These are OLD pictures, so old I almost didn’t want to post them. But, these craftster tots are so cute! Kids are never too young to develop an appreciation for cooking/baking.

When my cousin had a joint birthday party for her four- and two-year olds, one of her party activities was to have the wee ones decorate their own cookies. I made extra frosting from some Scooby-Doo cupcakes that I made, and she baked some sugar cookies for the kids to use. With the help of store-bought sugar toppers and sprinkles, the kids went to town.

Granted, many of them just dumped colored sugar on the whole thing, but it was still fun. I wish I had something like this at MY birthday parties!

I had to laugh when I read about the movie Namets! (which means “Yum!” in Ilonggo, a Filipino dialect), soon to be debuted at Cinemalaya 2008. The chuckles are because I just wrote a post on a feast in the making for an upcoming all-American holiday. Just as I pictured how my Peach Pie’s crust is going to turn out, the trailer below fed my hungry (and homesick) eyes with images of native pastries lovingly done by hand in Negros, where I grew up. How truly strange and wonderful to be a baker from both worlds.:)

Carla Gomez of the Visayan Daily Star says this of the movie. (Here’s the full article.)

“It’s the most Negrense film that I have ever known.”

That is how Negrense director Jay Abello yesterday described the movie, “Namets!,” that he is currently filming in Negros Occidental.

The main character of the film is the food of Negros Occidental, it is filmed entirely in the province, more than 70 percent of its cast and crew are Negrenses, and the dialog is in Ilonggo, Abello said.

“Namets! is a colorful celebration of food as well as love, and the love of food above all, which is central to being Negrosanon, and being Filipino,” Palanca Award winner Vicente Groyon, who wrote the script, said.

“Every region in the Philippines has a cuisine unique to it, and the island of Negros is no exception. Forget your diet if you’re planning to visit – from piaya to chicken inasal to guapple pie to kinilaw, Negrosanon food is irresistible,” Groyon said.

If any of you catch this, let me know if it’s worth seeing.

Argh. What I wouldn’t give for chicken inasal right about now!

Aside from the rest of my life, I’ve been busy planning a Fourth of July lunch at Sara’s to celebrate food, friends and freedom. The menu has been changed about oh, 76 times, but that’s the nature of the beast (or the stomach)! I think I finally have a working list.

Main Eats

* Slow-Cooker Turkey Chili

* Pasta With Summer Vegetables

Summery Sides

* Cranberry-Spinach Salad With Poppy Seed Dressing

* Golden Buttermilk Cornbread With Honey Whipped Butter

* Roasted Red New Potatoes

Sweet Endings

* Black-Bottom Cupcakes

* Peach Pie With Spiced Whipped Cream

I have a full week of pre-planning and cooking, and I seriously can’t wait. Yes, I am insane. Good luck to me!

Little morsels from my great big plate of craftiness over these past few days.

1) Putting the “pa” in “Pavlova” to celebrate Fathers’ Day (I used golden kiwis for the first time and, along with four types of berries, they made every bite a divine pas de deux of sweet n’ tart in my mouth!)

2) Outfitting my icky magazine holders with pretty Japanese origami paper, taking them from drab to dainty

3) Using authentic Philippine rhum, Tanduay, to make the glaze that topped this tropical treat–a fat-free (no kidding) Pineapple Cake for a friend’s birthday

4) Loving my new Twist ‘n Measure Cup from Wilton after it quickly made friends with my Kitchen Art adjustable measuring spoon (Cup: “You can fill me up!” / Spoon: “Let’s spoon!” Teehee.)

5) Visiting Sur La Table at The Grove and knitting my brows at the strangest kitchen gadgets (L: The Egg-Perfect timer, because you’re too lazy to use a watch and you MUST have that perfect soft-, medium- or hard-boiled egg / R: The Bagel Guillotine, which I suggest you NOT use after reading/watching The Other Boleyn Girl)

Neither crafty nor cook-y, but definitely all sorts of curly. I just had to post.

