Pumpkin Flan
Long before Thanksgiving, I’ve already made up my mind that I’m going to make a pumpkin-based dessert/s. I thought if turkey was the star of the Thanksgiving feast, pumpkins, on the other hand, hold a very important supporting role,. 
It was a toss-up between a pumpkin pie, pumpkin cheesecake and pumpkin flan. In the end, I decided to make two desserts…pumpkin flan and pumpkin cheesecake. 
Pumpkin Flan A - made with canned pumpkin
Pumpkin Flan B - made with fresh pumpkin
Note the difference in color between the two flans: pumpkin flan a is more orange in color while pumpkin flan b is a nice shade of yellow.
I intentionally made two flans, one using fresh pumpkin and another using canned pumpkin. That should have been the only difference. I made the canned pumpkin version first followed by the fresh version. Only as I was laying the fresh pumpkin flan on the steamer did I realize that I made a little mistake. The recipe calls for 2 cups of mashed pumpkin. I forgot that I used a half cup to measure the canned pumpkin and just made two dumps of the holiday veggie into the mixing bowl. That only equals one cup so there’s less pumpkin in one flan. ;)
The verdict, our dinner guests and hubby were one in saying that the pure pumpkin version tasted similar to cassava. They showed preferrence for the flan with the less pumpkin because it tastes more like the real leche flan. :D Personally, I prefer the flan with fresh pumpkin because it was more natural. One can never really tell what’s added to the pumpkin when it is canned! But maybe next time, I’ll use only half the amount of fresh pumpkin…just 1 cup. ;)
Here’s the recipe which I snagged from Asiarecipe. It turns out, it’s a recipe from the province of Bulacan and the original source is “Philippine Food and Life” by Gilda Cordero Fernando. Published by Anvil Publishing, Pasig, Metro Manila, 1992.
- 2 cups kalabasa (pumpkin), cut finely
- 1 cup condensed milk
- 3 eggs
- sugar
- 1/2 teaspoon dayap (lime) or vanilla
Boil the squash. Mash until smooth. Add eggs, mil, rind or vanilla. Strain. Sprinkle sugar on the leche flan mold (llanera), and put the mold on the fire until sugar browns. Place the squash mixture into the llanera, and steam until a toothpick inserted comes out clean.
You can also opt to cook the squash/pumpkin in the microwave, which will take a shorter time. Click here for the step by step illustrated instructions.
I think this is a good way to sneak some veggies into the diet of a non-veggie lover…as long as the person’s not diabetic. But then, you can use “Splenda” instead.
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Musashino
Musashino is one of three authentic Japanese restaurants we’ve tried thus far. And mind you, all three have earned the seal of approval of hubby’s Japanese colleagues. ;) You know what that means! Food should really be good if they pass the discriminating taste of they who hail from the Land of the Rising Sun. 
Hubby and I have devised a fool proof gameplan to enjoy Japanese food at a more affordable price…and that is to have them for lunch on a weekday. ;) In this part of the world, the time one takes his/her meal makes a lot of difference. And lunch specials are called such because they are specially priced….a few dollars cheaper than if you were to take the same meal at dinner time.
Spontaneity isn’t one of my better traits as I prefer to plan ahead. But when it comes to eating out, I seem to take on a different personality. Cravings can do wonders you know! Hee hee! Last Friday, on the way home after dropping off our little girl at her school, I casually mentioned to hubby that I’m kinda missing Musashino’s chicken terriyaki. ;) Well, it just so happened that hubby was thinking along the same lines as well. That same day, after picking up Abby from school, we headed straight to Musashino for lunch. Yey!
Hubby has been to Musashino countless times already. That practically earns him the right to order whatever he wants as he has already tried out most of the food on the menu. While there I was, only on my 2nd visit and still ended up ordering the very same thing I had the first time I was there…Chicken Terriyaki Rice Bowl. :razzz: It was what I was craving for in the first place!
Chicken Terriyaki Don
The secret to enjoying donburi, and this is my own personal opinion, is to dig the chopsticks (or spoon…or fork!) deep into the rice and mix the rice all around. That way, you get to fully enjoy the rice that has been flavored with terriyaki sauce. The rice and sauce alone is already enjoyable in itself…as we like to say in the vernacular, “Sauce pa lang…ulam na!“ I would love this meal even more if there were one or two more strips of chicken. I could very well do without the broccolli! Hahaha! :razz: Then again, with so much saucy rice in the bowl, you’re bound to finish the vegetable as well. This meal is a little over $8.00.
