168 Bento Haul

Here are some of the things I was able to buy from 168 yesterday! This is the mall near Divisoria. I'll try to post the prices if I can remember them.

I actually bought the bento bags in Riverbanks in Marikina, but I saw the same outlet at 168. The name of the tag on the bag is Katrina's Secret. The bags are actually quite cheap, ranging from P35-70 each (about $1-$2, made with good material and with lining for added insulation.

For the bento box picture, from left to right - oshibori towels and container (P25 each), the little towels themselves can be bought for P80 for 1 dozen (not shown in pic)'; Hello Kitty spoon & fork container (P50), this is actually a toothbrush & toothpaste container, but it should work well as my spoon & fork container since I hate using the flat spoon & forks usually sold with bento boxes; Hello Kitty 2-tier bento (the long one on the upper part of the photo, P150-200); Hello Kitty 2-tier container (round oval), P130; Hello Kitty 4-in-1 oval containers, P150; and the Strawberry Shortcake looking 2-tier container, 2 for P100 (the other one is in use so is not in the photo)!

I'm not really a Hello Kitty fan, but those are the only ones I can find here in Manila inexpensively. There are actually several Hello Kitty stores in Divisoria and some tiangges (flea market sort of place) that only sell Hello Kitty stuff. Not original Sanrio items, of course...

When you go shopping at 168, make sure to ask around and canvass first. Prices for the same item can vary as much as P50 at different stalls.

Bihon, gyoza and tinapa mango sandwich

Another bento from last week:

Tinapa & mango sandwich, bihon with some sliced calamansi, speared quail eggs. Gyoza with some star carrots, sliced cucumber & tomatoes topped with cheese, sliced bananas and Reese's. Dragonfruit, century egg drizzled with some sugar & rice wine.

Fun with sushi molds

Here are some bentos from last week:


Onigiri made with my new sushi molds and furikake. Also included are sliced fried tofu braised in the sauce for inarizushi aburage, sliced lumpia toge (spring rolls filled with bean sprouts), sliced kiwis and some bananas.

Chicken Teriyaki Bento

I haven't been able to update this blog for a while. I have been busy with life. But here' a quick bento that I prepared today for me and my sis. It could have been better with some star carrots, though. I used the chicken teriyaki recipe from here. Remember to let the chicken rest for 10 minutes before slicing. This helps to make the chicken more moist (the chicken juices are redistributed back to the meat). Some lychee and green peas for fruit & veggies. Chicken is placed on a bed of rice and a slice of bread.



The other bento container is filled with chicken misua (bottom tier), lychee, almond gelatin with fruits, and sliced chicken teriyaki on a bed of sliced cucumbers and green peas.

Fish Fillet Hot Salad

I probably first tried the hot salad at a wedding or some other celebration's lauriat banquet. And it was most likely a Hot Prawn Salad. Mostly only the Class A Chinese restaurants had this on their menu, but since then it has become very popular and every Chinese restaurant has put a version of it on their menu. I would always look forward to hot salad whenever attending celebrations at Chinese restaurants, and starting a couple of years ago, have started ordering hot salad myself (it's a bit expensive). My experiences with various restaurant's hot salads wasn't always good. Most were so-so, and some disappointing.

So a few months ago I tried making hot salad at home. Since we had some fish fillet in stock, I used that instead of prawns. I have actually tried some salads that used chicken! That wasn't so good. Of course using cocktail prawns would be best. But since I didn't have prawns, I used fish instead. And my salad is actually much better chilled!

First, slice some fish fillet into bite-sized pieces. Next, add some rice wine to help remove the fishy taste. Season the fish with salt and pepper. Mix well, making sure the salt & pepper are evenly distributed. Add a lot of cornstarch to the fish, making sure that the fish is well coated with cornstarch.

Heat a deep frying pan with enough oil for deep frying. Fry the fish, a few at a time, until cooked, about 2-4 minutes, occasionally stirring the frying pan to make sure that the fish does not stick to the pan and is cooked evenly. Drain excess oil.

