Ours and Our Kids

Christmas Themed Cupcakes!

My good old buddy, Kristine, and her bf went here in the metro last weekend to enjoy the short holiday break. I decided to make some of these so they can get a taste of my baked cuppies!

These are Christmas themed Peanut Butter Cupcakes topped with melted bittersweet chocolate and covered with blue nonpareils. You might be thinking that I should have used white, red, or green to go with the theme. But since most of the Christmas decors we see around are not the usual colors, I thought maybe I could also try blue for a change.=)

You should try this recipe!!! I've tested other peanut butter cupcake recipes but this one so far is the best. I actually immediately threw away the other peanut butter cupcake recipes I had after I tasted the outcome of this one=)) lol.

What I love about the taste is that it has the right amount of sweetness, you can really taste the peanut butter, and it has that perfect dense and moisture. =)

I'm scheduled to bake 7 dozen plus four more pieces of Christmas themed mini cakes next week. Need to prepare myself again for another sleepless night!

Finally reunited with my friend after 6 or so long years!

Advance Merry Christmas everyone!

My All Time Favorite Christian Song=)

God will Make a Way (by Don Moen)

God will make a way

Where there seems to be no way
He works in ways we cannot see
He will make a way for me
He will be my guide
Hold me closely to His side
With love and strength for each new day
He will make a way....
He will make a way

Oh God will make a way
Where there seems to be no way
He works in ways we cannot see
He will make a way for me
He will be my guide
Hold me closely to His side
With love and strength for each new day
He will make a way.....
He will make a way

By a roadway in the wilderness
He'll lead me
And rivers in the desert will I see
Heaven and earth will fade
But His Word will still remain
And He will do something new today

Oh God will make a way
Where there seems to be no way
He works in ways we cannot see
He will make a way for me
He will be my guide
Hold me closely to His side
With love and strength for each new day
He will make a way...
He will make a way...

Image credits from http://lingkodsg-announce.blogspot.com/

Happy Birthday Daddy!

I was able to sneak in and bake this Caramel Cake topped with nuts and melted chocolate last Sunday night. Just in time to surprise the sweetest man in the universe=) Happy birthday Daddy!

Aside from the cake, I also made cheese cake brownies, my MIL and FIL bought Pancit Malabon as pasalubong, and we ordered for one extra large white pizza (this is free!: we bought a promo ticket last month which entitled us to get this freebie), one extra large premium pizza (i forgot the name but its main ingredients were pesto sauce and prawns), and one regular sized premium pizza(again, forgot the name but I found this one better than the xl premium pizza. Good thing this one also came free from the promo ticket.=)

I was not able to take any shot of these meals though because I and hubby were busy looking for my almost lost cellphone. So bad I that I misplaced this item on a very special occasion. We we're able to get the phone back from BUB (where we were a few hours before his birthday celebration) . Don't want to discuss more about this because I get frustrated remembering this moment. But I was really happy and thankful to God and the cute chinita lady at BUB who was able to find my cellphone which accidentally got hidden at the couch's corner where I was seated when we were there a few hours ago.

What's cookin for Christmas Eve=)

Lavishing Christmas decors are now seen on the main roads and malls of Metro Manila. With Christmas songs playing here and there, you could really feel that the most awaited time of the year is just around the corner!=)

This year's Christmas is extra special for our family. With my two naughty girls, who are now fully aware of what is happening around them, and my new 6-month old niece, whom I haven't seen in person since she was born, I am pretty sure that this will be one of the merriest day of our year.

So with that being said, allow me to share to you our initial menu for our Christmas Eve's family dinner party.

Image credits : imagesaver1206 of photobucket

Appetizer
1. Bruschetta
- This is toasted baguette with cream cheese, diced shallots, chopped tomatoes, pepper, basil, and grated quick melt cheese.

2. Swiss fondue, Nachos, Sauteed Spiced Beef, and yummy Chipotle Salsa. I sooo love the how the jalapeno chillies spice up and give a rich taste to this salsa!

My two girls embracing and asking Santa for their gifts! lol

Entree
1. Roasted Chicken
- I'm using chicken because it's 80% cheaper than turkey. . I'm borrowing Ina Gartner's Recipe for this one. Recipe can be found here.

