Bibingka for breakfast

Today my parents bought "Bibingka" for breakfast. It's a Filipino delicacy that is our version of the old rice cake.

Here is a pic of it, though not a good one. I'm not that good with taking pics:

Think my dad bought these, a few minutes from our place there is a small shed that sells these. They bake these yummy rice cakes in a small mold with banana leaves (hence the burnt banana leaves) then placed on top of coals. 

Gosh! I love the traditional way of cooking. It gives it a bit of a signature taste to it. I mean the charred sides of the rice cakes gives it an appetizing look and the burned banana leaves, leaves it's banana-ish taste and is really good. 

This even has the simplest ingredients and it's not hard to make. The main ingredients of it is rice (again, hence the name rice cake) and the coconut milk. YUP! I love coconut milk. 

As you can see the rice is grounded finely which makes it soft. Recently, I've seen my mom eat it with melted cheese on top. I have no idea how it tastes because I haven't tried it yet, still hesitant to try it. I've heard that there are different types of how this is eaten. Meaning, some pairs or tops it with different things which is interesting really. 

So for today that's all for the Bibingka breakfast. 

Cheers!

Cooking Depression

This really is a real condition for me, the cooking depression thing. Been months since I have cooked something and posted stuff here. I really wanted to make something up, even decided to put up some posts about the every food we eat just to have something on. 

I haven't been able to cook because I've been sick all these time and not allowed to do anything. I know it SUCKS! I even broke my neck 3 days ago. and I've been wearing this really annoying neck brace. Makes your neck feel hot and wet. UGH!

So right now, this post is all about ranting. YUP! the good ol' ranting. I don't have anything in mind right now except for the feeling of my stomach tingling from hunger. Kept on saying " FEED ME YOU FAT BASTARD WITH A NECK COLLAR!" LOL.

I know what you guys are thinking, this cooking depression thing is making me crazy. Well guess what, it does. I'm CRAZY as hell. Damn straight crazy. I have the urge to make those rainbow cupcakes but I don't know what flavor.

I wanted to cook something Indian but I have no recipes. I wanted to write something so bad but what? That is the real question here. I'm out of ideas right now, I'm not even a really good writer as what you can see. I write like a 5 year old. LOL. Even attempted to write a book but I got stuck at the second page of my synopsis. See? I'm really not a good writer. 

Been wanting to use writing as a way to gain money online since it's the only way, found a lot of jobs like that but I don't think I qualify for that. HAHA. Didn't even went to college. lol

So that's it for the ranting for now, This post is just to keep the flies away from my blog. HAHA. 

Here's a pic of me looking all beaten up by chickens! haha. :))

Cheers!

joy of baking

Ok, when I was on instagram searching for some pictures of cupcakes, I became envious of the different piping techniques they did. I really dig the whole baking thing, I love pastries but I'm not really a fan on eating them, just the making part. In school, I wasn't the best pastry student there is. I even got punished during our wedding cake class for making a black colored cake with a tombstone on top and two skulls. I won't take the credit of making the skulls due to the fact that I'm also not a good artist. It's such a shame really but I think when I practice more, I can achieve it. So back on the wedding cake I made, I think it sends a beautiful meaning about how true love never dies. It takes away the statement " til death do us part ". I'm kind of a romantic guy on the inside, I just don't feel like showing it. The punishment was two weeks of mopping the kitchen. In my side of the story, the punishment was kind of unfair. I just wanted to be creative, the cake doesn't really look good but the message is.

Back to the cupcake madness, Today i made a carrot cupcake with buttercream frosting. I was planning on making a different kind of frosting but the only thing we have on stock was butter. The last time I made a carrot cupcake, it was a failure due to the miscalculation of the measurements. It didn't rise as expected but the taste was good. My sister even told me to make more but I used up all the ingredients and I need to have another recipe. Today I googled up a recipe for it and luckily, it was a success. Got it to rise like how i wanted it to and the texture and color is ok for me. 

This is the pic of the cupcakes fresh out from the oven. The picture is crappy cuz it was taken from my phone. 

