BABYSITTING AND BROWNIE CHEESECAKE

Last Friday, Vince and I babysat for our friends. Their family had babysat Vonn Kaleb a couple of times previously, so we happily returned them the favor. We babysat two of their girls, a 4-year-old and an 8-month-old.

The girls behaved very well. Vonn Kaleb kinda' behaved himself too. He was fussy in the beginning. As usual, he gets antsy when there are "other" people within touching distance around him. I'm telling you, he sees these girls twice a week at church and he's known them all his life, but still! Funny how when the girls started playing with his toys that he sort of tried to interrupt them to take his toys from them. At one point while I was in our bedroom, I heard Vince told one of the girls, "Sorry, Rosalind, Vonn Kaleb doesn't know how to share yet." 

I  felt nauseated all of a sudden while babysitting and we thought I had the flu bug, so I stayed away from the kids and kept myself in our room. I felt bad that Vince had to care for the three kids by himself and also take care of his big sick baby (moi) but he did great. He told me that Vonn Kaleb did okay with the girls. He didn't really play with them but he tolerated being around the girls without any fussing and acting out from him. 

Earlier that night, when our friends dropped off the girls to us, they gave us several homemade cheesecake squares. It was really good, I craved for more; so later that night after the girls went home, I cranked up the oven and baked some brownie cheesecake.

The recipe I followed to make this brownie cheesecake was delicious. The only tweak I will do next time I bake this is reduce the amount of sugar in the brownie fudge batter. It wasn't overly sweet but I find it to be a notch up than my preferred level of dessert sweetness. More than the yum of this brownie cheesecake, I was just happy that I was able to do something that I love doing -- baking! :)

FORGET-ME-NOTS CUPCAKES

I was out the whole day yesterday (and pretty much the whole Saturday too), so I apologize for not being able to get back right away to all of you who visited my blog, and left comments, as well as my meme hopping buddies.  Thank you!  Right now, as I write this post, from 46 comments or so, I'm down to just 22 more to approve and get back to at least on this blog (I have about 18 more on my other blog plus the Happiness Is participants that I need to visit too), so I still have a lot of catching up to do.  Hehe!

As I've said, it was a busy weekend for me.  Vince and I drove down to New Jersey yesterday.  We were invited to a lunch celebration for my goddaughter, Samantha, who I haven't seen for seven years.  She was just a baby when I last saw her in the Philippines.  Her mom (Momsie) and dad (Kuya) were both very close friends of mine way back from college.  I was one of their bridesmaids when they got married, and when the firstborn (Samantha) was christened, I was given the privilege to be one of her godmothers☻ I last saw Momsie in 2005 before I left Philippines, whereas I last saw Kuya in 2009 in New Jersey.  The story of our friendship deserves a separate post, plus I want to share some pics of us too, so I'll reserve those for a future post.

Anyway, before I end this post, let me share these cupcakes I made for my friend, Momsie.

These are chocolate cupcakes baked from scratch.  For the decoration, I used thinned royal icing and gum paste and fondant.  I was supposed to make buttercream icing, but I found that I still have a lot of royal icing in stock, so I decided to just thin the royal icing out and use that instead.  The forget-me-nots flowers were made out of gum paste and fondant mix, and the rest of the decor were thinned royal icing.

I need to practice more to improve in decorating cakes/cupcakes, especially work on my piping techniques.  I'm almost done with my second Wilton course, and later today, I will do my final cake in class for course 2.  Oh, wish me luck!

Do you know that you can store uniced cupcakes in the fridge for a week,
and in the freezer for three months? ☻

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DATE SQUARES

Vince and I already finished the cheesecake minis I baked last week, and the next on my recipe list was date squares.

The first time I had date squares was at a Druxy's down at the building of my workplace in Toronto.  I didn't know what it's called then but I really liked it.  So, one time I was Skyping with Vince, I told him about my newly-discovered-snack-the-name-of-which-I-don't-know, and based on my description, he thought I was referring to date squares.  It turned out he was right, and guess what, he likes date squares, too!  ☻

Since I left Toronto, I somehow forgot about this tasty snack, until last week when I saw a recipe of it at Joy of Baking.  I was excited to try it, so I made sure to get all the ingredients when we did our grocery shopping last weekend.  One thing though is that we don't have a food processor.  We do have a blender and a fruit juicer, so I thought that would suffice in place of a food processor.  It did, though I kinda encountered some challenges.  I initially dumped all the ingredients into the blender just as how one would do it with a food processor, but of course, that didn't work as the blender has smaller blades.  Therefore, I had to take the dry ingredients out of the blender, and then blend them in increments.  I even used my electric mixer alternating with the blender to get them all mixed together.

