Tarte aux Coeurs des Fraises

I saw the Chocolate and Zucchini version of Tarte aux Fraises, and I thought to myself, that looks awesome. I have to do that once I get my hands on some fresh strawberries. So, I went to Baguio and got some (no, we didn't go to Baguio just for this). I wanted to make it look special, so I cut them up in the shape of hearts. Sort of. I filled it as per tradition with Pierre Hermé's recipe for pastry cream. I was worried that it wasn't sweet enough (the strawberries are almost out of season), but I can always pass it off as "sophisticated," heh heh.

The more I look at it, the more I think it looks more like Pac-Men than hearts. Anyway, in a desperation move, I made Chocolate Sauce (also Pierre Hermé's recipe) to cover up just in case it was in fact not sweet enough. Looking back, the bittersweet aspect of it was perfect in offsetting the milky flavor of the pastry cream.

Jogging in the 'Hood

Do I make my area sound like the ghetto? It's really not. The Tomas Morato/Roces Avenue area is just full of culinary types preparing their restaurants for the evening. Anyway, I haven't been weighing myself but I felt bloated and inactive that I decided I wanted to run, just for fun, wake up my sleepy head and to take a tour of my surroundings, which I've been neglecting for obvious reasons.

So I dressed up as inconspicuously as I could. Don't I look normal? Don't I look unmuggable? (If not, then don't I look like the type you can't harm? How about the type with no money?) In my bag was some water, P500 for throwing at a mugger just in case, my phone, and a towel.

So, I'm trying to get rid of excess weight, right? Well, my destination was Santi's Delicatessen. Yeah, a food market. Great. But I love the place, and it's the best place to go to (in addition to Cook's Exchange) to exercise your culinary self.

This is the most complete spice rack I've seen. I'm a big fan of Kettle Chips's Salt and Fresh Ground Pepper (which has 3 kinds of pepper- black, jalapeno, and cayenne), so I got ground Cayenne pepper. Also, you can see artichoke hearts (which I LOVE) and asparagus spears (which I also LOVE) there, which might be useful for an entree later.

Here are the basic sauces-- soy sauce (sweet, dark, brewed), Sambal Oelek, Mint Jelly-- I don't have much use for these now.

Here are the shelves for the beans, pulses, grains, and pasta. I've always wanted to make cornbread and polenta (I like the crunch and the flavor).

Here are the mustards (yes, they have several different kinds), liver spreads, and oils.

Here they have instant mixes and marinades, and on the right you have tea and jam. Above you can see packets of instant potato dishes (gratin, mashed)-- not good for you unless pressed for time. I bought satay mix and peanut sauce mix. I would have preferred to make my own but I haven't come across a recipe that tasted good enough to repeat, plus there is the factor of spices accumulating in you cupboard, like cumin, which will easily lose its bite.

Butcher meats. Really expensive, but only few markets will know what you're talking about when you ask for sirloin, rump roast, top round, or such. Only tenderloin has crept through the language barrier, weird.

Deli meats. I'm not a huge fan of sausage, so a well-chosen seasoned wurst from PriceSmart is good enough for me. However, few places will have turkey ham and italian deli meats.

Cheeses. Probably the only place I know that sells Mascarpone. But the price is prohibitive, so unless you plan on serving a crowd, get your Tiramisu from La Piadina.

Biscuits and fruit juices. I'm fairly satisfied with Nissin's Butter Coconut Biscuits. See? I'm not all complicated.

And here's my favorite area, the dessert area. It has dried fruit, chocolate, nuts, ground nuts (a lifesaver for those of us without food processors), and dessert sauces. I didn't show the freezer section. I was clandestinely taking pictures by pretending to think with my phone on my chin (the "Oprah" hold). I bought a package of frozen spinach because it was cheap and saves me some time on cooking spinach.

Above it All

This is a highly stylized video made by Sally Cruikshank in 1989 for Sesame Street. Even as a kind of older boy, the style and design of her videos (not to mention the insanely catchy tune of "In and Out Crowd") just got to me. This video is really to illustrate spatial relationships (prepositions) to children, but some people interpret it as man's Babel-ish tendency to keep building himself up over everything, but there's always a supreme being above us.

This is also on my other blog, A Simple Life.

Cheap T-Shirt

If you can get past the pallor of my arms, I hope you think that the design is cool. I got it for P250 ($5) at Greenhills, which is not bad (plus, the collar has not frayed after one wash!). I'm preparing for a major turnover of my wardrobe. I wonder why. *coughRUMMAGEcough*

Quezon City Tiles

I used to make nothing of the beautification projects of the MMDA (MMDA Art painted on the sides of the MRT? Yikes!). The one at Tomas Morato, where they placed tiles and fences on the corners was, at least to me, without function, except to obstruct the path of pedestrians. The streetlamps looked good, though.

However, I gained a new respect for the idea when I looked closely at the tile:

It takes serious commitment to aesthetics to think of custom-making the tiles so that they say "QC." I applaud you, city. The design of the tiles themselves are also quite pretty.