My mother recently arrived home from a trip to Europe and she brought home a wealth of lovely sweets that our clan-full of chocoholics have been enjoying for the past couple of weeks. One treat that has become a strong favorite among us is Mozartkugeln from Austria.
…you seriously need this. This is a cherry cheesecake Blizzard, something I recently discovered at Dairy Queen at the Araneta Center.
I have to admit this: I am seriously addicted to Royal Milk Tea, that gorgeously rich beverage made with tea brewed directly into steaming hot milk and sweetened. Think of it as chai without the spices – very, very nice!
Chilled Royal Milk Tea is also a favorite of mine, but – up until recently – it was pretty hard to get a decent tumbler of the cold and creamy beverage anywhere in the Greater Manila Area. I would usually get my iced milk tea fix from a Quickly kiosk (and they do milk tea rather well), but the newest kissaten [Japanese-style cafe] at the Megamall opened my eyes to a whole new world of possibilities.
The Tokyo Milk Tea Place opened last May and grabbed my attention by way of the little sample cups they gave away to passers-by. The sort of drink they serve is called bubble tea because of the chewy tapioca balls [sago] that come with every serving. This was quite a foodie fad some years back, but it sort of fell out of favor when all the “pearl shake/cooler” wannabes showed up. Still, the new kissaten takes the milky drink to a whole new level.
Spaghetti Bolognese is one of those recipes that have become part and parcel of any self-respecting cook’s repertoire. Unfortunately, this classic combination of pasta and a rich meat sauce has suffered dreadfully in most Filipino kitchens – particularly in school cafeterias.
In her book Aphrodite: A Memoir of the Senses, Isabel Allende states that she doesn’t like baking bread for the simple reason that it’s a terribly addictive activity that wreaks sheer and absolute havoc on one’s figure. After all, who could resist freshly baked bread still wafting curls of steam and filling the air with its characteristic yeasty-buttery fragrance?
I, on the other hand, love baking bread as I find it incredibly therapeutic. You can get a serious upper-body workout just by mixing and kneading the dough and you get to bust quite a bit of stress if you knead it vigorously. Plus, trying bread recipes from around the world and creating your own can be a wonderful adventure in itself.
