Tartine's Summer Fruit Bavarian

While doing my usual rounds of the food blogs, I came across a banner that intrigued me: it was from BlogHer, asking us (you?) if marketing to women is all about stereotypes. I couldn't quite remember the content of the articles I read from that link, but one writer was lamenting about a sparkly pink candy "just for the ladies" (I can't remember if this is the article I read about the controversial candy bar called "The Finger") while another one, about a "misguided laptops-for-women site." I found myself agreeing with the content of the articles, and of course I am for gender-neutral advertising, for the most part. But don't think men have been dealt a better hand.

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Sticky Toffee Pudding

When I was in my fourth year of undergrad (positively the Dark Ages), one of my friends who was frustrated with me told me point-blank that I cut people too little slack. As a result, she said, I hurt one of my closest friends at the time, who said I made him feel stupid. You have to be thankful for those moments when people are being brutally honest with you, because during the 90% of the time when people are just being mindlessly polite, you can't accurately make an assessment of yourself and your values. (Hopefully not too often, though, because it can get depressing.) However, even though I felt really bad for how he perceived me (for the record, I never thought he was stupid), I never said sorry for the things I made him feel.

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Panna Cotta Tart with Cocoa Glaze

I wanted to get this done just in time for Holly's You Want Pies With That? blog event so I hauled ass and made this tart yesterday. I know I'd JUST promised during my last post to put the socio-political discourse on hold but I have a little bit here, if you're interested.
I don't know why I tuned to it from day one but Project Runway is a show that I make a point not to miss. I don't think the time will ever come when I'm able to actually make clothes (or even sew-- never done it before), but I like seeing creative people fly by the seat of their pants and actually come up with interesting, fantastic designs. Somehow my artistic spirit, which every now and then I believe I've killed for good with all my studying, gets a little inspired. A few months ago I even came up with a dessert (Temptation Tower) that was inspired by an avant-garde challenge on Project Runway (click here to see the dress). Granted it's a poor comparison but why don't you buy me the Benriner Turning Slicer, huh?

Ahem. Anyway, the fact that I even pay attention to clothes (well... Men's clothes) at all surprises quite a few of my friends because on a day-to-day basis I like to put on teh frump and just wear a white T-shirt (souvenirs from various places and events) and jeans (track pants if it's the gym) and my old, old sneakers. I credit being awakened to actual good taste by the now-defunct show Queer Eye, around 2004. Admittedly near the end of the series I didn't want to watch any more because I felt like I've already taken everything I could learn from them and I didn't need to be turned on to trends. I want my clothes to last a while! So, allow me to share my more characteristic pieces of clothing (deliberately shown in ugly light here) and a few tips, in case you're buying for a guy or something. Bleeagh.

I have what you call a "signature pattern." It's Susan's (of SGCC) most hated pattern, but I think it suits me well. My friends know that I love the gray and black "rugby stripes." Here I have a hoody, long-sleeved tee, and a variation on a theme.

T-shirts: the hem has to sit on the hip or maybe slightly lower or higher. Much lower than that and you have stumpy, higher and you have a good forecast for a full moon. We already know the horrible "clever" shirts like Federal Bikini Inspector, so save your money for designs you really, really like. (Here: Megaman shirt- a gift from my brother, Monopoly, Switchfoot, Gas, Yerba Buena ice skating rink souvenir.)

Same rule goes for polo shirts. Notice that the first one is yet another rugby stripe. It's from Spanish company Springfield, one of my favorite places.

Regular shirts. The two heavily striped ones are from Springfield and the checkered Oxford shirt is from United Colors of Benetton. Don't buy shirts that are bigger in case you gain weight, or smaller in the hope of losing weight. Chances are they will be sitting in the closet for a long time, until the design becomes stale. Weirdly, Marks & Spencer designs shirts that are too blousy (large on the body and sleeves) even at the smallest size for me, but really tight on the neck. It's flattering because I consider my neck too skinny, but maybe it's just all my oxygen being cut off.

