Mida Food Turns 20 + Dishes I Made with Pacific Bay Seafood

Last June, Mida Food Distributors celebrated its 20th year anniversary with a Feast of the Pacific at The Tent at Enderun. Mida Food Distributors is the leader in the Philippine seafood industry. Together with its sister company, Mida Trade Ventures, they offer the largest seafood selection in the Philippines! They also offer retail seafood specialty items under the brand, Pacific Bay Seafood, which I will tell you more about later and what I cooked.

Mida Food Distributors treated its guests with dishes specially made by our country's top chefs: Chef Miguel Vecin, Chef Roland Laudico, Chef Jonas Ng and Chef Margarita Fores.

 One of appetizers served was this baked oyster. I love oysters and this was good!

This was what Chef Margarita Fores prepared: Barramudi, Orange-fennel Confit, Black Olive Soil and Carabao Butter.

Chef Miguel Vecin made Pulpo A La Gallega which is composed of Pulpo with Potato Foam, 

Jamon Serrano Crumbs, Pimenton Powder.

This was my favorite. Chef Roland Laudico's Hamachi Kinilaw which has Hamachi, Coca-cola Espuma, Candied Ginger, Spicy Capsicum Puree

 Another favorite was Chef Jonas Ng's Prawn Pomelo And Crab Salad which has Prawn Crab, Pomelo, Peanut, Toasted Rice, Coconut Milk Cilantro Salad.

Love how everything was so fresh and hearing stories from the chefs prove that Mida Food Distributors is a trusted company by professionals! Congrats again on your 20th, Mida Food!

Pacific Bay Seafood sent over a bunch of frozen seafood to my house a day after the event. Pacific Bay offers freshly-packed seafood items like peeled & deveined shrimp, tuna belly, tuna steaks, scallop meat, salmon steaks, whole clams, crabstick, and cream dory fillet, as well as Atlantic cod portions, bacalao loins, Chilean seabass, softshell crab, Gindara steaks and halibut fillet and steaks.

I don't really cook with seafood (other than fish that I am familiar with, shrimps and tahong) that often because I'm afraid I'll ruin a dish or make palpak but I was up for the challenge! They sent shrimps, mussels, bacalao, scallops and soft shell crabs and here's what I whipped up. I did not cook this all in one night ha.

Baked Bacalao

This was my first time to cook with bacalao. It's a lightly salted fish. I've never baked a fish as well so I looked for a recipe on the internet and this was what I came up with it the available ingredients I have. I mixed lemon, olive oil, pepper, cayenne pepper and paprika then put it over the fish then popped it to the oven. I think I overcooked it but otherwise, it wasn't bad. Haha! Ate it with rice and stir-fried upo.

Gambas

This was my second time to cook gambas. The first time was maybe 9 years ago. Haha! Gambas is easy to cook. You just need lots and lots of garlic, paprika and lemon. I am really impressed at how plump the shrimps were considering they were frozen. It's peeled and deveined as well so it made my life so much easier!

 Green Mussels or Tahong

I cooked the mussels two way. Half of it I made it into soup and the other half I baked it. The soup came out just okay. I think the frozen is not meant for making it into soup.

While the Baked Cheesy Tahong was a winner! It was also my first time to bake mussels. I mostly make soup but I will definitely make this again. It was really good!

 Soft Shell Crab

Another first too! I just dredged it in egg and flour and deep fried it.

 Scallops

For the scallops, I bought steak to go with it. I just sauteed the scallops with lots of butter. It came out yummy and so perfect with the steak.

I probably winged 3 out of 6 dishes and I was so happy and impressed with what I made. A challenge to my cooking skills! I was always scared to buy frozen seafood because I'm not sure how it would taste vs fresh seafood but after cooking all the dishes above, now I know what brand to buy! Pacific Bay is available at any leading supermarket nationwide.

