Restaurant: Cara Mia

4 ladies full from dinner...where else to go after? Dessert place, of course. Gelateria! Cara Mia! :)

I can be pretty biased when it comes to desserts so I'm just gonna keep it simple:

• Banana Blast (upper left) - your banana split in cake form - nothing special but I thought it was still pretty good.
• Mango Tango (upper right) - if you are familiar with ref cake then you'll know how this one tastes like.
• Mango Sansrival (lower left) - I was surprised that this one is a bit sour and I thought it didn't really taste like mango. Til now, I'm still trying to figure out what fruit it tastes like.
• Choco Sansrival (lower right) - this is probably my favorite. It was difficult to explain how good this was so just hit Cara Mia and have one. :)

We thought that if you are gonna consume their desserts in the gelateria, it would be cheaper to get a slice of cake and share it with someone since they are pretty generous with their slices rather than get a scoop of their gelato. But then again, who would want to share really good dessert, right?

Restaurant: Wee Nam Kee

We wanted to see what's over at Ayala Triangle so we decided to have our dinner at Wee Nam Kee - this place that serves Hainanese Chicken Rice.

I thought the food in general was ok but I don't think it's something I would crave for a lot. The Fish Fillet and Beancurd with Tausi (lower right) did not really offer anything special; it tasted much like your typical Chinese dish and I thought it could probably still improve its flavor.

I liked the Sambal Kangkong (not in picture) but my friend thought it tasted much like Chowking's Kangkong with Bagoong - I agreed with her but I thought Wee Nam Kee's version is cooked better and is wee bit spicier which adds a little surprise in each bite.

The main star of course is the Hainanese Chicken Rice. We all ordered our chickens steamed so I'm not really qualified to give a review of the roasted version. Also, I'm not qualified to compare it to the original version in Singapore since I've never been there. So being the uneducated person that I am, I thought it had good flavor and I enjoyed how perfectly the sauce complements the flavor of the chicken. That was until I got to the middle part of the chicken where it was still cold and it seemed undercooked. Was it supposed to be cooked that way? If it was then I really won't too excited to try out the original.

Overall, the place, the food and the price were ok but I just hope they had better quality control.

Recipe: Korean Beef Stew

A friend of mine brought this one time during a potluck dinner and I knew that I just had to immediately ask her for the recipe. Thanks again Mommy Lorie for giving us this recipe! It's sweet, salty and a bit spicy - perfect recipe for something to be cooked over and over and over.

KOREAN BEEF STEW

Ingredients:

• 1 kg stewing beef with bones
• 1 whole garlic
• 1 whole onion
• Large piece of ginger (2-thumbs ginger)
• 3-4 chili peppers
• 1 bay leaf
• 3/4 cup of dark soy sauce
• 3/4 cup of white sugar
• Salt
• 12-15 stalks of onion leaves
• 1-2 tbsp sesame seeds

Directions:

• Place the beef in a casserole. Cover with water. Place over high heat and before the water starts to boil, remove the scum that floats on the surface.
• Add the whole garlic, onion, ginger, chili peppers and bay leaf.
• Pour in the soy sauce and stir in the sugar.
• Simmer gently for two hours or until the meat is very tender.
• Halfway through the cooking, taste the broth and add salt.
• Toast the sesame seeds. Place them in a small frying pan and set over med-low heat. Shake pan often for even toasting.
• Slice onion leaves finely
• Place 2-3 pieces of beef individually and ladle plenty of broth over them. Sprinkle with sesame seeds and onion leaves

Recipe: Century Tuna Basil Pasta

I've been so busy the past two weeks and I've never really had time to cook. Luckily, Century Tuna sent us 6 free cans of tuna (as appreciation to our feedback re: Tuna Mayo) so I decided to cook this really really easy tuna dish - ready in 30 minutes!

Century Tuna Basil Pasta

Ingredients:

1 pack spaghetti (I got the 400g one)

1/4 cup olive oil

2-3 roma tomatoes; diced

3-4 cloves of garlic; grated (minced is fine too)

salt & pepper

2 cans Century Tuna Hot and Spicy; oil drained

1 can Century Tuna in Vegetable Oil; oil drained

(1 can each will do but we wanted more tuna in our pasta; if you want less bite use less of the hot and spicy one)

basil - I forgot to measure but I probably used 1 1/2 tbsps

- Cook pasta according to package instructions

- Heat olive oil in a pan

- Add tomatoes and garlic to pan and season with salt and pepper. Saute for 3-5 minutes.

- Add in tuna; season with salt and pepper (be careful when adding seasonings since the canned tuna has already been seasoned)

- Sprinkle with basil - adjust as desired

- Add drained pasta to the pan and toss together

- Serve hot.

- Optional: Top with grated parmesan

Recipe: Ice Scramble

Ice Scramble reminds me of my school bus days. I'd always look forward to dismissal time so I can enjoy this 10-peso pink slushy ice snack with lots of powdered milk on top sold on the streets. That was then. Now, they're sold in malls in fancier cups.

Since we love Ice Scramble so much we decided to make our own at home. When we were buying ingredients, we didn't see any pink food color so I thought of picking up the red one. My husband insisted that the violet food color has a closer shade to the original scramble - so I picked the violet one. This servers as a reminder that I should never ever trust my husband with decisions concerning colors. Say hello to our ube looking scramble:

I will probably have another post with the right color :)

Here is the recipe:

*we used a blender since we didn't have crushed ice but it turned out to be watery

1 cup evaporated milk

1 tbsp sugar

1/2 tsp banana flavor

few drops of red food color

3 cups crushed ice

milk powder

choco syrup

Mix the milk, sugar and banana flavor in a bowl.

Slowly add in the red food color until you get the right shade of pink.

Add the mixture to crushed ice and mix well. Ice proportion may vary so adjust as desired.

Pour/scoop to glass and top with milk powder and chocolate syrup.

You may add rice krispies, marshmallows and other toppings you desire.

Easy Poached Egg

So we were window shopping earlier and found this Microwave Egg Poacher:

All you have to do is crack an egg into each cup, pierce the yolk with a fork and add 1/2 tsp of water to each cup. Put the egg poacher in the microwave and heat for 1 minute 15 seconds (time may vary for different microwaves). I think I overdid ours so I'm setting it to just a minute next time.

Now it's easier and faster to prepare cute breakfast meals :)

Recipe: Oreo Truffles Take 2

The husband wanted cheesecake but I don't have a stand mixer so I had to go with his second favorite: Oreo Truffles.

I used the same easy recipe as I used last time but added just a little bit of white chocolate on top to make it pretty (it is pretty obvious that I'm no good at decorating :)).

Here's the recipe:

Makes approx. 24

-1pkg of Oreos (18oz)

-1pkg of softened cream cheese (8oz)

-Chocolate melts or semi-sweet chocolate (for dipping)

Crush the package of Oreos, either in a food processor or in place in a ziplock bag and use a rolling pin. Once the Oreos are crushed (you want them to be very fine crumbs, otherwise you will have chunks of cookie in your truffles), combine them with the softened cream cheese in a bowl. Mix until it is well blended. Roll the mixture into 1-inch balls and place on a cookie sheet. Put the cookie sheet in the freezer or fridge to harden the truffles. Once firm enough (about 30 - 1 hour in fridge), remove them and dip them into the melted chocolate using a fork. Replace back on cookie sheets and put them in the fridge or freezer to harden. Best when served chilled.

Original Recipe: http://delightfuldessert.blogspot.com/2010/01/oreo-truffles.html