Our Daily Blog (www.regandmitzi.wordpress.com )
Mitzi Reodica always had an interest in blogging even before she tied the knot. Perhaps it is even marriage itself which propelled her flair for writing through her online food and beverage journal: . While truly a passionate food enthusiast, Mitzi Reodica admits that she can’t cook. So isn’t it any wonder why she’s always on the search for sumptuous, worth-every-dime eats and dining discoveries, all of which are recorded neatly and thoughfully in Our Daily Blog?!

Light, friendly and honest, the site reads like a friends’ journal. It recounts not only the good food but also the happy memories that she and her husband had while dining. Mitzi writes hers and her husband’s dining experiences with candor and excitement about the best restaurants--her old favorites and new finds, and even about the not so good experiences. Aside from eating out, she also writes about fab food items, tips and travel adventures. Truly, the blog is on the hunt to experience life at its fullest with a daily quest for great food and dining experiences.


Does your lifestyle as a couple reflect on your blog?
Our lifestyle as voracious eaters? That would have to be a yes! Hahaha! Our blog reflects how we love to go out and discover new places to eat in. It also shows how we complement each other as a couple, me with my interest in writing and my hubby with his love of photography.

What are your inspirations?
I basically get my inspiration from a number of wonderful food blogs whose authors have established themselves as food blog gurus, like David Lebovitz’s “Living the Sweet Life in Paris”, “Dessert Comes First”, and “Table for Three Please”.


Do you and your husband post separately? And do you have any disagreements on what to post or what not to post?
I basically do the posting and my hubby does the photography. Recently though, he has been teaching me how to improve on my macro shots and he just gives a nod of approval to the photos I take and post. We agree on things 99.9% of the time.

Are there any controversial posts thus far?
We try to steer away from controversy so aside from minor complaints I have of the food and services we encounter, you won’t find anything controversial in our blog.


What are your food, beverage and dining preferences?
Our dining preferences do influence our blog. It’s not really the cuisine, but the dining experience as a whole that makes or breaks the restaurant.

What is your favorite cuisine?
That’s a tough question, as we love to try many cuisines and realize there are very few, if any, that we dislike. But if I were to choose just one, I think I’d say it has to be Japanese.

What are your favorite restaurants in the metro?
Asian and Italian cuisines make up the majority of our blog content. Among our favorite restaurants are Malacca, Tsukiji, Piazzo, Spiral, and the midnight craving satisfaction of Charlie’s.


What are your recent yummy food discoveries and recommendations?
During our trip to Binondo, I discovered that delicious food doesn’t have to come from some fancy restaurant. If you love authentic Chinese food, brave the streets of Binondo and it will definitely satisfy your craving.

How much of your time is taken up by keeping your blog? Does keeping a blog affect your job?
It takes maybe an hour for me to create and complete a blog entry but it takes more to search for a new restaurant to try, or surf other blogs for inspiration. Keeping a blog does take me away from the stress of my work so I love creating entries.

If your blog were a dish or delicacy, what would it be?
It would have to be sashimi, because it’s fresh and unadulterated.

Overseas Pinoy Cooking (www.overseaspinoycooking.blogspot.com)
A lot of Filipinos pack their bags and fly for greener pastures but suffer sheer homesickness. And how does a homesick Pinoy cope? Through his stomach! One good example is, UT Man, the man behind Overseas Pinoy Cooking and an OFW based in Dubai, who cooks his way back to his homeland.

Overseas Pinoy Cooking features native Filipino cuisine which UT Man prepares himself, straight from his Dubai flat. In the blog, UT Man cooks native sinigang, humba, paella, even the simplest bulanglang, following his tried and tested family recipes, handed from generations to generations. Apart from that, he features native Ilocano dishes hailing from his home town in Vigan, Ilocos Sur.

Easy to follow recipes and mouthwatering photos decorate UT Man’s blog, all of which encourage its readers to cook native Filipino food. And with his blog, UT Man wishes to help other OFW’s who are struggling to cook for themselves and missing home. The recipes are distinctively Pinoy, with no frills and no fancy ingredients, just comfortable, authentic, warm Filipino food at its best which can transport any Pinoy abroad right back home.


