Fuyu Persimmons

Honestly speaking, I don't have idea about this fruit. when this fruit caught my attention, thought this is nearly ripe tomato.The first thing landed on my mind is to make a good tomato sauce out of this fruit. At first i was hesitant to purchase this persimmons. but i might feel mad to myself if i don't get it. I was captivated by this fruit that really resembles Roma tomato. It has smooth and shinny skin and very soft flesh once it ripe. The flesh is so soft and taste not really sweet,just enough sweetness. Unlike other fruit, Persimmon has no strong smell or even bad aroma. I' m wonder if this can make into a salad and to a stew with red meat as well. Why not?  this is edible and could be my favorite exotic fruit from now on. So the next time you see this fruit in fresh section, do not misspell on this, This is persimmon and not tomato

Tropika- Thai malaysian cuisine

At last after roaming around Edmonton and having a mini shopping at the huge Edmonton mall, we are all feel tired and hungry. So i asked them where we will going to have our dinner? Each of them have their own  suggestions which is kinda confusing. Well for me since we are in different place why don't we find something different. Something delightful and not the usual eatery we seen all the time. I am tired of same usual fried potatoes and burger,

Cathy, one of our companion who lives there for several years suggest that she knows Thai Malay cuisine close to our hotel. Can be reach within 5 minutes drive from our pad. She had a lot of suggestions of known and reputable restaurant at the area from East to West cuisine. There's Japanese, Mediterranean, Mid-east, American, and some Asian Delicacies. Plenty choices.I wish i could have that much food in just one dinner time but i guess its impossible. The group was craving for spicy food which I'd agreed quickly. Oh i love spicy food. It would be lovable by this time of the meal. Perfect with cold weather we having been, Basically, spicy food will definitely keep our body warm.
After a long discussion and arguments on what were gonna eat and kept everybody annoyed for a while, Cathy decided to take us at the Tropika
TROPIKA is a Restaurant specialized in Thailand and Malaysian cuisine. The house for asian people like us so i think this would suit for everybody's taste. Basically, when you heard tropika, come to our mind first is tropikal or tropical living which means sunny weather,island living, Flora and fauna, fresh sea catch and Fresh foods as well. An ideal way of living. Like in this establishment,  you'll feel all of that at the Tropika. Homey and comfy. As we look towards the menu,some of them are quite interesting and inviting. Because some of the foods are new to my ears and senses while others were easily take in many Asian restos.Delicacies are properly taken from provinces and by the regions of the two countries. But unfortunately, some of their winning fare was not available that time. (at least 3 of the well Provencal items was placed on 86 as early as 4 in the afternoon- rendang crab,Rasa sayang seafood assortment and the Daulat Tuanku special were among not available)It wasn't bad at all, we still have lot of  choices though. Let me share you guys what we had devoured

Roti Canai- Malay thin bread served with curry canai sauce. This is made in bread flour, self rised yeast, some sugar and a dash of salt then soak in vegetable oil. Flattened  to thin blanket  and fry in the little oil, We order this first as our appy. A very warm bread with crisp skin yet soft inside.Smells plain and a bit salty and chewy when eaten. The deep brown color curry sauce was thin but flavorful
As far as i know roti canai was originally come from India and sell  to the street all year round or  eat as the the starter of their meal

Rice-The first of the few entrees. We had the two of the best selling rice they have. Pineapple rice with ham and chicken tasted so good with lots of Chinese cubed cut ham, green peas, carrots, crispy shallots, Hibe or dried shrimp  and  pineapple.I would say this was seasoned with chili garlic and 
indonesian sweet soy sauce.The chili garlic role here is to give some spicy to the rice and keep to balance saltiness between dried shrimp and kecap manis
The second winning rice was Penang's Fried rice with salted fish and chicken. I've had tasted this already when i was in the Philippines long time ago. The BANANA LEAF, Located at the southern part manila. I don't know if this small malay hangout are still existing up to now??Does anybody know??
Well as I recall the taste of penang rice, the rice was so fragrant and brittle free, plenty of vegetable had been added to the rice to neutralize the salty flavor of salted fish and the soy sauce. Scrambled egg was also added to the dish to give more vibrant color to the rice. This dish is definitely winner.

