Neapolitan Cookies

It’s almost Easter and it feels like a great time to bake some cookies. Caleb mentioned that he loves these Neapolitan Cookies that his aunt makes so I thought I’d give them a shot. Of course, I’ve never had these cookies before in my life, let alone know what they looked like to search for a recipe. Caleb was very little help but after showing him a few recipes and asking him some questions about possible ingredients I’ve landed on AllRecipe’s version of the Neapolitan Cookie.

These guy’s actually take quite a bit if time to set in the fridge and I’ve never made a cookie with layers like this before but I actually really enjoyed myself. I’ve also never done a cookie that is made like a loaf and then cut to size for baking. They remind me of pillsbury cookies that come in a roll that you used to cut and bake. Same idea with these guys only I made the dough at home, very very exciting. I do need to be a little more careful next time with the cutting because my knife cuts were all over the place with very very inconsistently sized cookies but I was alright on the thicknesses so everything baked evenly. These guys don’t rise a lot but they’re not overly dense. My pink layer was a little too almond-y from my extract but that’s easily fixed. The chocolate was also pretty chocolate-y so minor tweaks next time around but I was pretty content with my first run at these guys. Maybe I’ll actually get to try them made by a professional next time so I can figure out what they’re REALLY supposed to taste like.

Captain Marvel Pi(e) Day

I’ve finally done it! I’ve made a pie in celebration of Pi day and I also managed to make it dually appropriate for the release of Captain Marvel last week!

Thanks to articles from Marvel on Facebook I had the idea already lined up and it’s actually a pretty simple pie to make, just the top crust cut outs took some work.

The original recipe makes several small pies but I have my own crust recipe that I use all the time and adjusted the filling for a larger pie. It worked out pretty well visually and it was edible though I can’t say much for structural integrity. That top crust really makes a different in a full sized pie, that’s for sure.

THE PHIL - Potato Corner

This trip to the Philippines to visit Christel has been pretty amazing and while it’s been a little stressful, how can you not love a trip where your best friend takes you out to eat amazing filipino food and takes pictures of you on vacation like the amazing vacation boyfriend that she is. I’ve gotten to eat a lot of really nice food and had my fill of my favorite palabok but my favorite thing by far in the Philippines, is Potato Corner.

LOCATION: Everywhere. Seriously. They’re in the front end of the grocery store and at the rest stops and I’m completely sold because before I even realize I want some french fries, they’re already in front of me in my hand.

Obviously, my favorite food is the potato. Any way you want to make it - french fries, mash, gratin, hash, I’m ready morning, noon, and night. So, when I got to the Philippines and Christel told me how much I’d love Potato Corner, I wasn’t going to argue. Little did I realize they really are everywhere and cheaply priced too. Potato corner pops up as a little cart/stand in the most convenient spots - rest stops on the side of the road, in the front end of rural grocery stores, the mall, even at movie theater concessions. That’s right guys, we went to go see Captain Marvel and I got to eat hot, freshly made to order, seasoned french fries right in my seat. Best movie experience ever. I’m easily pleased.

Potato Corner is pretty simple (which is what makes it amazing). You pick a size, for me it was either a Jumbo (small), or a Mega (Medium), love the naming conventions already. You pick a style aka french fries but they also have other things like chips and tots. Then you pick a flavor which is just the powder they sprinkle on top. They fry the french fries to order so it’s always fresh no matter where you find them and then sprinkle on powdered flavoring and you’re all set. Clearly, this is not a healthy snack but boy is it a delicious, and I’m never one to really turn down french fries. I found that the smallest size was enough to satisfy my potato craving and had just enough salt to it from the powdered flavorings to be enough. These taste a lot like the flavorings you get with potato chips here in America only better because they’re topping hot french fries.

Sour Cream & Onion

Cheddar

Spicy BBQ

Apparently, if I hope to eat potato corner again I have to head to NYC which may not be for awhile but you best believe that if I’m there again, Potato Corner is near the top of my list. Christel taught me a pretty nice trick that you can buy powdered flavoring marketed towards popcorn here at just about any grocery store and you can sprinkle that on top of your own homemade french fries, or if you want to be crazy you can just go to McDonalds and bring your powdered flavoring with you to add to your own order. I tried it as soon as I got back to America and while it’s not as great as potato corner, it’ll do the job.

