Some Good Duru Bulgur from The Goodwill Market

Going to the market is a little arduous these days but I had to do it during the most difficult times in our lives, the pandemic. One of the few discoveries I've had during that time was a welcome treat, it's called Bulgur. It is cracked wheat grain that's known to be more nutritious than white rice. It's got twice more fiber content which makes it also better for diabetics (like me) who want to control our blood sugar levels.

I've had the chance to eat this quite a lot in hotels but it wasn't that conveniently available in Philippine markets. I also don't know how to cook it other than just mixing veggies and protein (and a bouillon cube on some occasion). It's very filling and satisfying, plus it tastes great. I was wondering what other recipes could be cooked with it, but here goes the good people from The Goodwill Market showing me how it's done. 

In Ilocos, there's a very little known noodle dish called Pansit Lusay. I'm quite familiar with it as I've spend quite a while in the region. The Goodwill Market is sharing this recipe with Bulgur to show how easy it is to make dishes out of it.

 Here are the ingredients:

1 cup of Duru Bulgur (Coarse Bulgur)
½ cup of tomatoes chopeed and seeds taken out
½ cup of onions thinly sliced
1 can Tuna
2-4 tbsp Bagoong Ilocano
Pinch of Black pepper
Salt to taste

Put Duru Bulgur in a rice cooker and wash it first. Cook til it gets fluffy or according to package instructions. Take it out of cooker and scrape with fork onto a tray then put in the fridge to chill. In another container, put tomatoes and onions together, drain the tuna from the can and mix together. Combine it with the Bulgur and treat this like a cold salad. Pour Bagoong Ilocano, salt and pepper to taste. 

This is certainly full of vitamins, minerals, Omega 3, and is an excellent alternative to rice, noodles or pasta. Think about the things you could do with this in soups, salads, Filipino or international dishes that would usually include rice or noodles, using Duru Bulgur was really an eye opener for me and it's been something that I add to any dish if I want to make it a little more healthy. Plus even if you put a little, it's already filling. Plus it can be sent to your home via The Goodwill Market. You can visit their website at https://goodwill.market/. They also have different healthy organic products you should try if you're into healthy stuff. They also have cleaning products, some for the skin, even coffee for those who are choosy. You don't have to travel to other countries to get it, it's all at The Goodwill Market.

 Don't take my word for it, you got to try if it fits your taste!

 

MFT's SALADSTOP! Ventures Into Spanish Market

Have you ever wondered why there are thousands upon thousands of brands around the world that are here in the Philippines but not quite a lot of our own venturing into other countries? That's depressing to know huh? Have you guys seen Saladstop!? I've had the privilege of seeing and experiencing it over at San Juan but they're pretty much everywhere as they have outlets in Makati and Bonifacio Global City. The brand originated in Singapore and is now present in other countries too like Japan and Indonesia.  

Albeit not being that into salad, I tried out several of their best sellers. The Vegetarian Bowl I had is called IRON WO MAN and is comprised of fresh Spinach, salty and creamy feta cheese, roasted pumpkin, sweet and tangy raisins, nutty toasted almonds, in a tangy Raspberry Vinaigrette.

This one is one of their signature wraps. It's got romaine lettuce, grilled chicken, creamy avocado, green apple, celery, grapes in a Ranch dressing. Pretty good and very filling.

This is Fried Kale, it's very nutty and fresh.

The MFT group Joan of Regional Marketing Head says "We were established in 2009 and is one of the world's leading nutrition brand. It is the first time that we are taking this out of the country, to Spain in particularly. Our brand puts holistic customer experience to the forefront because we want this to be an experience for them. The founders are vegetarian and we are sharing the values for the brand. 12 Signature wraps, 4 tortilla wraps, our dressings are home made and fresh made everyday. We source our food locally so for the Spanish branches we maintain a good relationship with the farmers and suppliers. We want people to eat wide awake, in September we are putting this movement in Spain and we are so happy about that."

Paul Paraeda who's handling their operations in Spain and Portugal says "We are moving to these countries in a few months and why not. It's a good place to start for a Philippine business to venture out into the EU. We will have more as soon."

MFT Group CEO Maria Francesca “Mica” Tan adds "MFT is a diversified holding company. We are not limited in regions, involved in 22 subsidiaries under our wing including medical equipment, petroleum, and now SaladStop! in Spain. Barcelona has 5 million people and is an emerging area. There is a very diversified economical structure home to 90% of investments in Spain. Hopefully we would be doing it in the whole of Europe later on. We are not just tied with food, they are also looking for something healthy and this is evident in food clusters in Spain. MFT group is confident about this franchise in Europe and we are present in 6 countries, we love emerging markets. We want SALADSTOP! to be our flagship food product. In SaladStop Spain we have our own suppliers and farmers so it will be a level up as Spain and there is a big demand for what we are offering. The carrier of the food is the sauces, the freshness is still with the farmers that we have locally and you'll only get the best produce."

