Quick Bytes..

Nope, the title is NOT a wrong spelling of a popular
fastfood chain’s yummy Jolly Pies (I adore their pizza and tuna flavors which
is often not in stock, why oh why??). Jolleepies by Goby is a Davao homegrown
pastry product which we discovered just last week. Labsie and I were going out
NCCC Mall’s main entrance when we caught a whiff of pizza. Our noses led us to
an ongoing food expo in the mall’s atrium. And there it was, a free sampling of
delicious looking savory mini-pies! I tasted one piece and whoa!! I fell in
love immediately with the flavor – pizza underneath, creamy cheese and a hint
of beef on top. 

Labsie felt the same and decided on the spot to buy 1 box.
He loves the pies, no doubt about it! I eagerly asked the salesgirl how much is
1 box and she said it was P42 for beef and chicken pies. It contains 6 pieces
and I calculated, P6 for 1 mini-pie?? A pie that was just 1.5-2inches in
diameter with about 1cm of delicious filling? Hmm.. Undecided, I popped another
free piece and that sealed my decision. We bought 1 box of beef savory pies,
still warm and smelling oh-so yummy! There it is, 6 pieces of mini-heaven in a
bite!

The pies don’t look much but trust me when I say they are
worth the price. With 2 pieces, you’d feel full but still wanting more. The
crust is good but lacking the buttery taste that I have come to associate with
excellent soft piecrusts. Yesterday, Labsie and I introduced Mama to the
Jolleepies. She bought 2 boxes. What can I say? She loved it! My brother also
loved the pies and demolished 1 box that Mama bought but, like me, he also
balked at the P6 apiece tag. Let’s just say being a cheapskate runs in our
blood. We’re Chinese after all, hehe!

As you can see, the pie boxes can also serve as gift boxes
if you wish to give it to someone. The box has a To & From tag and is
colored red, perfect for any occasions! In our country, red is a lucky color
and we often wear red clothes during our birthdays and other important
occasions. Anyway, Jolleepies also come in other flavors. For those who have
sweet tooth, they have durian, buko, buko pandan, crema de fruta, choco cream,
ube, ube macapuno and mango pies. Labsie and I didn’t try any of it, we don’t
crave sweets unlike most Pinoys. Other savory flavors (aside from beef and
chicken) include tuna, sisig, garden fresh beef (with vegetables), and garden
fresh chicken pies. Yum!! Can’t wait to try all the savory flavors! =)

One last peek of the super-delicious Jolleepies! Mmm good!
Buy now and spread the word guys! It’s still available in the NCCC Mall atrium
but I don’t know for how long. You can also get it in the following places:
>Main: #11 Circumferential Road, Marfori Heights, Davao
City (082-3031332, 0910-3858441)
>Matina Highway Branch (082-2971289)
>San Pedro College Branch
>San Pedro St. Branch (besides Lachmi)

I had my first experience with online shopping this year with the Mid-Year Sale of Victoria’s Secret. Although I didn’t buy anything on my own (told a girlfriend to buy for me), I learned something new: coupon codes! Yep, these codes are really helpful. The one is VS was for free shipping for orders more than $100. That would certainly help a lot right? =) Because of this I got addicted to searching for coupon codes. I specifically searched for coupons to be used in Amazon and Overstock. And voila! I got more than FREE 20 coupons for each site. If I were you, use coupon codes to save up. And get to shop for more! Go shopaholics! =)

This is just a brief post and definitely out-of-topic =) Most of you already know I’m from Philippine Science High School - Southern Mindanao Campus and I’ve told countless stories of our unique experiences and heavy curriculum (college-level) there. Pisay has been one of the most memorable part of my life (though my UP college life is still the best, hehe) and now, there’s a movie about it! Sa Pisay Diliman nga lang ang setting. This is directed by Auraeus Solito (NO relation to me, I think!) who made the critically-acclaimed Ang Pagdadalaga ni Maximo Oliveros. Direk is from Pisay Diliman Batch86. However the movie’s setting is not during his time but amidst the chaos of Martial Law in the early 1980s. The story revolves around eight teenagers in Pisay as discover themselves and go through the joys and pains of adolescence. Even if you’re not from Pisay, you can easily identify with the highschool scenarios and adolescent boo-boos, hehe! Here’s the fun trailer:

