Jayvee Fernandez | Pinoy Tech, Diving, Gadgets » Food

How Magnum Stole My Innocence

Jayvee Fernandez — Fri, 23 Mar 2012 04:48:32 +0000

Sorry. No need to post a photo of that ice cream here because you all know what it looks like, thanks to the Internet.

I’m here to share a story. And some thoughts.

That Magnum ice cream in the Philippines is not new. I’ve been eating that for dessert for more than two years and the brand should be familiar to others (as from what I see on Twitter) because small grocery stores would carry it straight from other countries. Heck, Magnum was even around when I was in middle school (this product was released in the early 90′s). I would delight in it because there was a particular way I would eat it — since it had a thick layer of chocolate, I’d strip the bar naked of its chocolate covering then attack the ice cream proper and this feat of dexterity would perhaps be 80% of the novelty as to why I enjoyed eating it. I bought it for PHP 30.00 – PHP 35.00 if I remember correctly.

Fast forward to today. So I was out of the social media scene for about 2 weeks (I was busy getting married!). A few days before I went dark, I noticed a number of people post photos of a familiar ice cream brand on Instagram. I was delighted to hear that the product was now available locally (there was no doubt in my mind it was exactly the one I’d always get) so I nonchalantly went to 7-Eleven and bought one. It tasted exactly the same. And it was delightful. And I would think nothing about it afterwards. Why? Because it’s freakin’ ice cream, dude!

Whenever I walk into a 7-Eleven these days, I feel like all eyes are watching as I make my way to the freezer to grab a few bars to stock in my fridge at home. I open Twitter, and people are talking about it like it’s the worst thing ever made. Like how it’s a rip off. Like how Cornetto or Pinipig Crunch is much better. Frankly, I don’t care: on some days I want Cornetto. Other days I want Magnum. Sometimes I don’t have ice cream because I just had coffee. It’s the rewards of democracy that allows me to make mundane decisions like this everyday.

I want to enjoy my bar of ice cream in peace and not be subject to the amalgamated opinions of social media judging my every bite. And that blissful innocence was stolen, just recently.

Lori Baltazar’s gifts for me

Jayvee Fernandez — Tue, 14 Dec 2010 06:49:53 +0000

Met up with sexiest food blogger Lori Baltazar (and equally sexy PR swashbucker Mark Parlade). Wasn’t expecting gifts, but Lori surprised me with a loot bag for the holidays. Although Lori hates Mark and I for wanting our steaks medium well, she and I pretty much agree when it comes to coffee. She gave me a small bag of beans to grind from Lamill (which I have almost finished), and a sample of their tea — with the most superb packaging ever. As topping to the wonderful gifts (literally), she included a President’s Choice ginder filled with vanilla and sugar to top my coffee. Lori, I use it every morning to top my latte and the flavor is just amazing! 5 star rating.

This tea wins the award for most creative (and geeky) copy:

Probing further, Lamill has really pushed my geek buttons as their copy is very consistently easy to digest with a slight tinge of geek:

At LAMILL we small batch roast all our beans on our own special order German Probat G60 commercial roasters. Not only are these the finest, state of the art machines, but it’s also cool to be able to say ‘German Probat G60’. We make the same investment in our staff, being sure to employ only most qualified and talented roasters. At LAMILL we understand how important roasting is to the final product. We don’t take any shortcuts… we don’t make any compromises. If a batch isn’t right, we take the time to do it over, even if it means missing the Lakers game. That’s what TIVO is for.

Thank you Lori for the gifts!

When the executive chef invites you to a steak dinner, say yes!

Jayvee Fernandez — Sun, 31 Oct 2010 10:47:04 +0000

This is Chef Rhey Huergas, Executive Chef for Friday’s. Do a search for him on Google or Bing and you’ll see that he’s media-decorated. I met him because he’s the cousin of a friend I work with. We were at Friday’s at the time (DOH!), the day was a bitch, and boy were we hungry.

He asked me if I liked steak. My face was like this:

When the executive chef invites you to have dinner with him, always say yes!

OK so I’m not a steak connoisseur but I love good steak — I’m not a foodie. I’m an eater with quasi-vampiric tendencies because I usually take my meat medium well. But I couldn’t look at Chef Rhey in the eye when he asked how I wanted it because I KNEW if I said medium well to a 500 gram t-bone, that would just ruin it all. And behind the kitchen, he’d probably be like this:

So I had it semi bloody. And you know what, I wish I had brought a better camera. This photo doesn’t do it justice.