THE PHIL - Pamana and Buko Pie

Christel took me to Tagaytay City today for a little day trip to see a the Taal Volcano (from the Starbucks Parking Lot) and to eat (of course) at Pamana Restaurant, a fine dining restaurant that serves traditional filipino dishes passed down from one generation to the next. I’ve been having an amazing time in the Philippines and luckily since I’ve gone to Vietnam and grown up with that food, Filipino dishes have been a pretty close jump for me to make. I’m not terribly picky so everything has been worth trying and I’ve been pleasantly surprised by a couple things.

LOCATION: Aguinaldo Hi-way, Crossing Silang East, Tagaytay, 4120 Cavite, Philippines

Apparently, I’ve gotten a little too excited for lunch today and forgotten to take pictures but Christel said her favorite dish from this place is the Ube Halo Halo which we each saved enough room for after eating all these incredible dishes. Everything goes by its traditional name which comes part Tagalog and the descriptions are less descriptions and more personal family anecdotes (also partly in Tagalog) so reading the menu is basically impossible for me and I have no idea whats going on. Thankfully, I have Christel to order for us and she know’s what I like.

We ate family style as a table of three and we ordered (I think) Sizzling Balot Ala Probresite - a creamy duck egg dish with tons of flavor and one of my favorite Filipino dishes, Crispy Adobong Pusit Calamares - an amazing creamy squid in an adobo squid ink batter thats fried, Bulalong Sisig - a sizzling meat dish served with calamansi and onions and peppers, and Tinanglarang Manok - a very familiar, warm chicken lemongrass soup. I’m not a huge fan of lemongrass but this was very good. It turns out these four dishes, with rice, were just perfect for the three of us because we didn’t have any leftovers and were just full enough to each have our own Ube Halo Halo orders.

We also brought back a little souvenir. I guess one of the things Tagaytay is known for is their Buko Pie so we stopped by a little bakery called “The Original Buko Pie Bakeshop” for me to buy some traditional candies and pastries to take back home for people and Christel bought the pie.

LOCATION: LMMO Bldg Caltex, Sta Rosa Tagaytay Road, Lumil, Silang, 4118 Cavite, Philippines

I brought back a bunch of small sharable desserts and treats from this bakery but Buko Pie was just for us. Buko is Tagalog for Coconut so this is just a coconut pie but make sure you think about that correctly. I didn’t say coconut CREAM pie, just coconut pie. Buko Pie is slices of coconut meat layered into a pie crust and baked like our Apple Pies here. It was great. I’ve never had a pie like this before and honestly it’s got to be a new favorite. The best parts of asian desserts are that they aren’t overly sweet and sugary. Buko Pie has that sugar sprinkle on top but it has a natural mellow coconut flavor to it. The layers of actual coconut are tender and meld so well together and make something that’s not too dense but filling in a more mild way. I’m so sad that I’ll only get to eat this one slice but it’ll be a slice to dream about some day that’ll bring me back to the Philippines.

The PHIL - The most beautiful meal I've ever had

Today is a beautiful day. We’re out with one of Christel’s batch mates from high school, Sam, to make a trip to the Pinto Art Museum which has beautiful exhibits built into a hill that’s open and has so much nature surrounding the buildings. There’s a lot of local art here which I love seeing when I got somewhere new and the Pinto was a photographic dream. I highly recommend it.

While we were out we decided we needed to go get some food and Christel hasn’t been in the Philippines very much for the last 8 years that she’s been doing school in America so we rely on Sam to take us somewhere cool. Our first pick is booked solid so she takes us somewhere else and it’s like a twist of fate because we were meant to see this restaurant and eat this food.

LOCATION: 22 Loresville Drive, Lores Farm Subdivision, Antipolo, 1870 Lalawigan ng Rizal, Philippines

Tahanan Bistro is beautiful. Tucked into a subdivision surrounded by houses we pull up thinking we have the wrong address. We open doors that lead to the garage wondering if we’re inadvertently breaking into someones house when a car drives by and gestures to us that we have the right place. We walk up to this really amazing wooden door and pull a string that rings a literal bell alerting a waiter that we’re out here.

