open til 3 am

I only get to stay up late (and not working) during the weekend, and staying up late means craving for a midnight snack. Last night, it was a burger. Tonight, something Mexican-ish. I say Mexican-ish because, chances are, only fast-food joints are open at this time of the night. And fast-food chains like Taco Bell, Taco del Mar, del Taco, etc. can be hardly called Mexican restaurants. At best, they serve Americanized Mexican food.

I'm not really familiar with Mexican-ish food here in Seattle, but I figured they would more or less taste the same. I decided to just choose whichever offers the lowest prices, thinking if the food sucked, at least it wasn't a big waste of money. And of course, whichever was still open at this time.

I picked Taco Bell for those reasons. I am not a big fan of Taco Bell back home, but it had a less-than-a-dollar menu. It was also open until 3AM. I bought a soft taco for 89 cents and an apple caramel empanada for 99 cents.



For 89 cents, one could not and should not expect much. It was just alright, a little too much lettuce but it tasted fine. I've had better soft tacos, like the ones in UP CASAA, but this would do for now.



I was disappointed with the apple caramel empanada, though. I expected more. The first few bites were okay, kind of a sugar-high. But by the third or fourth, it was just too sweet for me. Nakaka-umay.

At least I was able to satisfy my craving. I'd say, for 2 bucks, it wasn't such a terrible waste of time.

Taco Bell
3705 Factoria Blvd SE
Bellevue, WA 98006
425-7474637

For more Taco Bell locations, click here

Adobong Manok

I haven't tried cooking adobo yet, although they say it's one of the easiest Pinoy ulam that one can make. What I do is buy adobo from Kusina Filipina, and "modify" it at home to suit my preference. See, I do not like my adobo to be saucy and malabnaw. I want as less sauce as possible. So I re-cook the adobo in any normal pan, and just let the chicken absorb the sauce. This way, the adobo gets soaked within and becomes more flavorful.



I add soy sauce and more vinegar to get the "malansa" taste out of the meat. The longer I reheat the adobo, the meat becomes softer and is torn up into small pieces, and soak in with more flavor.



That's the thing I love about adobo. You can store in the fridge for days (or weeks?) and it just gets more delicious the longer you keep it and the more you reheat it. Ideal for someone like me who neither has the ability nor the time to cook =)

Recipe for Adobo (according to my mom)

onion
garlic
pepper
soy sauce
vinegar
laurel leaves
chicken or pork

Combine all ingredients and marinate in low heat for 30-45 minutes. When meat becomes tender, separate from the sauce (do not discard the sauce) and fry in a separate pan. After frying, pour the sauce again and let simmer until sauce dries up.

Kusina Filipina
3201 Beacon Ave S
Seattle, WA
206-322-9433

Beef Picadillo aka Giniling

Nothing tastes better than good old Pinoy home cooking. No, I didn't cook. I bought this ulam from Kusina Filipina in Seattle. Kusina Filipina is not a fancy restaurant. It is more of the typical canteen/cafeteria back in the Philippines. Will post pics and more info in another entry.

For lunch today, I had Beef Picadillo which is like Giniling. Actually, it is just like Giniling. I wonder what the difference is between the two.

It was just ok. Nothing special. Like I said, it is just normal Pinoy carinderia food-- the kind you cook when you have no time to prepare but you know you have to eat so you do it anyway. I would prefer though if it had potatoes (I love potatoes). The beef was not grounded well, it was bunched up in big pieces. It was a bit salty too, for my taste. I like my giniling a little sweet and sour. But it was Filipino food nevertheless, and being the homesick girl that I am, I enjoyed it anyway.


Beef Picadillo
6USD (combo with another viand and rice)

Kusina Filipina
3201 Beacon Avenue S
Seattle, WA
206-322-9433

*here is pinoycook's version of beef picadillo. Looks yummier!

midnight snack

I'm seriously craving for a burger right now. A double cheeseburger with bacon to be more specific. But it is already 1AM and the idea of driving to McDonald's just to get one sandwich does not sound very appealing to me. I wonder why McDo or KFC doesn't deliver in the US? And why most fast food chains (like Domino's and Papa John's) charge a fee for their deliveries. Seriously! Unlike in my good old Motherland where I can always get a ChickenJoy any time of the day and right at my doorstep. Small stuff like that make me miss home even more.

So I just had to settle for cereal. Good thing I was able to buy Carnation Evaporated Milk from the pseudo-Filipino grocery. I don't like fresh milk on my cereal (and anything for that matter). It tastes weird. It doesn't have any taste, especially those low/ non-fat ones that are so "in" right now.



The 357mL Carnation Evap costs 1.99USD, about the same price as a 1.9L fresh milk in American groceries. It is certainly more economical to buy the fresh milk BUT taste-wise, the Evap is worth every extra penny. And pound.



I wonder where this particular can of milk was made. It doesn't say the place of manufacture, only the distributor here in the US so it must be imported from somewhere else. Why does it matter? It really doesn't, but for me, it does. The experience of eating cereal with Evap would have been more genuine if the milk came from the Philippines.

But the milk did come "from contented cows". Glad to know no cows were unhappy in the making of the Evap. :-P

Mabuhay!

Welcome to Seattle, my home away from home. It's been exactly 6 months, 8 days, 12 hours (Yes, like the song) since I left The Motherland, but it feels like a million years ago already. I have never been this far or this long away from home. I have changed in ways I never thought I could. I have done things I never thought I would (like wash the dishes, do my own laundry, clean the bathroom!). I miss all the people I love to love and love to hate. I miss all the people, period. I miss the sunshine. I miss the sunset. I miss the blue and pink and amber skies. I miss the beach. I miss the noise. I miss the traffic. I even miss the pollution (can you believe I'm this homesick?). I miss late-night movies. I miss the tiangges. I miss the jeepneys and the tricycles and the taxis (even though I don't commute). I miss texting. I miss the soap operas and game shows and the evening news. I miss being carefree and irresponsible, not thinking about tomorrow, only what I'm going to do this weekend.

Most of all, I miss the food-- Jollibee. Crispy pata. Lechon Kawali. BBQ. Bagnet. Bagoong. Dampa. Even the small stuff that I used to take for granted -- Skyflakes, Century Tuna, Mang Tomas, ChocNut. That is why I was so happy when I discovered a pseudo-Filipino grocery near the Filipino restaurant where I buy ulam sometimes (this deserves a separate post). I say "pseudo-Filipino" because it isn't owned by a Filipino but rather a Chinese/ Vietnamese/ Taiwanese. I will reserve it for the next entry.



That is when I realized that there is really no one source on the internet (as far as I know and as far as Google knows, in Metro Seattle anyway) where a homesick hungry Filipina like me can find a listing of restaurants and groceries selling homemade goodies. Sure, sooner or later one can stumble upon an ethnic store or native eatery. But like most people here in the US, no one really has time to drive the streets of Seattle in search for sinigang or adobo. So I thought that it would be nice if I chronicled my discoveries on a blog, which is what I am trying to do here!

I have made a list of potential Filipino groceries and restaurants that I can visit. I hope I can find my suking tindahan soon. Also, I hope to share with everyone my adventures and misadventures here, my thoughts and desires (to go home!) and ramblings and what-nots (a favorite expression here, I noticed).

So, I hope you enjoy my site and please drop a line or two. It is always nice to hear from someone back home:-)