club

I have heard about Pepper Lunch hailing from the Land of the Rising Sun from friends who had traveled and eaten in Japan way back even before it was brought here in the Philippines.  While the food, they said were crave-worthy, it was the cooking of your chosen dish that can make the experience quite a ride.  I made a mental note about Pepper Lunch when I was contemplating on traveling to Japan but as luck would have it, it was brought here in the country way before I managed to save up for a plane ticket.

A while back, I had these episodes when Pepper Lunch cravings wouldn’t let up that I made several trips to Pepper Lunch in Shangri La alone just to appease my cravings.  The distinct flavor of their pepper rice and the sizzling thin slices of teriyaki beef mixed together with the bright wobbly egg was my default fare.  Loyalty to the dish got the better off me that the only dish I tried aside from Teriyaki Beef Pepper Rice with Egg was the Rib Eye Steak.  What a bore, I know.

Good thing though that our friends at Breakfast Magazine invited several food bloggers at Pepper Lunch through their Breakfast Club to learn something about this restaurant and to sample some of their dishes.  This gave a chance to reacquaint with an old favorite and to check on what I have been missing all these years.

Seattle's Best Coffee: Heavenly Cheesecake and Red Velvet Drinks

Seattle's Best Coffee Philippines recently launched its new line of seasonal drinks which aims to give delight to their customer this rainy season - SBC Heavenly Cheesecake and SBC Red Velvet drinks.  Despite the gloomy weather we have been experiencing this season, Seattle's Best Coffee believes that these dessert inspired drinks can surely brighten up a day.

Given the fact that most Filipino considered dessert as their comfort food, Seattle's Best Coffee took the initiative in transforming two of the well-loved desserts into delightful drinks that everyone will love.

 

During the launching, we were given a chance to sample these new creations and were asked to find the one that suits us best. Want to know which of the two drinks my palate favored? I suggest you stay with me on this and read on.

Go Mad For Chicken at Clucky's in Rockwell Business Center Ortigas

Tucked in a posh and restaurant laden Rockwell Business Center in Ortigas Ave. Pasig City, a new player in the field of Korean fried chicken is slowly but surely making its name known to foodies out there.  Aptly called Clucky’s, a fast-serve restaurant specializing in twice-fried chicken boast of a special sauce hailing from the genius folks at the celebrated Mad For Chicken in New York.

Amidst the craze that is Korean fried chicken, Clucky’s in Rockwell Ortigas is set to serve Filipino palates with their impressive and affordable line of offerings. With focus on the freshness of the chicken and other ingredients used, their dishes are meant to be savored without feeling guilty and burning a hole in one’s pocket.

Fresh chicken coupled with tried and tested Mad For Chicken’s special sauce, Clucky’s version can be tagged as several leagues better than their competitors.  I may be one of those who at first deem that they are yet another addition to Korean fried chicken places in town, but upon trying what Clucky’s can offer, I must say that yes, my mom and I have gone mad for their chicken and more!