2.Chicken Potato Salad
- I'm using elbow macaroni, mayo, potatoes, chicken, onions, celery, cheese, salt, and pepper to taste. I'm sure my girls and niece will enjoy eating this one!

3. Christmas Ham with fresh sliced tomatoes, lettuce, and cheese

Dessert
1. Mango Cherry Choco Cream Parfait
- I'm using sliced fresh ripe mangoes, canned cherries, rice crispies, pecan, roasted slivered almonds, crushed graham, heavy whipped cream, and choco whipped cream, . How I really wish the mangos were strawberries..but sad to know that until this month strawberries are still out of season and it is primarily due to the destructive Pepeng typhoon that drowned and wiped all the ripe strawberries in La Trinidad, Benguet (where fresh and affordable strawberries are harvested)

2. Gingerbread cookies
- I'll be baking these yummy yuletide season cookies, cutting them into different shapes, and decorating each using red, green, white, and yellow royal icing & nonpareils, and adding some edible silver and gold beads. I can't wait to decorate these cookies together with my two daughters!

CJ looking exhausted from their hour pictorial at BUB. Will share our Christmas themed family picture next week!

3. Almond Choco Chip Biscotti
- I can never forget the taste of the Almond Choco Chip Biscotti from Deli France. It had a mild crunch and was amazingly flavorful! So happy I came across the smittenkitchen yesterday because she has posted an almond biscotti recipe on her blog. I'm trying out the recipe but i'll be adding bittersweet chocolate chips for more flavorful look and taste. Wish me luck! Planning to bake lots of these so I could share it with our relatives as Christmas present =)

I can't wait to start my cooking!=) Advance happy holidays!

18th birthday cupcakes for Aly's debut celebration at Metrowalk

Here's another set of cupcakes I made last week (early Friday morning) for a debut party at Metrowalk Ortigas Center, Pasig City.

The client ordered for a hundred pieces and requested to have all cupcakes with the letter A monogram on top.

I was not lucky to have a shot of the setup thought since the party started at 7pm. I'd sure be caught on traffic and won't be able to arrive at the venue a few minutes before the party since my working shift ends at 6pm and would have to from Makati to Ortigas.

Moist Chocolate Cupcakes with Vanilla Cream Frosting

Vanilla Cupcakes with Strawberry Cream Frosting

Banana Cupcakes with Choc 'o Strawberry Cream Frosting

Mocha Cupcakes with Choco Marble Cream Frosting

And the cupcakes with the "A" monogram..

Pink Velvet Cuppies!

I made 50pcs Pink Velvet cupcake last Sunday early morning for a christening celebration at Sanctuario de San Agustin.

They we amazingly sooo soft and moist! Got the inspiration from the Red Velvet recipe I baked last time, but I purposely used pink to match my client's motif. =)

Each cupcake was iced with cream cheese frosting, topped with edible silver beads,

packed each in dome shaped cupcake containers with personalized tag sticker (which I designed and printed a few weeks earlier), and tied with tangerine ribbon again to match their motif.

For the cupcake tower, I decided to use hot pink, light pink, with some light green on the stand. So happy that my client was as satisfied as I was:)

Here are some more pics taken from that event:

Check out our multiply site to know more about our products and services:)

Dessert Station, Cupcake Tower, and Chocolate Foutain setup for Baby Gelo's Teddy Bears and Angels Themed Baptismal Celebration!

It was our first time to cater to a baptismal celebration as grand as baby Gelo's party. Am so grateful that mommy Sheila got her dessert station, chocolate fountain, and cupcake tower from us.=) With her orders, I was able to showcase some of our dessert products on one table. Also recently found out that she's a n@wie din pala. Next time may discount ang orders mo sis!

I made her cupcake toppers a few weeks ahead so that it will have enough time to dry and not break apart. I just now realized that it's not easily to make royal icing topper if it's not made on top of a cookie. I guess next time i resort with using cookie cupcake toppers.

Also, so happy that my mom and dad were home to help me assemble the boxes, put each cupcake on the boxes, and tie each box with ribbon. Grabe talaga next time i'll get extra help from my cuz and friends. Did not expect na talagang time consuming ang pagaassemble ng box. hehehe..

