Easy as Pie

I was going through my old photos when I saw a picture of a banoffee pie I got from Banapple and it made me crave for some. Since Starbucks Coffee shops here decided not to offer banoffee pie to Kagayanons and Banapple is still unheard of here, I decided to make one!

Banoffee pie is one of the easiest non-bake pies to make. Although the toffee takes time, its still pretty easy to whip one up. If you ever decide to make one too, be sure you have plenty of time at hand. ;)

So if you plan to make one, too, here's how:

You start off with good 'ol Carnation condensed milk. Boil the unopened can for a good 3- 31/2 hours (Be patient!) making sure that the can is fully immersed in water. You can opt to use a pressure cooker to cut the boiling time to almost half. Make sure that the can is fully cooled before opening it.

While waiting for the toffee to cool down, prepare the pie base. Using a food processor, pulse the biscuits until its fine. This recipe calls for digestives but since the digestives we have had chocolate, I opted to use graham crackers instead which also works. Although digestives work better because its a bit salty compared to grahams. Marks & Spencer have pretty good digestives! ;)

With the processor on, slowly add melted butter and continue to pulse until you get this consistency. (See photo above, bottom left) 

I used this butter from Golden Churn Creamery
cuz its nice and salty. You can also use Queensland butter
or any salter butter. 

Place the crust mixture into the pie plate or smaller ones like the ones above. Using the back of a spoon(or your hands!), press the crumbs to form the base. Cover with cling film and set aside.

For a 9-inch pie plate, I used 6-5" Lacatan bananas. You can add more or use less if you want. That's why I didn't really include measurements cuz this recipe doesn't really call for one. That and I'm too lazy to measure. Lol. Slice the bananas into slivers depending on how thick you want them.

 Before you start whipping the cream, make sure that the bowl and wire whip attachment is chilled. This is done by simply placing your steel bowl and attachment inside the freezer. What I did was I poured the cream into the bowl and placed it inside the fridge. Whip the cream until stiff. (See photo below)

You can use heavy cream or UHT-processed cream
or any substitute. 

 To assemble the pie, line the bananas on top of the crust and spread the toffee on top. Top with the whipped cream and finish off by drizzling it with melted chocolate or shaved chocolate.

This pie is best served chilled. Enjoy! (:

NOTES:

I didn't add sugar to my pie crust and cream since the toffee is sweet enough on its own. You can tho if you want your crust sweet.

You can make the toffee a day before so you don't have to wait for it to boil and cool down. And make sure you boil it for 3 solid hours! Be really patient on this one. 

Only slice the bananas when you're ready to assemble the pie so the bananas won't oxidize and turn brown.

Enjoy making your own banoffee pie! 

Thanks for reading! More recipes soon! ;) 

Fit for a cold day

After almost everyday of being in the mall during the holidays, it was only today that I finally went back to one. Since school has started, I haven't had the time to make lakwacha anymore.

I usually spend my Wednesdays with my sister since I dont have classes on that day and she has no work. We would go try different restaurants week after week--- trying different Japanese restaurants and burger joints and wherever we could think of going.

This time naman, we went ice cream hopping. Well, we only hopped once since we only tried two places: New Zealand Natural and Sebastian's Ice Cream.

NEW ZEALAND NATURAL PREMIUM ICE CREAM

I first heard of this when I saw a post on Instagram by Delle of RX93.1's The Morning Rush. I swear, the Kikay Barkada are the best endorsers! Haha! Someone gave her a tub of Chocolate Ecstasy which she found really good. I wanted to get the chocolate ecstasy but since my sister doesn't eat chocolate (anymore), we got this instead: 

The finest ice cream from OZ

We tried out Boysenberry Dream, Forest Berry, Macadamia Supreme and Superfruit sorbet. The Boysenberry tasted like strawberry lang, Macadamia was just vanilla with Macadamia nuts and the Superfruit sorbet tasted like Bath & Body Works handsoap according to my sister. Lol. We went with a scoop of Frozen Berry, which my sister loved because of the sour kick from the berries, and Classic Vanilla (as per suggested by Chico Garcia!). Its fairly priced, a regular cup of any flavour costs Php95 and an additional scoop of the same or different flavour for only Php50. 

