The Sassy Lawyer & Pinoy Cook on food, family and home.
Dessert is a Western concept. While sweets form part of Asian cuisines, they are usually eaten as snacks and not as a mandatory last course in a meal. Today, however, with the Westernization of Asia (which has been going on for more than a century in countries like the Philippines), serving dessert at the end of the meal has become a common practice.
The recipes in this section are not just meant as meal enders. They can be enjoyed by themselves any time of the day. Or night.
It has a graham cracker crust and it is baked but at a lower temperature and without the baine marie. It has all the traditional ingredients for a cheesecake — cream cheese, cream, sugar and eggs. Yet, it is not a cheesecake. It’s a pie that is not as dense as a cheesecake yet it ... (more)
If you Google “melon cocktail”, you’ll find that there are two categories. The first is an alcoholic drink; the second is a dessert. This falls under the second category. But while most melon cocktail desserts simply used balled melon and a sprinkle of mint leaves, this is something more. Yep, the grape syrup which I ... (more)
“Tie-dye” is a process of dyeing fabric so that unique patterns are formed usually in bright colors. Sam was the one who brought the idea into our house. She tie-dyed some shirts and I even managed to photograph her at work. The idea of using the tie-dyeing technique on food is nothing new. If you ... (more)
Although the fierce heat of the summer still rages, I have managed to sufficiently psych myself out of my lethargy. I’ve started cooking decent meals again a couple of days ago. Meanwhile, the baking drought ended last night. The decision to bake something was inspired by a photo. Chocolate chip cookie dough was pressed into ... (more)
That Easter weekend when my brother and his family stayed with us, my brother and his wife attended mass at the Antipolo Cathedral then visited the commercial center beside it. Some background. That commercial center was once an open-gym-like structure with stalls of pasalubong (souvenirs, mostly native delicacies) stalls around it. Last year, it was ... (more)
Overripe bananas are best for baking banana cake. In our house, however, where bananas often disappear before they become overripe, I had to ask people not to touch the last two bananas to allow them to become overripe because I so wanted to try and make a microwave version of banana cake. I did last ... (more)
So, as I was saying… I’m experimenting on whether regular cake/cupcake recipes can be done in the microwave, period. Maybe just a matter of getting the setting and baking time right. And here’s the result of the first experiment. I mixed a carrot cake batter using a recipe not meant for a regular oven. I ... (more)
When there’s just Speedy and me at home — and that’s five days out of every week — I try to refrain from baking. And it’s so darn hard to control myself especially when the itch to patter in the kitchen strikes. But a whole cake or pie (even small ones), a whole tray of ... (more)
Now that we are again able to successfully make dulce de leche at home, my mind’s running wild with all the desserts that I can make with it. Trifles, truffles, brownies and blondies… I’m hoping that these mini cheesecakes will only be the first among many dishes that I can create with homemade dulce de ... (more)
The inspiration started with a photo. The finished dessert turned out to be something else because, believe or not, it was partially made with “failed cookies.” What failed cookies? Last Sunday, Sam saw photos of “Coraline” cookies and wanted to make them. Coraline? You know, the Neil Gaiman book about the little girl who had ... (more)
Miso is a paste made by fermenting rice, barley or soybeans with salt and a … »»
Half a kilo of gindara fillets meant for the grill became a stew in a … »»
Marikeños like to say that waknatoy is a dish unique to Marikina. Well, … »»
After a quick trip to the market, Speedy checked his Facebook account, … »»
Still experimenting with alternative methods of cooking, after using the … »»
If you're looking for the easiest cocktail drink recipe ever, you just … »»
A simple, easy and very tasty pasta dish that you can cook in one pan. … »»
I can't resist a good recipe when I come across one. I was browsing food … »»
Casa is Spanish for house. CASA is also an acronym for Connie, Antonio, Sam and Alex. We are all surnamed Veneracion. We all love to take photos -- of anything that catches our fancy. It's a family obsession.
This is a journal of how we live, eat, learn, play and have fun. Work? Work is part of playing and having fun. Seriously.
In 2003, a time when I hadn't heard of the term "blog", I started a recipe website at cooking.houseonahill.net using a now defunct content management system that ran on ASP. Ok, never mind the geek talk, I'm sure you're not interested in that. The contents easily multiplied and, in 2004, I moved the food site to pinoycook.net. Always unhappy with the fact that the dot com versions of houseonahill and pinoycook weren't … (click here to read all »)
It has a graham cracker crust and it is baked but at a lower temperature … (more...)
If you Google "melon cocktail", you'll find that there are two categories. … (more...)
According to Tastefully Done, age means deep fried and dashi, of course, is … (more...)
Okra has a bad reputation in our house. So bad a reputation that I'm the … (more...)
When I first came across this spinach recipe in The New York Times health … (more...)
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