We frequently have our lunch at Tokio, located at The Causeway in Melbourne’s CBD. Although we’ve tried several of the dishes they serve, the Teriyaki Don (Chicken Teriyaki on rice) remains our favorite. At $7.50 per serve (if memory serves correctly), it’s quite a filling dish. It comes in large (shown here) and small bowls. Since the shop specialises in take-away, there are limited seats in-store so be sure to arrive early if you plan to dine there. Service is fast and courteous. Highly recommended!

I don’t exactly recall how old I was but I remember it happened on a a very hot day and I was at my grandparents’ home. Tired and sweaty after playing, I gladly had some of the cold watermelon slices I was offered as a snack. It was sweet and juicy but in my haste in consuming the fruit, I had accidentally swallowed a couple of seeds.

I remember my terror as I felt it slide through my throat. I tried to force it back out but couldn’t. I think my grandma assured me it was okay but I was still worried as I walked back home. I was always told that I wasn’t supposed to swallow seeds, why would adults give out that warning if it’s okay to eat them anyway? I was convinced I would have to be rushed to the hospital soon and doctors would have to open me up and hunt for the seeds in my stomach. Terrible thoughts, I know.

Which may probably be why I cried as I walked the short distance home. I was crying when I recounted the incident to my mother and was still sobbing when my dad came home from work nearly an hour later.

My dad asked my mom what I was wailing about and she told him that I had swallowed a few watermelon seeds. My dad then told me that the seed would now germinate in my tummy and that it would grow, not a bad thing he said, as we’d then have our very own watermelon source. Imagine all the watermelon we could have for free, he said.

In my mind’s eye, I saw my stomach would grow, housing a humongous watermelon that would have vines that would stick out of my mouth, which would produce more watermelons. I figured that what must have happened to all those women who walk around with their big bellies, they must have swallowed watermelon seeds too!

Of course, I howled even louder and my mom scolded my father for scaring me more than I already was. He told me then that he was just kidding and that I having nothing to worry about. I don’t remember how he convinced me that he was telling the truth then but I guess I bought it or I would have remembered crying all night.

One night several years later when we were having some watermelon after dinner, I told my dad to eat his slice carefully or the seeds might grow inside his belly. He laughed, amused that I remembered the incident from several years back. He said he thought that I may be too young to remember what had happened then.

What bought on this anecdote? Well, we were watching the TV show What’s Good For You last night and they tackled this old wives’ tale. I figured long before the experiment on the show that the seeds won’t have a harmful effect. Hey, I even enjoy eating roasted butong pakwan (watermelon seeds) now and what do you know, it’s actually nutritious!

Still, I now prefer the seedless watermelon variety. Pity they’re not as common in the Philippines as it is here or it might have saved me from that horrific memory from many years before.

I know, another food related post! I originally intended to post these individually photos over several days but never got around to it. So, in a post that’s enough to give you a craving for something sweet yourself, here’s some we’ve been having for dessert these days.

We went to a Pinoy shop last weekend and bought a pint of Queso (cheese) ice cream as hubby has been hunkering for some cheese flavored “dirty” (or street sold) ice cream for quite awhile. He said it didn’t taste the same but it’s the nearest thing we could lay our hands on so it’s good enough. I’m sure some people would think it odd to create a cheese flavoured ice cream but not Filipinos. I remember how shocked an American boss in my previous work was when he found out that there are ube (yam), avocado and buko (young coconut) flavoured ice creams in the Philippines. I wonder what he’d think of this one? Oh, and since all processed food here in Australia have food labels showing the product’s ingredients and nutritional information, one was slapped on the side of the ice cream’s container too. It made some interesting reading, what really goes into a cheese flavoured ice cream? Hey look, the label states that there’s really some cheddar cheese in there - all 5.4% of it. Unfortunately, the exipiration date was stamped over some of the ingredients. Click on the photo’s label for a closer look.

I normally don’t like KitKat chocolates (or milk chocolates, for that matter) but I really took a liking to these peanut butter flavoured ones. Notice that it has “New” on its label but what they really meant was that it’s limited edition. I can’t find it in any of the shops anymore. That bar in the photo was the last of my horde and I discovered too late that it was beyond its best before date but I didn’t care, I ate it anyway! Wouldn’t want to let a good bar go to waste now, would we?

Then there’re the green and white M&Ms. I remember Pamela Anderson coming down here in Australia to launch the green M&Ms a few months back. We thought it’s just a new colour and didn’t pay much attention to all the hoopla surrounding it. As it turned out, green actually means mint. There were 3 colours to the bag we bought - dark green (lightly minty), light green (medium) and white (very minty). They’re okay but not something I’d be in a hurry to buy again. Why, oh why, don’t they just release the M&Ms with the dark chocolate here? Now, these dark chocolate blocks are more up my alley. I’ve been trying several brands of the grocery-type dark chocs and these three are my recent purchases. Unlike in the Philippines where most things could be bought in small packs, most junk food and chocolates here look like they’ve all been supersized so I had a choice of either passing up on these chocolates or buying them in the only size they come in - huge! I wasn’t too keen on the Whittaker’s one and chucked it after only finishing a few squares. Next came the Old Gold, which was so-so. My favourite of the lot is the Nestle Club one. Although it has the highest amount of chocolate at 85%, its a bit on the sweet side although the label declares it only has 45.5g of sugars per 100 g compared to Whittaker’s 59.7g/100 g. It seemed fresher to compared to the other two, which were a bit dry and seemed like it has been sitting in a shelf for too long. That’s 1 out of 3. Could have been better, but then again, it could have been worse too.