Open a can (or two!) of fruit cocktail, drain the syrup and reserve it for another use (juice, perhaps?). In a bowl big enough to mix everything in, put the fruit cocktail, some Miracle Whip (put more if you want a creamier and thicker consistency), a little condensed milk, and salt and good quality ground pepper (or freshly ground) to taste. Mix well. Finally, add the fried fish fillets and mix well again.

You have the option to eat it now or let it chill. I suggest letting it chill. The sauce thickens when cold to make for a yummier salad.

Robinson's Otis Buy 1 Take 1 - Week of Jan 25 '09

Here are the Buy 1 Take 1 hauls from Robinson's Otis this week. Purefoods Hamon de Bola is now on Buy 1 Take 1 at P285 for both! The Cheddarella was at P194 for 2. We also got some Lurpak butter again since I plan to do a lot of baking. My dad also got some King Sue ham, Arla Havarti cheese, President brand butter, and Kraft Velveeta slices, all at Buy 1 Take 1. The Selecta Moo is at 5+1. Our fridge is groaning from being overstuffed!

Again, we got A LOT of bargains from Robinson's Supermarket in Otis. We do love this place! As a bonus, parking is free and there aren't too many people in the malls. Yes, there are probably more staff than shoppers. Just don't expect that mall to have everything. It's a tiny mall that doesn't even seem to have a Robinson's Department store. Just go there to get your hands on some real bargains!

Su Zhou Dimsum

I had seen Su Zhou Dimsum in Malate before, and thought to go back to try it some other day, but never did. So when I saw that they had a branch at Robinson's Otis, I definitely made it a point to try their famous xiao long pao. This was actually my second visit. I didn't have my camera with me on my first visit, and almost forgot to take pictures this time. So here we have the 2 remaining steamed xiao long pao, and the 1 remaining pan-fried xiao long pao. We also ordered some fish fillet and fried rice. I forgot what the fish fillet dish was called but it was delicious! Simple food - lightly breaded fish fillet with egg white-cornstarch sauce, some onions, carrots and green pepper, but done really well! It was all gone before I remembered to take a picture.

Their xiao long pao, of course, was much better than what you get at the usual dimsum places in
Onpin. The only other restaurant's that could come close would be Gloriamaris' xiao long pao. Truth be told, it was even better than the xiao long pao we had in Shanghai. We had xiao long pao at one of the restaurants at the Yu Gardens, which Shanghai residents told us was the place to go to for xiao long pao (to be fair, those restaurants did do a brisk business on xiao long pao, and it seemed to be their specialty since even the locals were ordering it table after table).

Su Zhou's xiao long pao was served piping hot. The way to eat it is to use your chopsticks to gently transfer it to your soup spoon (you may dip it into the vinegar/garlic dipping sauce first if you prefer), bite off the top 'peak' to release the heat and maybe cool the xiao long pao a bit, and when it's cool enough to eat without burning your tongue, slowly sip the 'soup' and eat the xiao long pao, taking care not to spill any of the delicious soup. Yes, xiao long pao should have that 'soup' inside the dumpling. Su Zhou's xiao long pao is delicately flavored - with a hint of ginger, the taste of pork, and not too salty nor too sweet. But it is well-flavored. Personally I prefer the pan-fried version. There's just something about pan-fried dimsum that makes it taste better - like fried siopao, potstickers, pan-fried gyoza..

Do check out Su Zhou Dimsum and savor their xiao long pao, making sure not to spill any of the soup. From my experience, the service at their Robinson's Otis branch was a bit mediocre and the staff seemed to be just idling and not as spiffy nor as well-trained compared to the better restaurants, but their food is superb! (When the supervisor served us our xiao long pao, I had to ask for chopsticks and soup spoons...) At P90-95 an order for 4 pieces of xiao long pao, it is a bit expensive, but it is definitely worth trying and going back for maybe every 1-2 months...

Lunch at Banapple

I had lunch with my friend J at Banapple the other day. Since the last time I was there, I only took out a Banoffee Pie, I took the opportunity to sample their meals. J ordered the Asian Crabstick and Mango Salad Sandwich and a slice of the Amaretto Cheesecake (the waitress said that this was a strawberry cheesecake). I ordered the Salpicao Rafael and a slice of their supposedly other specialty, Apple Caramel Crumble Pie. You can check out their menu & pricelist here. The place was packed and we were third on the waitlist.