Two more shirts, the fore from Polo Garage and the back from Springfield. Military-style seems a tad too embellished for me, but it looks and feels good, so I gave it a pass.

Coat with detachable polyester vest inside from Spanish company Zara, at half-price. So it came down to $73-- two pieces for the price of one. I'd only buy things that are on sale if I would still buy them full-priced.


Two suits, one charcoal gray and one navy pinstripe. Latter is essential for a shorter guy like me. They fit snugly on the waist, because otherwise, what's the point?

Long-sleeved tees. From fore to back: Buffalo (Canadian Company), Penshoppe (local), Nike, souvenir shop in Brussels.

Leather jacket from Florence. Somehow it stretched a little so it's a little large on me, but with appropriate layering maybe I can make it look on-size.

Shirts that are only $4, from a local company (American Blvd.).

Sweater I bought in El Segundo on sale, for $16. Now that you've seen two of my shirts that have video game references AND this, it should be very clear that you're talking to a more-or-less enlightened nerd. I don't care.

I have a few ties but this is the only one with character, from British company Topman.

... And now I can't believe I just showed you all that. But I wanted to keep in theme. Anyway, the important points are:
1. It's not quantity, it's quality
2. It's not price, it's quality
3. It's not the embellishments, it's quality
4. If it doesn't fit well NOW, it's as good as garbage.
Happy Holiday shopping!

Panna Cotta Tart
When I saw a similar tart as I peeked in Martha Stewart's Cooking School at the bookstore, of course I marveled at the styling (it is Martha Stewart after all). But more than anything I felt inspired to make patterns on the smooth white surface. Unfortunately, I fucked it up so I coated the whole thing with glacage I had in the freezer, then I fucked it up AGAIN. Argh. Almost did not post from the ugliness. But here it is after a harrowing recovery. And I'm glad I did because it was such a rich, delicious dessert. Inspiration is from Project Runway season 3: Black and White challenge, and this dress by Laura Bennett in particular. Since I also pieced this together from my head, I'm submitting it to Culinarty's Original Recipe Roundup.

Tart Shell

• 100g (7 tablespoons) unsalted butter


• generous pinch of salt


• 38g (5 tablespoons) confectioner's sugar


• 1 large egg yolk, lightly beaten


• 160g (1 cup + 2 tablespoons) all-purpose flour


• 60g (2oz) dark chocolate, melted

In a medium mixing bowl, beat the butter with the salt until pale and creamy. Sift in the confectioner's sugar and continue beating until well-combined. Add the egg yolk and beat until combined. Sift in the flour and stir until there are no longer traces of unmoistened flour, and no more than that. Press into an 8-inch tart pan with removable bottom. Cover with a greased piece of foil, grease side against the tart shell, and freeze for at least 30 minutes or overnight. Preheat the oven to 190°C (375°F) and bake the shell for 25 minutes, still with the foil on. Remove the foil and bake for a further 8 minutes. Set aside to cool. When cool, brush the bottom surface with the melted chocolate and place in the fridge to set.

Yogurt Honey Panna Cotta

• 1 tablespoon powdered unflavored gelatin


• 1 tablespoon water


• 300g (1-1/4 cup) cream (you can use single, heavy, or even milk or any combination thereof, depending on how creamy you want the dessert)


• 125g (1/2 cup) unsweetened plain yogurt or Greek yogurt


• 80g (1/4 cup) flower honey

In a small bowl, sprinkle the gelatin over the water and set aside. Bring the cream to a boil in a small saucepan (if desired, you can steep vanilla or cardamom pods in the cream as it cools, just strain it afterwards). Take off the heat and whisk in the yogurt and the honey. Dissolve the gelatin by heating in the microwave at LOW for 15 seconds or over a double boiler. Stir into the cream. Let it cool at room temperature and pour it into the tart shell, leaving a few mm space for the cocoa glaze. Place in the fridge to set for at least 2 hours.

