Oreo Panna Cotta Recipe

Ever since Ken started working as a pastry chef, I barely get to enjoy his homemade desserts. I miss having him whip up something delightful using various ingredients we shopped for or whatever he could find at home. Thankfully, a few Sundays ago, after I ordered dinner for us, he gave in to my request for him to prepare a dessert and he came up with this creamy Oreo Panna Cotta recipe.

We really had no intention of posting this since it was just one of the random things we do at home â€“ I crave for something sweet and Ken will check what ingredients we have available and heâ€™ll whip up something yummy. I was lucky that he was not so tired from work and was in the mood to actually prepare something. 😀

After we posted the photo of the Oreo Panna Cotta on our Facebook page and our own Timelines, there were people who requested for the recipe. So, here yah go! Since we didn’t really think of sharing this beforehand, I don’t have photos while he was preparing this. Your imagination will be at play here, but it’s easy to make. 😉

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Homemade Beef Kare Kare Recipe (PLUS Seafood Version)

If there’s one dish our nanay prepares that I would want to eat for my last meal, it would definitely be her delicious Beef Kare-kare. Looking back to my childhood days, I realize that my fondness for this dish can be traced back to the days when our nanay would prepare kare-kare as one of her sweet ways in rewarding us for doing well, may it be in school or just for simply behaving at home.

Since I started working almost a decade ago, we’ve had kare-kare more often because whenever I’m craving for it, all we need to do is provide for the ingredients and our nanay will lovingly cook it for us. She’s even made her own seafood kare-kare (after our lunch at Emohruo in Pagudpud) which I also love (see the seafood option below this article).

This is actually one reason I don’t order kare-kare at restaurants because I have high standards when it comes to the flavors of this dish. It’s certainly one of the many things I missed when I lived for a year in Cebu that I begged her for the recipe and had to have someone cook it for me exactly the way nanay instructed. It was close to how she prepares it, but nothing beats the original ’cause it’s made with pure love. 🙂

Many can attest to the tastiness of our nanay’s kare-kare. And after the long delay of sharing the recipe, we finally had the time to prepare the dish for this blog. We hope you enjoy it and please let us know how it went when you tried it. If you tweaked a couple of things, we’d love to hear about that too. 🙂

Creamy Beef Kare-kare Recipe

Kare-kare is a Philippine beef stew, usually made with oxtail or tripe, vegetables and ground peanuts. But, this recipe was made with regular beef cuts.

SERVINGS:

Good for 8-10 people, but itâ€™ll really depend on their appetites. The 4 of us can finish this off for lunch and dinner. 😀

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Dimsum Break : Finally in SM North Edsa!

Update: Dimsum Break at SM North Edsa Annex is FINALLY open! Read our review here.

One thing most of you don’t know about me is that I lived in Cebu for about a year. Sure, there are many dishes and food places that anyone traveling there shouldn’t miss like Taboan (best place to buy pasalubong like danggit and dried squid) and Sutukil near the Mactan Shrine (Dampa-style restaurants). But, there’s one specific dish that I have been longing to have a taste of again and that’s Steamed Rice, Cebu style. So, I was frantic when I learned that Dimsum Break from Cebu is opening a branch here in Manila – at SM North Edsa! 😀

(Photo from Dimsum Break’s Facebook page)

When I moved back here, I have been longing for another taste of their Steamed Rice. In a desperate move, I beggedÂ Mai, one of the contributors in this food blog, a pure Cebuana, to come up and share a recipe for Cebu style Steamed Rice that she made here at home. The flavors are close to the actual dish from Cebu, but there’s something missing. Still, the recipe did satisfy our craving.

You might be wondering what the heck this Steamed Rice dish is. Don’t take it literally. It’s not just plain steamed rice. It’s a mix of many ingredients and with just one small bowl, it can fill you up because of the combination of the rice, the sauce, peas, the shrimp and pork (or beef). It’s so good that it’s one of the things I deeply miss about Cebu. 😀 If you’d like to try making at home, check out Mai’s Steamed Rice recipe.

