The Foodie Instinct

For every 1 kilo of mussels

1 small ginger sliced
2 tsp salt
5 cloves garlic
1 cup of grated cheese (Quick-melt preferred)


Garlic-tomato paste:

1/2 tsp salt
1 1/2 tsp ground pepper
1 tsp crushed dried basil
1 tsp paprika powder
4-5 ripe tomatoes minced
2 heads of garlic minced
2 tsp. butter
3 tbsps cooking oil (it would be better if it's olive oil)
1 tbsp sugar

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I baked Alfajores again today because I have new orders. Though I was in my 3rd day of General Motor's Diet, which is fruits and vegetables day, I did not have a hard time resisting the urge to devour some of my little sweet treats. I know my recipe already so I guess it's gonna come out the same way. I was thinking of making new variations to my alfajor and I thought of chocolate covered alfajores, chocolate alfajores and lemon custard alfajores... Yum. sounds like a new adventure for me! But right now, I'm thinking I'm gonna lay low on those dulce de leche cookie sandwiches. Besides, my hunny is craving for my butterscotch brownies...

Butterscotch anyone?

Day 3 of my foodie diet just passed easily. The cravings are lesser and more manageable. Well, I only ate carrots from ate Ritz' famous spicy caldereta. My co-nurses told me they admired me for my determination because ate Ritz' caldereta is one of her specialties and has been surely described as a dish you'll miss half of your life if you did not eat it. I really felt the struggle when the aroma hit my olfactory receptors. Oh well, at least I could eat the carrots...

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Singkamas... Turnips in English. For someone who loves food, munching on boring, white, watery turnips is suicidal. But I had to eat them because I consider it a vegetable. And It's Day 2 of my General Motor's Diet. It's Vegetables day. My energy is running low so I forgot that I could buy some carrots so I was stuck with the white stuff all day. Good thing, Arriana, my staff nurse here at Bulacan offered some Pinakbet, a local mixed vegetable dish sauteed and stewed in Alamang or shrimp paste. I know I shouldn't eat oily vegetables but I tried to scrape off most of the oil from her food bowl. Besides, I only ate the Ampalayas (Bitter gourds) and the Okras and stayed away from the oil-soaked eggplants. Ate Rita, the cook in the hospital also tried to go with the flow and cooked Lumpiang hubad (Vegetable spring rolls without the wrapper). She knows I am having a hard time because I am a big fan of her cooking and I usually rave about her food every lunch time... good thing she empathized with me.




Turnips for breakfast, Pinakbet vegetables and turnips for lunch... I am totally scrapping dinner. I was already visualizing turnips drenched in chocolate... or how good they tasted when sauteed with carrots or when they are added to spring rolls filling. Yummy. Or turnips with lemon and pepper vinaigrette... or buttered with sayote and of course, some tenderloin steak on the side... Oops... It's making my head dizzy right now.

Oh well... I know, later in my dreams, I will dream of two things: My hunny and MEAT, MEAT, MEAT!

Note to Pillow: I'm sorry but I know I will definitely be salivating on you.

:)

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I have been baking Alfajores for two weeks now. Why? Because the first time I challenged myself to baking these, it was a huge success that I got orders from people already. But wait, you might say, "What the heck is she talking about? Alfajores? What Alfajores?!"

When did it all started? Hmm...

What are Alfajores?

Well, Alfajor or Alfajores (plural) are a South American type of shortbread cookies spread with dulce de leche in between. The traditional Alfajor recipe could be traced back to Latin American and Spanish origins and have been passed on since the early 1800's. There are a lot of other local variations of Alfajores but the traditional ones are cookies spread with dulce de leche and smothered with powdered sugar. Here in the Philippines, Alfajores could be bought from Baguio's Good Shepherd pastry shops and are a bit expensive but lots of people are fanatics of this sweet and salty treat. I tasted one and it gave me the urge to make a better version of it!

So, being a fan of dulce de leche, I challenged myself to make an Alfajor. I found an online traditional recipe I bought the ingredients, and just had the guts to mix and tweak the recipe with my stock knowledge and experience with baking (from watching and reading cookbooks and blogs). And after a few hours of spending the hot afternoon in the kitchen and near the oven, my first Alfajor was born.

And soon enough, my Alfajores multiplied. My sister and my little brothers enjoyed the sweet treats. I brought a box of it to work and gave another box to my hunny and soon enough, they were asking for more. Now I have a lot of orders to fill in. :) And I also had a lot of the Alfajores while I was preparing them... As I said before, I am a dulce de leche fanatic and what I love most about this treat is the contrast of the sweet dulce de leche to the salty, buttery crumble cookie. Makes my eyes flutter.



I made my Alfajor cookies more interesting by making heart shapes. Well, for these recipe, I bought my very first rolling pin! Yey!


And they were smothered with LOVE.. oops, I mean, with sweet powdered sugar...


Now I can say, I'm in-love with my Alfajores... and so is everybody else. :)

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For special orders, just message me here!

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A Foodie on a DIET? I bet a lot of people would raise their eyebrows. But believe it or not, after baking Alfajores and making copycat Krispy Kreme donuts, I am on a DIET.

I have always believed that DIET is DIE with a T. But why am I on a diet? Actually, I am on a cleansing diet. Why? Because I have been eating and cooking sinful food and the upcoming Lenten season would be a great opportunity to cleanse my body from cholesterol and fatty food. I have been assigned at Bulacan for the past eight months and as we all know, Bulacan, most especially the town of San Miguel, is the mecca of Chicharon (Crispy Pork Rind) and Pastillas (sweet custard candies made from carabao's milk). This town has the most cholesterol rich food and viands that you could think of that my cholesterol levels shoot up to a daunting 254. And yes it is way above normal levels.

So, I was determined to follow the General Motor's Diet. It's a diet program developed by employees and dependents of General Motors and they said it is effective in cleansing and weight loss. To sum it all up, I am supposed to eat fruits for the first day, vegetables on the 2nd... etc. Just click on the link if you are interested. I am currently on Day 1: Fruits except bananas and other sugary, starchy fruits. So the day is almost done and I have only eaten watermelon and melon slices, pineapple chunks and 1 Fuji apple. I should be proud of my determination! Amidst my staff eating creamy and tasty chicken pastel and sweet and sour meatballs, I was munching boringly on a bland melon slice, keeping myself from inhaling the aroma of the food too much because I know, I might give in...

But still, I am much determined. So, stay with me and see if my adventure on DIETing will end positively. I might go haywire from sugar, cholesterol and sodium withdrawal. :)

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Yes. The foodie inside me could not wait anymore. My foodie alterego have been lying dormant for quite some time already... for several years actually. It started with simple urges to cook and bake. Then, over time, I noticed I have been baking more and cooking more (much to the delight of my friends and family). Soon, I began to make my own signature dishes, watch food blogs and cooking shows and read books about cooking and baking. My friends started to notice that I can't resist taking pictures of the food I eat and discover. But what amazes me the most in my transformation, is the voice inside my head telling me what to do, how to do it and that exciting feeling to share my works of art. Yes, cooking is an art... but for me I believe that my journey and my inclination to cooking is an instinct. It has been inside me waiting to break free. I started with nothing and I don't even have a lot of baking materials and paraphernalia but I have been cooking sumptuous and delicious food and pastries for a while now. And now, here I am posting and starting my own blog about my adventures in food for the first time.

Just stay with me... walk by my side and have an adventure with me.

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