Black and White Macarons at The Oscars

black and white macarons for The Artist

Welcome to my 4th annual Film Awards Special. I haven't seen any of the Oscar nominated movies and don't intend to except for Hugo and The Artist when they come out on Blu Ray. Most of the nominated movies do not appeal to me and will watch the 2 films because I really like Chloe Moretz and Jean Dujardin. I've seen both of Dujardin's OSS 117 James Bond parody films and I liked them; they're silly but enjoyable. Two movies I've chosen as my best ones came out in 2009; they are movies I HAVE SEEN recently and instantly moved up to my top favorites.

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Philippine Broas

There were only a few pieces of the Philippine broas when I made the Tiramisu Sandwiches a few days ago. I wanted to make a regular tiramisu but got frustrated when the store didn't have broas either. The Italian ladyfingers in my experience seem to melt and disappear in the dessert even when they are not fully immersed in coffee. The Philippine broas however always come out perfect IMHO. I had to bake broas and followed the recipe from RECIPES OF THE PHILIPPINES edited by Enriqueta David Perez.

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Dutch Crunched Vienna Bread Rolls

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I bake our sandwich loaf bread regularly every week but lately I've been on a roll, bread roll, that is. The last two weeks I made 2 kinds of Filipino pandesal rolls and today I baked Vienna Bread rolls topped with Dutch crunch. Vienna bread is one of my favorite breads from Peter Reinhart's cookbook, The Bread Baker's Apprentice. The bread has thin crispy crust which I really love and has moist soft sweetish crumb. Because the dough uses a large amount of preferment the bread always comes out very flavorful.

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Tiramisu Sandwich

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It was love at first sight bite when I had tiramisu over 22 years ago. Soft lady fingers soaked in strong coffee nestled in rich zabaglione and mascarpone cheese cream flavored with marsala (or rum) then lightly dusted with dark cocoa; what's not to love? 

Unfortunately, I have also tasted some truly awful ones using chocolate cake as the base. Chocolate cake!!! Yuck!! Sorry for my excessive use of exclamation points but it's one of the reasons I make my own tiramisu. And thanks to our lovely hosts for February, Abigail and Marni for giving me another excuse to make them again, this time with a touch of Filipino flavors.

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Baliwag Pandesal

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I've had these bite size sweet rich soft yellowish pandesal back in the Philippines. A few Filipino bloggers claim these are the Baliwag-style rolls. The recipe they follow is the same as the pan de leche, with the addition of milk of course.  

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The Daring Cooks: Patties

green and yellow zucchini, prosciutto, and cheese fritters

The Daring Cooks’ February 2012 challenge was hosted by Audax and Lis and they chose to present Patties for their ease of construction, ingredients and deliciousness!  We were given several recipes, and learned the different types of binders and cooking methods to produce our own tasty patties!

The downloadable file of all the delicious recipes, useful info, and tips that Audax and Lis tirelessly prepared for us is here.

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Stewed Chicken Wings with Chestnuts

Cleaning up the pantry yielded several 100-gram bags of ready-to-eat shelled roasted Chinese chestnuts and a really large one I got from Costco. I feel like a squirrel for hoarding so much chestnuts. I can't help it; they are my most favorite thing in the world either for snacking or adding to sweet and savory dishes. Like stewed chicken, Chinese style...so delicious with fried rice.

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Whole Wheat Pandesal

I regularly bakePandesalsince the day I learned how to bake bread properly but this is the first time I added not just whole wheat flour but also a small portion of sourdough. I can honestly say I love the rolls for the nutty flavor and the hint of sweetness from the whole wheat flour. I was also surprised the rolls are not dense and heavy; they have soft fluffy crumb and really crispy crust. 

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Japanese Chicken Curry

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