Food Friday: Chocolate Eclair Squares

Happy New Year guys! How did you spend your New Year's Eve? I was up making some desserts for us, a little bit of experimenting, if you will. This is a quick and easy recipe that anyone can do. It's very delicious, too!

Ingredients
2 cups cold milk
2 pkg. (3.4 oz each) Jell-O Vanilla Instant Pudding
1 tub (8 0z) Whipped Topping, thawed
64 Nilla Wafers
2 squares semi-sweet chocolate

Directions
Beat milk and pudding mixes with whisk for 2 minutes. Stir in whipped topping.
Arrange 16 wafers at the bottom of an 8-inch square dish; cover with one-third of the pudding mixture. Repeat layers twice.
op with remaining wafers.
Refrigerate for 4 hours.
Melt chocolate squares. Drizzle over dessert.
Enjoy!

Makes 16 servings, one square each.

Food Friday: Crab Rangoon

The first time I tasted Crab Rangoon I was blown away! It was sooo delicious! I mean, anything with crab in it is bound to be delish right?

For those who haven't tried this yet, this is just like pinsik.

Ingredients
1 lb sea legs or any chunk artificial crab meat
2 (8 oz) packages cream cheese, softened
4 oz seafood spread (optional)
1 bunch scallions, chopped
pinch of salt
1 tsp sugar
1 package wonton skins
1/4 tsp onion powder
oil for deep frying

Directions

Place crab meat, cream cheese, seafood spread, scallions, salt, onion powder and sugar into food processor and mix into a lumpy paste. If food processor isn't available, chop crab and onions very fine and mix with softened cream cheese, salt and sugar. Place a teaspoonful of mixture in the middle of a wonton skin. Moisten edges and draw up opposite corners to meet and form a package. Make sure all edges are sealed. Deep fry until golden brown.

Food Friday: Thanksgiving Ham

Last week was Thanksgiving and we had Ham. We decided to skip the traditional Turkey feast and had Ham. This is not the same as the Pinoy hamon de bola but the hind leg of the pork that is cured. Slowly simmered in a pool of pineapple juice then baked for an hour, this ham was delish!

Food Friday: Chocolate Chip Muffins

This entry is special to me because I actually baked these muffins! Check out the recipe HERE.

Food Friday: Palabok

My mom and I tried to make our own version of Palabok, one of my favorite rice noodle dishes. We did make an error in judgment and followed a recipe that she found online and came with disastrous results. There was something not quite right about the taste, unfortunately. But I snapped a shot of it before we...disposed of it.

It does look yummy but looks can be deceiving! Happy Friday!

Weekly Fest: Mayang's Ice Cream Cake

I am a sucker for dessert. I mean, who isn't? This week, PMC's theme is about, you guessed it - DESSERT!

Here's my quick and easy dessert that I made (a few years back) and aptly named Mayang's Ice Cream Cake. What's more, you don't need to be Julia Child to whip up this little heaven of sweetness.

Credits

What You'll Need
3 T butter or margarine
2 quarts different flavored Ice Cream (your choice. I prefer vanilla and mocha)
15-25 pieces Oreo cookies
12 oz whipped topping
Rainbow Sprinkles, Almonds, Peanuts (take your pick)
Chocolate syrup

What You Need To Do

1. Thaw ice cream.
2. Crush Oreo cookies (seriously, use a food processor!)
3. Melt butter (go ahead, use the microwave)
4. Mix 1-2 cups of the crushed Oreo cookies and butter.
5. In an 8 inch cake pan, press cookie mixture to the bottom, freeze for about 15 minutes.
6. Spread thawed ice cream (pick the first flavor of your choice) over the cookie crust.
7. Spread remaining crushed cookie mixture on top of ice cream.
8. Spread thawed ice cream (other flavor) on top of the cookie mixture.
9. Cover with foil and freeze for about four hours.
10. Attached a star tip to an icing decorator. Fill with thawed whipped topping and decorate.
11. Sprinkle with rainbow sprinkles, almonds/peanuts.
12. Freeze for about an hour.
13. Serve. Enjoy!

Simple? Yes, it is! Try it!

