Chefie’s World

May 24, 2008 - I am 43 years old today and sick. Yup! I woke up with my joints and some muscles aching. I thought I had fever but no sign of heat in my body. I had the whole day planned - was going to sleep till late since I always wait for midnight to greet myself. How much pity do I give myself —hehehe! Also waited among my friends who would be the first to greet. It was Cochaca. I call my friends different names some they know, some don’t. Some you will die laughing when you find out their aliases and you see their faces. Others are named due to attitude. I was going to do errands today, buy pancit for my annual birthday party in school and desserts for our dinner tonight that was suppose to be in a resto. But since I was sick, it was moved back at home. My Ate Cynthia is cooking her kare-kare, which I think is the best one after mine, and Yaya Cita’s adobo. But again, schedule changes. No more buying of desserts. Dimpy Camara, my new friend send me her delectable, best tasting frozen brazos, then got the pancit palabok from cholesterol heaven, Razon’s of Guagua for the people in school. I got tons of text messages in my cell today but I have no idea who sent it. Okay, last Tuesday, my phone’s contacts file just disappeared so there, I lost all of it and I am slowly getting them back today by asking all those greeting me who they were. Another pitiful episode! Ok yan, birthday ko naman…but the worst happens….I got messages from students abroad, friends in Beijing, Singapore, and students in Thailand and Davao. They all remembered me. Those who forgot, its fine the calendar log on my phone got erased too. Now, I am more sick, I have bombed stomach with liquid as in liquid you know…so I stay at home drinking all the liquids I could. The stomach ache and pain is also present and I noticed only recently that this has been happening since yesterday….how stupid can I get….don’t laugh…..I still got some greetings from well meaningful students and friends….then suddenly I got tons of requests for demos, work, work and more work….I love my life!

Never thought that after trying my very best to get his classes in Institute of Culinary Education, it is here in Manila that I will finally meet and see the great Nick Malgieri demonstrate cakes and pastry doughs. Last Tuesday and Wednesday, through the kindness of Food and Foodie Magazine yours truly, was invited to witness in the flesh the great master at work. He has been an idol ever since I worked with Jill Sandique who was also trained by Chef Malgieri. She also has not enough words to describe the experience. My first actual exposure to him is through his book, How to Bake, which I believe was already his third or fourth cookbook. I have also used extensively quite a number of his recipes in the Perfect Cake which has the best looking pictures any cookbook has ever had.
The event was this year’s Master Class Series from Food Magazine who started bringing in chefs from the US. The past few years it has been Delores Custer demonstrating Food Styling which is an area in the food business rarely taught here in the country. The first day he demonstrated interesting cakes and on the second day, a lot of different pastry doughs, both sweet and savory plus some chocolate truffles. It was quite interesting since most of the cakes were not that simple but more specialized especially on technique or method. It also reaffirms to a baker or pastry chef if whatever he has been accustomed to do is correct or not, since the science which is integral to baking is also discussed.

Chef Nick was very friendly and moved through the crowd before the start of the seminar, so I had the chance to introduce myself and acknowledge how big an idol I am of him. The seminar flow was very smooth, I had my share of people going to my table to say their greetings but specials friend who I have not seen for the past five months suddenly resurfaced, Bambi, owner of Kooky and Luscious and Pia Y Damaso was invited by Magnolia Butter, to watch the chef in action. We talked about how life has been since she opened another outlet and our common friends who I haven’t seen for quite some time. At the end of each day, there was inquiry part where once could ask anything about baking which I could relate to and learn from. Also, the best part of the event is still the cake and pastry tasting. Although the first day sampling was quite minute, it was enough to conclude that the baked goods were meticulously made. We had a ton of samplings on the second day since I had with me on my table some very important people….for me to know and for you not to ask…….hahaha……Food and Foodie Magazines as well as other food related publications should bring more foreign chefs for us to learn from and converge on a topic that everyone loves to discuss.

