Ref Cake

My wife’s fridge cake recipe…

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Ingredients:

1 200g Grahams Crackers, 1 1/2 cup all purpose cream, 3/4 cup condensed milk, 1 can fruit cocktail.

Procedures:

1.  DO FILLING – In a bowl, combine chilled cream and condensed milk.

2.  LAYER – Lay 8 pieces of crackers in an 8 x 13 rectangular pan. Pour cream on top and top with fruit cocktail. Repeat process to make 2 or 3 layers, ending with the cream and fruit cocktail on top.

3.  CHILL and SERVE.

White Spaghetti

Ingredients:

1 kg spaghetti pasta, 1/4 kilo of chicken, mushroom pieces and stem (1 big can), meat loaves (1 small can), 1 can Campbell’s Cream of Mushroom, 1 big can Evaporated Milk, 4 gloves of garlic, 1 medium size onion, butter, salt and pepper, cheddar cheese.

Cooking instructions:

1.  Cook pasta noodles per package instruction. Drain and set aside.

2.  In a separate container, boil 1/4 kilo of chicken, then shred into small pieces.

3.  In another container, start cooking sauce by sauteing garlic and onions in butter. Add chicken shreds. When chicken is cooked, add mushroom stems and pieces, small diced pieces of meat loaf. Add Campbell’s cream of Mushroom, Evaporated Milk. Season with salt and pepper to taste.

4.  Place cooked sauce on top of pasta. Placed grated cheese on top.

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Jen, this is your request!

Empty Can??

Have you experienced opening a canned good, and found that there was nothing inside? What did you do then?

I just experienced one. What I did, I searched the internet for the customer help desk of the company who made the product. Luckily, I found it and sent a letter through email. I wrote:

Good day! 

My name is Nelson and I’m a loyal customer of San Miguel/purefoods products even here in the UAE. I recently purchased a can of Purefoods Vienna Sausage (140g), but to my dismay, when I opened the can, there were no sausages inside – only water! 

Of course I cannot return it to the grocery shop coz it’s not their fault, especially since I bought an unopened can. I took a picture of the can, but of course I know it’s difficult to claim that it’s empty when somebody can just take out the sausages and take picture of an empty can. 

I am writing not because I wanted to claim anything. I just wanted to remind you guys that you need to check on your quality control because this incident can also be happening to your other customers, and they are just not reporting. Please look into your packaging processes and check if something is being mislooked. 

Thank you and I hope that I get my money’s worth next time I buy products from your company. More power.

 

Nelson Bautista

Abu Dhabi UAE

 The company immediately answered the following day. Their reply says:

Dear Sir:

Greetings from San Miguel Corporation!

We highly appreciate your feedback regarding our products/services. We have noted all information you have initially given us regarding your concern. Also, we already forwarded your concern to the Quality Assurance team of Purefoods Hormel Co.

Should you have other concerns, please let us know. We will be glad to assist you.

Sincerely,

Julie Ann Estalilla
San Miguel Customer Care Center
Tel. (632) 632-2000
Fax (632) 632-3299 Mailbox No. 2005

PUTO (Steamed White Cake)

This is my first try in baking a puto! It was made easy by White King Puto Mix which was also available here in the UAE.

I just followed the cooking directions written on the box, and used our rice cooker to steam the mold. I used cheese instead of butter as topping. And presto! a delicious classic puto! My wife and baby loved it!

Chef of the Year!

My batchmates held our Christmas Party last night. We had lots of parlor games, dancing, singing and gift-giving.

I won the “Chef of the Year” award for my dish, vegetable pastel. It’s the first time I received recognition for my cooking!

We had a nice time! Merry Christmas everyone!

Salad Day

I have gained a lot of friends here in the UAE. We would meet almost weekly in my flat and sing our hearts out on my Mediacom videoke system. We call our gathering “salad day” (which came from the song, Gold, which would usually be part of my repertoire . I think this is our way of getting rid of homesickness.

Last December 8 was one of our longest gigs. I cooked white spaghetti and potato-tuna salad.

Check out this youtube videos from the November 16 session. Kulitan lang!

Fruit Diet

I have been eating quite poorly in nutritional value for the last couple of days. Just this week, I had adobong babsy, adobong chicken, cheeseburgers, hotdogs and  meat loaves. That is because I had to cook food that was easy to prepare,as I did not have much time to stay in the kitchen.

Aside from that, my meal times have been quite erratic. I usually load myself heavy before coming to work because I know the next meal would only be after 7 to 8 hours. My workplace is such a busy and stressful surgical unit so I only get something to eat when it’s less busy.

