What? Maki for Dessert?!

    You never know what you get to discover in attending foodie events.   I've been introduced to pasticceria's (Italian pastries),  patisserie (French pastry) and the usual Native "kakanin" or Filipino delicacies and different regional sweets,  but never Kashi Makis.   At the event Best Food Forward, last April 2, 2011, me and my son were first introduced to these one-of-a-kind, ingenious yet extremely yummy looking dessert.   To be honest, we just passed by My Pink Wasabi's stall, seeing it all-decorated on the table just like any ordinary Sushis and Makis.   As I was almost on the stall next to it, I was offered to taste a sample, and someone uttered, "it's for dessert!"  I said, "What!, Wait a minute, these I've got to see."   As I was trying out a few, my son looking on with a grin,  they explained that the adorable, Maki-looking sweets are made of cake slices, thinly sliced Belgian chocolates, Chantilly creme, fruits and nuts.   Indeed, as lovely as they come, the taste was really exquisite.   I was quite tempted to try a few more, but my son looked as if he was telling me "You should be ashamed of yourself, Mommy."   Well I trully understand, as a pastry baker myself, I know how it could be such a pain-staking job, yet fulfilling, so I have to wait for the chance that I could order some.

   Hand-crafted by a Pastry Chef, Chef Anna, accompanied by her keen eye for elaborate details, and the expertise in baking, makes each piece a work of art.   To make it even fancier and more Oriental,  some Kashi Makis are tea -infused, yes, you read it right, tea flavors are oolong tea, green tea, mint and lemon, among others.

Check out their menu...

A Tarradiddle:

   Chef Anna Marin Chua's  My Pink Wasabi was established in October 2010 by her entrepreneurial friends with the goal of selling unique gifts for Christmas. After 3 months of product testing,  Kashi Makis were finally introduced. Cute and yummy, these cakes are formed to resemble sushi.  The inspiration for the name My Pink Wasabi came from its non-conformist style in dessert making. The idea of a pink wasabi summarizes the true essence of its products, unconventional yet complementing. It perfectly describes the sweet fusion of desserts with the simplicity and perfection of sushi.  My Pink Wasabi's first success was in the Paskong Pilipino Bazaar held at the World Trade Center last year. Kashi Makis delicately wrapped in transparent boxes were sold out before day 2 ended. Because of the good reception and positive reviews from friends and clients.  My Pink Wasabi joined the weekend market, Mercato Centrale and was then featured in blogs, online lifestyle magazines and tv shows like Unang Hirit, Mel and Joey and Teen Watch.

   Now, My Pink Wasabi has grown beyond the unique gift idea as it gradually expands its line of products. Japanese cheesecakes have recently been added to its offerings; unique made-to-order cakes for special occasions and sweet dessert giveaways are also accepted.

 Bento Box Kashi Maki

Give away sample package, good for weddings and parties.

Ready to order and have a wonderful experience with these Kashi Makis?

Here is how:

Email them at mypinkwasabi@gmail.com

Call or SMS at mobile number:  0906 2102966

For updates or comments:

Like them at Facebook :  www.facebook.com/MyPinkWasabi.pastries

Follow them also at Twitter: http://twitter.com/mypinkwasabi

A "Best Food Forward" Sunday!

    I have made the foodie out of my family...

   One Sunday, after attending our church service at Lord Jesus Bible Church, in Makati, we headed to NBC Tent of The Fort, GBC.  To be honest, I was really excited about this event.   The night before that my husband and I were at the Midnight Mercato, to check out what's new and unique in the food market.   I have been hearing a lot and read a few good reviews about the Mercato, both Midnight Mercato and Mercato Centrale.   I'm way too serious about my new found passion, and I am way becoming more daring when it comes to where we are going to eat.  

