Salad-ness!

There was a lot of good food and delicacies I've tasted and devoured (haha!) during our trip to Leyte (Ormoc and Tacloban) but the highlight was the oh-so-delicious and super in freshness Rafael's Farmer Salad we had for lunch last Saturday.

I was a bit apprehensive in ordering salad since I wanted to try the farm's specialties which are humba and other meat dishes.  As compromise, we got the salad and humba and baked scallops as appetizers.  But when the salad arrived, the smell was already fantastic! I smelled the sweet fragrance of mangoes, and the freshness of lettuce, cucumber and tomatoes with the milky whisk of it's special dressing their chef just made.  Truly, nothing beats fresh vegetables and fruits to open up my whole palette of different tastes and get ready for the famous and scrumptious Humba of Rafael's. :-)

China Bowls: A Crash Course on Rice Toppings

Last weekend, I attended an afternoon cooking class led by my chef friend, Albert Sia, a graduate of CCA and sous chef of Creative Cuisine catering services.  The class was held at the Creative Baking and Cooking Institute owned and managed by Ms. Nonah Ting.  We had Steamed Fried Rice (ala Dimsum), Sweet and Sour Pork Rice, Beef with Mushroom, Fish Fillet with Black Bean Sauce, Japanese (?) Chop Suey Rice and Chicken Teriyaki with Rice.  Chef Albert, after explaining the basic principles of cooking rice toppings and some crash course on the "roux" and "slurry" terms, started demonstrating the recipes one by one.

Not one of us were able to help in the cooking itself, it would have been more practical and more fun if Chef allowed us to participate even in just stirring the broth.  However, I found it more helpful to just sit back and relax the whole time since I would have been stressed out standing and cooking with him and the others who attended. :-) Maybe next time, Chef would encourage even small participation from his class since it's a class not just a cooking demo.

The Cooking and Baking Institute will hold the following courses this month:

May 2:
Soft Butter Ensaimada, etc. - P800; Asian BBQ(Satay, Yakitori, etc.) - P1200

May 3:
Lutong Pinoy (Rellenong Bangus, Pochero, Bistek Tagalog, Kare-kare etc. ) - P1200
Bicolano Cuisine  (Laing, Bicol Express, Lumpia Ubod, etc. ) -P800

May 4:
Fruit-Filled Pies - P800
Commercial Cookies and Pastries ( Salvaro, Butter Cookies, etc) P800

May 5:
Zizzling Dishes - P800
Amazing Thai  - P800

May 6:
Meat Roulades  (Chicken cordon Bleu, etc.) P800
Mini-Siopao Making -P800

Other cooking classes are available.  Minimum of 3 persons per class.  For more details, you may contact : Tel # 2380014-15.