I feel guilty trying to advise my patients to eat healthy when my packed lunch in the staff fridge contained the oily adobo pork. I’m like a preacher that does not practice what he preaches.

So today is flush out day. I am only eating fruits and juices today to wash out all the toxins. I know I can not maintain this kind of diet for a longer period of time with my kind of work, but I promise to try eating healthy more.

Whew, it’s this time of the year when we write our new year’s resolutions, which get broken eventually. Hehe

Last Night’s Bday Dinner

It was one great evening last night. It was the first time that my flat was filled with people and it was so strange to look at my living room full of guests, when most of the time it was filled by no one but me.

 

People started coming in half past seven. Some came from the morning shifts. Most of my guests were my batch mates – the same people who took the same plane coming here for the first time in UAE. Everybody had their new stories to tell, after having worked in our own respective units for the last three weeks. 

 

My preceptor Jaime came in as well and gave us some info about the in and outs on working in the UAE.

 

I wished there were videoke and some dancing, but I did not have the appliances yet for that. Well, it’s understandable since I have not even worked for a month. I only had my laptop’s media player for the background music of the night.

 

By the way, they loved my world-famous spaghetti! They also liked the buttered veggies! Successful home-cooking!

 

It was a nice evening when my flat was filled with stories, laughters and cheers.

 

After my guests left, I did a quick party “post-mortem” care. 

 

I woke up this morning and made some more cleaning. I’m working three nights starting tonight. Hell, I’m back to reality. 

Bday Dinner Preps

It is 530pm and I am still waiting for my guests to come in. I have prepared dinner for my newly-found friends here in UAE. My birthday is actually on the 28^th, but I will be working on a night shift on that day so it’s impossible to hold it on the actual day.

 

My preparations started about a week when I started buying stuffs for this evening’s affair. Whenever I did my grocery, I include bits and pieces for my planned dinner. I have already bought some canned goods, pastas, paper plates, spoons, forks, cups etc etc. It’s better than doing the shopping in one time when it will be heavier to carry all the plastic bags.

 

The last major shopping was last night at Carrefour. I bought the last items I needed for tonight – chicken drumsticks, rice, and drinks.

 

I started cooking this morning. I prepared the fruit salad first since I need to chill it the whole day, so that it will be cold and ready by evening.

 

I had limited casseroles so I had to really plan my cooking. I cooked the pasta for the spaghetti, and used the same casserole for the spag sauce. Remyr came in around lunch time and helped me with the chopping of vegetables. After cooking the veggie dish, we had the spaghetti for lunch. Remyr had to leave after because he needed to sleep in preparation for his night duty in the evening. He will actually be missing tonight’s event,

 

Karen came in around 3pm and helped me fry the chicken drumsticks after rolling them in a breaded mix. She left later to go to the gym, and promised to come back for dinner. Meanwhile, I cooked rice while starting to clean out the place. I brushed the living room carpet, and scrubbed the bathroom ceramics.

 

I felt the food might not be enough so I called KFC to post an order for a bucket of chicken. The delivery man came in few minutes later with the chicken, pepsi, coleslaw, fries and bread.

 

I found out from a text message that my wife is also having a party back home in the Philippines. Her officemates threw in a surprise baby shower party for her. She received lots of baby gifts, she mentioned. Wow, talk about simultaneous parties…

 

I took a quick shower after that, and started preparing myself for my night.

 

I think everything has been prepared. And now, it’s just the guests that are missing…

 

Top 5 Cancer-causing Foods

1. 1.  HOTDOGS – Because they are high in nitrates, the Cancer Prevention Coalition advises that children eat no more than 12 hotdogs a month. If you can’t live without hotdogs, buy those made without sodium nitrate.

 

1. 2.  PROCESSED MEATS AND BACON – Also high in the same sodium nitrates found in hotdogs, bacon and other processed meats raise the risk of heart disease. The saturated rat in bacon also contributes to cancer.

 

1. 3.  DOUGHNUTS – Doughnuts are cancer-causing double trouble. First, they are made with white flour, sugar and hydrogenated oils, then fried at high temperatures. Doughnuts, says Adams, maybe the worst food you can possibly eat to raise your risk of cancer.

 

1. FRENCH FRIES – Like doughnuts, French fries are made with hydrogenated oils and then fried at high temperatures. They also contain cancer-causing acrylamides, which occur during the frying process. They should be called cancer fries, not French fries, says Adams.

 

1. CHIPS, CRACKERS AND COOKIES – All are usually made with white flour and sugar. Even the ones whose labels claim to be free of trans-fats generally contain small amounts of tran-fats.

 

Source: NewsMax.com

Photo from Jupiterimages.com