Rainy evening indulgence

It’s a rainy long weekend.  No thanks to typhoon Mina, some people can’t go out on long trips.  Flights going to the North were cancelled. I guess most people opted to stay indoors…. like us.

Sipping hot coco on a rainy night is comforting…. but a mocha cappuccino is even better.  Tonight, it’s Swiss Miss Mocha Capuccino for me. 

How about you? What comforts you on a rainy night like this?

 

Linguini with Shrimps & Broccoli

08.25.11

My friend Len asked me what’s my agenda today.  I told her, I have to run errands  in the afternoon and I will be free after that.  She invited me to go running with her and Mae in Boni High Street.  That’s something I have been meaning to do, but just keep putting off.

After lunch, M texted that I cannot use the car because it’s still being fixed.  I decided to stay home, cancelled the run with Len, and help the kids  with school work.  As I was browsing through food photos at Pinterest, I got the urge to cook.  I wanted pasta, I wanted seafood… mussels to be exact.  But at that late  hour, there were no more fresh mussels in the market. Instead, my yaya bought some shrimps.  

Pipay wanted to help out and we turned it into a cooking lesson for her.  I asked her to clean the shrimps, remove the head and peel the shell.  “oh shrimpy, I’m sorry I had to kill you…”, she said.  “Don’t worry Pips, they’re already dead”, I replied.  She’s lucky, she started cooking at 8 years old, I started late at 12 years old, just watching my Mom and my Lola Ansing cook.

Here’s what we prepared for dinner, Pasta with Shrimp and Broccoli (I suck at naming dishes, sorry  ^_^ )

PASTA WITH SHRIMP  & BROCCOLI

Linguini

500gms Shrimps, heads and shells removed

3-4 medium sized ripe tomatoes, diced

2 stalks leeks, thinly sliced

3 cloves garlic, chopped

I small head broccoli flowers, pre-boiled

2 Tbsp Olive Oil

½ cup Shrimp broth (from the shrimp heads and  shells)

Dried or fresh thyme

Salt & pepper

Cook linguini according to package directions.  Set aside.

In a sauce pan, sauté garlic and leeks in olive oil until leeks are translucent.

Add tomatoes and broth.  Add the shrimps and cook until color changes to red.

Add the broccoli, thyme and pasta to the sauce.  Let simmer for a few minutes for the pasta to absorb the flavors. Season with salt & pepper to taste. 

Transfer to a serving bowl and garnish with fresh sliced leeks or thyme.

Get camera . Style . Shoot . Eat  

^_^

Of caramels and pralines

One thing that Pipay and I love to eat is caramel.  From Mcdo’s caramel sundae to once in a blue moon treats like Kraft caramel candies.  And it is easy to make.  

I recently bought a pack of slivered almonds from a nearby cake supplies store and made some almond praline.  

ALMOND PRALINE

Recipe:    (measurements are just estimates; I don’t measure my ingredients)

Sugar   (1 cup)

Butter  (around 2 Tbsps)

Glucose or maple syrup (optional - to prevent the sugar from crystallizing) (1 Tbsp)

Cream (1 cup)

Slivered almonds

Place sugar on a non-stick pan over medium heat.  You can add the glucose at this point too. Do not stir.  Let the sugar melt until golden brown.

Add almonds.  Stir.  Pour into a well oiled dish or non-stick board and let set.

To make caramel syrup, add butter and cream to the melted sugar mixture and stir well. 

I roughly chopped some almond brittle,  topped it over my oatmeal & muesli, drizzled with caramel syrup.   A very sweet way  to jump start your day.

Hot! Hot! Tamale!

When you think of Mexican cuisine, one would always think of the more popular dishes like tacos, fajitas, quesadillas, burritos.  One not so very popular Mexican dish is the tamales.

Tamales is one of the most ancient Mexican food.  It is made of masa harina, filled with shredded meat and wrapped in dried corn husk and steamed.  It is much like the tamales of Pampanga, though this Kapampangan dish is made with ground rice.  

Masa is a the Mexican word for dough, and specifically refers to the fresh corn dough used  to make corn tortillas and other corn dishes*.  The flour is called masa harina, made from sundried corn kernels  mixed with food grade lime (calcium oxide - to improve the flavor of the masa) and stone ground.

Mexican cuisine is one of my favorites.  A Mexican Cooking cookbook is part of my collection.

When I read about the Tamales at Hermanos Taco Shop in San Juan, I know I had to try it as it was the most recommended dish.  Pipay & I braved the afternoon traffic  in Greenhills, got lost along the way. I thought this tamales would better be worth the trouble.

Hermanos Tacos Shop sits, unobtrusively,  beside Petron gas station. That’s why we didn’t see it when we passed by Granada street in Gilmore.  I read that their dishes are authentic Mexican,  prepared by the Mexican chef/owner.  The interior is well lit and can accommodate 20-30 people (5 tables). The service, is not so good, I guess, because they have a lot of take out orders to serve that day. One girl mans the counter and she keeps disappearing inside the kitchen. Don’t expect a fancy table set-up.  This is more like a fast food type establishment.  The food presentation is good, but they use styro plates and plastic cutlery, which I don’t mind as long as the food is great.

I ordered of course the Tamales with beef (P320), Pipay had the chips and salsa (P55) and cheese (P30).  My tamales was served blanketed with cheese sauce, sour cream, topped with diced tomatoes and chopped cilantro.  It came with a mildly hot salsa.  The masa dough was soft and with a bit of texture but not gritty , the beef filling is flavorful.  The serving (two pieces) is good for two people, unless one has a big appetite. 

