The Fake Cake

One of the things I want to learn in food preparation is baking. I always fancy baking but unfortunately, I lack the knowledge to do it right, plus I have very little time to spare to learn it. But it's always nice to take your first step. I was thinking to just have Mark get us some Krispy Kreme chocolate cake (my latest addiction) for our dessert, when I saw a box of pancake mix. Light bulb!

Ingredients:
- a pack of pancake mix
- a can of fruit cocktail
- 2 tbsp. butter
- confectioner's sugar and whipped cream

1. Put the pancake mix and all ingredients it requires (water, milk) when you do a normal pancake in a mixing bowl. Add the butter.
2. When it is ready, pour it in an oven friendly dish.
3. Drain the canned fruits and pour it on top of the pancake mix and even it out. You can put as little or as much as you want. I used about half of the can.
4. Bake it in the oven in about 200 C for 20 mins. Check regularly to make sure that you are not burning it.
5. When cooked, let it cool down.
6. Slice a piece and sprinkle confectioner's sugar on top. Then top it off with whipped cream.

I'm no expert in the oven heat so I'd suggest that you go with the temperature you are comfortable with. You can test if the inside is cook by taking it out and sticking toothpick on the pie. If the toothpick is dry, then the inside is cooked.

I posted it in facebook describing it's a fake cake - because I was aiming to make it look like a cake although it wasn't really a cake :P. I should say it tasted more like a pie. It may not bring you food orgasm, but it does work :) Mark and I both like it.

I love experiments!

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Veggie Thurs : Tofu in Veggie Tomato Sauce

It's veggie Thursday once again. Despite the crazy workload this week, I'm happy that I can still manage to take care of our dinner, rather than having it delivered. Tonight I did a vegetarian version of the dish that kesa (my roomate) and I called "budget meal".

Photo taken using Panasonic Lumix GF1.

Ingredients:
- 3 pcs sliced tomatoes.
- 1 medium sized white onion, chopped.
- 1 pack (block) of Tofu.
- 3 stems of celery, with leaves, washed thoroughly.
- 1 cup of tomato sauce.
- 1/2 cup water.
- 1 tsp. sugar
- salt and pepper to taste.
- veggie meat (optional)

Preparation

1. Slice the tomatoes and onions, set aside.
2. Cut the celery stems sideways, bite size.
3. Chop the celery leaves. This adds flavor to the dish.
4. Cut the tofu in to four parts and fry it. You can refer to this blog entry to get my technique in frying tofu.
5. After frying tofu, blot it with paper towel to remove excess oil. Then chop it into small cubes/bite size.
6. If you have veggie meat, you may add about 200g of it, also cut in to bite size.

Cooking Proper

1. Heat oil in a pot or wok.
2. Saute onion for a bout 1 minute. Do not over cook as you would like it to be crunchy.
3. Add (veggie meat) tofu and celery stems, mix together for a minute.
4. Toss in the tomatoes and continue mixing for another minute.
5. Add tomato sauce and water. Let it simmer.
6. Toss in the celery leaves.
7. Add about 1 tsp of sugar to lessen the sourness of tomato sauce.
8. Add a pinch of salt and pepper to taste.

Remember, you may put as much sugar as you want, or you may not add it all. It depends on your taste. This also applies to the amount of salt and pepper. Customize it based on your taste preference.

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Homemade Chips Salsa

I have prepared salsa several times in my cooking life, but it was never this spectacular. My previous attempts weren't bad - but it certainly lacked a distinct flavor. It cost me a plane ticket to realize what's missing and how to do it right, this time, for chips. Thanks to Glenn Windhouwer, our good friend in NL, who shared this awesome salsa recipe!

Ingredients:
- 6 medium sized tomatoes, finely chopped
- 2 medium sized white onion, finely chopped
- 1 tsp coriander, finely chopped
- 1 pc jalapeno, finely chopped
- lemon or lime juice
- Salt and pepper to taste

I used a manual chopper (not sure what it is actually called), my latest kitchen gadget, to finely chop everything. It's very handy and it made my salsa experience less laborious.



1. Put the tomatoes, onions, coriander and jalepeno in a bowl.
2. Add a pinch of lemon, or 1 tsp of lime juice.
3. Sprinkle salt and peper to taste.
4. Mix them very well and refrigerate for about an 30mins to 1 hour to give the flavors enough time to settle in.

Note : My usual ratio for tomatoes and onions is 3:1, but that will depend if you like onions. If you don't then just put as much as you want. Same goes with jalapeno. I get pickled jalapenos, and use about 4 slices as I don't like it too spicy. If you like it spicy, feel free to add more. Be also careful in adding coriander as it has a very pungent taste. I love coriander, but if you are not a coriander person, I would suggest to do it little at a time until you get the flavor you prefer.