Anyway, going back to Cebu. There are 2 popular restaurants there where you can order Steamed Rice. One is Harbour City Dimsum House, which is my favorite spot. Here’s a REALLY OLD and LOUSY photo of our lunch there one weekend (taken back in 2008, I think, and I didn’t know better 😀 ):

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Happy 100th Birthday, Julia Child!

Today, August 15, 2012, marks the 100th birthday of Julia Child, the iconic American chef who changed the world of gastronomy through her amazing talent and passion for cooking – oh, and not to mention her personality! How Americans eat and cook at home was never the same because of her as she brought the intimidating art of French cooking to the USA. She may have passed away years ago, but her legacy will continue to nourish future food lovers.

For us here in the Philippines, some may say that she hardly had any influence on how we Filipinos eat or cook. We have our own ways of cooking that can be traced back hundreds of years. We have always loved cooking and eating at home, and most of the influences in our culinary world are from the Spaniards (Europeans) and our neighbors here in Asia. However, with our ever-growing curiosity in tasting what the world has to offer, we, in many ways, have been touched by Julia Child.

I’m sure many of the chefs and culinary experts here in the country are very familiar with Julia Child. Her techniques, her recipes and her cooking tips will continue on for generations to come, I’m certain of that. When you slather on mayonnaise on your favorite bread or dish, or when you prepare and eat an omelette (or omelet), in a way, Julia has been a part of making all those possible to do in our very own homes.

How Julia Child Influenced Us

We may be thousands of miles away from France and America where Julia Child has been a household name, but through the internet and all the technology we enjoy now, she has touched our lives too.

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Indulge in Vermont Classic Frozen Custard by FIC

The weather might be gloomy and it might not be the best time to enjoy anything cold, but you can’t deny the fact that when you’re stuck at home with family or friends, nothing beats a movie or TV series marathon with your favorite comfort food. And Fruits in Ice Cream has something new and delightful for all of us: Vermont Classic Frozen Custard, their latest dessert creation.

Frozen Custard?

FIC is the first to introduce this frozen custard treat to the Philippines. You might be wondering how it’s different from ice cream. Frozen custard is actually the same as ice cream except it has a higher concentration of egg yolks and is churned more slowly, making this dessert richer and more indulgent. When you see French ice cream on a menu, that’s another name for frozen custard. (Oh, and Ken has a recipe that doesn’t require an ice cream maker) 🙂

When FIC sent over a cup each of their Vermont Classic Frozen Custard base flavors, we were pleasantly surprised to see everything else that came with the package. Aside from the 3 varieties – French Vanilla, Brownie Batter and Cheesecake – we got an assortment of toppings and a recipe card.

Ken and I tasted each of the flavors first before we combined the toppings based on the recipes, and we literally had a hard time figuring out which one’s our favorite ’cause they’re all darn yummy! Usually, I’d go for anything chocolicious, but the tanginess of the cheesecake flavor and the creamy goodness of the French vanilla was too irresistible. The Brownie Batter still ended up as my top favorite because it has this slight bitterness to it that I love about dark chocolate. 🙂

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Breakfast Magazine : Uniquely Fresh, Satisfyingly Delicious

There is no doubt about it, my love for food can be traced back to my younger years when I first learned how to cook with my nanay‘s guidance. Since then, my thirst to learn more about food continued to grow and I enjoyed reading about everything related to food, may it be on a magazine, book, or a website. I lived vicariously through the writers’ stories of their latest food discoveries, how they travelled different parts of the country and the world to satisfy their curiosity (and tummy). And I share this passion for food with my brother Ken, one of the major reasons why we get along well. Little did we know that this year, 2012, after almost two years of writing for this blog, we’d be given an opportunity to write for a food magazine – Breakfast Magazine.

Breakfast Magazine is a bi-monthly publication. Their maiden issue was released last February 2012. I can describe the magazine as fresh and young, just like the team behind it led by Editor-in-Chief Alexis “Kim” Cuizon.

