Pâtissier's Good Company

Throughout the months I've been baking/making pastries. I've somehow put off giving some to my closest friends. Friends that made my high school life memorable. And I thought why not, it's not always we see each other. And in the span of two months of free time (summer), we didn't see each other. Well, aside from occasional hi's when we pass by each other at a mall or at an event.

It's not really our fault that we didn't see each other at all during our summer vacation. For the first month, I was away, out of the country, and I can't say if they had fun without me. In which case, if they did, they're gonna pay for it. Just kidding. And just when I was heading back to the motherland, someone from our group left for the States, as well. Nice going, Lys.

Numbers in our small band of friends have diminished over the years. Slowly, one person would leave our group. Justin left for Canada, and some others just left. Simply put, they found other friends. It's not the same knowing we've gotten smaller and smaller, but spending time with these people have always been a delight. A night with these guys have always set me wanting for more.

Last night, the gang finally got together. Missing only our one friend, Alex. And I made something special for them.

I've always had a fascination to baking. And over the couple months of making many a pastry, I've always craved about making a Cookie Dough Pie. I saw one from an article from Yahoo!, but when I searched and searched for the recipe for it on the website. I couldn't find it. So, I googled it. Pop one that looks and sounds better, behold the Cookie Dough Cream Pie, c/o Love and Olive Oil.

What's the difference? The Cream. Duh.

So, the night before, I made the pie. If you want the recipe, click here.

Sorry for the picture quality, I had no better camera

Started out with the crust.



Everything was going well, until I forgot to actually bake the crust. Baking the crust is essential to give it that crunch, and it'll help retain it's shape. I've made a no bake cheesecake a while back, which gave me the idea that I didn't need to bake the crust. Well, lesson learned.

Mixing the cookie dough

Next thing to do was the cookie dough, the highlight of the recipe. I had some left over mini chocolate chips from making muffins, so I really didn't spend much on making it. And these things were eggless, so you could just eat it straight from mixing. Or, that's what I read. After putting about half of the cookie dough on the crust, I still had some left. More on that later.

Then some kind of pudding, layered on top of the cookie dough. Then the cream. I had some problems with the cream though, it wouldn't make peaks, that just gave me a headache. So, I thought, whatever. I'll make it better next time. Promise.

Here's how it looks like:

Already half eaten, my friends enjoyed it. Or so they told me. I went home with some still on the plate, decided to pass by my friends house to give him what was left of it.

Thanks Love and Olive Oil. Next thing on my list is a Chocolate Chess Pie. But that's for another special occasion.

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Leftover cookie dough? Roll it up into balls and coat with something good! Coated it with the leftover pudding from the pie. I wanted to coat it in chocolate, but it got burnt. Oh well. Pretty good anyway. Recipe for the Chocolate Chip Cookie Dough Truffles, the inspiration for my Cookie Dough Pudding Pops, here.

These things would look so much better with lollipop sticks.  

#SunScream

Up until I got home a few moments ago, it was the Summer SunScream. An event that gives you live bands and the parties on the beach. I attended and I tweeted constantly. Here are the highlights of last night, based on my tweets:

"@goddre: Let's go #SunScream!"

-- This one is pretty self-explanatory. I was very excited to attend, hearing all about the happenings of last year. I couldn't miss out again.

"@goddre: If you see someone wearing a shirt, shorts, slippers. And he gas* a backpack on. You know he's going to #sunscream."

-- At this time I was at Ayala, killing time with friends, one of them was also my ride going there. Of course, you really could not tell that based on one's clothes, he would be going, but it would just make sense if he did.

"@goddre: At the entrance, sipping on some liquid courage. #sunscream"

-- We were very lucky to have parked right outside the gate of Tambuli, where it was being held. Even though it was still a long walk getting to the event, it beats having to park farther. Once we got to parking, we had our drinks.

"@goddre: You sir, have failed journey. #sunscream"

-- There were live bands performing on the stage. And this one band performed Don't Stop Believing by Journey. Needless to say, I didn't like it. And I'm pretty sure I'm not alone there.

