48 Cupcakes

There are some days that I'm seriously addicted to baking. Yesterday, I had the urge to spend some time in the kitchen and mix up some batter. I ended up baking 24 chocolate chip cupcakes and 24 strawberry cupcakes. The chocolate chip cupcakes are made from your standard chocolate cupcake batter plus some chocolate chips, the strawberry cupcake is your standard vanilla cupcake batter plus a couple tablespoons of strawberry jam (without pulp).



I cheated a little on the frostings though. I made a batch of swiss meringue and added melted chocolate to half of it and some strawberry jam to the rest.

The chocolate chip cupcake was the winner between the two cupcakes. Chocolate always wins :-)



The strawberry cupcake needed more sweetness and the frosting some fresh strawberries. Sadly, strawberries are out of season now so I just made do with the plain swiss meringue icing with strawberry jam instead. They look so girly girly. Pink cupcakes with pink frosting on a pink cake stand.



Barbie moment!

Carrot Cupcake

I hate it when I have cravings. It occupies my mind and my dreams and most of my cravings are either my mother's cooking or something that I baked previously. For the past few days, it's been carrot cake and not just any carrot cake, it must be the mother's day carrot cake that I baked last May. My mom's also been hounding me about that cake.

After shopping for some ingredients, I finally give in to the temptation. I decided to make cupcakes instead of a full cake for ease of transport to my mom and my in-laws' and so that hubby and I don't get tempted to eat the whole thing. The secret is to spread out the calories :-)



Here's my carrot cupcake with cream cheese frosting and slivered almonds.

My mom wolfed down one cupcake as soon as she saw it, my sister-in law Joyce, wolfed down two.

Yeah, spread the calories, spread the fun.

Chocolate Cupcakes

I was feeling a bit anxious earlier due to sleep deprivation. Our aircon conked out yesterday and had to be serviced today.

While waiting for the service crew to arrive, I busied myself with a bit of baking. I've been wanting to try a chocolate cupcake recipe that I saw on the net. It was pretty easy to do. I ended up making two batches to make 24 cupcakes. Most of which will be sent to my mom and my in-laws. Hubby and I can't possible eat them all. Ideally, cupcakes should be eaten at room temperature within two days of baking. After that, they can be refrigerated, unfrosted, for up to a week.





I was quite happy with how they turned out. The chocolate swiss meringue frosting was quite fussy to make and I was a bit skeptical if I can pull it off. I managed fine but it didn't have the rich chocolate-y color that I wanted, maybe because I used semi-sweet chocolate chips instead of the bitter-sweet that was required in the original recipe. Oh well, it tasted great anyway. It was light and fluffy and not too sweet, just the way I prefer it. The frosting kinda tasted like chocolate ice cream but without the melt factor.

Binatog

Binatog is one of the many merienda (snack) fares in the Filipino diet. Binatog is steamed or boiled white corn kernels cooked until they burst out of their skins. The individual corn kernels are painstakingly removed prior to cooking. It is often sold by tinderos riding a bicycle while happily clanking a heavy metal bell, signaling to the neighborhood that hot binatog is available. The binatog is a very humble merienda, the hot corn kernels are sold from a timba or pail that the tindero straps behind his bike. It's always served piping hot and is only available in the afternoon.



Binatog is very versatile. It can be eaten with a dash of salt or a dash of sugar and some grated niyog (mature coconut), utensils optional ;-)



I managed to catch a binatog vendor biking around our village and bought two scoops worth of the delicious, hot and fragrant merienda fare. Yummy!

Hubby would be so jealous.

The Joy of being Joy

I met my college friend Joy the other day. I got a very special news from her, she's expecting her second child and I'm to be godmother. I was so happy for her and wanted to congratulate her in person. I met her her office building for lunch so that we can have a longer conversation.



She's a wonderful friend. Always laughing and always always in a good mood no matter what. I love being around her. Her laughter is just contagious and I can be myself around her. No subject is taboo, no poise needed and certainly no pretensions allowed. I could swear like a truck driver, laugh like a hyena and be unladylike all I want and it will only make her laugh some more.

I wish all of us can be like her...accepting, simple, cheerful and always laughing. Ah, the joy of being Joy.

Unearthing a Family Treasure

Sunday lunch at LP again. The family converged in our second home to stuff ourselves silly.