The frosting on the other hand, I made two batches. The first one, I planned was a lemon buttercream frosting but unfortunately the butter I used was salted and it was too salty for me. I was a bit disappointed with that. The second batch, I finally used unsalted butter but no lemon. So it's just a simple buttercream frosting. Piping it was the nerve wrecking part. I'm kind of a perfectionist in my own way, I don't want something to fail. If it does, I will keep practicing it until it's good enough to look at and good enough to eat. I used a 1 M tip to make the fancy swirl that I loved. Right now, due to the meds I've been taking, my hands were a bit shaky and maybe it's also from the fact that I haven't done it in a long while. I don't think the last one counts as an experience. LOL

This is the final product with the buttercream frosting piped in a fancy swirl.

That's also what I loved about making these adorable cupcakes, the idea of different techniques and crazy designs that may come up. You can just imagine thousands of ways to design it. Also, the taste. Which makes it a bit tough. Now that I'm just beginning to practice, I'll just stick to the basic techniques. Who knows, maybe next time I can invent something new. It's just a matter of exploration with your creative side. I'm finally happy with the end result of this. Hopefully this can get me a good night's rest. I'll post the recipe soon. My eyes are tired and needs rest. Cheers!

It's kind of a Curry story part 2. .

. . After making the curry sauce yesterday, time to add the meat. So I added the chicken tenders to it. The good thing about chicken tenders is that they cook easily and in a short amount of time. Just try to make sure you don't over cook the chicken meat cuz it tends to break and I don't really like the whole shredded chicken in my curry.

This is simmering for about 5 minutes waiting for the chicken tenders to cook properly. Don't wanna have pink colored chicken in it.

And then the finished product, added all the sauce in a bowl and the chicken.

Nothing like a good old curry to spice up the taste buds on a cold rainy night. Also the best thing about curry is that you never know what to expect on how the spices would blend. In this case, there are a lot going on with the flavors of the ginger, the sweetness of the onions and the thickness and rich flavor of the tomato sauce and the milk. The picture might not look as much but once you can get a spoonful of it with rice of course, it will tingle your taste buds in ways you can never imagine.

So that's about it, my version of the famous curry as what I like to call it. Maybe next time, when I can improve this recipe, hopefully I can find some curry leaves, coriander seeds and maybe add some lentils and see what it tastes like. I think there's another name for it if you add some lentils but overall, it's still curry. 

For those curry lovers out there, who have never tried cooking before, try this recipe and tell me if it suits your style. After all, I'm still new with this kind of cuisine. 

Cheers!

it's kind of a Curry story

Hey everyone, this is the first time I have posted after ten days of "vacation" in the living room. Today I was motivated by something in which I myself don't even know what and i don't even care. It's a new thing for me for not caring what is what, my personality is always know-everything sort of type. Just loved knowing every single thing that pops in front of me or in mind.

So, yesterday we went shopping for groceries. Even saw our school Chef, made me miss school in an odd way. LOL. We bought these cute little containers for the spices sitting around the house, due to insufficient funds, we only got 12 pieces which is enough for now. Maybe next time we can buy more for different stuff too. 

During the time we were in the grocery store, something hit me! Why not make some curry, little me inside my mind said. There I grabbed some stuff that I can use for the curry. I just explored with some basic spices which I don't really use. I was hoping of using some curry leaves but unfortunately none were available. So I just took the curry powder instead. At least it's curry! I just wanted to use curry leaves because I've never used it before. 

That's what happened yesterday. Today, I pulled a Jamie Oliver in the kitchen. HAHA! I remembered a segment of The Naked Chef about him making some curry. If I wasn't mistaken, he used some mustard seed. Was also curious about that too, always wanted to use that. There's just something about spices which attracts me. 

I made my own version of curry sauce. So what I did was chopped some onions, then sauteed it with a few tablespoons of olive oil. After a few minutes when the onions caramelized, I added the chili's and bell peppers (green and red) and ginger. Sauteed it again then added some chopped parsley to give it some greens, I'm not sure if it's the usual curry but I went for it. After adding the parsley I immediately added the milk and tomato sauce and tomato paste. OH! before I forget, when I was sauteing the onions and stuff, I added some diced tomatoes too. 

