Calm after the storm

 Tropical storm Ofel is now out of the country, thank God, and the sun has made its presence palpable, casting a golden glow and spreading its warmth. Just yesterday and especially the other night, incessant rains sent my heart aflutter over the possibility of another flood-inside-the-house incident. But today, to my glee, it's sunny and warm again.. no, hot! And what is there better to eat than ice cream to cool down from the midday heat? And as my "son-in-law" (well, my daughter and her beau are not married yet but seriously together) had just celebrated his birthday, I had no qualms about hauling our asses off to the nearest ice cream store, the... well, Ice Cream Store. :-)  

The Ice Cream Store has several branches around Metro Manila, some of which that I've seen and visited are on Visayas Ave., near Anonas St. and in Fairview, all in Quezon City.  They sell a wide variety of cool treats such as ice drops, ice buko, pinipig crunch, ice cream sandwich and ice cream on tubs. If you want to eat in the store, you can choose from their specialty ice cream desserts. If you're hungry and want something to fill you up before indulging in ice cream, there's pizza, hotdog sandwich and siopao, too. Choices are many, don't you worry. What's astounding, however, are the prices in which they come. Very affordable! Very yummy too!

Oreo Flurry, P65.

Tiramisu, P65.

Halo-Halo, P55.

Cappuccino Blast, P50.

Chocolate Sundae, P30.

Ham and Cheese Pizza, P35.

Turning Japanese

 I used to be at the Sidcor market every Sunday to buy our organic vegetables plus many other food items but since I found a cheaper source of these veggies at the Quezon City Memorial Circle, I now go to Centris only once in a while (once a month, or once in two months). Recently,  I visited Sidcor partly because I craved for kesong puti, salted eggs (the undyed ones) and pork liver barbecue, and partly because I wanted to try out Ramen X. I was with an appropriate companion - my daughter who loved anything Japanese. And so after doing the rounds of the stalls at the busy Sunday market and buying what we needed and liked, we proceeded to Ramen X. After a few minutes of contemplation, we ordered Spicy Chikuwa Ramen (for me) and X Ramen (for my daughter). For drinks, we had their Apple Soda and Yogurt Soda. Our first reaction when our orders were served were surprise at how big the bowls were! We were overwhelmed by their size and I almost felt full even before eating! But I was excited to taste the soup after having read a few blogs about it so dig into my bowl I did at once and finally sipped the written-about broth. Mmmm..I liked the spiciness of it but honestly wanted a bit more kick. The seafood flavor was not heavy - straightforward and devoid of complexities. The seafood rolls, which I suspected were made from squid, were fun to eat. Sorry, I can't think of a better way to describe it. :-) They looked funny to me, that's why, as they smacked of a choker that might as well grace a fashionista's neck. Haha! Well, that said, the Spicy Chikuwa Ramen was to my liking. I sampled my daughter's order too and I was a little taken aback - it tasted so familiar, so Pinoy! I almost thought I was eating Chicken Mami, not Japanese noodles. I liked, however, that it had a strong garlicky taste. Yes, lots of fried garlic bits floated on top of the soup. As for our drinks, I liked the Yogurt Soda better than the Apple Soda as it tasted quite unique while the other was predictable - I knew how it tasted even before actually taking a sip. But even though I liked my order, I was only able to eat barely half of it as I was still full from my tinapa and fried rice breakfast. And frankly, I wanted to eat my barbecued liver already so I asked from the server at the counter for a saucer to put my vinegar in. And then, without any inhibition, I attacked my barbecue while my daughter finished her ramen.  I knew that the servers at Ramen X were not exactly happy to see me eating something I bought outside inside, and I was glad not to receive any chiding. Haha! As I finished, I asked that my left-over ramen be packed for taking out and so I still had spicy ramen to enjoy at home come merienda time.

  

Ramen X at Eton Centris, Edsa corner Quezon Ave. in Quezon City.

Benches as wide as tables.

Very contemporary wall art. Very Japanese too.

The X Ramen (P189.) surprisingly tastes so Pinoy.

Spicy Chikuwa Ramen (149.)

Apple Soda, P49.

Yogurt Soda, P49.