I was supposed to place the bouquet of flowers with Gelo's picture on top of the cupcake tower but since we used a 7 layer tower, i'm was not so sure if it'll be safe to place the bouquet since the flower pot was kinda heavy.

All the glass trays used by the dessert station are new and will be available for all our upcoming dessert station orders soon.

In case you're interested to know more about this package.. cost is only based from what ever dessert you want to see on your dessert station plus additional P1,000 for the floral deco and rental fee of our glass trays.=)

I so enjoyed setting this dessert station table with my friend and kumare (who will be handling our Pampanga branch) who happened to drop by to see how we do our setup. Pasado na ba sa QA mare?hehehe

I also made 40 chocolate candie spoons for our client as additional request for their kiddie guests. Don't they look so cute?:)

Mommy Sheila got our chocolate fountain's Diamond Package.

It would have looked more festive if we had a round and a bigger table. The caterer initially provided us a round table but since the the table kept on shaking and moving, we opted to use the available and more reliable mono-block square table instead.

Check out our site at http://mychocolateheaven.multiply.com for more details.=)

Pocoyo Themed 1st Birthday Party at Shakey's Tomas Morato

Here's one of our catered events last October 10, 2009 held at Shakey's Tomas Morato. Among all the Shakey's branches we've catered to, this so far has the biggest party area.

Our client ordered for a customized Platinum Package with imported Callebaut belgian chocolate flowing on two chocolate fountains.

She also got 100 pcs of our Gourmet Mini Donuts which I setup on a three layer tower with ribbons and labels following the birthday party's Pocoyo Theme. So happy mommy Mary and all their guests enjoyed and loved the dessert treats!

You can easily compare the difference between a local chocolate from an imported chocolate if once you get a taste of both. I'm sure my client can easily agree with this. Personally, i think the imported Callebaut Milk Chocolate tasted so much like Hershey's Milk Chocolate bar

and the imported Callebaut Dark Chocolate can be comparable to Tobleron's Dark Chocolate bar. So yummy!

Their dippers by the way included marshmallows, chocostick wafer, breadstick, vanilla wafer,churros,mini donuts,banana, apple,melon, kiwi,Mini Cupcakes in Chocolate and Cheese flavors, Imported Pretzels,

and 100pcs of Gourmet Mini Donuts.=)

Bon Appetit!=)

The Ondoy Tragedy

It is so heart breaking to know that the number of death caused by typhoon Ondoy has already reached 304 as of yesterday, September 29 (Report from Manila Bulletin).

My heart goes out for all those who were greatly affected by this "killer typhoon". A lot of homes, automobiles, appliances, that were built and bought through their hard earned money were all gone in an instant:(. A lot of individuals are mourning for the lost of their loved ones and a lot of families are still trapped in their homes and in dire need of help..

I have about 10 colleauges who are also affected by this tragedy. Some of them, are still in the evacuation centers. It saddens me to know that they are still there.. I hope they may all recover. If I only have a big home to offer for their shelter, I would offer it to them. But all I can do is donate a small amount of cash..

Thank God our home is located on the 3rd floor of a condominium. Our van and motorbike both got submerged on the flood. Thank God that both are now working fine.

here's hubby as he peek's at the back of our vehicle to search for important items that can still be save.

here's my hubby as he rescues the van's OR-CR and other important documents.

I also thank God that He made way for our clients to cancel their schedule with us.We were supposed to have four chocolate fountain events on that day. For some reason, these clients canceled their schedule with us. All cancellations happened a month ago, so I couldn't assume that the cancelation was made due to the coming Ondoy. I however was curious as to what was on that Sept 26 date that made all the clients cancel their schedule with us because it was my first time to have all 4 events canceled in a day . After the Ondoy came, I suddenly remembered all the canceled transactions and realized that God made that all those cancellation happen.. I kept on thanking God that He made a way for those events to not push through for us. I hope that those events were rescheduled though.. or if it did push through, I hope that our supposed-to-be-clients and all their guests who attended the events were all safe.

I'm still sad that a lot of Filipinos still need help. I do thank that our people are helping each other and working together to help rescue the victims. I am also grateful that governments, organizations, and individuals from all over the world are also hearing and reaching to our needs.