After adding the liquids, I added the nutmeg, curry powder, salt, a bit of chili powder and of course, cinnamon powder. Well, i guess it's a spice. HAHA! The only thing I know when to use cinnamon is when making some pastry items. Yea, my knowledge about food right now is a bit shallow. I know some of you food experts out there lurking, criticize this blog but what can I say, I'm still learning. Like a boss!

Ok, so before we drift off to another long story and forget what I'm trying to say, let's get back on track. After adding those spices, I let it simmer for about ten minutes then added a couple of bay leaves. Just let those flavors combine and do their thing. I noticed at first that the sauce was a bit thick so I just added a bit of water to thin it up a bit, although thick is fine. It really just depend on how you want your curry to be. I just don't want it to be a really thick curry. That's all.

So we're done with the sauce, If you can see, no potatoes and no meat. I just made the sauce for tomorrow's dinner. Tomorrow, I'm planning on making chicken curry, I'll just reheat the sauce, add some potatoes and the chicken tenders or breast would be fine. I know it may sound lazy but I wanted to use chicken tenders to lessen the cooking time. So I guess that's about it for the curry. 

I almost made some roast chicken but this post is long enough and might bore some of you reading this. I'll just make a part two of this.

To ease the boredom, here's the recipe for it:

• 3 onions, chopped
• 2 red and green bell peppers, chopped
• 3 chili swords, chopped
• 1 ginger, peeled and thinly sliced
• half a cup parsley, chopped
• 4 tomatoes, diced
• 1 can milk
• 1 can tomato sauce 
• 1/4 cup tomato paste
• 1/4 teaspoon nutmeg
• salt and pepper for seasoning
• 1 teaspoon curry powder
• 1/4 teaspoon cinnamon powder
• 1/4 chili powder

Hope this serves you best. cheers!  

Les vacance. .

So I haven't posted anything lately because I haven't had time to cook. Being sick and all, medications make me nauseous sometimes. The last time I cooked a meal, we bought lots of stuff that I haven't used and is now  stocked. I can feel their loneliness. HAHA

There are some uncooked pasta, a can of mushrooms, parmessan cheese and some canned tomatoes. I'm planning on making something different and cool. So far, none came into mind. Seems like I'm having an "artistic block", guess you can call it that. Have made lots of pasta with tomato sauce which my family thinks it's too spicy for them. I used lots of spice in my cooking, like my dad once said " someone who's not good in cooking, use lots of spices to cover up the mistakes " but hey! I am still learning and I really love spices.

Been trying to incorporate lots of spices in all my cooking. I'm a fan of Indian food because I just loved how they sometimes blend lots of spices in their cooking and managed to create an interesting and delicious dish. That's how I see it.

Just a random thought, I don't even have an idea if Indians use pasta, all I know is that they use breads. LOL!

So now, when I will start to feel better and can stand on my feet without passing out, I'll think of something healthy and delicious dishes which uses lots of chicken and pasta. I just love chicken and now that I'm enrolled in a gym, I need it for some protein boosts. Hope that works.

So until next time. This post is just to inform some of you that I didn't disappear as I had some messages on facebook from some friends, asking me why I haven't had a post. Some say I might be sick and some say I'm just plain lazy to write something. LOL. well, I was sick, again.

There you go guys. Another uninteresting post.

Cheers! 

. . sweet delight . .

Today, got to see how the honeybees doing. That's right! honeybees. Bees that puke a sweet and nutritious syrup that can be used in all sorts of things. We have two colonies in our backyard right now which has more or less thousands of bees, including the eggs.

Was really fascinated by seeing the honeycombs filled with honey and some are filled with eggs. Especially the bees crawling and eating their precious honey. Here is a pic below showing a frame with bees developing the wax:

Beautiful isn't it?? i'm proud to be around those busy little workers. . :)

Since my family are now interested in the wonders that the honey does, my sister decided to buy some colonies not just to keep my parents and me busy but to have a supply of honey of our own and also since pure honey nowadays is hard to find. I also heard that there are only two brands sold in the supermarket that produce pure honey and it's also expensive. Well, for a wondrous food that nature provided, who wouldn't put a price on it.

