Just right outside the city is the House of Silvanas Bakeshop.  This tiny bakeshop in Filipino-town Daly City truly lives up to its name: it’s the House of amazing Filipino sweet treats, from food for the gods to polvoron.

Food for the gods are tasty candy bars made of dates and walnuts.  Polvoron, on the other hand, is powdered milk candy, which is basically toasted flour, sugar, butter and powdered milk.  I fondly remember enjoying making polvoron with my mom growing up in Manila.  She would mix all the ingredients and toast them in a huge wok and I would mold them into oval-shaped candies.  But I remember getting too frustrated though when I tried wrapping them in delicate Japanese paper.

But the real reason to make the trip to this bakeshop are their deliciously crunchy and creamy silvanas.

A silvana is a layer of buttercream sandwiched between two cashew-meringue wafers, coated with cookie crumbs.  For those who grew up in the Philippines, it’s the cookie version of Sans Rival, a rich Filipino cake with layers of meringue, cashews and buttercream.  It comes in truly Filipino flavors: ube or purple yam, buko pandan or coconut and mango. And there’s chocolate, mocha and strawberry, too.  They are best enjoyed frozen. The crunchy wafers and the yummy buttercream just delightfully melt in your mouth.

The House of Silvanas is a bit of a trek from the city but it’s well worth the trip.  Just a note though that the bakeshop is in a rather inconspicuous location, tucked away in a shopping center.  The obvious landmark to watch out for is a weathered sign that says bake shop to your right along Gellert Boulevard.

Sorry it’s been such a long time. I’m recovering from a two week whirlwind trip to the Philippines with Scariaga’s family.

THE GOOD
1. Spending time with the future new family getting to know them better and them getting to know me better.
2. Meeting some amazing & inspiring strong women from Steph’s maternal & paternal side.
3. Red Horse + Kilawin na Tanigui + homecooked Kare Kare + three types of Sinigang + Pandesal w/ Ube Butter + homemade Chicken Mami + family farmed Lechon…

THE BAD
1. Being mistaken for a Korean everywhere I went. (let the hate begin)
2. Getting a cold from the chilly Baguio weather.
3. Steph’s two-year-old niece and nephew + multiple six hour vanrides

THE UGLY
Getting my new Macbook Pro stolen right outta the window of the room of the auntie’s house.

THE NASTY
Eating balut (boiled fertilized duck eggs complete with fetus) for the first time:

Momma Cariaga showing us how it’s done.

First inspection.

Cutie pie, isn’t it?

Let me pet you with my tongue.

The verdict: Broth is good. Fetus is good. Yolk is nasty – but that’s only because I’ve always hated boiled egg yolk.

Heute ist mein kleines Baby tatsächlich schon 100 Tage alt.

Dabei kann ich mich doch noch so gut an die Geburt erinnern.

Nach einer Stunde Nachtschlaf bin ich von Wehen aufgewacht. Hab mich fertig gemacht , Kinder ins Auto und über die Autobahn ab nach Ube. Die großen Brüder haben wir dann schlafend bei der Oma abgegeben und dann sind wir zum Krankenhaus gefahren.
Da angekommen wollten wir meine Tasche aus dem Auto holen  da kam eine so starke Wehe das ich wusste : Das kann nicht mehr lange dauern.
Also die Tasche blieb im Auto und wir ab nach Oben. Und weil das nicht das erstemal war das ich mit Wehen ins KH bin war die Krankenschwester auch erst sehr locker bis sie mich untersuchte da fragte sie nur kurz : kannste noch laufen? Ich ???Wieso????

Im Kreisaal angekommen ging alles eigentlich sehr schnell auch wenn es mir anders vorkam.
Plötzlich hörte ich wie sie den Arzt anriefen er solle in den Kreissaal kommen wo ich gar nicht realisierte das es ja gleich vorbei ist. Ich hatte das Gefühl es dauert noch ewig. Der Arzt kam zu spät denn als er in Kreissaal ankam war der Brocken nach 2 Presswehen geboren.
Worauf er lachte und meinte : Ja ja ich habe auch nichts anderes von ihnen erwartet.
Insgesamt hat es nur 4 ,5 Stunden gedauert also wieder rucki zucki

Und nun:
-Er wiegt jetzt stolze 7300g und ist 62 cm groß.
-Er rollt von der Rueckenlage auf den Bauch und zurück.
-In der Bauchlange hebt er schon ganz lange den Kopf und beobachtet was die Großen so machen.