On the second entree, we got PAD THAI. Thailand has been recognized well by this dish. It is made of medium thick stir-fried noodles withe prawns, chicken and tofu. extended by the bean sprout and crushed peanut on top.Thai  Sauce they put on this dish was excellente', but the sauce was obviously intensified by i think the Belachan ( Malaysian shrimp paste) Prawns flavor was perfectly dominated this dish

Next up was Acar fish.A whole Pan-fried tilapia with acar awar, a special home made pickles seasoned with variety of Malaysian herbs and spices. The server said the fish were marinated in the said seasoning for a couple of minutes and let the flavour permeate through, giving the fish a very unique taste. The sauce was quite good made of somewhat curry or yellow curry but it was done by heavy and very thick texture. The fish were not smelly  and tasted very well.

Next feast was Sambal Bunchies. This was awesome greens beans resembles Filipino dish called Baguio Beans sauteed in Shrimp paste. And it taste the same too, The only difference is Thailand's version was too spicy  with some coconut than Filipino style. Beans were so crunchy and prawns weren't  cooked overdone. Shrimp flavorings are not too salty.

Tropika's Home style chicken with special marination and homestyle spices, Honestly. I don't know if this chicken was properly done or overdone.It looked burnt and unpalatable. tasted dry and  taste like used oil. This was so horrible for us. It could have been better when complimented by sauce but they serve this with nothing,  Sauce can cover the bad taste of it. we just use catsup instead. The group were not able to finish the whole plate,, A total waste of food,,,,

The final main course for the group was the  Thai style green curry chicken served piping hot in two medium boat platter.This was a job well done for me as i love green curry paste on my Asian dishes. Its so mild and has an earthy flavor. Chicken strips was tender and the vegetable was cooked just right, soft yet crispy. This  dish is truly great.  A must trying. its worth.

For the Dessert, we chose Banana fritter with vanilla ice cream on the side, They don't serve this on a bunch for the party but they serve this individually instead. We got six plate out of ten people as some of them were full. I included myself of course. Dinner would never be the same without dessert. Banana fritter were tasted good but nothing extravagant. Its just fine and ordinary. There's no special on they say special batter on it.  I would say this just perfect dessert for the tremendous meal we had. 


WE were so amazed by what we had on dinner on this Thai Malaysian restaurant Everything was so special and executed very well. For  home pride chicken, i would have suggest that they should look into a better way of cooking it. For example, it would be nice if they roast rather of frying it. So it 'd be nice when presenting it and in either way to be able to retain the seasonings of the chicken. In general, the food was very very satisfying, tasting and full filling.I would really suggest this shop when you pass by South Edmonton. When you want to have authentic South East cuisine, this is the place to be. A fantastic, truly Asia


TROPIKA MALAYSIAN CUISINE is at
6004-104 street, Edmonton, AB T6H 2K3

Breakfast at leduc/Edmonton

Weeks ago, me and my buddy went to Edmonton to visit the place and to meet our friends as well. On our first night i was daunted where to stay,.Since my first step to the place, i have no idea where to go or what to do first. One of our friend offer her place but since we come in a group we refused the offer and decided to stay in an affordable hotel. We roamed to the place until we come up in a very nice and inviting hotel and they say one of the cheapest hotel in leduc- Hampton inn & suites. The hotel is small and rated as 3 star hotel with complete amenities. So after we got our room and the group were rushed with their rooms i excitedly approach to the front desk to ask if they'd serve breakfast the following morning.  Well, i'm hoping for it because i often eat breakfast as most of the time i'd rather eat breakfast then skip lunch.

 ....And yes they serve BREAKFAST. They serve wide range of western day starter from crunchy cereals to fruit compote and yogurt. Cereals are properly arranged in see-through tube jar and you could see varieties of milk just beside of it, The bread were amazingly place in a two layer warmer dish covered by the glass lid. Plain and flavored yogurt are submerged nicely in a bowl full of ice to maintain freshness,, cool

        Coffee was available during our stay. I could never start my day without firing up my cold stomach with hot coffee like this. Good things they had few to choose from. They have decaf,regular,robust and roast. My friends had their hot choco with their meals which i found very good too, but I'm not fond of chocolate drink either hot or cold. I just chose robust coffee with my meal. You can smell strong aroma of it,loved it with scoop of honey and that's it,no cream,no sugar, I adore coffee so much. Perfect with fall season like it was,,,Freshly squeeze fruit juices and bottled are also available

                                                                                                                                                                      

I had waffles with blueberry jam and orange marmalade. I've tried a lot of waffles in many restaurants and i have my own recipe of pancakes and waffles but I'd like to comment on this. waffles looks nice but,,but when i tasted it turn out like too sour, I don't know what kind of flour they used in the batter???taste bad!! The mixture were heavy and thick but when it cooked, weigh like biscuit, very crusty and light

To ease my disappointment on my waffles- omg that's one of my favorite,,I grabbed on my second plate. Its a bowl of fruit compote and natural made plain yogurt, oh this was good,taste homemade and i guess this was made just few hours ago before it served, well chilled,not too sugary and you could smell the cinnamon bark, cloves and the cardamon pods and some bits of vanilla, The fruits behind the brine mixture was firm and fresh and not over boiled. Plain yogurts combined well with the fruits and tasted so natural.