I guarantee you, it's a block buster! It's the ultimate party food! My friends love it and I was overwhelmed with joy every time I hear them compliment the salsa ;)

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The September Outrage

We have been dealing with different sources of stress ever since we came home from our vacation in the Netherlands. Everything seemed to conspire against us. We moved in to a new place right after we arrived in the 3rd week of August. I was hoping that after we surpassed all the shits we had to deal with to make our daily living normal again and finally is settled, I could take a break. But September came and the stress level didn't change much. In fact, it's worse. I thought my expensive months were over, but it continued this month. Plus, I have so much career shaking experiences that is really highly exhausting, and is continuously shaking me at this very moment. I am sorely tired of all the shits going on here and there. I'm tied up to my chair working all night. I'm sleep deprived. I am not normally a pessimists, but it feels like everything sucks right now. I can't find time to cook. The house stinks. Cat furs everywhere. Laundry's piling up. Dust is piling up. I couldn't even find time to cut my own nails. It sucks.

The biggest pressure right now is my main job. But it has every right to demand from me. I swear when this update gets released and successful for once, I will enforce reforms in everything that caused me pain in the ass in the past 4 weeks - both personal and career wise.

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Baked Salmon Free Style

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Ingredients:
- 2 pcs sliced salmon
- 4-5 Tbsp. all purpose cream
- 1/3 cup water
- 1 Tbsp. finely chopped parsley
- slices of mozarella cheese
- butter
- garlic powder
- salt
- 1 pc lemon

Pasta
- 300g penne
- 2 tbsp. olive oil
- a pinch of salt
- chili powder

Salmon preparation.
1. Wash the salmon thoroughly.
2. Cut the lemon in half and squeeze the juice on the salmon on both sides. This will remove that pungent fishy smell and taste.
3. Rub it with salt on both sides. Then sprinkle garlic powder on both sides. Set aside.
4. Mix the water and all purpose cream together. Blend it well. Add the parsley.
5. Get an oven friendly dish and pour about 1/2 of your water and cream mixture.
6. Lay the salmon on top of the cream. Pour the remaining cream on top of the salmon.
7. Sprinkle more parsley if you wish.
8. Heat oven to 220C and put the dish inside. Let it cook for about 20mins.
9. When the salmon is nicely cooked, bring it out and put butter on top.
10. Place the mozarella slices on top the salmon and put it back in the oven for another 5 minutes (or just enough time to melt the cheese).

Pasta:
1. Boil penne as how you normally cook pasta.
2. When al dente, drain the pasta and run cold water on it. This will stop the pasta from sticking to each other.
3. Heat a wok with olive oil.
4. Put the pasta and mix it. Sprinkle a little bit of salt. Then sprinkle chili powder. Put as much as you prefer.

Serves 2. Bon Appetit!

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Tortang Talong with Ground Beef

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Ingredients:
- 3 medium sized eggplant (talong)
- 2 large eggs, beaten
- about 200 grams ground beef
- 1 clove of garlic, finely chopped
- 1 medium sized onion, finely chopped

Eggplant preparation.
1. Wash and grill the eggplants until skin is roasted and the flesh is tender. Set aside.
2. When it's cold enough, remove the skin using your fingers. You can also remove the stem.
3. Mash the eggplants using a fork. Flatten it.

Ground Beef.
1. Heat pan with oil. Saute garlic until golden brown. Add the onion.
2. Add the ground beef and mix well. Add a little bit of water and let it boil. This is a good way to make sure you kill the bacterias and it's cooked well.
3. Continue cooking the ground beef until the water is dry and it's well done.

Eggs and everything else.
1. In a shallow plate, pour the beaten eggs.
2. Lay the flattened, mashed eggplants on top and let it soak in the eggs.
3. Then mix the ground beef on top and try to flatten it together with then eggplants and egg mixture.
4. Heat oil in a pan. Slightly spill the egg mixture on it. Then try to even out the mixture in the pan and make it nice and flat.
5. Turn on the other side when its ready.

Serves 2 to 3. Serve it with white rice and slices of fresh tomatoes. The torta also goes well with tomato ketchup as a dip.

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Pinoy dinner in Holland

Mark and I planned to cook dinner for the family today. Here's our menu:

Eggplant salad (ensaladang talong)
Chicken in coconut milk with pineapple (pininyahang manok)
Leche Flan (for dessert)

It's my first time to make leche flan. It's been a while since I last cooked pininyahang manok. The only thing I can say 100% sure I'm gonna make it right is the ensaladang talong. So good luck! I will be updating you with the outcome later ;).

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Holla from Holland!

After weeks of gradually moving our stuff out of our condo and dealing with all the stress that came with it, we are now chilling out and spending a Dutch summer in the Netherlands! I realized that it's my third visit here, but never have written anything about this wonderful country! So before I even get preoccupied with different things once again (like my 2 past trips), I figured I should get started with something - like the snacks that's my all time favorite, in any country - fries!

The Ras Patat


Although some Dutch might object, to me, it's comparable to French Fries - only better. Ras Patat is made from mashed potatoes, as opposed to the normal fries. What makes it more interesting is they serve Ras Patat with peanut sauce and fresh minced onions, not ketchup. They also offer peanut sauce and curry mix, which makes it extra yummy and interesting. I don't know if you can request ketchup because I never dared to ask, but for a tourist like me, this is an interesting twist.

Cheese Empanada


So I totally forgot what's the proper Dutch name for this, but this snack is comparable to empanada. It's stuffed with cheese. I like it like I like most empanadas.

Ok, this is not so special, but I promise I'll blog more food stuff and what's going on next time. Right now, I'm just having a blast chilling out with my fiance and his family. Ciao for now!

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