This weeks' fest is brought to you by Praning's Shoutout, Ivory Tasks, & I Play Mom

Trips: Mooncake Festival

I am celebrating my Chinese roots. If you don't already know, I am 1/4th Chinese, my angkong is Cantonese. I haven't had the chance to meet him because he died before I was born but they said that he was a book lover, too. I guess his genes has rubbed off on me.

I may not look Chinese and I may not know how to speak Mandarin and Fookien, aside from counting from 1-100 even though I took a few units of both in college (hahahaha I passed of course, my aunt was the instructor!). I can understand when my mom and her sister talk, though but not much but that was a few years ago! I'm sure I'm quite rusty when it comes to those languages.

We went to Chinatown on Broadway Street in Los Angeles yesterday to experience their Mooncake Festival or the Mid-Autumn Festival. It is a popular East Asian tradition dating back over 3,000 years to moon worship in China's Shang Dynasty. The Mid-Autumn Festival falls on the 15th day of the 8th lunar month of the Chinese calendar (usually around mid- or late-September in the Gregorian calendar), a date that parallels the Autumn and Spring Equinoxes of the solar calendar. The traditional food of this festival is the mooncake, of which there are many different varieties.

Mooncakes (simplified Chinese: 月饼; pinyin: yuè bĭng) are Chinese pastries traditionally eaten during the Mid-Autumn Festival. Typical mooncakes are round or rectangular pastries, measuring about 10 cm in diameter and 4-5 cm thick. A thick filling usually made from lotus seed paste is surrounded by a relatively thin (2-3 mm) crust and may contain yolks from salted duck eggs. Mooncakes are rich, heavy, and dense compared with most Western cakes and pastries. They are usually eaten in small wedges accompanied by Chinese tea.

So much for that bit of history from Mr Wiki. I took a few shots of the festival while I was there but I still don't know how t manipulate my SLR so the shots didn't come out great because I used my point and shoot camera. I did manage to snap shots of the mooncake, though. I had Lotus seed with an egg yolk in the center. Mooncake is similar to the hopia that we have back in the Philippines, minus the yolk.

I wasn't able to see the Dragon Dance but I have seen the dance before back in Dumaguete so I think I'm good. I did see a couple of Chinese guys twirl plates and pots for about 10 minutes. They were really good!

Info: Wikipedia.org

Food: Seafood and Shrimps

I have always been a fan of food, heck, I love food (isn’t it obvious?). Anyway, one of the perks when you live, in my case lived, in a seaside town is fresh seafood. Yup, back in Dumaguete City, a small city in the Philippines, fresh seafood is always a staple in every person’s meal.

I miss fresh seafood and one of my favorites, even though I hate peeling them, is shrimp and crabs! I only indulge in this treat sometimes because even though it is yummy, these little critters are quite high in cholesterol even if they are rich in protein and calcium.

What I love about shrimps is that they can be eaten as is or added to any food. I have seen a lot of variations of cooking shrimp on TV because I love watching cooking shows.

I know I’ve been blabbing about shrimp and whatnot but I have recently came across a website that is having a cook off. That's right, www.GreatAmericanSeafoodCookOff.com is having a contest were you get to vote among 5 recipes and get a chance to win a trip to Louisiana!

I signed up and voted for my favorite recipe Shrimp and Andouille Cassoulet which is Louisiana Shrimp and Andouille sausage smothered in a white bean casserole by Chef Brian Landry of Louisiana. I chose this recipe because I thought that this one isn’t really hard to make, plus it looks delicious! What’s more, this recipe uses the freshest shrimp that is caught right in Louisiana. How fresh can that get?

Just hop on over to www.GreatAmericanSeafoodCookOff.com and vote for your recipe and win a round trip ticket to New Orleans, including hotel accommodations, dining experiences and more!

Trips: Universal Citywalk

I've bee pretty tired to blog lately; even a friend commented on it. Well, blogging does get a bit tiring sometimes. So, to satisfy her cravings? for more posts from me, I decided to post recent pics when we went to Universal CityWalk on the 4th of July. Okay, okay, we didn't go shopping even though I wanted too but hey, we can still do that sometime in the future.