"@goddre: Getting sand on our asses #sunscream"

-- My friends met other friends there, and they were hanging out by the beach, drinking and just lying around in the sand. We joined in.

"@goddre:Party rock! #sunscream"

-- Party Rock Anthem by LMFAO has become popular among party goers in Cebu. And the music video for it has become a viral hit since it's release. One night, I just heard the song and became a big fan, and I wanted to learn how to shuffle. A friend and I had planned on a "Shuffle-off" but it never happened cause she wasn't there yet when the song came up. This was the time I really got into it. There was a pretty girl in front of me who was shuffling too. So that was nice.

"@goddre: Recharging before heading back inside. #sunscream"

-- I had gotten really thirsty from all the jumping up and down and whatnot. And we decided to go out back to the car. On the way we got lost, but eventually we found our way back. When I got to the car, I chugged on water like I was deprived of it for days. 

"@goddre: This is for the broken. For those who came here to forget! #sunscream"

-- This is a translated version of what Urbandub vocalist said right before singing The Fight is Over. It sounded very assuring and I shouted the lyrics, like everyone else did.

"@goddre:  I hate when one guy's mood changes everyone elses. #sunscream"

-- My friend got pretty upset about some things and it brought the group down. It didn't really help much that he was driving and he wanted to go home early.

"@goddre: Kinda bummed. And my feet are killing me. It's time to retire. We'll be home in an hour or so. #sunscream"

-- I was pretty bummed about having to leave early. And this was at about 3 'o clock in the morning. But a friend of mine gave some valid points and we knew it was really time to leave. 

"@goddre: Overcongested much. We just left the resort. That took about 30 minutes. #sunscream"

-- "We'll be home in an hour or so" didn't really happen. Getting out the resort proper took about 30 minutes alone and getting into the main road another 20 or 30. But when we got to the main road, it was smooth sailing from there. 

"@goddre: Well, the sun has risen and I just got good*. All is well. #sunscream"

-- When we were driving towards my house, it started to get brighter. And when I got home it was officially morning. It's nice to end things with a start. 

If you analyze the mood of my tweets, you can sense it going high then going low. You can check my tweets here. There's a pattern in there somewhere, overall I did enjoy myself. But my Summer SunScream experience was a bit lacking. 

Definitely enough to get me stoked for the party next year.

*The horror of misspelling a word. I use my T9 dictionary to text and as you see, this didn't turn out right.

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"@goddre: I'm just proud to say that I shuffled to party rock anthem. #sunscream"

-- An accomplishment indeed. 

Grekking / Trilling

The assholes have been itching to go on an adventure. And time has finally come for us to. The assholes to go on a trek. Two of the assholes, Michael and Kelly, have gone to this area once before. And although their first tries were filled with hardships and a pair of destroyed running shoes, they still wanted to go because the assholes were now complete.

Trek  or  Trekking is a journey taken usually on foot. It is a way to get out and have your own little adventure. You get to venture out to places not normally accessible to transport. And you get an intense workout in the process, courtesy of all the walking. 

The trek is offered to the public by the Adventure Cafe, which is located all the way up at Balamban. The trip going to Balamban alone will take an hour, and the trek itself an hour and half. At least, that's what they told me. Or, those was measured by optimists.

Naturally, the trek had to start out early. Start out too late, and get burnt in the process. The heat of the sun will likely be a burden. Albeit, not to all. The assholes met at JY Square. It was a common place before we could head out to Balamban. Before going up to the Adventure Cafe, we had bought our supplies, like water, meat, and others. We had planned to grill our food there. A sort of reward for when we get to our destination, The Falls.

After everything was set, we set out to our initial destination, the Adventure Cafe. It is where we will procure our guide. A thought was planned that we go to the Falls on our own, but deemed it too dangerous for the likes of us. The trip to the Adventure Cafe took less than an hour. I didn't actually time it, but I'd think that it was so. The road going there was filled with fog. We literally could hardly see where we were going. I was happy that I wasn't driving. It would have been killer, and it would have been a bitch to my wallet.