-Es sieht so aus als ob er in absehbarer Zeit robbt.
-Er quasselt

-Er lacht , quietscht und gackert vor Freude.
-Er wacht nur ein bis dreimal die Nacht auf.
-Er liebt die Sterne an seiner Wippe . Entweder stößt er sie mit der Hand an oder wippt damit sie wackeln

Und neuerdings Saugt und nuckelt er an allem was er zwischen die Finger bekommt nur den Nuckel findet er zum brechen. Da muss wohl schnellstens ein Kuscheltuch besorgt werden

Image via Wikipedia

This past week has been a whirlwind of fun. There’s been a ton of school reading though (And that’s not terribly bad either since it’s actually pretty interesting!), but the free time was totally worth it all. Fun gatherings occurred, time with Avery, new friends, beautiful weather. I’m glad I have Labor day off because since I don’t have Tuesday classes, I don’t have anything at all until Wednesday.

Cosi’s is putting me in for a second interview Thursday. I must also call By George back just in case this does fall through though. I’m just happy I found a place that seems pretty decent to work at.

There will be pictures. I took some of the party, and I guess there will be more to come from on campus.

I had a nice dinner and dessert out with Avery in Chinatown where I FINALLY found ube ice cream, although in a bar. It was still quite delicious though and I shall have another one tomorrow since we bought four of them. Before that I did some homework and tried to help Avery on his math. I couldn’t help a ton since I haven’t taken math since first semester, but I helped him out on a few things and his dorm-neighbor helped him out on the rest.

So classes are interesting as I said, or at least amusing…(Mosaics). Group smoothie was fun, running into people on campus was fun, having people over was fun, etc etc. I ordered my books, which shouldn’t actually cost much in comparison to other semesters because I’m borrowing a few, I have French, and the rest my teachers were nice.

So onwards to Labor Day and I’m sorry for all the short posts. My hand written journal writing phase is kicking.

Here are some berry lemon bars I made a couple weeks ago I forgot to post about. I got the idea from a recipe from the blog Baking bites here: http://bakingbites.com/2008/06/strawberry-lemonade-bars/

Instead of using just strawberries I used  a bunch of berries and then pureed it. I also ran out of granulated sugar, so instead I used fine sugar and brown sugar. It ended up okay tasting. I didn’t like it toward the beginning because the lemon was so strong, but eventually I got used to it.

I bought these licoriced dried plums from Canada in a Chinese herb/dried foods store. They’re my favorite kind of dried plums. What I don’t like is pickled plums or umeboshi. Pretty nasty, at least for me. Well, pickled anything is pretty nasty except for pickled bamboo and pickled radish.

Here’s a picture of one of my favorite Chinese candies, Hawthorn balls. You don’t call them hawthorn balls, but uh… it’s made out of the hawthorn fruit or  “shan zha”. It’s also known as Crataegus pinnatifida. Actually, you normally see these in the shape of red disks which are called haw flakes, but these are the same, except in a ball shape covered with sugar. Quite yummy.

I’m not sure what they’re called but these are nice and chewy. They called them “egg balls” but i have no idea what the correct term is. They’re usually attached to each other and then separated as shown below. It’s nice and crispy and chewy on the inside. Sometimes people put custard inside to make it extra yummy.

Okay, this is super old, but this was a gift I used for White elephant this past winter and I thought it was hilarious that I found a advertisement with bae yong joon on it. So i had to take a picture of it to remember it.

Here’s a package of one of my favorite kinds of tofu, egg tofu. I first saw it at a restaurant in circular disks and it tasted like egg custard, except it was tofu. I was so glad when I first saw this at the asian supermarket. Yummy!

I don’t know if i posted this before, but this was a disaster… i didn’t follow the directions. it was supposed to be a pumpkin cake with cream cheese filling on top, but it didn’t end up tasting right. It did sound really delicious when I first saw the recipe. oh well. I was on a pumpkin craze for a while, trying to make anything out of pumpkin puree.

