Scrambled Eggs with Chorizo and Bell Peppers

Can I just drop by real quick to say I'm stll here? :) Yes I am. Of course, still busy as always!

I am so amazed with Instagram that I had to post this shot as/for my comeback post.

I hardly post breakfasts here, not that I don't love breakfast, but I just (sad to say) have no sweet time to prepare breakfasts specials for the past few years, given the erratic schedule that Archie and I have, plus our school boy. Pre-school at this time is not all-play. Did I mention I make reviewers for exams? Did I mention that we have homework almost every-single-day? If you're an '80s or '90s kid, in your head I can hear you say WT_ for that. But really, I can honestly say, it's good training for our boy! :)

Today is one of the lucky days/lucky mornings that I rarely had - that I was able to prepare a breakfast special with my pantry's special guest: the Spanish Chorizo. I got it from Santis Delicatessen. This is actually a justified version of what I tried to make 2+ years ago. I am a longganisa fan since birth, so Chorizo is no exception. My bosses gave us an authentic spanish chorizo back in Dec. 2009 and I tried to put it together with the same cast (peppers and eggs) though aesthetically didn't look cute hehehe but reeeeeaaaaaaallly tasted soooo goood! Since then I craved for it but never met a nice chorizo since last weekend. So here you go with my initial breakfast special this year:

Chorizo:
vegetable oil (about 3 tablespoons)
1 small onion, chopped
2 cloves garlic, minced
1 green bell pepper, sliced
1 red bell pepper, sliced
Spanish Chorizo (it's about 8 inches long), sliced
salt and pepper to taste (easy on the salt as the chorizo is already tasty!)

Eggs:
vegetable oil (3 tablespoons)
6 small eggs
3 tablespoons milk
salt and pepper to taste

First, heat oil on your skillet, sauté the onions until translucent, add the garlic, then the bell peppers, then Chorizo. Mix everything until Chorizo is done and its own orange oil is already out.
When finished, put the chorizo and peppers on a plate / bowl and set aside.

For the scrambled eggs - before you start, slowly and carefully clean your pan with a paper towel to remove the oil, unless you want your eggs to be orange in color :)

After cleaning up, beat eggs, milk, salt and pepper, heat oil on your skillet, then gently pour the egg mixture on the pan. make it low heat, then scramble!

You may want to put the eggs beside the chorizo on your bowl/plate, or you may also present it as what you see on the picture above. Serve with garlic rice or bread, or eat as is. I super like eating it with Ciabatta bread.

Mmmmm I can still smell it's fragrance.

Well, good morning everyone! :)

Christmas Chocolate Cupcakes

2 New Years have passed this month!!! Happy New Year and Happy Chinese New Year to all!

Hope everyone had fun during the holidays! Mine was! It was pretty much packed with reunions here and there, cooking, baking, gift wrapping and last minute gift shopping! With work still included, you can say it was really a busy holiday!

Sharing a photo of the Christmas-themed Chocolate Cupcakes I made for my cousin Kuya Bobby and his wife Ate Pam.

I used Hershey's Perfect Chocolate Cake recipe for the cupcakes. They are soooo moist and chocolatey. This recipe never failed me! This makes 24 cupcakes, or even 30 if you fill the pans halfway only. I also use this for our chocolate caramel cake!

For the butter cream frosting, I used Wilton butter cream icing recipe. I just lessened the amount of the powdered sugar to 3 ½ cups as it can be really sweet.

Read: DIABETIC :)

I got the Christmas toppers from Manna Ingredients. They have loads of stuff there for baking,food packaging etc. I am happy to say that they don’t overprice their goodies. Promise. So to anyone there who will come across this entry and if you’re at the East side of Metro Manila, go ahead and visit their humble store. It’s along Marcos Highway, beside the entrance of Town and Country Village.

Ok, I do know the fact that I have so much backlog and making up to do! I wish I can still find time somehow to share something here – at least once a week to or maybe once in 2 weeks? monthly? Quarterly? Tell me about it.

