The antidote to Monday Blues

Mondays are the worst of all the days in the week. For one, that snooty boss of yours keeps piling up the workload and the weekend seems light years away. Another thing that I was noticed about Mondays is that no matter how quickly you try to wind up all of your work, the days never seems to end.

The same thing happened this Monday. I was pressurized with so much of workload that I was nearly in tears. So after a really stressful day, I was walking back home and to my annoyance it begins to rain. Brilliant! Just when I thought it couldn’t get worse than this.This was when I spotted the Sign Board which said Mad over donuts. It
was anyway raining so I headed into the palor. The first thing to hit me as soon as I entered into MOD was this warm, delicious, soothing aroma of freshly baked bread. It was extremely soothing. So there I was, whiffed by this delicious aroma and my stomach was grumbling. So I ordered for a donut called as the Original Sin. The
donut was so damn delicious, that all of my Monday blues were forgotten and I was actually smiling to myself.
The bread was so soft, the chocolate was of the finest quality. Indeed, Mad over donuts is worth going mad after. Brilliant donuts I must say.

Ginataang Mais (Sweet Corn and Rice Pudding with Coconut Milk)

We've had some crazy weather here in my corner of the world.  It's been unseasonably cool all summer long and just as we're heading towards October, we get record dry heat, horrible humidity and then a heavy downpour with thunder and lightning...all in one week!  I guess it's true that we're a little spoiled here in San Diego because any slight change in the weather becomes big news.  But thankfully we're back to normal this week and it has been really nice.  The temperature has cooled down and I'm loving it.  The gray clouds and drizzly rain just makes me want to curl up in the couch and enjoy some warm, comforting food.  

This week, I've been really craving for my grandma's ginataang mais.  It's a creamy rice pudding made with coconut milk and dotted with kernels of golden sweet corn.  I remember when I was a kid, she would make a huge pot of it whenever it was cold and rainy in the Philippines.  It was definitely not fun to be stuck inside all day when it was typhoon season, but a hot steaming bowl of ginataang mais surely made up for it.  



With the weather being so damp and dreary, I figured it's the perfect time to make some quick and easy comfort food.  As with all of my grandma's recipes, she didn't measure her ingredients.  Whenever I'd ask her, "Lola, exactly how much are you using?," she would always reply, "Just taste it and adjust your mixture until it tastes right." So I tried to put together a recipe that is as close to her version but with measured ingredients.  I used canned corn (cream style and whole kernels) instead of fresh corn only because it's so much easier to use and they're readily available in most grocery stores. And I wasn't about to make my own coconut milk from fresh coconuts so I just used canned coconut milk. 

This delicious dessert tastes so good when it's piping hot, but it also tastes wonderful when it's served cold :-)

Ginataang Mais (Sweet Corn and Rice Pudding with Coconut Milk)
Makes 8 to 10 servings

1 can cream style corn, about 2 cups 
1 can whole sweet corn kernels (including the liquid), about 2 cups
1 cup sweet rice, sticky rice, glutinous rice, or Calrose rice
2 cans coconut milk, about 4 cups
3 cups water
3/4 to 1 cup sugar* 

Combine all the ingredients in a large pot. Bring to a boil then lower the heat to medium and let it simmer. Stir occasionally to prevent the rice from sticking to the bottom. Cook for about 20-25 minutes or until the rice is cooked.

 (If you want, you can replace the two cans of corn with 3-4 ears of fresh corn.  Just cut the kernels off the cob with a knife and scrape the cob with a spoon to get the corn "milk")

*This is really up to you and your tastebuds. You can start with 3/4 cup of sugar and just add more later. Like my grandma says, just taste it and adjust until it tastes right :-)

Simple Shortbread Cookies

These cookies are like potato chips to me...I can't eat just one.  But I do make it a point to share them or else I will end up eating them all. What I love about these simple shortbread cookies is they're so buttery and they have such a nice tender crumb. Another reason why I love them so much is they're absolutely effortless to make. And since I always have these ingredients on hand all the time, these cookies have quickly become my standby favorite.


