Christine, my friend and most favorite Kapampangan of them all, the same one who's introduced me in the world of true Kapampangan cuisine, came back with a vengeance when she started posting photos of a custom degustation meal prepared by a former Nobu Restaurant NY sous chef who does pop-up restos (also called supper clubs) in Angeles City, Pampanga.

After doing a little bit of research on Chef Rex, I've learned that he's also worked in the kitchens of Bobby Flay and Wolfgang Puck...chefs I like, but have only tasted either their food in a bottle or can.

I've always been curious how pop-up restos and degustations go. We have degustations here in Manila as well, but costs two arms and a leg (OK, probably two legs). I'll eventually try them out. I just thought that I'd check out the one that Christine is featuring since she's already "screened" him for me. Kapampangan roots, worked with world-renowned chefs, Php1,500/person for at least an 8-course meal...do I need any more convincing??? Plus, she mentioned that the chef isn't always in the country. So, might as well try to catch him while he's here.

I'm not a big coffee drinker, but there's something about being able to make yourself a good cup of coffee. When I'm at Starbucks, I would usually order a 4-cup press if I'm with company. Well, mostly because it's more economical since it just costs below Php150 if I remember correctly. That's a good price for sharing for 4 people. You could ask for steamed milk for free. You'd pretty much have more control on the amount of sugar and milk that goes into your cup. 

Although, we do have a De'Longhi espresso and cappuccino maker, it can be quite tiresome to clean that machine. I wanted to get an 8-cup coffee press for our home.

Technically, it's T's second Easter, but he was just a few months old on his first time. He was less oblivious about it this year. So, we got him some Easter treats courtesy of our special food fairy.

I think he was just paying attention to it because of the colors on the packaging. Personally, I'm quite fascinated on the design concept of these chocolates. A, well, I'm pretty sure the chocolate stash would keep him busy the next few weeks.

I'm not good in gardening or basic plant care, but I like working on green projects. Our yaya likes to do gardening stuff and has been telling me that it would be a good idea to have a vegetable garden since we have the space to accommodate one. I welcomed the idea and tried to give it a thought on how to go about it.

We don't have a big space, so I started looking at vertical gardens.

Scout loves reading. Regardless of the time of day, he comes up to me to either point a word or brings a book for me to read to him. I can definitely tell you that he didn't get it from my side of the family. I myself have only been able to finish the Harry Potter book series...no other book before that nor have I read one after it. And let's get one thing straight, I'm not a big fan, it just caught my attention span long enough for me to actually finish reading the series.

Being a sucker for keepsakes for Scout, like his Kumano-fude made from his first haircut trimmings and the pencil portrait session with Pilar Tuason, having a personalized children's book would be a brilliant idea to me.

Growing up, my father has taught me about the world of "give and you shall receive", which mostly involves giving more and not expecting anything in return. All my life, that's what I've seen Daddy do. He's a take-what-you-need-share-the-rest-with-others kind of a person. It's not difficult to follow, most especially since I've been given the opportunity to be able to have something to give to others. And, as Daddy have said, the world has it's way of giving back.

I'm not always around to cook for the boys, but I make it a point that they have something to munch on and not let them go hungry. Although we don't live far from places where we could easily buy food, it's still good to have something ready or quick to prepare at home.

Over the weekend, we prepared this dumpling recipe from Lettuce Spoon and kept it in the freezer. I cooked it while cooking rice by placing the steamer attachment, coated the inner portion in sesame oil, on top of the rice cooker. The steamed dumpling can be eaten as is, but I opted to toast the wrapper a bit by searing the wrapper on a pan. This gives it another texture dimension to it.

As for the dipping sauce, although Lettuce Spoon's recipe already has the dipping sauce included, I opted to try for another one. I found a copy of Martha Stewart's Soy-Vinegar Dipping Sauce and went for it. 

After a few whisks, I ended up with this:

Overall, the taste reminds me of gyoza. Unfortunately, I'm not a fan of gyoza. So far, the only gyoza taste that I like it that of Osaka Ohsho's and that of our helper, Yeng. A liked it, which is the more important part since it's his emergency food.

It's been a while since I've posted on the site. Juggling work, motherhood, and the rest of the household is not an easy feat. I think, based on how things are moving along, I can safely say that I've got it sorted out enough to have some more available time. That being said, I've returned to my playground in the kitchen.

A has always appreciated Japanese food. It's been a while since we've been to one. The past couple of weeks, he's been looking for sukiyaki. So, I thought, why not make him one?

We actually had his first haircut done on his birthday last year. Scout has so much hair that we were able to use his first trimmings in a number of ways. Apart from the usual practice of inserting it in books (we actually used tow books), some was used in his First Haircut Certificate. This one is the ultimate memorabilia...

The idea was first presented to me when I had my first meeting with Ms. Penk Ching of Pastry Bin for Scout's first birthday cake. Shifting the topic a bit, here's what the cake looked like: