baby rambutan

sink or swim time

stel — Thu, 17 May 2012 19:08:14 +0000

i am almost in a panicky state…there’s just not enough time, someone please give me some more.
the #1 culprit usurping up most of my time, shoving everything–housework, blogging, reading~~napping~~–to the side?
swimming!
four years since i signed up for full membership at my YMCA i have gone up to 50 52 laps, 25 yards per lap, in 45 minutes, three times a week. it takes an hour and a half total each time, with stretching and before-and-after showers, and hair-drying.
yes, i am totally addicted to swimming. i crave it when i skip more than a day, and i become a monster mom when deprived. as i clamber out of the water i start to plot my next swim.
underwater i fancy myself as a graceful little fish, a mermaid. i pretend i am a superwoman flying underwater. wonder woman!!! i pray. i try to solve the puzzles of my life. i sing in my head. i talk to my grandparents, my daddy, my best friend.

i imagine i am graceful, yet competitive. in my fantasy world i swim elegantly, without splashing, a water nymph, a sylph.

it all started out as a desperate attempt to lose weight: doctor’s orders, for a diabetic in denial. it hasn’t quite worked out as i planned though…i’ve probably lost maybe just five pounds, but i do feel like things have tightened up a tad. not to mention the wonderful endorphins exercise summons up to your brain to make you feel euphoric.
i think i have to kick my fitness plan up a couple of notches and switch to a very low calorie diet.

Neiman Marcus (oatmeal-chocolate-chip) cookies

stel — Thu, 03 May 2012 17:25:10 +0000

it’s taking me days to write up this recipe! which is totally unfair since these cookies are so luscious that they deserve close scrutiny, boisterous fanfare…and immediate sharing of the recipe. selfish withholding of the recipe might incite rioting and looting, it’s that good.
aside from the dark chocolate chips, there’s a whole milk chocolate bar grated into the batter, and the funny legend behind it’s inception. (an urban legend, from Saveur magazine, the sharing of the recipe itself feels like an outright rebellion against exclusive, designer!, labels.)

INGREDIENTS
16 tbsp. (2 sticks) butter
1 cup sugar
1 cup packed light brown sugar
1 tsp. vanilla extract
2 eggs
2 1⁄2 cups oatmeal, processed in blender to a fine powder (i used Bob’s Red Mill Scottish oatmeal)
2 cups flour
1 tsp. baking powder
1 tsp. baking soda
1⁄2 tsp. salt
2 cups (about 12 oz.) semisweet chocolate chips
1 1⁄2 cups walnuts, chopped
4 oz. Hershey’s chocolate, grated

INSTRUCTIONS
1. Preheat oven to 375°. Using an electric mixer, cream butter and sugars together in a large bowl until fluffy, about 3 minutes. Add vanilla and eggs and beat until combined, about 30 seconds. Add oatmeal, flour, baking powder, baking soda, and salt and beat until combined, about 30 seconds. Stir in chocolate chips, walnuts, and chocolate.

2. Roll dough into 1 1⁄2″ balls and place 2″ apart on large baking sheets. Bake until light golden but still soft in the middle, 10–12 minutes. Transfer cookies to a rack and let cool.

creme brulee and crema catalana

stel — Mon, 30 Apr 2012 14:29:47 +0000

cracking the caramel crust, oooh.
dear husband gave me a mini blowtorch many many Christmases ago…the box got shelved under the “pending” file, and got buried by life’s busy schedules…and he didn’t ~~get pestered enough to~~ fill up the butane gas chamber until this past month.

the motivation? #1son’s 23rd birthday celebration at a Brazilian rodizio (barbecued all-you-can-eat meat, delivered to your table in impressive sword-skewers). for dessert we all shared a good portion of their leche flan which was billed as pudim de leite. i didn’t like that they spritzed it with a random blob of canned whipped cream but the flan itself was creamy and not too sweet and enticed us all–despite our overfull stomachs!
i didn’t feel like making caramel. it’s just that watching out for that exact perfect moment, and then crossing the line and going over the edge, you find it’s burnt? frustrating!