It comes with 3 types of sauces. You can eat it without, but I just had to dapple it with the horseradish. It’s honestly the best I’ve tried because it’s in cream form, and not stringy like atchara. You know the whipped butter of pancake house? Something like that, but for steaks! And it’s maasim.

You know, I had a conversation with a friend recently. We talked about the best steaks. Lucky for her, the mother cooks a really good rib-eye and nothing beats home cooking. When I gave my list, I mentioned 3 restaurants: Elbert’s Steakroom, Antonio’s and yeah, believe it or not, Friday’s. She was like WHAAAAT??! I was like … yeah I know. Hard to believe right? Not that Friday’s has bad food, mind you. You just don’t go there for steak. And this led me to narrate my experience when Chef Rhey, preparing the 500 gram wonder. This is the same chef who was asked to cook adobo for his boss. But since he lived in the USA, he had never experienced creating this standard Filipino dish. So for months he researched, and after sacrificing his health for cholesterol (due to adobo and crispy pata) he invented the Friday’s Adobo which, to be quite honest is also really good. It’s a huge brisket steak, done adobo style. The fork just goes through. You don’t need a knife. He went on telling me how the dish won the appetites during “International Night” when other foreign franchises wold visit. It’s a hit in Japan and other parts of Asia. It’s probably in the menu.

I was so full! But he still served the adobo. And crab. I was allergic to crab. Besides, crabs are friends. When I dive, I say hi to them. Be good to crabs.

And after that, he still fed me!!! That’s the Friday’s Adobo I was talking about. I suggest you try it.

OK so you wanna know how much you should set aside for the steaks. Look at these prices:

T-Bone Cut
500 grams PHP 3,375
800 grams PHP 3,995

New York Striploin
500 grams PHP 3,270
800 grams PHP 3,890

Funny story: there’s a cat outside Friday’s High Street and he’s really fat. That’s because the foreigners feed a whole steak to this kitty. Catch a glimpse of him when you pass by. Sadly, kitty wasn’t around this time so no photo today.

P.S. I have a theory about food — especially with carefully prepared meals like steak. I think the preparation of food is very personal. It’s not like a fastfood joint where you have a main commissary and almost everything is just shipped and re-heated. So for steaks, I enjoyed Antonio’s and Elbert’s because I know these chefs personally (shot the menu for Antonio’s in 2006 and Elbert, though not a chef, knows his steaks — met him because of the local Mac group from way back). Same thing with Chef Rhey — there’s something about knowing that he prepared it himself just for you.

So am I right? Or do I suck as an eater? Basta, it’s good.

Geeky Coffee: Reverse Vacuum Packed Alamid

Jayvee Fernandez — Mon, 25 Oct 2010 16:13:27 +0000

One of the reasons why I still continue to blog to this day is because I get tipped with interestingly geeky things from around the country. This is one of them. It’s rather close to my heart because we’re talking about coffee.

Inside the can is 50 grams of coffee Alamid, the world’s rarest brew. This costs PHP 1,400.00 and makes about 6 shots of espresso. What makes this can rather special is the packaging. Every can comes with a pin, which you use to puncture a hole through the bottom of the canister.

This “reverse vacuum” packing technology is supposedly the best way to pack beans. The science, as was explained to me goes something like this: the best way to preserve the flavor of the beans is to allowing it to spew gas after roasting. However, if you let the beans hyperventilate too much, you end up with no gases at all — and thus no flavor. So what they do is to leave some space inside the packaging for the flavor to circulate, but because of pressure, the gases have no where else to go. Thus, the 50 grams of beans are being marinated in their own flavorful aroma in a state of equilibrium. That is why, if you open the can without popping it with a pin, the insides will “jack in the box” out. Pretty cool. The party favor is the really strong smell of Alamid forcing itself out of the pinhole. WOW.

The foundation behind this technology wants to give it away for free to anyone who’s interested in packing beans. You can visit their website or let me know and I can hook you guys up.

Alamid Coffee for the holidays? SMS 0917.580.8820. Look for Mitch. Also if you’re going to brew this, I highly suggest you take it black or as espresso shots with little to no sugar and creamer. This coffee should be enjoyed as it is. Nag Alamid ka pa!

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My take on Starbucks VIA Instant Coffee

Jayvee Fernandez — Wed, 15 Sep 2010 02:30:04 +0000

To the left is a shot of freshly ground arabica beans used for espresso or for brewed coffee. To the right is the contents of an opened sachet of Starbucks VIA (yeah it’s a bit blurred — for effect!). The ground arabica comes from beans that have been roasted within 18 days, the average length of time where coffee beans is guaranteed fresh. The VIA sachet contents on my right is ??? days old.

