Cook and Brew.

Just got a news that my sister’s homecoming from Qatar on April is now confirmed. We’re so excited because it’s her baby daughter’s first time to visit our native land and so we’re anxious to meet and kiss her personally for the first time. They have confirmed their ticket bookings and so it’s all systems go. Now here comes one of my pre-arrival favorite parts. That is, it’s listing down time of homecoming gifts (pasalubong). The last time my sister and her husband had a vacation, we’ve got so many confectioneries and the one I liked the most are these Quality Street chocolates. She gave me one tin and I’ve almost consumed the varied chocolates in just one sitting. I like how they are not so “sinfully sweet”. I hope they fill their Samsonite luggage with these chocolates.

Quality Street is manufactured in Halifax, in the United Kingdom by Nestlé. A box or a tin of this usually consists of indiviadually wrapped sweets in 12 flavours, all of which are either chocolate or toffee based:

* Milk Chocolate Hazelnut with caramel (the ‘Purple One’)
* Chocolate Noisette Pate (the ‘green triangle’)
* Chocolate Toffee Finger (gold wrapped stick)
* Toffee Penny (gold wrapper)
* Vanilla Fudge (pink wrapper)
* Strawberry Delight (red circular wrapper)
* Coconut Eclair (blue wrapper)
* Caramel Swirl (yellow frustum)
* Milk Choc Block (green wrapper)
* Orange Crunch (hexagonal orange wrapper)
* Orange Creme (orange circular wrapper)
* Toffee Deluxe (Brown wrapper)

You Are a Sweet Person

When it comes to snacks, you’re more likely to grab some candy than heat up a pizza. There’s a good chance you’re female (women prefer sweet snacks)… Or at least, you prefer to be in the company of women. Your tastes are simple and predictable. You are young at heart. You tend to crave food you can just grab and eat.

Are You Sweet or Salty?

Blogthings: A Fine Line Between Insight and Stupidity

Wow..this is so true. Aside from my being affectionate, which the husband can attest to that, I truly have an incredibly sweet tooth. In fact, the barcode scanners in the grocery could actually break down whenever we shop for my sweets stocks for the week. I stock our cart a lot! From ice cream, to chocolates, cookies, donuts, etc. My latest sweet cravings lately are Goldilocks Polvorons which I’m currently munching as I blog.

Going to Baguio City this Holiday season? Don’t forget to drop by Teahouse along Session Road or their SM Baguio branch and snag this delectable treat for your own feasting or as a pasalubong to your loved ones here in Manila:

Here’s what I have previously blogged about this sweet treat:

Ever since we tasted this heavenly cake dessert, we make it a point that this is the number one in the list of pasalubongs to take home from Baguio. This refrigerator cake called Chona’s Delight is named after the brilliant Aling Chona, the owner of Tea House Restaurant and Bakeshop located along Session Road.  This establishment is one of the oldest chow place for locals and tourists craving for noodle snacks, coffee, bread and sinfully delicious cakes such as the above pictured Chona’s Delight. Tea House now also has a branch at nearby SM Baguio where we bought 5 small tubs of Chona’s Delight for take home during our annual Christmas vacation in the city of Pines last year. Three of the five small tubs were exclusively devoured by me..yes, that’s how delectable and addicting this cake is.  It consists of layers of rich chocolate cake frosting and fillings of creamy custard and whipped cream. Don’t be fooled with the rich, dark chocolatey look but this doesn’t taste tooth-cringing sweet at all. In fact, you can really even consume all by yourself in one sitting the small tub which they sell at Php 105/container.

Tea House Restaurant and Bakeshop
87 Session Road, Baguio City
Branch:
SM Baguio, Upper Session Road, Baguio City

Kikiam

This has been my favorite merienda (snacks) these past few weeks. Our neighbor, who has a streetfood stand and sells variety of street foods, prepares the yummiest kikiam and tongue tingling sauce I’ve ever tasted.

Kikiam or Que-kiam is a popular Chinese dish made with ground pork and vegetables wrapped in bean curd sheets then deep-fried until golden. Basically, kikiam has been used as an ingredient of Chinese dishes like pansit because of its meaty taste. However, it also tastes great when eaten finger food style…best with a sweet and spicy sauce.

“My therapist told me the way to achieve true inner peace is to finish what I start. So far today, I have finished 2 bags of M&M’s and a chocolate cake. I feel better already.”
~ Dave Barry

I’m literally drooling while posting this picture. And all the more I salivated when I noticed that my recent snapshots share are all food…so tempting and alluring. This is the husband’s shot of his special Father’s Day cake…Red Ribbon’s Chocolate S’mores Cake: moist chocolate cake with layers of heavenly marshmallow and grahams. Topped with caramel and chocolate squares.