   I didn't actually buy a lot at the Mercato, since I was really looking forward to the Best Food Forward! event. Good thing I bumped into Tina Raines' Multilpy account when I was looking for something gourmet to bring to my friend's bridal shower.  Tina Raines bakes and sells sumptuous gourmet pies and frozen dessert pies at Tina's Pies Outlet.   She was one of the concessionaires of the event.  And of course, hers was the booth that I first visited and she was the one I first talked to about the event.   Well, when I got to her booth she only have a few pies left and it is only 12:30 in the afternoon.   So I bet the event really was successful in her view, in mine and in all of the participants.

   This is the Beef and San Mig Light Pie we bought from her. I was going to buy more though but my husband was famished and so we immediately looked for a place to sit and dine, and to my demise, when I went back her stall, no more pies.    Anyways, we had the pies enjoyed at home.   The savoury pie is a delight and we were not satisfied with having just one.    Well they are just a phone call away anyhow, so check out their site to know more...click here: Tina's Pie Outlet

   This is where we had our lunch, al fresco dining.   Though it was so hot outside we still head on, just seeing those barbecue smoke and sensing the awesome  aroma of all the food around, it was just irresistible!

 Comfy Mix preparing my kids orders, pasta.

 This is my lunch Gambas and Paella.

   For our first dessert of the hour, PB Co.'s Marshmallow Peanut Butter Sandwich, Toasted Sandwich with their own peanut butter and marshmallow cream.  They also had an array of sample for all their different flavored peanut butter.

   My daughters, enjoying their Picole Ice Pops.  They had Cookie Overload and Choco Banana.   We even met a Picole dealer, Ms. Michelle Chan, who sells the ice pops at a very affordable costs.   They have 25 flavors for customers to indulge on, from fruity to yogurt and fave desserts.   You can invite her to your company parties, birthday parties and other occasions.   Great for summer!  Call her at 9750724 or 09175393369, or e-mail her at Picole.IcePops@gmail.com .
   To highlight the event, there are shows that feature certain products where chefs show-off their food innovations and skills.
   More pictures on the event and the goods, just click on the picture below.

The picture above was taken at Liqueur Bonbons booth.   And Miss Joana Lim gladly assisted us in experiencing chocolate madness up a notch.  Check out Liqueur Bonbons at FB.

   This was a more than wonderful experience not only to me but my whole family as well.  The event was not only for food lovers but also for everyone who loves fun, creative arts and socializing, even kids were treated astoundingly.  

   Let me give you more reasons why Best Food Forward was worth remembering and blogging.  
1.   We all had fun sampling different kinds of  foods.
2.   My kids being the best critique of their mom's cooking and baking (that's me) had the time to check out other's cooking and baking at stovepipe.
3.   My kids came to love my "job" (well my husband calls it hobby), though they made qualms about being tired and stomach full.
4.   When my two little kids, Dana and Danica,  had their share of the samples inside they were able to play at the big inflatable playground, while me and my two other older kids had fun time roaming around and interviewing participants with their products.  Thanks to Big Red Barn for this!
5.  Aside from the inflatable playgrounds, they also had their face painted, and glitter tattoos.

6.  There are also clowns, balloon artists and mascots cheering the kids up.
7.  For every ticket paid, it entitles to 1 photo booth experience, sponsored by Baicapture.
8.  There are also other crafts such as T-shirt and accessories-painting.
9.   Freebies, discounts and interesting prizes for the raffle.
10.   Lastly, I was interviewed by ABC TV 5, and as I've heard it was televised.

   To tell you frankly, there are more other reasons, but for now these are just some of what I could remember.  To sum it up, the organizers of the event had put a bench mark on what a foodie event should be! Fun, family-oriented, comfort and value-for money.   It only shows that we Filipinos are setting standards not only to boost our economy but more so to set our mark in the global food industry! Kudos to Best Food Forward, the event, the people behind it and the participants who passionately shared their products and to us who revel eating!

  

Golden Spoon Frozen Yogurt

Oh yes! Fresh berries and fruit slices...Love to have them on my next Golden Spoon visit!

This smooth and super vanilla flavor yogurt is topped with Rainbow Choco Chips.

