Recipe: Cream Dory with Butter and Garlic sauce

Cream Dory with butter and garlic sauce

Ingredients: 

1 kilo of cream dory (sliced)

10 pieces of local lemon 

4 cloves of garlic (diced)

4 Tbsp butter 

oil for frying

1 cup of 7-up 

2 Tbsp of ground pepper

Steps:

1. Marinate the sliced cream dory in 7-up, lemon, pepper, and 3 cloves of diced garlic. Set aside for an hour or two. 
2. Pan grilled the cream dory in a covered pan for about 10 minutes on each side. I used my chefel pan for this. Cooking time would vary how thick the slices are.
3. Fry the cream dory in oil with butter. Just to have a golden color on it. 
4. For the sauce, sauteed the remaining garlic and the garlic from the marinated sauce in butter. Add pepper and the rest of the marinated sauce. 
5. Bring it to boil until it thickens. Add it on top of the fish as garnish and sauce.

Recipe: Mango Refrigerated Cake

Mango Refrigerated Cake

Do you want to make a cake but you do not have an oven? Making a refrigerated cake is one of the easiest way on creating your own cake. I had tried different versions of refrigerated cakes but this recipe is the best from all my experiments. Try this recipe and your family would love it!!!

Ingredients:

1 pack chocolate Graham crackers

3 small packs of Oreo or any chocolate biscuits

2 250 ml condensed milk

2 250 ml all purpose cream 

1/2 cup sugar ( optional) 

2 Tbsp vanilla essence 

1 kilo mango (sliced)

20 pieces of gelatin 

2 eggs

1 225 gram butter 

 

Steps: 

1. Crush the chocolate Graham crackers and chocolate biscuits by using a mortar and pestle. Mix well.
2. Incorporate the melted butter to the crushed biscuits. You can cut it in small pieces and take it out in the fridge an hour before making your refrigerated cake. 
3. In a separate casserole, melt the gelatin, 1 Tbsp vanilla, and sugar and bring it to a boil. Add 1 can of the condensed milk after the gelatin had thoroughly melted and you had taken the casserole out from the stove. 
4. Beat the eggs in a separate bowl, add 1 can of cream and cook it in low heat. This is to take out the raw egg taste from the cream.
5. After the cream with eggs had cooled down a bit, add the rest of milk and cream and whisk it. If you have a mixer or a blender, these would work. 
6. You are  now ready for layering your crust, gelatin, mangoes and cream. Layer first the ground crackers. Use a spoon or a spatula to press it down and to make it firm. Add your cream, add it slowly by using a ladle until the crust is fully covered. 
7. Add your mangoes and cream and layer each component one at a time. Set aside some mangoes and ground crackers for toppings. I was able to make 2 pans of refrigerated cake from this recipe.

 

Recipe: Pork and Sausage dumplings

I am sharing with you my own version of pork and sausage (longganisa dumplings). My family and loved ones loved it and I am sure you will love it too!!

Ingredients: 
1/4 kilo of longganisa ( sausage) 
1/2 kilo of ground pork
4 large onions
2 cloves of garlic 
2 Tbsp of pepper
1 Tbsp of salt 
2 stalks of celery
1 stalk of green onion leaves 
3 Tbsp of soy sauce 
2 eggs
molo wrapper
all purpose flour ( about 3 Tbsp, enough to bind the meat)
oil for frying and sauteing

Sauce:
1 cup vinegar
2-3 Tbsp of sugar
water 
2 green chili
1 bulb of onion
1 tsp pepper 

Steps: 

1. Saute the garlic, 1 sliced onion, ground pork, and longganisa ( sausage). 
2. Add 1 tbsp of pepper, salt, and soy sauce. Cook until done.
3. In a mixing bowl, mix the rest of the sliced onion ( 3 bulbs), celery, green onion leaves, 1 tbsp of pepper, and eggs. 
4. Add the sauteed meat. Mix well. 
5. Add the all purpose flour and mix well. 
6. Put less than a tablespoon of meat in the center of a molo wrapper. Close it by pinching the sides.
7. Deep fry the dumplings until golden brown.

For the sauce: Saute the onion and green chili, add vinegar, sugar, pepper,  and a bit of water. Bring it to a boil and it is done. You can change the measurements according to your taste.

 Pork and Sausage dumplings

Sweet and Sour vinegar sauce

Recipe: Cheesy Banana and Coconut Spring Rolls

Tired of the same old banana spring rolls ( turon)? I experimented with banana and young coconut and made it into a spring roll. It turned out delicious haha!. Other version I tried is mango and banana and it was also yummy.

Ingredients: 
1 ripe banana
1 young cocunut/ buko 
lumpia wrappers
sugar 
oil
slices of cheese
chocolate for toppings 

Steps:
1. Slice the banana and coconut lengthwise.
2. Place the banana, coconut, and cheese on top of the lumpia wrapper and roll. Close the wrapper with dab of water or toothpick. 
3. Heat oil in the frying pan. 
4. Deep fry the spring rolls. Add sugar in the spring rolls when frying and cook it until golden brown. 

