Chocolat a Real Treat

Being an self-confessed chocoholic having a bite from one of the best chocolate cake here in Manila, according to Lori's blog Dessert Comes First. I had a chance to make it happen when my sister and I were doing our window shopping at Mall of Asia and we happen to saw Chocolat and my sister said that their cakes are good but not to her liking coz she prefer her cake fudgy kind. Me? I like to eat anything that has chocolate in it, chocolate is pure indulgence for me.

When we first walked in Chocolat the ambiance is laid back and cozy feel. I also was amazed at the lady who at that time was icing the cake and dousing it with Kahlua syrup. I, of course had a hard time deciding which one to buy after 15 minutes of ogling on the various cakes. I finally decided on the Chocolate Kahlua Cake, after my sister implored me to hurry up!:) and She decided to have Chocolate Hazelnut Cake (and here I thought she didn't like it :) ) The design of the cake is nothing special it, looks homemade, I think thats the part of the charm. We had it wrapped on the go so we can proceed and do our window shopping.

When I got home, I quickly went into my room and privately savored the cake. It was disappointing to see that my slice of Chocolate Kahlua Cake looks kinda molested, maybe it got bangged around to much with all the shopping I did. Hmmm...but the still have to do taste test. The taste is still good its quite diffrent from other Chocolate Cakes that I tasted before its super moist! I like it! With all the syrup that I saw the lady brushed on top and bottom of the cake its no wonder its super moist!

I'm already planning to go back there and try other cakes available....maybe the Chocolate Hazelnut Cake or maybe the Chocolate Decadent Cake or the Classic Chocolate Cake or... oh I'm getting excited just thinking about them! jezz! better return there fast! :)

Yikes! Aloe Juice

Ever heard or tasted Aloevera Juice? My first reaction when my sister presented it to was "Isn't alovera for shampoo!?!" My sister laugh at me and told me to give it whirl.

Alovera or aloe for short is a plant with huge firm leaves that when you break them open you'd get this goey white substance which supposedly according to my grandma will make your hair thick! So I'm thinking hmmm... I do hope drinking the aloe juice won't make my tongue swell and get thick too! I hope not...maybe not coz my sister can still talk and she's not slurring so theirs nothing wrong with her tongue. So hear goes....

When I pour it out of the bottle, I'm quite surprise that the juice itself is transparent, I assumed that it would be green too! you can see pulp floating around the liquid, I guess that where the aloe essense is. After running out of excuses no to try it, finally shut my whinning and gave it a try. It actually is quite sweet & refreshing and the pulps are a bit tangy, which is a nice surprise, I like it, good combination of flavor, its different but good. Its one of those, either you love it or hate it kinda drink. Me? it has my YES vote!

My #1 Cookie

Chocolate Chip Cookies are my all time #1 favorite cookie of all time. I prefer the thick, big and chewy compared to the crisp thin ones. Chocolate Chip Cookies are one of the easiest baked goodies that can be whipped up in a flash. Before finally settling on a favorite Chocolate Chip Cookie recipe, I've baked and tested sooo many recipes from that internet that I got a cookie phobia! (that was few years ago, now I got over my phobia and became a cookie monster!) For more than a month or so, I didn't eat or bake any kind/version of chocolate chip cookie.

On a hot, sunny laid back summer after while having my daily dose for Food TV, I chanced upon Alton Brown's Good Eats (one of my favorite show, so sad when it when off the air), he talked about the different Types of Chocolate Chip Cookies: The Cakey, The Puffy & The Crisp I'm like "there are more then one kind?" I was absolutely baffled and surprise coz for me chocolate chip cookies are chocolate chip cookies. Before watching that show I had no idea that it is so. The first time I watched that show I didn't get to see it from the start, I watched my TV like a hawk waiting for the re-run. Finally the cookie Gods were on my side, I finally caught the commercial stating when the re-run would be. I got my trusty VHS player ready and I've watched that show so many times that I lost count. Guess what? :) I got over my cookie phobia in a flash! I tried all three types of Chocolate Chip Cookies, I did trial and ever trying to perfect the taste and the look of the cookies. Even when I was starting out my Chocolate Chip Cookie experimentation phase, I never could never stand those tiny bite size cookies. I love those huge American size cookies (my brother loves the huge ones too, surprise, surprise)!

I remember one Christmas(during Christmas, selling baked goodies are the regular pass time of Filipinos to earn some pocket money), I tried to sell my cookies to my Aunt, she planned on giving it way to her clients, I gave her the quotation on how much it would cost. She was like "Ha! That's super expensive for cookies, you should make it smaller so that it would be much more cost effective" I'm like "Sorry Aunt, but no. Cause aside from the taste that's what makes my cookie different" Ever since that scenario, I'm not that inclined to sell my baked goodies to clients that look at the price and not the quality of the product itself. I mean, for me nothing ruins the warm, cozy, homey feeling that Chocolate Chip Cookie brings than a badly made one.

Brownie Night

After a long day from work, nothing beats a huge chunk of Chocolate Brownie from French Baker to chase all the worries and sores away and bring forth the pleasure chocolate in your mouth. Its a long piece of soft brownie with a thick chocolate coating which is good to eat when cold but much better eaten at room temperature. Its actually a simple brownie and I think any homemakers out there, even I could make it but still for me desserts taste soo much better when someone else made it for me, I thinks its the instant gratification that I get! Yummy! I'm craving for another as I type :)

A day of Shopping

Sunday mornings are usually the time wherein I catch up with my sleep. This sunday it was different. I woke up 8 in the morning coz my brother G will be having his first entrance exam in UP Diliman (a popular State University, here in Manila). My dad, my mom and I was there to send him off to school.