The Verdict:

We saw the servings of pasta at other tables, and they are definitely value for money. The servings are big enough to satisfy you if you are hungry! I didn't hear any praises nor complaints from J, so I'm guessing the sandwich was good enough. As for my Salpicao Rafael, it was tasty. It wasn't the dark, garlic and soy sauce affair that I expected of salpicao. It was more of like a cross between a salpicao and a teriyaki. Nevertheless, it was good enough and value for money. Banapple's food isn't the knock-your-socks-off great tasting food that other reviews make it out to be, but it is above average. Sometimes I wonder if my standards are too high. But if I know I have tasted better or can make better, I don't consider it superlatively great tasting!

The Amaretto Cheesecake was also above average. It was good. The Apple Caramel Crumble Pie though, was another matter. The cinnamon was too strong, and I like cinnamon! I basically had to force myself to eat the pie, and couldn't finish it. I left maybe a third of the pie on the plate and concentrated on eating the crust, the pie's only saving grace. I couldn't taste anything but cinnamon. Even the crumble topping tasted like sawdust and cinnamon. I know I'm never ordering that again! You know how they can fix that pie? Maybe remove 3/4s of the cinnamon they put in there. Add some brown sugar and some water to the filling, and maybe a dash of nutmeg. And bloody add some grated cheese, sugar, and breadcrumbs to the crumble topping. The pie and the topping was too dry.

Overall, the great thing about Banapple is that it serves good food at hefty servings at affordable prices. The service was good, although it seemed that there was only one waitress. She was cheerful but whenever we noticed her serving orders or bussing tables, we couldn't help but think kawawa naman siya (poor thing!) since the place was really busy and she seemed to be on it nonstop. We were there for almost 2 hours since we did a lot of catching up.

Pan-fried ham Bento

This was a relatively simple and quick bento of pan fried Christmas ham, rice, and peeled kiat-kiat. Haay, no veggies :( I didn't have time to prep some.

Black Sesame Shortbread Cookies

I had been wondering for some time what to do with some black sesame I still had leftover from making black sesame soup. I had already made black sesame soup twice and still had about 2-3 cups' worth of black sesame seeds. Some time ago, I read a blog where the author made black sesame cookies, so that gave me the idea of adding black sesame to a good but plain cookie recipe.. and well, since I like good shortbread..

Crisp but flaky, this rich, buttery shortbread cookie melts in your mouth, and the black sesame adds a little crunch to your bite! Very, very delicious and quite easy to make! I will definitely make this again. The butter is the star of the show, so make sure to use real butter. Here I use Lurpak unsalted butter. Recipe is adapted from the Scottish shortbread recipe from 'Joy of Cooking' by Irma S. Rombauer, et al. I really love these cookies. I have to stop myself from getting another cookie after the first one.

Ingredients:

1 1/4 sticks (10 tablespoons) unsalted butter, softened
1/4 cup powdered sugar
1 1/2 tablespoons sugar
1/4 tsp salt

1 cup all purpose flour
1/2 cup cake flour

2 tablespoons black sesame seeds (no need to pre-toast)

some cake flour for kneading

Directions:

Preheat oven to 300 F.

1. Beat butter, powdered sugar, sugar and salt on medium speed until very fluffy and well blended.
2. Add 1 cup of all purpose flour, carefully stir the flour in the batter by hand, taking care not to stir too much. It doesn't matter if it's not all incorporated.
3. Add the cake flour and black sesame and stir again until blended.
4. Lightly dust kneading surface with a little cake flour, just enough to keep the dough from sticking. Turn the dough out onto kneading surface. Knead gently, as little as possible, just until it's possible to roll the dough.
5. With a rolling pin, roll the dough about 1/4 inch thick.
6. With a cookie cutter, cut the dough into desired shapes.
7. Place cookies in cookie sheet, preferably lined with aluminum foil to prevent sticking & easier cleanup.
8. Bake cookies for 45-50 minutes.
9. Let cool and enjoy!