Agricultural Beauty

Going there, it's a pretty nice sight when you look outside your window. It's not like to see such agricultural beauty. But then again, I wouldn't know, I'm no farmer. I cannot really judge whether their landscape was better suited for whatever they were harvesting.

The Adventure Cafe looked like a small house. Their entrance was decorated with tiki-like totems to signify adventure, I suppose. It is important to note that trekking is not the only thing being offered by the cafe. They also offer zipline, rappelling, and caving(You go to a cave, complete with a helmet already equipped with it's own headlight.) And for those just seeking to relieve stress, the Adventure Cafe also offers you to buy breakable plates and other dinnerware to throw at a wall. And no, I am not joking.

The Adventure Café

When we got there, we had found out that we could not push through with our plans without a reservation which was to be made three days prior the trip. But it was possible to, only that our only problem was the weather. The trail towards the falls would be very damp because of the rain. In addition to the muddy and slippery terrain, it would have been very hard to see because of the fog, which in judging from where we were at the Adventure Cafe was pretty heavy.

It was about eight o' clock and we decided to just wait it out until nine. And if the road wouldn't clear by then, we planned to wait it out until ten. A quarter to nine and the road remained the same, and we gave up. We decided to just suspend our little trip and just go to one of our houses to eat our meat. My house.

Foggy road

The road was pretty straightforward, but the fog hindered us to drive a little faster. On our way back, we bought corn for us to eat. Martin had an obsessive-compulsive thing about eating corn, as do many others. He ate the corn cob by the row, and I decided to follow suit. Partially because of boredom. And I had managed to do it, and the corn looked clean. I think I'm gonna do that from now on.

Martin choppin'

When we got to my house, we were greeted by my grandmother who was more than happy to let us stay and have lunch there. She even helped out in starting the fire. Even though we wanted to everything ourselves, starting out the fire on our own would have a challenge for us not very well-trained in the kitchen. 

Me grillin'

With everything we had prepared for our trip going to waste anyway, we decided to use everything we bought and/or prepared which included a can of spam. So we raged on, going with Spam fried rice and Grilled pork belly, which we are proud to say to have marinated ourselves. And with Kelly and Martin in charge of the Spam fried rice, Me of the grilling, and Michael of washing the dishes after and occasional photographer, opting instead to play Portal 2. I can't blame him, the game is awesome.

Kelly fryin'

  

THE VERDICT: 

2-kgs of Grilled Pork Belly

Spam fried rice(center) and Sardines (top left)

Our dishes were pretty good. Well prepared and cooked, which was also validated by my grandmother. So you can't beat that. If we weren't gonna climb a mountain of brutal terrain, we were gonna conquer a mountain of pork belly. 

We didn't.

Last Night Around the City that Never Sleeps

It's my last few days here in New York, and that means I won't be back until a year or two. It's a pretty long time. So my cousins and I arranged a little get together for one last night out in the town. And my one cousin decided for us to go to Manhattan's East Village.

The East Village is pretty much known for it's awesome nightlife. It's a nice place to go out with friends, if you have the money and the time. And we ate at a place named Baoguette. It's a small Vietnamese restaurant that is best known for its sandwiches. And I had the Grilled Pork Sandwich, which was good paired up with it's sauce.

And eager for some cheesecake, we walked around and searched for a good place to have some dessert. And after an inspiring story about a friend working in that place. We ate at said place, which was simply named Spot. It's been named as Best Dessert by the Zagat survey, so we thought it'd be a good idea to eat there. The place was nice. It had a good vibe and atmosphere to the area. And what started off as bright lights, soon turned dim and was replaced by candlelights.

The Soft Cheesecake out of the glass

 My cousin and I had a Soft Cheesecake. And my other cousin had a cupcake.  The cheesecake was not at all as we had expected. We had anticipated that it would actually be a slice of cheesecake. But it was whipped cream cheese on one end, with passion fruit foam on top. And on the other end of the dessert were oranges, blueberries, and crushed nuts encased in a glass lying on its side, which is removed by the waiter if you want him to. He says that it was easier to eat without the glass - no shit. The cupcake was, well, a cupcake. 

