Wednesday, August 31, 2016

Japanese Water Cake or Raindrop Cake or Sakura Warabi

The Sakura Warabi at The Dessert Kitchen
***
The latest food trend in Manila is the Water Cake /
Rainbow Cake or the Sakura Warabi at The Dessert Kitchen.
This cake is a light fat-free dessert made of clear jello, 
served with red beans, beown sugar paste and pink mochi 
balls, garnished with a green leaf. I asked the waiter 
what the leaf was and she said it was a sesame leaf.

Monday, August 29, 2016

Tuan Tuan & The Dessert Kitchen, Rockwell Power Plant Mall

***
Dinner was at Tuan Tuan, Power Plant Mall,
Tuan means round, so, Tuan Tuan means round & round.

First, you have to decide which soup base you prefer, 
then the noodles plus the toppings you want on your 
ramen.  Second, then get two side dishes.

Our Ramen
Barbeque Chicken
Spring Rolls
***
We also got these Baked Pork Buns.
There will always be fried rice.
***
Dessert was at The Dessert Kitchen.
Two kinds of tea.
 
***
The Water Cake or Raindrop Cake.
Tofu with Hokkaido Red Beans
 
Strawberry Pudding
***
***
It's great to be with good old friends.
Thanks for always finding time on your
busy schedule to get together.






Saturday, August 27, 2016

Akira Japanese Restaurant at Robinsons Magnolia

Akira Japanese Restaurant
at Robinsons Magnolia
***
Since I am not sleepy yet I thought I'd blog about
the Japanese place at Rob Mag where HubB
treated me to dinner last night. ..
... after HubB bought batteries at Tru Value!!!
***
Uni Sashimi  / Php 268
HubB loves uni and drank ice cold beer with this.
 
Agedashi Tofu / Php 148
This is so far the best agedashi tofu I have tasted.
I wonder if the tofu in Japan can taste better than this.  
Fried Rice / Php 128 per cup
This was mine, NO SHARING!
I asked the cook to omit the garlic.
(Garlic hurts my tummy!)
Mixed Seafood Teppanyaki / Php 728
Clockwise from the bottom:
 Grilled Cream Dory
Grilled Salmon
Oysters (without the shell)
Shrimps and Cuttlefish
Vinegar Dipping Sauce
Note:
I don't eat salmon cooked, but the salmon they 
grilled didn't have a fishy taste at all.
Even their cream dory, didn't have "that"
after-taste which is in most cream dory dishes.
HubB and Alvin do not eat cream dory anymore.
***

 I didn't take a photo of the teppanyaki grill
with the Japanese chef doing an exhibition.
Maybe next time. 
***
I actually wanted to eat at Buffet 101 but the HubB
doesn't like eating a lot specially at night.
Our bill was Php 1577. 
Sana nag buffet na lang kami so I could have
eaten more salmon sashimi.  I've stopped eating uni.
***
That's the HubB!!!
Thanks for the dinner treat.
I will be back with Alvin soooon!!!







Japanese dinner at home on a rainy Saturday ...

Japanese Dinner at home on a rainy Saturday.
Tofu Nori & Shrimp Soup
Pork Tonkatsu
Agedashi Tofu
 
Finally ... I was able to cook this Japanese dinner today.
  It was raining all day and I didn't want to get stuck in traffic,
so, I stayed home and cooked these for the HubB
 and Alvin. It took me about three hours to fry
 the tofu and pork steaks, make tonkatsu sauce
and agedashi dipping sauce  plus make the
 simple light soup (which the HubB loves).
***
Chicken Enchilada
Cauliflower Au Gratin
Tri-color Pasta Shapes with Tuna & Vodka Sauce
Steamed Shrimps
***
This was what I prepared for Alvin's friends 
yesterday. I needed to finish early
(Took me only two hours to make these.)
 and meet up with the HubB at Robinsons Magnolia.
  He wanted to go to True Value which had
 a one-day sale  yesterday, Friday.  
***
I baked this Blueberry Loaf the other day for the kids'
dessert.  Thanks to my sister who sent me this
cake mix.  These cake mixes make my life in
the kitchen so much easier. 
 ***
Now there's too much leftover in the ref.
Good! I don't have to cook for a couple of days.
Gotta watch movies.






Thursday, August 25, 2016

Japanese Dinner

Japanese Dinner for Alvin's friends.
***
Agedashi Tofu for Starters
Side Dishes --- Two Mushrooms & Japanese Sweet Corn
***
Shrimp Fried Rice
 Chicken Yakitori
 Steamed Shrimps
I was going to make Ebi Tempura but I got tired
and just steamed the shrimps.
***
 I prepared these two weeks ago.
Tomorrow, his friends are coming over for band
rehearsal and recording.  I shall cook another
Japanese meal for all of them.
I have to cross my fingers and hope that
I will wake up refreshed and strong enough
to cook up a feast for them
***









Wednesday, August 24, 2016

Chicken Enchilada... a healthier recipe


Chicken Enchilada
My son loves Mexican food, so I made chicken enchiladas
the other day.    But I sort of tweaked the recipe a bit,
making it less creamy and not too fatty.  I doubled the amount
of tomatoes, placed less cheese and totally skipped the sour
cream and buttermilk, added more turmeric and cayenne.
Alvin, without a doubt, loved the "healthier" chicken enchilada. 
***
Ingredients:

500 g chicken breast, cut into cubes
1/2 kilo fresh tomatoes, diced
1 T. canola oil
1 T. garlic, minced
1 cup onion, minced
1/2 c. bell pepper, minced
1 t. cayenne powder
1 t. turmeric spice powder
1/2 t. cumin powder
1/4 c. chopped cilantro
1/4 cup grated parmesan cheese
1/4 c. grated cheddar cheese
Salt and pepper

Procedure:
Heat the canola oil.
Saute the garlic, onions, peppers and spices
in medium heat. (You can lessen amount of spices
depending on your preference.)
Add the tomatoes and cook til tender.
Add the chicken.
Season with salt and pepper.
Add half of the cheeses.
Turn off heat then add the cilantro.

Fill 6 tortillas with the chicken filling.
Place in a pyrex dish.
Top with the remaining filling and the cheese.
Bake for 10 to 15 minutes at 350F.

Serve warm.





Saturday, August 13, 2016

Gluten-free Pizza

 Gluten-free Pizza
***
It was raining hard for the past few days due to the
Habagat  / Hanging Amihan, also known as
the Southwest Monsoon. Since I've been stuck at
at home and due to the cooler temperature, specially
in the kitchen,  I thought of making something savory
with my leftover oats and preserved meats.
  I decided to make a gluten-free pizza.

What is gluten?
Gluten is a substance present in cereal grains,
 especially wheat, that is responsible for the elastic texture of dough,
  which causes illness in people with celiac disease.
***
Combine 1 3/4 cups of pulverized oats, salt, pepper,
3/4 cups grated Parmesan cheese, 3 eggs and about
1/4 cup olive oil.
(The recipe I used which I got from the internet
didn't have olive oil in the
list of ingredients, so I had a hard time rolling out
the dough because it was quite dry.
Kaya, don't believe everything that's written,
published and  shared in the www!!!)
Place a bit of vegetable oil on your pizza pan and 
some more on the parchment / wax paper.
Roll out your dough with an oiled rolling pin.
Top with some grated cheddar cheese
and your favorite toppings.
Don't forget to preheat your oven to 200C. 
Bake and Roast for 10 to 12 minutes or
if and when the crusts start to brown or crisps.
 Serve hot with your favorite pasta or cool drink.
 ***