back in the kitchen

...and ready to raaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaahck!



my new purchase. good colour, yes?

icy treats.

it is no wonder that ice-based treats are popular in the philippines--the average yearly temperature is 26.5°C (79.7°F), and 85% humidity is not uncommon. whether you are in the city or in the provinces, for the most part (unless you're lucky to live high in the mountains), you take a shower in the morning and step out immediately feeling like you need to take another shower. you are pretty well aware that you live in the tropics.

the most popular of the ice-based treats is probably halo-halo (literally "mix-mix"), a non-specific but fairly colourful mix of preserved fruits and beans, milk , and ice served in a tall glass. the name comes not only from the array of ingredients, but also from the idea that you mix everything together so you get a milky, sludgy, icy drink. (a note about the milk in halo-halo: evaporated milk is typically used because it is rich without being too creamy, and can be used sparingly; also, when it is mixed with the ice it dilutes to a regular milk consistency and flavour.) it is often served as merienda, but equally as popular as a dessert. or, a dessert at merienda :)

i've just come to learn about guinomis, another icy confection, which i'm told is a popular lenten repast, probably because it has less ingredients than halo-halo, and is also dairy-free. why, why, whyyyyy hadn't i known this before?! the creamy white expanse you see is from coconut milk, which covers a combination of nata de coco (a fermented but non-alcoholic coconut water gel), sago or tapioca pearls, pinipig (toasted rice flakes--the older sibling of duman), and a palm sugar syrup. the whole thing is served in a tall glass as well, covered by a tiny mountain of shaved ice. i absolutely love the non-dairyness of this; the coconut milk is creamy, but not über-thick with actual cream. it is not overloaded with too many flavours so you can really taste the caramel of the palm sugar syrup and the toasty rice flavour of the pinipig, which permeates the liquid. the nata de coco and sago/tapioca provide a nice, chewy texture against the flurry of quick melting ice flakes.

in fact, the ice that is used in these desserts is quite important--the finer the better. it is much finer than crushed ice, or even snow cone ice; japanese kakigori, malaysian/singaporean ice kachang, the southeast asian cendol and hawaiian shave ice have the same consistency. there are machines that can produce this fine ice, but for my money, i usually turn to a hand-held ice shaver. it works like a wood plane--the bottom has a long blade that is run across the surface of a block of ice; the resulting ice shavings are collected within, like a tiny bank of snow.

it usually takes about two of these little caches for one serving of halo-halo or guinomis, which really takes no time at all, once you get a rhythm going. it also seems to be more satisfying than just pressing a button or swirling around a handle on a machine; perhaps it's that little extra effort that makes it all the more sweeter. this particular type of shaver is still quite popular in the philippines, and is still made there; we've had ours for thirty years now, and it hasn't failed yet. if you are stateside and looking for one, this mainland company sells a similar one.

also quite fashionable these days is a specialty of our family province of pampanga: white halo-halo. it is basically the same as regular halo-halo , only it contains monochromatic ingredients. the most famous example of this is from a restaurant in the town of guagua called razón's; they use only leche flan (a baked milky custard), and saba bananas boiled in a palm sugar syrup. another popular variation has little milky candies in it--pastillas de leche or yemas--and not much else. i prefer the razón's version, which i make at home, with the addition of (colour-free) nata de coco or kaong (sugared date palm nuts) for a little texture.

winter wonderland in a glass.



technorati tagged! philippines filipino dessert merienda

techie toys for cooks

one of my new favourite things is delicious library, a database for your books, music, dvds, and games brought to you by the fine swiss cheese plants at delicious monster. each item of your library is easily added by typing in the title or barcode, or even better, by pointing a handheld scanner or firewire digital video camera to the item's barcode; information from all of amazon's international databases (us, uk, germany, france, canada and japan) is accessed and downloaded. you can display your library as a database or as these nifty shelves, which can be browsed, searched, or sorted. i've just started, but i've already got a better grasp of my cookbook collection, which in the real world is strewn across various rooms, flats, even continents. and huzzah! book covers are also downloaded, so i have my entire fiction collection at my fingertips (which as many of you know, is organized in a most unorthodox manner).

unfortunately for many people, delicious library is optimized for macs; for the mac user, it is christmas in a (window)box: you can use your built in iSite for scanning, there is a lending library synchronized with your address book and iCal, there's a widget for easy access to your database, which can also be stored on your iPod. iImpressed. it's a solid US$40 investment.

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appetites.us is one of the first food blogs i'd ever read, and continues to be a favourite; for a food blog it has remarkably few photos, but remains evocative and appealing--chalk that up to robert peyton's excellent writing skills. it was also a prime source of information about new orleans during the katrina crisis, and continues to enlighten me on what life is like for a typical citizen in the aftermath. a recent post mentioned a new (beta) website, rouxbe, which features detailed instructional videos by real chefs cooking real recipes. it, alas, does not provide this as a free service, but from the free preview you can see the videos are attractive, thorough, and most importantly, all about the food. if all that dreck on the food network bugs you as much as it bugs me, this could be for you. no mucking about.

however, if the US$49/year ($99 lifetime) membership is too steep--yet you still managed to blow $299 on a video iPod--epicurious.com offers free video podcasts of various cooking and entertaining techniques (no, not how to not spill a drink on someone--think napkin folding). these one to two minute segments look not unlike rouxbe's videos, but deal with the basics: how to sharpen a knife, how to julienne, how to poach an egg, la la. there are currently 36 free episodes (search "epicurious food and drink" in the iTunes directory), 14 of which i've seen and digested. i honestly was always vexed by how to dice celery in a uniform manner until recently. now i can rest easy at night, knowing The Truth About Mirepoix. you can, too.

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and finally, not a techie toy, not even a toy. just toyed: a gummy bear rug. you know you want it.


tagged! software podcasts videos library fun with gelatinous substances