Anyway, in spite of my rubber spatula getting partially ripped as a result of entanglement with the blender blade while I was trying to scrape the pureed dates off, and with all that fiasco I went through while mixing the dry ingredients, I was able to pull it off.  There, I baked a pan of yummy date squares!

Hot! Fresh from the oven!

The instruction clearly said that you should wait for it to cool off completely on a cooling rack and in the fridge before slicing into squares, or else it will just fall apart.  The impatient and curious me couldn't wait that long, so before I placed it in the fridge, I sliced a square for a taste test, and here's what it looked like:

Notice that it crumbled apart and compare to the first picture above,
which looked firm and well-formed.  Oh well, at least I found out right away
that it's delicious! ☺

So, if you're interested to try this, you can find the complete recipe (with video) at Joy of Baking (site is linked above).  Like I've already said, this recipe calls for a food processor but if you don't have one, you can use a blender like I did.  You just have to mix the ingredients in increments or batches until all of them are well incorporated.  Ciao for now! ☻

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CHEESECAKE MINIS

My home cooking adventures continue, and recently, I endeavored on baking cheesecake minis.

Having spent a good amount of time reading on different recipes from the Internet and a few food magazines, I learned that baking a regular sized cheesecake employs the "water bath" technique. While I found some recipes which do not necessarily follow that, majority advises that it's best to still use water bath when baking to prevent the cheesecake from "cracking." I wanted to try it but then that meant I (or rather Vince) would have to unearth from our mystical closets full of anek-anek the large roast pan we got as a wedding present so I could use a water bath for my cheesecake. I didn't want to bother Vince, so I held off on baking the real deal. It didn't really occur to me that I can bake mini cheesecakes and not having to worry about water bath until I came across a recipe for it. So, having said that, I think we can all guess what happened next.

Yap! I baked my first ever cheesecake minis. Yay! I think it was a good idea that I tried the minis first, because it kinda gave me the feel on how to achieve the right consistency and not overbeat, how long the baking time and what firm yet jiggly on the center means, and stuff like that, so that when I finally attempt to bake a regular sized cheesecake, I already have an idea on what to do ;)

Anyway, I've blabbed too much already. It's time I give credit to where I got the recipe from:

INDIVIDUAL CHEESECAKES RECIPE

If I may just mention, a variation I did in terms of the technique is that I added the egg last. I learned from reading that it's important to avoid introducing air/bubbles into the cheesecake mixture. What happens is that those air/bubbles will "escape" out of the mixture as it bakes, hence, causing the cheesecake to crack. I also read that the more you beat the egg, the more air you introduce, so it's best to add the egg last and then beat for a short time just enough to incorporate it into the mixture.

It's a really delicious and easy version of New York style cheesecake - I hope you try it ☻

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CREAMY CHICKEN PESTO FARFALLE

I'm sharing over here an easy-peasy recipe I found on a Campbell's Cream of Chicken Soup label:

Gone too soon!

INGREDIENTS:

2 tablespoons butter
1-1/4 pounds skinless, boneless chicken breast halves, cut into cubesd
1 can Campbell's Condensed Cream of Chicken Soup
1/2 cup pesto (I used Classico Traditional Basil Pesto)
1/2 cup milk
3 cups farfalle, cooked as per package instruction, drained

INSTRUCTION:

1.  Heat the butter in a skillet over medium-high heat.  Add the chicken and cook until well browned, stirring often.

2.  Stir the cream of chicken soup, pesto sauce and milk in the skillet, and heat to a boil.  Reduce the heat to low.  Cook until the chicken is cooked through.  Stir in the pasta and cook until the mixture is hot and bubbling.

