Braised Chicken Feet With Salted Black (Soy) Beans

The first time I had chicken feet was in a Thai restaurant in Hong Kong in the early 90s. The dish was a salad, I think. I never had it again and only started buying them a few years ago to make into healthy soup. We never ate it at home or in restaurants.

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Espasol

Espasol is a cigar-shaped Filipino rice cake made with either all glutinous rice or a combination of regular long and glutinous rice. I opted for the former and added shredded young coconut because that's what I remember eating back in the Philippines. 

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Currywurst

Today, I had for lunch 2 things I don't normally eat - hot dog with ketchup and almost anything with Indian curry seasoning. Currywurst apparently has long been a favorite street food in Germany. It's fried whole or sliced beef and pork knockwurst smothered in tomato sauce flavored with Indian curry and served with fries.

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Siamese Chicken In Coconut Cream

I've made this recipe from my old Thai cookbook, The Love Of Thai Cooking, many times and I haven't gotten tired of it. It is just that yummy! I purchased the hardbound cookbook in late 1988; it was originally published in 1978 and currently out of circulation.

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Taco Seasoning and Dip

I used to buy occasionally the 7 layer taco dip from the stores but the flavor of untoasted cumin seeds always made me gag so I stopped buying. After several years of not eating anything Tex Mex [except chili], I suddenly had the munchies for taco dip. First I had to make taco seasoning then cooked a small bag of beans for the refried beans layer; recipe for both are below. It's a tedious process but well worth it. The toasted cumin seeds make the difference in the flavor of any dish you use it in.

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Flourless Sugar-Free Chocolate Cupcakes

I have been using xylitol sugar substitute for DIY toothpaste and mouthwash but have never used it for cooking mainly because I don't want to ingest anything made in China and also I don't eat a lot of food with high sugar content.

I came across this sugar substitute when I test baked several years ago for Peter Reinhart's low carbs, gluten free, and sugar free book but never used it for cooking nor for my drinks.  I recently got a large bag USA-produced xylitol made from birch bark. The reviews are mixed, with a few users complaining of upset stomach. It's time to test for myself if it has an unpleasant flavor and if it will give me stomach cramps.

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Calamansi Preserve

My calamansi tree has been generous this year and to my delight yielded lots of fruits all throughout the winter season indoors. Just like any citrus fruits I use all parts of this tiny citrus fruit. I never throw out the rinds and seeds.

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Homemade White Chocolate Chips

;

Most of the white chocolate available to buy are too cloying and taste unnatural, probably the vanilla flavor, I'm not sure. It doesn't really matter to me as I hardly eat white chocolate but sometimes a recipe I want to prepare has white chocolate among the ingredients. Cacao butter to the rescue! I already have a pound of  food grade raw cacao butter that I mostly use for cosmetics. I pre-shred and keep them in 2-ounce portions.

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Goldilocks™ Mamon

The other day I had a Goldilocks™ Mocha Mamon. I can't remember if I had this before and I was surprised that I loved it. I didn't care much for their other baked goods but their mamon is sure yummy, soft, fluffy, and most important, not cloyingly sweet.

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Sweet Potato Pancakes

I didn't know date syrup is now used as an alternate sweetener. One of the recipes on the cookbook, NOPI, by Yotam Ottolenghi is Sweet Potato Pancakes Topped With Yogurt and Date Syrup. Sounds really yummy.

The date syrup in the book's photo is smooth, dark, and thick. I didn't have date syrup so I made a little by cooking California dried dates with water until pulpy. I strained it but the syrup although thick is not smooth and not sweet enough. I also tried making raw syrup by chopping dates and soaking in water but the result also lacks adequate sweetness and even coarser than the cooked syrup. Maybe it's really not that sweet like sugarcane. I'll have to get the ones that come from Israel just to try.

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Lemon Curd Cream Tartlet

This treat is inspired by Robert Louis Stevenson's The Suicide Club, a 60-page book composed of 3 related short stories. The first story involves a young man peddling cream tartlets. He immediately eats the ones that are not accepted. He has eaten 27 tartlets which I presumed are filled with pastry cream. I searched my cookbooks and the webs for recipes and could only find custard tarts and pies.

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