TOBLERONE CHEESECAKE

I know, I haven't posted anything in months. I've been busy with life...organizing a surprise party for my mom, celebrating friends and family birthdays, celebrating my birthday etc. I'm also fixing my Christmas items for the store.

Here's a recipe that I always make during the Holidays. I love that it's easy to make and it tastes sooo rich and creamy...Let me know what you think...

Will be sharing more recipes in a few days for Holiday entertaining...Enjoy!

Toblerone Cheesecake

Filling:

8 oz cream cheese - room temp

1/3 cup white sugar

2 pcs egg

1 tspn vanilla flavor

5 portion white or milk or dark Toblerone chocolate - roughly chopped

Crust:

5 oz graham crackers

¼ cup white sugar

2 tbspn melted butter

Icing:

½ cup pastry topping

Instruction:

1. Put aluminum foil at the bottom of the molder. Set aside.

2. Grind graham crackers and mix with white sugar. Place in a bowl and add in the melted butter

3. Cover the bottom of the molder with crust. Set aside.

4. Preheat oven to 250F.

5. In a mixing bowl, beat cream cheese on medium speed. Gradually add sugar. Mix until well blended.

6. Add eggs one at a time followed by vanilla. Mix well.

7. To assemble, put 1 scoop of the batter in each mold. Place the roughly chopped Toblerone over the batter then place another scoop of mixture over the molds. Use spatula to level off the batter.

8. Bake for about 30 – 45 mins. Turn off the heat and let it cool completely inside the oven with the door open.

9. To decorate, top with shaved white Toblerone shavings.

Yield = 5 individual molds, or 1 6-inch spring form pan.

Prep time - 20 minutes

Baking time - 30-45 mins.

tips: make sure to bring cream cheese to room temp to avoid lump. you may strain batter to make sure that it will be smooth and free of lumps.

OCTOBER MENU FOR MMS

Here's what's coming out this October. For the first half of this month, I have some comfort food lined up. Then from mid month 'til end, it's all about fun, ideas for tricks and treats. Halloween is coming soon so here are some items that you can serve at your halloween party party...Enjoy!

You can download these recipes through your mobile phones. Just text CHEF to 2346 and receive these wonderful recipes 3 times a week. You can also log onto http://chefaileen.com on your WAP browser.

Deviled Wings with blue cheese dip

Bruschetta with tomato, garlic and basil

Spinach cappuccino soup or you can also call it swamp soup

Baby greens with pears, blue cheese with honey balsamic vinaigrette

Bloody mary tomato soup

Halloween spooky cookies

MENU FOR SEPTEMBER ON MMS

Tomorrow, is already September! Whew time really flies too fast. I'm excited for the new menu for September. Here's what we will feature this month...

Hummus, Greek Salad, Moussaka Lemon Oregano Chicken, French Onion Soup, Spinach and Ricotta Canneloni, Fresh Fruit Pavlova and many more.

Scroll down and see how you can download them using your cel phones... Enjoy!

SIAM OCEAN WORLD BANGKOK

I had this on my drafts folder and forgot to post it. This was from my last trip...

I can't believe I went back to Bangkok again for the long weekend. This time I went with the family and of course, my daughter Sabrina.

In between the shopping and the eating, we did things that the kids would enjoy. One day, we took them to Siam Ocean World. It's conveniently located at Siam Paragon and is a few minutes away from our hotel. The place is pretty new and it's clean.

Sabrina had so much fun. She felt like she was Ariel, the little mermaid, visiting her fishy friends.

Here are some of the sea creatures that we said hello to...

Lionfish

I forgot what this is... :-)

pineapple fish

This is me with Sabrina

Sharks swimming around...waiting for food

Here are the divers waiting to feed the sharks...there's the manta ray swimming on the right.

Here are the sharks trying to open the box with food. They're hungry already!

There was a section in the ocean world where they had the different types of jelly fish.

This is an interesting photo of a grouper... about 3 ft. long. There were about three of these in the aquarium. What I was thinking was after I saw it was... sweet and sour lapu lapu!

Well, you'll probably spend about 1-2 hours inside. There were shows as well and tours on how they care for the sea creatures. It's very educational.

GREAT FOOD IS JUST A TEXT AWAY!

To all the foodies out there...here's a great way to get tried and tested recipes three times a week or go to http://chefaileen.com on your WAP browser so you can choose what you want to download!

Yesterday's recipe was Paad Thai. Tomorrow's recipe is Deep fried prawns wrapped in vermicelli and on Saturday, it will be Fish fillet with garlic and basil - Thai style.

Enjoy!

MMS MENU FOR THIS WEEK...AUGUST 16-22

Hello everyone, here's what you can download this week through MMS...scroll down to see the photos...

Here's how you can download the recipes again...Just text CHEF to 2346 and you'll receive my recipes 3 times a week. It's P20 per recipe on Globe, and P15 on Smart and Sun. Or you can log on to http://chefaileen.com on your WAP browser. Again that's CHEF to 2346. Text na! For MMS phones only."

Pomelo Salad

Crispy Catfish and Green Mango Salad

Chicken in Pandan Leaves

BARISTA COMPETITION AT THE WOFEX

I'm writing this quickly because I need to head out to SMX for the Barista Competition. It's the finals today and I can't wait to see what the finalists will be making for their signature drink. I hope I'll be surprised in a good way.

Yesterday, we had 20 semi-finalists, each doing an espresso and a cappuccino.