3.  Serve and enjoy!

Don't you just love quick fix meals like this? Try it yourself! ☻

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CHURRASCARIA

Vince and I were in Maryland last Saturday for an appointment with our tax preparer.  Of course, the foodies in us grabbed that chance to experience Fogo de Chao - a quite popular churrascaria or Brazilian steakhouse in Baltimore, MD.  We tried to make a reservation last month we were in Maryland, but it seems like it is a very busy restaurant that the only slot available was for 10:30 p.m.  Ahhmmmm, who eats dinner that late, right?  Maybe if we live in the area we would've gone for it, but since we're from PA, we passed and made plans to do it the next time we're back - and that's what we exactly did last Saturday.

I was hoping I could share photos of my Fogo de Chao dining experience but unfortunately, I can't.  The valet parking attendants there (which were all Pinoy) were in such a hurry to get us out of the car (my purse even dropped on the road when an attendant nonchalantly opened my door), hence, we forgot our camera in the car.  Never mind my iPhone, I forgot it at home *toinks* 

Anyway, that wasn't our first time churrascaria dining experience.  Vince's first was at Brazil! Brazil! in Manila, Philippines, and mine was at Copacabana in Toronto, ON Canada. When we compared Fogo de Chao to our previous Brazilian steakhouse experiences, our verdict was that we liked our previous experiences better.  Vince said he enjoyed Brazil! Brazil!'s flavors better.  I thought the churrasco they served in Fogo de Chao were very tasty to the point that the flavors could get overpowering you wouldn't want to have seconds.  Although, in terms of price, Fogo is quite comparable with Brazil! Brazil! and Copacabana, however, I felt that since I didn't eat much, I didn't get my money's worth :(  Vince paid around $120 for both of us, but it seems like I only ate $20 worth of food.   The servers in Fogo de Chao, however, are very prompt, fast paced and courteous (they'd pull out chair for ladies; they check every now and then to see if a table needs side dish refills; etc.)

Speaking of servers, on the other hand, there are really good looking servers in Copacabana that you would want to keep your "hot" sign on.  LOL.  (You flip the "on fire" sign if you want servers to bring you churrasco or flip it to "cool down" if you want to pass).  I remember having so much fun with my BFF the first time I ate in Copacabana.  Like I said, they had a bunch of guapo servers that we gave each one names like Manong Matthew McCounaghey, etc. There was this one particular server that caught our attention but he was kinda timid compared to the other guys, and he manned the salad bar, so he rarely went to serve tables.  When I saw him doing his rounds with a pitcher of water, I poured my water to my BFF's empty glass just in time for Mr. Good Looking Server to see that I need water refill.  All smiles to Mr. Good Looking Server when I said my sweetest, "Thank you."  Hahaha!  Also, what I love about Copacabana is that they have very nice entertainment there including a live band, Capoeira (Brazilian martial arts) exhibition, and colorful Copacabana dancers!  Those and the good looking servers, on top of the churrasco they serve, make it all worth the fancy bill I paid ;)

♪♫ Her name was Lola.  She was a showgirl!

With yellow feathers in her hair and a dress cut down to there.

...At the Copa, Copacabana ♪♫

I miss the busy and lively Eglinton Street East!

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LET'S EGGSPERIMENT

How many ways have you cooked an egg? ☻

About two months ago, Vince and I were in Kawartha Lakes, Ontario, for a couple of interviews/site visits.  During those visits, we were housed in a couple of bed and breakfast, one of which is The Kinmount House.  The host of this house, Mr. Patrick Healey, is  popular for the Kinmount House Eggs he serves for breakfasts.

Kinmount House Eggs are definitely not boring!

I didn't ask our host for the recipe of this beautiful egg meal but my guess is that this is accomplished by separating the yolk from the white, beating the white until it becomes fluffy then layering it on top of a slice of bread and cheese, and then placing inside the oven to cook, with the yolk being added last. Of course, I could be wrong, but one way to find out is to try cooking this myself.  Hehe!

Since we're talking about eggs anyway, allow me to also share this picture of Cora's Eggs Ben Et Dictine that I digged from my iPhone:

Eggs Ben Et Dictine are so not your eggs-next-door! 

Eggs Ben Et Dictine are two poached eggs on an English muffin covered with Hollandaise sauce and comes with a choice of mushrooms, Swiss cheese, Brie, ham, asparagus or smoked salmon, and served with home fries and fresh fruits.