Quoting Delle: "It was really good!" And it's really good! The first thing you would notice is that its not that sweet although its very light and creamy. Unlike most local ice creams here in the Philippines, this one is not nakakaumay. I could actually finish a whole tub of it and still want some more! Its that gooood. :D 

After New Zealand Natural, we walked to The Podium to get our second dose of ice cream. 

SEBASTIAN'S ICE CREAM

If the first one was imported all the way down under, this one is uniquely Pinoy. I mean, come on, their flavours scream Pinoy--- Sapin-sapin, Champorado, The King of Fruits (Mango sherbet with mango chucks) to name a few. Aside from their very Pinoy falvours, they also have more common ones like cookie dough, blueberry cheesecake and bleu cheese & honey. Originally, I wanted to try their new product, Leche Flan ice cream pizza, but sadly they already ran out of stock.

The unavailability of their new flavor came as a blessing in disguise because I got to taste this one! 

If you're trying to guess what flavour this is, its Green Mango and Sweet Bagoong. Yes, BAGOONG. Freaking bagoong! If you dont know what bagoong is, its shrimp paste fermented in salt cooked with some spices. Normally, it is a complement to Kare-Kare and used in some dishes like Pinakbet and Binagoongang Baboy. 

To be honest, I was very reluctant getting it. I mean seriously, bagoong in ice cream? Only a crazy person would do that. Turns out I'm crazy enough to get it. Haha!  

When they were scooping it out for me, I was salivating like crazy. Literally. Its that feeling when you're looking at someone eating green mangoes. Nakakangilo to the bones. 

What made this work is that its not really ice cream ice cream. Its actually green mango sherbet paired with sweet bagoong. The sherbet was sour. Really sour. So the combination of the sour sherbet and the sweet-salty side complemented each other really well. Also if you're a Filipino, the combination is very familiar which I think made this flavour a hit.

My sister who was much more skeptical with this flavour than I was, enjoyed it very much. Look at her, she looks like a baby with a huge lollipop. Eating it was just like eating the real green mangoes and bagoong. Needless to say, we both enjoyed it. The photo below is a proof of it. (:

Although its a tad bit pricey at Php140 a scoop, its actually a good run for your money, I can assure you that. Artisanal ice cream at its best! 

Sebastian's Ice Cream has branches all over the metro.

The Podium - The Block SM North Edsa - Regis Center Katipunan Avenue - Mall of Asia

 We went to the one in The Podium

4th/F The Podium, ADB Avenue, Ortigas

You can check them out on Facebook here or follow them on Twitter @ilovesebastians

New Zealand Natural also has branches all over. We went to SM Megamall for this one.

5th/F SM Megamall Building A, EDSA, Mandaluyong

Other branches: SM Fairview Annex 1, Robinson's Place Ermita (Taste Buds)

Check them on Facebook or Tweet them @nznph  

New Year's Resolution by Angelo A

Gone were the days when at every start of the new year, our English teacher would always require us to write our resolutions for the new year for our formal writing. If my memory serves me well, my last new year's resolution was what, 9 years ago in grade school? 5th grade with Mrs Ballares? Although I'm not sure if we made one in high school. Anyway, doing this is such a cliche but since it has been forever since I last made one, I thought I should do one again for old time's sake. 

So here it is, the Top Twenty 2013 New Year's Resolutions by yours truly. *applauses*

1. BE MORE STABLE

2012 has been one hell of an emotional roller coaster ride for me. I easily get affected with the things happening to me and the things happening around. I am hoping that this year, I'd be more sturdy with my emotions and maybe develop a little apathy in me, but not to a point that I become, uh, insensitive. 

2. NO MORE VICES

I know its hard to believe, but the last time I got drunk was way back in October of 2012. That means I have been sober now for more than three months and I wanna keep it that way. I am also on the path to quit smoking so yay! 