Buy 1 Take 1 Loot and Japan Home Center Haul

Okay, I love Robinson's Otis now. It has the biggest Japan Home Center branch I've been to so far, and it still has some of the items that I have been looking for. Check out the insulated bento bags! There's the smaller one with the flower print - very Japanese, and the bigger checkered one with a pocket. They are both well-made (there was another plain model that had bad quality stitching). They are still in stock so if you are looking for them, check out the Otis branch. I also got a sandwich box, a Winnie the Pooh container, and.. tada! Did you see the black bento? I had despaired of ever finding one. It's a real Japanese-type 2-tier bento with the top cover. I also got 2 glass containers just in case I cannot avoid having to nuke my lunch. I am trying to avoid microwaving food as much as possible. It is very unhealthy according to various forwarded emails and websites, and microwaving using plastic containers (even microwave-safe ones) are worse. As for me, I also prefer my food cooked and heated the old-fashioned way, and as for the "nuking is bad" claims, I would rather be safe than sorry.

Dad also found a lot of things on Buy-1-Take-1 or some other promo at the supermarket. Those Japanese crackers are good! I am quite pleased at the Lurpak butter haul! P145 for 2 bars? It's cheaper than Anchor! Love love love love good butter on good bread (NOT the tasty-type commercial breads)! Good bread = yeasty, flavorful, slightly chewy. Crusty outside, chewy inside and hole-y! I just don't like the commercial 'tasty' loaf being sold nowadays. They are too refined and make too many crumbs when you slice them. Me like big yeast holes in me bread. Sometimes I actually seek out the "cheaper" breads since they are closer to the real bread I like.

Cute furry friends hung upside down

A few days ago I had the maid wash some old stuffed toys. I've had them for yeaarrrs... with some even dating back 1993-ish.. I can't remember exactly. I've never had them washed before so you can imagine how dusty and.. well, they actually looked dark grey from all the dust.

I was walking past the clean laundry area when I noticed that the little fluffy things just looked way too cute hung upside down.. and they looked even cuter posed together! Enjoy! I know I will!

They are: a Christmas bear, a kitten, and a puppy. They are about 5-6 inches tall. The puppy looks stupid.. that's what makes it sooo cute!

Enoki Mushrooms & Bacon + Soy-Butter Beef Bento

While I was at Il Terrazo buying Banoffee Pie (see Banapple's Banoffee Pie post), I decided to check out the Rustan's Supermarket at the basement. I saw some enoki mushrooms and decided to make Bacon-wrapped Enoki. I first tried this dish at Teriyaki Boy with the boyfriend, and it has since become one of our "must-orders" whenever we eat at Teriyaki Boy.

Here I just wrapped some enoki mushrooms with maple syrup-cured bacon and put them on a non-stick skillet (no oil) over medium heat. Roll the bacon to make sure all sides are cooked, cover the skillet just to make sure the inner roll of bacon also gets cooked. Lower heat and continue cooking until cooked through.

Since I was only able to make 6 bacon enokis, I also made some Soy-Butter Beef from Kaoko's blog. Why do I need the beef? Hmm.. 6 bacon enokis = 2 for my bento, 2 for boyfriend's bento, 1 sacrified for "taste & doneness test", 1 I gave my dad to try.

I sliced some cucumbers, tomatoes and a ponkan. The ponkan looks pretty, no? Peel ponkan, slice ponkan (cross-section). Cross-section, wow. I'm betraying my engineering background!

Banapple's Banofee Pie

I have read the raves about Banapple's Banoffee Pie. So it should follow, like a bear to honey, that I have to try it! How can I resist? A get together with friends last weekend gave just the perfect excuse to go buy the whole pie.

I read that Banapple opened their second branch in Tomas Morato. Good! That means no driving all the way to Katipunan. I'm really not a QC person and I think I would get lost if I tried to go to their original branch. Their Morato branch is actually located on the ABS-CBN side of the street, on the second floor of a new promenade-type building.