I don't usually eat breakfast but after realizing that there are more fun ways to cook eggs, I just had the urge to eggsperiment and try putting fun in home-cooked breakfasts!  I will definitely let you know once I've done so ;)

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MY WILTON COURSE 1 FINAL CAKE

Last Monday was my "graduation day" for the Wilton Basic Cake Decorating Course I had been attending for the past four Mondays, and here is my final cake for the course:

Honestly, I was kinda disappointed at myself for not being able to achieve the look I wanted for my cake.

First, I yet again had another tough time icing my cake.  Although I've noticed that my icing technique had relatively improved as compared to when I iced my first cake, I really wish I could have done it much better.  There were a lot of rough and unevenly iced parts on the side of the cake.  The icing was supposed to be white and smooth, but because it was a red velvet cake underneath, the icing turned pinkish and those red speckles all over were cake crumbs that my spatula kept on catching as I was icing it  :(  Boo!  I really need to practice more and work on my icing technique, but I'm going to try my luck next time with a cake icer tip, and hopefully, that will save me time and effort, resolve my icing technique issues, and make it much easier for me.

My first cake

Secondly, the flowers on my final cake were "soggy."  When I baked and decorated cupcakes with swirls and flowers last week, I was really pleased with my finished product.  For my final cake though, I had to transport the made-ahead flowers in a plastic container, and by the time I got to my class, the flowers already softened up and some had been crushed during the travel.  However, I'm pretty comfortable with piping basic borders and flower designs, so I'm positive that had I decorated my cake at home, I would've made a better job in that regard.

I dressed up my cupcakes for a spring party!

Anyway, this is a brand new experience for me.  I've never iced or decorated a cake prior to attending the Wilton Basic Cake Decorating Course, so overall, I'm quite happy with my newly acquired skills.  I definitely need to practice more if I want to improve and make better cakes in the future, so that's why I signed up for the second course, which is Wilton Flowers and Cake Decorating Course.  Now, I'm excited much! ☻

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CUPCAKES, ANYONE?

Last Monday, I learned from Wilton Basic Cake Decorating Course how to pipe shaggy mums, pompom flowers, drop flowers, rosettes, leaves as well as how to put filling into cupcakes and decorate them. For that lesson, I baked Black Bottom Cupcakes to practice decorating with while in class. Since I needed plain uniced cupcakes at the time, I didn't add the usual cream cheese filling that goes into Black Bottom Cupcakes. Honestly, I was successful in baking those cupcakes and I really liked it, but I'll hold off on sharing the recipe and pictures here in my blog until the next time I make them with both components present - cake and cream cheese filling.

Anyway, I was invited for a dinner tonight at one of Vince's co-residents' house, and I took that chance to hone my baking and decorating skills (or the lack of it!) by obviously showcasing my latest hobby.  Since I wanted to step up my game and go beyond the common chocolate or vanilla cupcakes, I spent several nights reading up on various recipes.  I didn't want to be too ambitious because I don't have much baking experience myself, plus some ingredients for elaborate and level-up recipes are not easily available at the grocery store, so I went for something that I'm familiar with - COCONUT AND BANANAS!

All dressed up and ready for a spring party!

I got this idea from a Better Homes and Gardens Special Interest Publication - Cupcakes magazine.  The Island Bananas Foster recipe listed in the magazine is a bit complicated for me (I think).  It's a "spiked" cupcake in that rum is one of the ingredients for the batter, and for the frosting, you have to ignite the rum and set your pan on flame - you know, just how you see chefs do it on TV - that stuff, and I'm definitely not on that level yet, so with fingers crossed, I decided to modify the recipe - batter and frosting.  I was wary not to screw up because I was doing modifications to a "live" cupcake.  Should they turn out inedibly bad, I cannot just toss them to the garbage or else I will have nothing to bring for dinner, so this recipe that I had concocted in my mind has got to be right.

Fortunately, the cupcakes turned out alright.  I may have to do some minor tweaking with the batter next time but the current recipe is overall good already.  For the frosting, if I had followed the recipe, I would have added 7 cups of confectioners sugar.  Can you believe that?  Seven fatally sweet cups of fine powdered sugar.  Dang!  I was afraid that if I do that, my cupcakes would put a diabetic into coma, so I knew that there's just no way I'm going to add seven cups of sugar into the frosting.  I stopped at 3 cups, although I think I should have stopped at 2 cups.  The reason behind the confectioners sugar is that you add as much until you reach piping consistency.  At 2 cups of sugar, my frosting was way thin and rather runny, so I added another cup, but when I tasted it, oh boy, I couldn't bring myself to add another dash more.   I have to do something though to make the frosting thick enough for piping, so I thought I'd try adding shortening and see if that would do the trick, and voila, happy me, it did!  ☻