For those who still wish to help, you may send your check donations at the following:

U.S.A./Canada
Tax-deductible checks to:
1. Philippine Jesuit Foundation (for Ondoy-TYF)
236 West 27th Street
Ninth Floor New York
New York 10001

2. Any of the 64 LBC branches all over the U.S.A.
Address check to LBC (Ondoy-TYF)

Immediate remittance, but non tax-deductible checks to:
3. Tanging Yaman Foundation, Inc.
Metrobank SA (USD): 448-2-448000265- 3

MIDDLE EAST: U.A.E.
1. Any LBC branch
Address check to LBC (Ondoy-TYF)

EUROPE: Spain & Italy
1. Any LBC branch
Address check to LBC (Ondoy-TYF)

ASIA: HK, Singapore, Malaysia, Brunei, Taiwan, Australia, Taiwan
1. Any of the 56 LBC branches in Asia
Address check to LBC (Ondoy-TYF)

2. Tanging Yaman Foundation, Inc.
MetroBank SA (USD): 448-2-448000265- 3

PHILIPPINES:
1. Any of the 750 LBC branches
Address check to LBC (Ondoy-TYF)

2. Tanging Yaman Foundation, Inc.
Metrobank CA (PhP): 007-613-00046- 8
Metrobank SA (USD): 448-2-448000265- 3

You may also find a comprehensive list of donation centers from this online document.

Please continue to pray for the Ondoy victims and our country.

Desserts and Lots of Fun on CJ's 2nd Birthday at home and at Fun Ranch!

We had a two-day birthday bash for our youngest daughter on the night of September 18 (her real birthday) and afternoon of the next day.

I made caramel cake for her cake blowing, and cheesecake which I chose to bake in a big square pan (para hindi nakakaumay) as an extra dessert. Hubby made his best selling spaghetti. We also served nachos with swiss fondue and chipotle salsa(you should try this one!).

I was still baking that night of her birthday for her second party celebration the next day.

The Sanrio themed cupcakes (theme which was specially requested by her lola ninang lourdes) I made were all Carrot Walnut cupcakes with Cream Cheese Frosting. They were supposed to be topped with carrot shaped royal icing candies but my two naughty daughters saw and ate them already that's why I decided to substitute it with real shredded carrots=)

I also made banana toffee cupcake for those guest who are not fond of eating vegetable cupcake.lol

So happy that the new icing tip that I got from SweetCrafts gave out lovely looking cupcake icing. CJ's mini cake for her cake blowing part 2 was also banana toffee flavored.

Since, we didn't want to consume time for food preparation, we decided to buy Pancit Bihon/Canton and Pork Barbeque from Ineng's. We wanted to get Pancit Malabon from Amber's but no one was answering when I dialed their number..

Here's CJ (wearing her hello kitty shirt from lola ninang lourdes=) thanks ninang!) with her lolo papa.

Here's her two grannies=)

Here's tita robe, daddy, and ate missy

Here's ate missy, daddy, and tita ayra

Her part 2 candle blowing=)

It's time to eat!=)

After the short merienda party at home( and after the rain poured out blessings that day..) we instantly went to Fun Ranch Pasig (beside Tiendesita's) to treat everyone for an afternoon til night of rides!!! Yipee!

Mommy, ate missy, tito, tita's and the birthday girl=)

lola, lolo, tita lala, tita gigi, and the cute birthday girl=)

Here are some pictures taken as we rode on the mini ferry's wheel

tita ayra, ate missy, and lolo papa

mommy and cj

another picture of me and cj. see how brave she is? definitely not afraid of heights!

pictures taken while they're riding on the bumper car
daddy and ate missy, lolo papa and tito rom-j, tita drika and cj, and tita ayra

here's cj pleading to go back for another ride at the bumper car=)

Pictures taken as they rode the mini carousel=)

here's cj and tita drika

here's daddy and ate missy, and trailing behind their horse

Another shot of daddy and ate missy

tita ayra looking a bit scared?

enjoying her horsy ride

cousin kuya laurence and tito rom-j

tita lala and ate missy

Pictures taken while we rode the mini airplanes

mommy and cj. I sooo enjoyed this ride!

Pictures taken as we rode the bumber boats. Another one of our favorite rides! This ride is located near the Blue Whale Grill

Here's tita drika and cj