Updates, Updates, Updates!

I just got home from the concert of Charice Pempengco in Resorts World. First, I'm really sad because taking photos was not allowed and I'm a big fan boy. Second, I wasn't able to go inside the casino because of time constraints. Lastly, I wasn't able to go clubbing because I had to be responsible to go home because...

Christmas with Charice @ New Port Theatre

Just to update you guys...

We have a lunch event for Heart, Meat, & Soul Foods later. I hope it all goes well. Thank you to everyone who will be coming.

We will also be a sponsor to an event later tonight: Spin City, a benefit event for Virlanie Foundation, Inc. It will be held in TIME in Manila, 7840 Makati Ave.

It's been so busy with all these and thesis. It really is a time to be thankful to God! :)

Moreover...

We just got featured last month, November 2011, in Working Mom Magazine! Thank you, Ate Rowena!

We also just got featured at Between Bites! Thank you, Ate Jane! 

And, we just got in eBay Kuponan! Thank you, Ms. Mindy!

Well, bye for now! Thesis again and prep work in a while! :)

The Dog Days Are Still Here...

Thesis killing me!!! Hehe!

I'm pretty much swamped with everything else that I haven't had the time to post anything here. But, it has been a great time. I think I'm almost done with school at last and God has been very helpful to me in the food business.

Please take your time to read posts from these two lovely people who posted about my food...

Heart, Meat and Soul : Personal Chef at your Service | Frannywanny by Fran

Heart, Meat, & Soul Foods | Tales from the Tummy by Richard Co

Thanks! Hope for your support in everything!

P.S. Guys, if you know anyone who can handle E-Commerce and SEO concerns, tell me! :)

The Tagaytay Escape

We were supposed to go to Hong Kong, then it became Thailand, and it all came down to Tagaytay Highlands during the long weekend. Since my mom and I actually had nothing to do. We decided to leave on Tuesday while everyone else was trying to get back home. It was just an overnight with my uncle who came back from the United States.

I am not, in anyway, putting down Tagaytay Highlands. I actually loved it more. I somehow did not really want to leave the Philippines. And, one good thing about Tagaytay Highlands is it was pretty quiet.

Anyways, we left around 10 AM from the house and picked up our Uncle from where he stays. We then went on the long drive to Tagaytay. It was pretty fun. I was asleep in the car the whole time. Haha!

We went to our unit at Tagaytay Highlands to drop off the bags and left to find our late lunch.

We ended up at RSM Foods and ordered for at least five people.

We ordered Sizzling Sisig, Adobong Kangkong, Crispy Crablets, and Bulalo. The crispy crablets in vinegar was to die for. For some reason, I was eating less than I could that day but it was really good.

After, my mom didn't want to go back to the condo just yet. So, we went to the forever full Bag of Beans to have some afternoon drinks. My phone died so I was not able to take photos but we ordered this big pancake that ended in me saying, "This is a pancake! A real one!" Haha!

Now, we were so filled up that we decided to go back to the condo and call it good. I tried to get them to play board games but it was pretty hard to teach them. I was able to get them to play Hive and I'm the Boss. But, my brain and capacity for teaching was on the brink of destruction. But, it was fun! Haha! We also took a night jog that took off the cholesterol from the afternoon food trip.

I really am glad for this trip because it was an escape from everything, especially that time. My mind was going restless and I really needed a break. It was one of those times that I could really just break away into the silence.

The next day though, we decided that we pack up and leave already and just eat along the way home. It was a long walk down for me because I really wanted to stay. I just want to go back there and escape from everything.

But, alas, the trip back home had to be done.

We went on to have a late lunch at Leslie's Restaurant. It was the original Bulalohan in Tagaytay if the rumours are correct.

This time we went on for a lighter meal, Crispy Bangus Tail, Crispy Pata, Laing, and Bulalo Soup. Hahaha! It was one of the best Crispy Pata I have ever had and it was also large for its price. Very good food indeed.

We were full going home and we passed by Colette's for a Buko Pie and Rowena's for the best Mango Tart ever!

