Creme dela Creme Blog

My brother and sister-in-law are starting a new blog together. It's called Creme dela Creme. http://itsacremedelacremelife.com/

Check it out! They only have 1 entry so far on their Brazilian Stew (Feijoada). The upcoming one is a cheesecake. :)

Here's a photo of their Feijoada. I've tried it and it's really yummy.

Photo of Feijoada that I took using iPhone 5s

Hot Sweet Ginger Tea with Chia Seeds

I've been consuming chia seeds on a daily basis since my friend gave it to me as a gift. The other day, I passed by a stall that gave out ginger tea with chia seeds as a sample. It turned out pretty awesome! Because of that, I decided to make some for myself.

Ingredients
- a knob of ginger
- 1 tbsp of chia seeds
- 1 tsp brown sugar or honey (optional)
- 1 1/2 cups of water

Steps:
1. Boil the ginger, sugar/honey, and water to make the ginger tea.
2. Soak the chia seeds in half cup of water for about 5 minutes.
3. When it's ready, serve it in mugs and mix with chia seeds. Serve hot! :)

Quick Apple Crumble!

I got inspired to try this after seeing it on a site that I now can't find. :( I dont remember my search keywords and I dont remember what it looked like. So now I'm posting it to keep it in memory.

This is a microwave recipe. I know there are anti-microwave people out there, i know you can use a normal oven with this, but I just don't have one with me now.

So here goes!

Ingredients:
- An apple
- 4 tbsp instant oatmeal (plain)
- 1 tbsp brown sugar
- a dash of cinnamon if you have it!
- 2 tbsp butter chunks
- dollop of plain yogurt or vanilla ice cream

Steps:
1. Chop the apples into .5 cm thickness
2. Place it around the bowl
3. Mix the oatmeal and sugar. Put on top of the apples. Sprinkle cinnamon if you have it.
4. Spread the butter chunks/dots around the top.
5. Microwave for a minute or 1 1/2 minutes. (Or put in an oven but I dont know yet for how long).
6. Put the yogurt or ice cream and dig in!

Poached Eggs on Top of Bacon-fat Toasted Bread

Kind of difficult to write an entry now on my phone... but i wanted to post my food pics here of the poached eggs, ham, salsa, amaranth, and bacon-fat toasted bread (unhealthy, I know).

As for the salsa I made, I made a jar-ful of it and ill be eating it throughout the week. I'm trying out some efficiency strategies these week to cut down on time required. :)

Beef Salpicao-style Marinated in Red Wine

Today, I cooked raw meat all by myself. I've always been used to veggies/fruits/canned stuff so preparing something out of raw meat is something new for me. I saw the chunk of raw tenderloin in the Supermarket today which costed roughly PhP 90, so I decided to try it out for today. 

All day, I was concerned if I was working with spoiled meat. Throughout the prep-work, I was checking online on how to know if the meat is spoiled. So far, it all boiled down to the smell. Mine didnt smell funky. The color was good too! The parts that were frozen had a deeper color but I knew it was of a different color because certain parts got frozen.

With the limited stuff available in the apartment kitchen, I just ended up grabbing again whatever was available. I used a Red Wine marinade recipe as a guide, though I didnt have everything.

So anyway, it turned out really well, so that's why I'm posting it here today!

Ingredients:

• 8 oz tenderloin
• 2 cloves of garlic, minced
• 1 tbsp olive oil
• 1/3 cup dry red wine
• sprinkle salt and pepper
• 1 tbsp rice vinegar
• 1 tbsp Yakiniku sauce (i didnt have the Worcestershire sauce, so I ended up with this)
• 1/2 tsp sugar

Procedure:

1. Cut the beef into 1 inch by 1/2 inch (salpicao style).
2. Mix everything together. Make sure to taste and adjust . Don't make it too salty.
3. Marinate it for at least 2 hours, maximum 6 hours.
4. When it's ready, put some olive oil in the pan at high heat. Put in the beef chunks one at a time. Flip it over once. It should get that crusty seared texture on the outside.
5. For the sauce, pour the marinade into the pan to cook for about a minute. When it's done, pour over the beef.

Pizza Hut Party at the Office, Thanks to BPI Credit Card Charge Slips

I had some credit card charge slips from BPI over the past 2 months and I saw in the Real Thrills website that the promo with Pizzahut/DQ/Taco Bell would be over in July 31.

My officemates went with me to the nearest Pizza Hut branch to get our freebies. :) (Take-out only) The maximum charge slips we could use was 3. We used 2 charge slips above 12k and 1 above 6k.

We ended up with:

• 1 family size bacon cheeseburger
• 1 regular size supreme
• 1 family size spaghetti with meatballs

I added in an additional order of their chicken wings (I love the Medium Buffalo!)



