Sweets

The other day, a frequent customer at Figaro (a coffee shop where me and my friends hangout) asked me if I have seen Chef J (another frequent at this awesome coffee shop and a pastry chef). I told him then that I haven't seen her in a while.


When he told me he was looking for someone who makes wedding cakes with all the designs edible, I chuckled a bit. Not because, he doesn't know what was it called ( it's called fondant and gum paste, by the way) but because there was a time when all I did was to make them and even made money out of them. Even Chef J asked me to make her son's birthday cake!

Click here to see some of my creations

http://www.flickr.com/photos/77265966@N04/show/with/6925027939

or just click on the SWEETS tab at the navigation bar

Jungle Themed Cake

Proposal Cake

Little Mermaid Cake

Baptismal Cupcakes

Bento?!?

I know its not bento "looking" but believe me it was ....until lunch time. I decided to have my lunch at home and placed it on the plate then forgot to take a picture while its still on the bento box! haha! It tastes as good on a bento box or a plate, either way I finished it all up in a minute! Yes, I was that hungry! 


Whats in the box? er plate?
Tuna Cake, fried eggplants, green peas and lotsa rice :P


Tuna Cake Recipe:
1 canned tuna in oil or brine
grated carrots 
chopped garlic & onions
1/2 to 1 cup of flour
1 egg
Pepper (no salt was added)


Mix all the ingredients until it can hold its shape.
Fry until golden brown. 

Garlic Shrimp & Crab Lumpia

Made a simple bento lunch for today. Garlic Shrimp sauteed in butter and crabstick wrapped in lumpia wrapper. I added Tamagoyaki and green beans for some color. 


Garlic Shrimp:
Remove the shell and devein.
Chopped Garlic
Butter
Heat the butter with a few oil, saute the garlic, add shrimp and a pinch of salt to taste. Remove once shrimp turns orange. Enjoy!

Butterflies and Flowers

I've been busy lately with my new baby,Samantha, and had no time to make bento lunches. 

So for today, I made a quick and simple bento without much planning needed unlike the other bentos. The butterfly shaped cookie cutter was way too long stored and was never used. Here I made simple rosettes out of bacon and ham, and the flowers cut out of carrots. Butterflies were red bell pepper and sweet potatoes, which by the way I thought was colored purple when I boiled them. Some lettuce, green beans and broccoli for the greenies completed the look.  Maybe next time Sam will help me with the bentos :P

Dr. E and my bento lunch

A Wicked Cookie

Here's a non-bento post... but still yummy though! 

Wicked Oreo Cookie

My nephew asked me to cook this for his afternoon snack. A very simple recipe which gave a twist to the all-time-favorite Oreo cookies.

Ingredients: Pancake Mix
Oreo cookies or any chocolate cookies
Cooking oil 
Powdered sugar


Prepare the pancake mix as instructed on the box. Coat the cookies then dip fry in oil. Place in a paper towel to drain the oil then sprinkle powdered sugar. 

Valentine's Day Bento

Starting my first blog with hearts! Heart themed bento for my valentine on his duty. I really hoped he'll love them as much as I did making it.

Happy Valentine's Day to everyone! 

Mr. Froggy, Ms. Piggy & Ms. Bear

Bear Bento Box

This one I made for my sister. You see, I'm the Piggy and Dr. E's the Froggy....so what's left is the Bear, therefore my sister had no choice but to take him for lunch. I made use of soy sauce to color the rice brown.

 I tried making the green rice using green peas, but had no time mashing them. Next time maybe.... if my time permits.

I had to cheat with the pink rice and had to use a small amount of red liquid food coloring.

Inside the box: Filipino Pork Steak, green peas, broccoli, mandarins and grapes

Pizza and Tuna Pasta

Another late night bento for Dr.E.

Pizza & Tuna Pasta

Tuna Burritos in a minute!

A late night bento snack for Dr. E on his late night duty.

I'm a sucker for quick and easy food preparations...so I can eat them at once! I have seen these two tuna cans in the pantry for weeks and one night decided to take them out and finally use them. Upon grabbing them, I found out they were the ready made viands kind of tuna in cans, particularly the San Marino Tuna Paella brand. Now, what to do with them? Eat them directly as is or make some twist of the already twisted tuna in the cans? I figured serving them so plain in a bento box won't look pleasing at all, sigh! Got to think of someting.....and my eyes fixed on the tortillas! So there, just zapped the tuna in the oven, heated the tortillas over the stove burner, wrapped the tuna in the tortillas, placed buritto inside my oral cavity.... LOL! yum! (I just had to taste first before placing them inside Mr. Froggy!) And there you go! Another quick fix! And the following day, Dr. E told me he loved them! 

And, by the way, Papsi also had burritos for dinner... low fat and low salt diet! Its healthy too!

Cookie Monster aint a cookie?!?

Colored the rice blue and decided to make Cookie Monster!
The cookie is a burger patty. hehe!

Its More fun in the Philippines!

The new tourism slogan of the DOT, It's More Fun in the Philippines! Why do I have the Japanese flag in my bento? And why do I have the Chinese Lemon Chicken instead of the Adobo in it? Filipinos are known to adapt easily to their changing environment, as we have been colonized by the Spaniards, Japanese, Americans,etc... not to mention the Malaysian, Indonesian, Thailanders, Arabs, Chinese traders way back the Spaniards, fast forward to the now increasing populations of Korean "K-pop" invasion in our country. This also holds true when it comes to Filipino cuisine, with so much influences (and also our creativity as evidenced by the thousand ways to cook adobo)  our palates are very much diversed! So you see, it is more fun here with all the mixes of foods we can offer, you get to try multinational cuisine in a perfectly located island in the Pacific! How cool is that? *wink*

Tamagoyaki Trial and Tocino

Tamagoyaki is basically a rolled omelet which is slightly sweetened with sugar. I prefer mine unsweetened, so I omitted the sugar in the recipe and substitute salt instead. Its a bit of a challenge during the rolling process without tearing the eggs and I was frustrated to get it right! Haha! Oh well, at least it tastes good!

You may find recipes and tutorials in the internet. Bentolicous gave a perfect instructions for this, fun tamagoyaki, I sooooo love her bentos!

Tocino ,as we call it here in the Philippines, is a sweet cured pork served during breakfast. When paired with fried garlic rice and fried egg, it is then referred to as "Tosilog". One of the best Pinoy breakfast ever!

Domo

DOMO Bento: Panko Chicken :)

Quick Piggy Bento Lunch for today