Corn and Rice Coconut Milk Porridge (Ginataang Mais)

Comfort food during the cold months. I just boil rice (ideally malagkit or glutinous rice) with extra water until cooked, add a can of drained whole kernel corn, add powdered coconut milk and sugar to taste, simmer for a bit and then eat!

It's also good cold.

Homemade Chocolate Syrup

Ingredients
1 cup unsweetened cocoa (I used the 70g foil pack of Ricoa)
1.5 cups brown sugar
1 cup water
1 tsp vanilla
dash salt

Procedure
1. Mix cocoa, sugar, and salt in pot. Add water.
2. Bring to a boil with regular whisking. Watch that it doesn't boil over.
3. Simmer until you reach the desired thickness. Don't forget to keep whisking!
4. Let cool and mix in vanilla. Transfer to a jar and keep in ref.

This recipe benefits from using the best cocoa you can afford. Ricoa's barely acceptable but it's all I had in hand. Most recipes recommend dutched cocoa.

The Dining Room at Gourmet Farms

Ate lunch at The Dining Room of Gourmet Farms located along the Gen. E. Aguinaldo Highway of Silang, Cavite.

Food was fine but somewhat pricey. I didn't like the cheesecake because it tasted like refrigerated sort with gelatin, not baked. Salad was forgettable---I'd expected it to be magnificent since the farm was just outside. I liked the pot roast best (luckily, since that was my order).

Starting top left, clockwise: Beef kebabs P380, White chocolate cheesecake P220, Pot roast P380, Fattoush salad, P250, Baked salmon P380, Four cheese pizza P400. Forgot to take a photo of the osso bucco which cost P450.


Considering the distance, I'd only eat there again if I happen to be in the area. Although I'd probably rather go with Manos' Greek Taverna or some other resto with more affordable choices.

Review: Sweet Valley Mango Choco

I've previously tried R&M's Choco Mangga, which is an expensive chocolate dipped dried mango. Here's an image from fortyweeksandthensome.blogspot.com

I liked the contrast between the sweet-sour mango and the chocolate coating that did NOT taste horribly artificial (or as they call it "chocolate flavored") instead of real chocolate.

So when I saw another variety of chocolate with mango, I bit, despite the high price. I can't quite remember but I think this small box of 6 cost more than Php90.

(Another rotated photo--very strange. Why is Blogger rotating my photos when they're already right side up? Anyone know how to can correct this?)

There was a much bigger chocolate to mango ratio in this form factor. The mango inside was not really dried mango but more like thick, chewy mango jam. See the photo below:

(This one isn't rotated. What gives? Is it because the earlier ones are extra large?)

This one had the bad chocolate. But I shouldn't wonder since the first chocolate ingredient is "cocoa substitute". I wonder what that is. Carob? But it's probably a "chocolate substitute" instead. The usual cocoa with vegetable oil and no cocoa butter.

(This one is extra large but it isn't rotated. Sheesh)

So this is very sweet and with no real chocolate taste.

Verdict: not buying this again.

I guess I don't like the mango chocolate taste combination enough otherwise it would be pretty simple to buy dried mangoes, melt some chocolate, and dip them.

Goya Speculoos Spread

For those of you wondering if this is a good local substitute (even if it's made in Germany, the company is long time local one that is now owned by a Singaporean company) to that famous Belgian spread, the answer is NO.

But if you like sweet bread spread, this will do. It's not as awful as Cheez Whiz Milky Delight.

Chocolate Drink Concoction

I made a chocolate drink earlier with these ingredients:

1 tablespoon Milo
1 teaspoon cocoa mix powder (cocoa, sugar, full cream milk powder, non-dairy creamer)
1 shot cold brew coffee concentrate
3/4 teaspoon white sugar
2 packets single-serve Coffeemate
few dribbles of skim milk left in the box

It's barely sweet, and no single flavor dominates so I quite like it. But it would have more character if it maybe had a bit of tablea or an ounce of quality dark chocolate melted in or maybe even a dash of cayenne pepper.

Next time.

Dark Chocolate Obsession

Some of the chocolates I bought to try at one point:
Clockwise from top left: Lindt Swiss Classic - Dark Chocolate, Theo & Philo - Milk Chocolate with Barako Coffee, Van Houten - Semi Sweet Dark Chocolate, Malagos 65% Dark Chocolate, Theo & Philo - Dark Chocolate with Calamansi, Whittaker Dark Chocolate.

Lotus biscuit and spread - Speculoos mania!

Love these! So I got into the speculoos bandwagon rather late but I must say, these biscuits and the biscuit spread are yum!

I've tried other brands and I've even tried making the spread myself (but from cheap cookies since I like the cookies too much to experiment with them) but this is among the top. I wonder if it really is the original? I'll update this post to include brands I like and don't like.

Cookie Butter Spread list:

Good

Lotus (pictured above)

Trader Joe's (photo from their website)

Meh

Goya

St. Nicholas (photo from Flickr)

Review: Feeling Cheated at IHOP

I'd been wanting to try IHOP since I first saw it since I love breakfast food. So one day when we were feeling a bit flush we decided to try it out. I wanted to maximize my P500 budget and since I'm no big eater I decided to get a kid's meal of "Crispy Chicken Strips" consisting of two all white meat crispy chicken strips served with seasonal mixed fruit for P225 and the "Specialty Sampler" with one egg, one strip of crispy bacon, one pork sausage link, one piece of ham, hash browns and one buttermilk pancake (perfect for "I want to taste a little of everything" me) for 275.00.

I was pretty happy at all I got to try for P500. Unfortunately, I did not much like any of the food I ate. The chicken was probably the best but for the price, I could've had three pieces of Chickenjoy. At least the mixed fruit wasn't canned fruit cocktail. The bacon was NOT crisp, the sausage was meh (I've made better myself), the hash brown wasn't that crisp either and the pancake was dense. Turns out I like 'em light and fluffy. You had to drench it in butter and syrup to like it.

My friend got the "Classic Cheeseburger" and it was pretty ordinary for P395. Eight cuts has a much better burger. Fries were not crisp again. Coffee was ok.

Overall the experience left us wanting more particularly for the price and this is one resto I'm not going back to ever again. I guess we prefer the "Filipinized" Pancake House.