Here’s a picture of my favorite ice cream, ube with tapioca pudding.

Ah! I saw this in Hawaii and had to buy it because it’s like the purse Naruto carries around, except this isn’t one of those clasp purses. It’s too bad that the bag doesn’t close all the way. There’s a hole when you try to close the bag. Oh well, it’s cute anyways. Alot of chirimen fabric is expensive but it’s still really nice to feel.

Isang araw tayo’y namasyal
Upang pagod natin matanggal
Kailangan nating maaliw
Bago tayo tuluyang mabaliw

31 days left…

Dahil sa nakaka-stress na quiz sa Long-Term Construction Contracts at dahil na rin sa ilang planong di na natuloy-tuloy, nagkayayaan ng manuod ng Harry Potter 6. Kahit may class pa ‘ko this afternoon, sumama na rin ako sa pamamasyal. (BABALA: Wag tularan!) Last week pa yatang nakaplano yang HP movie date with FG girls kaso hindi natuloy dahil sa mga quizzes, kanya-kanyang lakad, at kung anu-ano pa. Pero kanina, tuloy na tuloy na nga at kahit Accounting 5 hindi ako napigilan, haha. Off to SM Manila na sana ang barkada nang biglang naisipang mag-MoA na lang. Malayo man, naging maayos at masaya naman ang lahat. Beggar man ako dahil wala akong dalang pera, di ko naman kasi alam na matutuloy ngayon. Salamat na lang kay Rizelle na laging may nadudukot lalo pa’t inlove (konek?! haha). Tipid mode rin ang lahat kaya ang pangarap namin ni Rhea na Sbarro (c/o Rizelle’s credit card sana) ay nauwi sa Pao Tsin. Nangarap din ng iMax pero di pala totoo ang chika na PhP 350.00 lang sa iMax, PhP 500++ pala!!! Bokot, kaya nauwi kami sa normal na sinehan at may libre pang popcorn mula kay Rizelle. Sa wakas, after 48 years nasilayan na rin ang HP6!! Maganda naman yung movie, pero syempre may mga expectations pa rin from the book na hindi na-meet. Personally, nakulangan ako sa action pero nabawi naman sa laughtrip at kilig moments, haha. May gulat factor din at may kasama akong napahagulgol napaiyak (ehem, Jessa). In fairness, moving scene naman talaga yung pagkamatay ni Dumbledore. Ayun, konting pasyal pa after the movie pero umuwi na rin pagkatapos i-haunt ni Sitti (na paulit-ulit tumugtog ang kanta sa Powerbooks). Ang haba ng byahe ko pauwi sa LRT, napasyalan ko ang buong Maynilang tanaw sa LRT.

Pagod pero masaya. Sa isang araw na pasyal, sandaling napawi ang mga alalahanin sa acads. Minsan, kahit ga’no pa kahirap ng mga bagay-bagay, kahit ga’no pa ka-busy ang buhay…kelangan ring tumigil at magpahinga, isang pasyal kasama ang mga kaibigan. Bago pa tuluyang lamunin ng pagod at kabaliwan.

so on the 21st of July, my dear brother turned 26. there was food, videogames, and spraypainting in the back garden. twas so awesome:)

this was the card i made for him:

I always forget his age, so i thought I’d make up a suitable age for him also thought I’d include his boxing/spraypaint training into it somehow too

now to share some pictures from his big day ^_^

spray paints are really hard to use XD

peace out everybody

Shiboy

Greenday + eyeliner + good music = eternal punkness. I will never get tired of Billy Joe and his eyeliner. Must love 21 Guns.

1/2 x the price of gorgeous Bayo tops = gratitude. Got the brown one I’ve been eyeing already, for 270 bucks! Saleslady had to ask other branches for the price code though, saying ‘yung suot ni KC sa movie nila ni Richard!’. Classic. Haha!

YM-ing Sam = getting a ‘bitch ka!’ reply. I love her for being so… her. Bwahahaha!

So this post is going to be full of pictures! I finally got ahold of a memory card reader. Without further ado, I present you with the pictures that have been MIA.

