Not so Kissables....

Hershey's Kisses are the IT chocolates for me! So when I heard of Hershey's new product Kissables, I got so exited that I search and search everytime we go to supermarket then finally I got my hands on one. What an utter disappointment! I thought they would be the same SIZE as my favorite Hershey's Kisses, but no they are sooo tiny like M&Ms (another favorite of mine, I like the plain one the best!) Moreover, Kissables looks so UN-kissables with all its bumps and broken shells! It looks like it got tons of cooties or something! Bummer :(

I don't know if they are trying to convert some M&M lovers to Hershey's or something by coming up with this product but for me its not something I'd be craving to have. For me, I think atleast they could have had that M&M gorgeous shinny sheen shell, no chips please! and they could have added more kissables in a pack the content are so few that its sooo "bitin!" (not enough).

This product needs a lot of improvement, Hershey people of anyone's ready just a suggestion :) I think that if they made it the same size as a regular kisses with its shell coating, please make them shinny to make the colors pop, that would be a great hit for Hershey's fan as well as M&M fans

Martha's Mousse

Being a huge CSI (Emily Proctor, was a guess) and Martha Stewart Fan, I have to try her recipe for Triple Chocolate Mousse when it aired locally at Lifestyle Network last week. My version of it I used white chocolate layer and did a speckled dark chocolate version , for the simple reason of I ran out of chocolates! Still taste great, though a caution of warning: you have line the pan with parchment paper even though the recipe does said so because being lazy that night i made these I broke TWO! trying to get the cake layer of out of my pan!(I used my souffle dishes). Its the first time I got a cake stuck on the bottom of my pan! Didn't think that would ever happen. and one more caution: If incase you would like to try and use white chocolate like I did please reduce the amount of sugar the recipe called for for the mousse cause with white chocolate being already sweet on its own, it makes it sickly sweet for my taste.

Give it a try it look quite intidating with the making of a syrup however, its actually quite easy to do just a bit messy amd tedious especially if you only have one whisk and one bowl that would fit your mixer. Again I'd encourage you to try, they look so sophisticated and classy nice for having dinner parties and stuff or just plain Sunday night desserts!

A Real Cutie!

I recently attended my cousin's kid's birthday (grand nephew, is there such a term). Anyway I love attending kiddie parties because I'm curious on what the cake and the decore would look like. My grand nephew had a Disney theme the decore is so cute and of course the giveaway cupcakes taste delish!

Its a moist, soft Chocolate Cupcake topped with a generous, vibrant colored Italian Meringue frosting and a Disney character made woth dried Royal Icing. I liked it so much that they didn't last that long it took me 5 minutes to gobble both of them up! After that I noticed that my whole mouth is BLUE! yikes!I guess they used local food coloring to color the icing. What a shame luckily after 3 brushes my teeth and mouth was back to normal. ;)

UCC's Xanadu

During one of our night out in the Fort, my sister and I indulge in UCC's Xanadu and what an indulgence it was. For P160 a piece, it was so worth it, it was that good! Its a layer of chocolate wafer as its bottom, very crisp compare to the super smooth mousse like body of the cake. Its so creamy taste so rich and sinful! Its bathe in a coating of chocolate ganache and to make things more over the top, its topped with a huge dallop of whipped cream hmmmm.... this is the first cake from UCC that I have ever tasted and all their other cakes looks so good can't wait to try others...

I'm On Print!!!

Even since graduating from college, I became a huge fan of Food Magazine, a locally based food related magazines here in Manila. Locally there are around three (3) food related magazines namely FOOD Magazine, COOKS Magazine & FLAVORS Magazine. I tried all three and personally I prefer FOOD's style, layouting abd the photos are quite impressive. Moreover, I like my magazines fully packed with recipes and especially I like the desserts they features it uses ingredients that are not hard to find which this magazine caters to my needs.

From time to time, I emailed the magazine in hoping to get featured in the Reader's Feedback corner. I wrote so many times that I even forgot that I wrote them one or what I have written for a matter of fact. Weird, right? It was actually a nice surprise when I read my name in their June 2006 issue. While I was reading the articles on the Reader's Feedback corner, I kept thinking hmm..this sounds familiar and then I saw my name on the bottom and lucky me!!! I was finally chosen! Yes! I text messages all my foodie friends and sister to tell them that I got chosen. Its weird but I felt so proud of myself :)

I got Gordon Ramsey's Passion for Seafood as my price. Since I don't cook, its no wonder it took me three months to set a date and claim my price. I think that if my price was a baking related book I would have claimed it the day after I read that article! Even so receiving book as a price is still something special and a nice surprise. Hope to get to feel that surprise rush again!

Japanese Chocolates

Days before my diet starts I indulge in Japanese chocolates, hmmm. I know you're thinking why not Belgian or Swiss chocolates, right? Well, Japanese are all I got, so I enjoyed them immensely.

Aside from chocolates I love berries too especially strawberries. So when I saw Berries A La Mode on the stand I have to try it. It has strawberries, raspberries, blueberries and something else I forgot. Anyway I was abit disappointed coz I could tell which one is which! I thought that they were arrange by column or by row but they are not! They all look the same it has creme center and on top of the center there is a dab of flavoring that is so subdue it lacks the berry punch! An utter disappointment :(

Crunchy as the name suggest its full of rice crispies also known as pinipig here in Manila. Its a rather thin milk chocolate bar with a nice crunch in every bite. Yummy!!!

When I first broke the bar in half. I thought that the rice crispies aren't enough but when I looked at the back WOW! look at all those crunch! (picture at the bottom)

Last but not the least the Bittersweet chocolate named Dars (first picture in the middle), of all the three chocolate bars that I purchased this is my favourite, it has this nice silky texture it was sooooo good that I forgot to take some photos! Maybe after my diet, I'll get to eat another and show you some photos. :)

First Trip to Chef's Nook

After months of procrastinating, I finally, in one warm Monday morning, dragged my self and my dad to Chef's Nook. I heard so many times that they have this huge array of hard to find ingredients. With my list ready in one hand and my dad's wallet on the other, I entered the store and was quite surprised to see that the store is small and cozy. I thought it would be huge like othe baking supply store in Quezon City (another city in the Philippines). Even though it lacks the size o be impressive, I'm still impress especially with Joan, the lady who manages the store. She's so nice and helpful, unlike in some baking and supply store like the one in Quezon City. Anyway I puchased a LOT of guess what??? CHOCOLATES! not those local chocolate blocks (I have other suppliers for those), I bought Gourmet Quality Chocolates both in Milk Chocolate variety and Bittersweet kind. I was quite surprised that they have dried cranberries and dried blueberries on hand, I must have those stat! After so many years of wondering where to buy poppy seeds and tadah! they have those too! its the white kind not the black poppies but still poppy seeds. Ohh the trip there was soooo worth it! I'm sooo excited thinking what to bake next.

P.S. I'm still looking for Puff Pastry and Filo Dough and Green Tea powder, they didn't have these. any ideas where I can find these?