I have been going through a busy week, again – teaching my pro class every day morning until night but enjoying it. Another set of students are also going through their final repertoire where they conceptualize, cook and bake the whole menu for a dinner for a number of guests. But today, May 18 is a special day for me, it’s my Nanay Curing’s birthday – my mother who is the biggest influence to what I am today. My mother who I had very little time to be with but who I enjoyed every dish she ever prepared. As a child, I remember that we didn’t have enough money that I was drinking hot water with sugar but after that all she cooked me where always good. She would send us food all the time….from Navotas to Dasma….her tochong bangus, batuta, Adobong Navotas, Mechandong Navotas I know that you are all enjoying. Her gulay dishes were always special since she would render beef and pork fat and use this to saute her onions, garlic and tomatoes. Today is also my nephew’s birthday, Joey. His calmness and simpleness is so affecting. I cooked for him tonight, his favorite pastas - penne al telefono, pesto e gamberoni, gambas and grilled ribeye steak and lamb chops….tons of food. I will always enjoy cooking for them just like my nanay did with all of us.

I am sharing with you tons of recipes here, simple and delicious…..please write me feedback. Enjoy!

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Only a few of you came to this once in a lifetime chance to watch me live in action at the USDA Culinary Theater to cook and bake healthy dishes with California raisins. But there will be other demos and I will invite you again. That is also the main reason why I have not posted during the last week because events like this requires full attention and concentration and I was also teaching professional and skills class at the same time. It took me awhile to finally decide on the array of dishes that I will be demonstrating and had to test and retest all of them to fit the taste and flavor I wanted. Finally, last week or 6 days before the event I finalized the recipes. I purchased all the ingredients Wednesday and started cooking and prepping everything Thursday with my assistants, Julie, Star and Mr. K. We finished early since the dishes didn’t have too much ingredients and there wasn’t too many pre cooking to be done. I had to do five recipes of the chicken dish ahead to age for better flavor and an additional recipe of dressing with the same reason since if you rest and keep it chilled in the refrigerator for sometime the taste changes so much since the raisins get to infuse their flavors too. Friday came, everything was ready by 11 am and my demo was scheduled at 2 pm so we took a nap right after lunch. As I was cleaning the platters for the final product presentation, I noticed something smelling and I saw the culprit, it was the chicken and it had bubbles and had a funny smell. In other words, it got spoiled since I didn’t have the time to boil it after removing it from the chiller. My fault! spoiled, wasted and thrown immediately - a lesson to learn in preparations for a demonstration. My other concern was I got several text messages from participants that they cannot make it so I might be doing the demo for only a dozen people…heheheh…..My sponsor, Raisin Administrative Committee’s representative would be coming in from Singapore and I really had to make a good impression. Don’t worry, everything went well, all participants who are part of my group of clients and friends in the food industry came and almost filled the theater. I was overjoyed, they all loved the recipes since it was healthy and not too difficult for an ordinary caterer to cook or make which I believe should be taken into consideration now by most chefs when they do demonstrations. Here are the recipes, I hope as usual you enjoy them.

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I promised that this was going to be my next post subject and here it is. I think one dessert that swept most of the world is TIRAMISU. It even was part of a discussion in a movie, Sleepless in Seattle…and here I am, telling you that it means, “pick me up” in Italian and every cuisine has an interpretation. Ours is even presented as a cake, which should never be….

One of the very first desserts that I enjoyed was tiramisu and there was La Primavera who made it so famous latter part of the 1980’s. I learned my version from a good chef and friend, Mary Rose Garcia Campos who I will count as one of my mentors. Of course, my version has changed through the years. I was selling this for years. Almost 12 containers every week and during Christmas, I was making 10 recipes a day, a total of 20 containers. How did I get to sell so much? Mom would always bring it to her parties and by word of mouth it has become popular in her circle and most of our neighborhood.

But haven’t made it for the past 7 years since mom died, but last week. Due to the request of my nephews and nieces I did, I tasted it and it was still the same, the way it was seven years ago.