So, for posterity's sake and for those who would be interested in trying Kokonut Banana Kupkeyks a la Karenina, here goes the recipe:

MORE NUWAVE COOKING

My kitchen gadget, Nuwave, has been really busy ever since Vince and I got it early this year.  It has been the center of attention in our kitchen, and in fact, we've rarely used our gas oven to bake/grill/broil since my Nuwave came.  Here's a couple more dishes we've whipped up using Nuwave:

1.  Pork chop with nutty fruit stuffing - After I marinated thick cut pork chops with Sprite, soy sauce, and some taco sauce overnight, Vince cut into the chops to make pockets for stuffing.  He cooked a pack of chicken stuffing as per package instruction, and then filled the pockets with cooked stuffing, chopped almonds, pecans and walnuts, and apple slices.  He brushed some olive oil onto the chops, and then grilled it for about 30 to 45 minutes until done to our liking.  Served with my favorite UFC Tamis Anghang (sweet and sour) Ketchup, these chops were absolute home run for us!

2.  Barbecued chicken with cilantro - Vince marinated Chicken quarters with olive oil, cilantro and garlic overnight.  He then barbecued them for about 30 to 45 minutes.  Served with Mang Tomas All Around Sarsa (sauce), we devoured these chicken barbecues with our bare hands, no cutlery required.  Rap-sa!

It's obvious that we're definitely getting our money's worth from this kitchen appliance.  We're both excited and looking forward to more cooking, baking, broiling and grilling adventure with Nuwave ☻ 

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MY FIRST WILTON CAKE

One of my "extracurricular activities" that has taken up some of my blogging time recently is Wilton Basic Cake Decorating Class.  I signed up for this eight-hour course at Michaels Arts and Crafts Store, and I have attended two of the four lessons so far.  It has been keeping my weeknights busy because I'm not a crafty person and so I have to devote some time after work to practice piping, read the book, research for recipes, etc.

Anyway, during the first lesson, we were taught the basics of baking a cake, how to prepare icing with different consistencies, how to level, torte and ice a cake, and how to make a design pattern and transfer it onto a cake.  At the end of the two-hour class, we were given time to practice piping stars onto flat round cookies using Wilton star tip and ready-to-use decorator icing.  We were also given a homework to bake a cake and prepare medium and thin consistency icing, which we then brought to class on the second lesson for application of what we had learned the previous week.

So how did I do?  Hmmmm...

1.  Bake a cake at home. Check!

Want some chocolate fudge cake?

2.  Prepare thin and medium consistency buttercream icing at home. Check???!

Conquering Wilton's almond buttercream icing recipe.

3. Leveling, torting and icing the cake. Uh-oh! Mayday, mayday!  This part was done inside the classroom, so unfortunately (or fortunately I should say), nobody took pictures to document my disaster while I was icing the cake.  It seemed that the icing I prepared  at home was not the perfect consistency and so I had to redilute it with water to make it thinner.  I spent a lot of time tediously icing my cake and trying to smoothen it as much as I could, which in turned caused me to run out of time to finish decorating it on class.  My teacher wanted to see my decoration, so I told her that I'd continue at home and will show her next week a picture of my finished product.

Seriously icing!
My T-shirt says: "I'm a pretty awesome Pinay"

4.  Dimensional decorating.  This also involved coloring the icing as desired, and transferring the design pattern onto my cake.  I toiled on the icing redo job and I was too tired and hungry already by the time I finished icing my cake that I decided to skip the design transfer portion and just piped and decorated directly onto my cake.  

My anything goes dimensional decorating.
I swear a gradeschooler can do better than me on this!

5. Tadaaaaa! Oh well, this may be the ugliest cake in town, but hey, it's my first time and I did put my best effort on this, so I'm happy and proud of it.  Yay!