And, as if we weren't done yet, when we got back to Manila, we hit off the best food trip and escape with JT's Manukan, the best Bacolod Chicken Inasal there is here in Manila, owned by Joel Torre. The chicken is cooked just right.

Hay, I want to do this all over again. :)

A Realization...

Been busy lately with the ups and downs of business and life so that would explain backlogs of writing about events that happened a month ago. Hahaha!

One of our close relatives was taken to a better place last month August. I would spare you the details so that to protect you and also the safety of the immediate family. Earlier that week also, I went to a wake of one of my good friend's grandfather. It was just a week full of realizations. Life can be pretty short I guess. And, it can be taken in an instant.

I had to leave Metro Manila for a few days and go to Pampanga for the wake. In a sad note, it was one of the reasons why my thesis proposal got deferred but, to hell with it, family was more important. Then again, enough of the sad story....

We stayed at Clark, Pampanga and, in Pampanga, you should really go and try food that you won't find in Manila. For the people who don't know, it's a fact, or at least it is in my mind, that people from Pampanga are great cooks. My mom would be a pretty good example along with almost the rest of our family. So, I wanted to know how it would be like to eat at some of Pampanga's best.

At our first night, we went on a journey to see what we could find and we ended up at.... *drum rolls please*

Nothing good! We went to a restaurant that you could find in Manila and I will be nice enough to make it stay anonymous.

In a shorter version, it still is a sad story for me. But there was still a very good chance that I could still try and make the best of it at breakfast.

Mequeni Restaurant in Holiday Inn at Clark is one of the well-known fine dining and buffets in Pampanga. So staying at a cottage there entitled us for breakfast buffet. I wanted to know what would be the favorite breakfast dishes aside from the obvious cereal and bacon. Hehe!

To my delight, the choices were filled with the ordinary breakfast buffet choices and some that are not so usual.

I think I went with all the different breads and all the sausages, tapa, scrambled eggs, hasbrowns, and all those other food. The pastries and bread were not much but the Filipino dishes like the beef tapa, adobo, and others were good. For a good review though, breakfast wouldn't be a basis for a restaurant I would guess. It had to be either lunch or dinner because I'm as easy as if they have crispy bacon or not at breakfast.

Again, in a short version, it wasn't a total failure but Pampanga has not yet seen the last of me. I need to really go back and try the food and other things that you would only find there.

Off to the next food tripping!

Who We Really Are?

I was wondering these past few weeks who or what Heart, Meat, & Soul Foods really is and what's it direction going to be. As I was telling my friends a while ago, I was actually walking around aimlessly in the metro. I was able to reach UP Diliman, got tired, and went back home. I was trying to clear my head from lots of things. A lot of it would be personal but a part of it was where I was going to take Heart, Meat, & Soul Foods to.

Heart, Meat, & Soul Foods is a Special Order Foods Company. We make food on a per order basis and it can be either picked up or delivered within the Metro for a minimal fee. The food delivered or picked-up will come in microwaveable plastic or aluminum foil, depending on what the dishes delivered are. We can also individually package the food or bring the food in chafing dishes with additional fees. Right now, this is what we can offer.

We are still trying to make ways to actually partner with some catering services so that you can order our food along with theirs. Right now, we're not yet capable of the manpower for catering services but we are hoping to expand to it in the near future.

But, that is all the technical side of it...

Heart, Meat, & Soul Foods is a foods company created to make home-cooked meals that your mom will make for you at home. It's hearty, meaty, and soulful dishes that simply have that homey feel. Our prices are justified by the taste of the dishes that we make. We make sure that love and passion surrounds the food that we create.

Try it out and you will never regret it.

The Bazaar Experience

I would have posted sooner but I was really pretty beat up after all the five days of bazaar. And after all that hard work, I understood just one simple thing: it is hard to do things alone.

Every morning from August 8 to 12, I woke up at midnight or past midnight to start preparing and cooking. I have to be finished by 6:00 AM so that I can let it rest and leave at around 7:00 AM or 7:30 AM. Fortunately, I had a driver so most of my sleeping time was done in the car. Once at school, I had to bring all my stuff to the venue in the middle of the school and set up my booth. I manned the booth all day, then packed up, and waited for my driver to pick me up. Once home, I just sleep and do it all over again.

