The Sassy Lawyer & Pinoy Cook on food, family and home.
What's the difference between a cake and a pie? It's not the presence of a crust, I tell you, because a cheesecake has a crust but it is still a cake and not a pie. The difference is how the crust is positioned in relation to the filling. If the crust envelopes the entire filling, whether under (all the way to the sides), over or both, it is a pie. Anything else, it's a cake.
What's the difference between a pie and a tart? It has to do with the height of the baked product and the pan in which it was baked. If it is baked in a pie pan (sloped sides and usually deeper than two inches), it is a pie. If it is baked in a shallower pan with straight sides (as opposed to sloped although the straight sides may be fluted), it is a tart.
And what's a pudding? Ah, that definition varies from one culture to the next.
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)
“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)
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)
When I saw a recipe for dulce de leche pound cake, my heart jumped. I adore anything with dulce de leche and I so wanted to make that cake. The problem is that it has gotten more and more difficult to make dulce de leche at home. For some reason, sweetened condensed milk is no ... (more)
It’s our 20th wedding anniversary. When Speedy greeted me shortly after midnight, I exclaimed, “Imagine… 20 years of seeing you everyday…” And Sam interjected, “No, that’s 20 years of feeding him everyday… No, no… that’s 20 years of his tummy growing everyday.” Whaaatever. Earlier last night, Sam and I made this cake. Kit Kat cake, ... (more)
Last night, feeling in such a good mood to bake a cake, I started thawing the butter and preheating the oven only to discover that I was out of all-purpose flour. I was about to concede defeat when I remembered that I still had a bag of whole wheat flour. If a little cornstarch could ... (more)
Some people like to use whole slices of bread to make their pudding. They stack the bread in a pan, pour in the egg-and-milk mixture and bake everything together. Others cut the bread into cubes and mix them into the custard mixture. These days, I prefer to tear my bread into really small pieces and ... (more)
Food fads notwithstanding, my family is proudly carnivorous. We don't shy … »»
When does your weekend start? Like most Filipino families, ours used to … »»
The title is not meant to sound patriotic. I don't believe that patriotism … »»
In a country where over ninety per cent of the population live below the … »»
Miso is a paste made by fermenting rice, barley or soybeans with salt and a … »»
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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