Practice-makes-perfect Banana Loaf

I love to bake. I didn't have formal training but I started early courtesy of my Auntie Binky. My earliest baking memories were of me greasing her baking pans when I was seven years old. Until now I'm still using some of her pans that she left with me when she got married.

The recipe for the perfect banana loaf seem to have eluded me. The ones I tried before were either to dense, too heavy or just didn't sit perfectly on my taste buds. I kept experimenting and just last week, I FINALLY baked what for me is the perfect banana bread recipe. 

The recipe is actually for banana cake but most people bake this in loaf pans and they come out like breads hence the name. But it was moist, with just the right sweetness and it didn't use butter or milk so less calories for the figure conscious. It was also not a fussy recipe so even beginners will find the directions very easy to follow. With much pride and joy, I'm sharing with you my practice makes perfect banana loaf recipe. 

Kitchen bonding

I have always been in the look out for good and fool-proof recipes that I can try and most of the time tweak to suit my taste. After checking our pantry, I noticed the unopened bag of quick cooking oats so I decided to look online for an oatmeal cookie recipe. I was also thinking of allowing Leia to try her pudgy little hands at  baking instead of being just a spectator and eater.

I came across this recipe from food.com that said Best Oatmeal Cookies. Not one to immediately believe anything that has the word "best" in it, I read the comments and 90% of them raved about it. So I gathered the ingredients and spent an afternoon with my apprentice. It was good to see her practice her motor skills by mixing and I'm slowly teaching her to appreciate the effort that goes into making something. As an added treat, I told her to put chocolate candies on top of her cookies. The oatmeal cookies came out really good - I liked the variety of textures since it has chopped nuts and raisins aside from a good amount of oatmeal. Leia was obviously very proud of her effort and Mama was even prouder to finish all her work and spend quality time together. :)

My apprentice in action

Teach me how to MAKI

Last night, I attended Tokyo Tokyo's exclusive food tasting invitation at their newest and first branch outside Luzon at SM Lanang Premier. Read my post here.

One of the highlights, aside from the eating part, was a demonstration on how to make Maki, yes, the ever-popular California Maki. Tokyo Tokyo chef Eric called for two volunteers from the group as his apprentices. Bloggers Suzette and Algene got to try first hand under the clear instructions of sensei Eric. I would have wanted to volunteer also but it meant not having the chance to take pictures. When you are a blogger picture picture is a must! So here are the shots I took with some of the instructions from last night's instant cooking class!

1. Wash your hands and wear disposable gloves. Like any other food, preparing Maki entails a lot of handling so be safe.

Bread pudding Ina-Tay style

Two of my favorite TV chefs are Ina Garten and Giada de Laurentiis. I like their relaxed approach to cooking even if you are preparing a full course meal for guests. For those who are scared of the kitchen, their recipes are fairly easy to follow. Nothing fancy, just good homestyle cooking.

I noticed the other day that we had a lot of bread from the previous weekend. When you're eating the same old fare every morning you tend to tire of it after say two days. So I decided to turn the dry ensaymada (brioche if you want to be fancy about it) to bread pudding using Giada's recipe for Panettone Bread Pudding. No worries if you don't have Panettone (a type of Italian bread). I just tweaked it a little bit and it turned out yummmmmyyyy!!! It was not too "egg-y" since I used only six eggs so there was still some texture to it. Meaning, you can still chew on the pudding. This will now be my official "gift" to friends for Christmas! I'm sharing the recipe with all of you before your stale bread becomes moldy. I promise this is very easy and you don't have to slave for like a whole day in the kitchen. You can use any bread you have as long as it doesn't have a filling. From experience, I noticed that the drier or staler the bread, the better the result. Please take note, I said stale, not moldy. If you see dark green or black spots in your bread throw it away!

Menudo ala Ina-Tay

Menudo ala Ina-Tay

I started cooking even before I learned how to cook rice. I remember the many times I've undercooked and overcooked rice but surprisingly, cooking main dishes was easier for me. Being in the kitchen has been a stress-reliever but was put on the side when I became a career woman. Modesty aside, I consider my cooking skills a gift which I try to pass on to whoever wants to learn how to cook. They say all cooks have their own styles, if you ask about mine I wouldn't be able to give you a straight answer. I cook what I feel like eating; I cook my food according to hunch which most often than out turns out to be palatable. hehehe Taking inspiration from my favorite TV Chef Ina Garten aka Barefoot Contessa, I decided to share my tried and tested recipes to all of you with the hope that you won't mind the chopping and occassional oil splats to come up with a dish you can serve to your family. My first recipe would be one of my all-time comfort food - Menudo.