The first thing that comes to mind when you hear “Breakfast Magazine” is it’s going to be all about the most important meal of the day. But, they’re more than that. They aim to acquaint us with the people, where the ingredients come from and the stories behind the food, the restaurants, the products. Just like this blog, Breakfast Magazine is more personal. They take on a unique angle in their feature stories and theme in every issue. Heck, even the covers are so fabulous. 🙂

You’d probably expect a food magazine to have photos of delectable dishes on their cover, right? But, no. Breakfast Magazine’s first 3 issues feature people on the cover as they’re as interesting as the stories they have to tell. First was Judy Ann Santos-Agoncillo. Second is the lovely Iza Calzado. Followed by Pokwang – unlikely and unexpected, right? But, just look at how fab she looked at the front cover of the latest issue. I say the whole Breakfast Magazine team did an AWESOME job. I seriously can’t stop looking at that glamorous photo of Pokwang. 😉

And we’ve said it before, food triggers memories that we most likely have forgotten already. It can bring people together. It can heal us and comfort us on those very stressful days. What we eat, our relationship with food can somehow reveal something about us, what we’ve been through, our personality. And Breakfast Magazine puts focus on that. 🙂

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An Exciting New Beginning with Breakfast Magazine

Aside from our love for food, Ken and I also share a passion for writing. As far as I can remember, I’ve always kept a journal or a notebook where I write my deepest thoughts and a few random things. Ken also has a knack for writing and, in fact, he was the one who wanted to put up his own blog first, but I beat him to it. With all that said, it’s been a dream of ours to be published in a broadsheet or a magazine. And this year, we fulfilled it. We’re glad to be part of Breakfast Magazine.

Breakfast Magazine is the newest foodie publication in the Philippines today. You might be thinking that all we talk about in the mag is breakfast, what people generally consider the most important meal of the day. The magazine is all about food – may it be breakfast, lunch, dinner or the enjoyment of food Â in between.

The maiden issue of Breakfast Magazine was launched this month. It’s a bi-monthly publication and every issue, we follow a theme. For February and March, it was just expected that it’s all about love and food. 🙂

When we were approached to be part of Breakfast Magazine, we were excited about it, but wondered if we are ready. This food blog will only turn 2 this year (we have a giveaway coming up!), but we are indeed touched by the overwhelming support we’re getting from fellow certified foodies. We love blogging and writing, but we thought coming up with articles for a magazine is a completely different ballgame. But, we brushed those doubts aside and we agreed.

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The BEST Homemade Buffalo Wings Recipe Ever!

Buffalo Wings are considered American staple food, together with our favorite burgers and fries. Theyâ€™re the kind of food people donâ€™t ever mind getting down and dirty in eating because itâ€™s best savored using your bare hands, licking all the crevices of your fingers clean of the delicious buffalo sauce and blue cheese dip.

I had my first taste of the hot wings when some of my friends and I once dined at TGI Fridayâ€™s in Greenbelt. They ordered their usual nachos, burgers, and fries. One friend suggested we get the Buffalo wings, but another friend was quick to negate, saying that itâ€™s too spicy for her taste. But since I love my food hot and spicy, 10 minutes later, we had two servings of Buffalo wings on our table, and they all agreed that I ate 2/3 of it. 😀

Fridayâ€™s Buffalo Wings

After that dinner, the Buffalo wings flew straight up my all-time favorite food list, but itâ€™s not everyday that I have the luxury to buy wings at Fridayâ€™s. So I decided to make some myself at home, and itâ€™s a good thing that I have a very generous sister like Mhel, who shouldered the expenses for the ingredients.

My first attempt to make Buffalo Wings at home â€“ all gone in about 15 minutes! 😀

The Homestyle Buffalo Wings recipe Iâ€™m sharing with you are bits and pieces of different stuff I found on the internet. Not one recipe matched what I wanted to do because there is one requiring me to broil then bake the chicken wings, instead of simply frying them; another has a lousy breading mix recipe, but their instructions for doing the buffalo sauce was by far the simplest among all Iâ€™ve seen. And almost all sites had a recipe for blue cheese dip to accompany the chicken wings, but blue cheese is out of the question – too expensive for me. But, weâ€™ll try that, too, soon. 🙂

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My ELBA Kitchen Cookbook Launch – Pasta Recipes Galore!