I am not one to complain because I wanted this and it was really fun. I was able to make friends with the booth beside me even if they were also selling food. I would say it was really just a learning experience for me.

I would be the first one to tell you guys that I did not really earn that much in terms of money but I learned a lot that time. The food was great but the people who will be there to support you matter as much and even more than. So this would really just be my way of saying, thank you to everyone who helped me throughout the week and the people who tried out our food. I hope I could be able to hear from you guys again.

A Brief Experience

DLSU Bazaar is hard but awesome! Cooking, sleeping in the car, setting up, selling and giving out food, go home, sleep, and do it all over again. I just want to invite you guys at SJ Walk in DLSU-M so please support our last two days! Please share to your friends! :)

Thank you, guys!

Torn

I am so excited that I cannot sleep again. I am so excited that I have been planning what I should be doing for the DLSU Bazaar this coming August 8 to 12. I am really scared how it will turn out and what my fellow Lasallians will say about the food. I am still planning how I am going to do the preparing, the cooking, the packaging, and the manning for those 5 days but I am really scared but happy. I am so happy I still have not slept again and I am still not yet fixing my thesis up.

Yes, I am torn with fixing the thesis and fixing the bazaar. But after a few more minutes with the bazaar, I will finally focus all my attention on finishing this thesis proposal. Whatever happens, I will do both. I may be torn but I won't give up.

Hope you guys will support me! Take care and thank you all!

Beside Kuchen and Game Day Fun

 
Last Saturday was great. It was the first time I had to cook for two events on the same day. It was really just supposed to be food for our game day event but my Uncle called me to order food for his wife's, my Aunt obviously, birthday.

My Uncle also ordered from another catering service, Kuchen. It was an absolute thrill to actually cook beside one of my most favorite catering services. It was really one of the days I could just really be happy that someone really loves my food that they would order mine along with a great catering service. Not to mention, their roast beef is awesome with my mashed potatoes. Speaking of, I should try making roast beef soon.

Anyways, it was a very tiring day. Whoops! That's an understatement. Game day finished around two o'clock in the afternoon the next day so it really was very tiring. The Hearty, Cheesy Taco Beef was a hit for the Game Day event. I need to tweak it a little bit but it was great.

But before that, people are asking me to do fish first. Cream Dory with Cheese Sauce here I come. He he!

Anyways, that was my weekend. I had my much needed rest and it's back to my thesis for the moment. Bye and take care, guys!

Thesis and Double Cooking

I know I am not supposed to write it down here but I really, really want to thank the people who made yesterday possible.

I don't know if it was because I looked so sick because of my allergic rhinitis yesterday and they just looked at me with pity or was it really about the way I handled myself in the defense and the panel was a bit nicer than usual but I passed my topic proposal yesterday. In the six years I have been in college, it would be the first time that I really felt fulfilled. I know it's just a topic proposal but it's really hard to pass a topic because that's what I have been doing every term for almost 2 years.

For all the people's prayers, support, and love, thank you! It was a scary experience especially when I was just telling my friends that I think it may take another term. January (or is it February?) graduation, here I come!

I really want to thank The Edge's creative director, Ate Rory, and director for development and web marketing, Ate Ailene, for putting up with my nuisance calls every now and then. I would especially love to thank my mentor, Sir Brucelas, for helping me get my thoughts straight and the panel for letting me defend my topic. For the other supporters, you know who you are.

The feeling kind of reminds me what I felt after cooking for a hundred people two months ago. This is awesome!

Okay, now back to and moving on to cooking, I have two events today. I think this would be harder than cooking for a hundred people because, this time around, I have to cook in the morning, deliver it there before lunch, eat lunch with them because it's a family event, go back here, cook again, and deliver again before dinner.

Things to cook for today: Hearty, Meaty Spaghetti, Soulful, Tender Roast Chicken, Hearty, Creamy Mashed Potatoes, and Hearty, Cheesy Taco Beef.

Short post. Will expound on it after everything is done. Ha ha! Love...

