The breakdown of the framework

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Well over the last few months the Lehman’s(or laymen’s as they seem to be now) and the smart Gordon gecko boys on Wall Street boys realized their framework for valuation of asset backed securities were useless and precipitated in the financial meltdown. I am using that an excuse for not sticking to the framework of my reviews for this post. (Perfect MBA thinking, Blame others for your frameworks problems) I have been lazy lately. That coupled with an increased level of work is creating the feeling of abandoning my blog. Well not so quick. So went off early to get a big cup of Americano (madras filter coffee for us Indians) and there it is I’m back to my twitchy fingers typing away about a place I visited last week.

I was in Baguio (that is a hill station of those who don’t speak Philippine geography) end of last week for some class session. There were a lot of nice cheap small eating places, even though it is considered a place for the rich of the Philippines (sort of like davos for Filipinos minus the snow, stretching my metaphoric humor)I got there on a Wednesday;

Joe’s steakhouse caught my fancy primarily because they had filet mignon for 250 bucks not because of "Joe the plumber" or Joe the chef or any of the US election left overs. The same dish would cost me an arm and a limb in Makati. So I quickly decided to utilize the arbitrage opportunity (complicated MBA term) and eat it up.

A closer examination of the menu told me filet mignon is for the “diet conscious “what a turn off- reminds me of the zero cholesterol Chicharon I tasted sometime back .chicharon is fried pork skin, secret weapon used by heart surgeons to increase their market size ! So glanced thru the menu and there were tons of stuff on offer, all at very reasonable rates. I am mentioning the prices a bit too much maybe it’s the overall economic gloom. I went in for a peppercorn steak. As the description reads..

“TENDERLOIN OF BEEF IN FRESHLY GROUND PEPPERCORN COATING AND BRANDY BASED SAUCE SERVED WITH SOUP,MXIED GREEN SALAD IN VINAIGRETTE OR THOUSAND ISLAND DRESSING PLAIN RICE AND DESSERT OF THE DAY..” 165 PESOS

That’s cheap if you ask me. So I ordered it. And here is what I got.

Soup served in what resembled a “well” nice generous portion. Soup was ok nothing to blog about (Internet version of the old idiom “nothing to write home about”)

They served the salad and it looked as if the chef wanted me to dice up some vegetables for him it was in a quarter-plate with a large island of thousand island dressing next to it. Again nothing much to blog about.

Then before I could finish either of them off, in comes the sizzling tenderloin dressed up on a sizzler plate shaped up like a cow. I have seen my fair share of fancy cutlery and crockery but never seen something as funny as this it looked nice. The sauce was really bubbling even got specks of it on my shirt. The brandy sauce smelled more of caramel and less of brandy but the pepper part was true to the script. And I had opted for mash potatoes. They were mashed really well. Fluffy would be an understatement. The dish tasted good, Again I do not know enough about steak cuts to understand whether it was really tenderloin or not.

But my naive guess it that I wasn’t because when I cut in to get my piece it was a bit graphite-ey, fibrous in the sense it came out in layers. Is tenderloin supposed to do that?( I don’t know. I’ll Wiki Steak cuts) It was not very tender. But the meat was tasty. And I had asked for a medium to rare. Well it was “well done” no speck of rawness in the meat whatsoever.

Again I’m being too critical, this isn’t any Michelin star rated restaurant. Metaphor would be a budget airline passenger asking for porcelain and metal dinnerware on a flight where u have to pay to use the loo (hey!! that could be a new revenue stream for budget airlines)

But anyway, I finished the whole thing up in no time washed it down with a bottle of pale pilsner. And my free dessert was pink gelatin with a topping of cream and a few specks of brown sugar dropped in for the contrast.as with all the other freebies it was…well just like pink gelatin.

There the framework is dead. I think I am more comfortable writing in this style.