What else but the most enjoyable thing for me to do? Teach, even though I get all types of characters in my class I still love to do it. I get so much energy from my students who want the passion and have the desire to learn more than just sauté…hehehe….being in culinary especially now that it has become a trend is really difficult. One has to continue learning to be better than the others…our school is so so pretty now like me…………………

See latest pictures of chefie.

You don’t have to wonder why there has been no post for almost two months, I was again not in the writing mood. Numerous classes to teach which means good for everyone since that will state to you how great our school is doing. Even if there are tons of culinary schools opening we are still at the forefront of the race. With two new kitchens and a new facelift for our first kitchen we are doing quite well. Please visit the school’s website www.cacschef.com to see all the new events happening in that side of my life.

The other day I was trying to remember who it was who started all this love for cooking and baking in me. Then I remember, Mang Teddy…a chef my aunt would hire every time we have a big party. When we moved to our new house in Makati this was 1968, we had 5 house warming parties and I remember this man in full white attire with a long apron making and cooking everything, even the bread was made right in our kitchen. He made the best lengua, paella and other special Spanish dishes. Then we Tio Bosyong, he was a PAL inflight chef who made our canapés, small Fita, Skyflakes and melba toast with different toppings, like sardines, salami and more. He would fill a 54 inch diameter round table would this and let everyone have it as appetizer before any of our parties. I even remembered as a child I would push most of the waiters in our pool when there were no more guests….I was really a Dennis…hahaha. These two men were the first chefs that I enjoyed being around when I was a young child, I clearly remember both of them moving around and feeding me. As a child, I was not a big eater but I enjoyed parties since there are a lot of new people and kids to play with. I was a loner most of my childhood, Ate was nine years older so I would play by myself alot. In the gutters, I would run my matchbox cars and see how they freely move going down our driveway.

Lately, I have been cooking a lot, being with family that enjoys my cooking and feeding them. Love it so much that a 5 course meal goes fast and preparation goes unnoticed. I hope as time passes I still have the energy to cook for more people. Furthermore, I pray that I still am given the sense of taste and flavour to guide cooks, chefs and whoever else who needs my help.

My latest celebrity student….is kind, pretty and shy………………..

I am in the Bangkok Airport waiting for my flight back to Manila. I’ve been here since 11:30 in the morning, my original flight was cancelled due to some sorth of cloudiness and radar error in Manila. I don’t know if this is true. My friends tell me that the plane doesn’t have enough passengers to leave from Manila so it opted to stay. I don’t really know what else to do..an option was to leave with the other passengers and stay in a hotel nearby but I don’t want to go to the process of having to line up again and wait. The airport is clean and free not much people and I get to sleep with my carry on which I have in a trolley. My carry on is a bit heavy, it has my manual…oh the reason I am here is to study again, Im in such a crazy mode of studying, took a Frozen Dough Course with US Wheat Associates and wow, a big amount of knowledge was just shared to me…realizing that it might help me in my career…don’t really know…I just want a less monotonous life of just teaching and teaching…..this is my third trip to Thailand this year, was here last March, then May when all hell broke loose and no place to go except that I was so anxious to go home and this June –July…I felt so fulfilled though since I can really go around Thailand and not get lost, shopping, sightseeing or just plain eating. Although the end wasn’t as nice as the two weeks, I still got to eat really good food. Food on the street, hawker’s but not as much as before since due to the warm weather, I was scared of getting a bad stomach. I had the best coconut cookies, made from coconut cream, rice flour and sugar, made in a hot plate with holes on it like the Japanese squid balls one sees in the groceries. This one was really very good, full of flavour with a crispy outside and a soft kutchinta like filling, I can finish 20 in one snap, I had it continuously for three days and then the ago go went haywire in my lean stomach. I had the best pizzas too in Bella Napoli….with good, old friends Thierry and Borris who have been here in Bangkok for three years teaching in a French school. Enjoyed eating in my two favourite restaurants, Vanilla Brasserie in Siam Paragon and Greyhound in Emporium, love their food and presentations. When one day you decide to go to Bangkok, bring me along, a good guide for all that’s worth doing. My flight leaves in three – four hours so I will write more until my battery goes bye bye.

Sent by a dear close friend….
My blog is my way of building my friendship with you, my readers. Thank you….

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Jenny’s cookies

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Top Pot Doughnuts

For the past few weeks I got a lot of gifts from good friend and they were really very good….

I enjoy gifts of food, it makes me feel so loved and showered with good thoughts. I know that when food is shared it is given with love, something that can never be replaced with anything else but food.

I have students who come and visit and always have food to bring me. They feel I am always hungry for food but you know…Mom and Dad shared so much food to people they love, I remember when as a child I would always wait for them to come home from Navotas after a whole day and night work in the fish port with Aristocrat food – honey chicken, Aristocrat special, pork barbecue…it was the best since they really taught of us, kids…how they enjoyed to share together with the fish and other seafoods they would give to relatives and friends.

From a student, who I rather not identify….maarte kasi…gave me a Japanese cheesecake that was so light it had the feeling of heaven in your mouth…lovely……

From Tricia, a very close friend gave me Jenny Bakery in Hongkong cookies, these are the famous cookies that is so flaky that’s like polvoron, it very powdery and good with butter, coffee and chocolate as flavours…cute can with a teddy bear…

From myself, hehehe, mukha bang weird, yes, after all those sweets which I shouldn’t be eating, I got myself the TOP POT doughnuts in Starbucks….these are the classic cake like doughnuts, I found them too sweet but the apple fritters were really good.

