There are many things I’m currently enjoying about Ken being in culinary school. First, of course, is everything he bakes or cooks at home so he can practice or prepare for an upcoming test or lab activity in school. I especially loved these cream puffs and éclairs he made for our birthday celebration weeks ago. Everyone loved them!

Secondly is shopping with him for ingredients and tools he’ll need at home. One of our favorite stores now is Chocolate Lover in P. Tuazon in Cubao, Quezon City.

If you’ve passed through their area in QC, we bet you saw the eye-catching design of their building. I mean, seriously. How can you miss this castle?

You might say I’m watching too much Hell’s Kitchen nowadays, but ever since I started cooking again, I realized how preparation for cooking or prepping is one important factor in the whole cooking process. The faster you prepare your ingredients, the faster and fresher the result would be. So, I decided to share these videos.

I actually discovered these videos years ago when they weren’t revealed yet as part of Sprint’s viral marketing campaign, when they were still on Waitless.org (the URL will redirect you to Sprint’s website).

We’ve posted before about how you can make homemade ice cream using a plastic bag and these:  salt, ice, and the ingredients for your chosen ice cream flavor. Now, fancy these:

I haven’t tried this one yet, but it looks easy. Some may argue that the potato would be cold. But, I don’t think 5 seconds in that pool of ice would affect the inside of the potato. Only the potato skin’s affected, that’s why it’s easier to peel or remove it. I’m going to try this next time I see potatoes in our ref.

I’ve mentioned on my other blog – Just Another Pixel – that my brother and I are on a weight loss plan. One of the things included on our list is changing how we prepare our food.

We used to cook our food on regular oil. There were even times our food would really be oily, but it won’t matter to us even though we know it can cause some unhealthy things to our body like heart problems and severe acne. So, we have decided that from now on, we’ll be using olive oil as much as we can because of its health benefits.

Olive oil is known for its good effects on health. It actually reduces the levels of bad cholesterol that can build up fatty deposits in arteries. It lowers cholesterol levels and reduces the chances of heart problems.

Olive oil is also known for its anti-inflammatory and anti-oxidant properties. It also maintains metabolism and helps in development of brains and bones. It’s also a good source of Vitamin E and can help maintain a healthy eating routine. I guess that’s why I’m able to reduce my food cravings after I started preparing my baked chicken breast with olive oil.

We bought this Olitalia Pomace Olive Oil. It’s not actually pure olive oil, but I only use it for baking. It has a high smoke point so I can cook it long enough to bring that smoky flavor on my baked chicken. I’m planning on buying Extra Virgin Olive Oil (EVOO) next time I grocery-shop.

How about you? Do you use Olive Oil for your home cooking?

Enjoy!

We were invited to the launch of KFC’s new chicken flavor last week, but, unfortunately, we weren’t able to join. Aside from food bloggers, KFC also invited some of their Facebook fans who sent in the most creative guesses on what their new chicken flavor is. Kien guessed "Chicken Tocino". That would’ve been good, too, right? He’s a tocino addict, FYI. *LOL*

After the event in Blue Leaf Events Pavillion in McKinley Hill Village in Taguig, I found out what their new chicken flavor is – KFC Chili Lime Chicken.

I was pretty excited to try this new chicken flavor. I’m a HUGE fan of KFC, especially their Hot and Crispy chicken, California Maki Twister and their fries. So, their Chili Lime Chicken was really something I looked forward to tasting.

Last weekend, we finally got a taste of KFC’s Chili Lime Chicken at their branch near Gilmore. And, all I can say is the combination of chili and lime is really interesting.

First off, I just wanted to say this – I don’t like sprinkled flavor powder on anything. So, I didn’t particularly enjoy the flavor powder on my Chili Lime chicken. BUT, I loved how these 2 flavors – chili and lime – gave KFC’s chicken a new twist.

They say that the Chili Lime Chicken is marinated in special Chili Lime spices. That part, I really love. The chicken meat really bursts with flavor. And, I’m pretty happy that the chicken meal we ordered was still very warm so you can really taste and enjoy the chili lime flavors.

I’ve read some comments from KFC fans who didn’t particularly like the Chili Lime chicken. They say it tastes weird. I say, it’s new and interesting. The first time I bit into my Chili Lime chicken, I immediately tasted the lime flavor. I love limes on anything so I really enjoyed it. The chili or spicy flavor of the chicken, though, got a li’l overpowered by the zestiness of the lime flavor. I can only taste the spiciness on the chicken skin. I guess I was looking for a li’l more chili flavor on the chicken itself.