Hakata Ramen
Noodles for long life! :D That is not a serving spoon. It’s hubby’s soup spoon! Hahaha!
Among the three of us, hubby ordered the least expensive meal, a big bowl of Hakata Ramen ($7.50)…egg noodle soup with pork stock. In the soup were assorted veggies, some thinly sliced pork, crab sticks and sliced fish ball. This is the perfect meal to have when the weather is chilly. ;) I’m really the noodle soup fan. But that day, I just had to have rice! Hee hee!
Ten Don
It was Abby who had the most expensive meal…Ten Don ($8.95), a bowl of rice with two pieces of shrimp tempura and a piece of kakiage. She ate all the shrimp tempura by herself and half the kakiage. This didn’t come as a surprise because she can eat 4 pieces of shrimp tempura in one sitting. But it was a given that she won’t be able to finish the rice. 
Musashino is packed during lunch hour and I don’t see why they shouldn’t be full during dinner time as well when they serve truly good food. We’re just lucky to have seats readily available the two times we went there. The place is relatively small but with ample room to move around. The dimly lit interiors adds to the coziness of the place. And if you’re Japanese, you wouldn’t have any trouble ordering as all of the restaurant’s staff speak Japanese. Food is presented nicely. More than a feast for the tummy, they are a feast to the eyes as well. For sure, this is one restaurant we’ll keep coming back to.
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Arroz a la Cubana
I dare say that anyone who has spent a great deal of time cooking has made arroz a la cubana at least once…knowingly or unknowingly. :) Wikipedia simply defines Arroz a la Cubana, which literally means Cuban-style rice, as “a Spanish dish consisting of rice, fried egg and tomato sauce.” How simple is that?
In my 4 years in high school, I remember having one too many servings of this dish at a popular fastfood among UST students located on Dapitan Street, Janet’s. It is served on a sizzling plate with a piece or two of fried saba bananas and a fried egg on top of the ground beef. That’s pretty fancy for students, don’t you think? ;) My friends and I ended up smelling like the dish by the time we got to class but we didn’t really mind. It’s nothing a little baby cologne couldn’t fix.
I have whipped up this dish countless times in the 6 months that I’ve made the kitchen my territory. It’s simple and one could do very little to sabotage it. Hahaha! It’s one of hubby’s favorite dishes…one that his paternal grandma, Lola Sion, used to make for him. Well, I could never compete with Lola Sion’s arroz a la cubana, or anybody’s lola for that matter! ;) But my most recent version of the dish just had hubby complimenting me to high heavens. ;) Credit goes to MarketMan whose version I followed, save for the ground pork (which I have ran out of) and addition of green peas. :) Thank you, MarketMan!
The not so secret procedure and ingredients: Saute some garlic and chopped onions in vegetable oil for a minute or two. Throw in some chopped tomatoes (or just add tomato paste). Then add the ground lean beef and ground pork and cook until the liquid evaporates. Add several tablespoons of Kikkoman soy sauce and 1/2 or 1/3 the amount of Worcestershire sauce. Add salt and pepper to taste if you feel the dish still needs further seasoning. One may add green peas but hubby and my daughter didn’t want any so no green peas for us. Hubby isn’t a big fan of raisins in dishes as well, but I held my ground on this and went ahead to add about a tiny box and a half of raisins. He just picked them out of the dish.
I fried some bananas to accompany the dish. The bananas needed a sprinkling of sugar as they weren’t sweet at all. I miss Philippine saba bananas! :( We had fried eggs as well! ;) The arroz a la cubana “showcase” won’t be complete without the hot steaming rice. Yum!
Not bad at all, if I may say so myself!
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Wurstfest (Sausage Festival)
The following is an excerpt from “About Last Weekend”, an entry I posted on my personal blogsite on 09 November 2007.
Last Sunday, 04November, we attended the 10am mass instead of our usual 11:45am because we wanted to squeeze in a side-trip to Europe. ;) Want to know which country? Here’s a clue…
Come on! That’s a no-brainer! :D Ok, ok, so we didn’t really go to Germany. But it sure felt like we did! We spent the afternoon in New Braunfels (Braunfels = “brown rock” in German), home to a good number of German-Texans and which is only an hour’s drive away from where we live. It was all for a good cause, the Wurstfest. ;)
Wurstfest literally means sausage festival. In New Braunfels, it’s a 10-day celebration of German heritage. There’s lots of things German: music, souvenirs, and food, food, food! We went there for the sausages and we did have our fill…
bratwurst with a side of sauerkraut, potato salad (sour!) and bread
smoked bratwurst with the same trimmings
Since we didn’t finish our sides, we didn’t get really full yet…so hubby, Abby and I shared a sausage on a stick. ;) We had a sausage festival alright!