therefore! we’ve been blowtorch-zapping every flan in sight

creme brulee, in shallow little ramekins.

i really loved how it is not too sweet but the thin layer of crackly blow-torched brown sugar accentuated and perfectly complemented the “creme”/flan part. my diabetic heart was so happy (ahem… i did not eat too much and i made sure i tested before i had a bite! i just hope the glucose police aren’t patrolling! )

crema catalana, before zapping.
the miniature blowtorch is such a fun little toy that i decided to try another flavor, this time from a Spanish cookbook, “crema catalana”, same principle but with lemon and cinnamon and nutmeg to spice it up some. it is great, if you like cinnamon, which i normally don’t. since the recipe called for a half cinnamon stick steeped in the milk mixture it turned out only mildly spiced, so instead of being in-your-face, it was more like a haunting, mere hint of spice…toned down by the unexpected pairing with lemon.

i can’t believe i’ve let almost two months go by without a post! the well has not gone dry, it’s just that if life were an in box, then mine is overflowing. so it is profoundly ironic that on the very day i decided to resuscitate and revive my baby rambutan…my camera died. it’s off now to the service center, and i’m so disappointed since Canon is highly regarded and recommended and i was very happy with it.
if you have a good camera (mostly point and shoot) that you’ve been happy with, kindly leave a comment and tell me about it.
maraming salamat!

red velvet cake, take two?

stel — Mon, 27 Feb 2012 03:38:18 +0000

i wanted to have another go at red velvet cake. trying to recall any distinct flavor memory from that first time, well, i couldn’t.
it was featured as the “cover girl” (she does kind of look like a girly kind of cake doesn’t she?) of this month’s Saveur magazine, so i got enticed into making it again. besides, as with my first try at it, i was feeling low and blue, and baking almost always lifts me up to a better place.

2 bottles of red food coloring…i watched too much of a vampire tv series! Being Human, UK original. that’s why.

i used a lot more cocoa than called for but followed the rest of the recipe accurately.
it was unbearable for the kids, having to wait for the layers to cool and for me to frost with lightly sweetened whipped cream.verdict: YES, finally, i love red velvet cake.
Saveur recipe…
Ingredients
FOR THE CAKE:
16 tbsp. unsalted butter, softened, plus more for pans
2 1/2 cups cake flour, plus more for pans, sifted
2 tbsp. Dutch-processed cocoa powder, sifted
1 tbsp. baking powder
1 tsp. kosher salt
1 cup buttermilk
2 tbsp. red food coloring
1 tbsp. distilled white vinegar
1 tsp. vanilla extract
1 1/2 cups sugar
2 eggs

Heat oven to 350°. Butter and flour two 8″ cake pans, and set aside. Whisk together flour, cocoa, baking powder, and salt in a bowl; set aside. Whisk together buttermilk, food coloring, vinegar, and vanilla in a bowl; set aside. In the bowl of a stand mixer fitted with a paddle, cream butter and sugar on medium-high speed until pale and fluffy, about 3 minutes. Add eggs, one at a time, beating well after each addition. On low speed, alternately add dry ingredients in 3 batches and wet ingredients in 2 batches. Increase speed to high and beat until batter is smooth, about 5 seconds. Divide batter between prepared pans, and smooth top with a rubber spatula; drop pans lightly on a counter to expel any large air bubbles. Bake cakes until a toothpick inserted in middle comes out clean, about 30 minutes. Let cakes cool for 20 minutes in pans; invert onto wire racks, and let cool.
click here for the first try.

a la Niçoise salad

stel — Wed, 22 Feb 2012 22:10:27 +0000

this is what i hunger for, when i’ve overindulged and i’m feeling guilty. there’s a lot of fun in scrounging around the veggie bin and the pantry shelves, checking for the ingredients, and afterwards i almost feel smug.
just a composition of fresh and green arugula (rocket), solid tuna in olive oil, warm barely-hard-boiled eggs, sliced Kalamata olives, anchovies, tomatoes, and the astringent dressing of balsamic vinegar and extra virgin olive oil fired up with freshly-crushed garlic and cracked black peppercorns.