For this particular Sunday, I was assigned by my mother to make the pasta on site. She had some kielbasa and ham that she wanted to make into a pasta sauce. It was simple and easy. Hubby helped me a bit with the cooking. I thought I will never see the day! I took a picture to make sure that I did not dream it in my head. Here he is, frying the kielbasa.



We had a bunch of other stuff too. We had siomai, lechon manok and for dessert, fried suman, mangoes and bananas dipped in chocolate fondue. All were cooked, heated on site and served straight from the stove top. Hence, the lack of food pictures. I do have pictures of the kids. Some were taken by my 4 year old nephew Jay-jay:









As we were devouring the food, my mom produced these crumpled and stained pieces of paper. She excitedly told us that she found Tita Dody's recipes for Hungarian Goulash, Braised Beef and an assortment of orzo recipes. The Hungarian Goulash had about 300 ingredients in it :-). Just kidding. Mom raved about how delicious it was when Tita Dody made it during my mom's trip to New Jersey.







I was expected to make it one of these days and serve it to the family. Tall order, Tita Dody inherited my grandmother's flair in the kitchen. I hope I can measure up.

4 (malls) in 1 (day)!

Is it Thursday already? Wow, time flies and I haven't even written about my weekend experience yet! Where did the time go? Anyway, here goes:

Last Saturday, we were invited for brunch by our wedding godparents. There is such a thing here in the Philippines. Anyway, they chose to meet us and my in-laws at North Park, Market Market since it was the only restaurant open at 10:00 am. The food was OK, but the service stinks. There were only three or four groups dining that time and our orders came after half an hour. Our godmother ordered this rice soupy thing. It's weird.



Fortunately, a lively conversation made up for the lackluster food.

For dessert, we trotted off to Krispy Kreme at Bonifacio High Street Mall, a block away. I hate to admit it, but this is my first time to have Krispy Kreme. I'm not much of a donut fan so I don't crave it that much. We had almost ever flavor available. The winner in my book is still the glazed donut. It really melts in your mouth and it's not too sweet nor heavy. I will definitely go back there. I got a special tip too: if you see their sign (outside) lighted, and it's the middle of the day, go line up in the counter and they will give you a free donut! Cool eh?





The kids will have a fantastic time too seeing the donuts go through a conveyor belt.



I imagine, if we had a kid, this is what we would typically look, stroller and everything. We used our niece Jessica as a prop :-)



After parting ways with everyone, hubby and I decided to loaf around Serendra and Market!Market! again. Serendra is basically just a collection of restaurants located in the fabulous Serendra community. The high end condominium units by Ayala. We were still quite full from our brunch and Krispy Kreme experience and decided to forgo buying cupcakes. Duh, since I make them now at home :-)

At Market!Market!!, we saw this interesting collection of pumpkins in various colors and sizes. I asked the sales lady what dishes can I make with them. She looked horrified when I asked. Apparently they were used strictly for decoration :-) The pumpkins last for 4 months and can be purchased for P250 a kilo. I think it will go well on the dining table placed in a nice big wooden or artsy bowl. Better than the fake fruits that adorn most traditional Filipino dining tables :-) The fruit selection there is also wonderful. We were able to buy these cherries for just P160 a pack and some mangoes for P75 a kilo, avocados go for P75 a kilo also. Hubby was even ecstatic that he found some watercress! Watercress is so hard to find here in Manila and to find it in Market!Market! is like finding buried treasure.





Market!Market! is also home to the famous Ineng's Barbecue located at the al fresco food court. I've never dined there and so I was eager to try the famed barbecue that everyone was raving about. Verdict: it was good and very tender, it's no wonder people love it. The barbecue marinade is very subtle and not overly powering. I have to admit though, in terms of taste, it doesn't hold a candle to my mom's barbecue. But Ineng's get the highest mark for meat tenderness.



It was pretty early when we left and went home. After resting for a few hours at home, Hubby and I decided to watch a movie at Festival Mall in Alabang. We wanted to watch Transformers but the seats were all gone. We ended up watching Fantastic 4 instead. The movie was entertaining enough. Like it's predecessor, the fight scene was bitin or over too fast, the villain defeated too easily. The CGI and sound effects were good at least.

Whew! it was a very long, exhausting and fun-filled day! Sa Saturday ulit!