Let's Drown in Chocolate at Maitre Chocolatier Boutique Cafe

Had dinner at Ayala Triangle two weeks ago (tried the 288php dinner buffet at Bfast by Chef Laudico but I forgot my camera in the car mwehehe), and because we really didn't feel like having dessert at Banapple, we cruised along Jupiter St. looking for someplace to satisfy our craving for sweets.

Maitre Chocolatier caught our eyes, and although I didn't want to go in at first because I was turned off by the cartolina cut-outs of hearts and cupids (I judge books by their covers, remember?  Hahaha.), we decided to go in. Needless to say, I ate my words, and downed it with lots of chocolate!

Theo & Philo Artisan Chocolates

I've been antsing to buy these for a few weeks now. Finally got to grab some at Soderno last Saturday!

Another Place for Happy Tummies: Soderno at Molito

I am a huge fan of both Midnight Mercato and Mercato Centrale. Recently though, as I have been living in Laguna again since August, my trips to Mercato have been huge pains in the bum and in the wallet. (My pamasahe alone costs at least 300php and cumulative travel time is around 5 to 6 hours back and forth!)

I was thrilled when they launched Soderno. It's still not next-door, but at least it's closer to home! Miki, Maits and I chose to go Saturday morning, because we didn't feel like body bumping and competing with everyone for seats.

Welcome to Soderno. 

Photoblog: October 25

Desaturated

Photoblog: Chocolate Explosion at Max Brenner

My Tastebuds Are Green

I like green food.

I don't mean green leafy vegetables hahaha the truth of it is I didn't even eat them until premed when my blockmate Ana started force-feeding me veggies (as in she would cut them in small pieces and hide them in my food the crazy girl) and I realized they weren't that bad and they helped me in um, doing my business. So now I eat them although you still can't make me eat okra and ampalaya. Do not even try force-feeding me that!!!

But I'm going off tangent again. Mom brought home a pack of matcha chocolates today (given to her by a friend, I guess), and tossed it to me. That might have something to do with the fact that I brought home her favorite Kruffins so exchange gift kami haha but I also think she knows us well enough to know that I'm the one who goes giddy-happy at the sight of anything green tea flavored. Hello I was the one who brought home green tea flavored peanut butter which nobody else in our family liked!

Well, only the packaging is actually green but it's the idea that counts. :P

I don't recall how this started. When my classmate Ilian asked me to try his green tea frap at Starbucks, I remember saying "Eck lasang damo!!" (It tastes like grass!!) The first time I tried mint chocolates I also complained it tasted like toothpaste. I hated wasabi because it made me feel like smoke was coming out my nostrils. (Wow, now I understand why my friends keep telling me I'm so fickle!)

But as they say, past is past. I've changed my mind, now I love green food!

Evidence Based Medicine: Eat More Chocolate.

Early morning blog entry. I just read my first email of the day and it's from Medscape. Haha. Usually, the articles are about stress in the hospital and stuff like such which I already KNOW hello so the it usually goes through my auto-ignore routine: mark as read, archive (I haven't deleted an email since I switched to Gmail in 2004), and forget about it. This morning though the email said Benefits of Chocolate, and like anyone who likes to rationalize his or her bad behavior and guilty pleasures, I wanted more evidence for more rationalization. Hahaha.

So according to this continuing medical education article, previous studies published in different journals have been saying two things: that metabolic syndrome (a combination of medical disorders that, when occurring together, increase the risk of developing cardiovascular disease and diabetes) is on the rise and that chocolate consumption may prevent cardiometabolic disorders and cardiovascular events (i.e. heart attacks, strokes).

But we know that already. The articles written in magazines telling us it's okay to eat chocolate are most likely based on one of those earlier studies. What Dr. Adriana Lopez - Buitrago and her colleagues did was to do a meta-analysis -- a study which scrutinizes previous studies for sound methods, and looks at the results to see if those studies, when combined, support a given outcome. And the results!

"Although overconsumption can have harmful effects, the existing studies generally agree on a potential beneficial association of chocolate consumption with a lower risk of cardiometabolic disorders. Our findings confirm this, and we found that higher levels of chocolate consumption might be associated with a one-third reduction in the risk of developing cardiovascular disease."

This study encompasses all kinds of chocolate -- dark chocolate, milk chocolate, white chocolate, chocolate covered biscuits, chocolate drinks, chocolatey desserts -- if it's chocolate it's good for you. For your heart and brain at least, not for your hips and thighs. Haha. 

In any case, chocolate trumps cigarettes any time. So stop smoking, and eat more chocolate! :)

---

f you want to read the Medscape article, it's here. It has a login page though. The full text of the study is available at http://www.bmj.com.