Heart, Meat, & Soul Foods with The Food Scout

Last night, I was really looking forward to today. I almost could not sleep and really had a hard time waking up when it was time. It was because this was my first time to cook for a person who tastes food for a living or for passion. I was able to let Jill Bantang, Food Blogger - The Food Scout, try out my food. I am pretty anxious for what she has to say about the food so I will just have to wait for her to blog about it.

She was able to taste my spaghetti, roast chicken, and mashed potatoes. That would be my whole menu as of the moment so a lot of questions pop into mind. It's like cooking for my mom, who by the way is somewhere out there cooking something for somebody (It's because she's a sous chef for a restaurant somewhere out there, hehe!). She has been a food judge and critic, an awesome cook, and, as known by some, a mother (Some people actually thought she was around the age of 20 and were surprised that she has sons the eldest being 27.) and all my recipes has to pass her acid test before I even put it out for others to taste.

But, this is my joy and passion. Going back, I hope she really likes the food. Ha ha! Anyways, next on the Heart, Meat, & Soul Foods Menu, Taco Beef with Mushrooms and Cheese Sauce. Or, Hearty, Cheesy Taco Beef... What do you guys think?

Agricola Mornings and Breakfasts

The past two weeks have been fun except for my thesis. I have enjoyed creating this blog, cooking food, and playing board games. For some of you who may know, I am a board gamer. It has been a really fun experience, not to mention the new friends that I have been playing with. It is a very rewarding hobby because it gets to test your brain in all aspects and gets you to bond more with your friends and family.

Anyways, for the past two weeks, we have been playing this game called Agricola and I just want to tell you guys about it before telling you all about my meal that I cooked for breakfast just a while ago. Don't worry it's somewhat connected.

For some of you may know again, I host an event at least once a month called, Game Day and Food Day, here at my house in Katipunan. We usually play board games starting after lunch until past midnight. You guys who are interested in gaming and/or food should really come and try it out. For the past two Saturdays (or Sunday) and just yesterday (or a while ago), we played Agricola. Except for a while ago, we started playing the game early morning and finished in the morning, thus the title. Ha ha ha! For our first game, we started at 4 AM and ended around 8 or 9 AM. The second game started at 2 AM and ended at 5 or 6 AM. A while ago, the game started at 11 AM and ended at 2 or 3 AM. Agricola Mornings everyone!

The gaming is great but the food is really the point. I was not able to take a photo of my breakfast because I was really hungry. Anyways, we all know that people love cheesedogs, right? So, I decided to do that with good sausages. Instead of stuffing the cheese inside, I just decided to cook sausages then create a simple cheese sauce over the top. Butter, milk, cheddar, and parmesan is all it takes for me to be happy. I know people might think I must really love cheese sauces but, then, who doesn't?

It was a really simple dish but it was really divine. Nothing to get you full in the morning than great sausages, perfect cheese sauce, and rice. Anyways, I'm full and sleepy so until next time!

Where It All Started

This is too much. This would be a class picture in the sixth grade. Anyways...

As I said in a previous entry, Cooking, for me, started back in my third or fourth year in high school. I was the "burden" of the girls' Home Economics group back then. My cooking experience was close to zero and I was supposedly the all around kitchen helper. I was the last to cook my dish because mine would be served first and would be the easiest to cook. My dish was... *drum rolls* garlic mushrooms! Ha ha ha!

From the start, the girls were bullying me for my ingredients. They took most of my garlic and butter and all I had were literally leftovers from what they were all cooking. I had some extra taco beef and mozzarella cheese from the beef pocket pie (don't ask me why taco beef) and, since I did not want to clean up that much and I am the clean up committee being the boy, anything left in the table were used in my garlic mushrooms.

It turned out to cause a scene since we all know how hot butter and sizzling garlic smell like together. I had to mix them all together and it became my first attempt in creating the Mushrooms with Taco Beef and Cheese. Everybody loved it. The mozzarella was just enough to create a cheesy layer over my mushrooms. The little bites of ground taco beef just complemented the mushrooms.