Tell us something more about your blog.
I love cooking. I also love taking photos and I want to share them to my readers. The food and dishes that are posted in my blog are the types of dishes that I cook everyday, probably in every typical Filipino kitchen. They are mostly simple dishes using common native ingredients that are available in a typical Pinoy kitchen or available in any Pinoy food store or market.

Why create a recipe blog?
I stumbled upon some food blogs in the internet for a time. And then I thought why not create my own food blog that will cater specifically to OFWs? I created a recipe blog particularly to help my readers. The recipes are printable which can be collected and compiled. Besides, it is what most of the readers are looking for. Plus I love cooking. I started cooking when I was in grade school. I grew up in the province. I was taught how to cook early. And I’ve been interested in cooking ever since.

Any plans in opening your very own Filipino food business abroad?
I have always been interested in putting up a food business but I don’t have enough resources yet.


What is your favorite post in the blog?
That’s a difficult one because I love all my posts. If I have to name a few, my favorites are definitely my recipes of paella, from Pinoy Arroz Paella to my recipe of Seafood Paella, because it’s the dish I usually cook every Noche Buena. I strongly believe that cooking is not about the extravagance of the dish but the sense of tradition which brings the family together.

Where do you buy authentic Filipino products in UAE?
Native products and ingredients are now sold in almost all supermarkets, neighborhood stores and Asian stores in UAE. But some of these products are from Thailand. The price of fresh herbs and vegetables is reasonable, but the products are usually from India.

What do you miss most about Filipino cuisine?
I don’t really miss a particular dish because I could always cook whatever dish I crave for. However, what I miss most is the ambiance, the feel of the energetic Pinoy atmosphere especially at a fiesta celebration, the typical handaan. With all the variety of native dishes served. And well…yes…the lechon!

What is your dream destination to travel and eat?
To travel across Luzon, Visayas and Mindanao by land. I would love to discover all those popular eateries and restaurants along the way. The roadside restaurants in the provinces; these are the places to discover authentic local food because the dishes are prepared by the local residents themselves.


If your blog were a dish or delicacy, what would it be?
Bulanglang. It’s a simple, boiled vegetable dish seasoned only with salt.

Hungrynez (www.hungrynez.com )
There’s no place like hom--the welcoming smell, the inviting sight and mesmerizing taste of a warm, delicious meal to cheer one up after a tough day. And that’s how the blog, Hungrynez, feels like. It evokes feelings of a fuzzy and comfortable dining experience that is sure to lift anyone’s spirits up. Hungrynez, created by Doneza, a housewife and mother from Dagupan, Philippines, combines the word “hungry” and her nickname “Nez” to label a blog that sure fills one’s hunger for juicy stories and recipes.

The blog has a wide array of food choices and recipes, neatly categorized into appetizers, veggies, desserts, noodles, snacks, meat and fish for easy and efficient browsing. Complete with mouthwatering photos, Hungrynez is like an online version of every family’s trusted good old cook book!

The blog contains recipes and photos of simple, traditional home-cooked dishes like Chicken Macaroni Supreme Salad, Lumpiang Shanghai, and Ginisang Talong which could make any reader long for comfortable family dinners at home. But what sets this blog apart from others, are Doneza’s refreshing twists and unique reinventions to simple and guaranteed appetizing meals using only very simple ingredients. For example, a typical burger patty can become a “Banana Blossom Burger” patty which makes use of banana blossoms as alternative to meat. Other concoctions include Doneza’s recipes with unexpected combinations: Banana-Lemon bread and Carrot-Pineapple muffin recipes. But the main highlight of her blog is her very own recipe for “Squash Bread," which is bread with mashed squash as its main ingredient. The one-of-a-kind recipe easily became a hit among Hungrynez readers and received a lot of positive feedback for its uniqueness and for being a healthy, nutritious and ingenious way to bait the kids to eat their veggies! Indeed, Hungrynez is a blog worth bookmarking for easy-to-make and unique recipes any adventurous foodie would love.

