It's been a while since I posted in this blog. Got side-tracked by a new-found love - scrapbooking. You can read about it at my scrap blog www.pinayscrapper.blogspot.com.
But that doesn't mean I've forgotten all about food. I mean, I still have to eat, right? And I do still take food photos. Except that sometimes the uploading gets to me. I am not the most patient person I know.
But anyway, I want to share with you a story. My kids had their Literacy Week last February 12 - 17. And I volunteered to help out with some activities. I think it's important for children to see their parents so involved in their school. Since I have three kids in the school, I prepared different activities for their classes.
For my gradeschool kids, I had a workshop on making an accordion mini-album. And for my pre-schooler, I assisted in their baking activity.
Well, we didn't exactly bake because the school had no facilities for that. So what I did was make brownies at home to bring the school. The plan was for the kids to make cookie cutter shapes and decorate them to give as a gift to their parents for Valentine's Day.
I baked two pans of my moist chewy brownies (crispy on the outside, soft and chewy in the inside). I distracted my kids with a movie video. Normally, I would have let them run free in the kitchen but I wanted to finish early because I had a dinner date with friends.
So here is the basic product.
Unfortunately, I do not have photos of the kids doing their thing because I was busy helping them use my cookie cutters.
But look at what they and their teachers did to wrap things up.
Isn't that beautiful? Any parent woud be proud to receive that. Not to mention, delicioso too.
Postscript:
When I bake, I really bake up a storm. I always feel I should make the most of the oven's heat and the cleaning up afterwards. It's not logical I know. But my stomach is not complaining...
I also baked Chocolate Chocolate Cookies. I got the recipe from the Allrecipes.com. I used Hershey's Semi-Sweet Chocolate Chips as the kids love it. My DH was a bit disappointed because he likes the cookies with Hershey's Mint Chips. Unfortunately, it wasn't available in the grocery.
About Me
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I love rainy weekends. I have the perfect excuse to stay in bed and cuddle with my kids under the warm blanket. When a gray curtain of rain falls ouside the windows, nothing else exists except me and my family. Nothing can compel us to brave the heavy rains and go elsewhere. We're quite warm and comfy where we are.
Rainy days also make me crave for certain food. This month I have been craving for baked macaroni. I used to have a crush on a guy who runs a snack house where their best seller is the baked mac. I loved that baked mac served with homemade pan de sal. I would finish off the very satisfying meal by mopping up the extra sauce on the plate with the pan de sal. Hmmmm...yummy. I think my love for the baked mac outlasted my like for the guy. So even when we weren't talking anymore, I would sneak into his store when I know he's not there so I can take home a bilao of baked mac. Of course, some people would think I was actually hoping to get a glimpse of my crush and was just using the baked mac as an excuse. Eh! Not really!
So the past few days had me reading recipes on baked macaroni. I found an easy recipe from Potluck Hidalgo Bonding, A Family Heritage Cookbook, edited by Jaime C. Laya and Adelaida Lim. I so heart cookbooks that evokes thoughts of family, traditions and good appetite. Already I can see myself sharing this passion for baked mac with my kids. I could only hope that the daughter who doesn't eat pasta with sauce would make an exception.
A storm is raging outside and I had never made a baked macaroni before. But I wanted to satisfy this particular craving, so I braved the rains to get the ingredients from the neighborhood grocery. I grabbed some butter too, to make cookies. No sense wasting all the residual heat from the oven.
One large pyrex dish of baked macaroni, chorizo de bilbao, vienna sausage and queso de bola goodness. Certainly more than my family can eat in a day. I will be having baked mac for the rest of the week. Nice...
One taste and I was brought back to the past. I was a young girl with a crush again. I open my eyes and see my family around me. The baked mac I made is richer, more flavorful and more exciting than the one in my past. I kiss and hug everyone as we settle down to partake of the food and make new memories.
POSTCRIPT:
When I turn on the oven, there's no stopping me. I also baked chocolate revel bars, choco chip oatmeal cookies, and even tried to make molten lava chocolate cake. Unfortunately, I overcooked the latter and no molten chocolate oozed from the cake. but it tasted quite good. I will try that again and if I am more successful, I will post photos on this blog. Unfortunately, I didn't have time to photograph the revel bars and the cookies before they were gone.
When I was in grade school, I was assigned to cook the rice. My mother figured that didn't require too much cooking experience. One only has to measure the rice, rid it of the pebbles and unhusked grains, wash it, add water and then put it to boil.
My mother figured wrong. I could never get the right mix of rice and water.
My older brother Joie, in college at that time, taught me how to measure the water. He said, and I quote: measure the depth of the rice with your hand, palm open. Mark the height of the rice on your palm with your thumb. Then put the tip of your fingers on the rice and measure the water. The water level should be equal in height as the rice.
This resulted in rice that was always wet.
Then, my next older brother Jolan taught me another way. He said, fill the pot with water and make sure the rice is level. Then tilt the pot until the water at one end is shallow, "just like in the beach."
The rice I cooked this way, as we say in Ilocano was always nakusul. Or undercooked. Not enough water.
I just gave up. One day, after washing the rice the prescribed three times, I placed it on the dining table and left the house. Of course, I got a terrible tongue lashing from my mother - "What? You think the rice will cook itself?"
At the time, the electric rice cooker hasn't been invented. But even now, with all the modern conveniences, my rice is still hit or miss.