I still have two more lessons to attend for the basic decorating course, and after that, I'm planning to sign up for the next three courses, so stay tuned to find out my progress in this craft.  Until then, wish me luck! ☻

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FUNNEL CAKE

Funnel cake is a regional food in North America and popularly sold at theme parks, carnivals, fairs, sporting events and beach side concession stands.  It is basically cooked (deep fried) by pouring batter into hot cooking oil in a circular motion  (a funnel-like cooking instrument is used at times) until the batter turns golden brown.  Powdered sugar, powdered cinammon, chocolate/strawberry syrup, nuts and sliced fruits can be used as toppings and sprinkles for funnel cakes.

Lining up at a funnel cakes booth in Disney World in March 2009

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DESSERTS AT WHAT IF... OF HERSHEY

In Hershey, Pennsylvania, there is a restaurant called "What If... of Hershey." I know, the name is rather catchy, and would be more when translated to my native tongue, Filipino,"Ano kaya [kung]..."  Hehe!

Anyways, after my first ski-dventure, our group went for dinner at What If. Vince and I have been to this restaurant several times already, and I will make a different post about our previous dining experiences there, but for now I will focus on the sweet treats we had after our exhausting ski-dventure.

Vince and I shared an order of homemade oatmeal shortcake with vanilla ice cream, strawberries and whipped cream. I thought I wasn't going to like it because it looked too sugary to me, plus I'm not really a fan of strawberries, but I was totally wrong. The cake and ice cream weren't too sweet and the strawberries were not too "sour" for my taste buds - it was just palate perfect. I really enjoyed this very attractive sweet thing, and mind you the colors did remind me of my wedding motif.

Oatmeal Shortcake Du Jour

Here are more desserts as ordered by our friends:

Creme Brulee and Profiterol Du Jour

Creme brulee is just about the same as leche flan. Now, I'm not too sure what the whole shebang was with Profitelol Du Jour. I was so engrossed with our oatmeal shortcake that I didn't even bother tasting the Profitelol Du Jour, but it looks like it had some kind of a bread or cake maybe, with chocolate syrup, powdered sugar, almonds, cream, peanut butter or caramel.

Vince may appear in the picture like he was tempted and at the same time stumped as to how to finish that huge dessert in front of him, but don't worry, the dessert was successful in tempting Vince, so as Vince (with a little help from me) was successful in finishing it.  Fair enough!

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MINI CRESCENT DOGS AND SPAGHETTINI DINNER

A few weekends back, Vince and I had another nice bonding time in our little kitchen on a lazy Saturday afternoon.  We went out quickly for some grocery shopping and when we got home, we put on our imaginary chef hats and had a good cooking session together.  We were like grown-ups playing lutu-lutuan.  I made the appetizer while he did the entree.

For appetizer, I made two dozens of mini crescent dogs.  I got this idea from Rose (Chubskulit) who made a post about this in her blog, Spice up your Life.   The recipe is so simple even a child can make this.  Although I've eaten this a lot of times in the past, it never really occurred to me that this is very easy to make - thanks to instant refrigerated dough!   Hehe.  I found out that there are actually a lot more meals you can do with those instant dough which I will definitely be trying in the future.

Pigs in a blanket cooling off after coming out of the oven

So, while I was whipping up an easy peasy recipe, Vince was sweating himself by the burners orchestrating a spaghettini (angel hair) dinner.  He asked me whether I would like tomato or Alfredo sauce with the pasta, and I said both ☻  I asked him not to cook those two sauces together in one pan though, and that I would just mix them into my pasta afterwards when they were cooked.  The result was delizioso, I'm positive that WeightWatchers was not too happy with the huge serving I had.

Truly, I am one blessed girl to have a husband who loves to and knows how to cook good food.  Thank you, Lord! :)

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JOE'S CRAB SHACK

One thing I made sure to check out when Vince and I went to Jacksonville, Florida in May 2011 was Joe's Crab Shack.  While planning our visit, I searched the Internet for seafood restaurants within the area, and Joe's Crab Shack's hip website and fun menu caught my attention.

My bib says, "I have classy crabs."
Vince's bib says, "I like it hot and spicy."

The moment our cool, young server got us a table he enthusiastically scribbled captions into those bibs which he then clipped on us.  He also explained that every 30 minutes or so, the crew roams around the restaurant while performing a sort of anything goes song and dance number, and guests are welcome to join them in their act.