The dessert was okay. I wouldn't say that I didn't enjoy it, but I would say that it was not what I had expected. The passion fruit foam was not my kind of taste though. But the oranges, blueberries, and crushed nuts paired with a spoonful of cream cheese was pretty good. It would've helped us if our cousin had told us earlier that her friend had actually left the place to find better opportunities elsewhere. 

My one cousin had to leave early to go to work. So my one cousin and I were alone to roam wherever. And we went to 14th St. We went to some stores and checked some things out. I was looking for a wallet and my cousin suggested some other store which was a small walk from where we were. And as we head to our location, I found a store I had been searching for, the Guitar Center. I'm sure my friend would be happy to know I finally got something for him, but would be disappointed to find out it's less in quantity. 

We got to our location, but could not find a good wallet. So, we left the store and decided to have some frozen yogurt at Pinkberry. They had a variety of flavors of frozen yogurt. And I had the mango flavored frozen yogurt, and it was good. I topped it off with yogurt chips and dark chocolate crisps. 

An hour or so later, we decided to leave Pinkberry. The store was about to close, or it certainly looked like it. And we walked across the street, got down to the subway station and we went on our separate ways. She was headed uptown, while I, downtown.

As I waited for the train to arrive, I put on my earphones. And switched on my iPod. Sooner or later, the train had got there. And as it slowly parked on the station, my gaze was met with a man wearing black on the opposite side of the train's doors. His stare was strong, angry even. He was very eager to get out off the train. Finally, the doors opened. And as he stepped off the train, he went out of his way to really shove me, real hard. 

I did not fall and I did not argue. My first instinct was to check my belongings and see if the bastard who pushed me was a thief, rather than just a douche. And I let out a sigh of relief, although a little pissed. And as I sat down and I contemplated why he would hold such a grudge to someone he doesn't know at all. At least, I wasn't stabbed or anything and he didn't steal any of my belongings. 

Subway train headed home.

Half an hour later, I was at home. Safe and sound from the outside. The guy sitting down on the chair looking pissed, is another story. But what can you do?

Two days left. New York, you let it be so hard to love you.

Great Adventure

Saturday morning, I had to wake up early. We were gonna head out to Six Flags Great Adventure, the Warner Bros. counterpart to Disneyland. The plan to go there was thought of a week prior. Going with people who didn't want to go on the rides, there was a lot of pressure for me to.

We drove out at about 8 o'clock in the morning, but we made a couple of stops before going on the actual trip. We went by Queens then to Chinatown, then to the Holland Tunnel, to New Jersey. Two hours and a sore butt later, we were there. When we got out of the car, I was shivering. It was really cold, with the temperatures at about 48 degrees Fahrenheit (8-9 degrees Celsius.)

The Kingda Ka (view from the parking lot)

When we finally got inside, the first thing on the agenda was the Kingda Ka. It is the longest and steepest ride in the world, with a height of 456 ft, a drop of 418 ft, and a total length of 3,118 feet. Why ride this one first? To get it over with, really. This was not my first ride on a tall rollercoaster. I had tried riding the Steel Eel which was from a different amusement park. The Steel Eel's drop is 150 feet, so the Kingda Ka was three times as high. Hesitant, I got in the train, got locked in place and went on my way to the longest 30-something seconds of my life.

The ride did not start out like any ride as I've experienced. The ride started then stopped. After a few seconds, it fired up (and I've read at about 206 kmh) towards it's high peak then slowed for a moment then faster going down. The descent was not at all simple. Although it went straight downward, it turned on it's axis a couple of times. When we got to the bottom and one hill later, the ride was over. The ride took less than a minute, but it was the scariest moment of my life.

Superman: Ultimate Flight
view from the parking lot

Next we got on the Superman: Ultimate Flight. This ride was actually not that bad. The thing special about this ride was that the passengers were suspended, and our view, when riding, was the ground. Imagine how Superman flies. This was the best ride for me. Although, I disliked the ascent. I felt like I could really fall to the ground below me. From the view I had, I could really die. Still, we enjoyed the ride and went on it twice.

