A lot of food supplements have emerged nowadays. We have this variety of health capsules in the market like the liver capsule (to clean our liver), for kidney stones, and a lot more. Now comes a new type of supplement which aids to help clean our colon. This new colon cleanser, in my opinion, is a great addition to the family of supplements. But of course, the best way still is proper diet and regular exercise. Plus eating of fruits and green veggies will surely keep us away from harm and sickness.

It’s the season of summer so it means it’s time to hit the beaches again, get a tan and have fun under the sun! Bring out those sexy swimsuits or bikinis and show that body figure you have. I am assuming that everybody are strict with their diet nowadays to lose those belly fats away.

If you haven’t started your diet program yet, start right away. You still have few months (2 months) under your belt before the summer ends. I read something sometime ago about how to lose weight easily. First, you need to have self-discipline. Be strict with what you eat, make an exercise routine everyday, and drink an effective supplement that complement your diet program. People are endorsing Orovo, which they say is very effective. Here’s one I found over the web.

The most obvious benefit was the energy boost, which allowed me to get more out of my daily workouts. My weight, which had been stubbornly refusing to go away for years, leveled out within the first few days and after a couple of weeks started steadily going down.

And this person strongly recommends this supplement. I don’t know what the side effects are but there’s nothing wrong experimenting on it, right? So go and try it so you can achieve your dream body.

Are you a food buff? A diet conscious person? Or maybe you simply love food? Then sign up at Food Connect and socialize with persons who are into foods, too. If you are a member of the said site, you can submit a recipe (read it, your originally made recipe) and share it for others to try and experience, discuss about new ideas and cooking techniques with fellow friends in the social network, and so much more.

I just signed up this afternoon and since my birthday is near (it’s gonna be next week), I’m planning to prepare a special dinner for my family and my mushu. A simple celebration made by me is enough for that special day. And well, as a member I enjoyed looking up for some delicious recipes and had the whole course meal planned. Sign up now and be part of this active social food network.

Colds.. I hate getting colds but now I have it because the weather is bad. VERY BAD. The cold air every night plus my staying up late for a couple of days now resulted to weakening my immune system. And now I am certified weak. Even the Vitamin C doesn’t work for me now. And I hate this because I have a running nose, I sounded like a ngongo when I speak, I cough in my sleep, and last night I had a sinat (slight fever). Boohoo. Getting sick since the previous week? WTF! I need to get my act together and love my body. I should also learn how to say NO!
But last night mushu and me went to The Fort to have dinner in a cozy restaurant. And afterwards, some friends came over and hanged out with us. It was a super fun night. What more can I say?

If you can’t get enough of the V-day celebration yesterday, you might want to try this for your sweetie. A simple recipe for your loved one that will make him (or her) crave for you more!

Coffee Dacquoise Hearts

Ingredients:

• 2/3 cup hazelnuts
• 1 teaspoon cornstarch
• 1 1/4 cups sugar
• 1 teaspoon sugar
• 3 large egg whites, at room temperature
• 1 pinch cream of tartar
• 4 teaspoons instant espresso powder
• 1/4 cup warm water
• 1 teaspoon warm water
• 4 large egg yolks, at room temperature
• 3/4 cup unsalted butter, cut into pieces and softened
• Accompaniment: Raspberry Coulis

Cooking Directions:

1. Prepare hazelnuts: Preheat oven to 350 degrees F.
2. Toast nuts in a shallow baking pan in middle of oven until skins are split and nuts are golden, 10 to 12 minutes. Wrap nuts in a kitchen towel and rub to remove skins (not all skins will come off), then cool. Finely chop 1/3 cup nuts and reserve.
3. Make meringue hearts: Finely grind remaining 1/3 cup whole nuts with cornstarch and 1 teaspoon sugar in a food processor (do not allow to become a paste). Transfer to a bowl and stir in 1/4 cup sugar.
4. Reduce oven to 250 degrees F.
5. Cover 2 baking sheets with foil. Using cutter or cardboard template as a guide, trace 6 hearts on each sheet with pointed end of a toothpick (for a total of 12). Brush foil lightly with oil.
6. Beat egg whites and a pinch of salt with an electric mixer until foamy, then add cream of tartar and continue to beat until whites hold soft peaks. Gradually add 1/2 cup sugar, beating until whites just hold stiff, glossy peaks. Fold in ground-nut mixture gently but thoroughly and transfer meringue to pastry bag.
7. Staying within traced lines, pipe 4 solid hearts and 2 hearts with a heart-shaped space in center on each baking sheet (there may be meringue left over). Bake in upper and lower thirds of oven, switching position of sheets halfway through baking, until dry and pale golden, 1 to 1 1/4 hours. Cool 10 minutes, then carefully peel meringues off foil and transfer to a rack to cool completely.
8. Make buttercream: Stir together espresso powder and 1 teaspoon warm water until dissolved.
9. Bring remaining 1/4 cup warm water and remaining 1/2 cup sugar to a boil in a very small heavy saucepan over moderate heat, covered, stirring occasionally until sugar is dissolved. Boil, uncovered, washing down sugar crystals from side of pan with a pastry brush dipped in water, until candy thermometer registers 238 degrees F or a drop of syrup forms a soft ball when dropped into a cup of cold water.
10. When syrup reaches boil, start beating yolks in a bowl with electric mixer until thick and pale.
11. When syrup reaches soft-ball stage, slowly pour it in a thin stream down side of bowl into yolks, beating constantly. Continue to beat at high speed until cool to the touch. (It is important that mixture is properly cooled before proceeding.)
12. With mixer at high speed, add butter 1 piece at a time, beating well after each addition until incorporated, then beat in dissolved espresso. Continue to beat buttercream until fluffy.
13. Assemble hearts: Spread 1 tablespoon buttercream evenly over each solid heart. Top each of 4 solid hearts with another solid heart, buttercream sides up, then top each stack with an open heart. Spread about 1 tablespoon buttercream around sides of each heart, then coat sides with reserved chopped hazelnuts.
14. Chill hearts 30 minutes, then let stand at room temperature 15 minutes before serving with coulis.

Yield: 4 servings

Cooks’ notes:

Meringue hearts may be baked 1 day ahead, cooled completely, and kept in an airtight container at room temperature.

Assembled hearts can be chilled, covered, up to 1 day.

Special equipment

One 3 1/2-inch heart-shaped cutter or a 3 1/2-inch heart-shaped cardboard template; a pastry bag fitted with a 3/8-inch plain tip; and a candy thermometer.

Source

Woohoo! I’m glad my site is up again (Thank you, Ate Sasha. *mwah) so here I am doing my first update for this month. Chinese New Year is fast approaching and I can’t simply wait to officially welcome the “Year of the Earth Rat”. Well, I am an Ox-baby and according to my Chinese fortune for this year (hmm), let me choose to not spoil it here because it might get jinxed or something. But to give you a clue about it, it is said that my year is gonna be good. Hooray for me!!

If you want to know your fortune for this year, visit any Chinese temple and ask them to read it for you. Well, for me, Chinese astrology is more accurate than any fortune telling there is. That’s my belief and of course, my dad is simply a Chinese. Before New Year’s Eve I need to buy numerous tikoy or Nian Gao for my family and friends.

So that’s it for now. I’ll be leaving you with a simple recipe on how to cook the famous Nian Gao. I got this recipe from Inquirer.net.

Man’s Basic Tikoy Recipe

300 g glutinous rice flour
300 g brown sugar
150 g corn starch
100 g vegetable oil
200 g water
½ c coconut milk

Heat a large vat with vegetable oil.

Stir in ingredients slowly and continue to stir. After mixing all the ingredients well, cook it for at least 1 hour until thick and sticky.