As for the chips, salsa and  cheese, this is Pipay’s verdict,  “ma, your cheese sauce is way better because yours has much more cheese.”   “And  free!”, I replied, teasing her.   I like their salsa, spicy yet refreshing. 

Would I go back there again to eat?  Yes, to try their other house specialty, the Mexican Menudo  and their Carne Asada Chips (Nachos to you and me) which is another highly recommended dish.  

*source: The practical encyclopedia of Mexican Cooking

Hermanos Taco Shop

#27 Granada Ave. corner Jose O. Vera St.,
Brgy. Valencia, Gilmore, Quezon City
Telephone: +632 570-8425

Healthy cooking: Brown rice, japanese fried rice style

I woke up late again.  I was up till 2 AM last night to finish one of my photo editing backlogs. I know, I know… I love to procrastinate that’s why. 

At 10AM, it’s too late for an oatmeal breakfast and too early for lunch.  Since I plan to continue working for the rest of the day,  and I’ll be eating lunch alone anyway, I decided to cook my brunch…. Japanese fried rice!  But with a healthy twist.  I used brown rice and lots of veggies.

My version is a meal on its own – with ham, veggies, egg, brown rice and Clara Ole’s Ora Mix Mo, a Japanese fried rice flavor mix.

I steamed some Chinese bokchoy and reheated last night’s dinner – breaded cream dory to go with my fried rice.

Here’s the recipe:

1 cup cooked brown rice

3 broccoli florets, cut into small pieces, pre-steamed

2 tablespoons  minced carrots

I clove garlic, minced

1 slice of forest ham, cut into strips

1 stalk leek, separate green and white portions;  the midsection I used for garnish.

1 egg, lightly beaten

Salt & pepper

Enough oil to coat the pan.

Heat oil in pan,

Pour eggs on hot pan, stirring until cook; set aside.

Saute garlic, white portion of leeks, carrots and ham.

Add brown rice.  Toss until everything is blended.

Add eggs, broccoli florets, the green part of leeks.

Season with salt & pepper.

Transfer into a bowl and garnish with sliced leeks.

Now how hard can that be?  ;)

For dessert…. Reese’s peanut butter cups that M brought home last night.

Sweet Bella at Burgos Circle

08.20.11

It was after our Cavite trip that I came to know about Burgos Circle at Forbestown Center in BGC Taguig.  Intersecting  Rizal Drive, the circular road was lined with restaurants like Melo's, Mile High, Cafe Juanita to name a few. Nestled inside  Burgos Cirle is a small park.  Tall, slender trees lined the park's pathway and a huge four-trees-forming-a-gazebo sculpture stands at the center as a focal point.  More eating places dotted the road intersecting Burgos Circle. 

For our mom-daughter date today, we decided to check out Burgos Circle.  We had burgers and fries at Wham because Pipay wanted to eat french fries.  I was looking forward to having dessert and coffee at Sweet Bella.  But when we got there, the place was jam-packed.  There was a party going on the second floor.  There were only two tables outside the café but they were occupied.  Pipay and I walked towards Coffee Bean and Tea Leaf.  I was craving for coffee,  yet I can’t decide on dessert.  The pastries at Sweet Bella were the only thing on my mind.  I decided to go back one more time,  and got lucky one table got vacated. Yey!

Inside the café, pink and brown (the shop’s signature colors) boxes lined the shelves.  Most of the desserts have strawberries and chocolates as the main ingredient.  

But what caught my attention was the Pearl cake.  I ordered one to share with Pipay, a cup of café Americano for me and mango juice for Pipay.

Pearl Cake is a guava mousse with flambéed Guimaras mango filling on a soft chiffon base.  It was light and refreshing, the taste of guavas distinct, complementing  the mango filling. You wouldn’t thought such paring of fruit flavors would be possible.  My taste buds were tickled pink!  A bit pricy (P295) for a 4 inch personal size cake, but it was worth it.  

Other desserts on the cake chiller were Strawberry Shortcake, Strawberry Cheesecake, Midnight Hazel Crunch ( a dark chocolate mousse on a crunchy crust), Adriana (a chocolate fudge cake with cappuccino mousse and caramel glaze – this, I will definitely try next time) and their version of the banoffee pie.  There were French Macarons too.

 

 

 

Our bill for dessert  and coffee was twice over than the burgers and fries we had at Wham.  But I would still go back to try their other desserts.  

For guys who want to impress  girls with a sweet tooth….bring her to Sweet Bella! 

Sweet Bella

Forbestown Center

Burgos Circle

Bonifacio Global City

8468243 .  8468244

Heaven in a tub

Look what I found on a recent trip to Unimart in Greenhills …. ECJ Gourmet Durian dessert.  I initially thought, hmmm… another durian ice cream, with just a hint of durian flavor.  But curiosity got me over and bought it just to try.  

There are two variants, sweetened and unsweetened.  I chose the unsweetened because I know M would prefer the unsweetened one, as he is staying away from sweets.  And I’d prefer the flavor of durian to stand on its own.

At first glance, it’s just like any ordinary ice cream.  I scooped out 3 small mounds into a shot glass.  The first spoonful transported  me to durian nirvana…. it was so delicious! Its pure, creamy taste and  heady aroma frolicked inside my brain, it was durian puree in a tub! 

This is a treasure, a treat that I would always covet .  It sells at P150/pint.  Not bad, considering a fruit can cost the same (I’d take the fresh fruit anytime).  Look for it at the freezer section of Unimart, Greenhills.

Ingredient list:

Fresh durian pulp, fresh milk, skimmed milk, water, dairy fat, dextrose, stabilizer, sugar replacement