Dinner at Six Thirty: April 2011

Saturday, April 30, 2011

The Royal Wedding

"Just for today, I wanna believe in fairy tales."

Imperial Palace Waterpark Resort and Spa Cebu - The Food

And now comes the best post of the Imperial Palace bunch.....the food! And boy, did we have a lot of food!

AFTERNOON SNACK AT DELMAR LOBBY LOUNGE

Buko Halo-Halo (P250.00)

We kicked off our food trip with a bowl of Halo-Halo. Not just any bowl, a coconut bowl. We ate this at the Delmar Lobby Lounge while waiting for our room. There were other ice creams in the menu, but this was the one my daughter pointed at and it was the cheapest! Hehe! I'm not a big fan of Halo-Halo, but my husband is. This one had two scoops of Ube ice cream with the usual Halo-Halo mixtures. We found it alright, but it did not top our best Halo-Halo list. But what's a better way to kick off the summer season than with a bowl of Halo-Halo!

The bedroom at the Mactan Suite

We booked a Mactan Suite Room under the Fun under the Sun promo. We were given Room 405, which is a 1-bedroom suite situated on the fourth floor of Building A. One of my favorite pleasures in Imperial Palace are the rooms. The room's interior design is more on the modern contemporary side. They have different designs and color schemes, so it's always a nice surprise every time we open the door to see what we got. We've had the red and orange rooms on previous check-ins. This time we were given a yellow and blue combination.

Imperial Palace Waterpark Resort and Spa Cebu

We made our way to Imperial Palace Waterpark Resort and Spa right after we were done eating breakfast at Tinder Box. We arrived earlier than the standard check-in time, but the front desk person entertained me nevertheless. Since we had already paid for our room, we were only asked for a P3,000 accident deposit. When the paperworks and signing in were done, we were told that they would call my cellphone if our room was ready.

Imperial Palace Waterpark Resort and Spa Cebu - Fun under the Sun Promo

From April 1 to May 31, 2011 Imperial Palace is having their Fun under the Sun Promo. Every Sunday Easter, our family likes to go to the beach and I thought this promo was perfect for us. It's our third stay at Imperial Palace and the service is still as impeccable, starting from booking the room up to checking out.

So we canceled our original plans of having breakfast/brunch at Jollibee and ate at Tinder Box instead.

Tinder Box, Cebu

Before I start posting about our beach getaway, let me start the Easter entries with the first meal we had for the day.

Black Saturday

We're folding our clothes and packing our bags in preparation for tomorrow.

Everybody is excited especially our little princess. This 2-day break is going to be great for us.
I'm gonna have to go to bed early tonight.

So here's to a relaxing and fun Easter! Let's hope for great weather!

HAPPY EASTER EVERYONE!!!

Easter tells us that life is to be interpreted not simply in terms of things but in terms of ideals.

-Charles M. Crowe

Friday, April 22, 2011

Clear Chicken, Mushrooms, and Carrot Soup

Good/Holy Friday. We, Filipinos, usually make the habit to eat "Binignit" or "Champorado" as our meals for this day. I'm not exactly why those two out of everything else, but it's always been that way in my family. But I'm not a fan of Binignit, so it's Champorado for me.

Dad's Kitchen: Potato and Cheese Omelet

It's Maundy Thursday today.

My husband has been talking my ear off lately about the difference between Fish Escabeche and Sweet and Sour Fish. Honestly, I didn't even notice there was a difference between the two. And it wasn't until he started the issue that it got me thinking about the two.

Husband's Cooking: Ukoy Fritters / Shrimp Fritters

My husband likes to cook as much as I do. But we both have different styles of cooking. While I cook dishes to please everyone's preferences in the family, he likes to cook whatever he's been craving that week. If we've been at a restaurant and he really likes a particular dish, he will try to copy it at home. This was true for baby back ribs, steamed fried rice (a la Dimsum Break), and crepes.

Dinner @ Cyma, Ayala Center Cebu

Our usual Sundays consists of waking up late, going to mass, going to the Sunday market at BTC (Banilad Town Center), having lunch out (usually in BTC), and staying at my in-laws' house for the rest of the day. Because of conflicting schedules, we had to reconstruct last Sunday's activities.

Cyma @ Ayala Center, Cebu

If you're looking for good Greek and Mediterranean cuisine in Cebu, then I would definitely suggest Cyma at Ayala Center. This sure works for my personal cravings!

Shrimp Bisque

*A Bisque is a smooth, creamy, highly-seasoned soup of French origin, classically based on a strained broth (coulis) of crustaceans (lobster, crab, shrimp, or crayfish) -Wikipedia

I started cooking dinner thinking I would make something simple and quick. Something with shrimps.

I am what I am.

I'm so glad I was able to find this picture! Me and the Cold Rice Salad tale.

The first time I attempted to cook was a disaster. I was 7 years old and living in France. My dad had a shelf full of cookbook and I spent that Saturday afternoon browsing through them. I remember being so fascinated with the photos. The food was beautifully plated and looked so delicious that I set my eyes on trying out at least one of the recipes. That recipe was a Cold Rice Salad mixed with ham and vegetables. Why that one? It looked easy to make and I had the ingredients on hand (My Filipina mother always insisted in having kilos of rice at home all the time!). But I mustn't have paid much attention to the recipe because, well, my Cold Rice Salad looked nothing like or even tasted like I imagined it would. The rice was undercooked. The dressing was interesting and not in a good way. I knew it was bad but it was quite interesting watching my parents force themselves to finish the dish as not to disappoint me. hahaha.