Eslava ♥ ♥

I read so many wonderful things about Eslava I put it number one on my list for my trip to Seville

The place does not take reservations and I was lucky to get a seat at the bar as soon as I arrived.

Another perk of being a single traveler! ;)

Tapas bar menu

English version for you and me

There is also a restaurant behind the tapas bar. It was packed for a weekday lunch.

Something light and refreshing to prepare my palate

A plate of olives and some kind of beans that I hungrily polished off. I was so hungry!!!

And then my server looked at me, aghast. He immediately grabbed a bag from under the bar 

and explained to me that the yellow things were lupin beans and the skin was not edible.

I looked around me and saw empty lupin bean shells on every plate. Hahahaha! OOOPS!!!!!!

I told him I was seriously starving and he made sure my food came immediately. Lol.

Scallops of seaweed puree and kataifi noodles. Just a tad overcooked for my liking.

Razor clams a la plancha

Look how plump and tender. This was, hands down, my favorite at Eslava.

Okay, this was the only dish I enjoyed at Eslava.

Slow-cooked egg on boletus cake. I was most excited for this because it won 1st Prize

for Best Tapas at Sevilla en Boca de Todos 2010. Turned out to be rather underwhelming. 

The Cigar for Becquer won 3rd Prize, but the brie pastry stuffed with squid ink cream

 and algae did absolutely nothing for me.

My dessert of chocolate orange torte saved the day

Wiped out in 5 minutes! My server was totally amused by me. 

And these gentlemen seemed to approve of my appetite

Good job, Jin who really loves to eat!

Service was great at Eslava. Come for a plate of razor clams then move to 

ConTenedor or La Brunilda for a proper meal.

Eslava: Calle Eslava, 3, 41002 Sevilla, Spain
Tel: +34 954 90 65 68

Eslava Website

Doña Maria Premium Rice

I used to cook more when I was living on my own.

I don't go to the kitchen much nowadays, except to raid the fridge at odd hours of the night. You know what they say, there can only be one queen in the kitchen.

So I let Mom do her thing, feed us the good stuff, prepare one-dish rice toppings for us - usually three different viands over soft and steaming rice - and our daily fruit box consisting sometimes of 10 different kinds of fruits!

She is doing a great job. I have absolutely no complaints except that because her cooking is so good, I always end up asking for extra Japanese rice.

Suahe, steamed lapu-lapu, blanched spinach, steak rice 

Stuffed crab, garlicky turbo chicken fried rice, half-eaten maki (ooops, my fault!)   

Pork adobo, braised tofu, steamed spinach, corn fried rice

Gambas and bacon fried rice

Imagine the surprise of my life when I walked into the kitchen one afternoon and saw the help unloading the groceries. It was never Japanese rice. It has always been Doña Maria premium rice!

Rice situation at home. All the white rice is mine!

I am super impressed. And I want to share this news with everyone because I have a soft spot for everything local.

Why buy imported when our own farmers can produce excellent quality rice?

And there are so many varieties. Jasponica white rice, Miponica white rice, Jasponica brown rice, Miponica brown rice, Jasponica white plus brown rice…

I'm a white rice-only kind of person. I love my white rice. Nothing can come between me and my white rice. 

Except tuyo. 

For tuyo I am willing to swap 2 cups of white rice for 3 cups of brown.

Tuyo with Miponica brown rice (first of three cups).

The photo says everything. The brown rice tastes almost like white, but is higher in nutrients  

and fiber, magnesium, selenium, vitamins B1, B3, and B6. I feel so healthy already!

Jasponica Bown and Miponica Brown

Still, I will forever be a white rice lover. 

Give me white rice and XO sauce and I have a complete meal.

Homemade XO sauce rice. My quick solution to hunger problems.

But because I promised to try eating healthier this year, it will be white plus brown rice

for me from now on.

Like I said in my previous post, BABY STEPS! :)

Poulet Manille

I woke up and it's 2016 already! Where did time go?!?

If there is one thing I've learned after trying unsuccessfully to stick to my new year's resolutions for the past 36 years, it is to be realistic.

And so, no.

I will not promise to wake up at 7:00am every morning. But I promise to be up and ready before 9:30am.

I will not promise to lose 50 lbs. But I promise to eat healthy.

I mean healthyER.

I recently discovered this charming little place in SM Aura that serves only free-range chickens. Free-range means the birds live in a big open space, running around freely, breathing fresh air, basking in sunshine, playing with their friends, until they graduate in life to become someone else's happy meal.

Poulet Manille, the house of healthy and happy chickens 

 They have other items on the menu, but I was there for the roasts.

What a beauty this brass rotisserie imported all the way from France

Sexy legs

The 75-day Pamora Farms chickens were surprisingly meatier than I expected, and they 

smelled appetizing, too.

But first, Watermelon Ginger and Country Pink Lemonade coolers

We started off with Country Chicken Liver Pate

Spread pate on toast, top with berries coulis, eat, repeat.

A healthy salad of seared tuna nicoise

And then the main event: Clean, healthy, free-range roast chicken. 

Poulet Manille serves the chickens in four flavors. This one is the French Country Classic

with amber butter.

Each chicken comes with two complimentary sides. You can choose from cream of wild spinach,
 pommes frites, broccoli and toasted almonds, creamy mashed potatoes, mixed biodynamic 

vegetables, roasted garlic rice, and fragrant jasmine rice.

Poulet's Truffle Chicken

South West BBQ Chicken with sweet and tangy rootbeer reduction

And my favorite of the four, spicy Peri Peri Chicken

In a genuine effort to eat healthier this 2016, I ordered an army of peri-peri chicken for our media noche.

I had a free-range drumstick in my hand (instead of lechon) at midnight and 

I am proud to say I started the year right. 

Baby steps!!!

Poulet Manille: Basement, SM Aura Premier, Bonifacio Global City.
Tel: +63917 469 7895

Poulet Manille Facebook Page

Magnum White Almond Pairing

Over the holidays, I received a big, big box of sweet temptations.

The newest Magnum White Almond, coated with thick Belgian chocolate and speckled 

generously with almond slivers. 

You see, I didn't go anywhere for Christmas, but I had a lot of fun at home playing with my edible toys.

It's one of my most favorite things to do. Experimenting and then eating the subjects of my experiments. Remember what I did with my one year supply of Regent waffles? See post here.

I played with so many Magnum White Almond pairings, mostly with stuff from our fridge. A few tasted downright terrible, but I got three winner pairings and I thought I'd share them with you. :)

Magnum White Almond with Almond Butter

I love eating nut butters on its own, straight from the bottle, except Mom recently started buying

everything unsweetened. GrUeffllkk. If your mother starts doing the same to you, you 

know what to do - smother the boring thing on Magnum White Almond!

Truffle mushroom cream cheese spread that goes on crackers and into my stomach,

often during ungodly hours.

Now on Magnum. 

Rich, thick, smooth, creamy, earthy, sweet, crunchy, and cold! Yes, it works!!!

I also found the tub of homemade bagoong my good friend Dennis recently gave me 

and I. Just. Had. To.

OMG! We have a winner!!!

Magnum should totally come up with a white chocolate shrimp paste flavor (and thank me later) 

So many more Magnum pairing possibilities!