Food Archives | Page 52 of 68

A Cupcake Tower for an 18th Birthday

11 July 2010 Ibyang Sanchez 9 Comments Category: Cherished Memories, Food, Photography, The Married Life

My Husband and I are still glowing with joy from the success of my cousin’s 18th birthday bash. Last night was the culmination of two weeks of hard work. My Husband and I were asked to cook Menudo and bake cupcakes for the party. Other than helping out in the food, we were also in-charged of creating an AVP for the debutant and to officially cover the event.

I will share my story and photos of the event on another time. I still haven’t shared two events we have covered: a wedding in May and a christening a week ago. I believe I should share them first before jumping to another event. Our photography journey is becoming exciting by the day and I really would love to document everything as I know in the future, I will be coming back to my writings for learning and inspiration.

In the meantime, let me share with you the cupcakes we especially made for my cousin’s debut.
Since this is a debut, we decided to create a simple, sweet and classic design.

We bought these cute little rose icing decors and pink & white fairy bitz. The rose icing decors came in three different colours: pink, white and yellow. We made two cupcake flavours this time: vanilla and chocolate. We only used silver foils with white paper inside to hold our cupcakes. Since this was for a debut we wanted our cupcakes to have a more classy look.

We invested in a 6-tier cupcake stand for better presentation. Our stand can hold up to 22 cupcakes.

On the topmost cupcake, I put the rose icing decor on the side and placed one silver candle.

My cousin had two blowing-of-cake portions during the party. One was solely with her friends and so we used the Cupcake Tower for that. The second blowing-of-cake portion was with her big tradional cake as she was surrounded by all the guests.

We made 3 batches of cupcakes which equaled to 36 pieces. We were told by guests that they loved our cupcakes and we can’t be happier.

To our dear cousin Rachel, we hope you had a great time on your 18th birthday. We are so happy to be a part of it. We love you!

Come To Where The Good Food Is

1 July 2010 Ibyang Sanchez 4 Comments Category: Food

Foodies and food enthusiasts are in for a delightful treat this July. Two events in Sydney will be held for lovers of good food, wine, coffee, tea and spice.

Good Food and Wine Show
A celebration of Good Food, Good Wine and Good Times!

Sydney Convention & Exhibition Centre
Darling Drive, Darling Harbour
10am to 6pm, Friday 16 July
10am to 6pm, Saturday 17 July
10am to 5pm, Sunday 18 July

Experience a world of new taste sensations at the Good Food & Wine Show. Discover mouth-watering recipes, see live cooking demonstrations and sample some of Australia’s best produce.

Gary Mehigan & George Calombaris return to the Celebrity Theatre alongside chefs Tobie Puttock, Matt Moran and Pete Evans. This year there will also be a food & wine matching feature session by Tobie Puttock & Matt Skinner.

There will be so much to see, do, taste and value to discover at this year’s Show. Sample some of the best boutique wines, beers, spirits and gourmet treats from hundreds of exhibitors. Tantalise your tastebuds with fabulous dishes from well renowned chefs and try your hand at dozens of interactive cooking and wine classes.

For tickets to the Good Food and Wine Show, you can purchase them via Ticketek.com

For more details, visit the Good Food and Wine Show website.

The Rocks invites you to experience the world in a day at Aroma 2010
The Rocks, Circular Quay, Sydney
10am to 5pm, Sunday 25 July

Pack your passport and explore divine taste sensations at The Oasis, The Continent, The Orient and The Latin Quarter.

Try cups of coffee for $2; warm up with tea, chai and hot chocolate; give in to temptation with chocolate dipped strawberries and cute cupcakes; and enjoy free entertainment at four unique destinations in The Rocks.

This year the Aroma team will attempt to break their Mona Lisa coffee sculpture world record with a brand new iconic image and the famous harbourside camel rides are back!

For more details, visit the website. Entrance to the Aroma Festival is free.

My Mom’s Here!

27 June 2010 Ibyang Sanchez 10 Comments Category: Aussie Life, Charmed Life of a Mrs, Cherished Memories, Food, The Married Life

My mom arrived yesterday for a 7-week long holiday in Sydney.

I’m so so so happy she’s here!

She had a smooth flight but had crappy breakfast on the plane (they served softdrinks and didn’t offer coffee so she says—que horror!). She’s currently loving the cold winter weather as she said, “It’s just so hot in Manila!”. Before we went out the airport, I kept on insisting she wear her jacket but she said, “It’s not that cold”, to which I replied, “They’ve got the heaters on here but once we go outside, it will be cold”. I even brought her an extra jacket (the one I’m carrying on the photo above) but the jacket that she finally wore before we went to the parking area was enough.