This is where it all started for me. The next attempts to that were different in a sense that I turned it into a main course than an appetizer. It became the Taco Beef with Mushrooms and Cheese Sauce that most of my friends know. From then on, I started experimenting and helping at home. I remember creating three different types of burger patties at home for our breakfast. I created a cheese, a salsa, and a cheese and salsa burger but what was different about it was I incorporated the cheese and salsa into the burger patty before cooking. A style that I never knew was already being used in some burger joints around the Metro until my second year in college. I also helped in cooking buttered lamb chops and my ever favorite Vigan Longganisa.

Now, I'm here but, without studying, it was really a wonder how I was able to shift from cooking ready food to my own recipes. I guess you can call it my mom's gift to me. And, I treasure that, a lot. It may have took a while but I am glad that this is where life brought me.

Where it all started, for me, was a reminder to never overlook at the possibilities in life. I always neglected the part that I can cook because I never knew it would be something more than a hobby. It may have started because of the financial needs but it all worked out to meet what I actually want to do in life.

"Everything may change but it is all up to you if you will keep on moving towards your dreams or, at the very least, a single dream."

-Francis Fabie

Reminiscing my Experimental Recipes

Whenever I’m stressed, I cook, as I said in my first entry. And when I saw a nice cut of Cream Dory earlier this morning, I knew what I was going to do at night.

I remembered last year when I was cooking at the house of my best friend. She and her three other friends were going to the beach the day after and I went along to their house because I had a headache and they were near my place. To get the headache out and as a thank you for making me ride with them, I volunteered to cook that night.

I was so uncomfortable because it was not my kitchen. I did not know where everything was. But, I thought to myself, “Just take the challenge.”

I saw a lot of things to cook but when I saw that they had mozarella cheese, cream, milk, and butter, I knew already that I had to make cheese sauce. Now, it was the matter of finding the meat. I saw a whole chunk of roast beef, chicken, pork slices, and, the worst, fish. If it was not already 11 o’clock in the evening, I would have cooked the roast beef. But since the time was short, I just thought, “Whatever, let’s try cooking fish.”

It was my first time ever to cook fish but I knew it was easy enough. I just rubbed my normal spices and seasonings, salt, pepper, thyme, and so on, and fried them for a little bit. I finished my cheese sauce by melting all the dairy in one pot. And, I just thought what could give this thing more contrast in flavor, texture, and color. I thought of mashed potatoes at first but there was no potatoes and, even if they had, it would take 30 minutes to actually to soften them. But then I saw this breakfast favorite…

It was hash browns. I just knew at that moment that I should use them.

Now, it was plating time. I had three pieces of fish so I had to find three long plates. I placed them in the middle, poured the cheese sauce, and crumbled the hash brown on top.

Funny thing was, I was the only guy there. I was the only one cooking and they were all just playing around. So without any hype, they just sat there thought it was just something simple. But…

I remembered the first reaction of one of my friends there. She just had her first bite and, then, she just stood up, cursed me, and told me how great the food was.

Going back to today, I was reminiscing and I just wanted to do it again. I just changed the fish to Cream Dory, created another recipe for my cheese sauce, and created another recipe for mashed potatoes.

In the comfort of my own kitchen, I over seasoned my fish for a bit. It was a bit salty. But, at least I know now how to do it and it still matched great with the rice, the cheese sauce, and the mashed potatoes. To say the least, the mashed potatoes are addicting, I even eat it when cold. Overall verdict, tweak the recipe for the fish but everything else was great.

So to present to you all, my Cream Dory in White Cheese Sauce with Rice and Mashed Potatoes.

Team Maximus

This, for a short but life-changing time in my life, was my working family. I remember the days, that these people can never get me to talk. I remember the first conversation I had with my boss was about food. Most of the time, you can only get me to talk and even find me awake when we were talking about food. I guess I was never able to thank them for that. Two things that I really loved surfaced during that time. It was my love for sales and my love for food. Team Maximus, I love you all! Century Prestige, Number One!

Chuckie and Root Beer, Food, and Board Games

It's funny how, sometimes, all it takes is great food, a glass of Chuckie and root beer, good food, and board games with some of your friends and everything seems just fine... :)