I almost died laughing. This made me remember the crazies at the ad agency I used to work for in Manila. Instead of singing, “We just wanna, we just wannaaa…” from Girls Just Wanna Have Fun, they’d belt out “Medyas ni Juana, medyas ni Juanaaaa…”:)

Vi, maybe we should do this. Partners tayo, we can do a tango. Tee hee.

Where have I been?

I ask myself this because I realize with a start how long ago my last post was–and how much I’ve missed blogging–now that I finally have the chance to do so.

I realized this week that the true nature of a cook/chef/baker is in the nurturing that food gives. It’s been a busy week, especially after work when I should have had the time to blog. I’ve been spending time with friends and family–feeding them in one way or another–with hugs, a listening ear, by making a pavlova for Father’s Day, cooking porridge for a friend who just had a root canal or making quesadillas for another friend recovering from surgery. At the back of my mind, I kept thinking, “Gah, I need to blog,” but all it took were yummy noises from everyone for me to postpone writing yet another time.

So, today, I made the decision to spend time for me, getting back into the groove of MY days. And the best way I knew how was to…bake. Just for the heck of it. To get butter out of the fridge, heap flour into measuring cups and level them off, to break eggs cleanly into the mixing bowl. It seems odd that I regroup by making something for other people to eat. But when I’m alone in the kitchen, with nothing but the hum of the KitchenAid in the background and the feel of dough in my hands, I am most myself.

And so, armed with a batch of Snickerdoodles and an armor of cinnamon sugar, I am ready for another week in the world. There’s nothing like the sort of courage that comes from cookies, and I’m ever thankful for it. Have a piece or two now, will you?

I love magazines because I know how much work (a lot!) goes into making them. They’re like good meals—a bunch of different ingredients coming together into one lovely package/dish that feeds (me!) in one way or another.

I love them even more if they’re about food/crafts. I recently went on a mag hunt to seek out other titles I may not be familiar with. Stalking newsstands was fun because it led me these awesome crafty reads. Here’s a rundown of my finds.

1) donna hay magazine
“special made simple”

I actually knew about this title before my magazine rampage. Donna Hay is dubbed the “Martha Stewart of Australia” and also has several books on cooking and entertaining. After reading about her in a random food blog one day, I searched high and low for a copy—any copy—of her magazine, just to see what it’s like. I was even eyeing some back issues for sale on eBay, when I found the latest issue in Borders (Century City) just this past weekend! I practically swooned. The magazine is very “Martha-like”—even down to some of the typeface—but somehow has its own charm with stunning food photography, well-written articles and delicious-sounding, practical recipes. I can’t wait to kitchen-test them myself.

(Side note: For some reason, every time I say this magazine’s title, I find myself going: “donna heeeeeey” Heehee.)

donna hay website: donnahay.com.au
Published: bi-monthly
Subscription Rates: AU$40/12 issues, a hefty $119 or so for the same in the US (boo!)

2) Craft:
“transforming traditional crafts”

I can’t begin to describe how happy this mag made me! I mean, it has tutorials on stuff like KNITTING SNEAKERS or making your own SPEAKERS for goodness’ sake. Lord, help me. I was beside myself in crafty bliss. The website is a can’t-miss resource for craftsters. CRAFT says:

CRAFT will be a quarterly, 160-page, project-based magazine dedicated to the renaissance occurring in the world of crafts. Celebrating the Do-It-Yourself spirit, CRAFT’s goal is to unite, inspire, inform, and entertain a growing community of highly imaginative and resourceful people who are transforming traditional art and crafts with unconventional, unexpected and even renegade techniques, materials, and tools.

