Tuesday, July 8, 2014

Baking with Yogurt

Yogurt is quite expensive here in the Philippines and to be honest, I wouldn't even think about using it for baking if I weren't making my own yogurt at home. (And in case you're curious, it's super easy to make yogurt! I use this recipe.)

This is a mango-cinnamon yogurt cake. I was lucky that on my way home last Saturday night, I saw a fruit stall packing up for closing and managed to buy the last of their mangoes. Yay! I think mangoes are starting to go out of season as I haven't been seeing a lot of them in fruit stalls anymore. I guess my baking with mangoes will have to wait until next year lol.

I didn't know mangoes and cinnamon go well together!

This is a lemon yogurt cake. It was my first time zesting a lemon and I'm glad I learned how to. Next time I will try making this cake with the local calamansi (Philippine limes).


I haven't figured the recipe I'd like to stick to just yet (I'll share when I do) but I enjoyed baking cakes with yogurt because it's quick and the cakes end up super moist that they don't even require frosting.

Thursday, July 3, 2014

Savory and Sweet

Just a couple things I made in the kitchen recently.

These are meatloaf cupcakes with mashed potato frosting. I've been meaning to make this for the longest time since I saw the recipe on Pinterest. 


I usually find myself looking for ingredients that we don't commonly have here in the Philippines (and are obviously more expensive), like strawberries, blueberries, almonds, peaches, matcha, etc. However, I realized, why not use local ingredients and local produce instead? I mean, they're pretty good anyway. I've managed to make some tablea brownies and tablea cheesecake recently with tablea I got from Cebu. Maybe next time I'll try baking with ube and perhaps durian if I manage to get my hands on some. (And yes, I like durian lol.)

Also, since it's mango season right now, I decided that I will use mangoes for my baking. Here's a mango cheesecake that I made for my co-worker's birthday. I made something similar for Father's Day too. 


Tuesday, July 1, 2014

Sunset and Seaglass

Unable to join last May's outing with my friends and constantly feeling like I haven't enjoyed summer enough, I decided to join an outing with my high school classmates.

We went to Lilom Resort in Anilao, Batangas. The last time I was in Anilao was when I had my certification for scuba diving and that was four years ago. I've always wanted to go back because even though the beach is not very good for swimming, Anilao has amazing reefs. It's a protected marine sanctuary and therefore it's heaven for scuba diving and snorkeling.











Chilling early in the morning with Daenerys while everyone was still asleep lol

Lilom Resort is a simple but super charming and comfortable resort with excellent customer service. The design of the whole place is both beautiful and functional. They serve delicious homecooked food. It's a very relaxing place although the stairs that lead to it from the main road is a challenge especially if you're not in good physical condition. In any case, it's a place that I'm willing to go back to.




Chilling by the room's patio with Ned Stark haha 

That was a much needed relaxation. The loud waves crashing and receding against the rocks and corals by the shore was like music, I didn't even have to pop my earphones to listen to Birdy or to Ed Sheeran (lol). The environment was enjoyable and therefore it wasn't difficult to restrain myself from surfing the internet while we were there. And thankfully, it didn't rain during our stay! Definitely a great weekend.