 Cheesy Mango and Coconut Spring Rolls

Recipe: Chicken Fillet with Mushroom Sauce

This is an easy recipe to impress your loved ones. Easy to cook and prepare and tastes delicious too. Here's how: 

Ingredients: 
1/2 kilo of chicken breast fillet 
3 bulbs of onions 
1 clove of garlic
3 Tbsp of butter
Half a can of sliced mushroom 
Small can of mushroom sauce
salt and pepper to taste

STEPS:

1. Saute garlic in butter. 
2. Add the sliced onions. 
3. Add the slicked chicken breast fillet. Fry until half done, turning the chicken fillet over. 
4. Add sliced mushroom and a bit of water.
5. Pour a can of mushroom soup. 
6. Add pepper and salt to taste. 
7. Cook until done.

Recipe: Vanilla Pan-fried Apples

We love apples and this recipe is one I invented for easy dessert that can be done by anyone at home. Try this and you would definitely love it!

Ingredients: 
2-3 fresh apples (sliced lengthwise)
1 cup of tapioca or local sago 
condensed milk 
2 tbsp of brown sugar
1 tsp of vanilla essence
cooking oil
2 tbsp of butter

Steps:

1. Fry the sliced apples in cooking oil and butter until golden. Sprinkle some sugar on top. 
2. On a separate bowl, boil the tapioca with sugar and vanilla essence under low heat. Add a bit of water until the sugar is dissolved. 
3. Plate the sliced apples first, add the tapioca on top and add the condensed milk. Chill before serving.

Recipe: Pan Grilled Cream Dory with herbs

This is one of the easiest recipe I cooked. You can cook it in 10-15 minutes and only need a few ingredients. I used my Chefel Pan when I cooked this fish. This is a nice way to cook without letting the aroma out and all the vitamins in.

Ingredients: 
Slices of cream dory ( cleaned) 
Basil ( dried or fresh)
Rosemary  ( dried or fresh) 
a dash of pepper and local lemon
a cup of vegetables like carrots, Baguio beans, and broccoli

Steps: 

1. Rub a bit of salt and pepper to the sliced cream dory. 
2. Squeeze 2-3 lemons depending on the quantity of your cream dory. 
3. Rub with rosemary and basil. 
4. Put the cream dory in the pan and add the veggies. Cook for about 10-15 minutes. 

Chefel Pan

Hot Air Balloon Festival

It is sad that the 2014 Hot Air Balloon Festival in Clark Pampanga is cancelled this year. According to their official page, the event is cancelled this year but come 2015, they will have a grandiose event. 

I was able to experience the 15th Hot Air Balloon Festival last 2010. I loved the balloons, the sky diving, and the airplane stunts. There were exhibits of airplanes and the Philippine Air force as well. My friend Prex, my sister and I had fun taking photos and sharing a new experience together.

We met in Baliwag Transit Terminal in Cubao around 3:00AM as the Bus bound to Dagupan would take about 2 hours. The program started at 6:00AM and we want to be there once the program starts. We alight in Dau terminal, and walked towards the highway where there are jeeps going to the event place. There are buses bound to Pampanga like Victory Liner, Philippine Rabbit, and other buses. You can also get a lot of information about Clark here.

Here are some of our photos: 

Loving the photos

Here is another batch of photos I edited. I had so much fun in combining photos to look like an art work.  I would also tell you the step by step process how I was able to come up with these. :)

 

For this photo, my idea is a sky full of flowers. I cropped photos of flowers and put it on top of of the main photo. I want to have a layering of greens as the base so I cropped photos of different leaves and put it together.

I edited the lighting, highlighted the color, turned it into HD setting and pixellated it. The reason I did this is because I want to edges to blur. 

I then inverted the colors and voila, this is the final outcome!! :) I used Photopaint and Picasa for these photos for editing.

I want to add trees, clouds, and flowers on this main picture of the Sculpture of the Last Supper. The next picture shows the cropped photos on top of the main picture.

I chose to use different colors of clouds to add depths on the cloudless sky on the  main picture and the flowers are to add colors and life. :)

Here is the final picture after some editing. I still want to focus on the sculpture so I chose Focal Zoom setting from Picasa.

I loved this shot of my friend Gayle on one of our travel trips. I have the photo in 4 different themes, Original, Black and White, Sepia, and HD. I cropped the 4 sides of HD photo and pasted it on the original photo. I want to make a sort of inner frame. Then I cropped pieces of Black and White and Sepia photos and pasted it. I want to add variations on the picture and for the eyes not to focus on the subject only but on the parts of the old building as well. 

