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

leche flans & my dad as the cook

i am sure most of us grew up eating leche flan. my dad used to make up to 6 to 10 oval pans, when i was little. i shake the milk cans and grate the lime zest and just mix everything with the egg yolks, (my dad separates the egg yolks from the egg whites)

every christmas season we do this. well except for now, things have changed, but my dad still loves to cook. nowadays he just grill or make the nicest fresh juices, etc. my dad also makes the best bbq sauce, sushi and other japanese rolls. he still makes very good breakfast and fried rice. but since he is getting tired, getting old each day, he sometimes doesn't have time to do these things anymore. that is why i do these things now for them. they expect me to cook everytime we have a get together at tagaytay especially if they got visitors.

i think creme brulee and leche flan are somewhat similar. creme brulee is French word for "burnt cream", it is a dessert consisting of a rich custard base topped with a layer of hard caramel, created by burning sugar with a blowtorch. It is usually served cold in individual ramekins.
its similar because its both custard. difference is creme brulee has a layer of hard caramel top, and leche flan doesn't have that hard layer, our leche flan has the brown soft layer on top because of the brown sugar syrup put in the bottom of the oval pan and then cooled, and then put the custard, covered with foil and then cooked in a rice cooker with water. that is how we do it in the olden days. we didn't have an oven working before. majority of filipinos are stove top cookers. :) leche flan or creme caramel as they also call it (because of this "culinary fever" as i heard on the tv when a chef was being interviewed HAHA!)

anyways here is the recipe of creme brulee



2 large lemons
3 cups heavy cream
About 10 tablespoons light brown sugar or turbinado sugar (its similar to brown sugar but its pale and are large crystals)
6 large egg yolks
1/2 teaspoon vanilla

special equipment: 8 (4-oz) flameproof ramekins; a small blowtorch

Put oven rack in middle position and preheat oven to 325F.

Finely grate 2 tablespoons zest from lemons into cream in a 2- to 3-quart heavy saucepan. Stir in 7 tablespoons turbinado sugar and a pinch of salt. Heat mixture over moderately low heat, stirring occasionally, until almost boiling, then remove from heat.

Lightly beat yolks in a bowl, then gradually whisk in hot cream. Pour custard through a fine-mesh sieve into a quart-size glass measure and stir in vanilla and 1 teaspoon fresh lemon juice. Divide among ramekins.

Arrange ramekins in a roasting pan and bake in a water bath until custards are just set around edge but centers wobble when pan is gently shaken, 30 to 35 minutes. Cool custards in water bath 20 minutes, then remove from pan and chill, uncovered, at least 4 hours. (Custards will set completely as they chill.) Sprinkle about 1 teaspoon turbinado sugar evenly over each custard, then move blowtorch flame evenly back and forth close to sugar until sugar is caramelized. Let stand until caramel is hardened, 3 to 5 minutes.

Custards can be chilled, covered with a sheet of plastic wrap after 4 hours, up to 2 days. Very gently blot with paper towels before sprinkling with sugar and caramelizing.

:)

ikatlong banat exhibit

my first entry for an exhibit, organized by flickr philippines. i may not know too well most of the people from flickr philippines, but i met some of the key people before. i am little bit active in the forums but the members have been very supportive and very warm :)

this was the photo i entered since i ate this last 08.08.08 and that was the theme of the exhibit.

i won't forget this, because when i ate this cake, it caused me one tooth. good thing its a molar. i can still smile perfectly hahaha

:) thank you for the admin and members who organized and set up the exhibit. i wasn't able to go, though the venue is just our neighbor. i went there with my husband and son, last friday. and i wasn't able to go to the last night when it was awarding time. my friend, JM won. congrats dude!!!

this week in pinoycentric..

not this week! :)

for years i have been a member of flickr. and a member of several groups. and one is pinoycentric. i have been submitting and sharing my photos to pinoycentric and after a year, this is the only time i came across this...

http://pinoycentric.com/2007/09/21/this-week-in-pinoycentric-22/



ahahaha! that is my ensaymada photo i took when i was studying. i was only using a cybershot then. the photo was featured september 21st of 2007! ahahahaha! and its already october 2008!

thank you so much pinoycentric!

and i am sorry if i haven't visited that much before, and its really funny that only after a year i came across this!

