Treasure Jar

Grab another chance to savor the dishes of the famed Lolo Dad’s restaurant as chef-owner Ariel Manuel dons his culinary garb once again for a cooking demo on June 21, Saturday, 9am-1pm at the Maya Kitchen.

Chef Ariel plays on the theme ‘Simplicity of Flavors’ as he prepares:

• Salmon Sardine with Fresh Garlic Croutons
• Romaine Caesar Salad
• White Onion Soup
• Shellfish Open Lasagne
• Mediterranean Duck Rice, Mixed Fresh Fruits with Vanilla Ice Cream, Rock Salt and Extra Virgin Olive Oil.

Don’t be taken in by the seemingly simple dishes. The Caesar Salad, for one, comes with a dressing that is cooked and keeps for a week! The onion soup comes with a gruyere topping and for a real knock out flavor, Chef Ariel recommends French Muscovy duck breasts.

Chef Ariel to this day cannot explain how he ended up becoming one of the country’s renowned chefs. He took up architecture in college but spent all his professional life in the kitchens of international hotel chains Mandarin Oriental Manila, Shangri-la Hotel Makati, Westin Philippine Plaza and Heritage Hotel.

His very own Lolo Dad’s Cafe was a culinary landmark earning accolades from diners and critics. It was one of the very few that offered patrons a chef’s table that gave a close up look on how Chef Ariel painstakingly created his masterpieces. When Lolo Dad’s bowed out of the dining scene recently, some were apprehensive that Chef Ariel was hanging up his apron for good. On the contrary, he has other culinary marvels up his sleeve that will soon regal all of us. We just have to wait and see.

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Visit The Maya Kitchen Culinary Center every Tuesday to Saturday at 8F Liberty Building, 835 A. Arnaiz Avenue (Pasay Road), Makati City or call 8921185 / 892-5011 local 108.

This week marked the first week of our Back to School days. I say “OUR” because even if I do not have to be in school like my children do, I wake up way earlier than the rest of the household. Wait, let me rephrase that… I go to “school” too, in my little room where I am called Teacher Julie which is a world different from my children’s school.

Anyway…

There are days when the going gets rough and even though I have all things prepped down to the last minute details, there are those little things that I forget: that folder in the home library that the youngest is supposed to bring with her to school, the supplements that children should have taken before going to bed, or that change of shirt for PE days. The list could be endless depending on the circumstances.

In all these things that keep me very busy, I am in need of a break, in particular, a chocolate break for which I can derive not just sweet indulgence and pleasure but a kick and boost in my system. Having said that,  I nod my head in agreement to the tagline: Have a break, have a Kitkat.

So for this question…

Did you know that taking a KIT KAT Break can unlock hidden skills in you that make it seem like you can break the impossible? If so, what skill would I like to unlock and why?

a. Type faster and flawlessly.
b. Never forget any detail.
c. Create awesome presentation decks.
d. Multitask at any given time.

My answer to this question would be: Never forget any detail.

Why? Here’s why.

My day begins at 4:30am (or earlier) when I prepare breakfast and packed food for the children to bring to school. The children need to be up half an hour later because the school service arrives before 6am. Then we bring the eldest child to where she can get a ride to go to her university before the husband and I can have our breakfast and prepare for the day’s activities ahead of us.

The activities I need to do are varied, depending on my work schedule though the busiest days I have are three days of work. I have to be home before the children gets home from school though to get dinner ready. Good thing I have small kitchen appliances that make cooking and preparing food easier. So yey!! Laundry is taken cared of by the eldest daughter though when she goes back to school next month, this will again be my responsibility. Ironing is something I don’t do so these clothes that need ironing goes to the laundry shop. The backyard is being tended to by a cleaning lady because yard work is not really my thing.

We haven’t had any household help for more than 11 years.

So tiring just to read about our day huh? That’s why I need to Never Forget any Detail.

As for the skill  “Type faster and flawlessly”, I only need this when I have to make an Assessment Report or  a Progress report that i have forgotten to encode and need to bring to a doctor or to the parents of my student.

