Following is my New Year’s wish/message as posted on my Facebook wall, which I now say to you:

For you and me, I claim and already am thankful for the rich and bountiful harvest of blessings 2012 will bring. Miracles, big and small, will come at us in more ways than one, in more ways we know possible. Be ready to receive, to embrace, to be pleasantly surprised and to share. Sit back, relax and enjoy what promises to be one heck of an amazing ride. Thank you, God! Happy and Richly Blessed 2012 to us all! Weeee!

There’s no other and no better way to start the year than with an overly generous amount of positivity and good vibes.  Any sign of bad vibes from anyone and I automatically just tune out!  You should perhaps do the same, while we wait for someone  to invent a barcode scanner type of gadget that zaps the bad vibes out of everyone. That’ll be the day!

Happy cooking! Happy eating! Cheers and mabuhay!

Hubby celebrated his birthday on Thanksgiving week. He didn’t want a fondant birthday cake, bless his heart. He wanted either a cheesecake or tiramisu. I chose to make him a cheesecake. After all, almost always, we find ourselves at The Cheesecake Factory after celebratory dinners. I thought it would be nice to save ourselves some serious bucks. Ha! The big question was, what kind of cheesecake to make? I had a few options, Blueberry, Cappuccino and Fudge Truffle. I chose Fudge Truffle, that way, hubby gets his cheesecake and I get my chocolate fix. Win! Win! *wink*

I turned to my tried and tested Hershey’s recipe book for the recipe. For the chocolate cookie crust, I used Oreo cookies instead of the vanilla wafer cookies mixed with cocoa called for in the recipe book. It’s right to say then, that the cheesecake had an Oreo cookie crust.

INGREDIENTS:

OREO COOKIE CRUMB CRUST (recipe follows)

2 cups (12-oz. pkg.) HERSHEY’S SPECIAL DARK Chocolate Chips or HERSHEY’S Semi-Sweet Chocolate Chips (Note: By all means, please use your chocolate chips brand of choice!)
3  packages (8 oz. each) cream cheese, softened
1 can (14 oz.) sweetened condensed milk (not evaporated milk)
4 eggs
2 teaspoons vanilla extract

DIRECTIONS:

1. Prepare Oreo Cookie Crumb Crust; set aside. Heat oven to 300°F.

2. Place chocolate chips in microwave-safe bowl. Microwave at medium (50%) for 1-1/2 minutes; stir. If necessary, microwave at medium an additional 15 seconds at a time, stirring after each heating, just until chips are melted when stirred.

3. Beat cream cheese in large bowl until fluffy. Gradually beat in sweetened condensed milk until smooth. Add melted chips, eggs and vanilla; mix well. Pour into prepared crust.

4. Bake 1 hour and 5 minutes or until center is still a little bit jiggly. Remove from oven to wire rack. With knife, loosen cake from side of pan. Cool completely; remove side of pan. Refrigerate several hours before serving. Garnish as desired.

OREO COOKIE CRUMB CRUST: Stir together 1-1/2 cups Oreo cookie crumbs (about 2/3 of a packaged tray of Oreos), 1/3 cup HERSHEY’S Cocoa and 1/3 cup melted butter or margarine in medium bowl. Press firmly onto bottom of 9-inch springform pan.

You can find some very helpful tips, techniques and troubleshooting guide on the Hershey’s website.

We loved this cheesecake, specially my little girl! This is quite dense so go easy on the portions! This recipe is definitely a keeper. I haven’t made a cheesecake in a very long time. I’ve forgotten how simple (yet tricky!) it is to make. I am glad this one turned out to be a huge success. Yay!

Back to reality tomorrow. I hope y’all  had a wonderful Thanksgiving break as did we. I hope you’re all back safe and sound where you should be. :) Nobody wants to be bothered with rv repairs right smack in the middle of a vacation or a drive home (or to anywhere!).

Cheers, y’all and have a great week ahead!

Two of the landmarks are in the next photo. Please, please tell me you recognize them!

Try this next one…

This cake turned out be quite a learning experience for me, in more ways than one. Yes, it looks simple, but a lot of work went into it. In the end, it left me feeling, well, humbled.  I have to admit, this wasn’t my best work, but that doesn’t mean I didn’t give it my best effort.  *sigh*

This is a theme I’d use for a cake for my Mom, who herself was is a world traveler.  Hmm…

Cheers, y’all!

In July, a friend requested me to make her a birthday cake. She collects cuddly stuffed dolls, specifically, stuffed pigs. And for her birthday, she wanted a cake version of one of her favorite stuffed toys. She sent me photos of her cuddly toy/s in all angles.  This is what I came up with…

This was my first time to really carve a cake, small scale as it was. Sure, I’ve carved cake into mini bags, but those were regular shapes. I was a little bit nervous making this cake, but after a while, I became unusually and unbelievably calm and relaxed. I wish I could say the same for all my fun projects. Hee hee.