Each table are given a whole roll of paper towel and a galvanized steel bucket placed in the middle of the table for food scraps.  As well, crab cracker tools are provided accordingly.  For entree, I ordered The Diablo Steampot which is a potful of Dungeness crab, Queen crab, mussels, andouille sausage steamed in a flavorful garlicky tomato sauce with fresh cilantro and pico de gallo. *Burp*  I wasn't able to finish my steampot and had to take leftovers back to our hotel, which I then ate the next day.

After dinner, I did a little souvenir shopping at Joe's Stuff Shop where you can find cool Joe's stuff like tie-dye shirts, beach towels, shot glasses and caps.  I bought my BFF a black T-shirt which spoofs the famous Jaws movie poster in 1975 (a guy swimming at the beach and underneath him is a big shark), but instead of a shark, the T-shirt has got a giant crab pincer and "Joe's" rather than Jaws.

There are more than 100 Joe's Crab Shack restaurants in the US.  If you're one who's into chillaxing over a humongous pot of seafood, you should definitely try Joe's ☻

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NUWAVE

I mentioned in a previous post that I recently acquired two new kitchen buddies, and already introduced the first one, which is a three-crock slow cooker that a friend gave me.  Today, allow me to blog about my second kitchen buddy.  Ready or not, here goes my Nuwave Infrared Oven!

I am pretty impressed as to what this oven can do.  It can broil, bake, barbecue, roast, steam, dehydrate and air fry.  It has the triple combo cooking power (convection, conduction and infrared) as well as reheat function for leftover foods.  I watched the DVD and read the recipes that came with my unit and I was surprised with the variety of meals you can cook using Nuwave from breakfast, lunch to dinner, and appetizer, entree to desserts.  You can even cook perfect sunny side up eggs and rice in this oven!  Amazing isn't it?

Anyweiz, I have only had my Nuwave for about a month, but Vince and I have already used it so many times.  Here's some of what we have cooked with this awesome invention so far:

1.  Pesto salmon fillets with zucchini - Vince got the recipe from Nuwave.  Delizioso!

2.  Grilled pork - My original intention was to cook sisig.  Unfortunately, we couldn't find the right ingredients over here on our side of the planet, so I opted to make do with whatever pork meat we could find and just cooked it in a sisig fashion.

3.  Banana bread with chocolate chips - We've baked two loaves so far.  One for our personal consumption, and the other for Vince's nurses at the clinic.  Yay!

4.  Pork chop dijonaisse - Vince knows I love pork chops, so he took the recipe (along with the chicken pot pie recipe) with him to work, and before going home, he passed by the grocery store to buy the ingredients.  He then cooked this for me.  Awwwwww :')

5.  Chicken pot pie - Vince partnered the pork chop dijonnaise with a creamy chicken pot pie, and what ensued was yet again a splendid home-cooked dinner together for us.  Who needs dessert when you have a husband as sweet as mine, right? ♥

I will show you in my future posts what other food we've cooked using this oven ☺

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MAJA BLANCA AND AFRITADA

About three weekends ago, Vince organized a small gathering with his co-residents.  The theme was a cultural potluck dinner, so the idea was to bring a cultural dish, whether appetizer, entree or dessert.  Vince showcased his Pinoy cooking skills by bringing Chicken Afritada for entree and Maja Blanca Maiz for dessert.

Chicken Afritada

If you're Pinoy, you know that Chicken Afritada is a delicious chicken stew cooked with tomato sauce, potatoes, carrots, bell peppers and green peas.  Normally, I also put hotdogs when cooking this dish, but due to dietary restrictions for some of Vince's co-residents, we omitted that in the ingredients.

Maja Blanca Maiz

Maja Blanca Maiz is coconut corn pudding.  As the name says, it is a dessert made of coconut milk, condensed and fresh milk, flour, sugar and corn.  We then toasted grated coconuts for garnish.

We are fond of doing cultural dinners primarily because majority in his residency program are IMGs (International Medical Graduates), so that allows us to sample various cuisines on such gatherings.  Other dishes in the recent dinner included Joloff Rice, Cherry Cheesecake, Goat Curry with Basmati Rice, Tandoori Chicken, Pastelon and Ripe Plantains, Vegetable and Chicken Samosa, and Pumpkin Cake.  For the first time in his life, Vince ate goat and he actually liked it.  As for me, I tried every food on the table but I stuffed myself mostly with the Chicken Afritada that Vince cooked.  Of course, love your own, woohoo!

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You can read more of my foodie stuff here:

GASTRONOMY MONDAY

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