Remember when I said I made my first green smoothie?

Awhile ago I had visited one of my roommate’s family and I got to try a bunch of wonderful food from the Philippines. They have this wonderful treat called Ube. What is that? Well it’s basically a purple yam and it tastes hella good. If you know of any Philippino stores, you should try some desserts with ube in them. If you don’t have one nearby, you can always go to an Asian market, and I’m sure they will at least have ube jam. It’s seriously worth trying.

This salad was wonderful! I loved the surprising addition of the golden raisins. It added a sweetness, but it was subtle enough to go well with everything else.

If you like okra you have to try this recipe! If you don’t like okra you have to try this recipe! Everyone should just do it.

Here’s some more chickpea lovin’.

I made a salad with chickpeas, onions, raisins, and BBQ sauce. To go along with my salad I made some spaghetti aglio e olio.

The spaghetti aglio e olio was a recipe I found on Rouxbe. It’s an online instructional cookbook.

During my “recent picture hiatus” I went to the river with my friend, Steph, and some other people. It was so much fun! Thank goodness she was a camp counselor because she helped get the fire going and had a wonderful idea for roasting our veggies.

Hi Steph!

This was the secret location tucked away in one of the most beautiful neighborhoods in Richmond.

Steph had the idea of putting our veggies in personal "pockets".

While we were at the river I let Matilda loose and guess what she did? She bolted towards the water. At first I was afraid because I didn’t know what to expect. Matilda was a natural and she had so much fun swimming around.

There she goes!

I also brought along some Philippino treats. They look like eggs - green eggs and ham!

This past weekend my parents flew up to kidnap me. It also happened to be the weekend of Richmond’s Vegetarian Festival. It was such a hot day, but since it was at a park we were able to sit in the shade a lot. I got to sample a lot of things. Among these samples I tried Tofutti’s cuties. These were delicious and perfect for a hot day! The two flavors I sampled were key lime and wild berry.

We were able to try different things from a variety of vendors. Lunch was like traveling around the world with plates from the Mediterranean, Ethiopia, and Thailand.

So many people! So much heat!

Matilda came with us. She got some treats and plenty of water as well.

After the festival I decided to take my mom to Trader Joe’s. The last time she had gone to one was over a decade ago! She was so happy I took her there, but she was a little bummed that they don’t have one in Florida. Trader Joe needs to make his way down here! We got a bunch of things, and since we knew we had a long driving day ahead of us we got some travel food. My dad picked out a blackberry Belgian beer that I said I would split with him since we had to do a raincheck for Father’s Day.

Hmm... what's this? Trader Joe's horseradish hummus!

The verdict? Me likey a lot! And so did everyone else.

Yesterday, I arrived at my parent’s house, and of course I always get excited to see what they have. I usually don’t buy crackers, so I was eager to try these. I tried some Harvest Grain Simplyfit crackers. I could make like Kailey and just munch on these straight out of the box! So of course I had some for lunch today. I’ve never tried Kashi’s TLC crackers, but I’d imagine these are just as delicious. They also use 10 whole grains and seeds (like quinoa).

On another note, there are a few perks I’ve discovered since blogging. The main one being all the wonderful people I have encountered! Everyone seems so friendly and open to new things, and I love that! You guys rule! Another perk is getting samples. I hate buying a whole box of something and I end up not liking it. It makes sense to sample something before you dive in, right? Unless you know you’re going to like it, or simply don’t mind. So let’s get to the good stuff!

The generous people at Kay’s Naturals were more than happy to send me some samples of the products.

I'd say they were more than generous!

So far I’ve tried all the cereals, and tonight I plan on trying some more. I’ve liked everything, but my favorite would have to be the Honey Almond Protein Cereal. I loved having it with almond milk and a caramelized banana. Thanks so much for the package, Lindsey! I was seriously blown away when I saw all that was sent to me.

Next up, Michelle, over at Alternative Baking Co. hooked me up with some delicious vegan cookies.

Opening the letter!

They sent me a Colossal Chocolate Chip cookie, and their cookie of the season - Coconut Macaroon.

