Sibuyas Republic

Choosing which to dine while in Baguio City is not a problem as there’s a slew of restaurants to choose from around the city. However, when choosing which diner to go, better consider the topmost important factor- Will there be ample parking? And, please, consider that too when looking for hotel accommodation in the city.

It’s actually better to ride a taxi when you are not so sure if there’s parking area. Or, better still, just walk.

Just as we did when we decided to visit 50′s Diner after the daughter’s graduation at University of the Philippines-Baguio City. Their Leonard Wood Road branch is just a 5-minutes walk from where the daughter stays. So, no need to bring transport. Besides, going out at night is the nicest thing in Baguio. You’ll feel the coldness of the air sweeping up your face. It’s just so romantic walking in at nigh. Just brace your legs for going and down and winding through the streets. Hey, it’s what makes it all the more exciting when you are up visiting the city -The Walking!

And, so after few take of deep breaths, we find ourselves in front of this famed diner in the city.

And, what to expect in this 50′s theme diner? Arts, photos, pink-neon lights, and a vintage jukebox in one corner. I wonder if it’s working.

A lot of Miss Monroe’s golden years photos. And, yeah, Grease…who could forget?

There’s the bar area. We would have wanted to have our seat there, but then, the owner guide us in one corner. Yes, that’s the owner in red shirt. He’s been busy cleaning tables!

Daughter said waiting time here at 50′s Diner takes longer especially on weekends. Because its the hang-out of most tourists, and of course, students and their barkadas.

Good thing that it took us only 5 minutes and we’re guided to our seats. And while waiting for our foodies, we enjoyed our sips….

Then, we realized, we shouldn’t have taken our drinks first because we’re surprised at the humongous servings of meals served on us….

The little girl ordered their budget meal Mama’s Kidd which cost 95 Php.

The daughter takes on one of the diner’s best seller -Guys on the Hood for 130 Php a plate.

Me and the hubs shared this Full House plate which cost 180 Php. As you can see, there’s two servings of spicy chicken wings, macaroni, and 2 servings of deep fried spring rolls consisting of crunchy cucumber, carrots and ripe mangoes -It becomes my instant favorite!

Honestly, the taste of their food is just average. I’m sure there’s a lot of other restaurants in the city that would have offered better tasting food. But, the affordability of their servings (huge servings) must be the reason why the diner has become very popular. Not to mention the novelty of what the place has become.

50’s Diner
92 Upper General Luna Road, Corner Brent Road,
Baguio City, Benguet, Philippines
(0916) 659-5555

The afternoon heat was unbearable. As always, the kids were all tucked in our room where the AC is keeping them a little colder. However, they all raced back to the kitchen as soon as they smell the aroma of what was baking in the oven.

Cheesecakes! Made 2 dozens of this easy-peasy cheese cupcakes.

Here’s the simple procedure.

Ingredients:

2 cups all-purpose flour
2 tablespoons baking powder
3 large eggs
3/4 cup butter, softened
3/4 cup fresh milk
1 cup refined sugar
1 pinch salt
1 tablespoon vanilla (optional)
1 cup cream cheese (I used Philadelphia cream cheese)
1 cup grated cheddar cheese for toppings

Cooking Procedure:

• Preheat oven at 375 degree F.
• Sift together flour and baking powder. Add in the pinch of salt. Set aside.
• In a bowl, beat the butter on low speed until thick, slowly add in the eggs. One at a time.
• Add in the sugar, milk, and vanilla. Beat for 2-3 minutes.
• Then, slowly add the flour mixture. Beat at medium speed for 5 minutes.
• Fold in the cream cheese using the spatula. No need to use the beater/mixer.
• Slowly pour the mixture into the muffin cups.
• Add grated cheddar cheese on top.
• Bake for 20-25 minutes or until toothpick comes out clean.

TIP: You can also make frosting out of the remaining cream cheese. Beat together cream cheese, butter and 2 tablespoons water with mixer on low speed until well blended. Frost the cupcakes.

However, I decided to just go with the cheese on top because the kids always prefer their cupcakes straight from the oven -hot, moist and Oh-so-cheesy!

What a blessed Friday afternoon. Enjoy your weekend!

Twas another lazy and scorching hot summer Saturday afternoon. To beat the heat, the eldest daughter prepared “black gulaman” to quench our thirst. While she was cooling down the “gulaman” (soft jelly) unto a mold, I hastily prepared and cooked up “banana-langka turon”.

