O'sonho

Every single time we decide to eat somewhere other than our home Ruy and I always struggle. There are so many options out there and it’s a challenge trying to come up with one place that Ruy and I both want to try at that particular time. Usually Ruy asks me if I’m craving for any particular cuisine. Do I want Spanish? Italian? Chinese? Filipino? Etc, etc, etc. Never do we consider Portugese Cuisine. We Filipinos haven’t had that much exposure to Portugese Cuisine and I must admit that my knowledge of Portugese Cuisine is limited to the Portugese egg tarts. So to say I was hesitant when Ruy suggested trying out the newly opened Osonho in Eastwood would be an understatement..

Being the *ahem* obedient wife I went along with Ruy to Osonho and boy oh boy my palate thanks Ruy for suggesting Osonho.

We decided to try their bestsellers since it’s our first time in Osonho. We had their Coffee Marinated Roast Pork, Peri Peri Chicken on Fragrant Chicken Rice, Bacalhau de “O’sonho” and their Mint Iced Tea.

Coffee Marinated Roast Pork – Php 420



If I were to describe this dish in one word I would have to say it’s BOLD. The flavors are strong, in-your-face, and wonderful. Be prepared for a tug-o-war of flavors in your mouth – a bit of sweetness from the sweet potato, the familiar bitterness from the coffee and the rich flavor of the pork. As much as I wanted to hoard this dish to myself I literally couldn’t as the chops were huge. Ruy and I wondered how the meat remained moist despite the long cooking time.

Peri Peri Chicken on Fragrant Chicken Rice – Php 320

We have heard rave reviews about O’sonho’s peri peri chicken but I wasn’t exactly jumping up and down excitedly before tasting this dish. I’ve tried peri peri chicken before and the entire experience was unpleasant and I wasn’t sure I wanted a repeat of that experience.

When the chicken arrived I was surprised at how ordinary it looked. It was this ordinary appearance which gave me the courage to try peri peri chicken again. OH MY GOD. The skin was unbelievable. It was tasty and crisp and just beautiful.

The chicken was cooked perfectly. Moist, tasty with a wonderfully crisp skin. (It was so good I told Ruy I should have become a scientist and my life would be devoted to creating a kind of chicken with two layers of skin)

Bacalhau de “O’sonho” – Php420



I wanted to eat the whole bowl myself. I was trying to give Ruy the evil eye but he wouldn’t take the hint so I had to be content with sharing this with him. Don’t be fooled by the small container. There’s so much flavor in every spoonful you really don’t need much for all this bread….in fact we had to order more pita triangles as we still had a lot of Bacalhau left!

The restaurant looks a bit intimidating from the outside. The interiors have a somewhat luxurious feel to it that I had prepared myself to pay an exorbitant amount for the food. The price was surprisingly reasonable considering the quality of food, the location and the amount of food you’re getting!

Baking with Andrea

Make sure you have something you can use for sifting.



Sift the dry ingredients.


Then mix in the wet ingredients. Whisk everything together.

After baking, decorate with icing and any other decoration you might prefer. Andrea likes candy sprinkles.

You then need to eat the cake...for quality control purposes of course.


P.S.
Mixing bowls make lovely hats don't you think?

Pasta 2 Ways: Aglio Olio (Part 1)

For dinner today we are having leftover Bangus Sardines. The sardines are so delicious they're actually one of my favorite dishes among those that Ruy make. The problem with this dish (or any other fish dish for that matter) is that Ruy only feels full for around an hour and then he starts looking for something else to eat. Because of this I needed to make something filling that he could snack on and since we have a lot of uncooked spaghetti from a Christmas basket we received last month.

I decided that I was going to make my version of Aglio Olio. My version has anchovies and olives!! Why? Because both Ruy and I love anchovies and olives so anytime we can put it in a recipe we sure as hell will.

Aglio Olio is extremely easy to make. First, heat a quarter of a cup of olive oil. Sautee 8-10 cloves of minced garlic, around 3/4 of a teaspoon of chili flakes and a tin of anchovies. Cook until the anchovies have practically dissolved into the cooking oil. Remove from the heat and mix the sauce with olives, cooked spaghetti and a handful of parsley. You can also put in parmesan cheese if you want to.

Here's my Aglio Olio:



And let me just share what Ruy and I have been obsessively drinking these past few months. Real Leaf Lychee Flavor!! It's so good!!

2009 Updates

Hi everyone. I really should apologize for our LONG absence but then we've done that one too many times in this blog already so I'll skip over the apologies and go right into the updates.

2009 has been an eventful year marked by major occurrences -- both positive and negative. The most noteworthy would be the following.

- We're finally living on our own.
- I have spent half of 2009 as a SAHM (that's stay-at-home mom for those who are not familiar with the acronym) and it's been wonderful and extremely challenging.
- I now cook more than Ruy does!
- We were very much affected by the Typhoon Ondoy and we spent the last quarter of the year facing the challenge of rebuilding our home.

To wrap it all up. The challenges of 2009 really made me realize what an awesome guy Ruy is...I also realized that we are exiting our newlywed phase and so we might have to change the description of this blog...hmmm