This is very promising and I can't wait to see how they (being a Filipino owned company) would grow BIG in the European region.

KUMAGCOW
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Pizza, Pasta, Salads at Project Pie BGC

Guess who just opened up shop at 7th Avenue in BGC, it's Project Pie baby! The store's design has been spruced up, a little far from the former fully industrial look they had in other stores, which they also plan to implement in the near future. The difference is much of the added decor, a little scribble here and there, some pastel colors, lighting, pillows, instagrammable spots and a few bunk chairs and tables for groups of three or four. 

I guess they might have had a millenial inspiration and felt updating the place is vital so people could appreciate spending a little time there and appreciate not just the food, but connect with the ambiance.

Now that's not the only thing that has changed because along with the customized yummy PIZZA, you can now Build Your Own SALAD and PASTA too! They give you a form and a ball point pen so you could choose the ingredients to start building your perfect Pizza, Pasta or Salad and you know what I did? I chose them all!

You will be assisted by the kind pizza guy and no he's not included. They've got a selection of vegetables, proteins, sauces and crust. If you're not in the mood, just tell them and they could suggest too. 

For the drinks, you can have them all UNLIMITED for only 69 pesos and choose between the usual sodas, pineapple juice or iced teas. If you want booze, they also have local and importd beers but it's sold per bottle. You'll save a lot if you get the former.

Then you just have to wait on your table while they bake it in the brick oven. In the meantime, grab another form and start building your own Salad. I wanted a LOT of protein in mine so I've got sausages, pepperoni, tons of different cheeses and peppery arugula leaves. It was drizzled with Raspberry Vinaigrette and voila! My own salad masterpiece!

They also have a section of their kitchen where you can ask them to whip your favorite Pasta. I prefer either cream or pesto sauce on mine but you can always get the usual spaghetti and meatballs as it's still a hit for kids and adults who enjoy marinara sauce. 

I went there the next day to try it is was so good, albeit a little mix up in the orders they apologized but I completely understood. I'm going back there anyway! Now there's no reason to be sad when you're in one of their stores. Grab a slice, a fork and enjoy more at Project Pie today!

KUMAGCOW

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Healthy Mediterranean Choices at Shakey's

The Philippines is about to turn healthy this decade and restaurants should definitely think of adding choices to their menu. Good thing Shakey's is doing that with the recent addition of several meals that weight watchers and health freaks would gladly celebrate about. Imagine, there's no meat in these dishes and it's pretty cool that it would also coincide before the holy week too. The one above is their Mediterranean Tuna Pasta. It's got greens, tomatoes, bell peppers, olives and chunks of lovely healthy tuna on top of imported feta cheese. It's not only healthy, but really guilt free, because I said so LOL!

This one's their Grilled Vegetable Pizza. It's got Caramelized Onions, garlic, Zucchini, roasted eggplant and peppers. Yes, you're hearing that right, it doesn't have meat at all. They also have the Greek Salad that's got lettuce, peppers, tomatoes, olives, salami, feta cheese, every thing fresh meant for your table. Now more than ever, Shakey's is bringing all these flavors if you dine in, take out or have it delivered into your homes too. It's not that expensive either so if you would like it light but filling, you would definitely have choices in their store.

The Mediterranean Tuna pasta costs Php195 while the others are only Php 220. Make sure you visit them today in all Shakey's branches nationwide! Don't add salt unless you see the need to. It's time for a Shakey's!

KUMAGCOW

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Ruth's Birthday and the Clara Ole Wizardry Event

Sectumsempra! (Me as Professor Severus Snape)

A few months ago, we got invited to Ruth's birthday. She's a good friend and part of our rowdy bunch called The Suspects. The premise was, we needed to dress up as the theme required Harry Potter. I was a little overly excited because I only thought of dressing up as one of the characters in the series. I have this affinity to be a little evil every now and then and I remembered how some people even teased me that I look like Professor Snape a couple of years ago. The actor Alan Rickman who played his role just recently passed away so I wasn't really feeling it, but in some way I had to do it to pay homage to the man who portrayed Severus Snape. Now I wasn't really alone suiting up as a Harry Potter character because there were others who dressed up as Harry, Hermione, Dobby and others. Fortunately, I had a Mom who slaved about 3 days with no sleep to make my costume a bit realistic so she won this one for me. She got a brand new induction cooker, pots, pans, utensils and tons of Clara Ole products in return. Love you Mom!

The party was also sponsored by the good people from Clara Ole. I've attended one of their events last year and this was a bit magical. The food they prepared had a LOT of Clara Ole products on them which had sauces, syrups, fruit preserves and tons of other products from them that made the task of preparing this EASY. Just use the usual ingredients, take dabs of the Fruity or Maple Syrup and make the easy beef slice horderves. For pasta, just use the usual ingredients but make the base with the Three Cheese Sauce so you don't have to make it from scratch. Now people might think it would be better with natural ingredients but if you think about it, the Clara Ole sauce was at par. You don't need to spend hours chopping tomatoes, grating cheese or simmering and use precious gas to have it this good. Sad that we weren't able to take photos of the food that much because people were so excited to eat them as soon as the doors opened!