Been researching about the health benefits that the honey gives and let me tell you, it has lots of it. I always thought that it's just a substitute sweetener for diabetics and some antioxidants but now there are lots of stuff it contains. 

Now that I'm practicing on my baking skills, I wanna at least try to incorporate honey in most of my recipes. Hoping that it won't increase the amount of sugar in my blood. Keeping my fingers crossed here! HAHA.

Oooh! I also got a taste of the honey produced at our own backyard. Flavor is not that intense which is really good for me, have tried different honey's from different sources and some are very intense in aroma and flavor. That's what they call polyfloral, which means the nectar came from different kinds of flowers. So my theory is that, due to the fact that the our honey is a light, maybe it's monofloral. 

The upside of it is that, when you consume it raw, it's really soothing to the throat and tongue. The downside is that the polyfloral one contains lots of antioxidants which makes it really healthy for consumption. 

Part of the honeycomb with honey, ready for sucking. Taste pretty damn good!

The queen bee with her royal escorts as what I love to call them. :) She takes charge of they're communication and laying eggs. 

Ripe honey enclosed in the honey combs with bees crawling all over it.

Part of the honey comb that was taken. One from the picture above with the plate.

Bees eh! just don't know how to let go. LOL

Those are the pics from today's visit. There's not much going on but we're happy to see the growth of their population in about a month or so. Can't wait to reach 6 colonies and start producing tons of honey! 

I've mentioned that I'm gonna incorporate honey on my recipes right?? Now that I've mentioned that earlier, I'm planning to incorporate that in all of my recipes not just in pastry and see how that goes. I know some people have already done that but maybe I can figure a new and exciting way in using honey on food. Time to add that on my to do list! HAHA.

cheers!

" There comes forth from their bellies, a drink of varying colour wherein is healing for mankind. Verily, in this is indeed a sign for people who think."

all about the chicken. . .

Today I made a roast chicken for dinner. Wanted to practice cooking it to perfection level like a properly cooked meat without the pink, properly tied and the perfect taste and the perfect gravy to match it.

Asked the help to buy a whole chicken and string. I was a bit nervous waiting for the chicken to come. Thoughts have been racing through my mind like what will be the outcome? will it be perfect like what others do? I can be paranoid sometimes but I see that as a positive thing. Call me crazy! LOL. . 

So I started prepping the bed of veggies I needed for roasting, got some onions, garlic and carrots. Just the stuff available in our house. There are lots of carrots here due to the fact that I drink carrot juice every morning for health reasons. Back to topic, I sliced the onions in half, crushed the garlic cloves and just roughly chopped the carrots and then added some olive oil in it.

After doing the initial prepping, I cleaned the roasting dish that will be used and got the nutmeg, black pepper and salt ready so when the chicken comes, I can Immediately start cleaning it and tying it and stuff.

*warning: emotional content for just one paragraph. . might want to skip this if you're allergic to emotional blabbing.

While waiting (don't even know why it took long ) I was just talking with my parents and stuff about how cooking is my passion but it seems to be hating me. I have this attitude where I fail at a dish, I tend to think if this is really for me or something. In terms of cooking I can be bipolar and I say this from the bottom of my heart. When I cook, I get to a state that I will be so happy and overwhelmed with emotions that even I thought I never had. Then when I finish, I see the finished product with all these negative things and end up being depressed. So that was it, next paragraph.

So the chicken arrived, the first thing I did wash the chicken properly then inserted two lemons. I poked the lemons with the knife, never sliced it. Then tied the chicken the way I remembered it. It's just hard to describe it in writing, as you can see i'm not really that good in writing. Anyways, I mixed the salt, black pepper, cayenne and nutmeg then rubbed olive oil in the chicken and then the seasoning. I don't know what got into me but I added nutmeg, just like the flavor that it gives.

After rubbing and stuff, I placed the chicken on top of the bed of veggies and popped it inside the oven for 220 degrees celsius for about one hour and twenty minutes. That was it. Just went back online to facebook while waiting for the chicken to cook properly.