Cocoa Mirror Glaze
Follow the recipe as directed here (I simply used my excess-- it can be thawed from the freezer with little loss of quality). Pour over the set panna cotta and leave in the fridge to set for at least 30 minutes.

White Chocolate Ganache

• 30g (1 oz) white chocolate, finely chopped


• 30g (2 tablespoons) heavy cream

Bring the cream to a boil in a small bowl in the microwave. Pour over the chocolate and stir gently to melt the chocolate. Let it thicken slightly as it cools at room temperature, then load it into a piping bag, parchment cone, or small plastic bag with the corner snipped off and pipe a design over the glaze.

Page from the Springfield catalog, Fall/Winter 04/05 Collection, which was so freaking excellent I kept it for ideas. The model's hair is quite fantastic, but each time I get one of those from the barber's, it only takes 2 days before my hair becomes annoying again.

Dan's Garlic Bread

I wish I had known far in advance that just blabbering on like I usually do takes much less time than doing screen captures of television shows and arranging them neatly in Photoshop (yes, even with the grid tool). Actually, anybody with common sense and an ability to blabber would have been able to say, "duh," but today I wanted to try something different. Because it's Fall/ Autumn in the US, baybee! And that means the return of many television shows I love and love to hate, and even the start of some shows in the UK.

There's this new show I stumbled upon from the UK, "Masterchef: The Professionals." It's basically a super-simple Top Chef where the weekly winners (young professional chefs) fight each other tournament-style. The first half is devoted to making two dishes out of a theme ingredient and a few other givens, and the second half is for making a classic dish and dessert using master recipes and their own unique twist. The captures I've posted up there are from the first episode, with the theme ingredient: Scallops. The dishes are (left to right): Seared scallops infused with ginger and mango and avocado salsa (Chris), Ceviche of scallop with dressed herb salad and pancetta crisp (Chris), Roasted scallops with rocket, crushed peas and potatoes (Richard), Pan-seared scallops with cauliflower puree, roasted parsnips and pancetta crisps (Richard), Grilled scallops with pancetta in a beurre blanc (Adrian), Pan-seared scallops with carrot and ginger puree and black pudding (Adrian). If the last dish sounds disgusting, that's because it is. Two-Michelin-starred judge Michel Roux, Jr. said of it: "Never again do I want to see ginger and blood pudding on the same plate. That was, for me, a disaster." Clearly, Chris was the winner of this round. His scallop dishes look and sound amazing.

During the second round, they were supposed to make their own versions of Duck A L'Orange and Chocolate Mousse. Chris crashed and burned on this one, presenting an unrested duck the size of sabots which bled all over the plate. His chocolate mousse was flavored with Kirsch. Richard's strange plate arrangement garnered him an "are you a chef or an architect?" from Roux. They also didn't enjoy that the chocolate mousse, good as it was, was filled to the brim (above it, actually) and hidden under a pile of rubble. Adrian's traditional presentation of duck won the day, and the judges enjoyed his modern presentation of chocolate mousse, which had a layer of orange curd under it. Actually the curd looked really runny to me-- it might have worked better if he had emulsified cold butter into it or if he'd cooked or chilled it more.

However, the real reason I wanted to show you Masterchef was to have an excuse to capture Michel Roux, Jr.'s face throughout the show. Admit it: if you all were 16 year-old girls with corkboards in your room, you'd SO print this out already. I saved his 6 best looks for the bottom row (bottom-left corner: cracking his neck, getting ready to rip on the guy's technique later). Frankly, if I were a contestant, I'd be freaked out by his constant hovering and the threat of his eyes ejecting themselves into my plate. But he is a great judge, and his deadpan comments are dead-on. Come on! His name is ROUX! He's like your crazy grandpa who'd only love you if you ate his cooking, which consists of snails and wren forcemeat.

By the way, Adrian won that week.

