Super Sarap

Perfect Pancakes

Lorraine — Mon, 05 Mar 2012 03:01:15 +0000

Woohoo, it’s an all-new Super Sarap! I think it’s appropriate to kick things off with a breakfast recipe- a serious breakfast recipe. Like these pancakes.

I tried many, many pancake recipes before discovering this one. Most of them were easy but blah, some were good but required too many steps (who wants to separate eggs so early in the morning?) This one gives you pancakes that are fluffy, delicious, and really easy to make.

The recipe calls for using malt powder, which I strongly recommend if you can get it. If not, just use regular sugar- I’ve done it, and they’ve turned out just fine.

Finally, for really fluffy pancakes you’ll want to beat the eggs and milk together really well. Use a stand mixer or hand mixer- or even a blender. The key is to get it nice and frothy.

Perfect Pancakes

(adapted from: King Arthur Flour)

2 large eggs
1 1/4 cups milk
3 tablespoons melted butter or vegetable oil
1 1/2 cups all-purpose flour
3/4 teaspoon salt (I use kosher salt, but plain should do as well)
2 teaspoons baking powder
1/4 cup malted milk powder OR 2 tablespoons sugar

Using a stand or hand mixer, beat the eggs and milk together on high until light and frothy. Add the melted butter or oil and stir until incorporated.

In a separate large bowl, combine the dry ingredients: all-purpose flour, salt, baking powder, and malted milk powder (or sugar). Whisk together.

Gently combine the wet and dry mixtures. It will be lumpy- that’s okay. Let it stand for 15 minutes.

Heat up your pan or griddle- around medium-high heat, but not too high!- and lightly grease it. I like to use some of the leftover butter I melted in step one.

Drop batter by 1/4 cupfuls into your hot pan. Once it starts bubbling, flip and cook around a minute more.

Serve immediately with butter, maple syrup or honey.

The best Italian food in Manila

Lorraine — Fri, 19 Aug 2011 23:12:06 +0000

What, you wonder, could possibly bring Super Sarap- a food blog so neglected I’ve stopped telling people about it- back to life?

How about Italian food? Not just any Italian food- the best I’ve had in Manila.

Time for full disclosure first: this restaurant is run by my stepdad. He’s Italian American and has been a restaurateur all his life. He knows food, good food. Food like this:

That, gentle reader, is Beef Carpaccio. The dish is made up of thin slivers of raw beef tenderloin, generous shavings of Parmigiano, fresh arugula, capers and a lemony vinaigrette whose memory has my mouth watering as I type this. It is swoon-worthy perfection on a plate, a dish they’ve simply gotten right. And in the five or six times I’ve been there, they’ve gotten it right every time (yes, I order it every time).

The restaurant is Casa Nostra, opened last June in Makati. They serve lunch, but the truth is that it’s absolutely lovely as a dinner destination: slightly out of the way on a quiet corner of Pasong Tamo Extension. The perfect place to have a love affair with food.

Speaking of which:

Behold the Linguine alla Vongole, a dish I’m too often disappointed by. Casa Nostra’s version is excellent. The clams are juicy, the noodles packed with flavor. With every bite, I think this is what Italian food is about – fresh ingredients, bold flavors, and portions that would make an Italian Mamma proud.

Casa Nostra is located on the ground floor of the Ecoplaza Building on Pasong Tamo Extension.

Website: CasaNostra-restaurant.com
Facebook: facebook.com/CasaNostraRestaurant

Finally, an update. And Cheeseburger Pizza.

Lorraine — Fri, 05 Mar 2010 00:13:01 +0000

You know how people who’ve neglected their blogs for a long time invariably apologize that “things got really busy” for them?

Yes, I’m back. And things did get really busy for me. To catch you up:

My little online bakeshop has been doing very well. It’s gotten to the point where I sometimes have to decline orders. This makes me a little sad, but I’d rather not overwhelm myself with so many orders that quality suffers (I bake everything myself).
We quietly launched the Food Bloggers Network, a project I’m obviously extremely passionate about.
I’ve been spending a lot of time on Twitter. I have two accounts: a personal one and one for my bakeshop.
I now blog regularly about several things: web development over at Devlounge, recipes at bFeedMe, and all things Apple at Apple Gazette. I also create and post video tutorials at Tubetorial.

What a busy bee I’ve been. Of course, with all of this going on, sometimes my husband and I don’t have time to prep and cook meals for ourselves. Which is how I discovered what’s become one of my favorite take-out dishes ever:

The truth is, the thought of Cheeseburger Pizza never appealed to me. Shredded lettuce? Burger sauce? But the other day, already in a bad mood from the heat and hunger pangs, I grudgingly ordered a Cheeseburger Pizza from Shakey’s, requesting a “New York Hand-Tossed” crust.

I loved it. The lettuce, the sweetish sauce, the cheese… all of them worked surprisingly well atop a chewy crispy pizza with lots of mozzarella.