Simple Shortbread Cookies
Makes about 2 dozen cookies
Allergy note: contains wheat and dairy ingredients 

2 cups all-purpose flour
1/2  tsp. salt
1/2 cup plus 2 Tbs. sugar
1 cup butter, softened to room temperature
turbinado sugar (i.e. Sugar in the Raw), optional

Preheat oven to 350 degrees F. Line cookie sheet with parchment paper or silicone baking mat.
In a medium mixing bowl, sift together flour and salt. Set aside. Using a separate mixing bowl and an electric mixer, cream butter and sugar till smooth. Add the flour mixture and mix until combined. You can either roll the dough into logs, chill them for an hour, then slice and bake them or use a small cookie scoop, gently press down on each cookie to flatten them then bake for 20 minutes or until lightly brown. Cool completely.

Threadcakes Baking Competition

When it comes to decorating cakes, anything could be your source of inspiration. How about turning your favorite t-shirt design into an edible work of art? Well, the creative folks at Threadless.com have done exactly that. They started this fantastic online baking competition called Threadcakes and it's going on right now. Here are some of the winners from last year (photos courtesy of Threadless.com and Threadcakes.com)

I had a chance to browse through their cake gallery this week and the entries so far have been amazing. There were quite a few cakes that I was really impressed with, including Zombie at Tiffany's,  Bitter Teeth , Why is an Owl Smart? and Phascolarctos Cinereus. What's so cool about this competition is that each participant shows you the step-by-step process (with photos!) of how they made their cake. I really enjoyed reading the stories submitted with each cake and I got to learn some new cake decorating techniques for use in the future.

It's not too late to participate. Bakers and non-bakers are welcome to enter. The contest ends August 16 so check outThreadcakes.com, pick a design and start baking!

Monogrammed Birthday Cake

 

Here's a quick tutorial on how to make an elegant yet simple monogrammed cake. I made this one for my friend Ket.  I used her favorite colors red, pink and gold to match her ultra-feminine style :-) 



After I covered the cake with rolled fondant, I measured halfway up the sides of the cake and marked it with paring knife. I mixed together some red food coloring and a little bit vodka then applied it to the bottom half of the cake. This is the same painting technique as the one I used for my birthday cake and the mini wedding cake. I added some more vodka to the red food coloring to lighten the color and applied it to the top half of the cake.

I made some fondant scrolls and attached them to the sides of the cake. Some of the scrolls were lined up straight and some were tilted just a little.  I thought it would make for an interesting design but I think it was so subtle that it wasn't even noticeable. Oh well. I still like how it turned out.

My sweet friend Maggie came over to visit while I was decorating this cake so I gave her a quick lesson on how to paint the fondant scrolls. I showed her how to mix together the gold luster dust and vodka then she painted the scrolls with a small paintbrush. She did a fantastic job!

I used the same monogramming technique I used for my cousin's wedding cake. I painted the round plaque with red food coloring before placing the monogram on top. Then I painted the monogram with gold luster dust. 



Voila! The finished cake :-)

The Twilight Cake

With The Twilight Saga: Eclipse out in theaters this week, I thought it was about time that I finally write about the cake I made last month. It was for my dearest friend, Juls. She's the biggest Twilight fan I know and so when her birthday came around this year, I just knew I had to make her this cake. 

Since I'm not too familiar with the Twilight series, I had to do a little bit of research.  I looked at the book covers and tried to figure out how to incorporate all the elements into one cake. The black background was the first thing that jumped out at me so that became the main color of the cake.  I decided to make the symbols on the book covers out of rolled fondant and place them on top of the cake. As for the flavor, there was no debate; it had to be a red velvet cake.



I thought it would be a cool idea to write popular book quotes on the side of the cake. I didn't want to ask Juls because I wanted it to be a surprise so I just searched for them online.  I used a small paintbrush and a mixture of silver luster dust and vodka to write the quotes onto the cake.

Here are some of the book quotes I decided to use:

"And So the lion fell in love with the lamb.
What a stupid lamb.
What a sick masochistic lion."

“If I could dream at all, it would be about you. And I’m not ashamed of it.”

"I promise to love you forever, every single day forever; will you marry me?"



For the scrollwork pattern, I made fondant scrolls and attached them around the base of the cake. I painted them with the same silver luster dust/vodka mixture as I did with the book quotes.



For the apple, I rolled some fondant into a ball and gently pressed around the top with my thumbs.  To create the stem, I just rolled a tiny piece of fondant and attached it to the top of the apple. I painted it red and brown using Wilton icing colors.