However, I still enjoyed my KFC Chili Lime chicken because it was something new. I love the flavors combined with KFC’s tender chicken meat and, of course, their famous gravy (soup to other people *LOL*). I’m actually thinking of trying preparing chicken here at home using these 2 flavors to see how it’ll turn out.

By the way, we ordered the 2-piece KFC Chili Lime chicken meal. I didn’t know that you can actually choose from the 3 flavors for ANY KFC chicken meal. If I did, I would’ve ordered their Fully Loaded Twister meal instead with Chili Lime-flavored chicken. Kien and I had to order 2 separate California Maki Twisters *LOL* I know, we’re on a diet, but when we’re in KFC, we just can’t help but go on a food trip. We don’t need the best multivitamin to boost our appetite when it comes to KFC. We just love their food! ^_^

Have you tried KFC’s Chili Lime Chicken?
How did you find the combination of the tangy lime flavor and spiciness?

Enjoy!

Our entry this week for:

Max’s Restaurant, one of the country’s leading fast-casual dining restaurants, recently sealed an agreement with BDO Unibank Inc. through its remittance service brand BDO Remit. The partnership pioneers a Food Remittance Delivery Service that will benefit Overseas Filipino Workers (OFWs) and their families in the Philippines.

Through BDO Remit, OFWs can now surprise their loved ones by sending them their favorite Max’s dishes here at home, in the Philippines. To do so, they just need to visit any BDO Remit office in HongKong, Macau, USA, Italy, Germany or any of the bank’s participating remittance partners in Asia, Middle East North America and Europe.

The meal packages are good for 5, 10 and 20 people. This is available for delivery to Metro Manila and selected provincial areas. For non-serviceable areas, the beneficiaries or the OFWs families may dine in instead at their preferred Max’s branch or enjoy Max’s meals at home.

“This is our way of paying tribute to hardworking Filipinos abroad. Through this initiative with BDO, Filipinos overseas can now surprise their loved ones by sending their favorite Max’s dishes to their families even if they’re far away from home,” said Jim T. Fuentebella, Max’s Vice President for Corporate Marketing.

“Through our expanded food remittance services, we can help Filipinos abroad reach out to their families in the Philippines.” said BDO’s First Vice President and Head of Remittance Domestic Operations Genie T. Gloria.

I have got so much to learn about cooking. I didn’t even know that there are five (5) "Mother" sauces until I saw it on one of the episodes of Chef Gordon Ramsey‘s Hell’s Kitchen.

It made me want to go to culinary school, but, I still believe that you really don’t have to go to culinary school to become great at what you do. Knowing how to cook is a skill. Now, it’s up to you to develop it and how you hone it.

For someone like me who’s just learning, I would like to share with you this new-found knowledge. Without further ado…

The 5 Mother Sauces

They were called the Mother or leading sauces because they are the main sauces in cooking.
With just a few modifications, all sauces in cooking are derived from these mother sauces.

Reffered to as the classic white sauce.
Named after its inventor, Louis XIV’s steward Louis de Béchamel.
It’s basically made of milk and butter-flour roux.

Stock-based white sauce. It can be from chicken, fish or veal.

Brown sauce, traditionally made from rich meat stock or
mirepoix (onions, carrots, and celery) of browned vegetables.

Basically made with butter, egg yolks and lemon juice. Requires some skills and knowledge to prepare. Flavor is buttery and rich with a mild tang because of the lemon juice.

Consists of oil, vinegar, salt and pepper. Originally included with the mother sauces.

Made of tomatoes and herbs.

Out of all these, I’ve only made tomato sauce. So, I’m on my quest to try to make all of these sauces soon and pair it with the proper protein to appreciate more the unique taste of each of them.

If you can share your own recipes that goes great with these sauces, I would love to try it!

Itadakimasu!

Foodie FYI – This part of our blog is where we post about our recent learnings about food and cooking in general. We believe that you don’t really have to be in culinary school to learn about how people cook all over the world, especially now that we have a vast resource of knowledge – the internet. We hope that we could also educate you while we share our foodie discoveries.

Image sources for this post:

French Bechamel Sauce
Veloute Sauce
Culinary School Week #2
Lobster Artichoke Eggs Benedict
How to make Vinaigrette