The Batmobile enclosed
in the middle of  "Gotham"

Then we had lunch. This was a good idea because I kinda didn't want to ride anymore, not that I was scared but of the weather. And it started to rain, more good news for me. Most outside rides were unable to operate during rainfall because it may cause discomfort to the passengers. It might possibly be because of the electronics configured. But going to Six Flags without going to any other rides would be a waste, so we went to another ride, an indoor ride. The Dark Knight.


I liked the Dark Knight. The ride was enclosed in a facility. And before we got in the train, we were treated to a little drama with a mock news channel featuring Harvey Dent (played by Aaron Eckhart) and it being attacked by the Joker. Then the ride ensued. The place was dark and was decorated with symbols paying tribute to the Joker.

After that, we went off to something small. A ride called Jolly Rogers. And judging from the name, you can just imagine how this ride went. But it was not something you underestimate, especially if you have something in your stomach. It's like a carousel, but faster and with hills. Not for the light-headed.

Skull Mountain

Another kiddie ride but not to be messed with. I forgot the name, but it was a good ride. It would be a ride I would go on a lot and not have any real problems with. Then the last ride I went to was Skull Mountain. From the name itself, you could imply that the ride was in or on a mountain-like building with a skull. In this case, it was inside. You go in a long hallway before you get to the actual ride. The ride was like the Dark Knight, BUT there were no lights. Not at all. So, you would not see if you were going down or left or right, or upside down. The ride ended quick. And we were on our way.

With the bad weather, we decided to call it a day. And be on our way back home. On the car ride home, I just fell asleep knowing that I rode the tallest and steepest rollercoaster in the world.

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Front Row footage of the Kingda Ka

Food Trip in the USA

Every traveler has their own reasons to travel. Business or pleasure, one will ask. No matter what the reason, wherever you are, you will have an interest in food. And it's not like you have a choice anyway. A person does kind of have to eat.

Gaining weight is hard to avoid especially if you're here, in the USA. But there are special circumstances here in New York City(NYC). NY's laws require most, if not all, restaurants or food chains to display exactly how much calories there are in the food, on the menu. This is a plus for me, to watch how many I am taking in.

View from the Brooklyn Heights Promenade

Just last Monday, I had just arrived and I decided to walk around the Brooklyn neighborhood. I did so, to know if I still know my way around, from the last time I was here. And the first place I went was to a park, the Brooklyn Heights Promenade. There you can see the Manhattan skyline, as well as views of the Brooklyn Bridge and the Manhattan Bridge.

Small Yogurt with 3 toppings

After walking around the promenade, I decided to walk around again. A few minutes have only just gone by and I saw a familiar sight, Red Mango. Coming from the Philippines, I was well unaware that the franchise was from here. I had just thought that it was the Yogurt craze of my home country. Well, I know now that it originate here in the US. So, I ordered it take-out and finished it while walking back to the apartment.



Earlier in the day, my cousin and I had planned to meet up to eat some Popeye's. Popeye's chicken was a thing between my cousin, my sister and I. It was because that our cousin had not been able to eat Popeye's before, at the time. And with the apartment so close to a branch, my sister and I could just walk for about a minute or two to get there. And now with our cousin living closer to where she used to, she could go there as well. We both ordered a 2-piece chicken with our own side dish. I had a mashed potato, and my cousin ordered rice as a side. The whole meal was all-in-all about 1100 worth of calories. The only thing missing from this reunion was my sister who is still in the Philippines.

I chowed down on the meal and somehow regretted ordering it, but decided not to think much of it. It was not all the time I would be eating it, and these reunions don't happen as much. We stayed awhile and chat. After the meal, we part ways and I went back home to the apartment. I got home, fell asleep for about an hour or so, then went to the gym.