But the scary faces are not limited to your French grand-peres; they also apply to overtanned Hollywood denizens, like Rob Estes from above. Those two captures were taken 2 seconds apart. If you're wondering what I'm doing watching 90210, then that makes two of us. Maybe I'm just waiting for the damn catfight already. Your ratings won't go up until someone slaps a bitch, CW! Thankfully, I can always rely on the idiotic bigotry and useless modeling tips of America's Next Top Model to tide me over until non-guilty pleasure shows like The Office, 30 Rock, Heroes, and Pushing Daisies return over the next few weeks.

Finally, while I wasn't specifically asked to answer this meme from Kittymama, it looked like a lot of fun. The idea is to answer the following questions by entering your answers into Google Image Search and posting an image from the first page of the results with as little explanation as possible. The questions are:
1. The age you’ll be on your next birthday: (the answer is 27, and I had some pretty boring ones to choose from: the other interesting one is a lamprey, and an image of a turtle that's been run over on Highway 27, which may have been too disturbing for many.)
2. Place you want to travel to: (I had to cheat and put the TWO places I wanted to go, since Kittymama already answered Paris)
3. Your favourite place: (Home)
4. Your favourite food: (Kung Pao chicken-- No Special Effects on the first page! W00t!)
5. Your favourite pet: (Dog, for lack of anything else-- isn't he the cutest?)
6. Favorite color combination: (Blue and white)
7. Favorite piece of clothing: (Pinstripe suit. Sue me, I feel sexy in one. Mine is not in three pieces like Mr. Bond, though.)
8. Your all time favorite song: (Learning to Breathe)
9. Favorite TV show: (The Office)
10. First name of your significant other: (Nobody)
11. Which town do you live in: (Quezon City-- there were results for my barangay but I didn't want to give out that information.)
12. Your screen name/nickname: (Manggy-- a pic from No Special Effects again.)
13. Your first job: (Medical intern)
14. Your dream job: (Doctor. Rockstar seemed like a stupid answer.)
15. One bad habit that you have: (Procrastinating)
16. Worst fear: (Hell)
17: Things you’d like to do before you die: (Travel)
18. The 1st thing you’ll buy if you get $1,000,000: (Trip to Europe. I thought of a grand piano and a house, but those won't be the FIRST. A Playstation 3 sounded lame.)
19. Your husband/wife: (No one)
20. What present would you like for your next birthday? (Ticket to Europe-- but of course I'm not expecting this. I wanted to make it appropriately ungiveable. In truth I don't want specific material things for my birthday, I'm happy to receive anything.)

Dan's Garlic Bread
This is artisan baker, teacher, and food writer Dan Lepard's eponymous bread: a tender yeasted dough with sweet, syrupy cloves of garlic swirled into it. I dare you not to eat one of the garlic cloves as they come out of the balsamic syrup. I only wish that I'd used a better flour to make it: mine was old. Great served with pasta, or simply toasted and eaten for breakfast. Lepard has his own picture story on how to make it here.

By the way, I found out that a great way to make sure dough slips off your peel easily is by using a mixture of flour and dry, flavorless bread crumbs.

Magic Spice Cake with Maple Penuche Frosting

I was channel-surfing for a few minutes when I chanced upon the worst talk show in the world ever, Tyra. Her guest was, uh, some food celebrity with the initials "SL". I don't want his/her rabid fans searching for her name and ending up here. Some poor woman was being featured due to her inability to entertain, and now she was behind some horrid table where some magical yellow monster (SL, perhaps?) had vomited all over it. SL asked her, "Have you ever baked a cake?" Never, she said ("I get mine at Costco"), and while I thought this is where they'd finally teach Tyra how the cake starts from flour and eggs and ends up in her belly, SL instead says "You don't have to!!"

Oh, joy. SL got a gigantic sheet cake (still from Costco) frosted white, stacked a 9" round cake on top, and littered the surface with cupcakes, candy sprinkles, and star cut-out cookies. "They have the best cakes there! Taste the icing, isn't it great?!" Of course, the poor woman sticks her finger it, takes a lick, and exclaims, "Wow, that IS good!" Huh?!

