foodbuzzzzzz

and so i became a featured publisher!

yay!

so happy!

a good way to start the year!

more and more foodies to come
:)

so i guess i will be requesting (or demanding hehe!) to vote for me
and join in foodbuzz! really great site to learn so much about food from all the food bloggers around the world!

thanks FOODBUZZ!
:)

cakespy's happy gifts!

miss jessie of cakespy very thoughtfully and whole heartedly gave me freebies that came along with these paintings.



i am such a happy girl when my folks finally came home from the US, and brought home these stuff for me. since it is expensive to let it ship here in manila. so instead i let miss jessie send it over at my aunt's house in US.

i was so surprised that miss jessie even gave me gifts and a lovely note.

i think i am the first here in manila to get cakespy's merchandise. hehehe! i hope cakespy will get more fans from here. i mean, alot are into baking cuppies nowadays.

miss jessie, i love love love these super duper cute paintings and of course the bookmark, and the two greeting cards and that lovely note you sent me.

thank you so much! one of the best xmas gift of 2008!
:) second was the new laptop.

*hmmm... me think i should get the cakespy apron too....next time!!!

my son's 3rd birthday/new year's eve/happy 2009!!!

i got sick, december 29th, ranting i shouldn't be sick today,not when i need to do so many things for my son's bday, so i started drinking the sekem flu tea (like four times, hot, so my colds and flu will be gone before my son's bday) i went to my favorite market, "suki market" and bought everything i need. i even got a haircut that day just so i will look good for the new year hehehe!
i marinated the beef that night. i wasn't able to sleep well that night.

december 30th, the day before my son's bday, i prepared everything. as in everything. pre cut the ingredients for the salad, the garlic sauce, the lemon butter sauce, the cucumber raita, the marination mixture for my seafood, and cut all the vegetables needed to make the kebabs. that night, i finished doing all the beef kebabs. i was still sick, so i just managed to do what i think is enough for my son's bday.

december 31st, i woke up so early today just so i can get the freshest shrimps and lapu lapu fish for the seafood kebabs. filleted the fish and took off all the skin and head of the shrimps and made them into kebabs and put in the marination. i actually got time to take a bath and even rest, since i was still struggling with my nose. i started grilling around 11am. since my target was lunchtime. some of my relatives were early to get in here, and my uncle bought one whole lechon (this is one of the best, promise. i grew up eating this lechon being cook right before our eyes at this house nearby, it comes with the best lechon sauce too!) my uncle was the one who cut and serve the lechon. i managed to finished grilling when everybody got here. i really enjoyed the outcome of the kebabs, was really really delicious!(that was everybody's feedback) i was really happy with my garlic sauce too and the salad really went well with the rest of the food.

so my menu was only rice, lechon, seafood and beef kebabs, and the greek salad. i was trying to be greek hehe!

our dessert was the wall-e cake.

i can't imagine he's 3 now.
next year again...

:) this is my only time to show my wonders in cooking a cuisine, every birthday of my son. i don't really have enough time to make these everyday (besides i only get my budget for making alot of food during the holidays)

HAPPY HAPPY NEW YEAR! HAPPY 2009!

we got a lot of food, so this will also be our new year's eve foodies. hehehe!
ok, now i have to rest, before all the fireworks take off later around the neighborhood...

mango butterscotch heaven!

yes! its true! i am in butterscotch heaven!





i went to guimaras for the first time when i was in college with a couple of friends and my family. it was our first time to go on a vacation in the visayas region and we have relatives in iloilo, so we decided to go to guimaras as well. my dad has a friend over there too. and we all know guimaras is the place where we can get the best mangoes in the whole universe! i will always remember our trip there! and we have been there twice and we will always remember the food trips we had there! such fun and luck we had! i recommend guimaras to be one of the best places to unwind and to stay for a long, quiet, get away. and that is where i first tasted mango butterscotch. and i remember i only got one box of it. it was made by a monastery there we visited, they got this store full of mango goodies. from mango wine and dried mangoes and other goodies made from their famous mangoes.