Well this is me having fun on the beach but I want to make the photo look like an art work so I decided to make it into a puzzle. I cropped it and pasted it together but on different parts haha. :)

Valentine Gift Ideas

It is nearing Valentines again and you are tired of racking up your brain for giving your loved one a memorable gift. Worry no more coz here are some ideas that would surely impress your loved one. 

• Make your own card ( you can buy one if you do not have the time of making one) and put it in your hubby's/boyfriend's/special someone's car sun visor or inside his bag or cabinet or some place he always checks. He will get a nice surprise when he sees it and would be touched from your effort and message of course!
• Bake a cake have it as dessert on your Valentine's dinner. You can also cook his/her favorite dish and have a wonderful dinner at home. 
• Print your favorite photo together and frame it up. 
• Write small notes where he can find it on that day. 
• Surprise him/her with a delivery of flowers. Boys loved flowers too!
• Create your own Book of Adventures. ( This one is a favorite of all the surprises I had done!) Print few pictures of all your travel adventures, pictures together, dates, picture of you together with family and friends etc and put it in a photo album. He/she would surely loved it and you would also have fun reminiscing the memories you have together. 
• Create a photo mosaic and tag him/her on Facebook. 
• Write your message but write it in a puzzle. He/she would enjoy  figuring out the puzzle before reading your message. 
• You can also write words on pieces of paper and let him figure out what is the message. It is best though to have 1-2 sentences and not a whole paragraph. 
• If you know how to paint/draw, it is nice to paint/draw him/her and give it as a gift. 
• If you love traveling, why not surprise him/her with a short out of town trip. 
• Buy a nice massage scent/oil and give him/her a nice massage.
• Make a short video of your life together in pictures. 

A gift does not need to be expensive. What is important is the thought and sincerity we put to it. 

Easy as 1-2-3 Painting

I am a fan of deals online and I saw this DIY painting from Cashcashpinoy. It was nearing our anniversary last year and I figured that the painting would be a great gift. The kit comes with its own brushes, paints, and a pre-printed canvas. All you have to do is just apply the paint. I guess the hardest part is making sure that you do not paint outside the marked drawing. It took me about a month to finish the painting as I can only devote a portion of my time each day. Here is the finished painting:

Recipe: Own version of Truffles

Looking for a nice gift for your loved one this Valentine? How about making one? Making your own gift makes it extra special. I made a Chocolate Truffles before as an anniversary gift and he loved it. I am sharing this recipe to you guys so hoped you would love it. Spread the love and happiness!!  :) 

Ingredients:

1 pack of graham crackers

12 pieces of chocnut

1 bar butter (1/2 to 3/4 butter will do for 1 pack of graham, as long as it will stick together and can be formed as ball)

a small fruit cocktail

1/2 kg bitter / premium chocolate (I bought one from Chocolate Lovers, Cubao) 

Steps: 

1. Finely ground the graham cracker.
2. Add chocnuts, mix well. ( I used a fork to mix the chocnuts and graham crackers.) 
3. Add sliced butter ( room temperature ) mix well until butter is absorbed by the graham. 
4. Add fruit cocktail 
5. Roll graham crackers into balls, make sure to have fruits inside the graham ball. Set aside and chill in the fridge.
7. Heat chocolate over boiling water until it melted.
8. Coat rolled graham with melted chocolates. ( I used 2 teaspoons when dipping the rolled graham to easily coat the rolled graham balls.) 
9. Add toppings and design. Chill before serving. 

TIPS:

• Chilling in the freezer will give the chocolates a glossy finish. 
• I used peanuts and white chocolate for design. You can use sugar, candy sprinkles, almonds, cocoa, mallows and many others as toppings. 
• If you do not have a an icing applicator, you can put the melted white chocolate in a small plastic and make a small hole on one of the ends. 

Recipe: Chicken Pochero

Ingredients:

500 grams chicken cut into medium sizes (beef or pork can be used too)

1 cup tomato sauce

4 cloves garlic

1 medium onion

10-15 pieces baguio beans , cut into half/thirds

1 bunch bokchoy/pechay, cut into halfs/thirds

1 medium size sweet potato/ quartered

4-6 pieces saba/plantain bananas cut into 2 (fried separately)

4 cups of water

2-3 small potato

1 chicken broth cube

¼ Tbsp ground pepper

1 tsp salt (fish sauce can be used as alternative for a better taste)

1/8 tsp MSG (optional) 

STEPS:  

1.       Saute garlic and onion until golden.

2.       Add sliced chicken and stir fry until golden brown. Add salt, MSG, pepper, and pork broth cube.

3.       Add tomato sauce. Simmer for 20-35 minutes or until chicken is tender. Medium heat.

4.       Add sweet potatoes, potato, baguio beans, pechay, and fried bananas. Simmer until veggies are cooked but not overcooked, 5-10 minutes.

TIPS:

•  You can add fried chorizo as toppings.
• Add sliced tomatoes when sautéing to make it tastier.
• Garbanzos and green peas can be added as well.
• You can use cabbage instead of pechay .