For those of you who don't know, the Universal CityWalk "is the name given to the entertainment and retail districts located adjacent to the theme parks of Universal Parks & Resorts. Originating as an expansion of Universal's first park, Universal Studios Hollywood, CityWalk serves as an entrance plaza from the parking lots to the theme parks (Wikipedia.org)."
Because we had bought tickets for the whole year back in 2005, we have been frequent visitors of the Theme Park so this time, we opted not to get one and just enjoy window shopping at the CityWalk.

My mom took this shot while I was posing in front of the Universal Studios Globe. She's not good with cameras so excuse her photo faux pas. At 4 PM, it was pretty hot, so standing beside the Globe with mist spraying about was refreshing.

This is the red carpeted park entrance. Of course, I couldn't take a picture of the carpet as there were a lot of people posing but I took a picture with me on the carpet back in '05 but I still need to find. Sorry.

It's the Hulk! Well, this Hulk resembles the Edward Norton Hulk. In my previous post, I also posed in front of the Hulk; only he was the cartoon Hulk. Am I making sense? Anyway, this Hulk guards the entrance of the Universal Studios Store. I just couldn't resist posing in front of him; check out his six-pack!

This is the City Loft. I think it's smack dab in the middle of the CityWalk. There is a second floor surrounding this loft where night spots, like the Rumba Room, are located. Below is a fountain that shoots water a few feet in the air. Kids love to go and play in the water; if only to cool down from the California heat.

Yummy food stands abound at the CityWalk. You can get the famous Dip 'N Dots (the ice cream of the future), cotton candy, and candy apples in the stores or in carts around CityWalk. Yummy! Well, being a lover of ice cream, I just had to get my Dip 'N Dots. This one is the classic banana split. At 5 dollars a cup, it was yummy. Of course, this ice cream hardly melts in the heat so ice crean soup will not be a problem.

After the tiring window shopping (I developed a blister, by the way) we sat back and relaxed on the loft overlooking the Hard Rock Cafe and had Chilli Cheese Fries from Tommy's World Famous Hamburgers. I've got to tell you that these fries are the best! Eat them with your hands or with a fork, it's one messy, but uber yummy, fries.

Universal CityWalk
100 Universal City Plaza
Universal City, CA 91608

CityWalk Hours:
Sun-Thurs 11:00 AM - 10:00 PM
Fri-Sat 11:00 AM - 12:00 AM

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Experiments: Vietnamese Cuisine

Have you ever tried Vietnamese food? I certainly haven't, well, until this afternoon and it was an experience that I will never forget! I was a bit hesitant when my mom told me that we were going to have a late lunch at a Vietnamese restaurant in Chinatown. I wasn't too happy about it. In my mind, I was thinking that the food would be really weird and not to my taste. I was WRONG!

It was the best Vietnamese food that I ever tasted! I was hesitant however, to taste the soup (they call it Pho) so I picked something in the menu that really sounded okay. Their menu had Vietnamese names with English translation below it. I ordered #66 Pork Chops with Beef Strips and Rice. My mom and her friend both ordered #5 Pho (soup something or other...I forgot). We also ordered Imperial Rolls (they are like lumpia and taste similar to lumpia, too).


They were all uber yummy! I also tried the Pho and it was not at all what I expected. The soup was yummy with a minty taste which really surprised me a lot. When I tried their Imperial Rolls, I wrapped them with green lettuce and dipped in their special dipping sauce with carrots. Ummmm yummy! I never thought I would love veggies this much! We should try eating lumpia wrapped in lettuce sometime!
I am all for tasting foods from different cultures. I admit, Vietnamese food really had an Asian flair to it and is quite different from Chinese food which we are all familiar with. I still can't wait to try other yummy foods from different cultures.

Pho 87 Restaurant
1019 N Broadway
Los Angeles, CA 90012-1405
Phone: (323) 227-0758
Open Daily 8am-9pm

GREENWHICH

Location: Greenwhich, Perdices Street, Dumaguete City

MANGOES

ONION RINGS

Food Friday: SWEET TOOTH

Food Friday: Ispageti ala Mayang

Grabbed from Deranged Insanity

BOSSING'S BALBACUA

Grabbed from Coffee Cup Princess.

WRITTEN ON M&M'S

The M&M's chocolate candies were personalized with our names for our wedding last March. Not only are they yummy, they added a personal touch to the celebration.