A Day in the Life of ...
Tuesday, August 27, 2013
Alexandia Restaurant Week (Summer 2013)
Wednesday, June 19, 2013
Drunken Pasta
It is common for people to make food and wine pairings. Today I felt a bit experimental and decided to cook my pasta in red wine. Hence the tinge of red in the angel hair pasta. While this pasta exudes the flavor of wine, it will not make.you drunk. After all, boiling the red wine cooks off the alcohol content. The pasta itself is flavorful enough that sauteeing it in extra virgin olive oil and garlic and some nuts will suffice. Top with some cheese and this makes a perfect dish for dinner or entertaining.
Bon appetit!
Thursday, April 11, 2013
Drawing Salon: Composition and Perspective Canaletto and Panini
Thursday, April 4, 2013
Homemade strawberry lemon smoothie
Its still cold and I am still avoiding the task of going out. I've been craving for a smoothie but its not exactly the most appropriate drink for the weather. Thank goodness for my hoarder abilities and I have tons of ingredients in my fridge. I can make my drink in the comfort of my home.
I used 6 kirkland frozen strawberries, thawed. I buy them frozen to prevent them from spoiling. Initially, I would get the fresh berries but after 1 week i wouldnt be able to finish a 4-lb. clamshell all alone so there. After researching the difference between frozen and fresh, which is not really much, I settled for frozen.
Add yogurt. I used 1 serving just to avoid the hassle of storing it again. Use any variant as you please, today i am in the mood for lemon.
Add some milk to make it more liquid/drinkable. I am not a big fan of milk but my lifestyle here has had a positive externality but still i opt for the non-dairy milk variants like almond milk or soy milk.
Add honey for sweetness. It really depends on how sweet you want it, i like mine a bit tangy so just a couple of swirls did the trick.
Blend them all together!!! To date, i can say that the best purchase I made for the kitchen is the Cuisinart 2 speed hand blender with multiple attachments i got from Costco.
And voila! Craving satisfied, and it is definitely low calorie at less than 200 calories.
Monday, April 1, 2013
Lettuce pancakes
I have this overstock of salad lettuce in my refridgerator and I didn't want to throw them out. As a household of one, who loves to buy stuff from costco, I always end up with too much vegetable I s so I have to constantly come up with things to do to them.
Today's project is lettuce pancake inspired by the japanese traditional food okonomiyaki. I topped it with caramelized onions and honey balsamic vinegar mix.
Sunday, March 17, 2013
Experimenting on Creme Brulee
Yesterday, I tried my hand on macaron and it turned out pretty good. The thing about it is I only used egg whites, so I now have several yolks sitting in the fridge. What to do? I couldn't just toss them out. So i decided I'll try to make creme brulee / leche flan. Unfortunately, the laziness in me hindered me from making leche flan. Its a more tedious process. You have to make the caramel then the custard and wait till the caramel sits before actually putting the custard then its oven time.
My ama used to make leche flan all the time way back when I was a kid. It was pretty normal at home to have leche flan stashed in the fridge. I found it weird that every one was making such a fuss about creme brulee. After all, the two are almost the same. I'd like to think of leche flan as an inverted version of creme brulee.
Anyway, don't you ever wonder why they started making leche flan in the Philippines? I've been trying to search the net to verify my historical account. After all, it is based on my ama's stories, but to no avail, I couldn't find one. They started making leche flan as an externality of the construction process of churches and other stone buildings back in the Spanish Era. The Filipinos were forced to work through polo y servicios and egg whites were used as an adhesive for the building's walls/foundation. Egg yolks would have no use in the process and would most likely be thrown out. But the Filipino trait of not wanting to waste anything, especially food, paved way to develop the leche flan making process in the country.
Going back to my creme brulee experiment, the process is to mix the yolk with some sugar and temper it with heated vanilla infused cream. Put the mixture into ramekins and bake them at 250F for an hour in a water bath. Once they are done, burn some sugar on top and voila! You have your creme brulee (unfortunately, i dont have a torch so i'm skipping the sugar topping).
Economics is really everywhere. Although i am not sure if making this dessert is a positive or negative externality for me. :|
The Macaron Project
After baking the cookies, I made strawberry butter cream and chocolate ganache. I tend to hoard things. So I have all the other ingredients.
They do not look like patiserrie-quality goodies but I loved the taste and texture. I think I need more practice to perfect this but I need to grab almonds first.