I know kids will be kids. They will probably lose their marbles upon being presented with a white shit tower, but I've never known for a kid to be disappointed with a home-baked cake, for crying out loud. Just stick an action figure on top (and it would not cost you $60 to buy). Thankfully, my friend Genie isn't a kid, so I thought I'd come to her party with a cake in tow. A little embarrassed, she texted me that it's not really her party since her birthday was a month ago, but her brother was celebrating his graduation from college and they just stuck the parties together. Eep! With a paper cone and some more white frosting, I wrote in tiny letters all over the giant "Genie": "(Belated Happy Birthday,) GENIE! Congratulations, Chuckie! :P"

I was afraid that making a spice cake would just scream "senior citizen!!" to my friends, but I quite liked it and unless they're lying, they said it was super-delicious too. Despite the fact that my decorating skills left a lot to be desired (sue me, it's my first time to use a paper cone) and the seam of the two layers was showing (clearly not the best decorating frosting, this recipe), Genie was very appreciative. Well, she better!

The rockzing Food Rockz Man also tagged me to mention seven random facts about myself. Now, it couldn't possibly be random, unless I wrote everything about myself and picked them out of a hat.

1. I am a major nerd. Proof? In high school, Magic Cards were banned. I stayed a few hours after at a friends' house so we could duel. My deck of choice was a blue/white deck which had no creatures and was built to annoy people.


2. I am a major fighting game geek too. I think few people can beat me when I'm using Chun Li. Okay, I've totally lost you all.


3. My mom watched a lot of Name That Tune when she was pregnant with me, so she attributes my dimples to the amount of George DeWitt that she saw.


4. My worst subject in school was History. I seriously, seriously hated it.


5. In addition to the usual crap shows I watch, I'm now following local reruns of Make Me a Supermodel, both the US and UK versions.


6. I've never understood fear of heights. I used to sit out on a ledge on the Math Building (third storey), just for the breeze and to get away from the noise. My fantasies involve jumping from floor to floor in a mall. Of course, it's stupid.


7. The first cooking shows I watched were Caprial's Café (my favorite for a long while), Baker's Dozen, and Biba's Italian Kitchen. I wish I had paid more attention to Biba then.

Magic Spice Cake adapted from Birthday Cakes

• 200g (1 cup) granulated sugar


• 150g (3/4 cup) packed brown sugar


• 170g (1-1/2 sticks) unsalted butter, at room temperature


• 240g (1 cup) buttermilk


• 300g (2-1/4 cups) cake flour


• 1 teaspoon salt


• 1 teaspoon baking powder


• 3/4 teaspoon baking soda


• 1/2 teaspoon ground cloves


• 1/2 teaspoon ground nutmeg


• 3/4 teaspoon ground cinnamon


• 3 large eggs, at room temperature

Preheat the oven to 175°C (350°F). Grease, line, and grease again two 9-inch round cake pans. Sift together the flour, salt, baking powder, baking soda, cloves, nutmeg, and cinnamon onto a sheet of waxed paper and set aside. In a large mixing bowl, beat the butter until creamy, about 30 seconds. Add the white and brown sugar and beat until light and fluffy, about 3 minutes. Add the eggs one at a time, beating well after each addition. If at any time the mixture looks oily, beat at high speed until it regains its creamy appearance. Add in a third of the flour mixture and fold in with a rubber spatula. Add half the buttermilk and stir until combined. Continue with half the remaining flour, the rest of the buttermilk, and the rest of the flour, folding until well-combined at the end. Divide the batter equally between the two pans and spin them around to flatten the top. Bake for 30-35 minutes or until a skewer inserted in the middle comes out with only a few moist crumbs. Let cool for 10 minutes in the pan, then unmold and let cool completely.

Maple Penuche Frosting
There's something wrong with this recipe. It's more like a glaze, and therefore, did not do a good job of hiding the seam of the two layers and didn't seem like an "American" cake at all, since it had no body. It does taste good (if a little grainy-- perhaps because I substituted maple syrup for corn syrup), though. If you want a neat appearance, especially on the sides, you might consider glazing the top and sides with apple jelly to smooth all around and letting it set in the fridge before giving it a final glaze of the penuche.