Craft: website: craftzine.com
Published: quarterly
Subscription rates: $34.95/4 issues (digital edition available)

3) Saveur
“Savor a World Of Authentic Cusine”

Not entirely unfamiliar to me because I’ve read this title on and off, ever since I spied a copy in an airport newsstand the first year I came to the US. What I like about Saveur is its size–easy to take on the plane, the bus or a favorite nook in a coffeehouse to read. And more than likeable is the food writing in it. One word: superb. I consider all the other food mags more like “snacks” to graze on throughout the month. But Saveur is different: I sit down and dedicate time to read it, sometimes taking up to a week to go through a whole issue, savoring the articles like they were courses in a prized meal. Those words, man, they demand respect.

Two friends have told me I should try writing for Saveur. I answered one of them: “That would be like asking Jesus if I could write one of the Gospels.” Sacrilege aside, maybe someday, eh?

Saveur website: www.saveur.com
Published: 9 times/year
Subscription rates: $19.95 for 8 issues (also comes with a digital version)

4) Domino
“THE GUIDE to LIVING WITH STYLE”

Domino fuels my decorating frustrations and is my replacement for the canceled magazine Blueprint (by Martha Stewart Omnimedia). It’s a resource for design and art that I hope to somehow translate into my crafts. It was this magazine that led me to my current obsession with wall paint colors (celery, anyone?) and the possible delights of a cheese-course lunch (with blood orange marmalade and walnuts-yum! Yes, including blue cheese!)

Domino website: dominomag.com
Published: 10 times/year
Subscription rates: $10 for 10 issues (sometimes comes with special Lucky magazine subscription offer)

Hope you get to enjoy a copy of any of these soon. Maybe this weekend—it’ll be a crafty, cook-y one for sure!

Even though my favorite chef Dale fell by the wayside in the race to become Top Chef, I couldn’t be happier for Stephanie.

I was giggling during last night’s finale because she kept saying, “ My pound cake’s crap,” over and over again, and she had this agitated/frustrated/silently panicked look on her face, one that I recognize because I’ve been in that state myself during baking! I thought to myself: “Oh, that’s not a very attractive expression to wear around the kitchen!” Haha.

Stephanie Izard is the first female Top Chef. The curls did it, I tell you. Curls=kitchen powah.

Congratulations to Stephanie, who I some day hope to meet. Along with Dale, please. Teehee.

I used to have this dream (still do) about opening a bakery that would sell small versions of everything edible. Little finger sandwiches, tartlets, mini breads, all served with tea and coffee in demitasse cups–you get the picture. Why the obsession with teensy yummies? Maybe because it brings back memories of playing “tea” as a kid with those tiny plastic toys. (My imaginary friend loved my tea parties. He was a blue genie and I kept him in my backpack the whole day until tea time, when he was permitted to practice his social skills with Barbie.)

I remembered all this recently, as I made the mini chocolate cakes below for my brother’s girlfriend. She gave them to her boss as a thank-you gift.

I love the baking pan I used to make these. It’s from Nordicware, with mini versions of its popular Cathedral, Fleur de lis, and Bavaria Bundt shapes. I think if the house was burning, I would take this pan and run. (Did I just type that?)

I decorated the mini cakes with different toppings (two of each kind): Chocolate Glaze, Raspberries and Mint/Caramel Sauce and a dusting of cocoa and powdered sugar/White Chocolate.

Which one’s your teensy yummy?

I got the sweetest things via Snail Express from Little Miss Firefly’s Odette. I was beyond squealing (I think only the neighborhood dogs heard me) because all I get these days in the mail are junk–these were anything but!

Thank you, thank you, thank you Odette!

She personalized some beautifully handcrafted flat cards with my name and my blog’s and included a thoughtful handwritten note with recycled envelopes. Ah, a woman after my heart. Eyeluvdem.

Getting this reminded me of the charm and romance of handwritten letters. Nothing beats the craft of putting pen to paper, especially so when the stamps outside the note are from a country you love and miss, and even more so if they come from a friend you just met through blogging. Thank you again, Odette. My curls and I are still reeling from this pretty-paper-induced coma. I look forward to writing to you at that address you’ve been wishing for (and I’ve been wishing for, too!)