more power to you guys! thanks so much again

:) will do visit more and submit more photos in the group!

maybe in the future...i will get one of my food photos in a cover of a magazine! my dream!

singing bee from anna bananna's online bakeshop

one of my closest FHO member, well became a friend who i can call anytime haha, is anna. she owns anna bananna's online bakeshop in multiply.

she brought at our last meet up her super showbuzzzzz, as in aired at singing bee show in abs-cbn, her singing bee cupcakes! pretty cool and cute eh?

she gave me two pieces already since i told her i want souvenir of the cupcake itself! i even told her, good thing she's already my friend before she became famous because of her singing bee cupcakes! hahahaha!

and then at our second FHO meet up recently, i won the singing contest! as if i have a good voice! that videoke is lying! i got a 90! hahahaha! i sang rainy days and mondays by the carpenters. but then i gave out the other 5 singing bee cupcakes to fellow FHO members, i just got the best one among them. since i already got two from anna.

anna is a genius! she knows alot of baking tips and baking stuff i don't even know. she used to be a resource person, and now she has become our resource person for practical tips in baking in our group. not only she can do these inspired singing bee cupcakes but alot more, from cupcakes, to cakes, to cookies, and more baked goodies to choose from. visit her online bakeshop at multiply please!

thanks so much anna for this! hopefully we will become business partners int he near future! nax!

anna bananna's online bakeshop
by Anna Alconaba 09204721137
annabananna72.multiply.com

her best sellers:
Better Than Sex Brownies
Double Chocolate Fudge Brownies
Chocolate Banana Cake with chocolate glaze
Chunky Banana Streusel cake

chipper cupcakes

since i have been a principal member of FHO-Filipina Homebakers Online group in multiply. (well, just today i am part of the admin group! YEY!) i have tasted so many baked goods and so many good food from fellow filipinas around the metro, and from other provinces too. and some of them are really really really good at it.

during our first ever meet up, i finally met PJ, she actually was the first one i met online thru Flickr. she emailed me back about her wonderful cupcake creations. and from there, she then invited me to be part of her upcoming group in multiply, which is now FHO.

PJ is the owner of chipper cupcakes. and it was during our first meet up that we tasted her chai cupcakes. and it was the best one among all the baked goods i got to take home that day! and i even ordered for more. i was once disappointed when she forgot to bring my order when we met due to her cake stand order she made from me. but then again, as she promised, she brought 6 pieces of those chai cupcakes for me at our second meet up which was held recently. and up to now i am still munching those six chai cupcakes slowly. i still got two pieces in the ref. and it is still so yummy!

it is so light and the cream cheese topping really matches with the chai cake. PJ got so much to offer and not only these chai cupcakes are in store for you. better check out her sites.

my son loves it too. well, whatever i eat, he eats too. so i really eat healthy so my son would eat like me. but then again, craving for too much sweets like these, i really can't resist! PJ's chai cupcakes are one of my favorite finds since i saw it!

chipper cupcakes
a different cupcake experience by PJ Mariano 09178667128
chippercupcakes.i.ph
chippercupcakes.multiply.com
chipper.cupcakes@gmail.com

caesar

to my close friend anna who's been wanting to know how to make ceasar salad dressing

anna, i forgot about the mustard! hahahaha

this recipe can make almost 1 liter of ceasar salad dressing. you can half the recipe if you want.

4 pieces of fresh egg yolks
15 ml worchestershire sauce
30 g dijon mustard
2 pieces of fresh lemon
100 ml vinegar
50 g anchovies ( i used the canned ones, in olive oil)
30 g fresh, peeled and minced garlic
700 ml olive oil

salt (but i use parmesan cheese) and pepper


i crushed first the anchovies until its like a paste in a big bowl, then add mustard, garlic, egg yolks, worchestershire sauce. combine properly.

add the vinegar, lemon juice.

incorporate olive oil in a thin stream, whisking with the paste until it becomes like a fainted yellow dressing.

season with parmesan cheese and pepper, if you want you can put tabasco.

blend romaine lettuce or mixed greens with garlic croutons and more parmesan cheese. maybe some grilled chicken or beef or fish.

you can do alot of mixed salads and add up this ceasar salad dressing.
if you do not like to whisk, try doing it in a blender or food processor.

:) enjoy