When the time came, I took the chicken out, placed it in another plate just to sit for 15 minutes or so. Gives me time to deglaze the roasting dish and make the gravy.

so this is the finished product, with the bed of veggies. I teared the skin on the thigh due to rough handling. think I can do better next time on the presentation. <3

That was the whole chicken story. I got some positive feedback which made me happy and wanting to make some more of it. Just to modify the recipe and amaze them on how I can be the chicken roasting king! HAHA

Ingredients:

• whole chicken
• nutmeg
• black pepper
• salt
• olive oil
• carrots
• onions
• garlic

That's just it, no proper measurements really, just cooked with my eyes and instincts. Hope this can help you out. cheers!

Trial and Error. .

The other day, me and my "daughter" made some cupcakes just for fun. I also intended to bake them to give a friend of my father who happened to help us when I was hospitalized. I was really grateful, so I decided to do something in return and the only thing I know what to do is bake, or at least that's what i think.

So we made the same chocolate cupcakes which I myself liked making and also eating. The only thing that made it different from the first one I made was the frosting. I decided to make a honey butter cream frosting because I wanted it to be sweet and a bit healthier because it has butter, so if I added more sugar, it would be too much and besides, honey contains lots of vitamins and minerals and it's also considered as the healthiest food. I know the recipe I used for the butter cream frosting requires caster sugar but it's not that sweet, it taste a bit bland. I think it's because of the butter or something, so by adding honey in to it, it will make it sweet and a little something more to the flavor to it. 

When I made the frosting, I like the creaminess that made it and I also never imagined how it made the mixture stiff without adding more sugar. Before I kept adding caster sugar aside from the 1/4 cup sugar that the recipe needed just to stiffen the frosting. I wanted it to be stiff so it will hold the shape of the tip. Just wanted to practice on making some designs for the frosting and the only thing I can think of was using a pastry bag and different shapes. Gonna practice making fondant later on when I perfect putting frosting on it.

I never really thought honey can do that. Haven't done enough research on how it made the mixture stiff, thinking that the caster sugar made the mixture dry and made it stiff. I'm still in awe about what happened. The next time i'm planning on making cinnamon butter cream. I just love cinnamon.. HAHA. cheers!

French Macarons

Today, I made some French Macarons along with my sister and her friend and my friend, both from high school. It even struck me that the aura in our home was like reminiscing the past or something.

Was planning to make some cupcakes with my friend, trying to improve the ones I made from the last post but out of nowhere my sister or was it me, thought of making French Macarons. I remembered making some when I was doing my on-the-job training at Shangri-La Mactan Resort and Spa and I also made some during my dish development course in our school. The recipe was a bit the same, basic recipe but it was different in just a small detail. The secret to it was the rose water, which smelled like a perfume meant for old people but i do love it though.

So back to the one I made, due to the fact that I have a limited memory like a goldfish, I searched for recipes online just to refresh my memory of it. I reviewed the recipe thoroughly just to see if we have all the ingredients ( as if it's really that difficult of a dish ). Then it hit me, almond flour. Kept thinking about what to substitute it knowing that with all our daily cooking, we would never keep any almond flour. So I searched the net on any substitute but none really said anything. Maybe I wasn't searching hard enough.

After some time, my sister called me and said we have raw almonds kept in the chiller. I was relieved to see it but still leaving me with thoughts about how to turn it into a flour. At first I thought I need to grind it then add cornstarch or something but that is a bit unusual as far as my knowledge is concerned. Then I remembered reading somewhere online that any kind of nuts that are ground are actually called flour. So I started grinding them, well my sister and her friend did. They were using the old mortar and pestle, kept on telling them to use the electric coffee mill, sort of but insisted that the mortar and pestle works best. It took them awhile to grind it so I started to chop some of the almonds for the sake of helping them do it much faster. After they've done all the almonds, I carefully reviewed their work ( finally, my turn to be the judge like a boss ). I saw some that aren't really crushed properly so I decided to use the "sort of" coffee mill to do all the work. I noticed, once the crushed almonds turned to powder, the oils were released and it made the whole thing moist. I didn't know what to do because I haven't done anything like this before.