For “Create awesome presentation decks”, I don’t see the reason for the need of that skill since I do not work in the corporate world.

“Multitask at any given time”? Multitasking is my other name when it comes to running a household and working at the same time.

I multitask because I have to, with of course, the help of these little things I use at home. Example of one of my fun multitasking skills with a kitchen aid : While I (and the rest of the family) am having a good night rest, my slow cooker is cooking our food for the next day. Now… if I forgot to turn on the slow cooker, imagine how it would be if we wake up with the food uncooked? The horror!

Never forget any detail, is my mantra. This is what digital calendars, alarms, notepads, post-its and children’s sharp memories are for, to not forget details. As long as you don’t forget to make notes of the details you need to remember of course 😀

“Like” KITKAT Facebook page here.

Tags: Have a Break, Have a Kitkat, KitKat Break, KitKat Break Movement

For a main dish (we had this for dinner just last night) My Great Food 15 Second Cooking Challenge is Slow Cooked Monterey Country Style Pork (or Liempo) and Purefoods Classic Honeycured Bacon with mango salsa. Mangoes are best when eaten during summer 🙂

Mangoes are a sign that summer is definitely here and our family just love these fruits especially if coming from our home province, Zambales.

Here is the detailed recipe of my Slow Cooked Monterey Country Style Pork with Mango and Bacon Salsa.

Ingredients:

1. 1 kilo of Monterey Country Style Pork or liempo. For every strip, cut in 3 or four pieces.
2. Dry Rub: 2T salt and pepper, 2Tpaprika and 1/4 cup muscovado sugar. For the sauce: 1 cup Oyster Sauce and 1/2 cup Hickory Sauce.
3. Purefoods Honeycured Bacon. You can use as many bacon strips as you like.
4. 2 pieces ripe but still firm mangoes, cubed in small pieces. Ours came from Zambales.
5. 2 pieces tomatoes, cubed in small pieces. Ours are homegrown.
6. 1 piece cucumber, cubed in small pieces
7. 1 or 2 pieces of calamansi (which I got from our tree)
8. Balsamic Vinegar for drizzling on the salsa

Here is the YouTube Video

And here is the Instagram video link.

Cooking Procedure in details:

1. Wash and cut the Monterey Country Style Pork. Pat dry.

2. Put together the dry rub for the meat.

3. Massage the meat with the dry rub. Refrigerate, covered, for an hour or two.

4. Mix the sauces for the Monterey Country Style Pork for the slow cooking step. See NOTES below for some cooking style tips.

5. Arrange the Monterey Country Style Pork with dry rub and half of the sauce in the crock pot.

6. Cook for two hours high and two hours low. OR cook for six hours on low.

7. Prepare the mango salsa by cutting the mangoes, tomatoes and cucumbers in small cubes. Put the juice of one or two calamansi on it.

8. Refrigerate the salsa until you need it. You can also add onions and cilantro before serving. Fry or bake the Purefoods Honeycured Bacon before serving the Slow Cooked Monterey Country Style Pork.

9. Serve the Slow Cooked Monterey Country Style Pork with the Mango and Bacon Salsa drizzled with balsamic Vinegar.

NOTES:

1. If you don’t have a slow cooker, I suggest you get one, haha. Kidding aside, you can grill the Monterey Country Style Pork or bake in the oven. Use the remaining sauce to baste the grilled or baked pork. If you are going to grill, better not cut the pork in three or four pieces.

2. You can opt to not add calamansi in the salsa but the balsamic vinegar should be included because it adds a different twist to the ripe mangoes. It may just be me but no harm in trying, right?

3. For the salsa, you can also add onions,cilantro,and avocado before serving.

4. You can cut the crispy Purefoods Honeycured Bacon in bits and add in the salsa. My kids said they preferred it whole so I didn’t do the bacon bits.

I hope you enjoy doing this recipe as much as I did.