You have to love the suckling pigs! Yes to breastfeeding! Hee hee. :)

This is one of my favorite angles. Every pig has a curly tail, in my mind at least! :)

The pig, by the way, was carved from pound cake. It’s resting on an 8-inch chocolate cake. Yum-mee!

I love how this cake turned out. More so, I love how stress-free the cake decorating process went. So, I’ve so far made cake/fondant/gumpaste replicas of baby shoes, bags, princess dresses and just recently, a piano. What could be next?  Replica Ed Hardy? That should be interesting! Haha!

Have a great weekend, y’all! Cheers and mabuhay!

The last time I enjoyed a bowl of champorado was in January during our vacation back home.  It was made with Belgian chocolate and had a scoop of raspberry ice cream and then topped with a fresh strawberry. Yum-mee! I told myself I’ll never have champorado any other way again. That was until I received a box of Ghirardelli Intense Dark treats a week or two ago as part of the Foodbuzz Tastemaker Program. *wink*

Hubby and darling daughter have been wanting to get their hands on the chocolates but I just wouldn’t let them. I told them I’m saving those treats for something. Then I thought, it’s about time I made some champorado, raspberry ice cream or no raspberry ice cream!

Champorado is, more often than not, cooked with powdered cocoa.  For this venture, however, I chose to use the Twilight Delight variety of Ghirardelli chocolates, which is 72% cacao. I used an entire bar of chocolate plus a few more of the individually wrapped ones that came in a bag.  It took all of my willpower not to munch on the chocolates! It also seemed like it took forever for the champorado to cook! Everyone was impatiently pacing in the kitchen!

And then finally, after more than an hour or so of stirring, the chocolate-y rice goodness was done! Hubby likes to eat his champorado as is, no milk whatsoever. As for my daughter, my mom and I, we added a little bit of soy milk. When I was little, I had my champorado with lots of evaporated milk. ;)

Do you want to give sweet chocolate rice porridge a chance? Here’s the recipe:

INGREDIENTS

1 cup sweet rice
1 bar (and more!) Ghirardelli  Twilight Delight chocolate
1/2 cup sugar (add more according to taste)
6 – 10 cups of water (add more for a less thick consistency)

DIRECTIONS:

1. Put the rice, sugar and water in a pot.  Cook over high heat until the water starts to boil.
2. When the water starts to boil, turn the heat down to low and stir constantly to prevent the rice from sticking.  Start adding the chocolate. Break the chocolate bar into smaller pieces and then drop in the pot of rice. Stir for 30 to 40 minutes until the rice is cooked.
3. Add more water, 1/2 cup at a time, if you want a less thick consistency. You may also add more chocolate and sugar if you wish.
4.  Serve hot or cold with your choice of milk (fresh, evaporated or soy).

It was late in the afternoon when I made this two days ago. I had a bowl of champorado for dinner and so did my mom. Hubby and my daughter had it as a pre-dinner snack. Hee hee. What can I say? Everyone loved it!  I just love taking gastronomic trips back home. :)

Cheers and mabuhay, y’all!

a Japanese cooking technique in which various foods — most often meat, and specifically chicken — are deep fried in oil. Small pieces of the food are marinated in a mix of soy sauce, garlic, and/or ginger, then lightly coated with a seasoned wheat flour or potato starch mix, and fried in a light oil — similar to the preparation of tempura.

One lazy evening and out of fresh ideas for a quick dinner, I turned to my free box of coating mix. The box had 2 packages of coating mix and as soon as I opened one, I got a good whiff of ginger. I took it as a good sign.

Preparing this dinner was a no-brainer. Other than the coating mix, I only needed cut-up chicken pieces to complete my list of ingredients, and of course, oil for frying. Dinner took under 30 minutes to prepare including the time it took me to coat the chicken pieces with the mix by giving them a good shake in a resealable quart bag. ;)

Not bad for a boxed coating mix! I sprinkled some lemon juice on the cooked chicken. For dipping sauce, my daughter requested a ketchup and mayo mixture, which she believes is a special concoction her dad came up with. Hee hee.

Do not make the mistake of expecting a Japanese restaurant quality karaage! If I may be honest, hubby prefers my karaage from scratch (spoiled husband!). When one is short on time and wants home-cooked dish without the usual home-cooked trouble, this will get decent tasting food on the dinner table.

Hurrah for life’s little shortcuts!

Cheers and mabuhay! :)

My daughter feels “cake envy” almost over each and every one of the birthday cakes for girls that I’ve created since her last birthday.  She thinks they’re better than the birthday cakes I made for her. Well, I know where she’s coming from. I had to explain that over time, I get better and better at what I do. Still, I feel guilty…always.  So I promised her an awesome birthday cake, one that is supposed to be my best cake yet. How’s that for a tall order?

