Kusina Maria

a Filipina’s food and cooking blog

Archive for 2009

Baking Chocolate Souffle

Chocolate Souffle

On the very first day of culinary school, the very first thing I made was a Mocha Souffle. And it was a nerve-wracking but very fulfilling task. I enjoyed it because I love mocha. And so did my groupmates.

Mocha Souffle

Mocha Souffle

One of my aunts, Tita Teri, an experienced baker, requested that we bake souffle. She already knows how to bake a lot of pastries but has never tried baking souffle. And it was the very first thing she asked from me after I finished culinary school… baking souffle. Tita asked that we baked chocolate souffle, which I didn’t bake in school but had baked for Kuya Andrew during one of our kitchen testing sessions. So I wasn’t very intimidated when Tita Teri asked for it.

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Mommy’s Dinner Party Notes and Review

Here are some notes from the dinner party I made for Mommy’s Birthday.

Anchovy Pasta

Anchovy Pasta for Daddy

I prepared the Anchovy Pasta specifically for Daddy who loooves anchovies. Turns out everybody loved it. And they like capers as much as I do. I prepared too much (1 kilo for 8 adults) but they all ended up taking home some anchovy yummy-ness.

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Live Blogging: Dinner Party for 10

Last week, my cousins suggested I cook for our Mommy’s birthday. We had quite a blast with her surprise party last year, which included belly dancers and an Arabian Nights theme. This time, we settled for a quiet dinner with just us relatives, although nothing is ever quiet when we’re together.

The menu planning was quite hard since my elder cousin, Marianne, is based abroad and she was the one bugging us all the time. In the end, we decided on a pasta, a beef dish, salmon, and a non-cake dessert since Brian and his fiancee, Aimee, would be surprising Mommy with a cake.

Menu
Anchovy Pasta with Olives and Capers
Salpicado
Baked Salmon with Lemon Butter Sauce
Tiramisu

Here’s a live blog of my cooking…

Double boiling

Double boiling

2 pm Tiramisu (T) Separating yolks is a b*tch. Now double boiling crema.

Extra Strong Coffee

Extra Strong Coffee

2:35 pm T Making extra strong coffee. Mixing crema with cream cheese.

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Red Velvet Cake

Red Velvet Cake

I have been hearing about it so much from Oprah and other US TV shows, especially on the Food Network. When I had the chance to taste a Red Velvet Cake, I grabbed a slice and nom nomed it to my heart’s delight. And it didn’t disappoint. It had a peculiar pleasant taste, a smooth texture, and a yummy, sweet frosting.

According to the Joy of Baking, Red Velvet Cake is actually a Devil’s Food Cake with red food coloring (source link) but it was originally made with beets which cause the red color. The taste comes from a hint of cocoa powder added into the dough. And the texture? It comes from buttermilk.

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