Surprise Enjoyment

I was on my home, for some reason, sunset came in late and there was still light out as I passed by Roxas Boulevard/Coastal Road. I had quite a long ride home, which fortunately allowed me to look out my window and admire the scenery. I wish I had the Nikon with me so that I could have captured the images.

If you look beyond the shanties scattered along the bay's edge and focus your vision on the water, the thick mangroves and the sunset with it's spectacular burst of oranges, reds and yellows, you would be enjoying your ride home, too.

Quickie Meal

On rare occasions, say, on long weekends, I actually enjoy waking up when I am done sleeping. Better yet, grabbing a quick lunch with hubby after doing a few errands.

We chose to have Pancit Luglug and Oysters D Uxelles, Baked oysters with mushrooms and cheese and some Puto Bumbong at Via Mare in BF.





Pretty average meal, slightly overpriced but mealtimes spent with hubby is always worth it.

Breakfast Party

Hubby and his team work nights. So, when he asked me to have a party at home, he requested a breakfast party. I had the usual stuff of vigan longganisa, tocino,salted egg with tomatoes and cilantro, daing na bangus, fried and plain rice. Watermelons. I laso made Suprise cupcakes, devil's food cupcakes with cream cheese filling.





Breakfast extended to lunch with the addition of pork and chicken adobo with quail eggs, kare-kare brought by one of the guests, binagoonangan also brought by one of the guests. I had a few more stuff waiting in the kitchen to be cooked but there were already so much food!

Lunch extended to merienda of turon.

It was a fun and wacky bunch :-)

A day in the life of Hubby and Me

As we were preparing to go out....

Me: Hubby, you make me happy.

Hubby: Mabuti naman...
Kasi baka isoli mo ako sa nanay ko..

Me: Hindi na pwede!
Kasi out of warranty ka na.

Ha ha ha!

D.I.N.K.s

D- Double

I - Income

N- No

K - Kids

Yeah, that's what hubby and I are called.

But we can borrow this one whenever we want to :-)



So, all is good! :-)

Boredom's gonna getcha

As you can probably tell here on my blog that we haven't been anywhere lately. Life has been both exciting and boring this year, if that makes sense. We've had numerous parties at home with family, most of which did not make it here on this blog.

Summer came and went and I didn't see a single grain of beach sand. Hubby's been so swamped with work that weekends were relagated to sleeping and get-togethers at home. I get pleasure from looking at beach pictures instead and planning our next vacation, if Hubby ever found the time to spare. Haaaay...

We did manage to attend Hubby's Family Day at Enchanted Kingdom last Sunday with my nephew JJ. It was brutally hot but the bagets managed to enjoy it nonetheless.





Here he is riding the ATV. JJ was such a daredevil, his ATV rolled over! Thankfully he had pads and helmet on and only hurt his pride.



Oh, and I slipped on the bathtub...again!

I know, my life is exciting, right?

I'm being sarcastic, silly!

Mocha Cupcakes

What's up peeps? Haven't blogged in quite a while. Been quite busy with a few activities here at the homefront. I miss writing here a little bit and sharing my adventures in the kitchen.

The weather's been pretty hot and it dampened by spirit just a tad when it came to baking. The heat was quite "strong" running up to 38degrees in the afternoon. I was really tempted to fry an egg on the street and record it and post it here but the neighbors might think I'm being juvenile, ha ha ha.

Anyway, I've been itching to try new cupcake recipes these past two weeks. My pantry is stocked up except for some a pack of Hershey's Chocolate Chips which seemed to have run out of stock from the supermarkets nearby. I tried other brands but they're not quite the same. Hubby particularly likes the Special Extra Dark Chocolate chips.

I've been thinking of some cupcake ideas for upcoming occasions.....

I have a few ideas and I will share them with you here when I am done.

In the meantime, I quickly baked some Mocha Cupcakes since I have been craving for mocha cake for the whole week. Everything's mocha...

Mocha cake base with mocha buttercream...

I only had coffee granules at home that's why my icing is speckled :-)

The cake has a meringue component, so it shrunk considerably after taking out of the oven. I probably did something wrong. Other than that, the cake baked beautifully.

Here's the recipe that I used, with minor changes:



Mocha Chiffon Cake
Adapted from recipezaar.com

2 teaspoons instant coffee powder or instant coffee granules
3/4 cup hot water
1 3/4 cups all-purpose flour
1 1/2 cups sugar
1 tablespoon baking powder
1/2 teaspoon salt
1/2 cup vegetable oil
6 egg yolks
1 teaspoon vanilla extract
6 egg whites
1/2 teaspoon cream of tartar
2 ounces semisweet chocolate, grated (I cheated and used 1/3 cup chocolate syrup instead)


1. Line cupcake tuns with paper liner and preheat oven at 375 degrees. Meanwhile, dissolve coffee powder in hot water, cool to room temperature.
2. In a large bowl, combine flour, sugar, baking powder and salt, stir until well mixed. (I sifted them together then whipped them manually with a small whisk, to incorporate all the ingredients).
3. Make a well in centre, add oil, egg yolks, vanilla and cooled coffee.
4. Beat with a wooden spoon until smooth.
5. In a large bowl, beat egg whites and cream of tartar until stiff but not dry.
6. Pour batter over egg whites, fold in carefully, adding chocolate syrup towards the end.
7. Fill cupcake tins 3/4 full and bake for 18 minutes.
8. Remove from pan and cool completely before frosting.




Mocha Butter Cream
Adapted from Wilton's Mocha Buttercream Recipe

1/2 cup solid vegetable shortening
1/2 cup (1 stick) butter, softened
1 square unsweetened chocolate, melted (I used 1 tablespoon chocolate syrup)
1 tablespoon instant coffee (I only had coffee granules at home, which someone gifted to us, since we don't drink any coffee. Hence, the speckled icing)
1 teaspoon clear vanilla extract (I used regular vanilla)
4 cups (approx. 1 lb) confectioners' sugar (I used probably 2 cups, maybe less)
2 tablespoons milk (didn't use milk at all, because my icing wasn't dry)
Makes: About 3 cups.

1. In large bowl, cream shortening and butter with electric mixer until light and fluffy.
2. Add melted chocolate, instant coffee and vanilla; mix well. Gradually add sugar, one cup at a time, beating well on medium speed; scrape sides and bottom of bowl often.
3. When all sugar has been mixed in, icing will appear dry. Add milk; beat at medium speed until light and fluffy. (I did not add any milk since I used less sugar than what is prescribed in the recipe)