From the airport, we went straight to one of my auntie’s place. This will be her second home while she’s here. She’ll be shuttling back and forth from our home to my auntie’s home so she can also spend time with my grandma and her sister.

My Husband and I spent the whole day with the relatives. I love days such as these where there’s an overflowing of great conversations and food shared by a family. After lunch, we just left all the food on the table so anyone can have a bite or two when one feels hungry.

For afternoon snack, my grandma cooked Turon (banana with langka wrapped in lumpia wrapper).

Then one of my cousins asked my auntie, “Do you have ice cream?” I’m amazed at how my auntie seems to have everything inside the fridge hehe.

Voila! Turon with Cookies and Cream ice cream.

If we’re not eating, we are usually hanging out at different parts of house. Some would be in the lounge room playing games or watching TV.

My Husband and I set up camp at the formal dining area so we can do some work. That’s one long table with our stuff. Eventually, my cousins joined him to work out some stuff about recovering some files.

But always, we end up reunited around the table for some good ‘ol fun conversation and yummy food.

Love is one happy family gathered around a table full of delicious food.

Ahhhh…Tuyo (Dried Salty Fish), How I’ve Missed You!

9 June 2010 Ibyang Sanchez 21 Comments Category: Food

I finally found the courage to buy dried salty fish from the Asian market a few weeks ago. I have always been hesitant to cook this inside our 2-bedroom apartment because the smell of fried dried salty fish is hard to get rid of even if we have an exhaust system in the kitchen.

But I have missed eating Tuyo for years now. So even if my husband will complain of the smell from cooking it, I bought a pack on the day I went home early from work.

I went home early so I can finish cooking early…and hoped that by the time my Husband is home, the smell will be gone.

I succeeded going home early and finished cooking early, but failed in getting rid of the smell totally (even if I sprayed air freshener). The moment the Husband walked in he said, “Wow, Tuyo!!!!” I guess he missed eating Tuyo with that reaction of his.

It was definitely worth giving in to my craving the minute I tasted the salty, crunchy fish dipped in chopped tomatoes, together with a spoonful of steamed rice. I felt like I was in the comforts of my parent’s home in the Philippines.

The other half of the pack I bought, I cooked last Saturday morning and teamed it up with Champorado (Chocolate Rice Porridge). This time, we ate it for breakfast. The saltiness of the fish and the sweetness of the chocolate rice porridge is one ideal food duo for a cold winter morning.

It’s going to be a while before I cook Tuyo again at home so I savoured every bite and enjoyed it immensely.

After this “brave” attempt at cooking Tuyo (and thankfully nailing it!), my next challenge is to cook Dilis (Anchovies). When that will be, I don’t know. We’ll see how long before I give to my craving.

Tintin in Sydney

6 June 2010 Ibyang Sanchez 6 Comments Category: Aussie Life, Blog Life, Charmed Life of a Mrs, Food

We met via Multiply then moved on to being tweetmates. A few months ago, she messaged me that she will be visiting Sydney. So even before she arrived, we’ve made plans to meet and eat (yes, eat!) and explore the streets of Sydney together.

She’s Tintin, my blogger friend and tweetheart! 🙂

It was a rainy Friday two days ago but we pushed thru with our plans and met up. She came with her little boy Tom and her mom (whom she’s visiting here) and we all had a rainy rendezvous–some crazy adventure really.

Since we cannot do a lot of sightseeing, never even had some outdoor shots, we stayed indoors and stuffed ourselves with yummy treats instead.

First stop was at the Sydney Fish Market for some good ‘ol seafood. We rode the Metro Light Rail (MRL) so Tintin and Tom can experience their first MLR ride.

We had lunch at Deep Seafood and Oyster Bar. As we enjoyed our food, we immersed ourselves in great conversation as we talk of life in the Phils and in Sydney.

For dessert, we took the MLR again and hung out at Darling Harbour for some delicious treats at Lindt Cafe. The whole afternoon, we enjoyed Lindt’s Delice, Profiteroles (a.k.a Cream Puffs) and Chocolate Cafe with Lindt’s equally yummy beverages.

Even if it rained on us all afternoon, the great happy company and conversations we had was enough to feel a lot of sunshine inside my heart. Being able to see Tintin (and Tom and Tintin’s mom) in person was a heartwarming experience. We hope we’d have a few more dates before she goes back to Manila.