Is the Green Lantern Doughnut any good?

Combining the love for sweets and superheroes, our friends over at Comicology celebrated National Doughnut Day (late) with half a dozen of Krispy Kreme's newest offering, The Green Lantern Kreme Doughnut. 

Because I cannot try it myself, I satiate my cravings with Mr. Comicology's delicious account of this special fried treat.

Green Lantern Doughnuts (p264/half dozen; p370/dozen)

Comicology says: This is one of those very rare instances where comic book geekery and food meet to create a GEEK FOODIE FUSION. And with that comes the very first cross post between Comicology: The Study of Awesome and BaconTunaMelt. Huzzah!

I, for one, love the marketing being put behind the Green Lantern movie. It’s a hell of a lot less traditional than mere TV spots and blogger events. (Yes, I’m just bitter no one asks me to come to the party anymore.) They’ve got a Green Lantern logo in the park at Glorietta. Scattered among the trees there are little green paper lanterns that just look spectacular at night. Another one of their efforts is the Green Lantern donut by Krispy Kreme. I just had to give this bad boy a try.

Wanna know if the Green Lantern Doughnut is any good? Click this link to read the full doughnut review on Comicology. If you're a fan of Green Lantern or doughnuts or desserts, you should definitely check it out.

How Not to Make Yema

For those who know me,  you would know that the extent of my cooking abilities is limited to making instant noodles and frying hotdogs and eggs. I am almost useless in the kitchen and have never willingly stayed longer than I have to (only as long as I need to reheat old nomz in the microwave). 

Inspired by the wonderful dishes from Carnation's Good Eats! Bloggers' Night, I attempted to actually use our kitchen (and not start a fire). I wasn't going to be overly ambitious the first time so thought to start with something small and simple. Scouring the net for the easiest thing to make that involved sweets and milk, I found a short recipe from the post Yema Balls - A Simple Filipino Treat on the blog A Cupcake or Two.

4 egg yolks, 3 tablespoons of butter, 2 small cans of condensed milk, sugar (for coating) and small cupcake cups

It sounded easy enough to make, with too few ingredients for a noob to mess up. Come Friday night, I passed by the grocery to get eggs, Carnation condensed milk, sugar, butter, and cupcake paper for BaconTunaMelt's version of yema balls.

Up bright and early on a Saturday (also a first), I had my ingredients prepared, utensils ready and the recipe printed out by 9am. There was a bit of a snafu right when I started because I didn't know how to separate the egg yolk from the egg whites. That should have been my indicator that although the recipe is simple, a kitchen noob will remain a kitchen noob without any actual practice.

Here's how NOT to make yema:

Step 1- Melt butter in a non stick pan over low heat;

Step 2- As soon as the butter is melted, pour in the can of condensed milk and stir for half a minute;

Step 3- Pour in the egg yolks;

Step 4- Keep the heat on low and stir. Your mixture should be a light yellow color and slightly thick;

Step 5- You'd notice your mixture getting thicker, keep stirring over low heat;

Step 6- The mixture would be bubbling a little because of the heat, but keep stirring;

Step 7- After about 15 minutes, your mixture should be getting darker and you'd still be stirring;

Step 8- Your stirring arm should be feeling really numb now, but keep stirring.

Now if you weren't such a noob, you'd figure out that the mixture is thick enough and you should stop the heat to let it cool down and when it's cool enough, you start rolling them into balls and then coating them with sugar. But for noobs like me, we keep going.

Step 9- Stir until your arm feels like it's about to fall off and until the mixture looks like brown paste;

Step 10- The mixture is cool, but is also rock hard. Take it out of the pan if you can and end up with this solid mass of brown.

You now have a yema that's not really yema, but a hard candy that kinna tastes like toasted pastillas. Or peanut brittle without the peanut. If you're really nice, we can call it candied yema. And that, ladies and gentlemen, is how NOT to make yema.

*this isn't going to dishearten me from wanting to make yema, I'll try again soon enough. Tune in next week to find out what I'll end up with then.

UPDATE: My next attempt at making yema was successful! Check out the fantastic results here- How To Make Yema Balls: Possibly the Simplest Recipe Ever! ^_~

Banapple, Finally!

The first few times that we tried our luck at Banapple, the line waiting to be seated was insanely long that we decided against waiting and headed to the next nearest restaurant that was less high-profile. It didn't seem worth it to wait for an hour or so just to eat in a crowded sitting area. After a couple of foiled attempts, we were finally able to get a table in the restaurant that's currently the rage.

The chance to try the famous desserts of Banapple came last Saturday afternoon when we brought the dogs to Ayala Triangle Park for a walk. The restaurant wasn't crowded and had an outdoor eating area where the dogs can stay and rest too. Finally, we get to find out if Banapple lives up to the hype.

The afternoon sun was gorgeous for taking pictures

Banapple is a name coined by combining the names two of their signature desserts- Banoffee Pie and the Apple Caramel Crumble. They opened shop in 2007 at Blue Ridge in Katipunan and soon gained popularity and have expanded business by opening branches at Tomas Morato in Quezon City and most recently, at Ayala Triangle Gardens in Makati.

Yogurt Nation Made Me Like Ube

The cohort and I were in the mood for something sweet after our filling dinner last night. After a few minutes of discussion (dessert is srz bznz), it was decided that we would get some frozen yogurt for dessert. 

