Awesome April

has just begun.

I woke up early yesterday to prep my Pop so we could go to our little fishermen's warf to witness the first harvest our our fish-friends-now-food, the Milkfish better known at our place as BANGUS!

harvesting mode.

[It was really fun watching the men trying to catch the fish with the net only seeing the fish fly over them. They did rounds of catching but still never finished until today. The had to stop at high tide.]

fresh from the sea.

[aren't they lovely? Some bones got stuck on my throat today. I'm okay now and I ain't giving up eating them at all. ]

Next Topic.

Family gatherings are just plain fun. I like having little chitchats with some cousins and aunts... I also like seeing little children run around, shout and speak like big people do... making negotiations using their toys and making their own game rules. It makes me miss those days when I was just a kid playing house with my older cousins and allowing them to feed us petals. Last night was one of those fun gatherings because it was a joint graduation party for some of my cousins and it was kinda sad too because one of them is leaving us and no one can tell how long she will be away. Anyhoo, enough for the sentiments.

I was busy yesterday but it's not the kind that gets me ranting. It's the fun kind of busy because it's for the said family gathering. My cupcake tower also made its show again last night... the same chocolate cupcakes but different owners this time. My aunt asked me to make them and you can imagine what I went through making those. Baking and frosting about 48 cupcakes in about 5 hours? But I don't want to complain because I must admit, I had fun. I also think that baking for family or close friends add an additional amount of pressure for perfection. So yeah, I did my best and thankfully the batches turned out really great. I also baked some cookies days before as my present to the kiddos who graduated from preschool.

On to some pictures. I didn't take much because I was to tired to do so. I only chatted my way through the night with an old college friend.

Here we go.

girly cookies

boy cookies

[Both cookies were inspired by Bakeat350 and Sweetopia]

I know, they scream for more practice. :D

And here's the cupcake tower and the cookies laid out on the dessert table. :D

Now, my cousins have left and there are a few still staying.

Oh, did I tell you that we don't have water right now? Our water pump broke so we have to ask [or buy(?) ] water from our neighbors.

And I burnt a small part of my left hand yesterday with the glue gun. Arggh.

Never Say Die!

[outdoor shot]

It's been almost a week since I have last posted..

Well today, I feel sad because my oven broke. I don't know what happened but it just won't heat up. We have to bring it back to the store soon to get it fixed.

Anyhoo... it was a good thing i made another attempt[never say die!] at Moringa/Malunggay Cupcakes last night. That way, I discovered that my pet[oven] is sick... Ooooooooo it makes me feel bad.. really really.

Anyway, I have already made my own recipe of the cupcakes and this is the first recipe I will share. Yey! Here it is.

Joanna's Moringa/Malunggay Cupcake

(Makes 24 cupcakes)

1 cup butter

1 1/2 cups sugar

3 eggs

1/4 cup blended Moringa/Malunggay leaves

2 cups flour

2 tsp baking soda

1/4 tsp salt

1 cup milk

1 tsp vanilla

1. Preheat the oven at 350 degrees F.

2. Blend the leaves. Add about half a tablespoon of water when blending.

3. Sift dry ingredients together.

4. Cream butter and sugar.

5. Beat in eggs one at a time.

6. Add blended leaves.

7. Pour milk alternately with the dry ingredients and beat until throughly incorporated.

8. Add vanilla.

9. Pour batter in lined cupcake pans.

10. Bake for 25-30 minutes.

11. Cool and enjoy with or without frosting. :D

i topped it with seven-minute frosting/boiled frosting.

took a bite.

look at its beautiful shade of green. :)

*Since my oven broke, I resorted to microwaving them instead. Though it wasn't totally safe, I had to do it because I wouldn't want to waste those beauties... I just stood on standby at a safe distance on the ready to pull the plugs anytime something went wrong inside. Well, needless to say, nothing bad happened. Thank God.

Moringa Cupcake

Health is wealth.

Yesterday, I thought of making something organic for today. Moringa, better known as MALUNGGAY, here in the Philippines is said to be a miracle plant. This particular vegetable is also my favorite Buzz Cafe ice cream flavor. This encouraged me to make a cupcake variety of the said veggie. I first intended to make my own but also tried my luck at googling a recipe. I found one but found it a little questionable because its pattern isn't the same as that I am used to making. I decided to try it thought since it's just the lone recipe I found and it was made by a doctor. :)

So here goes. It's done and I've tasted it. The product taste is good. A little too sweet for me and lacked the 'malunggay' feel. It was good enough though for my mom and sister. I topped it with lemony buttercream to give it some oomph. Generally, it was good but not the best. I intend to make my own recipe soon because sadly, I'm not very much satisfied.

Here are some photos.