from that point on, i was in search of other mango butterscotch makers. and i discovered miss joyce aragon's mango butterscotch at one of the baker's dozen events at rockwell mall in makati.




its like i have been eating these for the past month, i have been craving and craving, and i can't stop eating it!!! i am getting huge!!! due to this holiday season plus discovering these best treats in town! miss joyce's butterscotch wonders are in variety as well, she also got cashew and choco oatmeal butterscotch. very reasonable prices! so chewy and soft and i really love the sweetness and saltiness in these little bites. i really can't get enough of it. sorry, they really are my favorite!

to know more about miss joyce's products
please visit her multiply site Joyce's Homemade Foods http://joycearagonfoods.multiply.com/
contact her at this number (632) 853-0129

tienda isabel

Tin has become a homebaker friend since i met her when she ordered toppers from me. and when i came over at her little store in her house at San Juan, it was a big treat! i met her cute daughter too, Isabel, hence the name of her bake shop.





it was nice of her to let me taste newly baked buttercake and shavings from the chocolate banana cakes and first time to try the miniature fudge brownies, that kids truly love like popcorn.
again, i went to her store again to deliver cakestands she ordered from me, and i got some baked christmas goodies i wanted to try. of course i got the fudge brownies and the apple walnut loaf and the banana walnut loaf.

i like the banana walnut loaf compared to the apple walnut. i guess i am really a banana cake fan. the fudge brownies of course is a hit here at home, to my grandfolks and to my son.
i really like how Tin manages her shop and her baked goods. i think she is one fine home baker that i know. good luck to you Tin and more baked goodies for you!



if you like to try her products and also she cam make very wonderful celebration cakes. please visit her multiply site Tienda Isabel http://tiendaisabel.multiply.com/
contact number is (632)723-8292
her little shop is along wilson street, san juan. very near greenhills.

cookie cutters and the upcoming holidays

i finally got them all! my first online shopping spree! cookie cutters from singapore and from japan!
thanks so much to wasabees from singapore and dewi from japan.

i have been giving myself gifts for the past week.




i even got "the modern baker" by my master baker idol nick malgieri!

its definitely happy happy happy holidays for me!

i am already at my grandfolks, and i will be cooking for christmas and for new year's eve (that is my son's 3rd birthday too!)

we can't wait for our 3rd year of being a toddler to start!

i thank everybody who has been supporting me, and seven spice shop. my online shop really kicked in some surprises before december. and i am very, very thankful for all the blessings. i found new homebaker friends too, been blessed with alot of opportunities that have been accepted and also been declined. and to top it all off, we will be moving in to a new, permanent home soon!

God is good.

2009 will be our year. i got a lot of plans in store! i can't wait!
:)

HAPPY HAPPY HOLIDAYS TO ALL!

FHO BAKESALE!

*as a member of FHO, i am promoting this to share the love this christmas season. i am sorry but i won't be able to go at our event due to a family event at tagaytay. wish i could man our booth and go to whitecross and bilibid. but i will be donating gift baskets to the two beneficiaries. this will be an on going project of our group. we will be doing this every year in order to give our love to others. we are a group not only gives love and passion about baking and cooking but also in giving and supporting and helping those in need.*

*to mercedes of petite patisserie, thank you very much for organizing this event for us! really really glad you are a part of FHO!*

PLEASE SUPPORT!!! thank you!!!

Filipina Homebakers Online (FHO) invites you to our FHO Bakesale for the Benefit of Bilibid Prison and White Cross Orphanage!We will have a booth at the Ateneo Alumni Grand Homecoming on Saturday, December 6, 2008 from 6pm-2am. Venue is at the Ateneo High School Covered Courts. A huge variety of pastries specially baked by FHO members will be available for sale!