The classic tiramisu uses ladyfingers – I use my own recipe of pound cake - it doused with just the right amount of espresso – I use a sweetened coffee mixture with kahlua. Due to heat of our country, I also make sure to put half a packet of gelatine so that it will not melt as fast. Best eaten two days after it has been made. Oh, my! Had grated bittersweet Belgian chocolate on top and cocoa powder.

I am sharing with you the recipe after all these years, I finally decided it was time……..

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The other night I cooked for my Kuya Titong and his co- professors in AIM. It was a thanksgiving dinner for all his years with them. The whole faculty, I think were there and it was a joy to cook and bake for him. The menu was as follows:

Gavino Letttuce Greens, Baby Arugulas, and Pomelo Bits
Gorgonzola Cream Sauce, Poppy Seed Dressing

Sauteed Fresh Button, Shittake and Oysters Mushrooms, Crème Fraiche, Truffle Oil
Linguine Pasta

Panfried Dory Fillet, Lemon Capers Sauce

Grilled Prawns

Roast Black Angus Rib Eye, Mustard and Multi Herb Crust
Port Wine Demiglace
Baked New Potatoes and Broccoli

Desserts: Eliseo’s Tiramisu
Crème Caramel

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All of you, if you have been reading, know of my fondness for Royce’s chocolate. Since I was going to be in Japan, it was a sure shot to be one of the most important stuffs that I was buying for myself and to give away. Finding out that Tita Charito also had to buy more than a dozen of this good tasting, melts in the mouth, glorious one of a kind wonder of the world, we were out to look for it. Nama Chocolates of Royce’s really melts so when you buy it they either give you an aluminum freezer bag with a small frozen ice to keep it from melting and that’s the main reason why we decided to buy this chocolate in Tokyo than in Kyoto, getting it a few days before we leave for Manila.

But we were in for a surprise, there was not a single Royce’s store in the whole of Tokyo. The minute we got to Ginza, we moved around all the basements of Matsuzakaya, Mitsukoshi, Isetann to look for a stall but there was none, and Tita Charito was resigned not to get her dozen boxes. Sadly, I was going to miss one of my favorite chocolates.
Tokyo, Japan where it is made, and not a single store but they had Dalloyau which is a French patissierie, We found out that they had branches in Hokkaido and Sapporo but not in Tokyo. Sadly, no Royce, I had my last piece last January when a student from Davao and Sharlene from Yummy gave me one as pasalubong from Singapore since it was so easy and accessible to get from the basement of Takashimaya in Orchard Road.

Guess what? God is really good, right in front of our boarding gate was a souvenier shop that sells Royce’s! Thanks! And we finished all the Nama. They have a cherry liquer flavored chocolate which is new to me….got some for Chefs Gene and Gino…this story ends my series on our family trip to Japan. I hope all of you enjoyed my posts and pictures. Please keep on visiting. I know there has been no recipes lately but will soon add some. Tomorrow’s my brother-in-law’s big dinner for professors, been cooking and baking the whole day.

As soon as I found out that Tsukiji market was a very famous fish market in Japan, I dreamt of visiting it. For over 30 years, mom and dad had a fishing business and we would sell what the boats caught in the biggest fish market in the whole Philippines which was the Navotas Fish Market. Tsukiji was the Japanese version of the Navotas market. I was also from Navotas.

The minute Ate Cynthia told me that we were going to Japan, I asked her if we were going to the fish market. She said that will try our best to go. When we got the itinerary, it was clearly stated that our tour organizer can not bring us to Tsukiji due to it being a dangerous area and it will disturb the fish seller. I got depressed that we couldn’t go but as soon as we got to Tokyo, my Tita Charito said that we can go and it will not be a problem. We just have to wake up early. She has been there and it was easy, tons of restaurants around to eat. Hehehe.