They have few hot items on display. Set in the square chaffing dish at somehow has three small food pan inside, The hot fare are sausage pate',french toasties, and scrambled eggs. I just had sausage pate'.



As many says, "Breakfast is the most important meal of the day' that is absolutely true. For me i eat a lot in my breakfast and its been part of my daily nutrition diet,, i skipped lunch most of the time so i need to energized myself as the day would start. In my overall dining experience in this hotel, i would say that it was very good. Personally satisfied with everything except for the waffles All I've had are nice and perfect to start my day, My friends had their pleasant smile after the meal.

Chocolate bread Pudding

I was working on cleaning my pantry when i found two days old white bread.Then i look over my fridge and saw a large bowl of chocolate sponge cake trimmings from my other dish chocolate mousse cake. I look again at the dairy shelf part of my fridge and found a small carton of fresh cream. I wanna throw all the bread to the garbage so that there will be no leftover foods in my fridge. Obviously I'm cleaning it. But the other side of my brain telling me that "NO DO NOT DUMP THEM.MAKE A DELIGHTFUL DISH OUT OF THOSE BREADS. Instead of wasting it turn them into delightful dish. The next thing i did was to open my spice cabinet to find other ingredient that would pair with breads. I found cinnamon powder, caster sugar, espresso and semi-sweet chocolate chips.. you know what happened next?? i simply turn those ingredients to chocolate bread pudding

serve 2

3 slices white bread-torn into bite size
3 slices chocolate bread or chocolate sponge cake-torn into bite size
1/2 cup single cream
1 large egg
2 tablespoon caster sugar plus few dash for dusting
single shot espresso
2 teaspoon cinnamon powder
2 tablespoon butter-preferably unsalted
1/2 cup semi sweet chocolate chips

Here's how
Preheat oven to 400F
Blend the two breads in a bowl and place in two ramekins.
Mix cream,sugar ,espresso, cinnamon powder,butter and chocolate chips in a medium saucepan. Set over low-medium heat. Whisk until butter melts and other ingredients well combined. Heat gently,do not boil until mixtures nearly thick. Beat egg in a separate bowl. Ladle cream mixture in beaten egg and whisk again. Put the tampered egg back into saucepan and heat gently.
Pour cream mixture evenly into prepared ramekins with bread and press gently with the spoon. Place the pudding into pan filled with hot water and bake for ten to fifteen minutes or until the pudding are cooked and firm.
Cool slightly and serve.
You may prefer to serve pudding in ramekins or you may take them out of ramekins,place in a dessert plate and serve with some store bought sauce like strawberry sauce, caramel sauce or even chocolate sauce...

Mochi-glutinous japanese snack

Mochi is a Japanese snacks made in glutinous rice grind to fine paste and molded into ball shape. A traditional snack in japan and eaten year round specially new year. Mochi has a special fillings inside which represents the flavor. Most common fillings are red bean paste and green tea like shown in the picture, dusted by very fine caster sugar or sometimes coated with black sesame seeds, dessicated coconut or served plain


This lovely snack is extremely soft and a bit chewy. Mochi is fairly natural sweet with no artificial sweeteners added.There is a possibility to stick in between your teeth and into your upper jaw so i suggest to have a ready toothpick when eating this. I can compare this snack with the pinoy favorite snack called "PALITAW". Both are made with rice and has the same soft texture mild flavor. Mochi is like small golf size ball shape filled with rich fillings whereas palitaw is made with sticky rice shaped into half inch thick flat ball and cook in pot of boiling water until it float. ( indication that palitaw is already cooked )It has only three flavorings- sugar,toasted sesame seeds and fresh grated coconut.


Another version of mochi is sesame bean paste filling coated with black and white sesame seeds
Pretty much BUCHI but definitely not. I have never realize mochi is a great snack until i decided to buy one of the best kind,the green tea mochi. ooooohhh!!!! taste so good with smooth texture that pair nicely in my hot tea in the afternoon. For those who love rice in the their snack, this could be the best substitute to heavy rice soup or any other kind of sweets and danishes during mid day meal. You can buy Mochi in any Asian store/deli.Or in any Asian-Japanese shelves in dry supermarket. TRY it,,, I am pretty sure you'll love it,,,

Farfalle and Penne Bolognese baked with cheese

I love the idea of pasta being baked. Most likely with lots of assorted cheeses on top before putting into oven. oh man so so good with a thick tomato/pomodoro sauce or much loved meaty bolognaise sauce that run thru every strand of the pasta then topped with mixed sharp cheddar,mozzarella,and parmigiano romano cheese. What more could you ask for??
a couple of sliced bread and cold drinks??


