Andre and I are avid fans of cream cheese, but what made this spread even better is if you add a bit of milk to the packaged cream cheese and whip it together.

There are other ways to level this up:

Herbed cream cheese - 8 oz cream cheese + 1/4 cup chopped fresh herbs (parsley, dill), 1/2 tsp garlic powder

Honey cream cheese - 8 oz cream cheese + 2 tbsp honey + 4 tsp cinnamon

Tinapa cream cheese (a local favorite) - 8 oz cream cheese + 150 grams smoked milk fish (tinapa as we call it) + 1 clove minced garlic

Chive cream cheese - 8 oz cream cheese + 3 tbsp chopped chives + 1/4 tsp garlic powder + 1/4 tsp onion powder

Uses for whipped cream cheese:

on a bagel

for a sandwich

dip for chips, crackers, veggies or fruits

Whipped Cream Cheese

8 oz package cream cheese, softened

1/2 tablespoon milk

to soften cream cheese, leave it out at room temperature for 1 hour. whip the cream cheese and the milk with a stand mixer for 1 to 2 minutes

enjoy!

I prepare mine in the rice cooker! I just pop the ingredients in there and do something else while they cook.

As soon as I finish, Pocket is always ready to pounce whatever food is laid on the counter!

That is my messy (but happy) kitchen! Hehe I figured I should just show reality in all it entirety instead of staging every single detail of my cooking journey! Who cares if it is messy, it’s supposed to be! It’s a kitchen! :)

The photos on the kitchen cabinets was an idea I got from Celine in Before Sunset! A little pop culture reference right there.

The letters plastered came from my mom and mom-in-law haha just little reminders whenever I am losing my mind! :))

I usually eat lunch in my dad’s house hence the microwaveables!

for condiments (add to your heart’s content) :

Ginger

Sliced green onions

Toasted garlic

Soy sauce (or knorr liquid seasoning if you a Filipino like me! Haha)

Lemon (or here, we usually put calamansi)

Vegetable stock (or knorr cubes hahahahaha, sorry)

Sesame oil

Sliced chicken

Soft-boiled egg (or whatever kind you fancy)

Sesame seeds

I used to think congee was solely served for sick people haha. Lugaw as we would call it was what my mom would usually give me when I was not feeling well but now, I have come to love it immensely!

i used batard bread - it is basically a fat baguette!

i usually toast my bread using the stovetop; it comes out crispier that way.

this was incredibly good dinner for my dad and i.

i wish i made more.

Ingredients:

Batard bread

Butter

Sliced onion

Canned sardines

Red bell pepper

Capers

remember when i said i will be tweaking the leche flan dessert and turning it into something more special? well, this is it -

the halo-halo for my dad's dinner party with friends.

(for the leche flan recipe, click here)

i sliced up my leche flan into pieces to add it into an assortment of filipino delicacies.

however, i call this the dry halo-halo because it is usually served with milk and shaved ice which seemed too tedious and messy for us to do.

surprisingly, it turned out to be a crowd favorite!

to make this dessert, fill up your bowl with the following ingredients:

leche flan

ube (purple yam)

macapuno strings

queso ice cream

jellies

my family and i have a go-to mall - estancia and i think i have mentioned it in my previous post (see oppenheimer). this time we had a weekend lunch at a japanese restaurant called jipan. it has been ages since we ordered anything from there and it was time.

my husband says they have the best omu rice! so for those who enjoy that sort of thing, jipan makes a delicious rendition of the japanese dish that originated in ginza tokyo.

Newsflash: it did not rain today! or yet because it is only 4 pm and who knows what tonight may hold for those of us who are obsessed with weather. I check the forecast on my phone regularly. Am I the only one who does that? Anyway, the mere sight of sun made me happy. Thank you, Lord. :)

LECHE FLAN. The whole purpose of this post to begin with.

Before I continue, the reason for the recipe was because Spanish friends of my father will be coming over for dinner tomorrow and this Filipino delicacy was for the dessert. Although, I think there is a Spanish counterpart for this sweet thing. They call it Tocino del Cielo, but the twist that we are presenting this with is the Halo Halo. Ha! I do not think they have that, do they?

That post will be for tomorrow.

AGAIN, LECHE FLAN.

It is your typical flan - a delicious amalgam of egg yolks, milk, sugar and vanilla extract baked in pan called llanera.

What makes ours different is that it is steamed over a stovetop instead of it being baked inside the oven. Again, is that something uniquely Filipino? If you happen to chance upon my post and you are not from my country, tell me how you prepare you flan. I am curious.

I got my recipe from Panlasang Pinoy hahahaha. My go-to cooking bible. He is just good. I trust his Filipino recipes. He knows what he is doing.

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Leche Flan recipe by Panlasang Pinoy

Prep: 10 minutes | Cook: 45 minutes | Yield: for three people

Ingredients

5 pieces eggs

0.5 can condensed milk (14 oz)

0.5 cup fresh milk or evaporated milk

0.5 cup granulated sugar

0.5 teaspoon vanilla extract

Instructions

Using all the eggs, separate the yolk from the egg white (only egg yolks will be used).

Place the egg yolks in a big bowl then beat them using a fork or an egg beater

Add the condensed milk and mix thoroughly

Pour-in the fresh milk and Vanilla. Mix well

Put the mold (llanera) on top of the stove and heat using low fire

Put-in the granulated sugar on the mold and mix thoroughly until the solid sugar turns into liquid (caramel) having a light brown color. Note: Sometimes it is hard to find a Llanera (Traditional flan mold) depending on your location. I find it more convenient to use individual Round Pans in making leche flan.

Spread the caramel (liquid sugar) evenly on the flat side of the mold

Wait for 5 minutes then pour the egg yolk and milk mixture on the mold

Cover the top of the mold using an Aluminum foil

Steam the mold with egg and milk mixture for 30 to 35 minutes.

