american idol season 8 winner

the dark horse won.

i was rooting for kris allen although i was expecting that it will be adam who will win.

well kris allen won.

surprise surprise.

mango float

the unripe ones.. do not use these for your float please!

one of our two mango trees in cota apparently had a booster dose of a fertility drug as it produced a heck of a lot of fruits this season. my mom gave away a lot of it to our relatives (and we have thousands of em) but still have around 15 kilos left for our own consumption. i love mangoes but not enough to eat it every hour of the day so i also gave some to my coworkers.

the mangoes were ripening at an alarming rate and there’s only five of us to consume it. our two dogs are not mango lovers apparently so theyre not much help in its disposal.

and since its a waste to just let it rot, we decided to make mango float out of it. yum yum!

all you know need are:

ripe mangoes (of course silly)

condensed milk

cream

graham crackers

- slice the mangoes thinly

- pour the cream in a bowl and sweeten with condensed milk

- put the grahams in the dish evenly (crushed or not, it doesnt matter)

- pour the cream and condensed mixture and lay the mangoes over it

- cover the mangoes with the mixture and then the grahams over it

- layer it as high as you want… just repeat the steps.

- put in the freezer for an hour or two or until its hard enough

- slice and enjoy!

dont worry it taste better than it looks. its up to you to 'beautify' your float.

(we had five consecutive nights of mango float for dessert and i was kinda sorry we gave a lot of it to our relatives haha.)

pig-headed

went to the grocery with my bro and sis. while we were in the meat section i saw something very interesting and took a picture of it.

i told my bro who just got back from another aisle to pose for a picture.

and then i showed him ‘his photo’:

stick your tongue out, boy!

sis and i almost died laughing.

were you at juday and ryan’s wedding?

a friend asked me where i was this morning.

unless your parents are ultra-mega-rich and you dont have to work a day in your life (you lucky devil you) or youre a bum, the answer is either work or its your off day from work.

but in typical pinoy style, i answered her question with a question: ‘why do you ask?’

and she answered, ‘i was at juday and ryan’s wedding this morning  and i didnt see you there… were you not invited?

for those not in the know, youre very obviously not filipino. judy ann santos (juday) and ryan agoncillo is one of the hottest couple in philippine showbiz today (naks, i sound like a showbiz reporter who knows what shes talking about. the difference is i do not).

i didnt know that they got married  this morning because i havent caught the news yet.

but not to be outdone i told my friend that i wasnt able to go to juday and ryan’s birthday because i attended SALMA HAYEK’s and her BILLIONAIRE husband’s ’second’ wedding.

a moment’s silence and my friend was like, ‘ok tsa, you win’.

taob sya.

ha! ako pa!

mmm… margie’s

cakes, pastries, sweets. is there anyone in this world who doesnt love ‘em? (if you are one of god’s unfortunate creatures who dont, go away now before you self-destruct!)

im no food critic but whenever a new shop opens and the sign says ‘cakes and pastries’, i felt its my obligation to go (and yet again make a mockery of i-will-diet-na-talaga-today resolution).

i discovered margie’s sometime last year on the way to a seafood and grill restaurant where my family frequents. its near sm city davao but i never got the chance to visit their place because its on the other side of where we usually exit.

after a long absence from sm, i was pleasantly surprised that margies has a stand near the food court.  my first buy was the coffee crunch and brownies.

i love the cake and the crunchy topping. however, i remember thinking that the only ‘coffee’ i tasted was in the toppings and not the cake itself. however since i love the toppings so much, i really didnt mind. the cake was just right for my taste and at P35 (or 37?) per slice, it was super sulit. i didnt like the brownies (P18) so much (sorry but i think the kfc brownies, which is roughly twice its size tastes much better). ill try it again sometime though, to see if its them or my tastebuds who needs tweaking.

the next cake i tried was the nelusco. again cheap (not more than P40) and the food for the gods. the cake was good but the food for the gods was a standout. at P18, i almost wept with joy. haha.

the last cake i bought there was the cookie monster. ive heard a friend tell me that it is a must try but i was kinda put off because she told me the price was P140. i was thinking maybe its super duper extra special because the other slices cost only a measly P40 bucks.

turned out that the cookie monster only cost P43 per slice and it was chocolately and yummy and i wished to hell my sister didnt share it with me. i also had the food for the gods and it tasted delicious as ever.

rest assured, im going back for seconds, thirds and fourths!

p.s. whenever i order their cake slices or whatever it is that i fancy, i always tell the one manning the counter to get the biggest slice haha. my sister always keeps her distance whenever i do this because its embarassing daw. but heck, im paying for it so i get to choose what i get. its called value for your money, sis.

margie’s originated from butuan. in davao, it is located at sm city davao, 2nd floor at the food court. they also have a branch in torres st, near fair lanes. the first margie’s (i think) in davao is in ecoland, near sm’s parking lot, the side where the sm jeeps from downtown enter.