The long line for potato pancakes got us overly curious. It never got short! We endured a 15-30 minute wait.
Here it is…potato pancakes with applesauce. One can have it with sausage. It didn’t appeal to me. It was like hashbrowns only I would prefer the hashbrowns. I guess curiosity got the best of us.
We left New Braunfels to head home at 4pm. On the way back, I needed to take a restroom break so I asked hubby to make a detour and drive out exit 200. Waddaya know, it’s the exit to two huge outlet centers: Prime Outlets San Marcos and Tanger Outlets! A restroom break never got me so excited! I chose to do my thing at Prime Outlets. ;) Seriously, we really did plan to stop by the outlets, to “take a look”. It was a good kind of torture if you ask me…windowshopping at one of the biggest outlet centers! We only stayed there for 2 hours. I did end up buying a few stuff though: cheap Ralph Lauren shades and a couple of bottles of body wash and body mist (Bath and Body Works).
Here’s the thing that’s getting me excited, from 12mn to 8am on the Friday after Thanksgiving, there’s supposed to be a huge sale all over the US. I’m sort of targetting to be at San Marcos in that 8-hour window. I’m thinking we spend the night in San Marcos after Thanksgiving dinner or hubby and Abby can just, well, sleep in the car. ;) Hahaha! We’ll see. There’s an outlet 15 minutes away form where we live, which will have the same super sale hours but the stores in San Marcos just makes my heart beat faster.
I think we’ll just kick back and relax this weekend…unless something interesting presents intself. Have a great weekend y’all!
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Blondies (Blonde Brownies)
One of my favorite Food Network shows is Throwdown with Bobby Flay. One thing I learned from the show last week is that there’s such a thing sa Blondies…the fair counterpart of brownies! Am I the only person in the known universe who didn’t know about it? I checked out my Hershey’s recipe book and right there was a recipe for the blonde goodies. All I needed was an excuse to bake. ;) It turned out I had that, too! Last week, my friend, Bet, and her hubby threw a 3rd birthday party for their youngest son, Milo. I instantly had unwilling victims people to share the calories with! That’s my mantra, “Share the calories!”
Walnut, semi-sweet chocolate and white-chip-filled blonde brownies.
I took this picture inside the car on the way to the party. The goodies are inside a plastic container safely on my lap.
The end product was rich and chewy. I only wished the color came out lighter. Do you think it’s the brown sugar? I was happy with the result, this being the first time I ever baked brownies/blondies from scratch. ;)
Here’s the recipe:
2 cups packed light brown sugar
1 cup (2 sticks) butter or margarine, melted
2 eggs
2 teaspoons vanilla extract
2 cups all-purpose flour
1 teaspoon salt
2/3 cup (or each) semi-sweet chocolate chips, peanut butter chips, white (chocolate chips)
chocolate chip drizzle (recipe follows)
1. Heat oven to 350 degress F. Grease 15 1/2 x 10 1/2 x 1 inch jelly-roll pan.
2. Stir together brown sugar and butter in large bowl; beat in eggs and vanilla until smooth. Add flour and salt, beating just until blended; stir in chocolate, peanut butter and white chips. Spread batter into prepared pan.
3. Bake 25 to 30 minutes or until wooden pick inserted in center comes out clean. cool completely in pan or wire rack. Cut into bars. With tines of fork, drizzle chocolate chip drizzle randomly over bars.
*Makes 72 bars*
Chocolate Chip Drizzle - In small microwave-safe bowl, place 1/4 cup semi-sweet chocolate chips and 1/4 teaspoon shortening (do not use butter, margarine, spread or oil). Microwave at high (100%) 30 seconds to 1 minute; stir until chips are melted and mixture is smooth.
I deviated slightly from the recipe. Since I didn’t have peanut butter chips, I used walnuts instead. Brownies usually have nuts, right? I also didn’t have a jelly roll pan. The biggest pan I have is 9 x 13 and it’s more than an inch deep. That’s why my blondies came out thicker than I would have wanted and yielded way less than 72 bars.
