STARBAR by Cadbury

I saw this chocolate bar this afternoon while buying some ingredients for my butter cream icing. It's by Cadbury. The taste reminded me of Hershey's 5th Avenue, which I love. It's a cross between 5th Avenue and Snickers. Slightly chewy due to the caramel. I prefer it compared to other Cadbury bars available in the market. Try it!

Calamansi Meringue Pie

When someone gives you calamansi, turn it into Calamansi Meringue Pie...

Exactly what I did few weeks ago. My cousin, Yvonne, gave me a bagful of calamansi. Aside from daily dose of calamansi juice, I decided to make  a pie. Calamansi is is a cross between lemon and lime. It is very acidic or sour but the size is small. It is our native lemon as we don't grow lemons in the Philippines. 

Here's my version of Calamansi Meringue Pie, for those who don't have calamansi, replace it with lemons.

Hope you'll love the contrast of flavours, tartness of calamansi and sweetness of meringue. Not everyone loves this dessert but I like it, because it is refreshing especially after a big meal.

The recipe has three components.

A. Pie Crust:

1 1/2 c flour
1/2 c icing or powdered sugar
1/2 c  butter, cut into pieces
2 to 4 Tbsps. water

Procedure.
1. Combine all dry ingredients in a  mixing bowl. Using a fork or two butter knives, cut and mix the butter until the size of peas.A manual pastry cutter or food processor can be used.
2. Gradually add water (a tablespoon at a time) until mixture can be formed into a ball.
3. Rest the pie dough and chill for 30 mins to an hour.
4. After resting, roll the dough by using a rolling pin and fit into your pie plate.(I use aluminium pie plate for convenience). Dock the pie with a fork to prevent having bubbles during par-baking.

5. Bake at 350deg F or 170degC for few minutes until slightly brown.
6. Cool and set aside.

B. Calamansi Curd:

3/4 c sugar
1 1/2 c water
1/2 c custard powder
3 egg yolks
1/2 c freshly squeezed calamansi or lemon juice

Procedure:
1. In a sauce pot, mix sugar, water, calamansi juice, yolks and custard powder by using a whisk.
2. Cook in medium heat until thick.
3. Lastly, add butter.
4. Set aside and slightly cool down.

(The curd can be prepared while the crust is baking. )

C. Meringue:
3 egg whites, room temperature
3/4 c sugar
pinch of cream of tartar

1. Beat egg whites with cream of tartar at medium high speed.
2. Gradually add sugar until stiff but not dry.

To assemble:
1. Pour the curd on the baked pie crust. Make sure that the curd has cooled down otherwise,
the crust will be soggy. The moisture will soften your crust. Spread evenly by using a spatula or the back of the spoon.
2. Top with meringue. You can use a piping bag and create rosettes or use the back of the spoon and create peaks.
3. Put the pie inside the oven for few minutes at 120 deg C or 250 deg F until slightly brown in color.
If dry meringue is desired, after the oven has been turned off, leave the pie inside.

Via Mare

Via Mare is one of the good Filipino restaurants in the Philippines. On our recent holiday, I made sure that my children had a chance to dine there. This is a late post, guys :(. Anyway, should you visit the country one day soon, make sure to visit Via Mare and try the adobo flakes, similar to pork floss, and other popular dishes such as Kare Kare (Ox Tail in Peanut Sauce), Pork Binagoongan (Deep Fried Pork in Sauteed Shrimp Paste) or Halo Halo for dessert. For the basic recipe of Adobo, please refer to my previous post.

The adobo flakes is the dehydrated version of pork adobo. I think the pork is shredded and deep fried or  I reckon dried in the oven. Best eaten with sunny side up egg, garlic fried rice and vinegar as dipping sauce. Guinumis, on the other hand, is a dessert drink made with coconut milk, sweetened with sugar syrup, tapioca pearls (sago) , flavored gelatin (gulaman) and toasted rice crispies (pinipig). Makes me wanna go home and eat!

Adobo Flakes 

Chicken Inasal (grilled chicken marinated in special blend of spices with annatto oil)

Guinumis