The One About the Marinated Herbed Cheese

On certain days, a "kitchen impulse" gives my body a good jolt. Today is one of those days. I was supposed to have lunch with a friend of mine but she came down with something and so, not wanting to waste a perfectly good day just watching DVDs and stuffing myself with junk food, I delightfully welcomed the kitchen impulse that jolted in me in the same way that Elizabeth Gilbert (of Eat Pray Love) heartily welcomed the idea of "Donde far niente" as she lovingly prepared herself an Italian meal.

Unlike Gilbert, though, I prepared this dish to be shared with Teddy Bird and his family tomorrow as his niece and nephews go trick-or-treating around the village. I got this recipe of Marinated Kesong Puti from a co-teacher who served this dish along with some crusty bread, roasted garlic, and fresh tomato salsa.

First, I roasted some garlic in the oven. Once, they were soft, I peeled the skin off and got a few cloves for the kesong puti. The rest, I placed in a jar and poured olive oil over them.

In a separate container, I put in some Italian seasoning as my co-teacher instructed. However, I had a lot of dried herbs so I also threw in some dried sage, marjoram, basil, and tarragon. I sliced the kesong puti and coated the pieces with dried herbs mixture. I placed a few cloves of the roasted garlic as well as a few sprigs of fresh rosemary.

Then I poured olive oil over the cheese. Refrigerate until ready to serve. Ideally, this should be made a week before serving but I don't do kitchen impulses that way. :)

Here's to kitchen impulses and the delectable treasures that result from them!

The One About the All-Occasion Cupcake Toppers

Played around with some photo editing software and came up with these...

All-occasion cupcake topppers

You can click here to download a copy of the cupcake toppers. Happy crafting! :)

The One About the Grilled Rosemary Chicken

A lot of times, everyday meals are cooked to the tune of "same old, same old." About a week or two ago, I tried adding "oomph" to our chicken meal and it was just convenient that we had fresh rosemary in our fridge.

Grilled rosemary chicken with mint jelly.

Here's how to do it:

1. Season chicken pieces with salt and pepper. If you're like me, I don't put salt in my food as much as possible - a habit I developed when I was living in Cebu (Living on my own, I was too kuripot to buy a pack of salt for myself so I reasoned a low-salt diet is actually healthier. I was never prouder of myself for being kuripot. Now, I love being creative at finding ways to make my meals flavorful without using salt.)

2. In a bowl, mix olive oil and fresh rosemary. Add more rosemary than usual if you're not using salt. Rub the mixture all over the chicken.

3. Get the grill piping hot. Grill the chicken for a few minutes on each side only to keep the chicken moist and tender.

4. Serve with mint jelly. I know mint jelly is perfect with roasted lamb but it works beautifully with any grilled meat in my opinion.

This meal can be made in a jiffy. It's the perfect weeknight meal. As Rachael Ray used to say, "A great meal is never more than thirty minutes away."

The One About the Purple Library Kit

To Dindean Abalahin on her birthday: It has been "Daughn." :)

Notice the book on which the library kit was placed? That is a secondhand copy of a first edition printing of the Reader's Digest Complete Guide to Sewing. So vintage-y. I so love.

Happy crafting! :)

The One Who Was AppROACHed

Why have your picture taken with Manny Pacquiao when you can have one with the man who made Manny Pacquaio?

Si Freddie Roach lang naman...

Have a great week ahead! :)

The One About the Vintage Volkswagen

To start off the new week, I'm posting something "old." I'm loving everything vintage nowadays so last weekend, when Teddy Bird and I dropped by the mall after our third gastronomic breakfast feast at the Legazpi Sunday Market (think Angus tapa by Chef Laudico, quarter pounder burgers, dumpling soup, pork cuapao, lamb lasagna, ratatouille quiche, wagyu paella, butter and chocolate croissants, fresh yogurt shake, stir-fried vegetable noodles), my heart leapt when I saw this beauty at the parking lot...

It's not just any car. It's a vintage Volkswagen.

I told you so...

It's so pretty. It reminds me of the happy vintage fabrics I hoarded for my sewing classes. I personally think that people who drive vintage cars are classy. I love it. To bits. :)

The One About Another Diaper Cake

My cousin and his wife are expecting a baby girl in a few months. When I was invited to their baby shower, I knew right away the perfect gift to give. I made a diaper cake before and you can read about that here. That was first ever blog post. For this baby shower, I made a new diaper cake.

Clearly, it's way better.

I used cotton towels to wrap the diapers and snuck in three teddy bears in between.

One of the bears was a toothbrush.

For the top layer, I used BPA-free milk bottles and bottles of baby lotion, baby wash, and baby powder.

I had so much fun making it! I still have a lot on my (craft) plate, though: recipe binder pages, a library kit for a friend, crafty invite proposals to my maid of honor and bridesmaids. Oh, and I still haven't shown you yet the stuff I've sewn at fashion school! Backlog galore!

Until then, happy crafting! :)