So, how is the banoffee pie, you ask? As you can see from the picture, it has a graham type crust, BIG chunks of ripe bananas dripping with a yummy yummy thick caramel sauce, and is topped with whipped cream and chocolate shavings. On a scale of 1-10, I would rate this an 8. I would definitely buy it again someday.

I liked the bananas and the caramel fudge sauce, they really went very well together. Whipped cream and chocolate shavings - hmm.. they were okay, nothing wrong with them. One thing I wasn't crazy about was the crust, though. I felt that there was too much butter in the crust, and since I was eating the pie cold, it sometimes felt like eating butter sebo.. I hope you understand what I mean. I like butter, but I just don't like eating cold butter. I prefer butter slathered on bread (at room temperature!).

But in any case, we ate half of the pie during the party, and the leftover half was gone in less than 2 days, so I guess it's okay. I would buy this pie again, if only for the bananas and caramel fudge sauce! The whole pie only cost P510.

Banapple Pies & Cheesecakes is located at the 2nd Level, Il Terrazo, Tomas Morato cor. Scout Madrinan, South Triangle, Quezon City. Tel Number 413-2675.

Takoyaki at New Hatchin

I was craving some takoyaki so we went to New Hatchin to get some. The takoyaki are P78 for 8 pcs. If you like takoyaki you should really check out this place. The takoyaki are only available on weekends and only until supplies last. Last week we went there after 5pm and they had just run out of takoyaki.

In the picture you can only see 7 because I already ate one before I remembered to take a picture. They should definitely be eaten while hot (but take care to avoid burning your tongue!). I bought a couple more orders to take home and they were not as good cold/room temperature as they are when eaten freshly cooked!

I ended up not buying anything at New Hatchin since boyfriend was in a hurry to go home.. :( Hahaha.. he said whenever I go to New Hatchin, Japanese Home Centre and similar stores, that I always need to "inspect" everything! Ah well, it's true! I hate missing something and I always want to know everything that's available. For future reference, you know.. ;)

New Hatchin Japanese Grocery is at 7602 Sacred Heart St., Cor. Metropolitan Avenue San Antonio Village. City, Makati City. For those not familiar with the place, look for the big Toyota at the start of Jupiter St. Go towards the Meralco branch and continue going about 1 block. You should see New Hatchin right after Buma and right before the BDO.

Lumpiang Shanghai Bento

Lumpiang Shanghai (Filipino-style spring rolls) with raisins is definitely one of my favorite things our maid cooks. In this bento I put some rice (shaped with an onigiri mold), put a slice of pickled ginger on top (heard it prolongs the time before food spoils, just like umeboshi - check out this post on food safety), added some vegetables, quail eggs, and slices of butter rum cake. Yes, they all tasted as good as they looked!

Home-made fish patties

Bento for 1/8/09

Breaded and pan-fried ground fish cakes. Super delicious! They were a little tough so I asked our maid to add some more water and maybe a little baking powder to the mixture before shaping, breading and frying them. Yes, our maid made them. She bought some fish from the wet market, and she told me that this was the fish they use to make fishballs. She scraped off the fish meat, added some flour, salt, pepper and sugar. They are actually quite good on their own, and very tasty! So much better than store-bought fish ball. I made a little curry mayo as dip.

With rolled lettuce, ham and cheese, tomatoes and peeled kiat-kiat (tiny, sweet oranges).

Egg Salad Sandwich and Rolled Lettuce, Ham & Cheese

For the past several days I had been itching to make egg salad sandwich after reading the Greedy Gourmet's post on it, which I found while surfing Coffee and Vanilla's Wholesome Lunchbox Round-ups. This was a bento for the boyfriend on 1/7/09.

• Egg salad sandwich, sliced into 2
• Half of a blackberry preserve sandwich
• Lettuce and ham rolled with a stick of Bega Cheese Stringers
• Reese's and Whoppers candies (hidden beneath the walnuts)
• Candied walnuts I made from walnuts left over from making fruitcake

I think it would have been more visually appealing to use brown bread (whole-wheat bread) instead of white bread for the egg sandwich. Unfortunately, we didn't have any wheat bread at the time.