Cheese melts over pasta and toast focassia

Serves two

Preheat oven to 400F

500 grams mixed farfalle and penne pasta
Grated cheese such as Sharp cheddar, parmigiano romano, and mozzarella
Chopped flat parsley
2 ramekins or any oven proof bowl dish
Bolognaise sauce
For bolognaise sauce you'll need

300 g lean ground beef
1 medium sweet onion-diced
1 small carrot- fine diced
1 stalk celery- fine diced
1 sprig rosemary- chopped
2 tablespoon tomato paste
1/2 cup red wine
1 and 1/2 cup beef stock, consomme, or vegetable stock
1/3 cup tomato paste2 tablespoon extra virgin olive oil
Salt and fresh ground black peppercorn
little unsalted butter
Boil pasta in a medium casserole pan with water and salt. Cook pasta for 5-7 minutes, Set aside. Meanwhile make bolognaise sauce.

Pour 2 tablespoon olive oil in heavy medium sauce pan until hot and sweat onion,carrot,celery for 10 minutes. Do not brown. Add ground meat,chopped rosemary and tomato paste. Saute' meat to reach the crusty bit and not too burn. Stir vigorously to prevent scorching.Cook 15 minutes. Deglaze the meat by 1 cup red wine and scrape the bottom pan with wooden spatula. Let the wine evaporate and absorb by the meat.Now pour the beef stock and tomato sauce, Stir and season with salt and fresh cracked pepper. Cover with lid and simmer for 15 minutes or until the sauce becomes thick.

Baste ramekins with a little butter or oil. Toss pasta into cooked bolognaise sauce. Ladle pasta into prepared ramekins, Put a little butter on top of the pasta and sprinkle the mixed cheese on top. Place in oven. Baked for 15 minutes, Take the pasta out of the oven place in heat proof plate, sprinkle with chopped parsley.Serve with toast focassia or any of your favorite bread

Note If you find my Bolognaise recipe is complicated, I would suggest that use any recipe you have. Italian ragu or Filipino meat sauce works well with this,,

Creamed avocado with cherries and mint.

When we were kids, me and my siblings always love avocado. Our mom often prepare this every lunch mixed with just condensed milk, and sometimes just plain slice together with other fruits served on dessert.There were times my mom blend this in a blender with some ice,honey and milk during summer.Refreshing but not so sweet because of the right amount of honey that have been poured into shake. But,, but i am not a cold shake fanatic. I like it with old style my mama's way. I really really like it. As we know avocado has a plain,dead color, non visual appeal, It would be nice if i add some bright color and herb that infuse perfectly with avocado


I chose pitted cherries and chopped mint leaves for my creamed avocado, Pitted maraschino cherries comes with sweet brine ( red syrup).Drain the syrup and wash the cherries under cold running water to lessen the sweetness of cherries.I chop some mint leaves to give smooth minty flavor to the fruit.

Definitely, i want to stick with the original recipe, my mama's ingredients are just avocado,condensed milk and crashed ice. In my recipe,, i add cherry, mint and slivered almond.

Serve 3

2 Hash avocado-slice into chunks
1 bottle maraschino bottle Cherries-Drained and cut in half or you may leave as whole
Mint leaves-finely chopped
14 fl.oz condensed milk
1-2 tablespoon slivered almonds
Crashed ice

When purchasing avocado, please pick little bit raw avocado or almost ripe avocado ( maniba )
to prevent the dish from being mushy.
Combine all ingredients except the crash ice and stir very gently. Set this aside and chill to refrigerator for at least an hour. place some crashed ice in a cup, Pour 1/3 cup of avocado mixture on top of ice. garnish with mint leaves and serve

Bagel and lox with avocado and cream cheese

I seldom to eat sandwich in the morning and bread for me is a very heavy meal at this time of the day.Sometimes, if i want to have bread i just have a couple of pandesal, peanut butter or butter and piping hot coffee. That's it, no fancy breakfast. A typical pinoy would like to have Fried rice, eggs, and or selections of highly preserved meats (e.g. beef tapa, tocino, longganisa).
When my time in Shangri-la, i always had light meal in my breakfast and always have at least bagels filled with some cheeses, smoked salmon or chicken, some fruits and lettuces.I always want my bagels to be paired with smoked salmon because of its deep smoky flavor,moist flesh and well-balanced salt


In the hotel recipe, bagel has Camembert cheese,roasted red peppers,smoked chicken and lolorosso lettuce, in my recipe, i made simple and easy to acquire ingredients, easy to prepare as well.