A very bright yogurt shop caught our eye while strolling along Serendra. The chalk white interior of Lulubelle was a stark contrast to the other restaurants, all with yellow and mellow lighting. The menu and prices weren't bad, but what put me off was the ordering method- it wasn't self-service. I've gotten used to (and have grown fond of) choosing my own toppings and deciding how much and how many different kinds I want to put in. It was a no go.

Yogurt Nation's really large cups

I've been hearing good buzz about a new frozen yogurt shop near The Fort recently. Because we were around that area anyway, we decided to look for that instead. The new shop is called Yogurt Nation, located at the ground floor of Sapphire Residences at Bonifacio Global City. It took us (more than) a few wrong turns before finally getting there. The store is a bit out of the way and it isn't easy to find if you're not familiar with the area.

Beard Papa's Cream Puffs - SUPERIOR!

A bit of Googling (yes, it's now an official word) led me to Beard Papa's Wikipedia page where I found out that my favorite cream puff store is actually a franchise from Japan (woot!). Admittedly, I wasn't expecting that. Yes, Japan is known for many things- technology, anime, pixelated body parts, and virtual girlfriends among others; but if there's one thing they're not famous for, it's desserts.

Japan, superior (again)!

I was lucky enough to have worked with a lovely Japanese national for a good two years (Herro Ms. Chiaki!) and within that period, I have learned many a thing about the Japanese food culture. One thing I learned is that although they make for fantastic cooks (we always got to try Japanese-style home-cooked dishes), the Japanese don't really like strong flavors- sweets included. And this is the reason why I'm surprised that Beard  Papa's sweet cream puffs are from Japan.

The Amazing National Food Showdown 2010

The National Food Showdown 2010 with the theme  "A Quest for Culinary Excellence" took place last September 10 and 11 at the A. Venue Events Hall in Makati. Representatives from different top hotels, restaurants, and culinary schools came to showcase their awesome talents and compete against each other in different categories.

The National Food Showdown 2010

We passed by on the second day of the competition and were properly amazed at all the gorgeous and edible displays. Here are some of the lovely displays:

Delightful Desserts at Caramia Gelateria

Instead of going for the usual coffee to cap off the night last Saturday, we decided to get some gelato ice cream from Caramia Gelateria inside Amici Restaurant along Tomas Morato. We made our way along the restaurant-lined street which was busy as usual, bustling with cars and people at quite a late hour, finding Amici near the landmark circle of scouts.

Happy counters at Caramia Gelateria

Caramia Gelateria, which is the gelato ice cream shop inside Amici, is always, always a joy to visit. Their walls are brightly colored, their cake and gelato ice cream displays make the place feel like a happy little party, and their staff always have ready smiles. You can't help but be cheered up no matter how gloomy you are.

Here's what we got:

Guiltless classic-

The classic pistachio gelato ice cream

This is a classic favorite. Pistachio flavored gooey, yummy gelato ice cream (p65 a scoop). It was of course, delicious. Did you know that gelato ice cream has a lower fat and sugar content than regular ice cream? This means less guilt and more ice cream!

Ice cream cake-

Cara Mia's Banana Blast

This looked so good on the display that we just had to try it. It looked very pink and brown to me, so it was kind of unusual that it was called Banana Blast (p95).

It turns out that this ice cream cake is made of chocolate, strawbery, and banana gelato topped with strawbery and chocolate syrup. It's a gelato banana split! I liked the combination of the 3 flavors, and the zing that the syrup gives. It took a good long while to finish this one, savoring each bite takes some time.

~

It's always a good experience every time I visit Caramia Gelateria. Besides gelato ice cream, their gelato cakes are also delicious, affordable AND healthier than regular ice cream cakes! ^_~ You can check out the price list and descriptions on the Caramia website. Next birthday party I'm going to, I'm bringing one of these!

Northern Sweets – Tita’s Special Silvanas

My maternal ancestry originates from Pampanga. And although my mother and her brothers and sisters were born and raised in Manila, we still have relatives who live on that side of the country. In fact, on family reunions and gatherings, I often find myself lost in a babble of Kapampangan, barely understanding the gist of everyone's stories. I only know a handful Kapampangan words like matudtud (sleep), me keni (come here), mangan (eat), and most of the lines from the song Atin Ko Pung Singsing (I Have A Ring). What? That was the first piano piece I learned to play.

Anyway, it is because of this that we find ourselves spending time up north once in a while. For as long as I can remember, no matter how late, we would always stop by the delicacy store called Tita's before heading home from Pampanga. And it would always be a treat. The shop is designed like a mini grocery, with sections for meat products, pastries, candy, preserves and you push a trolley around to haul your loot. They would have fatless tocino, skinless longganisa, turones de kasoy, sansrival, taba ng talangka among others. All lovely. But of all their specialties, my absolute favorite would be Tita's Special Silvanas.

My mom recently went to visit some relatives and brought me this as pasalubong. Silvanas, for me, are best eaten cold and crunchy with a tall glass of milk on a rainy day. Tita's Silvanas are the best silvanas on the face of this earth! No contest. I say they're the best, because they simply are. These bite-sized silvanas are light to eat and not as sweet as the ones that can be bought commercially in the city.

What's unusual about them is that they're kept refrigerated, but they're crunchy, but also creamy inside, and melts in your mouth. It's weird, but it works. I can't even begin to guess how to make them, but maybe it's because I'm such a kitchen noob. Tried searching for recipes and how-to's online too, but no such luck. My friend said something about blowtorching but she can't be serious, can she?

Tita's oh-so-yummy silvanas!