Soup and Salmon #3!

I'm tired of being TIRED of cooking after work. With my previous entries, i start to cook around 10PM, after work and overtime, and finish around 1AM, which is too much for a normal person after working for almost 13hours the whole day. So! For this particular entry, I decided to file a halfday off from work just to get enough time to prepare and rest after.

I love it that I’m learning a lot even though I’m just teaching myself how to cook. Like for this recipe, i met Paprika. Now, I've heard of this particular spice several times before but i've never given much thought how it's used.

Pizza and Panna Cotta # 2

I've been meaning to try to make a pizza ever since I came across this no-bake homemade pizza idea in a magazine several years ago. But since i've no drive and no determination, I always forget to do so. But while i was grocery-ing and saw this lovely pack of flour tortillas, I decided, what the heck? might as well;
And before i knew it, in my push cart along with the tortillas were ham, peppers, quickmelt cheese, button mushrooms, and ready-made pizza sauce!

weekend shopping.

While looking for a clean restroom in Megamall (for some reason I have to say this because the nearest restroom lead me to the plates) my sister and myself saw these posh - lookin' plates and impulsively bought them for future use. Buying them was not part of the weekly budget but I thought, what the heck, they are quite nice, and cheap too!



On a totally different level, while paying for the plates, the Cashier was strategically situated near the goodies and sweets section and something caught my attention. Or in this case, two somethings:


One is Royal Family's Mochi Choco Ball (imported from Taiwan, i think, wikied it.) which is actually a Japanese glutinous rice confection filled with strawberry jam! Okay, my one weakness is strawberry so I went ahead and tried it. How to describe it? Think chocolate-coated strawberry-flavored tikoy filled with strawberry jam coated with marshamallow. Beat that!

It's like a mini strawberry explosion, and to be honest, i couldn't quite understand the taste! It's like, it tasted sweet, then sticky because of the glutinous rice, then sweet again because of the jam, then sticky again because of the mallows... Yikes! Had me confused!




Another is Elsa's Story Lemon Pastry Bites. 2 words: HEAVEN-LY. One bite and a thousand (a bit exaggerated) flavors tickled my tastebud. I taste cinnamon, i taste lemon, a bit of pineapple, some raisins, some orange, some apples... I don't know how they were able to roll it all into one small bite size pastry but i definitely would recommend this treat. I only had one bite, there's still about 11 here. Let me know if you want one! :)

***

Next up: Solo Pizza and Panna Cotta! Do you think i can handle it?

Watch out for the coming entry! =)

The Coffee Bean Experience

2 Things i absoluted-ly love :
1. Books. (Current reading: The Class by Erich Segal)
2. Teas. Teas. Teas. (Coffee Bean and Tea Leaf's -CBTL's whole leaf tea bags)

Why i love CBTL's teas: Its pyramid shaped whole leaf tea bags. Its mild taste. Its exotic aroma. Its calming effect on me.

Decided to start the week right by dropping by early @ BoniHi's CBTL with my Sony cam and ipod. Got off the BGC central route bus and walked from Fort Strip all the way to BHS. Got there all sweaty. Darn Sun. Darn Change in bus routes, had me confused.Met a few early joggers as well. Felt self-conscious while i snapped me some pictures,
Manong Guards were staring at me already. Got there around 7:39. Store opens 8am. Had to wait. Barista inside waved HELLO and gave an apologetic look pointing to his watch. Sorry! Not yet time! In return, i gave him a thumbsup It's okay i'm good!

Ordered my all time fave blended drink- White Chocolate Dream (with whipped cream and choc syrup).
and started my long day with Jason Mraz's Im Yours playin' in my ears.

Went back friday (for a perfect week ender) to have Chai Tea Latte (a must try!) and Banana Walnut Muffin. Yummy!

Tiramisu! #1

*trumpets!*

This is it!!


Thursday, 10:30 pm. After work.

Finally, THE first attempt. I came across this rather simple recipe in Yummy Magazine, October 2008 issue, page 19. I got lucky in buying this particular issue cause it covered everything chocolate! tempering to truffles? it's all in there!

anywho, let's get started =) For this particular recipe, i used the following ingredients: Exhibit 1: 7 oz ladyfingers and 7 oz grated semi sweet chocolate.

Exhibit 2: 1 3/4 cups mascarpone cheese (used cream cheese instead)

1 1/4 confectioner's sugar, unsweetened cocoa powder for dusting

Exhibit 3: 3/4 cup brewed coffee, cooled, 2 egg whites, 4 egg yolks.

Okay, just to be PERFECTLY clear on one thing: somewhere along the way, i learned NEVER to replace mascarpone cheese with cream cheese. I went to S&R to check out if they carry mascarpone cheese and lo and behold! it costs p500+ per 8oz! So what i did, i went to SM supermarket and bought Magnolia cream cheese instead. solve! *giggles!* but the result was one step short of a disaster.

Read on to find out why.

Exhibit 4: Beat egg yolks with sugar until pale and fluffy.

Exhibit 5: Gently fold in the mascarpone (or in this case, cheap CREAM CHEESE) and then mix in the egg whites.




Exhibit 6: soak lady fingers in brewed coffee and arrange as shown.



Exhibit 7: Cover with a layer of the "CREAM CHEESE" mixture
and layer with the grated chocolate.



"Continue making layers until all ingredients are used up.
Dust with cocoa powder and chill."


These are the words to be found in the magazine and shown above it is a lovely picture
depicting the supposedly finish product.


I somehow ended up with:



Exhibit 8.




and..

Exhibit 9.

Darn mascarpone cheese. From this point on, i will always ALWAYS follow instructions. And won't substitute or come up with a recipe of my own. *scout's honor*

Shown in the magazine, the mascarpone cheese blended very nicely with the egg mixture. However, in my case, there were CHUNKS! What a horrid disaster! I was mixing and mixing for almost 30mins but still, the mixture contained lumps of cream cheese!

Panicking and sleepy and tired, decided to ignore the obvious and continued layering them ladyfingers.

Refer again to exhibit 8. The mixture is too wet and too.. yucky.

But an idea pops into mind. Why not microwave the gooey finish product? for the cheese-egg mixture and chocolate to melt?

It actually got better! =)

The chocolate melted wonderfully,the mixture blended with the ladyfinger layering itself the way it should. *kilig!*

Placed the tiramisu in the freezer overnight. Finished 11:30pm.

The following morning..

Woke up @ 5am. Excited. Opened the freezer. HELLEW TIRAMISU! Sliced through the cake/dessert, and yes, took a bite at such an ungodly time.

It may not look presentable, it may not even level with professionals, but since it's my first, i love it =)

location: Starbucks Shell. Friday. 7:43am.

White Choco Mocha Extra hot. Non-fat. No Whip.

**Domo Arigatou Gozaimasu ! to Marc Angelo Sy