Last July 18 I celebrated my 26th (wahhh) birthday but the
celebration did not start and end on that day. In fact, the birthday foodfest
started last July 14 in Kidapawan and ended last July 22 still in Kidapawan.
But, there were foodfests in Davao in-between those days too, yeah! =) Of course these foodfests are NOT solely
because of my birthday. The one in July 14 was my paternal grandfather’s
birthday (July 13) celebration albeit he’s already dead for 3-4 years now. Yeah,
weird huh? Just watch out for my full post on this and you’ll understand why my
paternal Lola decided to have a typical Pinoy handaan for him. Here’s Lola with my father beside her and the small feast. No lechon for the first time! LOL

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The one in July 21 and 22 was my maternal grandmother’s 75th
birthday celebration. Her birthday was July 19, just next to mine, and we
typically combine our celebrations to save money on my parents’ part. But,
often, my relatives forget it’s my birthday too, hehe! It’s ok though, my
maternal Lola totally deserve all the adulation she receives during these times
as she single-handedly raised her 10 children (!!!) when my maternal
grandfather died. My Lola is a strong woman but you wouldn’t know it if you see
her coz she’s very small, frail and looks meek as a mouse =) There she is (in red) with
her sisters: 

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In between the Kidapawan foodfests were my and Labsie’s 93rd
Monthsary celebration in a new European café called The Farm (July 17), my
mini-birthday dinner at home (only two viands that’s why it’s called mini!
hehe) on July 18, and my dinner-out birthday celebration in Zakoya Japanese
Buffet (July 19). That’s three straight days of pigging out!!! But, hell, it’s
my birthday! Time to let go of my strict diet. Hahaha! ;p Here are sneak peeks
of my gastronomic adventures last week –-

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Watch out next week for my 5-part Birthday Week posts. All
of the things I mentioned above will have their own FULL posts with lots of
pictures and some videos =) I’m really excited to do this coz it’s the first
time I truly enjoyed my birthday without any worries that I’ll be late for
school the next day, that I have to study for exams (coz often, its prelims
week on my birthday, sigh), that I have to treat my classmates and friends,
etc, etc. I’m very glad that I made the decision to NOT take the medical board
exam this August. Coz if I will take it, I’m sure I would be buried in books
during my birthday. I would worry endlessly of time “wasted” while pigging out
and will not enjoy my birthday week at all. I would have missed Lola’s 75th
birthday and hanging out with my not-so-little cousins. Most of them were in
college already! Migod, time flew so fast! While I was busy in medical school
and 24-hour duties, the kids I loved were growing up. I’m just so happy that I
was able to reconnect with them. Thank you Lord! And thank you also for giving
me parents who understood my need to rest and regroup before taking the medical
board exam. Hehe! HAPPY ME! =)

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If you don’t know what the title is about, you definitely do
not belong to my generation! Ahihi! OR you’re not a moviegoer and thus never
heard of TRANSFORMERS the movie where these two classes of being star. Tsk,
poor you! You’re missing a lot, I tell you. And I will tell you what you’re
missing as you read on and scroll down :p Since this is a food blog, I must
relate the spectacular robots movie to food, hence the title. Ahihi! And I
promise to try to answer THE question before this post ends =) The picture at left is the symbol of the Decepticons.
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Transformers opened last Wednesday here in Davao City
though I heard that it just opened last July 4 in the US of A, supposedly in
time for their Independence Day. I haven’t got the figures yet whether this
cartoon adaptation is another summer blockbuster like Pirates 3 and Spidey 3.
It is now on its second week here in Davao and as you might have guessed, I
watched it yesterday hence this post today o_O Anyway, Transformers is far from
being a perfect movie or even just a great movie like Spidey 2 (the best
in the trilogy I must say!) which perfectly meshed CGI wonders with
well-developed characters and plot.
BUT Transformers has the BEST-EVER CGIs
I have ever seen in my entire life!!! It was sooo clean, sooo detailed (you can
see reflections in the metal parts!), sooo perfectly integrated into the “live”
environment and people. And man, even the sounds while the robots transform
or when they communicate is perfect! The special effects team had it down to
the last music note. This might sound like cliché’ but you really have to watch
the movie to see and hear what I’m describing. Even just for effects, your
money would be worth it!
.
Aside from the take-your-breath-away CGI, the movie is also
funny. Really! As in adult humor funny (“Sam’s happy time”, “I love women to
work on my engine”) with lots of PG-13 sexual innuendoes and geeky funny with
nerd inside jokes. These moments are expertly woven into the movie for the
right-on-target comic relief. This movie is really for entertainment purposes
with a somewhat pro-US flavor (USA = saviors of the world; Russia, China and
Nokor = enemies). There are lots of chases, explosions, loud music, dramatic
cinematography, cool war machines, and best of all 5 Autobots and 6 Decepticons
battling it out for Allspark!!! Man, the way they transform (even when
fighting!) was really awe-inspiring. Simply perfect! (I really can’t stop
noh??) But I guess I shouldn’t be surprised since the CGIs were done by
LucasFilm’s Industrial Light and Magic. You know, the team who did Starwars,
d’oh! :p I must admit I watched the movie twice in one seating. I just
couldn’t get enough! Transformers is like the movie version of the pink
eye-candy stuff I just couldn’t resist, ahihi! =)