We’re going to another party tomorrow. Hmm, what should I bring? 
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Asian Treats
One of my worries when we moved to Austin was where to eat authentic Asian food. It’s no secret that countries tend to tweak (international) dishes to suit the local taste. Filipinos eat with so much gusto and we love flavorful food, hence, the abundance of authentic Asian and other international restaurants in the Philippines. No need to overtweak those recipes…save maybe for spaghetti, which most like to be sweet. I’ve associated the American taste to blandness and I’m pretty sure I’m not the only one who has made such a sweeping generalization. ;) You have, too, haven’t you….and with very good reason I presume? Hee hee!
It’s a blessing that hubby has already been in the US for three months before my daughter and I joined him. In those 3 months, His Japanese colleagues introduced him to their favorite Asian restaurants, all of which are authentic as authentic could be in this part of the globe. I consider going to Asian restaurants a real treat. The food is good, servings hefty and reminds me so much of home (and what I’m missing!).
For two Sundays in a row, we found ourselves having dinner in Asian restaurants….Vietnamese last Sunday, and Korean the Sunday prior.
Korea House
My childhood favorite Korean restaurant is Korea Garden on Burgos Street in Makati. That’s where my Mom and Dad used to take my brother and me. Unfortunately, it’s no longer there and I’m not sure if it simply just moved to another location or closed-shop altogether. Of late, Kaya/Kaya Express has been our favorite. And I always order the same thing…Dolsot Bibimbap. Haaaay. Yum!
Two Sundays ago, to aid hubby in recovering more quickly from a state of “unwellness”, we took a short drive from our home to Korea House (perhaps a distant relative of the Korea Garden of my childhood?). Here’s what we had…
Tempura…and this was for Abby only. True enough, she finished all the shrimps all on her own and was even looking for some more! She passed on the vegetable though.
Beef Bulgogi - A visit to a Korean restaurant is incomplete if there’s no bulgogi. That, of course, is only my personal opinion.
Bibimbap - This is not what we had in mind. Hubby missed saying the all-important word “Dolsot” when he ordered this dish, thus, the alien looking dish (to us, at least!). What we had in mind was a steaming rice dish served in a claypot with all the trimmings in the white bowl above. :( It was still good anyway…cold as it should be, but good. But we’re definitely coming back for our Dolsot Bibimbap!
Ahhppetizers - I haven’t had so much appetizers in a Korean restaurant! I’m used to only having kimchi, beansprouts, spinach with garlic and pickled cucumbers. This was like an appetizer feast! But who’s complaining? Definitely not me!
Kim Phung
Last Sunday, we had dinner at Kim Phung, a Vietnamese restaurant. It was Abby’s and my first time here as there’s another Vietnamese restaurant that we visit more frequently. We’re very predictable eaters. We almost always order our favorite food when we go to restaurants. I guess we’re not very adventurous that way. As usual, we only ordered two (technically three!) dishes, a bowl each of pho (Vietnamese noodle soup dish) beef steak & beef tendon noodles for hubby and me and shrimp fried rice for Abby.
Pho - The slices of beef steak & beef tendon are in there somewhere.
Greens for Garnish - These greens are added to the noodle soup for that extra umph…cilantro, basil, sprouts, lime and chili peppers.
Shrimp fried rice - It’s a meal in itself. I’d love it even more if the onions were thoroughly cooked. I’m not a big fan of “live” onions. ;) We ended up taking most of it home, but only because hubby and I are already too full. And there’s just no way our little girl will be able to finish it all by herself.
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Halloween Treats
I spent Halloween eve baking these…
Caramel Cupcakes
Fudge Marble Cupcakes
It wasn’t all that hard as I turned to my friend Duncan Hines for these goodies. All I needed to do was beat in 3 eggs, a little oil and a little water to the prepared mix and voila.
Ahhhh, but these I made from scratch…
M & M Cookies (MM being Munckin Mommy! Hee hee!)
I baked these the morning of Halloween. I used a chocolate chip cookie recipe from my yet to be broken in Hershey’s Classic Recipes (book). Since I used M&Ms, it is but right to call these goodies, what else but, M&M Cookies!
Click here for the recipe.
I made more than enough for us, my friend Bet and her brood, and the trick or treaters.
mmmmmm…..
Treat or treat?
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