Amateur baker

• No bake chocolate-almonds-cream cheese cookie squares
• My first apple pie
• Oatmeal cookies and a cookie fest
• A cheesecake and self-frosting cupcakes
• Chocolate crinkles
• Salmon, cheese and cabbage quiche
• Chocolate and almond cookie squares
• Turkey empanada
• The most sinful chocolate cake
• Blueberry and apple squares

Noche Buena

• Blueberries and cream
• “Bibingka” and “puto bumbong”
• Fried lapu-lapu with pineapple sauce
• Corn muffins a la Kenny Rogers
• Rice pudding with custard topping
• Ernest’s pancit canton with bacon-cut pork
• Chicken embutido
• Peach pata hamonado
• Chicken in sour cream
• Pre-Christmas callos

School lunchbox

• Back to school again
• Bangus a la pobre
• Butterscotch and chocolate fudge combo brownies
• Buttered Pork Guinataan
• School lunch: chicken adobo fried rice
• Tapsilog in the school lunchbox
• Creamed pork, ham, carrots and celery
• Blue marlin with hoisin sauce and sesame seeds
• Butter-fried fish and corn
• Shrimps, cabbage and bell pepper stir fry

Frances loaf from Julie’s Bakeshop

When Julie’s Bakeshop opened a branch along Circumferential Road in Antipolo, we became regular customers because of its onion bread. It was basically pan de sal but with chopped onions mixed into the dough. The aroma was indescribably sweet and spicy. One time, we hosted an afternoon get-together with cousins and, when they arrived, I was toasting the split and buttered onion bread in the oven to serve with the callos I had prepared. The aroma had wafted through the house and my cousins went straight into the kitchen to ask what was that that they could smell.

Unfortunately, production of the onion bread was discontinued after a few months. It probably wasn’t a very saleable item because Filipinos prefer their bread sweet but otherwise plain. I found nothing else quite as interesting at Julie’s bakeshop and all we’d buy were loaves of white bread for sandwiches. Until one day when we went there and found all the loaves of white bread sold out. The only alternative was an unsliced bread called Frances loaf. Since we didn’t have any choice, we bought one. My, my, my… were we glad we did! Frances loaf turned out to be pan de sal in a loaf–very, very soft inside but crusty outside. And, like the pan de sal, it was sprinkled with bread crumbs.

The best way to enjoy Frances loaf is to buy it warm and still uncut. Slice it at home and serve with butter and jam for breakfast or with saucy dishes like callos for lunch or dinner.

In the mood for more food?

• Vinaigrette as a dipping sauce
• Cinnamon-flavored French toast
• Tamtanco’s ube and Good Shepherd’s strawberry jam
• Peanut butter
• Watermelon Smoothie
• Spicy Steamed Fish
• Escabecheng Tonto
• Adobong hito sa gata
• Penang Hill Restaurant
• Pasta pronto