On May 26th, I was invited to the launch of My Elba Kitchen Cookbook at The Grove Rockwell near Tiendesitas. I was looking forward to supporting this launch because we have an 8-year old ELBA gas range at home. We use it for cooking delicious homemade dishes and for baking, too. In fact, we recently used it in baking The Cookie Jarâ€™s Oatmeal Chocolate Chip Cookies, as pictured below.

ELBA is a well-known kitchen appliance manufacturer from Italy. They have been in the Philippines for over 20 years and has been one of the most reliable brands out there. When it comes to the durability of their products, I can attest to the quality because of how long weâ€™ve been using our ELBA gas range.

The My Elba Kitchen Cookbook contains 60 pasta recipes that are easy to follow and prepare at home. Being a recipe follower with a little tantyameter (I recently learned this word :D) and some experimentation when it comes to flavor combinations when cooking pasta at home, I would love to prepare some of the dishes featured in this cookbook.

The cookbook is now available at all leading bookstores for only Php 399! So, make sure you grab one. If you want to know what recipes youâ€™d find inside, let me share with you some of the pasta dishes that were prepared right in front of us during the launch by two guest chefs.

First off was Chef Darin Epp from Maxim Cookworks. With him on the photo is the eventâ€™s host PJ.

Chef Darin hails from Canada, but expressed his fondness of the Philippines. Heâ€™s very entertaining and shared some tips while he prepared two dishes for us pictured below.

Sardine Pasta with Sundried Tomatoes

Salmon with Rosemary and Cream Sauce

Again, take note that these dishes were prepared in front of us. So, that means theyâ€™re easy and quick to make. Very effective when you need to whip up a dish at home for your kids or loved ones.

Between the two dishes Chef Darin prepared, I wanted to get a fork and taste the Salmon with Rosemary and Cream sauce. Why? Two words â€“ Salmon and Rosemary. 😀

Next up is Chef Richie Custodio from CCA, one of the top culinary schools in the Philippines today. He prepared five (5) dishes for us with the help of students from CCA.

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Baking Oatmeal Chocolate Chip Cookies from The Cookie Jar Mix

Over a week ago, I mentioned about Rae of The Cookie Jar sending us 3 of their products to try â€“ their French macarons, Triple Chocolate Cookies and this â€“ their Oatmeal Chocolate Chip Cookie mix.

We postponed baking using the mix for a pick-me-up get-together with my best friend, Tina. I know baking will cheer her up. 🙂

As soon as she saw the jar with the ingredients stacked up as pictured below, she got excited and even reminded us we should start baking already. 😀

The Cookie Jar Oatmeal Chocolate Chip Cookie mix includes semi-sweet choco chips, oats, flour, brown and white sugar. Like what is mentioned at the back of the gift tag thatâ€™s included with the package, you only need to add butter, eggs and vanilla.

Let me share with you some photos taken during our baking session. If you havenâ€™t tried baking yet, then, these photos might help. You see, itâ€™s so easy, you wonâ€™t need any complicated kitchen tools like utility knives or heavy kitchen machines. 🙂

I had to stop myself from eating the chocolate chips when we finally opened the jar.

Then, we used 2 sticks of butter and softened them through our microwave. Yes, we were busy chattering away that we forgot that we were only supposed to use 1 1/2 stick of butter. So, using a little Mathâ€¦

1 stick of butter = 100 g

1 1/2 stick of butter = 150 g

Since Ken, as Iâ€™ve mentioned before, is into baking. So, we have this weighing scale available at home. How convenient. You should know that precise measurements are very important when baking. Otherwise, youâ€™d get undesirable results. Thatâ€™s why, if youâ€™re really planning on starting baking at home, then, you should have this weighing scale available tooâ€¦ just in case. (I forgot how much this costs, will get back to you with the price)

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