racks restaurant

While my daughter was celebrating her birthday with her classmates in another restaurant, my son and I decided to try out the newly opened Racks Restaurant at the mall.

The interior is well-lighted, it’s clean and it has a homey touch into it because of the use of wall decors that we usually find in our homes.

racks restaurant southmall branch

racks restaurant southmall branch

racks restaurant southmall branch

The combination of wood and stone in its interior is brilliant. It made the place oozing with warmth and happiness.  The place is literally covered with lots of lighting and i love its overall brightness.

Now here comes the good part… food.

pink lemon cooler

house salad

The house salad tastes good.  I love the fruitiness taste of the dressing.  Crispy julienned apples, and the wonderful crunch of crushed pili nuts make it more appetizing.  I just find the 2 pieces of garlic bread not necessary.  I ended up not eating them at all.   Price P140.00 or about $3.30

pork ribs half rack

The pork ribs taste good but i find the meat a little bit dry.  No problem though, their home BBQ sauce will do the trick.  I’ve chosen corn and carrot and coleslaw as side dishes.  My bad, i should not have chosen coleslaw having already ordered their house salad.  Price P450.00 or about $10.60

angus beef

My son had angus beef with mashed potato and corn and carrot side dishes.  I managed to have a bite of the angus beef and the meat is tender and cooked nicely.  Price 595.00 or about $14.00

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happy new year!

I promised my hubby (who is sea-based) that i would be posting the photos of the food that we shared during the new year celebration.  So, here they are, our simple new year feast.

fresh fruit platter that i made consisting of dragon fruits, pears and apples

macaroni salad prepared by my sister

beef kare-kare, a specialty of my sister-in-law

chicken roasted in turbo broiler prepared by my mother

oven baked baby back ribs, my own specialty and the kids' favorite

sausages grilled perfectly on hot charcoal

grilled pork belly that i just seasoned simply with salt

my perfect dipping sauce for grilled pork and fish (see my previous blog entry)

grilled fresh tilapia, my brother's favorite.

novellino wine

Adding to the excitement of everyone, meet Jack, the two month old puppy who is the new member of the family.  He is so cute and adorable.  Who could resist this little face of cuteness overload..  He provided us with his own ways to entertain us.  I guess we all fell in love with Jack.  If you could only see how his teeny-weeny tail wag.. so cute.

jack, new member of the family

I became more excited when i received this souvenir Burj-Dubai paper weight as a gift from my sister who arrived home just to spend the holidays with us.  She never fails to give us nice little gifts from Dubai.

paper weight

Everyone really had fun.  I had fun too even if i missed my hubby so much.

Welcome 2012!

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happy holidays to all

We had an amazing Christmas celebration last December 25, 2011.  We had lots of food and goodies and the kids had fun.  Although my hubby had to leave before Christmas to work abroad, we made this day as exciting as possible and i’m sure he would have wanted us to be happy even if we’re celebrating it miles apart from each other.

oven-baked baby back ribs - a favorite dish by everyone

My oven-baked baby back ribs is always a favorite.  It’s often the most requested dish by everyone.  I marinated the ribs a day before.  I made use of the hickory flavored marinade combined with the regular bbq flavored marinade.  It gave the most delightful and smoky flavored ribs.  Yum!

my very own style of lasagna

I made 2 medium containers of lasagna.  I made used of oven ready lasagna sheets and it turned out to be just as great.

almond cupcakes for the kids

For my cupcakes, i ground up roasted almonds and added it to my batter.  I would have wanted to make a marshmallow icing to complement the cupcakes but i ran out of time, will surely be doing it the next time.  My almonds are courtesy of my sister who always make it a point to gift me with nuts everytime she comes home from Dubai.  She also gave me walnuts and that i would use in my next cupcake baking.

goodies i received from my brother who arrived from switzerland

These goodies are from my brother who arrived from Switzerland.  He always give me swiss chocolates as well as those lovely sugar cubes.  I know these are all available locally but nothing beats gifts from a loved one who comes home from abroad.

an animal print Mango clutch bag from my sister

I adore the snake-skin Mango clutch given to me by my sister.  I could use it as my make-up organizer.

an H&M tops from my sister

This H&M tops fits me so well.  I love the print and its texture is so smooth on my skin.  I’m planning to wear it on our new year celebration.

a Roxy tops from my sister

The Roxy tops has that cute butterfly design on front.   Its very much wearable and i would love to wear it on my next trip to the mall.  Oh, it was also a gift from my sister.

a silver bracelet from my sister-in-law

I adore the heart design of those tiny trinkets adorning this silver bracelet.  In fact, i’ve already worn it last Christmas.

My wish for the world… LOVE, PEACE AND HAPPINESS.

My wish for my family… LOVE, GOOD HEALTH AND HAPPINESS…

My little prayer is … “THANK YOU FOR ALL THE BLESSINGS”

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oven-baked BBQ back ribs

I have always been the type of a person who cooks without any preparation at all.  What i usually do is i just buy a variety of meat, fish, and vegetables in the grocery when i do my weekly shopping then by the time i want to cook i just pick out the ingredients in the fridge.  The type of menu will always depend on what ingredients i have at the moment.

Most often during lunch or dinner, the kids would ask me the name of my recipe and when i say i don’t know, they would have a strange look on their faces.  But even then, its a great pleasure and joy upon hearing them commenting how delicious and delightful my creations are.

When i cook a meal, i would base it on food shows that i see on tv, from what i read and from what i see and eat when dining out.  So, i usually get inspirations from them.

One of my specialties is bbq back ribs or shall i say oven-baked ribs.   Instead of grilling it in charcoal, i cooked it in the oven instead.  For full flavor, i marinated it overnight with bbq sauce and making use of the meat injector so the marinade will really penetrate deep inside the meat.  For the recipe, it’s so easy, nothing fancy and extraordinary.  It’s just a matter of picking out the best brand of bbq marinade at the grocery, make some diagonal shallow or slight slices on the meat, pour out the bbq marinade fully covering the slab , use the meat injector (if you wish) for more flavor to the meat, leave it overnight and the next day, pop it in the oven.  That’s it.

Here’s a photo of my creation.

bbq back ribs

The kids couldn’t wait.  After slicing them in individual ribs, they are gone in a flash.  Everytime my son’s classmates come here at home, it’s always been their favorite .  Just some time later, this is how it looks.

the boys loved it, and this is all what's left

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