We brought it back to the office and we had a mini merienda party!

If you've got BPI charge slips (at least 2k) from May 15 , 2013 to July 31, 2013 from BPI, avail it soon! You can only do so until Sept 29, 2013.

I still have a couple left. I'd like to go to Taco Bell for my next set. It's been a long time since I had a Taco.

Update: For charge slips dated August 1, 2013 to October 24, 2013, they have freebies in Chowking!

Painting Ceramics at Color Me Mine Hobbes & Landes

As early as I could, I influenced my niece to like artsy craftsy stuff. When she was around 3, I started bringing her to the Color Me Mine section of Hobbes and Landes.

Our most recent trip was to paint an angel. She's now into the more-complicated stuff. We started before with small and simple fishes or butterflies. The plaster figurines range from 300-1000 Php, depending on the size and complexity. There's also a painting and baking fee which is about 180 Php, if I remember correctly.

Here's photos of our most recent Angel figurine!

We first choose the figurine we want to paint

They lent us their tools and they gave us paint. We get to choose 5 at a time. My niece really wanted purple & pink.

Here's what it looks like after we finish painting! But we can't take it home yet...

We left it with Hobbes & Landes for glazing. General waiting time is 3 weeks.
When it comes back, it's all shiny and the colors are more vibrant.. :)

Here's what their station looks like. Lots of figurines and paint to choose from!

Here's some of the old stuff she did. We've done a lot more, but these were the only ones which I still had in my phone.

Here's a fairy

Freaky fish?

You can visit their international site at http://www.colormemine.com

Kaleidoscope-Kit from the Art Garden

Isn't it pretty? It's what it looks like through the kaleidoscope I made from the Kaleidoscope-Kit I got from the Children's Art Museum I visited in Singapore (Art Garden).

They gave us a kit (see below). It contains 3 pieces of something-like-glass (something not easily breakable). In each piece, there was a double-sided tape stuck to it. There was also a piece of paper where I stuck each glass-piece. After folding everything together as if it were a triangular tube, I now have my kaleidoscope! I guess I still need to color the exterior... it still looks so plain!

I got 2 kits, because the friend I went with wasn't interested in making one for herself. Now, I'm saving it for when my niece comes around in the weekend.

Here's a bigger photo of the view from the kaleidoscope. :)

To know more about the Art Garden in the Singapore Art Museum, visit here - http://www.singaporeartmuseum.sg/exhibitions/details.php?id=114

Idea! Rib Eye Steak with Bacon Bits

Last Sunday was my mom's birthday.

The whole family went out for dinner buffet in Paseo Uno (thanks to Dealgrocer for the discount).

One of the dishes I kept coming back for was the Rib Eye steak station. I had 3 slices! (I also love their fish masala, but that's not what I'll be sharing here).

I love love steak. And I love love love bacon! So at the steak station, they had the baked potatoes station nearby. I thought to myself: If the toasted fat of the steak tastes like bacon, why not add it in?

So I proceeded to topping my steak with bacons bits! Here's a picture...

YUM! #thisiswhyimfat

It's a more sinful and fattier version of the fillet mignon! :P

Newel Kena Rags2Riches Bag

Throughout the month of March, I've been itching to buy a new bag. After searching online all over, I ended up obsessing for 3 days of the Holy Week holiday over the bags from Rags2Riches (http://www.rags2riches.ph).

[It's been a month since I made my last entry. I haven't done much except work and watch tv series... and go out and eat with friends... not much time to write before.

I've asked my friends and family for their opinions... I've gone through online shopping sites Zalora, Ava, and the R2R site itself! I ended up buying from the Aranaz store in Powerplant Mall because I didn't want to pay for the shipping fees and I wanted the blue one.

So here it is! Isn't it pretty?

I use it now as my main bag for work and weekends. It goes well with jeans!

At the first day, I thought it was kind of heavy. The blue weave fabric is quite thick. After that, it's not so heavy anymore.

For the t'nalak weaves at the sides, it will tend to fray so be careful with it.

The bags are made by artisans from not so well-off communities in the Philippines and they get paid fairly for it (not get exploited by middle-men). Normally, they would be forced to work for 70php a week (that's already a meal for the average Makati person). With Rags2Riches, they have the opportunity to get 1000php a week.

The materials they use are also upcycled. The fabric used in making the weaves are scraps.

Read more about their story here.

Moving forward, I'll be more conscious about the things I buy... if there is an eco-ethical and fair trade alternative, I'll veer towards that instead, though not necessarily cheaper. Normally, I would go for low-cost... but you never really know if it's cheap because someone got poorly-paid for it along the way.