Christmas cupcakes, bars, cookies and specialty pastries await ! We will be beside Gloria Jean's Coffee and Cello's Doughnuts. Please join us in putting faith into action by buying our baked goods or donating cash. Your donation will be an early Christmas Gift to the Prisoners of Bilibid (the Juvenile and Elderly inmates), the Maximum Security Prison Baking School and the orphans of White Cross ! The FHO Bake sale is proudly sponsored by Liberty Mills (Gold Medal Flour, Maya Cake Flour, Maya Hotcakes and Mixes) and the Maya Kitchen Culinary Arts Center.

The theme of the Ateneo Alumni Grand Homecoming is “ Ang Maglingkod nang Buong Dangal at Galing”.(AMDG - Ad Majorem Dei Gloriam - For the Greater Glory of God"-Ateneo's Creed ! ) Truly, we are one with the theme of baking for God's greater glory - by making the best pastries for the Ateneo Alumni, the children of White Cross Orphanage and the prisoners of Bilibid.!

All proceeds of the FHO Bake sale will go Bilibid Prison (JVP) and White Cross Orphanage. Baked goodies set aside by FHO will be distributed on December 7 to both White Cross and Bilbid Prison.

Bilibid Prison is an apostolate of the JVP (Jesuit Volunteers of the Philippines) and the Chaplain of Bilibid is Fr. Jonjee Sumpaico, SJ. They have a baking school inside the compound of the Maximum Security Prison . Half of the cash proceeds generated by the FHO bake sale, together with several cases of Gold Medal Flour/Maya Cake Flour and assorted baking mixes donated by Liberty Mills will be donated to the Baking School. The pastries baked by FHO members will be given to the Juvenile inmates and the Elderly in Bilibid.

White Cross (Santolan Road, QC) was first conceived as a child welfare institution catering to the children of parents with tuberculosis and has now blossomed through the years. The humble efforts of a group of civic minded citizens and the undying dedication of the Daughters of Charity are now implanted in the lives of thousands. The continuous growth and increasing number of beneficiaries are living testimonies to all of these

"We have assumed an undertaking which is indeed superior to our strength. We were brave because to a great extent we were ignorant to the magnitude of our undertaking. But this is the work of God. We may not succeed, but White Cross cannot fail."

These were the words of Mrs. Victoria Lopez de Araneta, founder and president of White Cross, on the Formal Inauguration of the institution on September 10, 1938. FHO will echo those inspiring words by putting them into action: donating pastries and half of the proceeds of the FHO bake sale to White Cross which will benefit their numerous programs which support the depressed communities in Santolan,Q.C..

Filipina Homebakers Online is composed of 61 talented Filipinas who bake from home. We have a website devoted to a forum on anything baking related under the sun. We also have quarterly meet-ups which include costing, baking demos and good-natured FUN as part of our activities. Through FHO we have fostered wonderful friendships and a strong sisterhood. We put our hearts into each and every cup of flour and sugar that we add to our baked goodies, in the same way that we put our hearts into our group. Our oath is : “We vow to be KIND and COMPASSIONATE, HONEST, RESPECTFUL, TRUSTWORTHY and FRIENDLY towards fellow FHO members and to our clients, so help us God”.

We enjoin you to support our FHO Bake sale and make it a success! Please contact: Maria Mercedes Camacho (Pastry Chef) at 09178961215 (email: des.camacho@yahoo.com) for cash donations and for any questions regarding the FHO Bake sale.

Please watch Q11's Fit and Fab on Tuesday, Dec 2, 7:25pm (Replay on Sunday 11:00pm) where the FHO bakesale together with Petite Patisserie(owned by Mercedes) will be featured!

Link to Filipina Homebakers Online (FHO):
http://www.filipinahomebakers.multiply.com/

Link to the Ateneo Alumni Grand Homecoming Website :
http://www.ateneo.edu/index.php?p=2484

Links to JVP and White Cross:

http://www.dot.com.ph/whitecross/http://www.jvpfi.org/donate.shtml