meal, me, and more

This is just like the usual recipe of Crema De Fruta that most Filipinos know. I just want mine to have "volume" and so I combine the all purpose cream with the milk using a hand mixer. The process makes the mixture creamier and fluffier, avoiding the stacking together of the layers of crackers. I must say this one's look neater. Ingredients: one pack of Graham Crackers one brick pack all purpose cream 1/2 brick pack of condensed milk 1 mediun can fruit cocktail 1/2 pack gelatin powder Directions: Whip the cream and milk using a hand mixer until mixture is fluffy. In a pan (glas or plastic), arrange crackers to form a base. Make a layer of the cream mixture on top of the crackers. Use 1/3 of the cream. Repeat the alternate layers of cream and crackers. (Six alternate layers for this recipe, but you may want to add more or to lessen) Top the last cream layer with fruit cocktail. Chill. Prepare and cook the gelatin as per package direction. When cooled (not hardened yet), p...

This is just another version of my Carbonara . The only variation is that I used colorful vegetable pasta shaped like seashells. Well, it's just to tickle my babies' appetite. Also, I put chopped fried ham in addition to the bacon. This added up flavor to the dish. I paired this recipe with hot pandesal (instead of french bread) topped with herb cream cheese, both from Pan De Manila. Here's a review of the cream cheese from a blogger.

I don't eat chicken skin except when it's well grilled or "crunchily" fried. That's true to every part of the chicken, including the wing part which most people would say tastes better than any other part. This recipe, however, made me churn all of the "eatable" portions of the wings. It can pass to Max's " sarap to the bones " shout out. I also discovered something that made this recipe easier to cook, and cheaper, too. I tried Kim's Teriyaki Marinade and it did work for this. It's cheaper (P48 for a 308-ml bottle) than other marinating liquids in the market. Ingredients: 1/2 kg chicken wings 1 cup teriyaki marinade 2 cloves garlic, chopped 1 onion, chopped 3 tbsps oil Directions: Marinate chicken for at least 30 minutes in the teriyaki marinade. Strain the liquid from the chicken. Save the marinade. Pan fry the chicken wings until golden brown. Set aside. For the sauce, sautee garlic and onion then add the remaining marinade unti...

Hans and I both love wines so much. My fave would be the sparkling white while his would be red. We always try taste the new brands we see in the market. It's also a way of "shooing away" too much alcohol from our body. Since we got married, we make it a point not to drink too much alcohol. We cut on beer and brandy, even mixed drinks... well, almost. =) When we went to Pangasinan last weekend for a family outing, Cocoy brought a bottle of drinks called Rancho Zabaco (Zinfandel). It's from his bro-in-law who just got back from Britain. He said it's red wine. However, it didn't taste like wine to me. It's like rum mixed with grape juice. The tag said it contains 30% alcohol (Whoa!!! A relatively high volume for wine!). But who cares? Hans and I liked it that when the group finished half of it, the two of us took care of the other half. =)

I only know one recipe that uses curry powder. Yeah, it's chicken curry. But I don't put milk in mine. Just like what I read in most Filipino food blogs, I also use coconut cream to replace the milk. I must say it's creamier. So... here's mine: Ingredients: 1/2 kg chicken cuts 2 tsp oil 2 cloves garlic, pounded 1 onion, chopped 1 tsp patis (fish sauce) 1/2 cup water 1/2 cup fresh coconut cream 1 tbsp curry powder 1 medium potato, cubed 1 small carrot cubed 3 finger chili, cut into two, diagonally salt and pepper to taste Directions: Fry the potato and carrot. Set aside. In the same pan, sautee garlic in oil. Add onion and patis. Add chicken and allow to simmer until the chicken changes in color. Add water and let it boil until the chicken is tender. Sprinkle with curry powder. Add the coconut cream. Put the carrots, fried potatoes, and chili. When the mixture thickens, sprinkle with salt and pepper to taste.

When I enrolled in graduate studies, I thought I would have all the time to update this blog. Besides, I'm only allowed to take 6 units - a relatively light load. After couples of months however, it's obvious I'm wrong. Is it just a problem on time, or simply... on attitude? Discipline! Discipline! Hehe... I think one more reason is my effort to make this blog somehow thematic, thus the "meal, me, and more" . I wanted to maintain a food blog, but now I realize it isn't always possible. I sometimes feel the need to express my random thoughts through writings. Just now, I decided to make this a personal blog, not the diary type though, but definitely would not be confined in a single topic/genre. This would allow me to keep it updated, at least with one post a month (updated daw o...) It starts here... bear with me.