Wow! Which one do I try first? I love anything coconut so of course I couldn’t get enough of the coconut macaroon. The chocolate chip cookie was incredible as well; it tasted like unbaked cookie dough! I loved everything about these cookies. They were chewy just how I like them, and huge just how cookies should be. Thank you so much Michelle!

Lastly, Annette over at Sun Warrior sent me some sample packets of their protein powder. She sent me the vanilla and chocolate flavors. I haven’t tried those yet, but I will definitely report back. 

Does anyone have any suggestions for some yummy shakes?

I’m going to save all my breakfast eats for my next post. Yes, they are that good!

I hope you are all enjoying the rest of your Monday. Now let’s all face the rest of the week!

I was excited to see my UBEs today, especially when I learned that Lala was coming. Headed to Lai’s for her bday celebration. Xie aka Cheesy Pops was there too to add more to the fun. Janet and Mondi were the only office friends who came. It was so fun! I loved Lai’s polabooth! Mango Bravo was divine, as expected. I’ll post photos from my Golden Half soon

I made some curry tarts the other day. I need to fix my recipe for my curry filling though. It was a mixture of curry paste, coconut milk, beef, carrots, peas and raisins. I added a little bit of corn starch to thicken it. I refrigerated afterwards so that it would harden and then wrapped them with puff pastry. I then brushed egg yolk over them. I used puff pastry sheets by Partridge. here are some pictures of it, but the ones my brother made came apart since he didn’t seal them well enough

I also tried to make Matcha Kasutera, but it didn’t come out as well as I thought it would be. It didn’t have the same fluffiness as the storebought ones. I don’t know what what happened, but here are the pictures. I used Pichet Ong’s recipe.

I wish I was brave enough to make a Gruyère…

but, I made a carrot cake and I thought it would be cool to put cherry blossom shaped candied carrots on top of the carrot cake. unfortunately the frosting was too sweet.

I tried to make chocolate pudding with bananas on top but it didn’t work out. it tasted pretty nasty.

here’s my candied cherry blossom carrot pieces!

Mamon. How i love mamon. it’s basically a buttery sponge cake.

My favorite ice cream. I changed the color on photoshop because this is what it looks like in real life. well, that’s what i thought. well, maybe i’m colorblind. but this is supposed to be ube ice cream.

I made these chocolate/white swirl oatmeal cookies also.

I saw this on a website, and went pumpkin crazy. it’s a cream cheese pumpkin cake. the pumpkin cake tasted fine but the cream cheese was just plain weird. i just have to put less if there’s a next time.

Ube ice cream with mochi balls in a tapioca coconut desert/soup. My favorite.

Here’s a few pictures of my favorite asian buns from Canada. I think we bought it at Yaohan. I think below is the custard bun, but i’m not sure.

Here’s a green onion bun

This one is the curry bun…

This is the Indian curry bun. I didn’t know what the difference was between this one and the one above…

Ah! Chocolate Molasses cookies! I got the recipe from Martha Stewart. Soooo good. It simply melts in your mouth and it’s nice and spicy.

My favorite strawberry gummies from Pike place market. really sugary though. It’s actually dried strawberries, but it tastes like they put gelatin in it.

Tired but felt so accomplished!

Went to Kuya Mar to check on the bags.
Walked to SM to do errands with my mom.
Went home to silk screen fabric for the pouches.
Went back to Kuya Mar to get the bags.
Fixed materials for Izzo.
Quick bath.
PFW with ALL of the UBEs.

Better than my birthday.

This is my daily routine lately: I wake up, I check Izzo, do errands for Izzo, go to work. Repeat until the week ends. It’s tiring, but I’m actually having fun. I miss my UBEs though! And I have so much to tell Grace.  I really hope all my hard work pays off!

I love the weather. Don’t you?

I learned today that Lady Gaga is coming to Manila on August 11th. I think it’s the day before our SG trip. I really hope I’ll get to see her pants-less!

Lunch break was fun, there were 10 of us. Aids is the ultimate comic relief! Good to have people at work who give good vibes!

Free yummy Inasal birthday treat from Jen and some light chitchat with my best teammates is the best way to start a workday (or night).

The rain is making me dramz. I know I just saw you last weekend, but I miss you Besty