• 200g (1 cup) packed brown sugar


• 100g (1/2 cup) granulated sugar


• 80g (1/3 cup) milk


• 55g (4 tablespoons or 1/2 stick) unsalted butter


• 1 tablespoon maple syrup


• 1/4 teaspoon salt


• 1 teaspoon vanilla

Combine all the ingredients except for the vanilla in a medium saucepan. Bring to a boil over medium heat and boil briskly for 1 minute while stirring. Remove from the heat and let it cool to lukewarm, then stir in the vanilla and beat until thickened. Use it to fill the layers and pour it over the top of the cooled cake, smoothing with an icing spatula.

Banoffee Pie

I'm just teasing here (obviously), but the British are CRAZY. While I believe that the old cliché that British food is bland is an untrue one, I have the suspicion that some of their desserts (namely: Sticky Pudding, Millionaire's Shortbread, and now Banoffee Pie) were created to compensate for a dissatisfied taste bud. I don't know! It was the seventies! Who knows how bland food was back then (uh... people older than 30?)! But here we are now in the Philippines, where bananas rule. It would be a shame not to try it. I took a cue from Jamie Oliver's book Jamie's Kitchen which I got on sale (again).

Jamie's Kitchen was a documentary/ reality series where Oliver took 15 unemployed and underprivileged youngsters under his wing and trained them as chefs for his then-new restaurant, "15". I caught a glimpse of it on the Lifestyle network and though I had to read magazines during it to keep from sleeping, there was an awesome moment which I have to now share. You see, Oliver sent his protegées to a tavern to prepare for the hard life of, er, employment in a kitchen. Unfortunately, two of the girls had gotten used to their lazy ways and their disdain for work was seen in the shoddy food and their tardiness. So when it was time for the owner of the place to say goodbye to them and send them to Jamie's for good, she was kissing their cheeks and basically, kindly, cheerfully, and awesomely telling them that they were no good in the kitchen and she doesn't see it happening for them. Quite honestly she said that what they experienced under the scrutiny of TV production wasn't real-- work is not a triumph a week, goal done, NEXT! kind of affair. It's a long, continuous, utterly same-y process of making your way to the top (and probably this blog author's greatest complaint about his impending "life"). When it was time to say goodbye to their experienced co-workers, they exchanged kisses and the lazy girls were crying too, and the guy amusedly exclaims to the camera, "Tears!" Awesome, non-sentimental jolly guy. (Recipe follows)

Dulce de leche, which is the "toffee" in this recipe, is an Argentinian invention, I believe, though true cajetas is made by slowly cooking goat's milk in massive amounts of sugar. Regardless, this is how Latina grandmothers roll nowadays, so don't be ashamed. It's supposed to be thick and when chilled, barely move, but condensed milk differs and while mine was gloriously rich and thick, bananas can still sink in them and you will get a flood of dulce de leche everywhere. So I've deviated from my procedure here.

Making dulce de leche
You'll need 3 300-mL or 2 14-oz (400mL) cans of condensed milk (there are differences in the available can sizes between countries, weirdly). In a large pot, lay the cans down and add enough water so that the cans are completely submerged. If they float, you'll have to weigh them down with a brick or something. Bring the water to a boil over medium heat and keep boiling for 3 hours. Always make sure to keep the cans submerged, so have some extra water nearby always. If you let it dry up, the cans might explode and you will have dulce de ceiling, not to mention a possible injury. So if you're feeling lazy and don't want to periodically watch the cans, don't do this at all.

Alternatively, you could use a pressure cooker, which is what I did. Lay the cans down on the cooker and cover with boiling water. Ensure that the lid is shut tight and bring to a boil over high heat. Once the cooker achieves proper pressure (the indicator/ valve is whistling or turning), turn the heat down low (make sure the whistling/ turning continues) and cook under pressure for 1 hour. If the turning of the valve stops, that means there's no water left, so if you're not even close to an hour cooking, you'll have to stop and add more water. Once done, release the pressure (you know, douse the top with cool running water, release the valve, release the lid), and cool at room temperature.

