7 DAYS TO GO BEFORE CHRISTMAS!

It's so amazing how time flies....seven days to go before Christmas!!! and I have not even delivered my gifts yet. I'll Start sending them out starting tomorrow I was hoping to make a Christmas card out of this photo too but decided that I was better off getting gift tags in the bookstore. I have so many plans but there's just always not enough time.

For those who still have time this weekend to bake, here's the recipe for the gingerbread people. I'm sure the kids will have a smile on their faces when they receive a box of these.

For those who just want to grab and go, there are items at Goodies N' Sweets

CHOCOLATE GINGERBREAD COOKIES

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Ingredients:

1 cup butter, cubed, room temp

2/3 cup white sugar

2 pieces eggs

1 cup honey

6 cups all-purpose flour

1/3 cup cocoa powder

1 teaspoon baking soda

1 teaspoon salt

1 tablespoon ground ginger

1 tablespoon cinnamon

1 teaspoon ground cloves

1 teaspoon nutmeg

Directions:

1. In an electric mixer, beat butter and sugar in medium-high speed until fluffy.

2. Reduce speed to low then add the eggs one at a time, beating well after each addition.

3. Add the honey. And mix well.

4. In a separate bowl, whisk together flour, cocoa powder, baking soda, salt, and spices. Gradually add flour mixture, and beat until just combined.

5. Divide dough into 3 portions, and wrap each in plastic. Refrigerate for 1 hour.

6. To bake, preheat oven to 325 F. Line several cookie sheets with parchment paper and set aside until ready to use.

7. Remove dough from the refrigerator, let it stand for about 10 minutes at room temperature. Place the parchment paper on a working table and dust slightly with flour. Roll out the dough to 1/4 inch thick. Dust and flour as necessary to prevent the dough from sticking. ( or roll dough in between 2 sheets of parchment paper to desired thickness.

Once the correct thickness has been achieved, place dough in the cookie sheet and place in the freezer for about 15 minutes before cutting.

8. Remove dough from the freezer. Immediately cut the dough using halloween cutters. Transfer cut out dough to baking sheets and bake for 15-20 minutes, or until edges are slightly golden, rotating halfway through. Cool completely on wire racks before decorating.

9. TO DECORATE:

ICING:

1 lb. confectioner's sugar

2 large egg whites

Combine confectioner's sugar and egg whites and mix on low speed for about 5-8 minutes.

To color the icing: dip the tip of the toothpick into the food coloring and gradually mix into the icing until the desired color is achieved.

Dip one face of the cookie in the colored icing and scrape off excess icing to smoothen the surface. Leave icing to set slightly before decorating with accents and frills. Let it dry completely before storing in airtight containers.

or....Spoon icing into a pastry bag fitted with a very small plain round tip (such as Ateco #0 or #1). Pipe designs on cookies Allow icing to set and store in airtight containers.

PAAD THAI

As promised, here's a recipe one of my favorite Thai dishes. I also shared this recipe in F&B World Chef's Secrets and Favorite Recipes

PAAD THAI

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Ingredients:

1/4 cup vegetable cooking oil, divided

4 pieces eggs

2 tablespoons tamarind paste

1/2 cup warm water

1/4 cup fish sauce

1/4 cup brown sugar

2 tablespoons soy sauce

1/4 cup dried small shrimp, hibi in tagalog

4 cloves garlic, minced

500 grams white shrimp, peeled, tails left on

200 grams flat rice noodles, soaked in water for 20 minutes

3 cups bean sprouts

3/4 cup scallions, sliced

1 block tofu, cubed and fried

1/4 cup ground peanuts

cilantro sprigs, garnish

1 piece lime, wedged for garnish

Directions:

1. Heat 2 T. of oil in a pan or wok.

2. Beat eggs in a bowl. Cook in the pan, tilting it so eggs would cook like a crepe. Allow to cool. Slice into strips and set aside.

3. Dissolve tamarind paste in warm water. Add fish sauce, brown sugar and soy sauce and mix until dissolved.

4. Heat remaining oil in a wok and saute the dried shrimps for 2 minutes. Add the garlic then the shrimps. Cook until shrimps turn pinkish.

