The year that was and our Christmas menu: Blogbound!

Oh well. My first post this year. The past year has been bad enough to forget that I do have a food blog that needs to be updated every now and then. The lost of the 2 most important people in my life demotivated me to go on and be productive. I will miss my lolo and lola so much. They are the ones giving me the drive to work hard aside from my mom and my lil sister. 4 months have already passed and noew it's time to move on It may hurt much but in due time everything will be alright.

In between the sadness and grief that we've had for 12 months, I still manage to be in the kitchen and whip up some goodies worth taking. I promised my lola on my eulogy that I will make up a cookbook that I will dedicate for her because we both love food so much. So, I thought that a better way to start things is to continue on my blog. :)

I promise that I will write up all the stuff that I've been cooking this past year A.S.A.P. I'm dedicating my weekends off to cook and write something here.

Since it's already the holiday season, time to set aside sadness and celebrate the birth of the Reason of our Existence - Jesus!:) We need to be thankful of the blessings and we need to be thankful, simply because He was born in this World for us. And what better way to celebrate the Season is with lots of Food!!!XD

For Christmas, I planned on doing a Blogger's menu. It's a menu of all therecipes that I found online from my fellow bloggers. Since we're only three right now at home, I'll cook a pasta dish, meat dish and a dessert.

I'll be cooking Vodka Pasta from cooklikeachampionblog.com I was reading through the current issue of Yummy and that dish caught my attention, and since Iwas having a Blogger menu theme for Christmas, I searched online for a good recipe and this is what I found. I have to admit but I'm obsessed with Vodka...:)

here's the link if you want to get the recipe:

http://www.cooklikeachampionblog.com/2011/05/vodka-pasta.html

For the "meat" dish, we're having burger steaks. Note to self: made of Banana Blossoms (Puso ng Saging). Found this from hungrynez.com and got me interested. Well, I might tweak things a bit and add button mushrooms if I like. This would be more of a Veggie burger. I'll be making the gravy from scratch and will be using beef broth and lots of mushrooms. I love mushrooms and I can't wait for it!

here's the link for the banana blossom burger..:P

http://www.hungrynez.com/banana-blossom-burger/

For dessert, I'll be making Nutella Mousse from my one of my most favorite blogs, 80breakfasts.blogspot.com. I'm in love with Nutella since I was a kid. Actually I'm really in love with chocolates. <3 Since dessert is my favorite part of the menu, this should be the most effort.

here's the link for the Nutella Mousse.

http://80breakfasts.blogspot.com/2007/04/hay-hay-its-donna-day-11-nutella-mousse.html?spref=fb

will let you know what happens after Christmas for the recipes that I'll try. :)

Merry Christmas everybody...:)

P.S. i will give out Oreo Bombs and Choco Pops to Family and Friends this year. Can't wait!

kani salad with a twist....

because i used caesar salad dressing for this...;)i used letuce,carrots, cucmber and lots of kani sticks for this...:) i added a little celery for that kick and instead of using japanese mayo, i used store-bought caesar salad dressing. it tastes good because of the parmesan that goes well with kani...(think of parmesan crusted shrimps...yum...:P)

there was one time that i used the same ingredients and deconstruted it. i used the lettuce and a nori strip to wrap the kani strip, carrot strip and the cucumber. then i served the salad dressing on the side. tastes equally good...;) recommended as appetizer or pika-pika....:)

well see ya guys around...:)
im up for my next misadventure...
im craving for coffee jelly right now....
and ice cream cake...
it's so hot in here...

we made aglio olio....

well, it's supposed to be for merienda but it turned out to be my lunch...
my ate gladys asked me to help her cook and so i did....
and in less than an hour the pan was empty...hahaha!

what we did is we started heating up olive oil in the pan while cooking the pasta.
then i finely chopped a whole head of garlic (we were 5 that's why it's that much...)and sauteed it in the pan over low fire...

well i dont want to burn the garlic....it won't taste good....

then we put chili flakes (more for me..(:) after the garlic and continued on sauteeing until it starts to smell real nice....

my ate bought shrimps so we put some as well to put some protein on the dish....
saute...saute...saute...until the shrimp changes its color....
then season with salt and pepper to taste....
toss in the pasta...mix mix mix....then that's it...

it tasted spicingly good....yum!
i really love pasta...

and i loved cooking in my pajamas....:)

what can i do frompasta mixes?

especially mccormick pesto...
i'm so loving it...
i once used it in pasta and thought of other things....
i used it once as a marinade for chicken fillet and then pan seared the meat....
i put in the pasta mix into a bowl then put some oil on it so it could be like the regular pesto...i added more dried basil so it could taste even better and then seasoned it with salt and pepper...marinated the whole thing for at least30minutes and pan sear it on both sides....outcome?chicken pesto...yummy..:)
once i made breakfast and thought of using it....i made tomato and pesto frittata...my sister and i loved it...and it also proven that tomato and basil are perfect partners...i took a picture of it out of pride because this is an original...take alookand enjoy..:)

inspired by the book....

..that is julie and julia..:)

at first i saw the movie. it was lying around my tita's house and since i was sick that time(was sent home by the office clinic coz of fever) and got nothing to do, i tried it out. i thoughtthat it was one boring movie but it wasn't. i loved julie powell's angst of writing the blog. so after the movie i bought the book. i am a newbie in the culinary and literary world and she became my light. yahooo!

i finished the book in between bus rides, product training in the office and days of sleeplessness. it was good. it gave me the courage to cook again inspite of the fact that i'm so busy at work anf i feel like a big junk for not giving time to the stuff that i love most.

right now, im thinking of posting the dishes that i made. sme i made myself and some i got from a food magazine (credits to yummy mag which i religiously purchase every month) and tweaked it out. i just hope that my fellow bloggers would love my food as well. i'm also thinking of making poetry out of the food that i love. and lastly, im planning to pursue my dream of being a chocolate chef even it would risk myself from gaining a lot more pounds.

well, this is it for now....i have to go to my station to take in calls again...that goes with the job...ahahaha.....

and i still love cooking in my pajamas , i swear!

my chocolate babies..:)

lately, i've been addicted to make these babies...
i'll be sharing the recipe on my next blog....:)
but first, drool on these cute munchies....
i don't know what to name them...
i want something catchy...
any suggestions?
these are inspired from yummy chocolate truffles....
i just want to change the name....
coz there are different varieties for the truffle coating...
unlike the traditional one that's cocoa powder....(i also had that one...)
help! please?!

i like welcoming myself in the blogging world...again!

i think there's no better way to improve my writing and culinary skills at the same time but through blogging. i could express myself through my food trip discoveries and i get reunited to my former passion as well.

way back in high school, my dream was to be a writer. i'm not fond of essays, though. i write poems and songs that my band uses. but things change.

i focused myself of being in front of a kitchen sink, staring at raw stuff i got from our local wet market, and whip up something good that my family and friends could eat. the experience was thrilling. it became a challenge for me every time my family had an event. they don't want to eat the same thing again. (well, except for my creamy tuna and mushroom fettuccine. we always have that on holy week.)

in the end, i took a course that's food - related (food service management) and went on with my daily experiences in the kitchen.

it became my comfort zone. even if it deals with reading my latest book find or doing my sister's assignment. i almost do everything there.

i want to share everything that i learned from 11 years of experience through this blog site.

enjoy everyone!

and yes, i love to cook in my pajamas....:)