Homemade bread I was feeling out of sorts today and wasn't really excited to do anything, like I usually am. Didn’t want to read, bake, or write – three things that usually give me much joy. The day stretched before me like the ringing peals of a bell – each feeling of boredom longer than the last. Sigh. Somebody stop me. When I get this way, I can wax melodramatic about it forever. So I pushed myself into the kitchen. I wasn’t in the mood for anything sweet (!) so I thought I’d make some bread. I’d been neglecting my baking for a long while now, and I blame the past summer heat for that. Now that the rains are here, being in the kitchen isn’t a sweltering tour of duty anymore. Besides, I’m sure all that kneading and pounding would help me release some aggression. I’ve already ...

A peek into my library I got this off of Baking Sheet, (see link on side bar) one of my favorite blogs. I’d seen these meme things floating around but never really felt compelled to answer any until now. Could someone tell me once and for all exactly how to pronounce that word?! Anyway, the directions are to ‘post a picture of your cookbooks and answer the following questions.’ So! To break away from the rhythm of my blog, here goes! By the way, if you read this and have a blog, consider yourself invited to join this meme. 1. Rationale behind what we're seeing? My library is my most favorite room in the house. Obviously, this is where I keep my cookbooks, all 200+ of them. More than half of those books are about baking, because that’s the heart of my food obsession. The books are arranged by ...

Pampanga is about an hour’s fast drive from the capital of Manila. It is a province that is widely acknowledged to possess exceptional cooks, and naturally, outstanding cuisine. The cornerstone of Pampangueño cuisine is its slow cooking methods – no shortcuts. The result: dishes that are highly flavorful and true to themselves. It is food where taste is allowed to come into its own without resorting to packaged mixes and high heat. Everybody’s Café in Pampanga is an institution in the province. It was opened in San Fernando, Pampanga shortly after the end of World War II. It has grown from a two-table eatery to an expanded dining area that can take in about 300 diners. I used to visit San Fernando often when growing up because my mom is from there, but oddly, I don’t remember eating in Everybody’s. How ironic then that Everybody’s came to me. To celebrate Filipino Heritage Week, the Hotel InterContinental's Cafe Jeepney is bringing the renowned restaurant’s cuisine ...

A vehicle for spooning food into your gaping maw. Bread is my favorite food in the whole world. I don’t exaggerate when I say that I could live on bread and water alone. I first discovered how good fresh bread could taste when I was in culinary school. The Baking class would send up rolls and loaves of freshly baked goodness to us Culinary students who were usually hard at work at less exciting tasks like butchering a pig or trying to clarify a stock. I still remember the first time I ate bread that was fresh out of the oven – its skin crackled and burnished from the heat of the flame, its aroma tickling my nostrils. And the taste, oh, the taste! A confluence of flour, yeast, and salt merged and mingled to create powerful waves ...

Egg in pancakes -- an odd combination that works. My Bin says that this is a dish he doesn’t understand. It’s a pancake sandwich, essentially a fried egg (or sunnyside up, if you please) ensconced comfortably in between two pancakes. Bin says he doesn’t understand how eggs and pancakes can go together. I say “why not?” The pancake sandwich is a specialty of Pancake House, the Filipino counterpart to an IHOP (International House of Pancakes) or any other all-day breakfast joint. I adore eggs in any shape or form, which is why I don’t understand people who don’t feel the same way. When I was at culinary school, I once told my chef-instructor that I preferred my eggs soft-cooked. Her reply, “Isn’t that for old, sick people?” (!) Then there’s this body builder at the gym who a few times a week, goes to breakfast ...

Eat me. Every once in a long while, I eat something that makes me say “omigod, omigod, omigod,” over and over again. My dad frowns upon me using the Lord’s name in vain, but omigod (whoops, there I go again), this is more like culinary rapture. I was blessed to experience such an epiphany at this new spot that my fellow food lover, K chanced upon. She’s an expert at sniffing out gems such as this one. Anyway, places like these are usually out of the way (which it isn’t), flirt on this side of pricey (which it doesn’t), and are small (hmm, okay). It’s called HalfMoon, and they specialize in something called a bibingcrepe, a play on the words “bibingka” and “crepe.” Bibingka (pronounced bih-BING-ka) is yet another Filipino rice cake made from ground rice, sugar, eggs, and butter. It’s cooked on a banana leaf in ...

French goodies!  My mom just came back from an almost month-long stay in Paris. She came back with presents for us all, most notably a thick slab of foie gras for my sister, and unsweetened cocoa powder for me. You can see the various brands in the photo. The other goodies you see are a bar of Valrhona dark chocolate with orange peel and a small bottle of dehydrated rose buds. I’m especially pleased with the Valrhona because a half kilo of the stuff here in Manila costs nearly P500! Cocoa powder is light brown, naturally acidic, redolent with the fruitiness of cocoa beans, and bitter with a deep chocolate flavor. Once cocoa beans have been fermented and roasted, the nibs are ground to extract the cocoa butter, leaving behind a dark brown paste called chocolate liquor. When this is dried and ground, it’s then called cocoa powder. Most people think that the darker a cocoa powder is, the more chocolate flavor it has. On the contrary, darker cocoa powders are the result of a process called dutching, where cocoa powder is treated with an alkali. ...

Churning Originally uploaded by dopiaza. My sister, T, who is pregnant and about to give birth any day now, recently went through an ice cream making frenzy. Her mom-in-law in the States had given her the latest in ice cream maker models, and T was eager to try it out. I have never attempted to make ice cream before, simply because it required a machine that I didn’t have, and it always seemed so much easier to run to the store. So, armed with bold determination that my sister is as well as her new copy of an old ice cream book, she drags me along for the ride. Broken down, ice cream is just frozen sweetened cream. Various kinds of dairy products as well as how long they are mixed are what determine the quality of ice cream. Cream is a terrific multi-purpose ingredient to use because of its thickness and its ability to hold air when stirred. When stirred, milk proteins trap air and the resultant tiny bubbles ...