5. Add the noodles and stir for a few seconds. Add the tamarind mixture and stir well to combine. Allow to simmer for about 2-3 minutes.

6. Stir in bean sprouts and scallions. Then add the tofu. Adjust seasoning as needed.

7. Remove from heat and transfer to a serving plate.

8. Garnish noodles with the egg strips, ground peanuts and cilantro sprigs.

9. Serve lime wedges on the side.

SHOPPING IN JATUCHAK AND SEAFOOD DINNER AT SOMBOON

On weekends, Jatuchak is one place to go to when in Thailand. . We wanted to go to the weekend market before it got crowded and hot so my sister Vivian and I got up early all for the sake of shopping. It took us about 30 minutes by taxi to get there and we had ourselves dropped off at the clothes area. We bought some souvenir shirts and saw a stall that sold winter stuff...perfect for our next trip... a winter vacation in Korea. We got some thick gloves, thermals, scarves etc for a really good price. Then we headed out to go to the area where they sold plates and ceramics. While heading there, we passed by an area that sold plants, flowers and bulbs.

I wanted to buy some but I realized that it might not be good to bring it home. Customs might give me some problems so I decided to just let go of the idea.

Then as we walked, here are some food stalls that I found to be really interesting. Coconut ice cream served in its own shell and with freshly shaved meat. Here's another stall that sold tub tim krob...water chestnut in coconut milk with crushed ice...my favorite. It's really yummy but we decided to just go back to the place when we're done shopping. Unfortunately, we were not able to pass by that area again as we took a different exit.

Here's a stall that sold herbs and spices for Thai cooking. They had teas, lemon grass, packed curries etc. You name it, they have it. The prices were reasonable too. I got a pack of dried lemongrass tea with pandan leaves. I didn't buy the other spices anymore as I still had stock in my pantry.

We went around and passed by the area where they sold jewelries and furniture. We found a place that sold really unique silver pieces but it was too crowded so we skipped that.

Then we found the area where they sold plates. Everything you need from bowls, plates, containers for condiments, glasses etc were there. The plates were really cheap...like 20 baht per piece...that's like 30 pesos...who can say no to that?

There were also stalls that sold stoneware and celadon...reasonably priced too.

After walking around there for about 4 hours, we got really tired from carrying our stuff so we headed back to the hotel.

After a few days of major shopping, some friends of ours invited us for a seafood dinner. The restaurant's name was Somboon Seafood. I heard that it's the place that served the original fried curry crab. We were excited to give it a try.

Here's what we ordered... curry crab that has been shelled for us already, spicy kangkong,

fresh oysters, fresh sea bass in lime and chili sauce,

And steamed prawns with garlic and chilies.

I particularly enjoyed the sea bass and the fresh oysters!!! The lime with the chillies and garlic sauce really had a kick. Spicy but loved the taste. The oysters were very fresh, meaty and buttery! The prawns were okay. It tasted like the ones that we would order in a chinese restaurant. The curry crab was good but not that great but what I loved about it was that it's been shelled for us so we didn't get our hands dirty anymore.

For dessert, they took me to this place called i-berry. It's a place that sold cakes, ice creams and sorbets. I've been told that the flavors that they make for their ice creams and sorbets are seasonal...to capture the best flavor of the fruit. I ordered the sampler... 5 miniature cones with 5 different flavors... we tried, coconut, mixed fruit - tasted like our halo-halo ice cream, raspberry, atis or custard apple and thai tea. I loved the atis because it was like I was really eating the the real fruit. Really yummy.

Since I liked the ice creams and sorbets in i-berry so much, I went to Siam Paragon the following day. On our shopping break, I took Sabrina to try their ice cream again.

I know I promised to share Thai recipes on my next post. I really will... but I just had to squeeze this one in now. :-) Happy weekend to everyone!!!

FOOD TRIP IN THAILAND

I just got back from a trip to Thailand and I think I gained 1o pounds! The food as usual was good and cheap and that was all that I wanted to do while I was there... well, shopping too.