Perfect tandem…

Right after preparing and cooking, we headed outside to the garden and enjoy the coolness of air while indulging in these sweet treats. Love this kind of staycation -weekend bonding with the family, al fresco dining…nothing could have been better.

The quench-buster black gulaman drink. Served ice cold.

Nothing beats these classic Pinoy foodies. Easy to prepare. Easy on the budget. Sweet treats to enjoy lovely Saturday afternoon with the family.

As it appears, there’s no stopping everyone in leading a healthy lifestyle. More and more creative ways of preparing healthy food are on the rise. Latest on the list? Juicing.

Google Image

Juicing fruits and vegetables is an excellent way to satisfy your daily intake requirement which is two whole fruits and three veggies per day. By juicing your fruits and veggies, you do not only offer an alternative way of serving them, but you can also mix in a set of fruits and veggies in one drink. So that’s taking in different kinds of nutrients in just one big gulp!

Warning for Diabetics

But while fruit and vegetable juices are undeniably healthy, this wonder drink may not be suitable for some people, like those who have diabetes, high blood pressure, and high cholesterol. This is because juices, especially those fruit juices, have higher sugar and fructose contents. It is best that diabetics limit their intake of these kinds of drinks until they normalize their bodies’ sugar levels.

Make Use of Those Pulps

But after extracting the juice from the fruits or veggies, what do you do with those pulps? There are a lot of ways you can do with them so that they won’t be put to waste just like that. These pulps can make a healthy ingredient to muffins and cookies. Or better yet, add them into your juice itself! Most of the nutrients in fruits and veggies are on their skin and pulp, so it would be just a waste if you just throw these after extracting the juice.

Juicing is fun and easy. Who knows, this could even be good bonding activity for the family!

After sharing you the Mango Pie (which was baked), I want to share another fruit pie. However, instead of baking, I had opted to fry them in the hopes of achieving that crispier dough a la Jollibee pies

And, look what I got after deep frying the pies on a very hot oil…

Crispier and more tastier fruit pies…

Here’s the quick recipe guide:

For pie dough: Check here my easy-peasy basic pie crust recipe.

For filling: Since I have sweetened jackfruit in the fridge, I decided to make it as pie filling combined with sweetened banana (saging saba).

Procedure:

• Knead the dough, then form into whatever shape you desire. Place the filling near the center of each form dough then seal.
• Deep-fry into a very hot oil. Fry for 2-3 minutes.

Let me share you the difference between frying and baking pies. (applies also to meat pies)

Texture. I must say, the difference between baked pies and fried pies are in the texture. Frying pies will result in a more crispier dough. With baked pies, the texture will depend on how minutes the pies stay in the oven. More minutes means you’ll have a crunchier dough. While baking the pies in shorter minutes will achieve a chewy dough.

Concern for health. Naturally, frying means using oil. If you are one who’s been avoiding oils and other fats, baking pies is more the better choice.

Taste. Pies, whether baked or fried, are equally delicious. However, frying intensifies the flavor of the butter (in the dough mix) which is then mixed into the filling which makes the it more flavorful and moist.

Honestly, me and my family prefers frying the pies.

What about you? Have you tried making your own pies? It’s a great snack for the whole family.

Maybe, this is the most common dessert most Filipinos love to prepare. Why? It’s a no-bake, no-fuss preparation. It’s a super easy sweet treat that everybody loves to indulge.

Including my family. I guess, we’ve come up with more versions than I can remember -we made ripe mangoes as topping, and Oreo topping, too.

Even kids can do this dessert. Boy! They love doing this dessert. So, I am hands-free. Er, I have to do the dishwashing

Anyways, here are the ingredients.

2 packs crushed Grahams
2 package of All-Purpose cream (chill and mix until thick)
2 cups fruit mix
2 cups honey (I use pancake syrup)

Preparation:

• Mix together the crushed Grahams and the honey/syrup.
• Press half of the mixture into a pan.
• Pour in half of the cream.
• Place the remaining Grahams mixture then pour the cream.
• Then, top with fruit mix.

Done!

Let’s indulge with this pretty simple dessert.

Let kids do kitchen preps.

Thank you kids for helping me out. It always feels great knowing that kids show interest in cooking. It’ll be a lot of mess when kids take active part in kitchen preps. Never mind the mess. What’s more important is the learning experience they’ll reap out of the activity.

From the time the husband gifted me a small stand-up mixer, I had been painstakingly trying hard to bake. I began with cookies, cupcake, loaf bread, pies, easy cakes and more. Oftentimes, I get heartbreaking results with my “creations”. But, that doesn’t stop me from moving forward to learn more of baking.