Facebook: Pacific Bay Seafood

Instagram: @pacificbayseafood

A Taste of Toast Manila

On the look out for a new restaurant to try this weekend? Why not try out Toast Manila in San Juan! Two weeks ago, I had breakfast and lunch at Toast Manila (on separate days ha! Haha!) and I went home with a happy tummy.

Breakfast is my favorite meal of the day! I am a morning person and I can't get through the day without a decent meal and coffee in the morning. I think it's the only time of the day that moms enjoy because the kids are in school. I have been spending my mornings attending pilates classes, working in coffee shop or having breakfast with my mommy friends. And the recent one was at Toast Manila!

Spot the mommas! Guess who? :) I like that Toast Manila opens early. They're open from 8AM - 9PM on Tuesday - Friday, 7AM - 9PM on Saturday - Sunday and they're CLOSED on Mondays. They're located at 135 Hoover Street corner Argonne Street, Brgy. Addition Hills,

San Juan.

Easy Roast Beef Steak Sandwich With Lady's Choice Roast Beef Spread

I say this again and again: this momma loves quick and easy meals and one of the easiest meal to prepare is a sandwich and my current favorite spread to go with my sandwich is Lady's Choice Roast Beef Spread. My kids naman like the Chicken BBQ Spread naman and I blogged about their favorite combo here. There's actually so many ways you can enjoy Lady's Choice Roast Beef and Chicken BBQ Spread. And I am sharing with you this Easy Roast Beef Steak Sandwich that I made the other day as my lunch.

Easy Roast Beef Steak Sandwich

Preparation Time: 10 minutes

Cooking Time: 10 minutes

Serves 2

Simple Sandwich Recipes With The New Lady's Choice Roast Beef and Chicken BBQ Spreads!

Preparing anything in the kitchen takes me a lot of time, that's why I like quick, easy, and simple recipes and meals! Lately, I've been running out of ideas for Y and R's baon and breakfast. We always eat in the car on the way to school (it's not ideal but I like to leave early because I don't want to get stuck in traffic!) and I often prepare sandwiches or anything that's easy hold and not messy. I'm so happy to discover and share to you Lady's Choice new meaty and delicious spreads, the Roast Beef Spread and Chicken BBQ Spread!

The two new variants are both creamy with real bits of chicken and beef. The Chicken BBQ Spread has a smoky and savoury flavor while the Roast Beef Spread has a sweet note. I made two easy simple sandwiches with Y which she helped me prepared and assembled. I made her taste each of the spread and she chose the Chicken BBQ Spread so that means the Roast Beef Spread would be my palaman! 

Y is a very picky eater so for her sandwich I made sure to prepare what she likes to go with her sandwich: SPAM and cheese! The Lady's Choice Chicken BBQ Spread gave her usual sandwich an extra oomph!

She helped me made the sandwich, she flattened the bread, put the cheese slice and cut them into these little shapes. This activity turned into a little mother-daughter bonding which we both enjoyed doing!

Spam with Chicken BBQ Sandwich with Cheese on a bed of airfried french fries! She said it was yummy! She finished everything! Success! Making this again on Friday for her and R's breakfast! R wasn't able to help nor eat because he was napping heehee!

When I had a taste of the Roast Beef Spread, the sweetness reminds me of mangoes and the first thing I thought of putting in my sandwich was crabstick and so I did!

Of course may cheese pa din!

Spread the Roast Beef spread thinly, then put the crabstick on top.

Put cheese on top then pop the sandwich in to a panini maker...

Et voila!

Noms! I'll add lettuce or cucumber the next time to make it a little "healthier".

Easy peasy and very simple! No cooking involved (which is a major plus! I only toasted the SPAM.) and only a few ingredients! That's two sandwiches to add to our repertoire and my picky eater likes it and that's make me the happiest! I am sure the spreads will go well with other palaman and I can't wait to experiment more! The new Lady's Choice Roast Beef Spread and Chicken BBQ Spread are now available at your local groceries!