With all the busyness before and what’s going on, though I am still very much inspired to cook (never lost that touch, thank God!) I feel that along the way - I lost the inspiration to write... Or, was I just too tired or too preoccupied?

Signs, signs, signs.

On a positive note - I believe that this year has a lot of beautiful promises. I will just go with the flow and try to stay focused at least 99% of the time, if not 100%!

This year’s going to be busier in all the corners of my life as an individual, a mom and a wife (no, Archie is not into politics, he’s just going to be busier too!). Despite that it will be busier; I will try my best to rest more, play more, reunite myself with writing… and playing the guitar (this is another side of me).

Well, here I am, back for the new year! So, here's to a busy but wonderful, healthy, happy and successful 2013 to all! And here’s to another entry next week!? :P Cheers!

Ham, Cheese and Chili Crepe

Changes, changes... as they say, there is nothing constant in this world except change.

When change comes, I press the panic button before trying to step back a little to understand what is going on and think things through. When I panic, I usually make mistakes. tsk tsk.. Though sometimes, I am happy to say it's the other way around. Yes, just sometimes.

At least! :)

I wish changes, in all forms, is just as easy as changing your weekend food. I didn't go full circle, but I just tried to have something we don't usually have. Crepes. Oh yes, it's refreshing and rewarding after the changes, panic and the boo-boos... my boo-boos! :S

This is a savory crepe inspired by Café Breton's Vesuve. Sheila had me try this back in December and I instantly loved it.

For the ham filling, you'll need:

vegetable oil
1 small onion, finely chopped
about 6 cloves of garlic, minced
3 to 4 ripe tomatoes, finely chopped
8 slices of cooked ham (not sweet), diced
Chili pepper flakes (start with half a teaspoon for a mild spicy kick)
pinch of salt and pepper
1/2 bar of quick melting cheese (this is about 100 grams, you can grate a little extra of you want)


Prepare the filling - heat the oil and sauté the onions until translucent, add the garlic, then tomatoes. When tender, add the ham, then sprinkle the pepper flakes, add just a pinch of salt and pepper. Set aside.

For the basic crepe recipe, I got it from the book Joy of Cooking. I just made a little changes below:

1 cup all purpose flour
3/4 tsp salt

1 cup warm milk
1/2 cup warm water
4 eggs
4 tablespoons butter, melted
extra 6 teaspoons of butter (for the pan)

mix dry ingredients (flour, salt or sugar) and set aside. melt butter, set aside
in a large bowl, mix the milk, water, eggs and add melted butter. Mix well
slowly add the dry ingredients by sifting it through the bowl, then mix thoroughly until there are no lumps anymore. I like my milk and water warm as it dissolves the dry ingredients faster.

Note: This makes about 6 crepes. I am using a 9-inch non-stick pan. You can prepare the crepe batter ahead of time and store it in airtight container in the fridge.

To prepare the crepe, heat your pan, melt a teaspoon of butter and pour a ladle of the crepe batter (I pour about 1/2 cup) and tilt the pan in circular motion until you achieve the round form of the crepe. Cook until the bottom is ok, about 2 minutes on low to medium heat, like if you see a little toasted color under, then that's good.

Then in the center of the crepe, put about 2 tablespoons of the ham filling and a tablespoon or more of grated quick melting cheese, then fold the crepe. Careful on folding as the crepe tends to tear. I suggest you use two cooking spatulas/turners when you fold the crepe. If you want to cook/prepare all the crepes first, go ahead :)

The crepe batter is also good for sweet/dessert crepes. Just omit the salt and add 4 to 5 tablespoons of sugar (will post our dessert crepe soon!)


I am in the process of learning to accept the other side of change. That: it's not always bad, that it's not something to be scared about. I should think that change is also a step towards improvement. So here I am, resting on this well deserved weekend, preparing myself to embrace the changes that will come.

Happy weekend! :)