Filipino Beverage and Dessert: Beat the heat this summer

    Filipinos love to eat; and to beat the heat, we crave for foods that are can quench the thirst and fill our appetite. Here are some of the foods that every Filipinos will surely crave for this summer:



1. Halo-halo - First on the list is the Halo halo. Boiled and sweetened kidney beans or mung beans (munggo), boiled kamote (sweet potato), garbanzos, kaong (sugar palm fruit), nata de coco, macapuno, boiled saging na saba, crunchy pinipig, filled with crushed ice and top with ripe langka (jackfruit) and ube (purple yam) and pored with evaporated milk, this Filipino's all-time favorite is served not only in during the summer season, but throughout the year.

::A bowl of mouth watering Halo-halo::
(Source)

    Even if some of the ingredients are out of season, halo halo, from the tagalog term that is 'mix', it can be mixed with other kinds of fruits and flavorings. The classic recipe of this dish has elevated to the next level as some establishments from the food industry introduced innovations to this dessert such as adding a scoop of ice-cream or serving it on a different way.


2. Ice scramble - Crushed ice blended with sugar and evaporated or condensed milk and top with syrup (usually strawberry or chocolate, or combination of both) and skimmed milk, are well-known and best-selling during hot afternoons especially among kids.

::Ice Scramble::
(Source)

    Since this dessert, which is commonly known as a street food, some food franchising company have seen it profitable and introduced innovations to the ingredients used such as the toppings.

3. Sago-gulaman or Samalamig - A refreshing beverage, from the root word 'malamig' (cold), usually flavored with vanilla extract and simple syrup and contains sago (tapioca pearls) and gulaman (gelatin).

::A refreshing glass of Samalamig:: (Source)

    To make this thirst quenching drink more attractable to the customers, they played with various colors or gelatins and add more options to the flavors that are being served such as fruit salad flavor, buko-pandan, melon, and other fruit combination that you could ever imagine.

4. Buko juice (coconut juice) - Buko craze started to boom on the later part of 2012. Since the modern lifestyle today are focused on the 'more healthier side', this natural drink will surely suit your crave for a nourishing and refreshing drink. Buko juice, young coconut meat and milk serve in its shell for a classy look are usually seen in restaurants and resorts.

::Healthy and refreshing Buko Juice::
(Source)

I hoped you will enjoy your summer with this Filipino refreshing drinks.

Anime marathon: ANOTHER

    Just recently, my brother, who is an otaku (anime addict), let me explore his archive of anime stuff.

Source

    While digging into the volume of CD's he has, my attention was caught by the cover of this anime entitled "Another". He was about to explain what it's all about, but I exclaimed not to because I am too much excited to watch for it that I might be ended up listening to his story and forgotten to watch the whole of it.

    The whole story was interesting. Though, the whole story lasts for 12 episodes, it was worth watching. The way it was compressed and the sequence was very tricky; the cursed of the legend that have been haunting the students for the past years, how to solve the mystery and to know who was the "Another" was the main dish of this story.

    The story goes when a 15-year old Koichi Sakakibara transferred into Yomiyama, class 3-3 in the spring of 1998. There he met Misaki Mei, a strange young girl belong to their class, but being ignored because of the thought that she might be the "another". Sakakibara, being unaware of the said curse, had brought his curiosity to stalk at Misaki. And as soon as Sakakibara gets closer to Misaki, he knew about the curse and the whole class started to ignore him, too.

    Though the students and faculty tried to follow the measures to prevent the unfortunate events, the curse continues as they were caught up by ghastly deaths. And, as Sakakibara and Misaki continued to solve the mystery behind, they knew that the 'another' was someone from the past and is already dead, but came back to the world of the living as of being part of the curse. The only way to stop the curse is to identify who was the 'another' and bring it back to the dead.

   

(No Brandy) Alexander

    Last time, I posted a topic about my happy Sundays with my family; This time I am going to share to you my own recipe of Brandy Alexander.

    First, how to make a non alcoholic Alexander (Brandy Alexander originally) that you can serve to your family during special occasions or even on an ordinary day.

Yields: 3 servings

Ingredients:

• 1 pint of Vanilla ice cream
• 1/2 cup All-purpose cream
• Chocolate syrup
• Ice
• (Add 3 jigger of Brandy for BRANDY ALEXANDER)

Procedure:

1. Put all the ingredients in a blender. Be generous with chocolate syrup.

2. Blend until the texture turns smooth.

3. Garnish the glass by frosting the rim with cocoa powder or rolling drops of chocolate syrup inside the glass.

4. Serve and enjoy!