Fish Ube Jam

You must be wondering why the sweet haleyang ube (purple yam jam) is shaped like a fish. As a small child I used to wonder too as to why this favorite dessert is shaped as such but only during our town's annual festival celebration in honor of its patron saint. The haleya could have been shaped into a large gumamela or kalachuchi but no, year after year I saw a fish haleyang ube not just in our house but the neighbors' too. I'm guessing it has a religious meaning, that is, it's the symbol of Jesus Christ.

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Cheese Corn Puffs

I love cheesy corn snacks like Cheetos, Chiz Curls, and specially Pirate's Booty which I don't see very often in the grocery stores near my house. They are messy to eat and the cheese coating stick to fingers but I love to lick it anyway. Being a copycat, I bought  package of puffed corn, baked them on low heat for 10 minutes until crispy then mixed with melted butter and oil before sprinkling with cheddar cheese powder. I think I prefer these than the store-bought because they are not as salty.

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Wilted Lettuce Salad

wilted lettuce salad topped with crispy Spanish chorizo

After a few days of non-stop rain, there was an abundance of butter lettuce in my garden pots. I planted only 4 tiny plants and regularly clip the leaves for salad, never uprooting them and more leaves come out after cutting either from the outside or the whole bunch 2 inches from where the leaves come out. This is the first time I planted lettuce and I never knew they yield salad greens all season long. 

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Strawberry Crepe Layer Cake

This crepe layer cake is my lame attempt at making an ombré cake. I was itching to make something with different shades of the same color but was not in the mood to heat up the oven to bake a cake or cupcakes. I thought crepe layer cake would be a better choice and besides I really love crepes. I wasn't successful in making distinct color hues of dark pink to the lightest but the crepe cake is still so delicious. There's an added step of dividing the batter and custard filling into 4 equal portions then adding food dye but it wasn't that difficult nor time consuming. 

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