Background: I don’t describe myself as a coffee connoisseur like some of my friends, but I do love the aroma and taste of freshly made espresso with (or without) milk, frothed (or not). I also like brewed coffee. I’m not highly particular about the beans I buy (I usually get them from Starbucks) but when I do get the chance, I try to always buy fresh from a local supplier whom I know has only recently roasted the beans. Coffee is the anti-thesis of wine where the latter demands aging. And coffee, despite being in its bean form should not be allowed to stay for long periods of time. This is the same reason why I choose to grind my own beans with a burr grinder. I grind on demand. In fact I wish we had a local service that, in the same way we used to have milk delivered to our doors in the 80′s, they should deliver 50-100 grams of freshly roasted coffee beans per week.

Anyway.

Yesterday, Starbucks PH launched their new instant coffee product line. Starting today, they will be doing taste test challenges in all their stores to see if customers can determine whether they’re drinking brewed or instant. I took the test: Got it right the first time. The kick of brewed coffee is the real giveaway as VIA tasted a bit flat. Again, I’m not a connoisseur, but if I wasn’t aware that I’m being served VIA, my taste buds probably would not have raised a flag. I’d probably think that the barista who brewed it added a little bit more water. Note: instant coffee is much closer to “coffee flavored drink” than it is to real coffee.

Here are my findings:

It’s no secret that Starbucks is struggling in the USA. This is perhaps why they launched a new product line to cater to a “new” demographic. VIA is for those people who can’t afford to take a break from their grueling 9-5 and enjoy the luxury of taking the elevator downstairs to their nearest Starbucks chain. It is also for travelers. Although I travel a lot, I have this. So it’s not for me.

To be fair, VIA is the… “most interesting” (HAHA I’m being politically correct!) instant coffee I have tried as it approximates brewed coffee. So you can take this on many levels. Real coffee drinkers would not be caught dead drinking this. I’d drink it if it was served and that’s that. But if I had a choice, well.

Is it good coffee? No. Is it good instant coffee? Yes.

I think the main predicament is that Starbucks has gone against their coffee culture producing an “evil” product — exactly that thing that ires real coffee drinkers. They’ve been here since the late 90′s and it is because of them that we now have elevated the status of coffee into a more social art. By releasing this product, they may have trouble brewing in the form of coffee lovers who have taken a liking to Starbucks.

VIA comes in packs of 3 (PHP 130.00) and 12 (PHP 450.00). The decaf 12-pack costs PHP 470.00.

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Sink the Bismarck: Unboxing a case from Brewdog

Jayvee Fernandez — Tue, 24 Aug 2010 16:01:38 +0000

This post is dedicated to Helga, Fritz, Peter, Ade, Anne, Marco S., Rico, Marco P., Bim, Lauren and the rest of The Man Blog. It is also dedicated to all the friends and clients I have drank with in the past several years especially to you, Mark P., Brad and Markku!

It finally arrived. The box of 13 330ml bottles of beer from Brewdog is finally safe inside my room. Of the 13 bottles, one is noteworthy: ‘Sink the Bismarck’ is the strongest commercially available beer at 82 proof (41% alcohol). Their previous record was the Tactical Nuclear Penguin (64 proof) and a limited run ‘The End of History’ (110 proof) which was also sold with the pelt of roadkill squirrels used as decanters.

Gross. Although the limited run sold for nearly USD $800.00 a bottle.

But I digress.

I’ve been a distant fan of Brewdog for months and it was only recently did I decide to take the plunge and invest a little money to produce, ship and pass these bottles through customs. Let’s just say I spent 5 digits to get everything here. If you check the prices on their website, most of the cost is attributed to the shipping and customs. I was lucky that the guys from Brewdog were cunning enough to indicate that the items were “yeast samples” on paper and from what I’ve been reading it can actually pass through the proper authorities without extra fees. It’s probably different in the Philippines. If anyone knows how to get these things in cheaper, tell me!

Again, sorry. I have digressed.

There are 13 bottles. One is odd.

The package that was delivered contains a sample pack of three different kinds of beer, four bottles each. These are the Punk IPA, the Zeitgeist and the Trashy Blonde. Click on the images to view the larger versions.

And now for the icing on the cake.

