Deviled Ham Spread

I love Underwood meat spreads specially deviled ham but the container is so small, 2 or 3 cans are needed to make a decent-sized sandwich. Well, actually, the pate is for small crackers or canape, not for a huge sandwich. I decided to make a copycat deviled ham spread adapted from several recipes I found online. The spread is delicious.

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Meatless Chili Bean Stew

Sometimes, I crave for meatless dishes not just during Lent season when I try to give up excessive amount of meat every Friday. White chili bean stew topped with shredded sharp cheddar is one of my favorites because it's light, flavorful, and protein-rich.

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Limoncello Tiramisu

I'm getting old and forget things more often nowadays. I bought a large bag of lemons forgetting I already got a smaller one a week earlier. That's too many lemons and so I thought I'd make lemon tiramisu. Well, I didn't. I made limoncello tiramisu instead with the limoncello I made in August 2013. At least I used up a few pieces of the lemons.

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Stewed Fruits

It's Spring! It's sunny and current temps are screaming for ice cream, and fruits. Spiced stewed fruits and vanilla bean ice cream. Yum!

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Oreo Thin Mints

It's that time of the year again when young girls [accompanied by adults] come door to door to deliver preordered cookies. I bought cookies from them probably once many years ago. I think a 9-ounce box of tiny cookies @$4.00 is too expensive, IMHO. I admit I'm a cheapo and I can buy some of their exact same cookies from the grocery store under different names baked and sold by Keebler®. These cookies are no longer "homebaked" by girl scouts for many years now..

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Oven Cheese Fries

I love French-fried potatoes; frying not so much. Toaster oven to the rescue: oven fries with cheese, crispy bacon, and pickled jalapeño. Sooo yummy!

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Australian Meat Pies

I've bookmarked the recipe for these small Australian meat pies which I read about in a Filipino food blog, of all places, about 2 years ago. I'm not a meat pie enthusiast and never tried making them until a few days ago when I suddenly had the munchies for these meat pies. It must be the wintry weather. Haha!

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Oggi Dreams of Jiro's Tamagoyaki

Oh, I've been dreaming of Jiro style grilled omelet since I viewed the documentary, Jiro Dreams of Sushi, many months ago. I looked for copy cat recipes online but didn't find any that looks like Jiro's but read that his recipe has mountain yam, shrimp called shiva ebi, sugar, salt, mirin, and a little soy sauce. In the movie an apprentice does preparation techniques for 10 years before he is allowed to try making tamagoyaki.

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Black Tea Blondies

This week's recipe is brought to you by the book Going Shogun, a free Amazon Kindle download. The very funny SciFi-ish mystery thriller is set in a dystopian USA where a caste system of society is in place and everybody works hard to "Ascend" to the next level. The novel has nothing to do with shogun or the Japanese. The protagonists work in a popular restaurant that serves outrageous food items such as Stuffed Pigeon Cactus topped with a strawberry pop marinade, or Sausage Gravy Ice Cube, or Cheesecake Meatloaf. The only "normal" sounding item is Butter Tea Brownies which gave me the idea of making Black Tea Blondies. 

BTW, Butter Tea is actually a salted Tibetan tea drink which is very good and is more like soup because it has no sugar. 

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Tikoy Turon for Chinese New Year

2014 is Year of the Horse in the Chinese Calendar and New Year starts on January 31, 2014. Many Filipinos including myself have Chinese ancestry which is evident in our culture, language, and specially food. For me it's that time of the year to make tikoy.

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Chicken Liver Adobo Pâté

I don't know why but I've been into liver pâté the past few months. Growing up I never liked liver of any kind but now I'm really loving it specially in pate. And being a Filipino whose favorite food is anything edible cooked adobo-style, I prepared the pâté with chicken liver adobo; yummy on crusty pandesal. I covered the jar of pâté with rendered pork fat instead of the usual melted butter.