Here are the barista's waiting and hoping for their names to be called.

Here's the group that made it on the list...1 lady is missing. I think we got the right ones for the final round. Good luck to all the finalists and I hope to see your best this afternoon!

AUGUST MENU AND RECIPES FOR MMS DOWNLOADS PART 1

Here's what you'll get this August for MMS. The theme is Asian for this month. I wanted to do the Filipino theme but I think this will be better as everybody knows how to cook Filipino food anyway.

Here's how you can download the recipes.... Just text CHEF to 2346 and you'll receive my recipes 3 times a week. It's P20 per recipe on Globe, and P15 on Smart and Sun. Or you can log on to http://chefaileen.com on your WAP browser. Again that's CHEF to 2346. Text na! For MMS phones only."

Browse below and see what's on the menu...

Crab and corn soup, on August 2

Spring onion pancakes on August 4,

Five spice crispy fried squid on August 7,

Asian fried spring rolls on August 9,

Silk tofu with chili and cilantro on August 11,

Sherbet with coconut milk and pinipig on August 14.

A WEEKEND IN BANGKOK

Recently, I went on a trip with my girlfriends in Bangkok. It was our first real trip going in and out of the country on the same flight and same hotel. Usually, we just meet up in a certain city and hang out for dinner or drinks or for a few hours of shopping. This time, we were 24/7 together.

In the plane, while seated together, we were already planning which malls to hit first and what foods to eat. As soon as we landed, we headed to the hotel, unpacked some of our stuff then headed out for a late lunch.

First destination - Siam Paragon. There's a cafe at the basement where the food court is called the 9th Cafe. It's one of my favorites. The food here is always good and very consistent. The girls were very hungry already because it was almost 3 pm then so we ordered the quick food.

Here we are, the girls at the 9th. From left to right Chris, me, Pinky, Val, and Marie.

Thai tea for me and Chris,

Crispy catfish with green mango salad,

The house specialty that became everyone's favorite dish too - soft shell crabs with mixed greens and lime vinaigrette.

Chicken satay,

and the famous paad thai. For dessert, we couldn't resist ordering the lemon meringue pie. It was freshly baked. The crust was flaky, the lemon filling was tart and not too sweet then the meringue had a crisp top with a marshmallow fluff in the center.

After that heavy meal, we decided to walk and check the stores in Siam Paragon. They had a good mix of signature brands there and the department store had a lot to offer as well.

Right beside Paragon was Siam Center where they have the local brands...

This is the Tango store. They were on Sale, 80% off so we checked it out. I was able to buy a cute pair of sandals.

Here are the other stores and their displays.

Upon leaving Siam Paragon, we had to wait 20-30 minutes by the taxi stand for a cab. We had to bribe a cab driver to take us to the restaurant where we were going to have our dinner. The restaurant was quite near from the mall but it took us a while to get there due to heavy traffic. We arrived at our destination - Baan Kanitha at around 8 pm.

Personally, I wasn't really hungry due to the heavy lunch we had but still decided to order a lot anyway.

Appetizer before the main dishes,

Hot water for me. Love the tea pot and cup. We actually wanted to buy some but didn't find any in the ceramic stores.

Here's the food... Pomelo Salad with shirmp and shredded chicken,

Crispy rice cakes with pork curry sauce,

Stir fried chicken with chillies and cashews

Vegetable spring rolls,

Shrimp cakes, I was told that it tasted better before but it was alright.

Prawn in red curry, really a good one. For dessert, we ordered the mango with sticky rice, and the tub tim krob - water chestnut in tapoica starch with coconut milk and crushed ice.

The next day, we woke up early and had breakfast at the hotel. Then headed out to the malls by 10 am. We went to Central Department Store. I couldn't resist, I had to get some Jo Malone Cologne. Muji was there too so I got some containers for the home and for traveling.

The girls were mainly by the shoe department buying their pumps and sandals. After Central, we headed to Geysorn Plaza to check the signature brands. Note, we only looked but didn't buy....because we had a plan...:-)

Late lunch was a this place called Senses, on the third level I believe in Geysorn, right beside the Longchamp store.

Here's what we ordered. Soft shell crab salad with lime dressing again. A different version, more spicy dressing but still yummy. I dont' think we can ever get tired of this dish.

Shrimp tempura, we were forced to order this because we needed one more entree. The menu was limited so ok, we went for the safe one.

Another paad thai, nicely presented in a fried rice paper basket topped with fish roe.

Then we had green chicken curry. We decided not to have dessert anymore because we were running out of time.

Next stop was shopping in this secret place. :-) You can email me if you want to find out where. If you're nice, I'll tell you where it is. :-) They have local brands and they have really good deals. The girls and I decided to split up so we can go shopping on our own then meet at a specific time ( more like the closing time of the mall) When we saw each other, we were all laughing because all of us had really big plastic bags filled with stuff. We knew it was time to go home.

Back at the hotel, the girls, except for me, tried on their new buys. I was too tired and so I just watched them model their stuff. We rested for a while then headed out to the mall to shop again before dinner.

Late dinner was at The Loft, a food court type of place with different restaurants...name it, they have it. We ordered chicken rice, beef pho, duck curry, char kway teow, cantaloupe with sago, and the mango with sticky rice again.

Writing this is making me hungry already. Anyway, I had such a great time with the girls. I wish I can go back there again soon for another food trip because I'm missing it already. I will post some easy Thai recipes next time for you to try. 'Til then...