Monday, June 28, 2010

Birthday Weekend!

Had a really really fun weekend with family and friends. Saturday was my sister's birthday and Sunday was mine. :D

Cooked Spaghetti with for her birthday and basil pasta for mine.
I also made blueberry cheesecake for her.
That day we spent with our immediate family only.

yup. that's her. my sister Jackie with her cheesecake.

Now let's go to the fun part. 
My birthday of course.
Started the day with church. Had Lechon Baboy for lunch. [didn't get the whole pig set up though.] Also had native fried chicken. :D Since nobody at home can make a cake for me, I did it myself. I made use of a black forest cake recipe I found at Brown Eyed Baker's site. Unfortunately, the cream I used didn't fluff up so I ended up using seven-minute frosting for it. Maybe it's just too warm here for whipped cream frosting...or maybe I just didn't do it right. But all's well that ends well. 

here I am with my cake. :)

got to celebrate it with a childhood friend who celebrates the same birthday as me. :)

had a candlelit dinner with my bestie-best friends... 

and karaoke after. :) 

 had so much fun.
and did i mention that it was the first time i went out at night on my birthday?





Sunday, June 20, 2010

Father's Day 2010

No words can ever fully express how fortunate I am to be born in such a close-knit family as ours. I have my loving and hardworking mother and an equally loving and hardworking father as well. Add to that combo the most fun to be around with brothers and sisters you can have in your life. I remember when our father was still in the prime of his life when we were little kids, he used to take us to the beach during weekends and even if we weren't the richest family in the world, we were the happiest kids around. He sent and fetched us to and from school and made his way through our needs and wants. He never allowed my mother to have a day job so she can take care of us while he's making money.

Now that he is kinda weaker from suffering a stroke, and not making money anymore, I know he is still working hard to get over the weakness and get back to the way it was before. Although it's kinda bleak to be as strong and as vibrant as during the younger days, at least he is improving now. And we, his kids along with our wonderful mom, are here for him just as he was there for us in when we were kids and growing up. 

So for Father's day this year, our offering to him is a yummy tasting mango cake. It's similar to my mom's mother's day cake only with bits of fruit cocktail on top of the whip cream instead of mango. :) We originally planned Ube[Purple Yam] cake as it is his favorite but we didn't find a good recipe and I couldn't risk spoiling his cake. 


Here is Papa with my Mama and the cake


innards. :)
didn't look as cassava cake-ish as before. :D 


Something's brewing up again for my sister's and mine's birthday weekend. 



Monday, June 14, 2010

Basil Pasta Again


Since my brother Jon is here again, and he's leaving for Cebu again tonight, we decided to make him a sumptuous lunch. It's been quite a long time since we last ate pasta. [We ate noodles last night. That's a different thing. Haha] And we also missed the taste of basil. So here it is. I whipped up the pasta again, except that I didn't  make pesto anymore and added the chopped basil leaves instead. 


There you go.
And needless to say,
I'm so full. 

Wednesday, June 9, 2010

My first ever...

Blueberry Cheesecake! :D
ooooooooooh yum. I didn't expect it to turn out so nicely. See, it was my forever friend, Char's, birthday last June 8. Her sister, Achi Em, invited me to come to their house and bake a cake for her with all the ingredients and tools readied for me. Not just that, she also tasked me to make the blueberry cheesecake for the first time... which she doesn't really have that much idea on how to do, she told me. It wasn't the first time I worked in their kitchen but it sure was the first time I worked there almost alone. Achi just checked on me once in a while and I also had some people helping me get the things I needed. Anyhoo, I made use of the easy no-bake cheesecake found inside the pack of cream cheese that we used. It turned out well until the creaming point. I don't know how to whip cream using the hand mixer. It didn't fluff up! I tried doing it manually before using the wire whisk. It did somehow rise and look pretty but it wasn't very sturdy. I tried to look for a wire whisk there but didn't find one until I was done so. I settled with the soggy cream. haha :) I fervently hoped that the gelatin and cream cheese will make it set properly. When it was served at the party, I was sooooooo relieved that it did and that it turned out absolutely yummy.

That was my dessert plate. 
Hahaha so fat looking eh. 
Catch a glimpse of the watermelon, pineapple and ube cake on the sides. :)
...and the star of the show, my first ever blueberry cheesecake. 

And of course, I baked Char a birthday cake. It was a chocolate cake with fondant icing. I didn't fully cover it    with fondant because I didn't find their rolling pin. I don't own one as well. Anyhoo, it took us hours to get to have it cooked since the oven didn't light up immediately. So anyway, to make the story short, I got it finished on time for the party. Didn't get to go to the cemetery though because I was late already. 

Here's the cake. :)
[Pardon me for this photo. I took this shot using my mobile phone.]

They say Char guided me through my baking adventure that day.
I hope she's happy up there. 
I still miss her everyday.
Happy Birthday, my darling girl Pating. 

Monday, June 7, 2010

Native Chocolate Polvoron

It's kinda sad I don't get to update this blog a lot anymore like I used to. I get occupied with other things even if I don't have a job yet. haha :) I wish I get a job real soon. 

Anyhoo, days ago I made some native chocolate polvorons and they're sooooooo yummy. I don't know, I've been crazy about native chocolate lately. It's so addictive. It smells so good, raw cocoa goodness. Milk and Native chocolate never tasted this good. haha of course, I am exaggerating. :) But here is a photo for you to see. 

see the spots?
those are the bits of native choco :)

I also made the cake version and intended to pair it with ice cream. 
Here's the photo. 

beautiful texture but didn't come out in perfect shape.
still, it turned out yummy. :)

Will be off to my friend Char's place to celebrate her birthday tomorrow. 

Tuesday, June 1, 2010

Native Chocolate Cake

Well.. It's the first day of June already which only means that today marks the beginning of my birthday month. I don't know if I ought to be excited because I still don't have a job and my life's been stagnant all these months that I don't know now what to expect if I ever get back to work. I have sent some application documents to different institutions already and I am just keeping my fingers crossed for the days and weeks to come. I hope I get a job before my birthday strikes but if I never get any, well... I'll have to accept that as well and continue on waiting. 

Anyhoo... the past few days, I didn't really do a lot of baking because I don't have orders lately which is kinda sad because it means no cash inflow. But that's okay, I guess. I will just have to start anew this month. This particular cake I mentioned above is a cake I made for my brother, Jonathan. He works in Cebu already and he posted as his status message on Facebook that he misses my chocolate cakes. Awwwwe... He went home in time for our church's Family Sunday so I made him one. I tried the cooked frosting again and failed. The frosting was crumby.. lots of flour solids. But still, the cake, tasted good. 

how does that look?

cake innards. :)
pretty huh? 

and here's the rose I gave my parents on Family Sunday. :D