By the way, if you do not have time to go out and buy meats, Monterey will deliver to your home. My go-to Monterey branch is the one along Mindanao Avenue.

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For more recipes, register at My Great Food website AND “Like” the My Great Food Facebook page.

Tags: Monterey Country Style Pork (or Liempo), My Great Food 15 Second Cooking Challenge, Purefoods Classic Honeycured Bacon, Slow Cooked Monterey Country Style Pork with Mango and Bacon Salsa, Slow Cooked Monterey Country Style Pork with the Mango and Bacon Salsa, slow cooked recipe, slow cooker recipe

Inspired by My Great Food, I created a very simple dessert that is perfect for the summer, using only TWO main ingredients: Magnolia Fudge Brownie Mix and Iloilo’s Magnolia Best of the Philippines Butterscotch Ice Cream.

This simple snack or dessert is in fact so easy to prepare that kids can actually make this themselves, with the help of mom of course, particularly in the baking part.

This is the video I made and uploaded in YouTube and this is the Instagram link http://instagram.com/p/pFXHl6CH05/ but for more details on how the recipe was prepared, read more below.

Here are the things you need:

• Magnolia Fudge Brownie Mix + 1/4 cup of water, 1/4 cup of cooking oil and 1 egg

• Iloilo’s Magnolia Best of the Philippines Butterscotch Ice Cream

Procedure:

1. Prepare all the things you need for the baking process:

• mixing bowl
• spatula
• measuring cup
• 1/4 cup water
• 1/4 cup cooking oil
• 1 egg
• 8 x 8 baking pan
• baking paper
• wire rack for cooling
• ice cream scoop

2. Mix the Magnolia Fudge Brownie Mix according to instructions: Put the brownie mix in the mixing bowl, add the water, egg and cooking oil and mix for 1 minute or so until there are no lumps or powder left.

3. Pour the Magnolia Fudge Brownie Mix in an 8 x 8 baking pan lined with baking paper. Putting a baking paper on the baking pan is important because getting the baked brownies from the baking pan as well as cleaning up both become easier.

4. Bake the mixed Magnolia Fudge Brownie Mix in a preheated oven for about 20 -25 minutes or until a toothpick you will use to insert in the middle of the baked brownies comes out clean.

While the brownies are baking, it is best to start cleaning up the utensils used for the mixing so that you are able to enjoy the baked goodies later on.

5. Cool the baked brownies on a wire rack.

6. Cut according to desired size.

7. Serve the baked Magnolia Fudge Brownies while still a bit warm with a scoop of Magnolia Best of the Philippines Butterscotch Ice Cream.

Now if this is not the perfect summer treat for your family and friends, then I don’t know what could be better than this Super Simple Magnolia Brownies ala Mode.

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NOTE 1 :

I am not really sure how much these desserts cost when you order from a restaurant and perhaps it is safe to say that per order would probably cost you around Php75 – 125.00

The cost for this dessert which made 12 servings for the combination are the following (plus a few extra scoops of ice cream as well that weren’t used with the brownies):

• Php250.00 for the Magnolia Best of the Philippines Butterscotch Ice Cream
• Php129.50 for the Magnolia Fudge Brownie Mix
• Php20 for the cooking oil and egg
• A few tens of pesos for the gas or in my case, for the electricity I used in baking.

4 pieces of the brownies were eaten without the ice cream as packed snacks the day after for a road trip we did.
The left-over ice cream were eaten for a few times more and the children were even asking me to buy another Magnolia Fudge Brownie Mix box to go with the Magnolia Best of the Philippines Butterscotch Ice Cream.

Now do the math and see how much it will cost you to order these Brownies ala Mode in 12 or even 16 servings. I know, it is a big winner, right?

NOTE 2: You can add chocolate or caramel syrup to this Magnolia Brownies ala Mode recipe but I did not do it anymore because I figured the brownies and the butterscotch has both the perfect combination of taste that will complement each other.

You wouldn’t want to have a dessert that tastes a bit too sweet, wouldn’t you?

