one typical pinoy dish

sarciadong manok. (tomato sauce-chicken)

chicken cooked in onions, tomatoes. with fried potatoes and peppers (oops i forgot to put those peppers) hahaha!

i got tired chopping so much onions, so i ended up electrically chopping the tomatoes. hahaha! it was crunch time, almost lunch time when i did our food. and the good thing about it, my son was just in the same kitchen, playing with the garlic cloves. that was his babysitter, the garlic cloves.

my son loves tomato based dishes and we do too.

tomorrow will be sinigang na baboy (sour tamarind broth-pork) which my little brother requested.
i have to buy fresh tamarind tomorrow for the broth.
:) we don't use those ready to use cubes you know.

mom's cookie giveaway

to start this, i will show the nigella lawson's victoria sponge i tested for my mom's 50th birthday cake this sunday. i made it yesterday, half recipe only. and boy, it gave me confidence to make more cakes. but really, i don't like character cakes and celebration cakes. i am more into the classy stuff, gourmet type of cakes, especially cheesecakes and nigella's recipes. and quick breads, and bars and cookies.



i still can't believe that i am baking now. and baking a cake. a sponge cake. this was very easy to make. and is good enough. i will be making three more of these. and the cake i decided to make is a square. three layer, with swiss buttercream frosting and maybe some strawberry buttercream filling. will be doing this on saturday everning. my friend, anna, will be providing me the number 50 and a letter B made out of fondant to be put on top of the cake. i don't like to mold and i don't really know how. hehehe. the color of the cake would be goldish brown, if i can achieve that. and i might just put gold dragees around the cake and outline it with dots. :) i can imagine it now. today i finished, well with my son's help, we finished 50 pieces of letter B cookies.

almost half of the cookies were decorated by my son. and he was so proud. when my mom arrived today, he said, "close your eyes, tadaaaaah!!! happy birthday!!!" hehehe! so cute!
and so that is done. and time to pack it and with a gold ribbon to seal the plastic.

i hope my mom's guests will love it.


the helper


my work


his work


before decorating the B cookies

next things to do are the toppings for the panna cotta, mini tart shells for the fruit tart and choco mousse tart, potato gratin and marinade the roast beef, the gravy and so much more. these are the things i need to do this whole week.

and so help me God. i need a dishwasher.

what's in my oven?

ok i wasn't able to blog about my event last weekend, march 21st. it was my homebakers' group meet up for the first quarter of 2009. it was called baked photography day. because i decided to share food photography tips and food styling. i invited my friend, master ricky ladia, and even red posion to join. there were lots of food and lots of stuff to do. he thought us so many and was even down on their knees asking how to adjust the settings of their cameras. after that we shoot some baked goods, obviously my pannacotta, my pavlova and my thumbprint cookies. there were others too who shared some of their goodies. like these cupcakes and this cheesecake. and this choco caramel cake.




and i was so heartwarming for everyone who tasted my pavlova and panna cotta and thumbprint cookies, and their feedback was everything was so good. and they had so much to learn from the photography workshop. and that they enjoyed the meetup.

it was a fun filled day! i will always remember it.

this coming may, it will be our anniversary meetup. another member is organizing it. can't wait for that one. what will i share to them? can you suggest? maybe bread?

***

this has been my photos inside my oven


today i tried to test the lemon pound cake recipe. and i didn't like what happend to it. so i threw it away. hehe!

and then i made lemon sugar cookies, cut it into a letter B (my mom's name starts with a B), because this will be the give away to the guests on my mom's upcoming 50th birthday. april 5th. same birthday as the president of the philippines. my son and i will decorate these, as soon as i get 50 plus cookies cooled and ready for decorating. my son will enjoy that!
:)

also not only the B cookies, i still have to make tiny fruit tarts, tiny choco mousse tarts, and maybe tiny pavlovas and panna cottas. also different toppings for the panna cotta. and cutout fruit platter or maybe skewer them, that would look nicer.

i need to make potato gratin too for the roast beef. and i will be roasting the beef. and the gravy and herbed butter. a close friend will cater the other foods to be shared on my mom's bday. we are expecting all our relatives and friends to come over. we don't really plan parties. this will be a big one.
and i hope they'll like my food and the effort i will be putting on this.

the things...

...i have done for the past week, since my laptop charger broke down.

and today i am borrowing my brother's charger.

i am so tired and its 1:30am already.

will talk about what happened yesterday,march 21st.

will sleep this off.

thanks for looking!
:)

brownie after 3 years

i am super duper happy to announce this.

ok here is the first baked goodie i made after three years of not baking anything. well i did bake for awhile, but not everyday. i made this last friday night.

semi sweet choco chip brownies
it was a hit, i brought it home to tagaytay over the weekend to let my folks and our relatives to taste it.

but i still got 4 left here which i will be eating tomorrow with ice cream!!!

the first thing came out of my oven is a brownie
:) yipeeeeeeeee

today i made another baked goodie again
let's see what those are... tomorrow

its getting kinda addictive now...
not really, too early to tell hehehehe!

my son's heavenly snack

just sharing our dessert for the past days

cookies and cream ice cream

two bananas

and strawberry syrup

:)

and he really really loves it! who wouldn't?

moved and my kitchen showcase

*display kitchen


*dirty kitchen




i haven't been online for awhile. was just using my celphone to check my mails. anyways, even if i posted that my online shop is closed until further notice, clients and inquiries kept on coming in. such blessings.

and so now i am back. got my laptop charger and our dsl connection today. and finally i can blog blog blog and edit edit edit all my price lists and my site. seven spice shop is up and running again even if i still have so much to do.

i finally moved in. and i still do not have a nanny. which is kinda frustrating because each day i have to clean the house, take care of my kid and walk the dogs, and cook breakfast, lunch and dinner. me, the husband and my son are the ones staying here at my folks. my folks are still moving their stuff. they haven't settled in.

i kinda run this household. i am responsible for this house. anyways, i just wanna share our new space, of course my favorite spot, the kitchen. i took a photo of it before i put all my stuff. i'll take a photo by today to see how dirty it is now hehehehehe!

i already posted my oven before. and now this. and some parts of the house.
thanks to everyone who has been supporting me along the way, especially my folks.
:)

from this day on, i have been really busy organizing and cleaning. plus getting my act together and getting ready to bake again. i can't wait. a lot has been waiting for the time i can share my stuff from my kitchen.
and now i can finally do it.

about finding work in a hotel, i might work soon in a hotel somewhere in manila. hopefully by the end of march, and before that happens, i should have a nanny by then.

haaaaaaaaaaaaaay. so much to do.

for all my clients, thanks for supporting seven spice shop more!
:)

continuation of decorating weekend

here is the link of my flickr where the photos of the wilton classes i took (course 1 and 2) here in manila.

http://flickr.com/photos/isipanini/sets/72157614984062693/

the continuation of the decorating weekend.

sorry it took so long because i was moving. finally we got internet connection. but i still have to get my desktop at my grandparents' house.

:)