First day... as soon as we got in the hotel, we rode the tuk tuk and headed to Central Department Store. We wanted to check the clothes and other stuff. It was already around 7:30 then and I didn't really eat the food in the plane I was so hungry already! We decided to try the food in one of department store's restaurants called The Terrace.

While waiting for the food, they brought us the container for the condiments: chillies in fish sauce, pickled chillies, sugar, and chili powder

We ordered the catfish salad which by the way was so yummy, and for our beverage, the pandan juice. We also ordered duck curry, satay, and pad thai but I wasn't able to take pictures of it because the lady asked me to stop taking pictures...which was sad. My first meal was actually good but not not really great...I got excited, was looking forward to my next meal already.

Here's day 2... lunch at the Ninth restaurant, a few steps away from our hotel.

Here's what we had... soup with meat and vermicelli noodles, paad thai

chicken satay again and seafood fried rice with salted fish. The chicken satay was so-so but the sauce made it taste better and the pad thai was better here than from the one last night. I was happy because my meals were getting better.

In the evening, we were at the mall again so we decided to eat at the food hall. It was a really huge place where they had a section for chinese food, japanese, italian, of course thai, indian etc. Walking around there got me so hungry!!!



For dinner, we had stir fried flat noodles with seafood, roasted duck,

bbq pork buns, fried shrimp wanton, gyoza, wanton noodle soup and for dessert, fried bananas with ice cream and thai halo halo. For a food hall, the prices were reasonable and the food was good!

I'll be posting some recipes for thai dishes soon!!!

LUNCH AT ROMULO'S

Last Saturday, Evita invited us for lunch, sort of her despedida de soltera with the girls. She set the venue at Romulo's. It's a Filipino restaurant in the Scout area.

We went upstairs and took a function room for privacy. As soon as the girls arrived,

we ordered two appetizers. We had the smoked fish bangus pate and the deadly crunchy chicharon. Both were really good.

this is the citrus cooler that the waiter suggested that I try. It was good and refreshing!!!

Here's what we ordered... the flying tilapia with three sauces, bagnet pakbet,

the tenderloin bistek tagalog and the boneless crispy pata binagoongan. We also ordered mongo soup and the pomelo salad. I think we ordered too much but I was pretty glad that I got to try a lot of items. It was a good lunch. I'll probably eat there again with some friends to try out the other items on the menu.

DESSERTS IN SINGAPORE

I thought I was going to have time to write in Singapore for my blog but my schedule got so busy that I didn't even have time to check my emails. I guess I was catching up on seeing my friends too and squeezing shopping in between my schedule. There were two place that I revisited while in Singapore. One was in Robertson Quay, a chocolatier called Laurent Bernard. I went there with my friend Jen after we had dinner at the famous chicken rice place Wee Nam Kee at Novena. After a very good dinner, we needed to finish it off with an equally good dessert as well.

Here's my decaf cappuccino that I accidentally stirred before taking a photo of it. Jen and I shared this heavenly chocolate truffle tart. Of course, the chocolate was really good because they used very good quality chocolate. What I liked more though was the crust. It was very flaky and buttery and the texture made me have another bite, then another bite, then another bite.... really yummy!!!
Sunday was spent with Sabrina and my good friend Pinky. After lunch at Din Tai Fung at the Paragon, we headed on to check out the shops, brought Sabrina to Toys R' Us then had coffee and dessert at PS. Cafe.

Here's a photo of my cappuccino again after putting 2 cubes of brown sugar. Their coffee was good. I love the fine silky froth. They make really good cappuccinos that's why I always order it when I'm there. I love it too that they put the white and brown sugar cubes in a glass.

We ordered one dessert, the mango and banana crisp with vanilla ice cream. We forgot one thing though... that the mangoes weren't like the ones that we have here in the Philippines. It tasted like the ripe Indian Mangoes and it didn't blend well with the bananas. The ice cream was good and the crisp crust was good too...just that the mangoes weren't what I expected it to be. Maybe if it was made with Philippine mangoes, it would taste better.

Here's Pinky enjoying her iced caffe latte. I miss you Pinky! Hope to see you soon again :-)