Now am off to enjoy my Magnolia Brownies ala Mode with my family and thank goodness, it didn’t make me tired to do this dessert.

For more recipes, register at My Great Food website AND “Like” the My Great Food Facebook page.

Tags: Magnolia Best of the Philippines Butterscotch Ice Cream, Magnolia Brownie Mix, Magnolia Brownies ala Mode, Magnolia Brownies and Magnolia Butterscotch Ice Cream, summer treatssuper simple dessert recipe

I love wearing watches. A few years ago, I am not too fond of wearing watches because I figured I can use my mobile phone to look at the time. Over time the task of getting my mobile phone from my bag became too tedious and uncomfortable so I began using my watches again.

I would have loved to say I bought my watch from this or that store but the truth is, two of my watches were given to me (one of which was #15  from among a collection of 300 watches) and the other two that I also use are the hubby’s watches (which prompted him to get another one for himself).

Watches are not just instruments for telling the time.

For me, it “tells” me different things:

• to be patient,
• to be on time,
• to relax because there is extra time to spare
• to be aware of a schedule to be followed

Time is gold, so they say, and I agree. One of the things I always tell my children is that time is very important and when they do not use this properly, they will regret losing the time because they can’t get lost time back no matter what they do.

Tags: time is gold

DreamWorks Animation is building the world’s first Dreamplay “Edutainment” Center, City of Dreams Manila.

Featuring DreamWorks Animation’s most beloved characters from its movies, DreamPlay blends Entertainment and Learning with interactive experiences.

Launched last May 22, 2014, Casino resort developer Melco Crown (Philippines) Resorts Corporation (Melco Crown Philippines) is a company listed on the Philippines Stock Exchange (“PSE”) with trading symbol “MCP” and a subsidiary of Melco Crown Entertainment Limited (“Melco Crown Entertainment”) (SEHK: 6883) (NASDAQ: MPEL), a developer, owner and operator of casino gaming and entertainment resort facilities in Asia, today announced a collaboration with global branded entertainment company DreamWorks Animation (NASDAQ: DWA) to develop the world’s first DreamWorks-inspired “Edutainment” center at City of Dreams Manila.

Celebrating the announcement of City of Dreams Manila’s introduction of DreamWorks Animations and the DreamPlay edutainment center to its planned thrilling entertainment and leisure destination resort at Entertainment City, Manila.
DreamWorks characters join Mr. Jorge Sarmiento, President of PAGCOR, with Mr. Clarence Chung, Chairman and President of Melco Crown Philippines; Mr. James Clark, Head of Retail Development and Entertainment for Asia Pacific of DreamWorks Animation; along with SM Group partners.

In collaboration with DreamWorks Animation, Melco Crown Entertainment introduces the education-based, interactive entertainment concept, “DreamPlay by DreamWorks”, which will be the first of its kind in the world when it opens later this year, at City of Dreams Manila, a leisure, gaming and entertainment destination resort currently under development at Entertainment City, Manila, Philippines.

Chairman and President of Melco Crown Philippines Mr. Clarence Chung is joined by Mr. James Clark, Head of Retail Development and Entertainment for Asia Pacific of DreamWorks Animation, in “magically” turning the page of an “enchanted” story book to officially launch the logo as part of the DreamPlay edutainment center at City of Dreams Manila announcement.

Inspired by the mantra of learning through play, “DreamPlay by DreamWorks” is a revolutionary approach to family entertainment.

What to expect:

• Each experience is designed exclusively for City of Dreams Manila by the artistic and creative forces of DreamWorks Animation and iP2 Entertainment to combine the best elements of the DreamWorks library with the hands-on activities of an education inspired play-center to create a truly one-of-a-kind family adventure.
• “DreamPlay” represents an exciting blend of integrated live and digital play spaces, featuring DreamWorks’ popular characters and creative storytelling combined with innovative educational play, appealing to children and adults alike.
• Guests will immerse themselves in the world of DreamWorks Animation, interacting directly with their favorite characters through revolutionary experiences.
• Interactive environments, featuring the very latest digital technologies, will enable kids to engage in a wide range of thrilling activities, interacting with beloved characters from DreamWorks Animation’s world-famous franchises including Kung Fu Panda, Shrek, Madagascar and How to Train Your Dragon.

