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.