I'm terribly flattered to be featured in today's Philippine Daily Inquirer, in the Kitchen Rescue column of Reggie Aspiras. For those of you in the Philippines, please grab a copy of the newspaper if you're interested. For those elsewhere and those who prefer to read it online, here it is. The feature comes with quite a few of my photos. I'll attempt to scan the article the way it appears in the paper and put it online. Thanks so much to Reggie Aspiras and to those of you who've emailed/texted telling me they saw the feature.

a setting for you at Café Ten Titas Tita is the Filipino word for “aunt.” It’s meant to connote a female relation and is usually attached to the woman’s first name, thus I’m “Tita Lori” to my nephews. Tita is also a sign of respect though I call any woman older than me “tita,” even if we aren’t related. menu at Café Ten Titas It’s on this theme of “tita” that a new café has been built. Aptly called Café Ten Titas, it’s a globalized take on Filipino dishes. A look through the sturdy, colorful menu depicts in photos and postcards the story of a young girl who has been corresponding since 1989 with her ten titas who are scattered in places as far-removed from each other as Madrid, Osaka, London, British Columbia, etc. Recipes originated and were shared through this almost-two-decades-long correspondence. The young girl, who bears an uncanny resemblance to Chef Florabel Co of the eponymous Florabel at The Podium, states on the menu that the café is “… dedicated ...

gotcha! checking cheesecake To conduct a baking demo, the presenter (in this case, me) must be three things: organized, concise, and able to keep an eye on three different things baking simultaneously at three different temperatures. It also helps a lot if the presenter displays charisma and a certain rapport with her audience. I think I did pretty well, but it’s impossible to keep track of all those things in the oven while I’m busy conducting a demo up front. Talk about multi-tasking! audience It was certainly sweet to have 80 participants attend my demo last Saturday, most of whom are readers of this website. Nestlé’s Julius Maggi Kitchen was abuzz with excited bakers and dessert lovers who watched while I demonstrated how to make ...

I have recently come into an obscene amount of chocolate. When I say “come into,” I don’t mean that I inherited it from a recently deceased relative. No, I actually bought all this chocolate. It started when I was in Los Angeles last March. I had bought three pounds of Valrhona and Callebaut unsweetened chocolate as well as a 30-ounce (851 grams) bag of Ghirardelli White Chocolate chips. Because my luggage (and I!) were severely over the weight limit, I had to have the chocolates shipped. this chocolate has "bloomed," but it won't matter once it's melted So while waiting for my chocolates to arrive, I flirted with the idea of splurging on 3 kilos of 70% Valrhona Guanaja chocolate, and then promptly gave in. I forked over P2,700 plus an additional P680 for some Valrhona Tropillas, little nuggets resembling our local Ricoa Flat Tops. I’m told that the Tropillas are actually the edges of the chocolate blocks that are melted down and then re-formed. Clever! I was already thinking of chopping some up for super-sophisticated chocolate chip cookies or melting ...

My high school History teacher was named Ms. Casanova. My classmates and I never did find out what her first name was but she was quite unforgettable: she always wore her black hair in a tight ponytail; in my four years in high school, I never saw her with her hair down. She once even came to class with hair extensions. She was the snootiest of teachers and I was terrified of her really, but I had a begrudging respect for what she knew about History. The Giacomo Casanova (1725-1798) we all know however is that legendary Italian lover of whom all modern day Lotharios aspire to be. His memoirs detail his fascinating but dubious romps with 122 women, a number that in this day and age might actually be insignificant in some circles. Aside from his reputation as an erotic hero, Casanova was also a soldier, spy, diplomat, adventurer, and a prolific writer. But he’s best known as the master romancer and it’s this fact that a café in Manila has named itself after him. Gran Caffè Casanova Ristorante Italiano or Caffè Casanova as I’ll be calling it here, is ...

It’s what my Bin would call a “happy problem”: a somewhat inconvenient circumstance that doesn’t preclude happiness. In other words, I’ve fallen behind schedule. You must understand that I’m a creature of habit, or a “habit of creature,” as my friend, Joey, cheekily puts it. While every day is different, there are a few of my activities that are set in stone -- those little pleasurable things I do no matter what my schedule holds: exercise, catching up on other food blogs, and goofing off with Boo. But life is what happens while I’m busy planning it, or so they say. What I have on my plate includes preparations for my upcoming baking demo, reading through a cookbook sent to me by the publisher to review, a new baking pan to test (sent to me by no less than the inventor himself), baking for Boo’s 4th birthday, and to top it off, a bout with the flu which effectively renders me useless for two days. My schedule is by no means punishing especially when compared to other people’s, but I’m finding it difficult to keep up. sugary, flaky layers So ...

30 ounces of rib-eye There’s nothing more primal than eating a steak. There is also perhaps, no other food that I feel more macho eating. It’s incredibly empowering to be able to stare down a hunk of meat and know that I can take it on. Steak is only for the brave, both in character and appetite. The Highlands Steakhouse at the new Mall of Asia is where I go to pledge allegiance to my carnivorous desires. Its much-coveted location at the corner of the mall affords diners an expansive (and expensive!) view of the bay. While it may strike some as kitschy, the wood interiors and tables along with the hanging deer heads are completely appropriate for a steakhouse. It contributes even more to the “manliness” of meat-eating. As I enter the restaurant, I pass through an uncharacteristically long hallway. I’m told by Executive Chef Robert Bolaños that the entrance serves as a showcase of the restaurant’s ingredients. Thus, ...

No, it’s not another tea party, but there will be dessert… … and this time I’m doing the baking! I’m proud and honored to be invited by food giant Nestlé Philippines Inc. to hold a set of baking demos for them, one of which is specifically for readers of Dessert Comes First. my favorite Nestlé products Using Nestlé products, I will demo three recipes that have proven to be quite popular on my blog, specifically, my coconut milk crème Brulee: my cheesecake with a nut crust: … and my buttermilk scones: The scones are a last-minute inclusion – readers of my blog seem to be keen but quite confounded by them: should scones be soft or hard? How should the dough be handled so that they come out flakey? Come to the demo and I’ll show you how it’s done and maybe you might even be ...