gourd power

i love to eat.

but i cant cook or bake to save my life.

sure i know how to boil and fry but thats about the extent of my culinary skills.

this morning, i woke up having a huge craving for ampalaya with eggs. since nothings on the table yet, i decided to take matters in my own hands (ooohhh sccaarryy).

i must tell you that the last time i did ampalaya and eggs, which was about three centuries ago, the results were not pretty and i vowed to leave the cooking to the experts (my mom and pop and the help). but since my cravings were consuming me, i plucked up the courage to just go ahead and get the gourd.

ampalaya (1 foot long and around 2 inches wide) – check. eggs – check. salt – check. seasoning – check.

for those of you who have lower kitchen iqs than me. what i did was wash the ampalaya, cut it in half and sliced it diagonally (very thinly please). and no, i didnt bother to remove the seeds. it adds crunch and texture to the whole thing. naah, too tedious.

i beat the eggs next and added seasoning to taste. i heated some oil in a pan and threw in the ampalaya.

my mom told me not to stir it so as not to make the ampalaya bitter but i was worried one side will burn so i turned it over once, err twice. ok a few times, for even cooking.

an uncle also once told me to squeeze the ampalaya in salt before cooking it so as to purge it from its ‘bitterness’. i didnt follow his advice not because i was worried about the nutrients being reduced by this method but just because it sounds too tiring and time consuming.

anyway, i sprinkled salt all over it, waited till it looked cooked, sort of soft looking or you can taste it if you like. then added the beaten eggs. after a few minutes, i stirred again because the eggs were getting burned, damn it!

my resulting masterpiece was just perfect. its slightly bitter (but youd expect that, it being ampalaya and all) but it was so good, i was almost tempted not to share.

yumm-o!

but i did, just to let the whole family know that i redeemed myself.

candies be love?

ricola.. my pop's kind of 'candy'

im not a big candy or ‘chewees’ fan. whenever i am wanting for one, i prefer the minty kind and not the sweet ones (think halls over fruitella)… my mouth feels kinda dry eating the sugary ones, maybe thats why. or maybe i got it from my mama (insert dance moves here), because mom is a big candy fan and she usually buys the menthol kind.

as for my pop? i dont know, i notice he goes for the ’sosyal’ and pricey ones– brands not advertised in tv or a probinsyana like me has never heard of.

my sister doesnt really discriminate when it comes to taste. but ive noticed that if the brand is ’sosyal’, she really goes for it haha. its obvious she takes after pop.

my brother on the other hand, doesnt care. sweet, sour, bitter, minty as long as its in plain view, he’ll eat it. so i guess he takes after my dog.

you.. whats your candy story?

werthers caramel. sweet but not my type.

balut!

balut: break the top and sip the soup!

have you ever tasted a balut?

chances are if youre filipino or if you live somewhere in southeast asia, or been in an episode of fear factor, youve eaten one. wikipedia defines balut as a fertilized duck (or chicken) egg with a nearly-developed embryo inside that is boiled and eaten in the shell.

a lot of people, mostly non-asians cringed at the thought of eating one. i confess that, even i, pinas born and bred,  prefer to eat just the egg yolk and the ’soup’. no duck fetus for me, thank you very much.

i wasnt always a ‘cringer’ because i remember when i was in kindergarten (yep, they start em young here) and in grade school, it was almost a twice a week ritual for my uncle to give away balut to his dear nephews and nieces. i remember always looking forward to those nights, salivating at the thought of getting my ‘ration’ for the week.

balut is commonly sold at night and almost every street in the philippines has its own balut stand, or if a street doesnt have one, you can always rely on your friendly balut street hawker for your nightly fix. you cant miss him because of his trademark booming voice shouting, “baluuut!”

i dont know what came over me or what changed because as i grew older, i found myself more and more resistant to eating this childhood favorite. the last time i tried to eat one, which was sometime late last year, i sipped the soup and gobbled the yolk part.  when all that was left was the ‘fetus’, i summoned the courage to bite a very small piece of the duck,  chewed it like theres no tomorrow, barely tasting it, and swallowing bravely and throwing the rest of it to the trash.

wait, on second thought, i think i gave it to my dog who promptly turned away from it (my dog is not a vegetarian, in case youre wondering).

im still looking for a scientific explanation about my 180 regarding the balut eating thingie. was it the sight of the feathers of the chick? the sight of the duck’s closed eyes? the taste? (which i myself cannot accurately describe); my love for donald and daffy duck?

maybe one day id wake up and (miraculously) make it a staple part of my diet again, or maybe id boycott eating it for life— but its comforting to know that if ever i find myself suddenly craving for ‘baluuuut!’ , i can always rely on manong to ‘deliver’ wherever in pinas i may be…

whether im on fear factor or not.

balut: to eat the chick or not?