a pomp-ous announcement

stel — Sun, 19 Feb 2012 19:49:45 +0000

i have decided to create a parallel universe for my poor sweet baby rambutan….commercial-free and more zen-like in atmosphere, possibly liberating my meditations free too. be warned though there might be more foolishness and silly karaoke-type singing there. and an odd rant now and again.
i hope anyone interested still in my recipes and in my conversations with myself, will bookmark the newborn my baby rambutan, where the recipes and food will also be posted concurrent to those i cook up here.
just in case.

jai, or Buddha’s delight

stel — Mon, 23 Jan 2012 21:29:24 +0000

==or one fine lucky riot of a dish!

my kids look forward to this now, our New Year’s dinner of jai. this year, as husband noticed, i “pulled out all the stops!” each ingredient has a special meaning to usher in a lucky welcome for the New Year. i was aiming for 18–
and i did it!…not counting the shredded ginger, or the mashed fermented bean curd cubes in Szechuan oil, and how about the hoisin sauce and the soy sauce for the stir fry.
the vegetables and rehydrated dried ingredients are added in the order of how quickly they soften.

dried oysters
dried shiitake mushrooms
dried bean curd skin
dried bamboo pith
straw mushrooms
water chestnuts
carrots
pea pods
baby corn
dried tree ears
dried lily buds
dried mung bean sticks (sotanghon)
sea moss
boiled peanuts
fried firm tofu cubes
tofu puffs
fresh bamboo shoots
napa cabbage

previous recipe here.
bamboo pith, FINALLY located these tucked away high up in the grocery shelves, wonder why?
my MIL used to serve us these with black mushrooms and dried scallops and sometimes chicken gizzards…yummy

Meyer-lemon-curd cheesecake

stel — Sun, 22 Jan 2012 17:02:46 +0000

do i have a cheesecake problem! the problem is, i crave it very strongly and painfully, but i know that i can’t eat very much of it.
another problem: cream cheese is horrendously expensive now! gone are the days when you could get one bar for just a dollar. nowadays, it’s a stretch to see it priced under two dollars. so i grabs it wheres and whens i cans and makes sures i don’t eats too much.
all kinds of citrus are all over the place, and now that it’s almost Chinese New Year, right when oranges and lemons and limes are flooding the grocery bins, it is just the right time to make a lustrous, dreamy cheesecake to sweeten the New Year of the Dragon.

(based on a recipe from epicurious.com. i used vanilla cookies in place of graham crackers, and Meyer lemons, and put the cheesecake in a slightly larger cake pan and then on top of a bain mairie.)

lemon curd:

1 teaspoon finely grated fresh Meyer lemon zest
1/2 cup fresh Meyer lemon juice
1/2 cup sugar
3 large eggs
1/2 stick (1/4 cup) unsalted butter, cut into small pieces

crust:

1 1/2 cups finely ground vanilla cookie crumbs (5 oz)
1/8 teaspoon salt
5 tablespoons unsalted butter, melted

filling:

3 (8-oz) packages cream cheese, softened
1 cup sugar
3 large eggs
3/4 cup sour cream
1 teaspoon vanilla

Make lemon curd:
Whisk together zest, juice, sugar, and eggs in a 2-quart heavy saucepan. Add butter and cook over moderately low heat, whisking frequently, until curd is thick enough to hold marks of whisk and first bubbles appear on surface, about 6 minutes.

Force lemon curd through a fine-mesh sieve into a wide shallow dish, scraping bottom of sieve, then cover surface with wax paper. Cool completely, stirring occasionally, about 30 minutes.

