Dressing Up For Me

As much as possible, I like to maintain a balanced diet. That means incorporating lots of vegetables and fruits on a daily basis. So whenever we go out, I make it a point to order somehting with lots of fiber as my first dish like this artichoke dish with ham bits: or order my Mama´s fresh bamboo shoots salad whenever I´m in my home country. ;) Unfortunately, I only get to savor my Mom´s delicious salad once every two years and so I just make do with what´s in the menu like this sweet and sour salad of crab stick slices and shrimps( called  salpicón)   on a bed of lettuce iceberg, green bell peppers and tomatoes; Or a bowl of assorted greens with roasted bell peppers, tuna and anchovies; Or a basic salad of  Romaine lettuce with white onions, corn kernels, tomatoes, tuna, green olives and hard boiled eggs. Here´s my version with cherry tomatoes instead of  normal tomatoes. I love the taste of cherry tomatoes. They´re sweet and so crunchy...

Hola, hola! It´s been a while since I posted food photos on the weekends. Here are some typical Portuguese food which we´ve tried in our latest travels. 1. A set meal of feijao preto (black beans), linguiça (sausage) and rice. The hubz and I usually have this HUGE meal at a nearby mall´s food court when we run out of time in a place and can´t decide which Portuguese restaurant to go to. I usually eat 1 or 2 of the sausages, half of the beans and rice when I´m famish and leave the rest for the hub z  to finish it off, hahaha! 2. Whenever we visit a new place, we try to taste the local cuisine too. Here´s what we had when we visited Lamego last spring, a concoction of rice, red beans, pork, cabbage, octopus and other spices. Octopus in portuguese is called  ¨polvo¨.  When  the lady taking our order gesticulated that  polvo  is a kind of fish with lots of tails, I sort of gotten the idea that it´s probably octopus. FYI,  polvo  in Span...

I love eating fruits but raspberries taste a bit weird on my tropical  palate (lol!) so I  usually blend it with strawberries, blackberries, a piece of banana, yoghurt, low fat milk and low fat condensed milk to make a delicious smoothie. Tadah!!! How´s that for a tasty, fiber and vitamin packed and filling breakfast? ;) Since we´re talking about berries, how about pairing the smoothie with a crumby slice of mouthwatering cherry pie *? So calorrific , I know but I just can´t help myself from indulging in this sinfully delicious treat once in a while. Now you know why you´re seeing a lot of  my puffy face these past days. ;) And here´s a little preview for my Monday post tomorrow: Have fun this Sunday, dahlings ! :) Love, love, Che * Brings me fond memories of my working days, a  co-worker of mine used to call me cherry pie at work, lol!  

Lunch yesterday: Because I love my white rice even if they say brown rice is healthier, because I need my Omega 3 and I want it griled and because we all need fiber and I love it with color. :) Bon appétit! Che

Hello, all! Most hotels usually offer breakfast buffets (sometimes at exhorbitant prices) but since we usually have a light breakfast to start our day, we have it at a nearby cafe or bar. Here´s what we had in Andalusia: Mollete sandwich +freshly squeezed orange juice + coffee/tea  -mollete is a type of flat bread which is usually toasted to make it crusty on the outside but chewy and smooth to the bite inside. To make the perfect sandwich, it´s slathered with extra virgin olive oil+ a slice of tomato and lots of jamon serrano slices. A simple mollete sandwich consist of  just the bread and slices of jamon serrano only. Our lunch in Cádiz consisted of: breaded squid rings as starters and seafood paella  as the main dish. It´s perfect with a bottle of cold  beer or glass of cold dry sherry too! In summer, I´d have this with  sangría which isn´t just common in the south but in all of Spain. :) Dinner is usually light when we travel, we had:...

Today on Food Weekend, I´ll let you drool Italian style (whatevs that is) ! ;) Okay here´s the story, last month(March) was my birthday month but since the hub z was working on my actual birthday, we postponed lunch ( I would´ve preferred dinner to make it more romantic but my husband is a practical guy,hehe!) until the end of March. I didn´t get to post the photos right away because we went on a trip to the south of Spain last week. So finally, here it is: We booked a tiny but very cosy Italian restaurant in my city called Ristorante L´oliva . The table setting´s very simple in yellow and green. What I love about most Italian restaurants is that they give you those thin and crunchy breadsticks to munch on while waiting for your food. Since in Spain lunch or dinner is never complete without bread, we were served two freshly baked crusty rolls to accompany the meal. For starters, I just ordered a simple salad: a stack of sliced tomatoes, pan grilled eggplant and fresh...