We love to eat. We’re sweet-tooths here. So, instead of buying from bakery shops, it’ll give me a lot of savings if I’m going to bake all the goodies we crave.

Thank heavens that I fared well baking this carrot cake. It’s my no-fuss, no-fancy-ingredients-take on the classic carrot cake.

The ingredients:

2 cups flour
2 teaspoons baking powder
1/2 teaspoon salt
2 cups white sugar
2 eggs
1/3 cup milk
1 1/3 cups vegetable oil
2 teaspoons cinnamon powder (optional)
4 cups grated carrots

 Procedure:

• Preheat oven to 350 degrees F. Grease a 9 x 13 inch pan.
• Sift together the flour, baking powder, salt and cinnamon. Set aside.
• In a large bowl, mix together the sugar and eggs until thick then, stir in the oil.
• Gradually mix in the sifted dry ingredients.
• Fold in the carrots.

• Then, spread evenly into the greased pan.
• Bake for 30-35 minutes.

DONE!

Honestly, I was surprised at how it turned out. The cake is soft and moist despite the simplicity of the ingredients.

’nuff said. Let’s eat. There’s a whole tray to indulge.

I’m a happy newbie baker. I don’t have to spend more on bakery goods every time we visit the city.

Have you tried baking at home? What your favorite dish to bake?

A simple Good Friday lunch turned out to be a feast. My boys asked for grilled tilapia and some eggplants. So, I told them I’d cooked some “buro” -burong kanin na may isda (fermented rice with fish). It’s a perfect dip for the fish and veggies.

In case you are wondering what is a buro and how to prepare this local gravy. Hop on to here.

Have a blessed Good Friday. Let us keep in our hearts how Jesus had suffered and died on the cross to pay for our sins in order for us to have Eternal Life.

Here goes the “langka” fruit we picked from the tree…

Much as we enjoyed eating the sweet and fresh fruit, I had to sweetened the rest so I can store them on the fridge. I just added a little sugar (refined sugar) and the julienned jackfruit and let boil for 15 minutes. It’s done…

To make our Holy Thursday afternoon quite ‘alive”, I cook some “turon” (saba bananas rolled in lumpiya wrapper) and added sweetened langka pieces into the filling. Then, deep fried.

Merienda time!

Did you know that eating jackfruit has this many health benefits?

Vitamin Content. Aside from jackfruit as a good source of Vitamin C, it also contains Vitamin A, thiamin, riboflavin, calcium, potassium, iron, sodium, zinc and niacin among many other nutrients.

Natural Antioxidants. Lignans, isoflavones and saponins are naturally found in jackfruit. These are said to have potent antioxidant properties.  These phytonutrients have wide ranging health benefits which can prevent cancer cells from forming in the body. These nutrients can also help lower blood cholesterol and can help combat the signs of aging.

Aid in Weight Loss. Aside from the vitamins and significant nutrients jackftuit has, it can also benefit those who are watching thie food intake. Jackfruit has a low caloric content -100 grams of jackfruit contains 94 calories only.

Halo-halo has become a Filipino culture. And so, roadside halo-haluan in our community sprouts like mushrooms. For 15 peso per 12-ounce disposable cup, you get that indulgent and icy cold Pinoy dessert. Nothing beats summer here than a glass of halo-halo.

And, to make sure I do not spend 15 pesos x 5 or 7 (when niece and nephew makes palibre) a day on halo-halo, I get to prepare our own halo. It’s like “do your own halo-halo, make sawa-sawa on the ingredients”.

I bought sago and powdered gulaman on the market and cooked them accordingly. I have to cook the sago with a little brown sugar, just to make sure it’s clean and safe to eat. I also cook sweet potatoes (a.k.a kamote) and saba bananas -sweetened them with brown sugar and pour in few drops of vanilla just for flavor. Then, the leche flan -I try to cook as many as 6 llaneras (aluminum mold) of this dessert either for halo-halo or as dessert. We’re really a family of sweet tooths.

From those sangkap (the red mongo beans and nata de coco are store bought), the rest of the family can enjoy “Eat-All-You-Can-Halo-Halo).

Beat the summer heat. Enjoy halo-halo. Indulge!

Any time of the day.

PS.

I must tell you how excited the kids can it be preparing their own halo-halo. One kid doesn’t like kamote, one kid doesn’t like mongo beans. However, they tend to add in more of their favorite ingredients especially the leche flan and sweetened bananas.

They even ask me to cook ube (purple yam). Geez! Can they have enough?