Makes 2 sandwiches

6 slices Smoked salmon
Half semi ripe avocado-divided and slice thinly
2 tablespoon or more cream cheese enoughed to cover four faces bagel
2 bagels-any flavor of your choice,lightly toasted

lightly toast the bagel ( i like chewy bagel rather than crispy ). Spread the cheese onto slice side. place 3 slices salmon each bagel. Lay four to five slices of avocado, Served with your favorite hot drinks,,,

Manchu Wok-Paluto style chinese food

After a long days of work, me and my buddy had to take our day off together. So we
decided to go to the mall near in our place, just south of Calgary the SOUTH CENTER MALL.We were on that mall when i spot this little Chinese kitchen which looks different from other Chinese fast food.The MANCHU WOK kitchen are small and has a mini buffet of raw meat, seafood and poultry flesh. You could see the fresh ingredients lying beside the wok and near Barnie Marie. You can also see varieties of noodles like vermicelli,ho fan. rice noodles and even the Japanese soba. they were put very nicely in a cooler shelves beside the beverage area. I assume this is a short order where you can pick food and the chef will cook it in front of you,, so fresh and amazing paluto style.even the vegetables and other ingredients are put into bucket with full of crashed ice, specially raw chicken and sea foods.This kind of food i would prefer to eat in my lunch, freshly cooked. Out of curiosity and since lunch that time, i order a plate with two kinds of entree plus stir fried noodles.
I was so excited to have ginger beef and orange chicken in my plate but not so impressed with the texture of the beef dish, very tough beef. Beef was coated with mild ginger flavored sauce and tasted so good. Chicken in other hand was so wonderful,crispy chicken coated with tangy orange sauce. In my opinion this dish resembles lemon chicken.taste like exact the said dish. Stir-fried noodles was just like the usual, cooked in a simple sauce of oyster,sesame oil and at least four kinds veggies in it



Mixed berries dessert comes in unsweetened frozen yogurt pairs perfectly with my lauriat plate. only at frogen fruz..

NEGIMAKI

My friend Chef Alex borromeo taught me how to make sushi and negimaki. Negimaki is one of my favorite in japanese sushi.Made from very fine and tender meat like sirloin,beef tenderloin and most expensive sometimes with KOBE BEEF. Japanese restos here in calgary and back then in the Philippines serve this with very special sauces like ponzu or teriyaki but i found very sour and too sweet to my taste.
Chef Alex of BENKAY Dusit hotel manila has his own version of negimaki.His version was quite pricey because he uses KOBE BEEF instead of other meat.So expensive but the result was wonderful.I'm not that good in making sushi and negimaki but i would like to try one and replicate this succulent dish in my own way,,,

INGREDIENTS

10 oz. top sirloin
2 fresh stalks leeks, white and green part included
2 teaspoon mirin
2 tablespoon sake wine
Japanese mayo
salt and pepper

Cut sirloin lengthwise with very sharp knife ( Japanese knife not necessary). Pound with kitchen mallet if you have or just flatten it with your knife to make it thin. Careful not to tear the meat.Season with salt and pepper. Marinate meat in mirin and sake for just about 1 hour
slice leeks into 2 inches long and blanch in boiling water until tender but not mushy.
Cover your MAKISU ( bamboo sushi mat) with cling wrap. this is to prevent meat from sticking in bamboo mat and to make your negimaki looks Fantastic, and clean as well.
Lay tenderloin meat into bamboo mat,place 2 leeks at the top of the meat and roll it carefully, Secure with small toothpick and wrap again in cling wrap,Chill in cooler for a while.
Remove plastic wrap and sear the meat in a hot cast iron skillet for quick 10 minutes. I like to cook my meat to medium rare. So if possible,cook negimaki less than 10 minutes, Slice into one and half inch.place in a platter. Put Japanese mayo on top and serveperfect tandem of California maki and negimaki

French toast

This dish is made by dipping bread into egg-milk mixture, then frying it until golden brown. Usually served with syrup,jam,and powdered sugar

The French called it "pain perdu" or lost bread because it is the way of reviving french bread which becomes dry after a day or two

Key lime pie

Key lime pie