We also played games during the event where several teams won goodies from Ruth and Clara Ole. I love that the place was transformed to the mess hall we often see in Harry Potter movies. Ravenclaw, Hufflepuff, Slytherin and Gryffindor would be proud. We also got Nimbus 2000 packs to take home so we could experience having the same Clara Ole magic in our kitchens too.

In the end, I was so happy for Ruth that she got to celebrate her birthday with friends, family and us the bloggers. We had fun too, that's what is important for her, and it was just super easy because we had Clara Ole on the side to make it a hassle free celebration. With a flick of the wrist, the swish of the wand, everything was magical and happy because we've seen ourselves transported to Hogwarts even for a day.

Team Suspects

Thank you Ruth for having us, thank you also to Clara Ole for a magical evening!

Photo Credits: All photos in this post belong to Rodel Flordeliz of Nognoginthecity.com and not mine. I had to be in character and didn't get to take photos :(

For more information about their products:

Clara Ole Philippines

Like them on Facebook


Visit their official website

http://www.claraole.com/

Take a Second Look at Racks

Racks Timog Avenue Branch (photo from Racks literature taken by my phone)

It's been a while since I visited Racks. The last time was with an event we had with a convenience store, and even then the food was awesome. A few days ago, we got word that they opened one of their newest branches over at Timog Avenue in Quezon City. I was thinking of the "all white" interior they had the last time... but it looks Racks has got a new look. Too bad I didn't get the chance to shoot the facade because I was rushing to another event, but I'm so glad we stayed for what seems to be the star of their new restaurant. Oh yes, they've got some of the best American country dishes. After all, RACKS stand for Real American Country Kitchen Style. I bet a lot of you didn't know that... but here's the thing, you'll have to agree with me if I say RACKS has got the Best Ribs in Town!

Onion Brick

This is their Onion Brick. I've seen these in US food shows, but I've never seen one in the Philippines, so for me this is a first. The verdict? Very good. The thing still tastes like onion, and the batter isn't that overwhelming. It's not like you're eating breading on each bite since the batter is nice and thin. They put just enough to keep it crispy. The brick is more like a basket because they probably had it on a fryer just like in the US. Would I order this if I go back there? Definitely.

Salad with Blackened Chicken Strips

The second one's pretty good too. This is Racks Salad with Blackened Chicken Strips. The fresh Caesar Salad is done quite remarkably although I have reservations with the chicken strips. The one that was served to us was coated with cajun spice (a thing that I use in the kitchen quite often because my family has a ton sent from Canada) but I felt that time it was slightly, no overly burnt. I suggested to have it lightly fried until brown because honestly, the burnt taste was overwhelming. Searing is okay but burning is another thing. It was kinda off, still, the salad was good. 

US Ribeye Steak

The presence of a US Ribeye Steak in Racks just made me wonder. How can a piece of meat this good be in Racks? Well my questions got answered. It's fate. However, the meat that was served to us that afternoon was already a bit cold which was probably because they prepared it ahead of time. I must say, you should only have this steak as soon as they take it out of the grill... and into your plate. Having it cold made me realize the necessity of prime meat to be eaten at the right time. It was still tender though, and the seasoned butter on top was delicious. I would order this on a date, or a regular manly meal because for the price, it's still worth it. If you see the price of this grade of steak in other establishments, you'll compare their rates quite fair. I would order this on a good day.

Racks Signature Baby Back Ribs

Piece de resistance? Of course it's the Baby Back Ribs! Racks has truly perfected the art of making this since they opened. They've impressed me of course and I think they're going to be the bar to measure the authenticity or goodness of ribs. It's really that good. They make it the ol American Country way so if you've dreamed of having the best ribs, sweet and savory, plus the thing just falls off the bones.. tender... mouthwatering meat when you see it on your plate. Just hold that thought, and take a good look at these bottles that will take you to heaven!

Racks Original Barbecue Sauce Regular and Extra Hot!

They make a mean barbecue sauce (available in Regular and Extra Hot!) to go with those ribs. I even thought they were holding back with the spicy version, but I'm glad I ate a ton of ribs with that smothered over it... it literally made me cry.. I was so glad, it was like the perfect way to have my taste of Baby Back Ribs. You should never let this experience pass and take your family, your friends and everybody else to a Racks branch near you. The Timog Avenue branch between Scout Tuazon and Scout Tobias was quite lovely though, I suggest you go there to experience the best ribs in town bar none! 

For more information about their restaurant:

Racks

Like them on Facebook


Visit their official website

http://www.racks.ph/