Happy Easter, everyone! Easter´s a simple celebration in my place so I´m  posting some photos instead on what I´ve seen in my Easter Sunday travels: Yup, in the church of St. Denise in France, they place colored eggs below the saint´s statue to celebrate Easter Sunday. Look at the eggs that they placed on the Virgin Mary´s statue below, so spring- y , no? ;) While on the Portuguese side, I can see that almost all of the bakeshops have these candy coated almonds on their window display. We´re also offered with these candies as a welcome gift when we stayed in one of the hotels in Coimbra last year during the Holy Week. I can´t get over this bread filled with boiled eggs. I had to buy a piece of this on our way home from Portugal last year! Curious, no? I wonder what you usually prepare during easter Sunday. Happy Easter! :) C he

After visiting MIL*, we usually drop by our favorite bar in the neighborhood  for some coffee  and tea or for a merienda ( afternoon snack). I love that the beverage also comes with mini-muffins for the sweet tooth although not all bars include this treat in their coffee or tea. I usually order an infusion called ¨poleo-menta or if not chamomile tea which is good for the tummy and drink it sans sugar. Why without sugar? Because together with my tea I also order my favorite carrot cake to share with the hub z: And when the tummy craves for more food, a  piece of this tapa/ pincho, a mini-sized burger stuffed with a tiny a burger patty, a slice of bacon and veggies would be part of the menu too. ;) That´s why, the merienda ( afternoon snack) will sometimes turn into merienda-cena ( early dinner snack) when we go drop by our favorite bar. Dinner time usually starts at 9 pm in Spain and so a 6 or 7 pm snack is normal around here and by the way, you don´t s...

The hub z is sick and has lost his appetite for food . So I gotta be creative with his breakfast. A banana pancake slathered with honey and topped with fresh blueberries and instead of his usual coffee and milk, hot lemon water and honey, the perfect remedy for colds. He must have liked it because he ate it all! One point for the wifey , zero point for Mr. Flu. :) So what´s your breakfast remedy for colds? xoxo, Che

Today on food weekend let´s talk about tapas or pinchos as what they call here in the Spanish basque region. far right: boiled egg, surimi strips and mayo with shrimps on top These are canapé like bread, eggs or vegetable and topping combinations sold in every bar in Spain. They are not only colorful and tasty but tummy filling too. There are a gazillion of combinations you can find and are worth every bite. ;) They´re perfect as a snack, for lunch and even as a light dinner too! morcilla*  slices with fried quail egg They can also come in pizza type or quiche: peppers, bacon, mushrooms, onions with veggie( zucchini), caramelized bell peppers/onions and chicken or with pan fried/roasted whole green peppers topped on a bed of juicy loin. What´s more important is that it has everything that you want in a sandwich but in small portions. Matches well with a glass of wine, a pitcher of sangría, beer, juice or any beverage that you want. The possibilities ar...

The hub z is a train fanatic. Whenever we do long distance travelling within Spain, he always choose the train than say travel by car. I don´t blame him, although a lot of people love travelling by car, it can be very tiresome. As for taking the train, you only have to sit, read a little and sleep. As for the meals, train food isn´t bad either. We just make sure to get Preferente tickets and lunch/dinner and dessert are served free together with your choice of wine/ non-alcoholic beverage, coffee and chocolate to end the meal. ;) Chicken in port wine sauce with couscous: Hake fish with steamed veggies and wild rice: Chicken with dried dates and pine nuts with baked potatoes: By the way, on a non-related topic, here´s what I´ve been wearing these days: coat - Zara, pants - Promod, bag - Blanco Pants, winter jacket and rain shoes. It´s been raining non-stop here in my city, I can´t just dress up as much as I want to. Haaay! So how´s your weekend? xoxo, Che