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Sourdough Country Bread

It's been months since I baked sourdough bread. And I also neglected to feed my starter for months and months until last week when I made waffles. I was certain it was dead but after waking it up just once, it proved to be stronger than ever before. So I decided it was time to try baking my version of the famous Tartine Bakery Country Bread using my sourdough starter instead of preparing a new one. The bread came out flavorful with a thin crispy crust and moist soft crumb. Although I'm happy with the flavor and texture, I'd have been happier with a more open crumb with large holes.

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Sourdough Kefir Chocolate Waffles

New year, new promise to eat healthier. I'm not sure if I can keep it, or if I want to. Haha. First on the list is consuming fewer carbs which is near to impossible because I can't live without bread and rice. I'd rather exercise 1 hour every single day than go without having them. Or maybe I can limit carbs gradually and at the same time regularly add other healthy stuff to my diet like kefir and yogurt. I eat Greek yogurt often and once in a while buy kefir drinks from the store. 

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Aplets and Cotlets Copycat

After so many years, I finally was able to make "almost as good as the original" Aplets and Cotlets. These jellied fruit candies are my Christmastime favorite. The candies are very similar to the French jellied fruit bars pâtes de fruits. I like that the candies are not too complicated to make and are moderately sweet. I'll definitely make more with other fresh fruits such as pineapple and cranberries.

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Pişmaniye - Turkish Candy Floss

I love our Korean grocery store. It stocks sweets and treats from various countries, not just from Asia. The store has lots of items from Greece, North Africa, Middle East, North Africa, and lots of yummy stuff from Turkey. Yesterday, I picked up a packet of Turkish candy floss or cotton candy called pişmaniye which I read about many years ago. The one I got has ground pistachio. The cotton candy is sooo good, very light and not as sweet as ordinary candy floss. Today I made simple milk pudding served with a little pişmaniye on top. Delicious! You just have to try it.

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Celery Root, Parsnip, and Potato Gratin

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Carne de Ternera en Adobo

One of the recipes in the Filipino cookbook THE ADOBO BOOK is written in Spanish, there is no English nor Tagalog translation. The recipe was shared by the late Señor Adi Got who said "This is a Basque recipe from the land of San Sebastian, where the males double as cooks and pelotaris."  From the author's notes:

This family was one of several prestigious families who were members of the Tabacalera estate that established a Spanish community in chosen regions in the Philippines. 

This was a personal recipe of the late foodie Señor Adi Got. He refused to translate it from Spanish insisting that part of the flavor of the dish was in the language. In some way, it connected the Filipino adobo to the Spanish counterpart...interfaced culinary origins...sort of...

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Fruitcake

It's that time of the year again for fruitcakes which I don't really bake every year. I'm in the mood for some this coming Christmas season but changed the Fruitcake recipe I posted 6 years ago by increasing the amount of fruits and also altering the procedure. This is a large recipe; you may want to halve it.

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Black Sesame Seed Paciencia

I think this is my third or fourth blog post about the Philippine cookies called Paciencia. I maybe a bit obsessed with these tiny crunchy cookies inherited from the Spanish, of course. It's the smooth shiny top I've wanted to replicate but is elusive to me so far. Oh, well, there's always a fifth or sixth time for trying.

For this paciencia baking adventure I added ground black sesame seeds to half a recipe adapted from Recipes of the Philippines handbook omitting the baking powder and reduced the amount of sugar. I added 2 tablespoons very thick blackcurrant sauce into another half recipe. The blackcurrant flavor is strong, not just a hint and the sesame seed is not only delicious, it's also nutritious. One website says consuming black sesame seeds regularly may restore the color of graying hair; I wonder if it's true. There's no harm in trying I suppose. Anyway, I love both flavors, really great for afternoon munchies with a cup of milky English breakfast tea.

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Salt Caramel Brownies

I love small food items, specially baked ones as they are easier to eat, plus for portion control. When I saw a pan with tiny shallow wells, I just had to get one. The pan makes mini cookies and muffin tops. The package has a recipe for salt caramel brownies and a suggestion to serve them stacked skewered on a stick which is a great idea for parties.

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