Beyond Manila: Bacolod's Napoleones

Sweet things... yumm...

Today, we'll take a breather from the many foods we get to eat here in Manila and we'll be checking out this special treat we received as pasalubong from  the city of smiles, Bacolod City, the napoleones. It is a type of puffed pastry with custard filling and glazed with sweet sugar on top. Truly a treat from our country's sugar capital!

She says...

I Liked how this little square shaped treat tastes. I'm an avid fan of sweets but this one truly gives you different levels of sweetness that just makes my mouth water each time I recall how this one tasted.he custard filling was really soft and creamy. The pastry itself was a bit rubbery from the perhaps supposedly crunchy  texture, perhaps because this treat had rode an airplane just to get into our palates. Anyhow, the different textures and tastes was truly in harmony with each other. I can't wait to dig in on the second batch lying around in the fridge.Yikes! Another diet day ruined....

She rates: 5/5

I'm not on a diet. not.

He says...

Almost everyone loves sweets. They can induce bliss in all of us (some more than others).

I also love sweets. I pretty much eat at least one sweet food every week. The sweeter the food, the better. The moment the food touches your tongue, you immediately know how sweet it gonna be.

Not so with this particular brand of Napoleones. Although it is covered in white frosty icing, you won't be able to tell how sweet it us when you bite it. Yes, it tastes sweet but not that sweet. It tastes more like just bread. You chew on and you realize that the food is getting sweeter in your mouth and then BOOM! You get to experience its full sweetness. It's a weird sensation since most sweets are only as good as the first bite.

You can actually hear the explosion in your head

He rates: 5/5

Anne's Laboratory: Rhum Ribs

I saw I pack of short ribs lying around at the fridge for almost a week now thus I though it might be nice to cook something up. I've always like eating ribs as I find the meat really succulent. Just the thought of it makes me hungry. I'm not really sure how but the thought of cooking up rum ribs just stuck to my thoughts in a repetitive rhythms... that is, I just can't stop thinking about it.

So where did I begin? I searched online for recipes of rum ribs but I found them to be really complicated. I also do not have grilling equipment making it impossible to cook up rum ribs as their recipes have shown. So what I did is checked out all the ribs recipes and came up with my own version of rum ribs.

Ingredients:

1kilo short ribs

1/4 cup ketchup

1/2 cup soy sauce

1/2 cup chili sauce

1/4 cup dark rhum

1 cup packed brown sugar

1 can (439g) pineapple tidbits

2 cloves garlic, crushed

2 tbsp cornstarch

dash of black pepper

Directions:

1. In large pot, boil ribs in low fire until tender.

2. Mix ketchup, soy sauce, chili sauce, sugar, garlic, black pepper, and dark rum. Warm mixture but do not let it boil.

3. Place juice from pineapple tidbits in a bowl. Add in cornstarch and dissolve.

4. Add juice and cornstarch mixture to sauce mixture. Keep on low fire until mixture thickens.

5. Place tendered ribs in a pan. Add in the pineapple tidbits. Cover with sauce mixture.

6. Bake in an oven at 350 degrees Fahrenheit for 45 minutes.

She says....

This recipe reminds me of steak we had at Rack's. The sauce turned out to be really spicy hot. It you want a milder flavor, you can lessen the amount of chili sauce you add to the mixture. Happy cooking!

He says...

YUMMY! It is surprisingly similar in taste to my favorite steak house's specialty sauce. Only spicier. The sauce has a very full taste and not watered-down like most that are commercially available. Considering that the sauce itself was handmade by Anne. This is probably Anne's best cooking yet. Time will tell if and when she's gonna be able top this one on her next experiments.

The only problem I had with this dish is the use of Beef (it's the only meat available at that time). There are too much ligaments (the rubbery stuff) between the bones and the meat making it harder to separate the juice bits. Maybe pork would have been better..