Egg Salad Sandwich Filling

2 eggs, hard boiled, mashed with a fork
2-3 heaping tablespoons of Miracle Whip
1 Tbsp pickle relish
salt and pepper to taste
dash of chili powder
dash of nutmeg

Mix well! That's all!

To hardboil an egg

To hardboil an egg, place it in a pot of water, just enough to cover. Put on the heat and let it boil. If you want the yolk to be in the center, I've read that people suggest rolling the egg around the pot with a spoon. When the water begins to boil, let it boil for about 10 seconds then cover the pot with its lid. Turn off the heat. Leave it for 15 minutes. The eggs should be perfectly hardboiled after 15 minutes.

Please do not boil the egg to death. I have read some blogs and seen some instructional videos on youtube telling people to boil the egg for 18 minutes! Overcooked eggs have that gray color on the outside of the yolk and the whites are rubbery.

Japan Home Centre - Robinson's Place haul

Last Tuesday, my dad said he was going to get some groceries and I asked him where he was going. He usually goes to Robinson's Otis, claiming that it was more convenient than going to nearby SM Centerpoint. But me being me, I wanted to go to Japan Home Center. Upon checking their website, I saw that they had a branch at Robinson's Place Manila in Malate. I asked if we could go to Robinson's Place (RP) instead because there was something I wanted to check out there.

Upon reaching RP, I said I was going to the P88 store. My dad told me that there was a branch at Robinson's Otis and that there was no need to go all the way to RP, where parking was a hassle. Mental note: tag along to Robinson's Otis next time.

At RP's Japan Home Centre, I bought this yellow 2-tier bento, a smaller container with a cold pack for fruits, and a small insulated bag to put my bento in. By the way, the bag also came with its own cold pack.

Aside from bento supplies, my dad was also able to buy reading glasses for only P88, which I subsequently found at New Hatchin for only P85.

Luncheon Meat Sandwich

I had some leftover luncheon meat from our lunch and it got turned into a sandwich. Some rolled lettuce and quartered ripe tomatoes on the side.

I was finally able to use the oblong Christmas-themed paper cups I got from Chocolate Lover. They really are quite useful as sandwich holders. They keep the filling from spilling out from the bottom and sides of the sandwich, and keep hands from getting messy when eating the sandwiches.

Black Sesame Soup

I made some black sesame soup the other day. It is a dessert I have always looked forward to when dining at some Ongpin restaurants, and lately is harder to come by. It is said to be good for black hair. I was just trying to use up the remaining black sesame I bought from Killion's. In any case, the warm soup is a good snack and can also be served as a dessert soup. Just the right thing for these cold January days!

Black Sesame Soup

1/4 cup black sesame seeds
1/4 cup uncooked rice
rock sugar to taste (I used about 3 medium-sized chunks)
water

1. Boil some water, about 1 1/2 cups.
2. Toast black sesame seeds in a pan until fragrant. Take care not to burn them.
3. Put the rice in a blender, pour in just enough of the hot water to cover the rice. Blend until all the rice is ground fine.
4. Add the black sesame seeds to the blender. Blend until fine.
5. Transfer the black sesame and rice puree into a pot.
6. Add about 2-3 cups of water, depending on how thick you want the soup to be.
7. Boil, stirring continuously because the rice tends to stick to the bottom of the pan and form globs.
8. Add rock sugar to taste (start with 2 chunks, stir until dissolved. Taste. Add more rock sugar if you want it sweeter.)
9. Continue boiling until the mixture is cooked.

Chocolate Lover and SweetCraft haul

For the past several days I have been merrily checking out the various baking supply stores that are not too far away. Here are some of the items that I got:

From Chocolate Lover:

I got some baking cups, which I can use either to bake cupcakes or as a bento separator. The baking cups, which came in packs of 200's, cost from P20+ to P40+, depending on the size. I also got some cellophane sheets and small plastic bags which I plan to use to wrap future home-made goodies! I also got some lollipop sticks, some small M&M type candies, sugar flowers and hearts (that I plan to stick on cupcakes for decoration). The sugar flowers were around P10-20 a pack.