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And one last thing, Peter Cullen as the voice of Optimus
Prime is a casting coup! HE is Optimus Prime, hands down and no questions
asked. His authoritative, gravelly, fatherly voice is simply perfect. Woohoo!
And by the way, Megatron (Prime’s archenemy) is voiced by Hugo Weaving (he’s V
in Vendetta and Mr. Smith in The Matrix) who really sound sinister and scary.
And now, the REAL last thing: I loved
Starscreem’s tranformation the most –
from land to air and back as robot to stealth plane, man, AMAZING! You
really must see the movie, like, right now so you can also drool over the
astounding effects. If you miss this movie, you’re missing one of the
milestones in the CGI history. So shoo and go watch this movie now!

P.S. I really don’t know what the Transformers eat.. They
pee lubricants so they must eat/drink lubricants too right?? Watchatink?

What the heck is tinomok?? Well, I also asked that question
to our waiter in Gerry’s Grill (in Gaisano Mall) and he said it is one of their
special dishes. In fact, in their menu it was proudly written that tinomok was
reviewed by a prestigious food magazine and was given a thumbs-up sign. To quote the menu: "A bit like laing, only better.This is good. it was featured in a magazine." Nice!
=)

Above (at left) is an UNappetizing picture of tinomok which does not do
justice to its
deliciousness! Looks like a mishmash of something green eh? Gakk! I’m
really sorry but that’s what I get for forgetting the 5mp
digicam and just using labsie’s fonecam. To top it off, the interiors
in
Gerry’s Grill are dim, very nice for dates but not good in taking pics,
tsk! But as u can see at right, there’s a GREAT photo of tinomok with
the white gata sauce and silis clearly shown , yum! *drooling
saliva*
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It was our second time in Gerry’s Grill. The first time was
with my family and we ordered most of the house specialties (grilled sizzling
squid, crispy pata, beef casserole [beef, cheese, mashed potato & garlic, yum!] and sizzling sisig)
pictured at left and they didn’t disappoint! All were heavenly and were gone in less than 30min,
no thanks to the 4 guys with me and mama! =) Anyhow, labsie and I decided to
order something different this time, something adventurous. Thus, we ordered tinomok which in their menu looked like green gabi leaves rolled into “balls”
and drizzled with ginataan sauce. Mmm, I love gata! I thought it may be laing
just served exotically. However the waiter refuted this and said that the gabi
leaves were actually a
covering for the meatball mixture inside. Ooh meat! (see the first pics above) That
decided labsie to order it though I was still a bit apprehensive, what if we
won’t like it?? There goes P150 down the drain, tsk! To be sure we still had
viands if we won’t like tinomok, we ordered chopsuey (vegetables, yum!) and
chicken kebabs. We also told the waiter to make our
tinomok not so spicy coz I
hate hot stuff. After 15-30min (we actually finished reading a local daily!)
the food arrived.

Here’s the chopsuey (my dim pix at left and great pix at right, notice how similar they look!) —

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I egged on labsie to take the first bite of tinomok and his
face contorted! My heart sank, it’s not good but labsie suddenly laughed and
spoonfed me a bite. Mmmmmm good! It was truly gabi + meat + unknown veggies
with gata, kinda like laing but not hot. The tinomok was demolished in 15min!
And even up to now, we still have dreams of going back to Gerry’s Grill and
ordering it. The chopsuey was also delicious, the vegetables crispy and there
were lots of seafood and meat mixed in. It was at par with Ahfat’s chopsuey =)
The chicken kebabs, however, were just so-so.  The chicken cubes were tender and
succulent but for the price, it was not worth it. I could probably make a more
savoury one at a cheaper price, tsk! It was interspersed with chunky onions, bell peppers and some button mushrooms. After the eye-opening dinner (or should I
say stomach-opening-to-tinomok dinner?), labsie and I were all big smiles. We
were satiated and very happy to discover a new pinoy foodie find.
Welcome to our hearts tinomok! =)