DreamWorks Animation’s beloved characters Po from Kung Fu Panda; Shrek; and Alex the Lion from Madagascar, join executives Mr. Clarence Chung Chairman and President of Melco Crown Philippines and Mr. James Clark, Head of Retail Development and Entertainment for Asia Pacific of DreamWorks Animation, at the official announcement of the DreamPlay edutainment center at City of Dreams Manila.

“Melco Crown Philippines is delighted to be introducing DreamWorks to the Philippines as we continue our strategy of delivering innovative leisure and entertainment offerings that enhance the leisure destination appeal of Manila,” explained Clarence Chung, Chairman and President, Melco Crown (Philippines) Resorts Corporation.

“Our collaboration with DreamWorks is a further illustration of our expertise in developing world-class, innovative and ground-breaking entertainment for leisure seekers both in the Philippines and internationally. The ‘DreamPlay’ concept delivers an education experience through spontaneous and sensory play that represents an industry first.”

Paul Kurzawa, Head of Retail Development & Entertainment, DreamWorks Animation said: “We are very excited to work with Mr. Lawrence Ho and Melco Crown Entertainment to build something that we believe is a truly unique way for children to experience, learn and interact with the characters and worlds of DreamWorks Animation.

“As a global entertainment brand, we continue to expand our footprint with immersive, year-round fan experiences and ‘DreamPlay’ provides a distinctive opportunity for visitors in a fun and educational setting.

“Harnessing leading digital technologies, this attraction is going to be unlike anything that currently exists and will undoubtedly become a new type of destination for families, both in the Philippines and across the rapidly growing leisure-destination markets of Asia.”

In January 2014, City of Dreams Manila introduced Hollywood-celebrity trendsetting Nobu brand, marking the first Nobu Hotel in Asia. With the addition of the world’s first “DreamPlay by DreamWorks” edutainment center, City of Dreams Manila is a further step in realizing its overall vision to deliver world-class and diverse innovative lifestyle and entertainment offerings, and to support the Philippine government’s strategy to broaden the appeal of the Philippines as a leading leisure destination in Asia.

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About City of Dreams Manila

City of Dreams Manila, when it opens in 2014, will mark the formal entry of Melco Crown Entertainment into the fast-growing and dynamic tourism industry in the Philippines. The new integrated casino resort at Entertainment City, Manila Bay, Manila, is being developed and will be operated by Melco Crown Philippines in alliance with SM Group’s Belle Corporation.

The dynamic and innovative resort complex, located on an approximately 6.2-hectare site at the gateway to Entertainment City, will include the ultimate in entertainment, hotel, retail and dining and lifestyle experiences with aggregated gaming space, including VIP and mass-market gaming facilities with up to approximately 365 gaming tables, 1,680 slot machines and 1,680 electronic table games upon opening.

The integrated resort will feature three distinctive entertainment venues, including Manila’s first branded Family Entertainment Center, a live performance central lounge inside the casino and a night club situated at the Fortune Egg, an architecturally-unique dome-like structure, which will be accented with creative exterior lighting design. It is expected to become an iconic landmark of the Manila Bay area.

City of Dreams Manila is destined to deliver an unparalleled entertainment and hospitality experience to the Philippines and will ultimately play a key role in strengthening the depth and diversity of Manila’s leisure, business and tourism offering, enhancing its growing position as one of Asia’s premier leisure destinations. It is being developed to specifically meet the needs of the large, rapidly growing and increasingly diverse audience of leisure and entertainment seekers both in the Philippines and those visiting Manila from across the Asia region and around the world.

Tags: City of Dreams Manila, DreamPlay by DreamWorks, DreamPlay by DreamWorks City of Dreams, Melco Crown Entertainment