3. GET INTO SHAPE

To everyone who knows me personally, I am the fattest cow in town. Or maybe not. Maybe I'm the exact opposite. Well, truth be told, I am as skinny as shit. I hope to be able to hit the gym soon and run more. 2,013 kilometers in 2013! NOT! But I really really really want to run more to tone my legs (no more injuries please!) and hit the gym to gain some muscle weight. Pretty excited! 

4. SAVE ME UP SOME MOOLAH

'nuff said.

5. DO EVERYTHING A NOTCH HIGHER

"Just enough" will never be enough, particularly in my academics. Since I am still not graduating this year, I still have a few more subjects to go. This year, I hope to perform better. And it doesn't end with my schooling, but also in other aspects in life. Whoa, deep! :D

6. UPDATE MY WARDROBE

This year has been a good one for skinny shopper like me since the introduction of brands like Uniqlo, Cotton On and Muji. These are my top 3 since I have sizes in all of them! Even a double-XS from Cotton On! How cool is that? Also, I'm thinking of continuing my Garage subscription. 

7. EXPERIENCE SOMETHING NEW

New year, new life, new experiences, new whatever. My family and I kicked things off by joining the New Year's Countdown street party over at Ayala Avenue in Makati, which was a first for us. More of those new experiences and maybe start a new hobby or something.

New Years in Makati!

8. STAY POSITIVE AND GAY

I heard this long-year activity on the radio and I wanna try it out myself. You write on a piece of paper something positive that happened to you that day and place them in a box or a jar. The catch is that you only get to read them by the end of the year to begin the new year full of positive shit. You can also try it yourselves! (:

9. FAMILY

Basically, the plan is to spend more time with my family since I rarely see them. I'm also planning to go home to CdeO since it has been almost a year since I was last there.

10. SPEND QUALITY TIME WITH FRIENDS

As I write this, we only have two months to go until this semester ends and so does the academic year. That means only two months to go until my friends graduate from college. Its hard to believe how freaking fast time freaking flies. I have been with my college buddies for four years now, some even five. I have been so used to being with them that I am actually scared to continue college without them. In all honesty, it'll be hard for us to see each other after graduation. So I hope that even only until March of 2013 that we get to savor the time we have left together and bond with them.

*tears roll on the side of my face* Haha!

More of Angelo A's Top Twenty 2013 New Year's Resolutions coming soon! 

Roar!

I WAAAANT!

For all Leos out there born in the year of the Sheep. 

Yes, You

No one can make you have a bad experience unless you let them. You have the power to decide how your day can go, make it beautiful. 

Trying to inject some positive vibes this morning. Good Morning! 

Is it Love?

Are your palms sweaty, is your heart racing? and your voice caught within your chest?

It isn't love, it's like.

You can't keep your hand off them, am I right?

It isn't love, it's lust

Are you proud and eager to show them off?

It isn't love, it's luck

Do you want them because you know they're there?

It isn't love, it's loneliness

Are you there because it's what everyone wants?

It isn't love, its loyalty

Do you stay for their confessions of love, because you don't want to hurt them?

It isn't love, its pity

Are you there because they kissed you, or held your hand?

It isn't love, it's lack of confidence

Do you belong to them because their sight makes your heart skip a beat?

It isn't love, it's infatuation

Do you tell them that everyday they are the one you think of?

It isn't love, it's a lie

Are you willing to give up all your favorite things for their sake?

It isn't love, it's charity

Do you pardon their faults because you care about them?

It isn't love, it's friendship

Do you accept their faults because it's part of who they are?

Then it's love

Do you cry for their pain, even when they're strong?

Then it's love

Do their eyes see your true heart, and touch your soul so deeply, it hurts?

Then it's love

Do you stay because a blinding incomprehensible mix of pain, and elations pull you close and hold you?

Then it's love

Are you attracted to others but stay with them faithfully with no regrets?

Then it's love

Would you give them your heart, your life, your death?

Then it's love

Always remember: Love isn't one sided. Both must love for LOVE to exist.