Seville (Sour) Orange Marmalade

Sour oranges or Seville oranges have been appearing in the Korean grocery stores for many years already but I ignored them not knowing they are the sour or bitter or Seville oranges that are best for marmalade. I only found out this variety when I went to visit my daughter in Savannah, GA. She has a "mystery" sour orange tree on her backyard. I brought home 2 fruits when they were still green. I looked online for similar oranges and discovered they are actually Seville/bitter/sour oranges when I sliced the fruits. They have lots and lots of pips which are rich in pectin that helps in the setting/thickening of orange marmalade without store-bought pectin. The sour juice has a very pleasant smell and mild flavor.

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Chantilly Cake

I have never heard of Chantilly cake which I read about recently. The most popular apparently is the one that Whole Foods Market bakes and sells. Well, I hardly go to that store anymore. I used to more than 20 years ago when it opened in Reston, VA.

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Portuguese Style Spicy Sardines

I can't explain why I suddenly have an appetite for spicy Portuguese sardines. I seldom ate them. Recently, I found out I really really like them on toasted crusty bread and also with steamed rice. Suddenly, the stores don't sell the Nuri Portuguese brand anymore. Any other brand of spicy sardines is not good enough, not even the ones made in the Philippines. The Portuguese Nuri brand is available from Amazon but I find the cost too steep at $5.00 to $6.00 per tin. That's $1.00 for each tiny baby sardine! I don't know about you but I'm not willing to pay that much for tinned sardines.

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Mango Chiffon Layer Cake

 

One of the food favorites I sorely miss living here in the USA is the Philippine mangoes. The hybrid mangoes from Mexico are not as good both in flavor and texture but I buy them as substitute because I have no other choice. In the Philippines, mangoes are used extensively  in cakes and other desserts and what I can never find where I live is the mango chiffon layer cake. I searched for similar cakes in my area and all the cake shops have terrible and less than mediocre cakes, IMHO. Nothing can compare with Filipino cake bakeshops. I even tried the much loved Korean bakeries but they are also sub par. There are Red Ribbon shops but they do not deliver and the locations are too far from my house, about 7 to 8 hours to drive. No way!

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