Pour into a deep round dish and cool. After a few hours of cooling, refrigerate.

Recipe makes one standard round tray of tikoy.

Man’s cooking techniques and various ways of serving tikoy:

Cut tikoy into cubes, line them in a steamer and steam for 15 minutes. When the tikoy is hot, transfer to a serving platter and sprinkle top with grated fresh coconut meat and serve.

Special rice cakes are best enjoyed when sliced into strips (as thick as your pinky finger), wrapped in spring roll wrapper and deep-fried. It is recommended to serve with honey, fruit jam or sprinkled sugar. Enjo!

Wines are mostly seen on special and important occasions in our life. Remember when we toast our wine glasses for something we wanted to cheer about, once it touches our lips each person will have a different feeling and opinion about it.

French wines and Chilean wines are great, I swear! But have you tried and tasted Californian wines? Honestly, I haven’t because I am not really fond with wines and liquors. The wines that I’ve only tasted are those which I’ve mentioned earlier and that’s all. But wouldn’t it be interesting if you are a wine-lover and is an active member of a wine club? Gold Medal Wine, which is said to be America’s leading wine club, is also known for their award-winning wines that’s why they can be called as the wine of the month club. They give out 2 outstanding and superb wines made from a “small, family-owned ultra-premium vineyard” every month for their club members.

And well, since Christmas holiday is coming, for me I think wine is the best gift to give this season to your bosses and special ones in life. So be a member for free right now, choose which club is well-suited for you, get great discounts from Gold Medal Wine Club in an instant, and receive special wines monthly.

Are you a diet-conscious person? We have many cases of anorexic and bolimic people in our society because those people think that any food they take might make them look fat. But it is an unhealthy way to be slim. Remember that not all thin people are healthy and free from sickness. The same goes to fat people. The best way to have proper diet is to eat healthy and balanced foods everyday, plus exercise to burn the extra calories in our body. You might want to check out Myfitnesspal (http://www.myfitnesspal.com/), a free diet and fitness website which allows anyone to watch and monitor their diet. They have this free calorie counter which computes the calories which you have burned from exercising for FREE. They will help you understand better the nutrients you get from foods you eat, and eventually they will teach you how to make better food choices. Sign-up now and get fit.

I love Malate! I love my home-grown town!
Nothing beats the original. The best.

There was a street party last night so I had a chance to have a night life. It’s a pre-Valentine celebration for me and my good friend. LJC (a Spanish and the owner of Cafe Havana, Bistro Remedios, Cafe Adriatico, Malate Pensionne, and other restos near the Remedios Circle) had Cafe Havana and Africana renovated.

Africana = Mulatto. Mulatto is exclusive for members only, mind you!

So, we ordered Mojito,a Cuban cocktail drink, and went out to watch the performance on stage. The performer that time was Guarana where Aileen Santos is the singer. She’s so damn hot! She was dancing to the rhythms of her song, and was shaking her butt ala-Beyonce. There were belly dancers, too, featuring Ms. Lala Dinglasan. Ooh, I love the way they grind their body. Reminds me of Shakira — Shakira! Haha.

Well, all in all, the night was filled with Bossa Nova, Samba, Reggae music! It was fun, fun, FUN! People weren’t dancing so I wasn’t able to dance the night away. Boo. We’re planning to watch the Bossa Nova concert in Philippine Plaza this Saturday (Guarana, Sofia will be there) but the ticket price is out of our budget (almost 3k) so we decided to go to Greenbelt this coming Friday. We’re gonna bring the house down! Yey! So excited.

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Love is in the air… Happy Valentines Day, my dear! *mwah

Read her entry, the subject: Masquerade! Paper faces on parade… please. I’m too tired to post anything for now. Anyway she had mentioned everything I want to say. She even uploaded our pix.

Cheers for our post-Christmas party bonding! The cake from Los Ba?os was good!