The last method is via the oven. In a deep oven-safe pot, roasting pan, or dutch oven, cover the cans completely with boiling water and bake in a preheated 275°F (135°C) oven for 5 hours. You'll have to still make sure that the water doesn't dry up, but since it's a closed environment, it happens much slower if ever.

Wait till the cans are room temperature before opening, or Charles's Law will kick your ass and you'll get dulce de face.

Banoffee Pie (actually a tart)

• 1-1/2 (210g) cups all-purpose flour


• 1/2 cup (50g) confectioners' sugar


• 1/4 teaspoon salt


• 1 stick plus 1 tablespoon (9 tablespoons or 130g) unsalted butter, cut into small pieces and frozen


• 1 large egg yolk


• 3 large ripe bananas


• dulce de leche as above


• 1-1/2 cups (375g) heavy cream, chilled

Sift together the flour, sugar, and salt into a large bowl. Using a pastry blender or two knives, cut in the butter until the mixture resembles oatmeal (large crumbs), then cut in the egg yolk until the dough comes together into small curds.

Grease a 9-inch fluted tart pan and press the tart dough into the bottom and up the sides. Don't be too heavy-handed with the pressing-- apply only enough pressure so the dough clings together and can still crumble, but you don't want to have a hard, stony crust. Freeze for at least 30 minutes, preferably longer.

Preheat the oven to 375°F (190°C) Grease a piece of foil large enough to cover the tart and place it grease-side down on the crust. Bake in the middle rack of the oven on a sheet pan for 25 minutes, then remove the foil and bake for 8 minutes more. Set the crust aside to cool. Meanwhile, whip the cream until it forms firm peaks and set aside in the fridge.

Spread some dulce de leche on the bottom of the cooled crust, only enough to make a thin layer. Slice the bananas 1/4 inch thick and lay them out in one layers over the dulce de leche. Using the dulce de leche at room temperature, spoon it over the bananas only to fill the crevices between them, but not enough to make them float. Place another layer of banana slices over this and repeat. Place the whipped cream in a piping bag and pipe a design on the top. Alternatively you can just spoon it in and form swirls. Use the remaining dulce de leche to make a striped pattern on top, or you could do as I did and squeeze some chocolate syrup on.

Appointment TV

The great thing about being a bum/ wannabe chef at this time of the year is that all the great television shows have come out/ been renewed in the States. It's scaring me how much time I put into catching television shows, but I've categorized them according to the following:
1. Catch the latest episode, record, keep, buy the DVD - The Office, Saturday Night Live, 30 Rock, It's Always Sunny in Philadelphia, Heroes, Project Runway, America's Next Top Model, American Idol
(Here are all my television and concert DVDs, so these don't include my movie DVDs. As you can tell my taste is rather smutty. Oh well.)


2. Catch it whenever it's on, possibly download then archive or delete - The Daily Show with Jon Stewart, The Simpsons, Scrubs, Ugly Betty, Ed (I have yet to see the fourth season)
3. Catch it when I can - Family Guy, Everybody Loves Raymond, Law and Order: Special Victims Unit
4. Catch it when I remember it's on or have nothing better to do - My Name Is Earl, Medium, Comedy Inc., Nanny 911, Jeopardy!

Saw it once but didn't get into it: Entourage, The Loop, American Dad, Kitchen Confidential, Hell's Kitchen, Top Chef, CSI: New York
Used to watch regularly but lost interest: House, Lost, Queer Eye, Six Feet Under, The Amazing Race, The Apprentice

Shows I hate: Grey's Anatomy, Desperate Housewives, That 70's Show, Two and a Half Men, CSI: Miami, countless other really bad sitcoms (think: War at Home)

Currently, I'm trying out Pushing Daisies, Tell Me You Love Me, and Dirty Sexy Money to see if they're interesting enough. I've refrained from downloading Chuck and Back To You since I'm more or less sure that they will eventually be shown on local (cable) television.