We came home tonight quite famished and I had to cook dinner quickly. I prepared ginisa (stir-fry) and we were having dinner in about 25 minutes. Could you tell what’s different with this dish?

Well, the difference is in the meat (or lack thereof). I cooked it with the new Vegie Deligths Mince, which is a meat free substitute for vegetarians. The product came out of the packaging in a sheet and had to be separated for several minutes. I had to add some water to soften it since it was quite hard and dry. After a few minutes though, this fake mince crumbled easily and became soft, not quite like mince at all. Too bad really, as I was hoping that it would at least be able to emulate the texture of real mince. And what of the taste? Not much to report there either as it was quite bland, good thing that I’ve put in chicken stock and some soy sauce that gave the dish some flavour.

I’ve always loved eggs. Can’t get enough of them while growing up. Even now, actually. But for some time now, I’ve considered eating eggs a somewhat guilty pleasure. It’s a popular conception that eggs are high in cholesterol and, hence, bad for you and me. Since I’m not overly fit and getting older, I’m a bit worried about cholesterol and high-blood pressure.

Well, lately, Raquel and I have been watching this new health show on Channel 9 called What’s Good For You where they tackle health and food related issues every week. Some parts of it remind me of Mythbusters but instead of common and Hollywood-related myths, they target food and health related myths/truths. For example, in a previous episode, they wanted to find out if spinach can really boost your strength significantly like with Popeye (answer is no).

Last night, they sought out the truth as to whether eggs are good or bad for you. In their experiment, co-host Dr Andrew Rochford (also 2004 winner of the Australian home renovation reality TV show, The Block) had to eat four eggs a day for two weeks. No kidding! That much eggs. And guess what? By the end of the experiment, not only has his cholesterol level dropped from his initial level of 3.8, but it has dropped so low that the cholesterol testing unit doesn’t have a number for it!

Meaning, eggs actually help reduce bad cholesterol in the body! Rejoice!

Brisbane cardiologist Dr Karam Kostner explained on the show why:

“People who eat a lot of eggs actually shut down their bodies production of cholesterol. So the more eggs somebody eats, the less cholesterol our body produces. So that’s why a lot of people who eat a lot of eggs don’t get heart disease necessarily,” he says.

Eggs do contain cholesterol, but it’s the HDL kind (the good kind), not LDL (the bad kind). However, even though eggs lower cholesterol levels, saturated fats eaten in other foods might just counter the good effects from eating eggs.

Anyway, I’m no expert on the subject matter so I’m not qualified to go into details. To read the full write-up on the topic as seen from the show, go to the What’s Good For You website. And for another article we found on the web regarding this issue and is not related to the TV show, go here.

What this means for me now? I’m going back to eating eggs more. And to make sure I get the full benefit from eggs, I’ll just eat them boiled, poached or cooked through the microwave without any cooking oil.

American donut chain Krispy Kreme opened its first shop yesterday here in Melbourne. Free newspaper, MX, splashed the news of the opening in its front page and dedicated another page inside featuring interviews of consumers, some of whom have driven across town and queued up to about an hour in the rain just to purchase these hot, sugary stuff.

When rumours about the shop’s opening started spreading several months ago, the question on everyone’s lips was why they chose Narre Warren as the first suburb to host their first branch in Victoria. A lot of people had assumed that the franchise would put up the first shop right in Melbourne’s CBD, where more people would have access to it. After all, not everyone would opt to drive to the outskirts of town just to pick up a box of donuts, no matter how good they’re supposed to be. One columnist of The Age has a theory as to why Krispy Kreme chose Narre Warren as the first suburb to host a shop. His theory is that people who live in disadvantaged councils are more susceptible to junk food because of its low price and convenience.

But are these sugary treats really as good as they are being made out to be? Would they really live up to the hype? Well, I’ve only eaten half an Original Glazed piece when I went to friend’s picnic party in Sydney and I’ll have to say that it’s certainly better than all the other donuts I’ve tasted before. It’s warm, sweet (but not cloyingly so) and melts in your mouth. It’s a good occasional treat but I don’t think I’d buy a whole box just to eat one nor would I drive to the other side of town for it.

Hubby was snacking on cereal this afternoon when he suddenly gave me one piece of Nutri-grain, commenting that we could probably sell it on Ebay. A similar piece reportedly sold for more than $1000 so perhaps we could make some money off this piece as well. Is it just us or does this bit look a little like a certain extra-terrestrial?