Classic Pasta Carbonara at MOMO

What is a classic carbonara?  This dish has a lot of variations now that most people associate a pasta dish with cream sauce as carbonara.  But the  classic carbonara is simply made with bacon, and eggs and cheese.  Cream was later on added as the recipe evolved.  

My daughter loves pasta with white sauce.  One of the easiest sauce to make is the Alfredo sauce – butter, cream, and parmesan cheese (for  days when there’s no parmesan cheese,  a simple chez wiz will do, and she still loves it).  And  when dining out, she usually orders  pasta carbonara. And she’ll be very honest whether the carbonara  has passed her taste buds or not. 

 

I make mine with bacon, butter (or olive oil), cream, parmesan cheese and eggs.  I’ll post a recipe on another entry soon.

Last Friday, we went to Eastwood Mall to eat.  We were supposed to go to Bar Dolci in BGC, but the rains and horrendous traffic in Ortigas Center made us change our plans.  She wanted to eat pasta.  Our restaurant of choice – MOMO Cafe.

I rarely go to Eastwood mall and it’s my first time to try their food.  I ate some Bon Chon chicken prior to our early dinner that’s why I decided to share this pasta dish with Pipay.  She can’t finish the whole dish anyway.  She ordered watermelon shake, another favorite  and for dessert, I chose the choc nut sans rival.

 The Carbonara arrived with lots of bacon and cream.  A raw eggyolk sits on top the noodles.  After mixing the eggyolks with the cream and noodles, I asked the waiter to have it warmed a little more to cook the egg a bit more. I am queasy when it comes to eating some raw animal products (except for sashimi and other fresh seafood), especially eggs.  At home, I would mix the raw eggs with the noodles while it’s still warm.  That would cook the eggs to a silky texture, not curdled. 

So far, Pipay liked Momo’s classic carbonara.  I liked it too.  The saltiness of the cheese and  bacon was balanced by the smooth cream.  

Sans rival is another favorite of Pipay.  The Choc nut sans rival was okay.  Although Pipay said, it doesn’t look like sans rival as she was expecting the multiple layers of meringue wafers.  It was not too sweet. And you can taste the flavor of the choc nut. 

But what made my daughter very happy that day was her loot of angry birds key chains and pen.  

Good food and a hug from my daughter -  two of life’s simple joys.

Bon Chon Chicken.... finally.

Finally, I got to try the famous Bon Chon chicken.  

Lenz & I went to watch Zombadings at Robinson’s Galleria last Friday.  I didn’t have breakfast and lunch except for the Matcha  Red Bean smoothie from Chatime during the movie.

 

After the movie, we just found  our way to Bon Chon chicken.  At 2:30PM, there’s not much people inside.  Since I’m not really hungry and with plans of an early dinner with Pipay, Lenz and I split an order 6 piece chicken wings.  I’m just very curious about the hype this chicken dish is generating.  Lenz told me it’s crispy even if it’s drenched with sauce.

I got a bottle of lychee mogu mogu drink to go with my chicken wings.  A lychee flavored drink with nata de coco bits.

The chicken wings were indeed crispy.  But the meat is slightly bland. 

I remembered what my friend, Joyce’s comment when she raved about Wingman.  She said, Wingman’s version is more flavorful inside and out.  That, I have to try soon!

My Happy Lemon Day

I don’t know what’s got into me. I’ve been thinking of  tea drinks of Happy Lemon the whole day. 

I have been bugging Pipay to go with me for a Happy Lemon fix.  Honestly, I am very curious about their Rock Salt and Cheese variety.  It seems like it’s becoming a trend to add rock salt to anything – from cupcakes, caramel sauce to ice cream and tea drinks. 

So off we went to Rockwell this afternoon for two reasons. One is to buy a gift for my niece’s 18^th birthday party tomorrow. And the other, to try Happy Lemon’s most recommended tea drink.

When we entered Rockwell Power Plant Mall, almost everyone we met has a glass of Happy Lemon drink.  I thought maybe we’ll just follow the people-carrying-happy-lemon trail…(only  in the opposite direction) and we’ll surely find the Happy Lemon kiosk. 

 

 

As expected, the line was very long. Pipay was able to get us a table. 

I chose Green Tea with Rock Salt and Cheese.  Pipay had the Milk Tea with pearl balls.  I heard you must not use a straw for the Rock Salt & Cheese drinks.  The first sip, the creamy, cheese topping is very nice- salty, sweet and creamy.  Then you get to taste the green tea beneath the cream topping on the second sip which is very refreshing.  Pipay liked the creamy milk topping so I let her sip the cream topping, just like eating Sonja’s  Berries and Cream cupcake – she eats the cream and strawberries and I eat the almond flavored cupcake. 

Happy Lemon’s  Green Tea with Rock Salt & Cheese is my new best friend.  ^_^

little ms french fries

my daughter.

my little miss French fries.

who loves mangoes.

thank you for being my food trip buddy.  ^_^

Morrocan Mint Tea

For the past few months, I have been drinking tea for breakfast.  My favorite is the Gold Leaf Sencha green tea.  On a recent trip to Rustan’s Shangrila, I got this…. Stash Morrocan Mint Green Tea. 

Here’s to minty mornings!  ^_^