Make and bake crust:
Put oven rack in middle position and preheat oven to 350°F. Invert bottom of 9-inch springform pan (to make it easier to slide cake off bottom), then lock on side. Stir together crust ingredients in a bowl, then press onto bottom and 1 inch up side of springform pan. Place springform pan in a shallow baking pan and bake 10 minutes, then cool crust completely in springform pan on a rack.

Make filling and bake cheesecake:
Reduce oven temperature to 300°F.

Beat together cream cheese and sugar in a bowl with an electric mixer at medium speed until smooth, 1 to 2 minutes. Reduce speed to low and add eggs 1 at a time, beating until incorporated. Beat in sour cream and vanilla until combined.

Pour two thirds of cream cheese filling into crust, then spoon half of lemon curd over filling and swirl curd into filling with a small knife. (Avoid touching crust with knife to prevent crumbs getting into filling.) Repeat with remaining filling and curd.

Bake cheesecake until set 1 1/2 inches from edge but center trembles when pan is gently shaken, about 45 minutes. (Center of cake will appear very loose but will continue to set as it cools.) Transfer springform pan to a rack and immediately run a knife around top edge of cake to loosen. Cool completely, about 2 hours, then chill, uncovered, at least 4 hours. Remove side of springform pan before serving.

Cooks’ Notes: ·Lemon curd can be made 1 week ahead and chilled, covered.
·Crust (without filling) can be made 1 day ahead and kept, covered, at room temperature.
·Cheesecake can be chilled, loosely covered, up to 2 days. Cheesecake must be completely chilled before covering to prevent condensation on its surface.

beef pares-pares

stel — Sun, 22 Jan 2012 01:48:27 +0000

the real name is beef pares, but i redubbed it after my youngest child’s favorite card game. this dish is just perfect for the long-dreaded/long-awaited (depends on where you’re born i think) wintry weather. me, i just dislike driving in it–it doesn’t help when the morning jolt of caffeine is accompanied by dire news of a 9-car pile-up nearby due to the black ice!
popular after i’d already left Manila, beef pares is something i’ve heard about just from bloggering, and couldn’t wait to try. since i have no point of reference i can only recommend it based on my kids’ reaction to it: yeah, mom, we love it!

ideal for the ~~cheap~~chewy cuts of beef–tendons/ligaments welcome!–just make sure to skim off the nasty scum and bloody bits off the broth while it’s just starting to simmer. pressure cookers might work well too but i simmered the beef shanks until almost fork tender, removed the bones and threw them back into the broth, then proceeded with the rest of the recipe. with garlic fried rice and snipped watercress added to the soup it was a complete meal to fortify us on a winter night.
(recipe adapted from here and there on the blogdom, and i will post it soonest.)

welcome 2012!

stel — Thu, 12 Jan 2012 17:04:06 +0000

yey, we made it to another year . i’ve recovered from all that holiday-ing, and once more my resolution about that is to start out earlier. we’ll just have to wait and see. i always am so full of hope .
i’ve been cooking a lot, A LOT! i’ve really renewed vows with my baking and cooking love*, but have just been so pressed for time. the world’s just spinning so much faster. why is that?

our New Year’s eve, we splashed out and made sure the refrigerator, pantry, and table were full and/or laden with our favorites.
we decided on a table full of appetizers and savory snacks, a combination of take-out and home-cooked, among them:

appetizer table with assorted savories and cheese fondue…

not-quite-7 layer dip (black bean, guacamole, sour cream, tomatoes, black olives, pickled jalapeños, topped with cilantro), great with corn tortilla chips.

smile, you’re a honey-baked ham!

orange-soy glazed ribs

Bon Chon chicken…try the sweet soy-garlic and the fiery fearsome hot wings, dare!
and for the desserts,

coconut lemon tea cake–not too rich, not too moist, perfect with hot tea,

halayang ube, purple yam pudding, something sweet and sticky to catch good luck for 2012, also year of the fierce Dragon. wait, that means another celebration in a couple of weeks! yey!

*a whole other story, worth its own chapter.
bold means recipes provided ~~on demand~~ upon request!