For the ruffled tulip, I used the tools in my Wilton Flower Making Set.  I cut out a piece of rolled fondant and pressed it inside the leaf mold. Then I ruffled the edges using the foam pad and one of the sticks. I made two more petals using the same technique.  For the falling petal, I used a small rose petal cutter. I arranged the petals so they would look just like the ruffled tulip on the New Moon book cover and used a very thin paintbrush to color it red.  For the stem, I just took a skinny piece of fondant and painted it green.



For the ribbon, I took a long piece of rolled fondant and cut it into two pieces.  To create the frayed edge, I used a paring knife and basically dragged the knife across several times.  I shaped the ribbon to look like the Eclipse book cover and then painted it with red food coloring. 



The chess pieces were basically shapes made out of rolled fondant that I stacked on top of each other.  For the pawn, I made three round discs on the bottom, an hourglass for the middle and another round disc and a ball for the top.  The queen was made pretty much the same way except for the crown. I took a strip of rolled fondant and used a rose petal cutter to shape the top of the crown. I wrapped the strip around a ball and placed a tiny ball at the very top. I used my FMM geometrical cutter set to make four white squares for the chessboard. I arranged them in the center of the cake and placed the pawn and the queen across from each other using two of the white squares.



When Juls saw the cake for the first time, she was absolutely blown away. She loved it so much that she couldn't bear the thought of cutting it.  Seriously, she really didn't want to cut her cake.  Eventually, I managed to convince her to finally cut it because I promised her I'd make her an exact replica in a fake cake.  She decided to display her fake Twilight cake on her bookshelf next to her Twilight series :-) 

Bengali Sweets South Ex Delhi !

Ok.. If you are Vying for pure Desi food, want it quickly , want a decent seating with AC in a Paush area Bengali Sweets is the place :-)

We got a chance to taste their Alu Tikki, Chole Bhature, Mock Tails, Dosa Idlys and Chats.

It was all by chance as we din get seating in Pind Baluchi :-)

The Visit Allthough was surprising especially with the Quick Service reasonable Cost and Decent Ambiance.

Since then Bengali Sweets has become a regular place to eat. Anybosy visting South Ex should definately try this ;)

Mongolian Barbeque Kzoo !

While being at US and picking things from here and there I came across "Mongolian Barbeque".

The very name reminds one of Chengez Khan that's it ;-).

I went in without thinking of what kind of food would be inside.A warm welcome by the attendee's and then we went to the place where in we need to select the quality and quantity of raw material that we want in our dish..it includes everything vegetables/spices/sauces..it is like you reap what you sow..also all of this has to be in one Bowl :).

After selecting these we went to the Kitchen or the BBQ place. this is where they grill your raw materials into a full fledged Barbecue dish.They take special care if you are vegetarian.

Once the dish is done you can go back to your seat and eat the dish ( which you chose) with unlimited Rice/Tortillas :).

Experiencing all this made me forget how the food/dish taste's.

It was the way it was served and cooked that too my heart :)

Also considering the fact that all this was not a expensive affair ~8$ ( cheaper than the indian dishes ) which are nowhere less than ~14$.

Overall great ambiance good food "innovative cooking" "excellent service" A place worth visiting

QDOBA - Mexican US Chain !

ok.. so here Iam Updating my retsaurant review.. US in general is not only about KFC McD Wendy's BurgerKing or PizzaHut. The Mexican Food here is quiet popular too, I happened to land in one during my visit to Kalamazoo.The QDOBA where i tried was on Westenedge Avenue.

This one is called as QDOBA .. its a take away type food chain where in you can find items like a Burrito, Fajita or a Gumbo. Nw since I am a vegeterian person I tried Veg version of all these dishes in couple of my visits..

Burrito is no more than a Veg Role the major difference is in Shape where in they wrap the tortila(Chapati) around the stuff( Rice, Sauces,Vegetables etc) in a rectangular shape ours you see is a Cylindrical one :). Gumbo on the other side is Rajma Chawal.,, not as delicious as the one we get in India but ya anyone feeling like eating Rajma Chawal can give Gumbo a try. Along with it they give you an option of unlimited Fountain drinks for I guess $ 1.99.. On an overall sclae a worth trying restaurant especially when you are getting a chance to try different cuisine.

The Rates are anywhere in between 5.99$ - 8.99$.