I was browsing around the lobby area when I spotted a stack of baking class brochures. Hmm... Maybe one of these days I will attend a cake decorating class. I do really need to learn to decorate a cake properly! My version of cake decorating only runs to dumping the frosting on the cake, smoothing it out, and occasionally drawing patterns on the icing or stenciling some powdered sugar on top... Hmm.. I should really check out those classes! I looked at the prices and they seem fairly reasonable at P800-2,000+. My one regret was that I didn't see the edible ink pens. I had been looking for them so I can make those cake pops from Bakerella. Since we arrived late, near closing time, I was in a hurry. Later that evening, as I was narrating to the boyfriend my baking plans, he told me he saw those edible ink pens at Chocolate Lover, but didn't call my attention to them since he didn't know I was looking for them! Waaaaaa!

Overall, I think I would go back to Chocolate Lover once in a while to check out if they have some new products. But in my opinion, some of their items, like the nuts, chocolate, etc.. can be had for less in Quiapo. There's a store almost across Killion that sells nuts cheaper.


From SweetCraft:


It bothers me that I have been driving through Boni Avenue on average about once or twice a month and have never noticed SweetCraft. Thanks to MarketMan's post about baking supplies, I learned about this little baker's haven. It is just a short detour from my way home so I went to visit after work today.

Since I already had most of my stock sourced from Quiapo, I didn't buy much from here. What differentiates them from the usual chocolate/baking supply store, at least for me, is that they had these big 2kg blocks of cream cheese for P855. That is around 8 regular-sized bars of cream cheese, which would average only at P106/bar. And, what made me really happy, was that they had phyllo pastry!!! Yey! Phyllo pastry desserts are in my future!

I only bought some white chocolate. Yes, the inexpensive unbranded ones. I am thinking of using them as the coating for those smiley cake pops like Bakerella's. Or maybe make some white chocolate almond clusters? I am trying to use up some slivered almonds. Hmm.. yum! Since I am still practicing I don't think buying expensive chocolate is practical. I do plan to buy some in the future for special occasions, though.

SweetCraft has A LOT of packaging options available. Boxes of different sizes, individual plastic packaging for cake slices, cupcakes, etc.. Unfortunately, I live near RM (the actual printer who makes the boxes), so I buy directly from RM. But I compared prices and I think SweetCraft's price for the boxes are the same as RM's retail price, so that shouldn't stop you from buying your boxes from SweetCraft.

Chocolate Lover is at 45 P. Tuazon Blvd. cor. C. Benitez St., QC. Telephone numbers are 724-4964 / 724-5752 / 411-7474. It should be very noticeable as the house/building really looks like a fairy-tale castle!

SweetCraft is at 373 Boni Avenue, Mandaluyong. Open Mondays-Sundays, 9am-6pm. Telephone numbers are 532-1595 /532-6289.

SM Year-End Sale haul

This is an overdue post. I went to SM Megamall last week. They were having their year-end sale, promising up to 50% off on many items. I wasn't really expecting to find anything great, but! I was able to get these items at a bargain, so I felt pretty happy about it.

I got a star and a heart-shaped ice mold for only P30 each! They seem like the silicone stuff that's popular now. Anyway, I still can't think of anything to do with them except make ice, but I'm sure a great idea will come to me. If you have any suggestions, let me know!



I was also able to buy this cute bento box for only P50! Yes, it was on 50% off! It comes with this cute matching spoon (see pics above post).

I was also able to buy these purrty sandals for only P399.00, down from the original price of P1,199.00! Good thing they were in my size!

Pineapple Fried Rice

I wasn't able to get out of the house to go to the supermarket today, so for dinner I just made do with whatever was on hand in the fridge, and this is what I came up with!

We had some sour pineapple in the fridge that no one wanted to eat, some ham from Christmas, some leftover ginger from when I made salabat, some canned slice mushroom, some green beans, carrots, grapes. And voila!

I made some barley tea earlier in the day and you can see the glasses of cold barley tea in the background. To add a final sweet note, I placed some Japanese candy that The Cat gave me.