Vanilla Froyo with mini-marshmallows

Choco- Froyo with rainbow Choco-chips

GOLDEN SPOON Frozen Yogurt gives away FREE Yogurt!
How?  Head on first to any of their shops and purchase at least a cup of their yogurts from a wide selection of flavors and toppings.   Ask for the Free Yogurt card and continue loving their froyo!

More pictures at The Ayala Triangle, while enjoying or guilt-free dessert.

Restaurants lined up to cater to Makati CBD's workforce and tourists.  From Italian, Japanese, French and or very own Filipino cisine

For a complete list of the restaurants and their contact details, here is the Facebook link
http://www.facebook.com/RestaurantsAtTheAyalaTriangleGardens

Golden Spoon is at the farthest right of the line of Food chops or considered also the last stop on maybe of your foodie galore!

Goo-goo-ly Moments at Chef Laudico's BFAST

I guess I don't have to write too many words this time.  I just  hope the pictures I took speak for themselves, well I know, a picture paints a thousand words, but this is simply enjoying the food, the surrounding with  my kids!

On second thought, I could not just undermine the goodness of the food being served at Chef Laudico's BFast All-day Breakfast Cafe.   Something we Filipinos, time and again, could be proud of.   BFast shows how they are in tune with preserving our Mother Nature.   This coffee, as would all the coffees they serve, comes from coffee beans which are from our very own Philippine ground.    You can also notice the red dinner wares.   Yes, they are plastic but recyclable, high-grade US materials.

In the picture is Bfast Sisig- pork sisig with a creamy yet spicy knock to it.   Glutinous Garlic Fried rice topped with perfectly cooked sunny-side egg.

For my hubby, Tapangus,  garlic rice and sunny-side egg, with atchara.  This delicious, soft Tapangus is Bfast's signature dried Tapa but made from US grade Angus beef.   Whilst, my two kiddos enjoyed their Fried Chicken Adobo.   Home-style boneless fried chicken served more special with adobo sauce.

So if you are  eco-friendly, loves eggs and viands that are served in the morning, wants to be adventurous in dining or simply looking for a good, sweet accompaniment for your coffee, this is the place.   If you are also looking for Chef Jackie Laudico's chocolate truffles and pralines, they have it.   Breakfast is served throughout  the day, from 7 am to 10 pm, Mondays to Sundays.
What a way to start-off with my very first visit to Ayala Triangle Gardens.

BTW...They have a contest, you might win a GC from Bfast.
Check their Facebook account at Bfast or check it out here

Aguinaldo Highway's Healthy Grounds Cafe

While cruising along Aguinaldo Highway of Imus, Cavite, we saw a quiant coffee shop tucked in between two auto malls.   In time for  a coffee break from a long and blistering drive to Molino down to Bacoor.   

Healthy Grounds Cafe is a good stop over.   You can choose from Cold to Hot specialty drinks to a more adventurous and goodish coffees such as Ginseng and Tonkat Ali.

Just some of the drinks we sampled.   Let me just tell you, don't be fooled by the pictures, the cup is humongous.   A real value for your coffee money.  More than the size of the cup I take for my afternoon snack.   And if you seemed interested enough with my Roasted Macadamia Nut Latte, they also have it in Hazelnut, delish and comforting!   We even had a sample from their menu, their famous and hefty Grilled Panini, ours is HG BLT.  Sizable bacon, fresh lettuce and tomatoes on simple yet yummy dressing.  They also have their own Cheese cakes which we didn't try anymore since we are still up to trying The Original  Digman's Famous Halo-Halo.

A refuge from Aguinaldo H-way's scorching heat, pollution and  traffic.   A very comfortable place to enjoy cups of coffee, alone or with a company.  Choose to unwind on one of the dining tables or the couch.  The owner himself, Mr. Jonathan Reyes, is the one busy preparing  the customer's order.

