Breakfast

Breakfast is our body's initial fuel for the day. It jumpstarts our brain and bodily functions so that we can perform well for our daily activities. This is vital as it sets our mood as we take on the next 16 waking hours or so of our busy lives.

It has also been widely circulated that breakfast eaters are less likely to suffer obesity. When you eat your breakfast early on, your metabolism kicks in. Metabolism as we all know, slows down as we age and is the culprit of weight gain as we get older, if we work on firing up our metabolism, it stays active, thus keeping it from being sedentary and causing us to get bigger.

Eating breakfast also keeps you from starving mid-day. When you are so starved, the tendency of you reaching out for that sweet treat or sodium packed snack is quite higher. Breakfasts keeps you fueled enough for the first 3 - 5 hours of your day so that you will not decide on suddenly binge-eating 2 hours into your day.

While merely eating breakfast is the first step to health, we must also choose carefully what we put on our plates for breakfasts. It is said that having fruits and protein for breakfasts is preferred for weight loss. However, having a balanced breakfast of about 400 calories with the basic macro nutrients - carbs, protein and fats, and addition of useful fiber and sugar is a sure way to start the day right.

¡Viva España!

I've always been fond of cooking shows even back in grade school. I remember watching the Del Monte Kitchenomics segment in Eat Bulaga with Toni Rose Gayda and Chef Sandy Daza, then when we had cable, I was all about Rachel Ray's 30-Minute Meals and Giada DeLaurenti's Everyday Italian.

I started cooking around college, and boosted when I got married. Too bad there are some ingredients that are just difficult to find, even in large and 'posh' supermarkets like Rustan's. So when I saw a super rustic Spanish food-slash-market-place just behind my office building, I was ecstatic. The place is called Terry's Selection Gourmet Store. Apparently, apart from the deli, there's a restaurant upstairs. A friend brought me there and I just had to take pictures with jars upon jars upon jars of preserves, herbs, salsa and what-not. There were cheeses that I have been searching for so, prime meat cuts, wines kept in wine-cellar-shelvings, sardines in vintage-looking sardine cans. Oooh, it was heaven.

Anywho, let me leave you with this...

Lakas maka-España,no?

Badet even had to wrap a scarf for the Euro-vibe.

Terry's selection is in Karivin Plaza, Bldg. B, 2316 Pasong Tamo Ext.

Sakae

Went to the ONLY conveyor-belt-sushi-buffet-resto in the Philippines. Sakae Sushi in the SM Mall of Asia (though I believe there are branches in BGC and SM North EDSA too, I think). Went with my officemates, yesterday, on a Friday afternoon(ish).

The All Day Sushi Buffet is worth PhP399, which includes bottomless green tea. Sushi/makis, if to be bought ala-carte is priced at PhP39, PhP59, PhP 79 and PhP99, which depends on the color of the plate. The blue plates are the cheapest ones and the red and pink/purple plates are those worth PhP99.So if you were able to finish at least 4 PhP99 peso plates, it's sulit already.

We arrived at Sakae around 5:30 pm and stayed until around 8(?). So... prior to going to Sakae, we first read reviews in EYP.ph, juice.ph, blogs, etc. as it's gonna be our first time to go there (yes, we're not trendsetters, early adopters, deal with it!). There were bad reviews saying that there were only 4-5 types of sushi revolving, and bad service, so we went with very low expectations (and hopes that there's at least cali-maki).

I'm surrounded by sushis. Gotta catch 'em all! (Pokemon!)
Sorry for the horrid hair, I think I was on my 6th plate here and I was a
little high and too happy and starting to feel full and tired.

To clarify things, it's not just 4-5 types of sushi. There are LOTS of them if you'll stay for longer than 30 minutes.  Sushis and makis are made in batches, so you will find that there's about 4-5 type of sushi are going around the conveyor belt at one time. But after 15 minutes or so, the types of sushis/makis made are changed and you'll have roughly about at least 20 types of them going around after 2 hours. We stayed for about 3 hours, with friends to chat with, 3 hours isn't so long and so we were able to catch all (or almost all) of the sushis. 

California Maki isn't as elusive as other reviewers made it seem like. There was salmon, maguro, ebi, yellowfin, octopus, squid and egg sushi. There's also futomaki, tekkamaki, and one with the sesame seeds. There's 6 caviar-based sushis too and there's also the one which seemed to be covered in dumpling wrapper and deep fried, and there's like barbecued salmon with spicy sauce too. There's a few more others that might have slipped my mind too, or those which I don't know what the fish/filling is.

7 plates only. I know, disappointing ;P

Sure, there might be a little bit too much rice in the makis, but I couldn't care less, as long as I have my soysauce and wasabi and lots of green tea to drink, I'm fine. 

For someone who loves sushi, PhP399 was defo worth it. I was able to eat 7 plates. (2 greens, 3 yellows, 1 red and 1 purple/pink). But my friend, was able to finish 14 plates (yeah, she's a girl). We'd say we're good with just paying PhP399 for THAT much :) Dieting and healthy lifestyle went out the window yesterday, since it's the start of a long weekend and yeah, YOLO!

PS. If you're wondering why I didn't go with my husband to Sakae, it's kinda frustrating but he's not a fan of Jap. IKR?!