Enjoy the week!

I know it is probably one hobby that I share with some of you…collecting magnets for the freezer door that one gets from all their travels…although it really is a dirt and dust accumulator, I have been doing this since I moved to my own place, 5 years ago. Let me tell you what’s there….

A delivery Directory for Fast food joints…I don’t even know if their phone numbers have changed,

A collage of pictures from one of Pro classes

A French baguette ballpen magnet given by a student

A Deguzman Family of Princeton, New Jersey picture magnet from our Duck Tours in Boston

A drawing magnet made by my nephew Joel

Friends are sunshine on a rainy day magnet from Mariel

Basket of fruits magnet

US Meat Magnet

Harry’s Steak Restaurant Magnet with all beef parts pointed out

Souvenier magnets from Beijing, Chicago, Kansas, New York, Hongkong and Tanimura & Antle one of biggest vegetable suppliers in the world.

What’s in your freezer door?

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Spanish dishes that I love

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Wagyu Paella

Planned this after our Antonio’s dinner since I wanted to go visit my Amuse Bouche Apron girls, I had a wonderful two hours with Ate Cynthia, bonding in shopping as I call it. Both of us, wanted to buy food for our Sunday lunch and dinner, our cooking was getting boring for us and the kids. The first thing we did was go through all the stores to see and find out what was being sold….we saw a lot of cute and interesting stuffs being sold, like Vegetarian Food, Coco Sugar desserts and others. What caught my eye was the Bud-Bud Kabog, the best tasting suman made with millet grain and now in different flavours, they had Mangga, Ube-Pandan, Macapuno and also Biko and Cassava, so so so deadly, the Spanish dishes of Casa Goni…so siempre, that’s what I got for myself and the Gavinos. Casa Goni’s owner-daughter Marja is our interior designer in the school as well as the restaurant so I was very surprised to see her there, they had a spread of almost 6 paellas Wagyu paella very good as well as the Black Paella, all with different flavours and a lot of other dishes like Lengua, Spanish Mechado, Arroz Ala Cubana and more, I did even see a lady cooking some filet Mignon. Made me want to eat them before getting home, only to realize that we were eating them for dinner instead. I also enjoyed the quiches of La Cabane, thick and filling to the max…very courteous owners. So if you are not so busy Sundays, enjoy a food filled day at the Legazpi Sunday Market…..

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JL’s steak

It was planned two weeks ago, we were going to have a quiet and relaxing dinner at Antonio’s for Kuya Titong’s birthday. It was a week ahead before his real birthday since I was suppose to leave for Bangkok but I had to postpone it due to the tumultuous events happening in that area.

We left at 4:30 pm and the traffic was a bit slow, characteristic of a Saturday drive to the South. Saw how the line of buses and cars going through Sta Rosa Exit so we took the Greenfields Exit, everything seemed to be flowing fast, then a sudden stop at Eton, at the corner, all cars were just there, not moving due to a Night Marathon that stopped traffic for more than an hour. My brother in law and JL went down to do something about what was happening and let us go but the traffic personnel did not budge, it took us another 40 minutes to move, they wanted to finish the last runner in the marathon, pandemonium broke loose and we just tried to by pass them and we did. Only to find out that this traffic was all the way until Tagaytay, so after 3 hours of waiting and driving we finally arrived in Antonio’s and it was really worth all the traffic. With the best attention to diners and great food how can we go wrong. My pictures are not as appealing as it should be but here are some. The place has really changed since the last time I had a meal there, this was a few years ago, a few months after he opened. I love the new look and the sophistication and allure of the place.

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Look at the pictures again…love the aprons….their thick and practical with hoops and pockets for every chef and cooks equipments and needs. Tina Legarda and Rhea Rizzo, chef friends started this business for the simple reason of not finding any apron that suits their needs…they started with aprons with funny anecdotes as well as funny and sexy ones, then came the professional line which I gladly pose for last week…I love them except that some didn’t get to close well due to my growing belly. But I found all of them, very practical for whatever purpose you would want to use them. The professional line covers a lot of the upper part of my body which at times can get caught up with a sudden oil splatter, the hooks and pockets are there for measuring instruments, spatulas or the faithful kitchen tongs not thongs but they do have an apron with that one. The colors and styles are very fashionable….please do get some. There in the Legaspi Sunday Market, I was there last Sunday to get more aprons for myself.

Visit them at http://amusebouche.multiply.com
Email them at amusebouche@gmail.com
If you need them immediately, email me….

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Last week, I had a photo shoot with Yummy on breakfast breads, the home made, a bit challenging baked goods were what I presented. Although a bit foreign to some, what I featured are now being served in specialty restaurants. Biscuits, scones, popovers, savory breads and pastries recipes which I did while doing a project for a all day breakfast restaurants that never materialized. I enjoyed baking them since I also enjoyed eating them right after. With a big serving of butter, cream cheese or homemade jam, it is just right for the first meal of the day.. Sorry, I can’t post the recipes, only the pictures so let’s wait a couple of months when that issue comes out….have you tried Yummy Mag’s May Issue with my Zucchini Pudding….go and get your copy….guapo ko dun with an Orange Shirt, very Villar!