Healthy Grounds
Aguinaldo H-way, Imus, Cavite
On the right side when going to Baclaran
Contact Numbers:   09163122626 or 09228857808

The Original Philippine Halo-Halo

Summer sizzles and everyone now craves for that icy, frosty delicacy, the Halo-Halo.  One local channel even used it to entice viewers and introduce their summer season of 2011 were their stars enjoy and serve glasses of it.   

Halo-Halo, comes from the root word "halo" meaning "mix", or a verb which is "to mix."  Filipinos are so fond of repeating word twice to exaggerate  or to give emphasis, but mostly to put fun into names.  One British journalist even critiqued us having nicknames that way, such as Ging-Ging, Rap-Rap, Ta-ta, and so forth!

Creative as it sounds, Halo-Halo seemed to have adopted the tune thus making it even more interesting.

It is a mixture of cooked beans, fruits, and other native delicacies.  

At the heart of Bacoor, Cavite lies within the main streets, Barangay Digman.   It is here that the Cuevas' family started out what now has been known as one of the best-selling snack and dessert by Filipinos.  

 I  dare not imagine my childhood without these.   When summer comes, every streets has a table laden with jarfuls of  sweets in colorful array.   Each one has an assistant that manually shaves blocks of ice, and when the heat resounds, your ice-capped delights turns into a cold drink before one even gets home (hehehe)...

Way back 1989,  I remember seeing The Original Digman Halo-halo at Greenbelt, (hmmm, not the Greenbelt that we now know), and being intrigued by it.  Then ccame the time that me and then my future husband needed to visit Bacoor, the home-town of my father-in-law, to invite their relatives to our wedding.   Bhogs, now my husband, brought me to one of the diners that boasted to be THE original Halo-halo.  However,  we have discovered that what we visited before was not really who they claim to be.   There are actually three or four diners that serve the same kind of Halo-Halo.  It even came to the point where they have to fight for the label,  "The original" in court.

This time, my husband took me to where he could remember (since he was born and grew up in this town) as what his father told him as the "authentic Digman Halo-Halo."
Delighted in the presence of all the glorious ingredients that makes the masterpiece, we asked the young waiters if they themselves cook these or those come from jars sold in supermarkets.   Indeed, they are the ones who market and prepare each of the thirteen ingredients.   And the recipes and process have been developed in time by the Cuevas Family since 1969.   They have perfected cooking all the mix ins, no bitter and dark ones, no hard beans, fruits are not too sweet and cooked nicely.  The jellies and tapioca balls does not color bleed.  I hate halo-halo that has lots of food colors and ones everything is mixed up, you can not any more distinguish the true colors of the ingredients.

Here the new generation of Cuevas' invites everyone, to have the ultimate Filipino summer experience with Halo-Halo!  Having a short chit-chat and snap shot with Mr. Cuevas, the son of the late Cuevas couple who started it all.   Cheaper than Chowking's but has more ingredients and quality  has not been sacrificed.  

In Affirmation of Earth Hour 2011

Earth Hour is organized by WWF. With almost 5 million supporters and a global network in over 100 countries/territories, it’s one of the world's largest and most respected independent conservation organizations. WWF’s mission is to stop the degradation of the Earth's natural environment and build a future where people live in harmony with nature.

According to them there are 1600 towns and cities participating here in the Philippines and in the Facebook alone, more than a thousand of its Filipino fans have confirmed.   Our family joined in advocating the means of WWF to let people all over the world know  that our planet needs us.  

 Beforehand, we informed our children and our employees what we will be doing  for Saturday night.   Yesterday, at 8:30 in the evening after we  had our supper, we switched off every light that we use at night, including appliances until 10:00, going beyond the hour.   

In lieu of this I made sure my husband will be getting a sweet and healthy treat from our kitchen, while my two kids have fun playing with their toys that lit up and flashlights.

This is our dessert in darkness,  Minty Melon Balls topped with Whipped Cream

I just shaped melon meat into balls, put in a bowl put slices of fresh mint leaves and topped with chilled cream from from the fridge. 

