Kozui: A New Green Tea Experience

It all started with a phone call from Toru-chan (regular SybDive readers will remember him as my darling Vigan empanada-crunching / Xocolat Azteca junkie friend) who was in the country recently and was raving about this “totemo subarashii kissaten” [way-cool teashop] not too far from my office.  Then, about a month or so ago, the amazing Lori of Dessert Comes First wrote this particular entry.  After vacillating for a few weeks, I decided to trot myself out of the office and actually sample what everyone was raving about at Kozui.

Baked Mac: Sprucing Up a Favorite

Baked macaroni is a very popular treat here in the Philippines and, apart from spaghetti, pancit Canton, and lumpiang togue, happens to be a fairly common offering on lunch or merienda menus.  Unfortunately, just like the local take on spaghetti, some cooks handle it with an incredibly heavy hand or turn it into something fit only for an ersatz children’s party.  Still, when done properly, it is certainly an amazing meal.

Glorious Sausage Rolls

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.