After seeing him safely enters UP campus, we went straight to SM North EDSA where there was an ongoing sale, we sure love a good bargain. We got there around 12 nn, my dad who was on a look out for new shoes and clothes, coz his old work oout shoes doesn't fit him as well as before, immediately went to the shoe section. My mom was on a search for a nice work out shoes and work out attire. I on the other hand was in search for a paperback novel from my favorite author. after having our initial purchase at hand around 2:30 pm we got hungry.

We went to the Block, which is a new wing of the Mall. Its huge and still quite empty with just a few stores open. With the choices of food still limited to Japanese or Filipino food, I immediately voted for the Japanese. We saw Kimono Ken from a distance and descided to give it a try. The ambiance is quite nice smooth lines zen like with soothing bold, rich color schemes. I liked it very much the waiters are very nice, very accomodating. However the service is a bit slow may be because they just recently opened a week before.

Here comes the best part the food! My favorite Japanese foods are the maki, so I ordered Futomaki as the appetizers, which were made beautifully. My dad had Miso Soup, one of his favorites, he said it was nice however the seaweeds where not present instead there were green leafy veggies that was used as stunt double. We also ordered Gyoza, a Japanese pan

fried dumpling. Gindara, a Japanese style fish which was excellent very tasty! I like most of the food that we ordered which is not a surprise coz I really like Japanese food. The only thing I didn't like very much which is the rice, I believe that REAL Japanese rice are suppose to be sticky. Kimono Ken's Japanese rice aren't, I was a bit harder to eat the rice with chopsticks, they kept falling off!!! It somehow ruin the experience of eating Japanese food. The servings I like especially for the Futomaki coz normally maki's are priced so expensive and you'd get only 4, 6 pcs max. Here they serve the Futomaki by 8, which is plenty enough for us 3 diners. We didn't have desserts coz nothing on the menu seems special or intruiging enough to try. Having our stomach filled, we were off shopping again!

Phew! round 5 pm my mom got tired so we went in search for a coffee house where we could lounge around and where mom could plop her feet up. Its a nice little booth located on to top level of the mall, the serves are very nice they are all smiles. They even have a 20% off on the drinks which is a nice treat after walking around the mall for such a long time. My dad notice that chairs are nice, super comfy! fits your bum nicely :) it craddles your back nicely too!

My dad had a Brewed Coffee and my mom had water. Me? well.. having a sweet tooth, which wasn't fulfilled during lunch I had to have a cake, they call it Aphrodite Chocolate Mouse Cake & a Frappucino. the cake's bottom layer is made of a chocolate brownie topped with a huge layer of chocolate mousse. It taste nice, not excellent coz the first time I put in inside my mouth I didn't taste anything after 3 to 5 spoonfuls of it, that's when the chocolate taste hits me. hmmmm... chocolate! It lacks the omph! that I expect from mousse that makes them soo good. There mocha Frapp was smooth like Starbucks which I like, I hate drinking those Fraps where I could see the huge chunk of ices floating around.

After 7 hours! That's the longest time I've been in the mall (well, except when I'm doing my christmas Shopping, which is another story:) ) The sun is down the moon is up, we went to fetch my brother from UP and dragged my tired, sleepy body into bed.

An Afternoon w/ WOFEX

"Food Expo?" my mom said.
"Yup!" I replied with a wide smile
"What are going to do in a Food Expo?" my mom asked frowning.
I just smiled wider

I love going to food expos, I can't explain it to non foodes like my mom. Its been so long since I've been into one that, as soon as I heard that there's a World Food Expo(WOFEX) this August 2 - 5, I contacted my foodie friends from college. We went on its last day Aug. 5, there were so many people there that I wasn't able to take more decent pictures. Even the lines for the registration was so long...but thankfully its in fast pace.

What I love in going to Food expo especially this one, is that I get to see all the latest gadgets a baker would like to have in her cupboard. There were huge array of the uber popular Silicon baking pans, spatulas & etc. to choose from. I would have loved to buy some of those uniquely shaped silicon pans but they are still super expensive coz I think its because that Silicon based materials have just been introduced locally here in our market. I think there are only two companies the Silicon Zone and the other I don't remenber that name. I remember Silicon Zone because I have a baking sheet liner from this brand, its like a Silpat, but much lighter and much cheaper. What I like most about the said brand is that I find them more pleasing to the eyes because the color of each silicon baking pans/materials they carry are rich and vibrant! The other brand carries pale and pastel colors that make them looks cheap which is not so because the prices of both products are basically the same. Hopefully after few years when Silicon based products are more popular locally, the prices would turn reasonable. Don't worry I didn't keave there empty handed, I happily purchase of rich blue and red silicon spatulas which is relatively cheap @ P200 for the medium size and P230 for the big one. When I first bought my rubber maid silicon spatula it cost me around P350 for a medium size one and that time I even bought it during sale!

Aside from all the new food related gadgets and machineries that we saw, my absolutely BEST reason for going there was tasting all the FOOD!!! The most memorable that I tasted was the Mini Chocolate Fountain with Melted Belgian Chocolate, hmmmm...I could have stayed there forever if I could have. We got to taste a lot of fizzy drinks, different kind of juices, hot chocolates. Its unfortunate that I didn't get to purchase the Brocolli Juice, cause I wasn't goinf straight home after the expo, I was afraid it might get spoiled inside the car. It was sooo good you wouldn't think that its Brocolli of all things. I tasted a lot like apple juice but it has a different, good but different after taste which was actually nice. The weirdest thing that I have ever tasted were the processed foods made of tuna! There were tuna hotdog, tuna embotido, tuna longanisa, tuna sausage, tuna burger & many more....I didn't like them that much coz it tasted a bit funny. They all have the same weird after taste, didn't like it that much. but I guess if I'm going to turn semi-vegetarian they are a good alternative. Just not for me.

Next year, I'd be there with bells on!