A Floral Feast: A Chocolate Appreciation 101 Class

     Have you ever wondered how flowers would taste?  When I was a kid we would always play with santan, no we never ate the flower or the petals (or not that I could remember), just the sap that you get when you pull out the filament inside the tiny stem.  I have heard and read in an article that a famous garden restaurant in Tagaytay serves salad with flowers.  Another resto famous among the elites is Ilustrado that makes their own Sampaguita-flavored ice cream.  How about a cup of steamy hot tea, infused with lavander, camomile or echinacea.    If you haven't tried everything I just mentioned, how can you even fathom this,  a flowery flavor on your chocolate or  the flower itself on your chocolates and pastries...

Oh no, I haven't tried all that I mentioned, only about three of those.   Of course, the last one was the most exciting.   Can anybody tell me, who does not like chocolate?  Honestly? If you could, then I'll treat you at Heavenly Chocolates and I will try to have him or her try chocolate after attending the talk we had with "The Chocoevangelist" Marga Manlapig.

     At the second floor of Heavenly Chocolates in Roces Avenue, was an awe-inspiring, mind-boggling and tongue-delighting seminar was held.  It was all about chocolates, its origin, health benefits, all the irony in its history and the different kinds of chocolate.   Marga also tackled a bit about the process involved in developing the finest quality down to the choco-mani.   Marga (the one standing in the picture) going about and around the room showing us bits and nips of choco infos, gave us a very relevant yet lively and very interesting talk.  

    The four pictures above are some of the samples of the different chocolates high-lighted and  we had tasted them.   First on the list was the Single-origin Ecuador hot chocolate.  A bit strong choco-bittery taste but smooth and can aid smokers who wants to quit smoking.  Coming from Ecuador, knowing that they produce the largest quantity of tobacco, the cocoa trees have been interplanted with it, thus the cocoa has a hint of nicotine in it.

   The second was the single origin Madagascar Hot Choco.   Oh this one is majestic!   With its fruity, velvety smooth and floral smell, the exotic cocoa made into a drink has a raisin taste with a bit of hazelnut and fig.   Exotic because this is one of the rarest chocolate in the world.

   Then Japanese chocolates.   The SACHI NAMA were then passed on, two kinds, the milk nama and the flower-infused  cream filled nama. Thank God we will never run out of  Nama from Japan, though the country now is suffering tremendously due to the outcome of the earthquake and tsunami, the production comes from far were the hit was grave.  

   Last but not the least, the Summer shortbread.   The pastry bar topped with dark chocolate ganache in which a French lavander sugar was laced on it.  

By the way all that was served to us, scrumptious as they truly are , can be bought at their cafe.

Visual Aids

    A charming acquaintance after the seminar.   Heavenly Chocolates conducts seminars about chocolates for FREE!  You never know what you will learn next after this seminar.   There is actually a lot of things we are to know about it.   I would even suggest we plant our own "Kakaw trees," why?  You have to come then to the next Chocolate Appreciation Talk.  They will have another soon.  Check the bottom for infos on how to reach them. 

    Capturing fun-time moments with my hubby at the cafe while waiting for our Chocolate pizza, cookies and cream coffee shake and choco espresso shake.  This is also the first time I attended with my daughter Danielle, who is now 13 years old and she had a great time with her cousin, Yngwie.

Just some of the glorious and heavenly chocolate samples.

     THE CHOCOLATE PIZZA!!!!   Too bad my daughter took the micron shot, it would have been so tempting to see the whole pizza.   Observe the brown liquid at the corner?  Yes it is pure chocolate.   A chocolate pizza as what have explained to us, is their own crust, topped with dark chocolate ganache, then sprinkled with fried bacon chips and slivered almonds.  Oh, when we were eating the slices inside the car while on the road, it was like "chocolate ecstacy,"  Summing up the afternoon, words about chocolates, samples of the worlds finest quality chocolates, the ambiance in  Heavenly Chocolates and our shakes and the dark choco pizza.   Heaven on earth!

Address:  Heavenly Chocolates

127 Alejandro Roces Avenue. , Quezon City

It is perpendicular to Tomas Morato Ave.