After steaming, let the temperature cool down then refrigerate

Serve for dessert. Share and Enjoy!

(sorry, I just copy pasted it hehe)

that darn cat, Pocket.

Have you ever seen anything like this? It's my mom's steamer! Instead of a stovetop, I placed the leche flan inside and waited for 30 minutes. :) It's a brilliant piece of art.

and, voila!

Yup, I was the one who took a bite off that thing. I do not understand why the edges are jagged though? I was using a spoon.

That's it for now.

I will post how I added this to another Filipino dessert called the Halo Halo. Are you excited? you better be! haha kidding.

I may be a self-confessed pluviophile but these passed days the rain has been more of a hassle than a source of comfort. We have had bad weather for weeks and quite frankly, it has affected my mood and it is not the good kind. But, what can you do? :) Let's just keep hoping the sun finally shows up and stays for a change.

Despite the struggle, I am tremendously grateful for a few minutes of warmth in BGC where my dad and I celebrated my mom's 70th. HOORAY! Amada is (or could have been) 70 today!

Happy Birthday, Mommy!

We were conversing what my mom would be doing to celebrate her day! Dad says she would have invited all her Manulife friends and threw herself a grand celeb. I MISS HER.

Lunch was at Baristart for the second time.

Baristart is a Hokkaido based concept cafe along 26th street in Bonifacio Global City. It boasts of their artisan coffee splashed with a hearty serving of ultra-premium Hokkaido BIEI jersey milk and Hokkaido cream puffs (think of Beard Papa only better). I am kidding, I love Beard Papa and Baristart's in the same league with their unique blend of flavors. (what I tried today was so good).

I particularly liked this humongous colorful illustration of Baristart coffee right outside their restaurant, although the seats were not as comfortable, the people-watching game here is strong! Lalo na if you are alone, it is not as awkward as it is. I like that because I particularly enjoy eating alone...and watching people haha. Okay, enough. That's my dad by the way (in the photo on top) hehe, I made him pose to get my point across. OKAY ALREADY.

To adhere to my "diet" of eating chicken for lunch and fish for dinner, I ordered Karaage (P380.00). My a la carte plate consisted of six pieces of chicken, a complementary wasabi sauce, and a small portion of salad on the side. It was spot on! and as expected, the sauce stung the sinuses. I was asking dad if we eat wasabi for the sensation than the flavor. I mean take away the tingle and you are left with nothing right?

Dad had a mouthful of Hokkaido Carbonara (P520.00). I should have ordered this one.

My husband says I have a knack for not selecting the specialties; according to him, I order the "weird stuff, yung hindi dapat in-oorder". I do not know hehe. I choose what I know, in this case, I needed chicken and there was Karaage hehe. I will be more adventurous next time. OR when need be.

and...here we are, the Crème de la crème (chef's kiss)...

The food was ordinary haha give me more time I promise I will have something exceedingly good to say. It is just that I have my particulars in order when it comes to Japanese food but this, is something my dad and I keep coming back to:

the coffee + the creme puff.

I can just order this and leave.

please excuse my plans and handwriting hehe, I realized there is nothing aesthetic about my handwriting hahaha I should just give it up.

I had Caramel Flavored Latte (P225.00) and split a Banana Puff (P 250.00) with dad which tasted like Banoffee pie. These two make a perfect team. I enjoy Banoffee but always felt it was incredibly filling; yet Baristart's version nailed the right consistency, flavor and blend. Basta, ang sarap.

Yup. So there you have it, Baristart and a few seemingly sunny photos of BGC.

Please pray for us, we need the sun.

BYE. :)

Love, Lica

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I am not sure how it goes in other countries, but where I am from, there is a designated day where seniors can watch a movie for free!

In our city, Monday is free movie day so dad and I opted to watch Oppenheimer. We have seen Mission Impossible, now it was time for something historical.

Our date started with lunch at a restaurant called Tiong Bahru in a mall called Estancia. It was a franchise from Singapore and it served really good Hainanese, Lemon and Roast Chicken to name a few.

For some reason, dad and I went on a Singaporean food frenzy the past days starting with Hawker Chan, then Nanyang three days ago and now this! And I am not regretting any of it.

We had Veggie Fritters (P 165.00), Lemon Chicken (P285.00), and Hainanese Rice (P 70.00).

I was trying to discipline myself by not looking at my phone while waiting for our food so I brought a book with me haha. I bought I am a Cat by Soseki Natsume three month ago and have only recenly picked up again. That is how bad I am at reading.

Movie started at 2:00 PM and ended at 5:00 PM. It was a mighty long film (the longest by Christopher Nolan) and it gave a detailed narration of how the Americans raced against the Nazis in creating a so-called atomic bomb. They succeeded with the help of a Jewish-German scientist named J. Robert Oppenheimer, but sadly as predicted, the super nation wanted more. On that note, it was also story of how Oppi (how his comrades joyfully called him) was tried and tested by the government because he was morally against the creation of the hydrogen bomb which was said to be megatons stronger than what was formerly created.

Long before stretching my legs to enjoy this movie, I was already scouring the internet for videos and literary pieces that would give me a sense of what times might have been like during the dawn of WWII to its very grim end. It was a very dark and interesting topic to delve into. The more I dug deeper, the more apparent it became that we are at the brink of history repeating itself one more time.

I hate to say that WE ARE at the age of war once again, and it is only a matter of time when things start escalating beyond control.

Oh well, but Lord I pray I am wrong. There is always hope. And though I have lost my faith in humanity, my faith in the Lord has not wavered - whether we do find ourselves armed with arsenal whose power is beyond anything we can imagine or not.