Too late for a Christmas greeting yet too early to wish everyone a Happy New Year. I’ll take the middle ground and say that I hope you’re all having a grand time. I sure am. Things aren’t hectic as they were last year but, still, I can’t remember a time when I stayed away from ... (more)
Peaches and cream
Posted on December 26, 2007 · 33 Comments
Unlike the older mango royale recipe, I have found a way to make the cream filling firm without freezing. My husband prefers this dessert frozen but it loses its light and airy texture and instead acquires the texture of ice cream with ice crystals which I really do not enjoy. I prefer the cream filling to be custard-like, similar to the cream-cheese filling of tiramisu. The trick? Well-chilled cream and sweetened condensed milk.
Chocolate mint coffee
Posted on December 26, 2007 · 21 Comments
If there is one noche buena tradition in my husband’s family that I never really got the hang of, it’s drinking chocolate. If the noche buena meal consisted of bibingka and puto bumbong only, then an accompanying chocolate drink would be marvelous. But when the dishes in the meal are quite heavy — ham, chicken, fruit salad — drinking chocolate is simply too much for me. Besides, I’m a coffee drinker and I drink coffee for the caffeine. A few days ago, I discovered a great way to combine chocolate with coffee.
Steamed litid ng baka (beef ligaments)
Posted on December 24, 2007 · 17 Comments
One of my guilty pleasures: steamed litid ng baka. Until recently, I only get to enjoy them from the dimsum cart of bigger Chinese restaurants. Then, I bought this tray of beef litid from Unimart, used some to make my beef and hofan noodle soup and, the rest, I cut into bite size pieces, arranged the pieces on small plates, garnished them with toasted garlic and chopped onion leaves, seasoned with a little light soy sauce mixed with grated ginger and steamed everything for 20 minutes. I served the steamed beef litid as an extra dish for lunch yesterday.
Handmade Christmas gift tags
Posted on December 23, 2007 · 18 Comments
One thing that I always look forward to during Christmas is making the gift tags. I know, it sounds duh! But, for years, making Christmas gift tags has been both an outlet for creativity and a family effort. Last year, the kids did most of the work — they did the designing and the designs ... (more)
Does your child thumbsuck?
Posted on December 23, 2007 · 11 Comments
When I saw the film The Thumbsucker a few days ago, I couldn’t help but look back on everything that I had been told about thumbsucking when Sam was a baby. Sam was a thumbsucker. Almost every adult told me to get her to stop the habit and their reasons varied: 1) It would ruin ... (more)
Pizza pan de sal: good as snack or appetizer
Posted on December 21, 2007 · 9 Comments
In the Glad bakeware entry, I mentioned that I made some baked macaroni which my daughter brought to the class Christmas party. What I didn’t mention was that I stayed up all night to make sure that the baked mac would be ready when she left for school yesterday morning. More importantly, I wanted the baked mac to have cooled a bit before fitting the cover on the baking dish. As a result, by the time the sauce was done, I felt famished. So, there I was at 3.30 a.m. feasting on pizza pan de sal.
I like to take photos like MacGyver would
Posted on December 21, 2007 · 18 Comments
I wonder if you remember MacGyver. Or were you too young to remember? Both and Speedy and I remember him quite fondly — me, because I was in love with the brainy character and Richard Dean Anderson‘s rugged good looks; Speedy, because before there was Brad Pitt, he kinda fancied he looked like MacGyver. Anyway, ... (more)
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