There’s a porthole similar to a ship that opens out for people to look through but our waiter has been here long enough to just open the front door and welcome us in. As soon as the door opens we’re led into a beautiful garden and expansive koi pond with the largest fish I’ve seen in a setting like this. We walk into a wooden house with sliding doors and incredibly designed wooden tables and furniture.

Once we’ve had time to talk to our waiter he let’s us know that this house is owned and designed by famous Filipino woodworker Benji Reyes. He’s furniture is sold all over the world and is beautifully crafted and handmade. Having one of his pieces is having a piece of art in your home. Having a whole house designed by him is an experience in itself. Our waiter tells us of the years it took for Benji Reyes to source all of the wood he needed for this house before even had carving and designing it. It’s a masterpiece and makes you feel warm and comfortable though it’s all made of hard wood. Everything is so unique in design and we spend the meal discussing our favorite chairs, itching to explore the rest of the place.

We’re lucky today and there are only a few tables that are occupied so our waiter has time to answer our questions and we walk around after we eat to explore all the rooms and check out the local artwork including more benches and books showcasing Reyes’ skill.

Tahanan Bistro is operated by Reyes’ daughter Keesha and her partner Kevin Tuason after their time in Melbourne, Australia. The food is seasonal and changes from time to time to match the products available but this is a very upscale casual fine dining prix fix menu. There are three options to choose from, all at ₱1,350.00 which ends up being about $25 (a steal). Sam and I order a pitcher of the Lychee Iced Tea which is perfect. Their meun’s are after different plants/ and ingredients but the titles are based in Tagalog so I’m happy there are actual descriptions today.

Sam and Christel order the Kanloan set menu while I order the Arayat set menu. They’re both amazing and adventurous in different ways and I almost get the same but some courses throw me off and in the end I’m happy with my decision.

The Kanloan menu comes as Pusit - Squid ink pizza, squid adobo, house-made rigotta, mozzarella, crispy adobo isaw, cherry tomatoes, spinach, and lemon, Ubud - ubud, lettuce, peanuts, roasted garlic, smoked milkfish, and tuille, Pares - braised beef brisket, linguini, poached egg, pangrattato, green onion, and 70% dark chocolate, Prutas - a seasonal fresh fruit popsicle, and Ube - their famous purple yam and white chocolate lava cake, cheese ice cream, and edam crisp. We’ve heard good things about the Ube lava cake and the waiter says the Kanloan is their popular menu because of the dessert. Lucky for me I have Christel and Sam and they give me a taste so I don’t really miss out.

My Arayat menu comes out as Hipon - prawn and pumpkin ravioli, coconut cream, crispy prawn heads, smoked bacon, cured egg yolk, and cashew, Ubud - ubud, lettuce, peanuts, roasted garlic, smoked milkfish, and tuille,

Hipon

Ubud

Humba - Pork with pork crackling, polenta, pickled beetroot and jicama, squash flower tempura, arugula, and apple vinaigrette, Prutas - seasonal fruit popsicle, and Saging - dutch pancake, grilled banana, lemon whipped cream, and a pink peppercorn caramel.

Humba

Saging

This meal was perfect, it’s easily the most beautiful meal I’ve ever had with each plate coming out to look perfect. Because this place is so open and natural the light was incredible during the day and it was just so peaceful to be eating this amazing food while looking at nature and enjoying great company. All the dishes were perfectly portioned and we each finished every last bite of our dishes - I was the only exception being unable to completely finish the pork in the Humba course but we know how I get meat full so it wasn’t a surprised with three large cuts of meat to a plate. I can see why they set the portion that way though because I’m sure most people would be able to eat it all. The whole experience was incredible and if I get the chance to go back to the Philippines, this place is on my list to re-visit. I have a hard time when I’m traveling because I want to see everything so most places get one visit in a lifetime to be able to see more but this is worth the repeat. They menu changes three times a year as well so revisiting would yield a whole new meal but the setting is what makes this place so special.