The ‘Sink the Bismarck’ comes in rather ‘makeshift elegant’ packaging. First thing you’ll notice is the bold 41% written on a piece of wrapping paper that covers the 330ml bottle indicating that this is an 82 proof brew. There is a stopper tied around the packaging.

The stopper is used for resealing the bottle. To borrow text from their site, “This is an extremely strong beer, it should be enjoyed in small servings and with an air of aristocratic nonchalance. In exactly the same manner that you would enjoy a fine whisky, a Frank Zappa album or a visit from a friendly yet anxious ghost.”

This is the text on the label. I’ve converted the photo to black and white to make reading easier. Click on the image to make it larger.

I’m crazy.

Illy Coffee Pods: You recommended ‘em so I got ‘em!

Jayvee Fernandez — Wed, 21 Apr 2010 17:02:39 +0000

Thanks to everyone who chimed in Facebook recommending Illy. It’s hard to find coffee pods off the shelf in your friendly neighborhood grocery so I was pleasantly surprised to see the boxes of Illy stacked. I probably have seen these before thinking they were regular coffee grind, in which case I prefer beans. So yay, new pods for the handpresso. A box sets you back PHP 600.00 for 18 coffee pods. That’s about PHP 33.00 for a shot of espresso. Not bad. The cheapest I’ve seen was PHP 25.00 per shot at the department store of Rustan’s.

The Epic Espresso Dessert

Jayvee Fernandez — Tue, 02 Feb 2010 15:43:00 +0000

OK let’s take a break from tech. Here’s an epic dessert idea I came up with which I shared with Paolo Manzano of HWM during the Samsung OMNIA II seminar. This is a variation of a dessert idea where you drown a serving of ice cream with a shot of espresso. Paging Lori!

So the first thing you need to do is grind fresh coffee beans enough for one shot of espresso. Remember, just grind, but don’t press yet.

You can use ice cream for this, but in my case I made it more interesting and bought one of these from the Korean grocery store near my house. I don’t even know what these are called, but they’re yummy. Open the pack and cut it up into two pieces so that it fits into the bowl. Cut however you like. Stacking them together is fine too.

EDIT: The ice cream dessert bar is called PPANG TTO AH. Thanks to Min Kim for translating!

Next, make the espresso. The trick is to dump the espresso into the bowl, fresh from machine so that it stays hot. Prepare the bowl first and then make the shot. Then finally, pour the espresso into the bowl, spreading the heart around your ice cream.

Add some whipped cream and there you have it, “ice cream something something drowned in espresso!”

TADAH!

Vue Bar: Displacing Makati into the South

Jayvee Fernandez — Wed, 23 Dec 2009 07:43:28 +0000

Prepare for some temporal displacement, south people. Vue Bar is a hint of the Makati life brought into the Bellevue Hotel in Filinvest. A little bird told me about this place recently opening at the beginning of the month so we decided to check it out last night (before simbang gabi!).

The “view” of Vue Bar is the Northgate cyberzone alive with the flashes of call center flair.

It’s a little eerie to find a posh bar in the south with a dress code. Usually, shorts and slippers are the main staple adorned with less than PHP50.00 beer (San Mig Light here is PHP90.00), but of course, there’s always a price for ambiance and this is a fresh takeaway from the usual BF / Alabang / Muntinlupa scene.

Vue Bar is located at the 22nd floor of The Bellueve Hotel. It is open from 5PM till 1AM. Dress code: no slippers, sando, shorts.

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McDonald’s in Greenbelt has finally reopened!

Jayvee Fernandez — Sun, 06 Dec 2009 14:53:21 +0000

Finally, they’re open again. The McDonald’s in front of AIM and beside Greenbelt has been a fixture since childhood. I asked the guard and they said they’ve been open since December 1. These photos were taken on the morning of December 4. The “new” store design is accented by wider spaces and more diverse seating choices.

So nice to know I can go back to my morning Big Breakfast fix when I’m in Makati.

Jayvee Fernandez | Pinoy Tech, Diving, Gadgets » Food

How Magnum Stole My Innocence

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Lori Baltazar’s gifts for me

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When the executive chef invites you to a steak dinner, say yes!

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Geeky Coffee: Reverse Vacuum Packed Alamid

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My take on Starbucks VIA Instant Coffee

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Sink the Bismarck: Unboxing a case from Brewdog

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Illy Coffee Pods: You recommended ‘em so I got ‘em!

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The Epic Espresso Dessert

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Vue Bar: Displacing Makati into the South

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