Please do not try to calculate the number of hours that totals to.

Really Dumb Things I Like

(Also known as: guilty pleasures.) I think I have impeccable taste. I'm not sure any of my friends will say that I don't. But every now and then, it doesn't hurt to enjoy something that you know is really stupid, but somehow the elements come together beautifully.

1. America's Next Top Model. This show was actually voted as 2007's most guilty pleasure on the TVphile website Television Without Pity. Sure, the winners' successes are rare, the best models get axed for "not wanting it enough," most of the girls are kind of homely, and the photoshoot concepts are incredibly stupid (pose as a famous celebrity couple! You play both people, wearing the world's cheapest, ugliest wigs!), but every now and then Tyra Banks gives you a gem of a television moment (for absolute craziness) and you may even find a girl who's plain looking but models like a dream. I'm talking about Michelle Babin, one of the twins of Season 7, whose picture is above. I know she's a lesbian (or bisexual?) but I really am obsessed with her.


2. American Idol. Half of the winners have limited success. The runners-up fare worse, but sometimes they give a middle finger to the show and actually do much, much better. In the 12 finalists, you can find people with insipid voices, horrible personalities, and fugly looks, but somehow pulling charm out of their ass and making girls cry. But really, I just want to critique their singing/ phrasing/ bad song choices. And sometimes you may also find incredibly beautiful voices that are really so good you kind of tear up. I saw Elliott Yamin singing during his Ayala Mall tour at Glorietta. His voice is unbefuckinglievable. (Note, in the video above, how he points to his eye on the phrase "do I really see..." Cheesetastic!)

3. Sailor Moon. The bane of every true-blue anime lover. Somehow, she risked transforming into her alter-ego in front of the enemy for what must have been 2 minutes, and still ends up looking like her original self! And the magic is that no one can tell it's still her! Not to mention the constant spinning incorporated into each special attack. Worst of all was her really annoying personality. But I enjoyed following the (mis)adventures of 5 (+5) friends battling youmas (monsters) with inexplicably large breasts. Not for that reason, perv! Most of the time the stories were really awful, but there are a lot of weird (though less funny) episodes that were poignant. Who knew?

4. The two big movies of Stephen Chow- Shaolin Soccer and Kung Fu Hustle. Oh God. I just bought a video CD of Shaolin Soccer as it's an incredibly hard-to-find movie in home video. Fifteen minutes into the movie, there's a dance sequence. Seventeen minutes into it, there's horrendous karaoke singing with the protagonists dressed as Shaolin monks. But these two movies are both very critically acclaimed, and with good reason. The fighting scenes are much, much better than the slowed-down crap of American martial arts films (er, like The Matrix), and the anime-style comedy translates to live action with hilarious results. Also, on the video above, Donut (Mr. Staff guy) is insanely cool. (He moves like Seung Mina of Soul Calibur, eh?)

5. Spice. Yes, just the first album. Graeme will probably think I'm a huge bed-wetter but there's something very charming about putting 4 horrible singers + 1 so-so singer together with results that shook the core of pop music during its time. Maybe it's how their distinct voices that wouldn't make it solo (erhm, see: the present) blend into something quirky and, honestly, a lot of fun. The Spice Girls' first album had one hit after another, and in fact a really good song in my opinion, 2 Become 1. Of course, by the second album, they took themselves far too seriously (yes, even at that rate), the songs were quite meh, and Victoria was looking more retarded than ever, pointing all the time at nothing.

6. McDonald's. Their burgers are flat and have nothing more than a pickle and minced onion to accompany their sad patty. But I love them. I can't go for maybe a month without having one. Their spaghetti doesn't sell as well as Jollibee's but I prefer it. And the french fries.... OH, THE FRENCH FRIES. Guilty guilty guilty. Top it off with a strawberry shake and I'm your slave for a few minutes.