For more information, visit http://www.ladyschoice.com.ph/

Facebook: Lady's Choice Philippines

Instagram: @ladyschoiceph

A&D Eats Japan(ese) Edition: Marufuku Japanese Restaurant

Everyone seems to be going to Japan for vacation noh? BOS and I are planning to take our kids to Japan when R is 5 years old. The first and last time I went to Japan was when I was 10, I remember staying at a hotel in Ginza, then staying at Hilton so it is near Disneyland! It was 1994 and it was Disneyland's 10th year anniversary, it was one my fondest memory with my Achi, Angkong and Amma. Today, there's so much to see and eat in Japan! There's DisneySea, Universal Studios Japan, Wizarding World of Harry Potter, Sanrio Puroland and so many more plus a vacation of just eating Japanese food!

But since our trip will happen in one to two years pa, all I can do now is eat all the Japanese food in Manila! There's a lot of Japanese restaurants in the metro, not all are a hit though. Little Tokyo is a place to go when you want authentic Japanese food. Ramen restaurants are every where and most often than not, we would always eat in one because it's the kids' favorite. In this Japanese edition of A&D Eats, I've tried two new restaurants

Last Easter Sunday, we took the kids Easter Egg Hunting at Podium, watched Batman vs Superman (which I found dark and dragging, di bagay kay Ben Affleck maging Batman and also ang tagal kasi lumabas ni Wonder Woman!) then had dinner at Marufuku Japanese Restaurant. I always curious about Marufuku because we always pass by the sign at San Miguel Ave whenever we would go to Podium and Megamall, then I saw Tina posted yummy photos when they dined there and finally we were able to try the food for ourselves!

Marufuku Japanese Restaurant is located at Crescent Building 29 San Miguel Ave, 1605 Pasig.

We just walked in and they accommodated us naman but reservation is recommended.

We were open to try anything they recommend but there were a few things I wanted to try too! We ordered a lot and BOS still wanted to try more dishes (yes, he was pretty pleased with Marufuku!) but were so full. Be prepared for some food porn!

They served a complimentary Pickled Cucumber with Carrots, Beansprouts and Sesame Seeds.

Marufuku Roll, Php645. It's a futomaki with wrapped with prawn tempura and topped with mango and unagi. This one was recommended by the server. I love this roll!

Aspara Bacon Yaki, Php85/stick

Kaki Motoyaki, Php290. Perfectly grilled Hiroshima oysters topped with creamy miso. BOS and I both loved this that we had two orders! This makes a perfect pulutan (mahal ng pulutan! Haha!) but I imagine this goes well with beer or sake!

Norwegian Salmon Sashimi, Php480. Just look at how fresh those are! It's so good, it's a must-order!

Gyukushiyaki, Php185/stick. Diced Wagyu Beef Skewer, ang sarap i-ulam sa kanin! Hihi! One stick is bitin!

Tonkotsu Ramen, Php450. I ordered ramen for the kids. It was good enough for the kids but if you are going to have ramen, better have it at your favorite ramen place.

Kaisen Kamameshi, Php490. Rice casserole with salmon, shrimps, quail egg, oyster, scallop and ikura. I was a bit disappointed with this, It lacks flavor. I was imagining one of my childhood memories of kamameshi rice at Kamameshi House but this not so good.

And to end our meal, we had the Mango Kakigori, Php220, shaved ice with mangoes, milk, mango syrup and mango ice cream! I love it! It reminds me so much of Ice Monsters! Yum!

Even with a couple of disappointing dishes, it was still a good meal! BOS was happy so I was happy too! Service was good too! We'll come back again soon and try more of their Robatayaki and Teppanyaki! My photos made my BIL craved that they went the next day! Haha! Their prices are a bit on the higher range but you get quality food. Oh and don't forget to make a reservation!

Marufuku Japanese Restaurant

Open everyday. Lunch 11:00 am to 2:30 pm. Dinner 5:00 pm to 10:30 pm. 

Ground Floor, Crescent Building, 29 San Miguel Avenue, 1605 Pasig

Menu

Facebook: Marufuku Japanese Restaurant

Instagram: @marufukuresto

Telephone Number: (02) 5703989