Mongo Cooler Adventure

It's summer here and it's uberly hot... Feels like the country is turning into a barren desert with the El Nino Phenomenon bugging us day after day. It's killing the crops and fish even the farm animals! Oh well, not everything though[just exaggerating a little] but those that aren't tough enough would really die from the heat we are experiencing here right now. It, thus, isn't safe to be out at mid-day. Knowing this keeps me inside the house 'til sunset since I currently do not have a day job. Being idle at times makes me think of going on adventures... mostly gastronomic ones. :) So written below is one of them.

Today, the main ingredient is Mongo a.k.a. Mung beans. We had it for lunch[the guisado type with squash and malunggay leaves]. I set aside about a cup of it so I could put it in the fridge, add milk and sugar and munch it while it's cold. It makes a pretty good and healthy snack. Here goes the adventure. I was wondering how it would taste like as a shake so I took the blender and shoved the mongos in. I poured about a tablespoon each of milk, sugar and cocoa powder. I added some ice[about 4-5 cubes] and blended the mixture until smooth enough. So there goes. It was really simple and it tasted good. The downside though is that it felt gritty and powdery[not a very pleasant sensation]. To be honest, I told myself that I should have sticked to the snack I was talking about. I finished my 'adventuristic' drink anyway. It somehow cooled my system.

notice the pretty flowers...

[we have lots of those at our yard.]

Coffee Flan (?)

Last night, I was craving[as almost always] for something sweet. I looked through the fridge and saw some leftover egg yolks and milk. And so some form of bug invaded my mind telling me to whip up something to satisfy my craving... And here goes, I thought of making coffee flan. It's an alternate to leche flan which I saw last Saturday on Youtube.

Feeling a little adventurous, I took on the challenge of making my own recipe simplified using the microwave oven to cook it. I took four little bowls/sauce containers and placed a tablespoon of sugar on each one. Then I added a tablespoon of water to the containers with sugar. I then put them in the microwave to boil and make a syrup... of course it didn't turn out the way it's supposed to be but still, I moved on. I then got my egg yolks and mixed it with drops of calamansi to remove the stench then added milk and sugar. I didn't measure anything, i just felt my way through it. hahahahaha It's a bit crazy but what is an adventure? :D

Continuing on, I added some instant coffee granules until it was brown enough. I then took a strainer and poured my mixture through it[to remove the lumps] into the containers with the syrup. After, I put them into the microwave and cooked them for a minute. And another minute... and another minute... until i got tired because it never stopped boiling...

So I took it out and had a taste... I also asked my siblings to taste it and of course, they didn't like it that much. They said it was too sweet! :) I gobbled up some of them and realized that indeed it was too sweet. And it didn't look appetizing to me at all... So much for the adventure.

Looking at it right now makes me laugh at myself for doing it. :D

end product. :D

poured out. :)