Thinking that there must be something wrong with what I'm doing but i just followed my instincts. Seeing that my "almond flour" is a bit moist, I just added the confectioner's sugar to it hoping to loosen things up and maybe dry it a bit and put it through a sift which is what a normal recipe said.

The other problem that I had to battle is the beating of the egg whites. I've practiced before how to make meringues without an electric mixer and I must say it gives your right or left arm a bit of an exercise. Even making the foam of the egg whites without even reaching some soft peaks yet, huge sweats starts appearing in my face but luckily none of them dropped in the mixture. My sister and her friend tried and for a few minutes they felt their arms starting to burn but at least they had fun. So I continued whisking it until I reached the consistency that I needed, the real battle that I was talking about was the extreme heat and humidity in the kitchen, it wasn't the best condition for making it. The bubbles started popping and it started to lose its foams but I still continued and managed to make the the mixture properly as what the recipe said.

Placed the mixture in a piping bag and started piping them in a baking tray lined with wax paper. That was a bit of a tricky part right there because the mixture was a bit rather liquidy so I may have some drippings. I kept on going until I made 26 small discs that was perfect for the baking tray.

Once finished piping them, turned the oven on which I clearly forgot to preheat but thankfully, in the recipe, it

said that after piping it has to sit for at least 10 minutes before baking which gave me time for the preheating

thing. I was very excited to bake it and eager to see the end result.

After 10 minutes, time for the baking to commence! Then I discovered that the baking tray wouldn't fit in the oven, it has an extra 2 inch that wouldn't fit. I panicked for a while inside my head and on the way to frustration but when I look to my right, i saw some dish cloth, big ones. I used it to cover the 2 inch opening and was a bit relieved but still the thought of not really cooking it well still lingers in my mind for 10 minutes, 10 agonizing minutes. Well, not really. HAHA.

Ten minutes has passed and another ten just to let it sit for a bit, judgement time begins. I noticed that the discs weren't really that hollow and there's no feet or whatever you call it. The texture was a bit moist and it sort of looked like cake discs due to it's foamy like built. We assembled igt by pairing the same size and added strawberry jam to it, viola! The not so perfect French Macarons were made. I'm not really that confident about my work but I'm happy with it. Never felt this happy before. The taste was like almond-ish and has a grainy texture to it which bothered me a bit. I know, I'm a bit hard on myself there but that's just the way it is. I just want to excel in this type of career which I chose and loved. After all, practice do makes perfect.

The discs, fresh out of the oven without "feet" or whatever you call them. Clear sign of an error in the preparation of the mixture or not properly cooked. 

The whole afternoon was tiring and fun at the same time, there's nothing like cooking with friends whom you enjoyed doing it. It's also fun to share some of my knowledge to them and gaining some on the process. Soon I'll practice it more and hopefully, the next time I post about them French Macarons, they'd be perfect.

Ingredients:

• 2 eggs
• 3/4 cup almond flour
• 1/4 cup confectioner's sugar
• pinch of cream of tartar or baking soda

that's just the basic, I added some flavoring and coloring to it. The measurements of these just depends on whatever you're planning really, just try to be creative and stuff. Also, the filling depends on you, i used strawberry jam on mine cuz my sister loved it so much.

Cheers!

and there were cupcakes. . .

Eager as usual, I did what I had to do, made the cupcakes that I've dreamed of making. Found a recipe online about a chocolate cupcake that didn't need eggs which I found online. I know I said that I was eager to make it but a part of me was a bit hesitant. Maybe I was just afraid to fail since a lot of pressure was on me knowing that i went to a culinary school, Story of my life! we'll get to that later on. HAHA!

So there I was, reading the recipe, following each and every measurement. Trying to be precise and due to the heat, it made the difficulty raise a bit higher cuz I sweat a lot! and when I say a lot, I'm not exaggerating. Glad no sweat dripped on my cakes or I'll throw them to the trash with no hesitation.