Kitty the Artisan

Lorraine — Wed, 01 Apr 2009 10:41:53 +0000

I’d like you to meet one of the loves of my life. This is Kitty, and she’s a pink Kitchenaid Artisan Mixer. I’ve had her for around six months now, and she’s still as beautiful today as the day we brought her home. Actually, she’s more beautiful now, having churned out hundreds of cupcake and cookie batters, whipped up a whole lot of cream and meringue, and valiantly kneaded bread dough. Kitty rocks.

If you’ve been on the fence about buying a Kitchenaid stand mixer, here’s my advice: do.

There are some awesome deals on the stand mixers now at Amazon- I like to check it once in a while if only to ooh and ahh over all the pretty colors: KitchenAid Artisan 5-Quart Stand Mixers at Amazon.

Sweet Lorraine Bakeshop

Lorraine — Fri, 01 Aug 2008 04:11:07 +0000

I’m pleased to finally announce the launch of my new baking business: Sweet Lorraine Bakeshop!

My products currently include some of the best cupcakes you’ll ever have, as well as some cookies and bars that I’ve developed throughout the years. Please do check it out »

A Little Update

Lorraine — Sun, 27 Apr 2008 16:30:09 +0000

My grandfather, who I grew up with and loved fiercely, passed away this week. And although he had been sick for quite some time, the “finality” of his death is hard for me to deal with. I miss you, Papa.

However, the good news is that in true Lorraine fashion, I’ve been subliminating my grief by baking up a storm- and will be blogging my successes (and okay, yes, my failures) here in the next few weeks. So don’t cancel your RSS subscription just yet… there will be yumminess coming! I promise.

Piping Hot

Lorraine — Wed, 02 Apr 2008 15:49:48 +0000

Much to the horror of my thighs, I’ve started baking again. It began when my sister asked me to bake a cake for her baby’s baptism party on Sunday. I decided that not only would I make my tried-and-tested Chocolate Mousse Cake (from Nigella Lawson’s How to Be a Domestic Goddess), I would surround the latter with vanilla cupcakes in varying sizes. Since I’ve never made vanilla cupcakes before (I know… I’m a chocolate person), I made a test run yesterday, using Billy’s Vanilla, Vanilla Cupcakes recipe from Martha Stewart.

The cupcakes were delicious. I cut down on the sugar in both the cake and frosting recipes, and they were still fantastic. Soft and moist and very light. But the best part was icing them.

I only have a very old, very cheap hand-me-down plastic icing decorating kit, so it was quite messy, but the cupcakes came out so pretty. Sorry, no photos- but I served some to guests last night, then sent the rest to various family members- and they were all gone before I could remember to photograph them!

Anyway, what I really want to say is that I LOVED piping the frosting. Even with my hot hands, even hotter kitchen, and el cheapo of the cheapest decorating sets, I had such a blast doing it. Now I want to buy a new set- but I need some advice. Should I order one of these?

…or stick to a more traditional set like this?

Your comments and suggestions please!

Sarap Links

Lorraine — Sat, 22 Mar 2008 11:02:56 +0000

I’ve been down with a nasty cold and a nasty toothache- and that plus the heat equals much less kitchen time for me. Still, the deliciousness goes on in the world of food blogs, and I list for you here my favorites this week:

Being sick always brings forth my sweet tooth somehow, and I swear I’ll make Smitten Kitchen’s Caramel Walnut Upside Down Banana Cake as soon as I can bear to be back in the kitchen for more than five minutes. Seriously, this cake looks like it might even be worth airconditioning my kitchen for.

Then, of course, there’s Christine’s Simple Strawberry Trifle, which just oozes coolness and sweetness and tartness, and looks like the perfect summer snack right there.

My favorite Pioneer Woman has a recipe up for Carrot Sheet Cake with pecans in the icing. I don’t own a sheet cake pan (my oven is too small, sigh), but I’m considering making this in several layers and sandwiching them together with more icing… mmm.

And finally, this one has nothing to do with food, but please see this photo over at Dooce. It’s my favorite photo of the week, maybe the year.

Krispy Kreme Easter

Lorraine — Sat, 15 Mar 2008 07:31:01 +0000

As if those chocolate bunnies (which I’ve always had a weakness for- especially the giant ones from the hotels!) weren’t bad enough for my diet, Krispy Kreme Philippines is now offering up these special Easter doughnuts:

The springtime colors are adorable, and I would love to set out a bowl much like the one above at our Easter Sunday table. You see, because these doughnuts are Krispy Kreme, you know that they’re not just pretty- they probably taste awesome as well.

Visit Krispy Kreme Philippines’ website or one of their shops at Bonifacio High Street, TriNoma, SM Megamall, Mall of Asia, or Greenhills Shopping Center.

Announcing: the Food Bloggers Network!

Lorraine — Thu, 14 Feb 2008 07:08:32 +0000

Join us now!

This is something we’ve been working on that I’m very excited about: the brand spankin’ new Food Bloggers Network!

It’s a community driven site where members submit their favorite posts from food blogs, and vote on them! (Think “Digg” for food bloggers).

I hope you’ll join in and share your delicious food blog posts with us!