(Ed's note: Unfortunately, our writer couldn't snatch an interview with Doneza, after many attempts.)

...We've saved the best for last. Presenting, the winner of the 2009 Best Food and Beverage Blog award from the recent Philippine Blog Awards (drumroll please)...

Table for Three, Please (www.tableforthreeplease.com)
Franco, Mariko and Anonymous Paul created the recent Philippine Blog Awards for food and beverage blog winner, Table for Three, Please, out of their unanimous love for food. But more than just blogging about their personal experiences about food and dining, the triumvirate opted for a wider scope.

Table for Three Please is a one-stop-shop blog for every food enthusiast. Their blog runs the whole gamut of eating--from restaurant reviews and recent foodie discoveries to travel features which highlight the local cuisine. It also features articles written by their friends and interviews of renowned chefs and restaurateurs. Aside from an honest detailing about their food experiences, a reader can also marvel at the recipes the bloggers created themselves.

In essence, Table For Three Please, is an elaborate dish in itself, something one can share with two (or Three) friends on the table.


Are there differences of opinion when it comes to food and dining?
Franco: All the time. I encourage it. I think it keeps things interesting.
Anonymous Paul: We do discuss things before we write about it and we're all open to suggestions. In the end, it’s about seeing the bigger picture.
Mariko: Franco once asked us to name our top five favorite restos, and it looked like he was wrinkling his nose as I mentioned each of mine.

Where do you want to travel next?
Franco: New York, Kuala Lumpur and Hong Kong are very near and dear to my heart and my stomach. As much as I would love to go to San Sebastian, Tokyo or Melbourne, I would love to first travel more around the Philippines.
Anonymous Paul: Personally, I love Thai food. I lived in Bangkok for a year or so and had it every single day during my stay. I just love the bright and clean flavors, the complexity of their core ingredients and the chilies of course.
Mariko: I love Ilocos because of the bagnet and the vinegar. Davao--there was a different kind of restaurant or cafe on each block. Dumaguete, because of the silvanas. If I had the time and the money, I would go back to Italy and go through every region, and just eat and eat and eat.


Are there any restaurants or dishes you wish others would enjoy and appreciate?
Franco: I wish Pinoys would appreciate the rich diversity of their local cuisine. There is so much Filipino regional food that is being ignored and lost.
Anonymous Paul: Mexican food; in particular taco truck cuisine. And I’m not talking about whatever debased incarnations we've been programmed to think what tacos are.

If you were to prepare a rather plain and native dish, how will you reinvent it?
Anonymous Paul: I took some of that already wonderful leftover adobo. Smashed the meat with a mortar and pestle and pan-fried the shreds in oil until crispy. I deglazed the pan with some seamark and then threw in some sprigs of fresh rosemary.
Mariko: I remember when my husband first tried risotto and he called it "the most expensive lugaw ever." Maybe I could do something with lugaw.

If your fellow were a dish what would he/she be?
Franco: Mariko is chocolate soufflé – simple on the outside, deliciously complex on the inside. As for Anonymous Paul, think of him as a molecular gastronomy creation by Jose Andres or Heston Blumenthal--fun, creative and whimsical.
Anonymous Paul: For Mariko it would be these chili laced chocolates, seemingly sweet and innocuous but with an unexpected feisty finish. Franco would be a crème brulee.
Mariko: Fancy Shmancy Foie Gras a la Franco and Anonymous Paul is Camel Fritters on Wild Rice.

If “Table for Three, Please” were dish, what would it be?
Franco: Our blog would probably be steaming shabu-shabu. Throw different ingredients into a single hot pot, bring to a rolling boil and just be amazed what comes out of it. Yummy (pun intended).
Anonymous Paul: Rojak. It’s this Indonesian salad typically made of fruits, shrimp paste, bird's eye chilies, sugar, lime juice, you tiao…You’d never think of putting such contrasting ingredients together yet in the end it just makes one great dish.
Mariko: It's not one dish; it's a buffet!