The first time I tried to make the frosting, it made me mad! I ran out of butter and some other ingredients, so I tried to be creative, this may sound silly but I tried making a meringue to make it light and fluffy. Instead it made the mixture so wet that i needed icing sugar to stiffen it or something but no stock. So i decided to put flour and cooked it on low fire, the end result was disappointing. Did I mention i needed to make a butter-cream frosting??? YUP! for a culinary arts graduate, that was kind of stupid. At least I've learned my lesson there or maybe the one I made had some potential on becoming something and just needed to adjust the procedure and everything that was going on there. HAHA!


So me and my Dad went to the grocery store and bought some icing sugar and more butter. Followed the right recipe and with some luck, I managed to make it. At last! after a tiring whisking, i finally made it.

Made two versions, one was with a coffee flavor to it and the other one was just vanilla. When everyone tasted it, they liked the one with vanilla. That was my accomplishment for today. Made everything worthwhile, made me forget that I was depressed. OH wait! I remembered it again.. well, maybe i should get back to baking. :) Cheers!

So here's the final product, need to practice on my frosting. This is dedicated to my "daughter" since she passed the interview for her visa. 

Baby steps, Baby!

So as what I've said yesterday, me and my mom went to the baking supplies store and picked up a few items. Bought some cupcake tins, baking tray, rubber spatula, cupcake liners, steel spatula (a small one cuz i think it's cute and I've been dying to have one), measuring jugs, etc.

As you guys can see, most of them are for cupcakes. Yes, cupcakes! I've dreamed of making those cupcakes like the ones on TV. Been watching DC cupcakes before and it inspired me, just didn't have the right resources to do it. Now that my parents are enlightened to buy the essential stuff I needed for baking, gonna practice. 

In regards with the ancient oven, my dad made some renovations and cleaned the entire thing so it can be used as soon as possible. When we first opened the oven, there were lots of going on inside it. Rusty stuff and dust all over it. Now it's all cleaned which is safe for baking food and safe for human consumption! :)

Now I'm excited to try the recipe I've found online about a chocolate cupcake with no eggs in it. Haven't tried it before, used to making it with eggs and butter and I'm eager as a pup to try it. Just not sure about how the frosting should go but I feel like It will just come to me on the process. 

I'm so proud of the support that my parents are giving me with all of these, without them, I don't think it's possible for me to bake in our own house. Will post some pics of the cupcakes soon! hope all will go well. Cheers!

Satisfying the hunger

So I'll start by saying that since I graduated my 2 year culinary arts course, I've had some time staying in the house. Been missing the day that I've been cooking in a busy kitchen (even though I'm not that good). Just love the pressure and stuff.

The greatest thing i love about the culinary world was the pastries. There you can enjoy making stuff that goes with your creativity. I'm not the creative type of person like some others that knows how to paint in a canvass, carve on fruits, make butter sculptures but there's a wee bit part of me that believes that maybe someday I may learn how to do all those things.

So again, since I was spending a whole lot of time lately at home, I've never got the chance to make some pastries. It was due to the fact that we don't have much utensils and equipment for baking. We have an ancient oven that was just fixed today which i thought was exciting.  Told my mom that we are gonna buy some stuff so i can start baking some cupcakes. Those were my first goal to bake, here in our own little house.

Before the ancient oven was fixed, I've tried being resourceful and made use of the oven toaster. I've read stuff on the internet about them and used for baking. I was a bit doubtful about it but since i was so desperate to try out a recipe for a simple cupcake, so i just used it. Went to the grocery store and bought some ingredients and head back to the house and got the party started.

I won't go into detail about what happened to my oven toaster cake but the end result was very satisfying. It satisfied me in a way that i can bake in a small oven toaster in which I was unaware of. The only down part was, when the cake rises, it will be close to the lamp thing on top which makes it burn the top easily. 

With all that said, given the fact that we don't have much resources for baking, I'm going to buy some cheap equipment like trays, cupcake tins, rubber spatula and a few more. I'll go for the cheap things because we don't have much money to buy the best quality equipment. After all, this is just to satisfy my wanting to bake. 

After today, when me and my mom can buy everything I need, I will start baking immediately and post everything that will happen. Cheers! :)