canned fish and similar products

some canned fish (tuna, sardines, milkfish/bangus) that i just recently bought now has "Nutrition Facts" on their labels.

GREAT.

if you read closely, their Nutrition Facts say that one serving of their product contains sodium that is 25% of the recommended daily allowance (RDA). one would think that going above 100% is not good for health, so if you're only consuming 25%, you are still 3 cans away from unhealthy.

WRONG.

that small, PhP11.00 can of sardines - their nutrition facts say it contains around 3 servings. so you're actually consuming an amount of sodium that is around 75% of the RDA! if you're a big person like myself, one can is just half a serving! so for a full meal i would be consuming sodium that is around 50% more than the RDA!

moral of the story:

avoid eating canned or packed food products. they usually use sodium (as part of MSG, sodium nitrate, or salt (sodium chloride)) to preserve the food product. this includes canned tuna, canned vegetables, corned beef, vienna sausages, etc.

don't buy canned or packed food products!

buy fresh, eat fresh! you're also helping the environment (and you don't even know it).

know the facts! ingredients, nutrition facts, etc.

read the product labels!

don't buy food without the appropriate product labels!

know your limits! (some people should definitely have much less sodium intake per day)

Bigby's

We first tried Bigby's when we visited Cagayan de Oro ("CDO") down south.  It was such a treat.  While at Bigby's, we felt the "this is CDO" feeling, just as we did when we hung on the zip line, and paddled while on the white water rafts, and ate all-you-can-eat chicken at Sunburst, and all the other CDO-only restaurants.

Now, CDO is right here in Metro Manila - in Megamall!

First impression - it's too small a place.  It was packed!  Otherwise, it felt like the Bigby's of CDO except - Bigby's didn't feel like it belonged to a mall.  Like in CDO, it should be outside, preferably with a building of its own, or when you exit from the place, you're already at the parking lot at the very least.

Second impression - oh no, one less reason to go to CDO!  :(  Good thing we still have good friends in CDO.  ;-D

Third impression - the food was still great!  And maybe the pricing is typical.  It was my Valentine's date with Mara, my girlfriend, and it was P400 per person - but we over-ordered.  We forced ourselves to finish the delicious food, and we still weren't able to finish.  

Oh, but we had dessert.  We were supposed to order something but it wasn't available then so we settled for Coco Maja - which was a surprising treat.  Corn flakes, corn, coconuts, maja blanca, cheese, and tapioka in fresh milk.  Nice... idea.  We can do that at home.

I also really liked their Wild Wild West rice bowl or something.  It is sliced steak with a really loveable smokey and garlic-ey taste.  Of course if I would like to avoid cancer, smokey is not good.

Their carbonara is not great but it has an identify of its own.

Their fries - we should've just bought from McDonald's.

We also got their soup (corn chowder) and deck combo (half serving of their cold-cuts triple decker sandwich).  Nice.

One thing we didn't get to try again this time around at Megamall was their... chocolate midnight dream cake.  Or something like that.  They were aggressively selling heart-shaped versions of it for Valentine's.

One thing we should have tried are their ribs!

One last impression - we noticed no one (else) was ordering desserts.  In fact, it appeared that no one knew they had desserts and the waiters didn't give the dessert menu until someone (like we did) asked for them.  I noticed two couples going to the adjacent Amici after their meals at Bigby's!

We remembered at CDO, that's the very first thing you will notice when you enter their store - you can see their cakes and other desserts on display.  No such display when we visited Bigby's at Megamall last Valentine.  We were thinking, maybe there were just too many people so they had to move it away for the time being.  

I hope Bigby's gets known also for their desserts and they find a better place outside of Megamall.  Otherwise, I do not know now when I will go back to CDO.

Talking Tongues, San Agustin St., Salcedo Village, Makati

Chinese-Indonesian food.  Yummy.  I like their satay better than Malaysian or Singaporean satay.  It's just less peanuty.  And less sweet.  I don't like ultra-sweet barbecue anyway.  If I wanted ultra-sweet pork, I would look for 'tocino' instead.

Anyway - we ate their special seafood rice, noodles with chicken and mushrooms, and beef ball soup.  All highly recommended.  Go support this startup.  They offered 20% discounts on their first week of business (until 14 Feb 2009).  Otherwise, it's around P200 per person here.  Not for your everyday Makati lunch.  The interiors look nice but I don't know if it's fit for a business meeting.

Sinbad's, San Agustin St., Salcedo Village, Makati

Sinbad's - not bad.  For two people, it turned out to be P400 per person.  But you would feel like you've been taken to another place.  Great mediterranean and middle eastern fare - for once in a while. :-)