Sundae and Fondue Fever at Swensen's

The summer heat has finally drawn me out and into the cooler malls, with my room's air conditioning threatening to burst in flames with almost 20 hours of continuous use. Besides, a date with Alex composed of meals, a bit of shopping, and ice cream really sounds inviting. Why on earth I forgot to bring my camera still baffles me, so my Blackberry would have to do for now.




Nutty Crispy

Read more »

Avocado - Calamansi Sorbet

As I was thinking about this month's KCC challenge hosted by Abigail of My Nappytales and Marni of Kensington Kitchen, I couldn't help it that the first thing that calls my first love to mind is dessert, and a particularly cold one at that. As a child I practically could live off ice cream and frozen yogurt (oh yes, BTIC has been giving me love for more than a decade), and the first time

Read more »

Mercato Centrale: Ha Yuan's Chilled Taho

I'm a big fan of taho and soy milk. We used to have our own soy milk maker here at home, but it's not working anymore. Soy milk that's missing from our diet is tolerable, but to have our morning servings of hot, steaming cups of silken tofu glazed with sugar syrup and tapioca balls is something else. I wondered why our taho vendor has gone missing, turns out he was selling in the afternoons,

Read more »

Gardenia Bread Treats: Recipe Rundown

If you've seen my Gardenia Plant Tour post a few days back, I did mention that I will be posting a rundown of the recipes featured in the bloggers tour. While it's not surprising that you can do much more than a sandwich to serve to your kids, there's just something about these treats that would make you want to try them right then and there. My favorite would be the quesadillas that are made

Read more »

Bizu Macarons: Food Review + 1st Weekday Potluck

For the past few weeks, my sis has been spoiling us with everything sweet and yummy that she could find at S&R, most of which are what you would call incredibly irresistible belly busters. They make you fat, they tempt you even in the wee hours of the night, and I have established a love/hate relationship with them. But there are also times when she brings home a real treat such as this box of

Read more »

Homemade Puto - Cheese, Blueberry, Honey Almond

Yes, it's my first time to make homemade puto, also known as rice cakes. We've made them before in cooking class back in high school, but of course back then we just let the active groupmates do the work. :) Now I really appreciate puto - to be honest I am not fond of these unless they are made with milk in them, as many stores fail to do. I want my rice cakes to be fluffy yet creamy, unlike

Read more »

Krispy Kreme Original Glazed Doughnuts

I love it when my dad brings home food. It's either from Emerald Garden, Aristocrat or from some well off restaurant that he and his business buddies dine in whenever they have their reunions ever since he retired from work last year. But he just went off to fetch a friend from the airport, and he bought two boxes of Original Glazed doughnuts from Krispy Kreme for me and my brothers to devour.

Read more »

Puto Bumbong Brings Back Memories

Just yesterday, as we were about to go to the Sunday Mass after our review class, I grew hungry and saw the fishball stand. While Alex and I were waiting for the fish balls to fry, I spotted a cookware I used to see during the wee hours of the morning, back then when I was a kid, attending Simbang Gabi with my mom and lola. It was so nice to have something like this way before the holiday

Read more »

Almond Oatmeal Cookies with Prunes

When you have a boyfriend who is totally nuts about oatmeal cookies, you are sometimes obliged to bake a batch of some good ol' homemade ones to give him rewards for a job well done. We have been having summer classes, and so far his evaluation grades shot up from really low to the 4th place in the top ten, of course with a little bribing and a promise of an eat all you can buffet dinner at

Read more »

Better Than Ice Cream: Fro-yo for more than a decade

I have known frozen yogurt for more than a decade already, way back before those fro-yo shops and gelato stands became popular here in the Philippines. Although I must admit that I was addiced to every single  fro-yo shop that set up in the past few years, I can never forget how, as a 6-year-old child, I came to love and crave for pistachio ice cream.







I remember that it's inside a

Read more »

Vanilla Hearts Pudding

I have always loved vanilla pudding in its creamy, milky goodness. It's one dessert that never fails to pick me up even in the bluest days and worst moods I'm in, and right now I could use some comfort food to drive me from insanity with this terrible summer heat. It's easy, it's a real comfort food, and it's best served when chilled. What's even better is that Alex is coming over to share this

Read more »

Choco Lava Cupcakes

After the fudge brownies, I was back in the mood to bake, and accompanied by my sous-chef Alex, we baked a batch of choco lava cupcakes with candy sprinkles! If you're wondering why they're called choco lava cupcakes, it's because the center is filled with a large chocolate chunk which leads to the sunken cupcake centers.
I got the idea from my sister when she baked a batch of dulce de leche

Read more »

Soft Fudge Brownies

There are times when Alex brings about his surprisingly sweet sweetness♥. I wasn't feeling well for a couple of days already, and I have been craving for something decadent but I can't tell him what it is exactly. I can't bake either, because the heat of the oven will drive me further into sickness, so he offered to do most of the baking. 
I have a written down recipe of brownies which I found

Read more »

Cookie S'mores!

I remember the humongous bonfires we had in high school during a late night science camp. We camped in school, had fun doing games, sang Spongebob's Campfire Song (yes, those days were geeky fun!), viewed the stars, and roasted marshmallows, hotdogs, and tilapia on the huge bonfire made by our jannitors right in the middle of Manila Science High School. Good ol' alma mater. Too bad no one

Read more »

Blueberry-Cinnamon Breakfast Bananas

I’m really fond of eating saba bananas, and I remember my grandmother frying them up as maruya (banana fritters), turon (sweet banana spring rolls), or breakfast bananas, thinly sliced and fried, sprinkled with sugar or served with cereals. Determined as I was to stop Alex from buying all the darned junk foods in our school cafeteria, I brought breakfast bananas so that he won’t be tempted to

Read more »

Traditional Cocoa Tablea

I remember asking my lola the name of the ugly fruit she was holding at the kitchen almost a decade ago. She said it was kakao, which is what chocolates are made of. I found it extremely hard to believe at that age, but I watched her cut the fruit open, wash the seeds and dry them in the terrible heat of the sun. After which she brought it to the local market to have it ground. She came back

Read more »

Black Cocoa Biscuits from Cowhead

I remember my days as an primary school student. I was still the youngest then, and I can get away with eating nothing but cereals drenched in cold, fresh milk from the numerous boxes in our cupboard. I was most especially fond of the mini toys I can get for free with every box. And the milk just had to be Cowhead's fresh milk. I don't know why but I never really liked other brands, even if my

Read more »

Traditional Bibingka With A Twist

Bibingka is a local rice cake available in the provinces of the Philippines. They are traditionally placed on banana leaves and cooked in a terracotta pot over live coals. From what I saw as a child, while the bibingka is cooked, it is covered with another banana leaf topped with live coals so that the top is also slightly charred and the whole cake is infused with the lovely aroma of toasted

Read more »

Homemade Cheesecake Ice Cream

We had homemade cheesecake flavored ice cream for Noche Buena this year's Christmas. And this is the first recipe I posted from our Christmas dinner since this is the one I have been closely watching and actively taking part of, considering that the ice cream maker was the gift I got from my mom this Christmas.

It was as creamy as I can remember, just like the gelato (custard-based, over-priced

Read more »

Our Simple Christmas Dinner

*Recipes coming soon!*

I love the holidays, when everything is just about food. And this time, I just sat and relaxed while my older sister cooks our Christmas meals while I get to taste and eat while she's cooking. I managed to eat a buffet already by the time she forced me to help in preparing the food. So the recipes I will have to verify with both my memory and my sister's memory as well.

Read more »