For my girl’s 7th birthday birthday cake, I attempted to make my first topsy turvy cake, which also happened to be my first 3-tier cake…

I can’t even begin to tell you how hard I worked on this cake.  It isn’t perfect but I love love how everything came together!  The cake had a dance theme with a little sprinkling of glitz and glam. How fun and exciting is that?!

The top and bottom tiers were mocha chiffon, while the middle tier was chocolate.  My daughter did wish that it was the other way around – chocolate for the top and bottom tiers and mocha for the middle tier. But more people like the mocha chiffon! She could have had the middle tier all to herself! Hee hee. Oh well.

To add a little more of that dance vibe and feel, I had two blinking lights pointed at the cake.

I’m happy I was able to pull this one off. I got through the day with only an hour of sleep. I wouldn’t mind (ever!) challenging myself again for my daughter’s next birthday cake. :)

Cheers, y’all! Mabuhay!

Having said all that, here’s the week that was in home-prepared school lunches.

Day 1 – Sweet and Spicy Shrimps with Brown Rice and Fresh Cherries

The Sweet and Spicy Shrimps was specially requested by my daughter. I, of course, obliged. ;)

Day 2 – Steamed Brown Rice topped with Stir-Fried Chayotes and Ground Turkey

My daughter absolutely loves stir-fried chayotes. The fruit component of the lunch was sliced super sweet cantaloupe.

Day 3 – Chicken Curry and Brown Rice

Chicken Curry is another one of my daughter’s favorite dishes. She likes anything with coconut milk. *wink* She once again had sliced cantaloupe completing the lunch ensemble. ;)

Day 4 – Misua (Chinese Vermicelli) with Ground Turkey and Carrots

Another dish that my daughter wouldn’t mind having again and again is Misua. It’s vermicelli soup, which she sometimes even eats with rice. Don’t judge! I do that, too! Haha! :D

Day 5 – Skinless Longanisa (Filipino Sausage) with Brown Rice 

This is yet another favorite – longanisa. You don’t know how much my daughter would love to have vinegar for dipping sauce to go with the skinless longanisa! I suggested the alternative, which is sliced tomatoes but she has convinced herself she doesn’t like tomatoes all that much. I packed some watermelon and cucumber slices instead.

And that’s last week in home-prepared lunches. ;)

Cheers, y’all! Mabuhay!

What I ended up buying, however, were reusable cutlery…

This was a eureka moment for me. My daughter already has reusable forks and chopsticks. But she doesn’t have a reusable spoon and knife. This Cutlery to Go set has everything!

There are only 2 handles (the bottom part of the cutlery) so my daughter has to make up her mind whether she wants to use a spoon and fork…

…a fork and knife…

…or chopsticks.

Did I mention these are BPA-free? The price for this set is $4.99 plus tax, a little on the steep side. But I just couldn’t resist passing up on them! And besides, my daughter wanted them, too. *wink* It’s a pretty good set to add to my lunch-to-go inventory. It’s also a small step in being earth/environment friendly. My daughter has not been using plastic cutlery with her home-prepared lunches for a very long time now.

With that, I say I’m ready to get back to making school lunches for my favorite girl. I’m just not quite ready to give up sleeping in. Hee hee.

Have a great week ahead, y’all! And have a wonderful school year ahead! Cheers and mabuhay!

It took me longer than I expected it would take to create the photo book because only two days ago did I realize that between May 2009 and August 2011, I have so far created 40 – FORTY! – fondant cakes! If I add the non-fondant cakes, cupcakes, brownies and cookies…that’s a ton of baked goodies out of my kitchen! Whew!

I made sure I included photos of my “class cakes”, all of which are on the first page. I can now laugh about the fact that my very first fondant cake turned out to be a horrible horrible mess. It took a lot not to cry in class! I have since learned how to deal with cake-decorating problems. Talk about growing up!

If you find creating photo books too daunting a task, you can opt to do the Quick Start and just allow Kodak Gallery to auto-fill the pages chronologically. You will still be able to resize, move and rotate the photos. I, on the other hand, took the Step-by-Step route. I like having full control. Hee hee. Oh, and guess what, you can upload photos from your Facebook account!

In the book are a good number of cakes that I have done recently, which I have yet to blog about. The cake on the photo book cover is one of them. I won’t show you the others just yet. I will tell you about them really really soon!

Do you want to make a photo book as well, perhaps about your wonderful summer? Well then, you’re in luck! Kodak Gallery is extending an exclusive offer to you of 40% off a Medium Hardcover Photo Book! Just CLICK THIS LINK and you’ll be on your way to creating your own beautiful book of memories. Take note, however, that this offer is valid until August 31st only.

Have a wonderful weekend, y’all!  I most definitely will because it’s Tax Free Weekend! Cheers and mabuhay! :D