Our Olive Garden Dessert

On Wednesday night, we went to the infamous Olive Garden. I had heard much about it, mostly because I watch Conan and he cracks up jokes about the place. I ate a five cheese ziti al forno. And that was about 1000 calories also. But I consumed only half, and opted to bring it home and have it for lunch the next day. They ordered dessert, a chocolate cake. I had forgotten what the exact name was. I took a bite and stopped there. No one finished the cake, my grandmother(technically. She is not that old. ) took it home with her.

Times Square from the Red Steps

Looking outside from where we were seated, I thought the outside was still day. It was already about seven in the evening. Having that sorta thing here is not that unusual, I was only unaccustomed to it. But when I got outside, I had been proven wrong. It was not daytime at all, it was just the bright lights of Times Square.

Every store there had something to prove. They went all out in their presentation. And we went to the Disney store and Toys 'R Us.


Earlier today, I decided to go to Chinatown to eat in a restaurant my sister and I use to go. We would order a beef tendon noodle soup there. But when I got there, it was closed. I was a little disappointed, but moved on. I ate at Wo Hop. The restaurant was kind of hidden, you had to go down a flight of stairs. Although it was that way, the restaurant was well known.

37 Spring St., NYC

After my little adventure in Chinatown, I went to the other side, to Little Italy. Little Italy was kind of in the middle of Chinatown, and when you pass through to go there, you can quickly distinguish that you were not in Chinatown anymore. The only reason I went to Little Italy was to get to a little place called Rice to Riches. They offered rice pudding in a variety of flavors like Sex, Drugs, and Rocky Road, Chocolate Chip Flirt, and many more. I ordered the two and went on my way back home.


I have eaten a lot of food, here in NYC. And this was just my first week. I have to keep control and not let food take over me. I hope. Roughly three more weeks to go.

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It means what it means. Taken from the front door of Rice to Riches.

Brace for Landing

My stay in airports are not my favorite ones, neither are the actual plane trips. But they bring me to where I need to be, so I can't be that hard on 'em. One good thing about stopovers are that I can say I've been to that country, you know, technically. By that logic, I've been to South Korea and Hong Kong.

This time around, I stopped at Hong Kong, one of the most beautiful airports around. It really can't compare to the NAIA (Ninoy Aquino Int'l Airport) in the Philippines. The airports I've been to can't really be compared to the NAIA. To do so would be unfair, really.

PS3 Demo at Hong Kong Int'l Airport

The Hong Kong Int'l Airport was beautiful. And even though I was there for only 2-3 hours, I felt that I could take a vacation to the airport. There were a few computers there that were available for public use. You were limited to 15 mins only, enough time to log-in to facebook and twitter. There was also WiFi available there. So even if I wasn't using the public computers, I was still online using my phone. One of the highlights there was really the free PS3 demo. I played awhile. As awesome as a PS3 was it's all that it was, demos. And sooner or later, my flight to NY was boarding and I prepared myself, and went on the plane.

Picture taken from the Outside Camera from the plane.

The flights from the Philippines to NY are one of the longest in the world, clocking in an estimated 18 hours in total, not including all the stops. I was glad I took Cathay Pacific this time. From the last time I had taken Cathay Pacific, they have had a major upgrade. One of the biggest plus was the vast library they have in the In-Flight Entertainment which I desperately needed. They also had this Outside Camera, which can show you a view from the outside of the plane. During the flight, you won't see much of anything. But if you're just leaving or just arriving the view can look awesome.

 From HK to NY, it took me 15-16 hours, estimated. My ass was hurting and I was in dire need of sleep. So, I was relieved that I had finally step foot outside the plane. After customs and everything else, I was soon outside the airport and on our way to my dad's Brooklyn apartment. And my brand new laptop was waiting for me, still wrapped inside it's box.

So, what do I do now? The few things I really want to do is hit the gym and lose weight. One of my problems staying here is really getting fat. A thing most tourists cannot really avoid. So hopefully when I get back home, I would be less than what I am now, or the same. Anything but bigger and fatter.

A lot of things can happen in a month's time. Hopefully, a lot of weight can keep off too.