We planned to go on a Sunday but it would be closed so we had to go Saturday morning. We were there before 6am. Tita Charito, Ate Cynthia, JL and I took a cab worth 2500 yen which is around 25 dollars. That’s a 20 minute ride, didn’t express any thought on how expensive it was…ok lang…..got there and saw the whole auction process. There was an area just for tourist where photos are allowed but no flashes turned on. You see this guy on a higher platform shouting, maybe it was a price and people were also shouting if they were buying it or not. You see small slices near the tail of the tuna where they check the quality of the fish. After this, you see a trolley bring all the fishes out then they are boxed with the tuna slice attached on top of the box. Isn’t that organized?

We saw a store that got one of the tunas and since it was as hard as a rock, they used a mechanical saw to do this. Then we went around the market to look at all the live and dead seafoods…..plenty and it was really a lot, the whole market was as big as a football field, two hours was not enough to go around.

Mt. Fuji as seen from my room

me and Mt Fuji

traditional Japanese breakfast

The beauty of Mt. Fuji was just too much! I was at awe upon the sight of it during my ride in the bullet train from Kyoto to Mishima station. Upon arrival, we went through our Hakone tour, going around Lake Ashi, the Ropeway and the Owakudani Boiling Valley where the delicacy was to eat a hardboiled egg cooked in the hot springs. The area really spelled of sulfur so I didn’t stay that long and ate ice cream with my titas.
We stayed in Hotel Mifuen which had the view of Mt. Fuji in all its rooms, it was also my first stay in a traditional tatami room, all hard floors but we had a futon and lots a very thick duvet to cover our bodies since, again, it was very cold. We were also treated to a traditional Japanese dinner and breakfast, sat Lotus style, had a tray infront of us with tons of small dishes together with the best rice, grilled fish and more sidings. Breakfast was an egg cooked in a metal pot with a burn and heat proof paper doused with soy sauce, grilled salmon slice and more siding….delicious and authetic. The whole family got to reach the 4th level station of the mountain and there was snow, so we played around and threw snow balls. I fell thrice while climbing up, due to the melted ice, getting old….just like some of you reading this. Enjoyed the sights….seeing and being near Mt. Fuji was like reaching the Great Wall of China when I was in Beijing, it was awesome, too happy to realize that I was there. The best when you are with the most important people in your lives.

Kit Kat Soy Sauce Flavor

Yoku Moku Cigars ( Japanese Barquillos ) in three flavors - regular, chocolate and of course, green tea

Japanese Sweet Candies - eaten during the Japanese Tea Ceremony

Japanese Snacks - Elise - Pretzels with green tea and chocolate filling, green tea Kitkat

Fruit Tart with Fresh Fruits and of course, strawberries

Everywhere you go in Japan, there were stores selling some sweet items, tons of it. Some stores were even selling identical ones. Go to the basement of any department store and for surely, you will see tons of stores selling all types of sweets, cakes, mochi, pretzels, chocolates and more. One can be so amazed at what they have to sell and the amount of people willing to buy.

Even found a pretzel named Elise, that’s my other name. My groupmates in UP call me this, since we were two Juns in the group, they changed our names to Elise and Zoi. Right Patty, Tracey, Riza? And yah, I took a picture of it.
Heard of Green Tea Flavored Kit – Kat, the wafers are encased in a green tea flavored white chocolate – bitter and sweet – right blend and it really is different but here is another surprise – soy sauce flavored…..and a lot more. There were different ice cream flavors that were available everywhere, green tea, azuki bean and even cherry blossom as I discussed in my other posts. Got to taste this beautiful shaped, very sweet candies that is eaten during a Japanese tea ceremony.

The packaging of all Japanese products is something else, they really think about it and even the way they wrapped it just before it is given to you is done with so much art in it.
My favorite Japanese barquillos Yoku Moku I also found….when mom and dad were still around, they had Japanesese friends who would give these to us and I found it again after more ten years — comfort food — made me remember mom and dad who I know are so happy that we got to travel again as a complete family — all 12 of us….saya, sarap, lamig, and ang mahal sa Japan!