Grand Opening of Pepper Lunch Restaurant Philippines.

Been so busy in training for the opening of the first Pepper Lunch Restaurant here in the Philippines. There are so many things to do and learn but we’re all hanging in there. The grand opening of Pepper Lunch Restaurant has been moved to May 20, 2008. The soft opening will be on the 14^th of May. Hopefully there will be a lot of people anticipating the opening of this one of a kind store. Can’t wait for the opening, I’m sooooo excited. Punta kayo sa opening ng store namin. It’s at the basement of the Power Plant Mall, in between Kenny Rogers and K.F.C. in front of Rustan’s Supermarket. Hope to see you there.

A New Do-It-Yourself Restaurant soon to rise at Power Plant Mall.

I've recently searched the internet about this new restaurant that I've heard of and I've read quite a few comments and raves about it, Pepper Lunch Restaurant is a do-it-yourself steakhouse where you, the customers are the one in charge of cooking your meat the way you like it. Pepper Lunch Restaurant is a steakhouse that first originated in Japan and now has a growing following in different countries like Singapore and the U.S., they have a large number of branches in Japan. Now it's finally here in the Philippines the first and hopefully not the last branch of Pepper Lunch Restaurant. I'm curious as to how it will be perceived by the Filipino people, I also read that there is a same themed restaurant currently in Trinoma Mall called the Sizzlin' Pepper Steak, check out the site below for pictures and review. So I think a few people who have eaten there have an idea of what to do when they go to Pepper Lunch. The first Pepper Lunch Restaurant here in the Philippines is owned by Mr. Jeroen van Straten & Ms. Cecile van Straten, check the link below. The target opening of the restaurant is by the end of April or first week of May.

http://www.ourawesomeplanet.com/awesome/2007/10/pepper-steak.html

http://chuvaness.livejournal.com/324338.html

Cake baking for the weekend...

Last week my mom and I had nothing to do one Saturday afternoon, so for our bonding moment we decided to bake a moist chocolate cake. We like to go on the internet and check out sites with good recipes and my mom found this recipe a long time ago and we decided to use it for our experiment.(hehehe) We used a almost all the ingredients but we don't have cocoa powder so we decided to use a local chocolate drink mix. I wouldn't say that the cake was a failure but it turned out to be delicious I know it looks like a birthday cake we just wanted to make it look good, cut the cake in half and put some melted chocolate, then pour over it more chocolate glaze and a little sprinkles and more chocolate pieces on top. One thing I forgot is how to not make the chocolate glaze go hard when you put it in the ref. I forgot to put cream when i asked my friend. Well here's a picture of the finished product hahaha...

Potato Encrusted Chicken with Mashed Potatoes and Mushroom Cream Sauce

Hi I made this new recipe last week and me and my family enjoyed every piece of it. I caught the idea at a local cooking show here in the Philippines and decided to change it up and I came up with this. Here are the ingredients I came up with.

Ingredients:

• 6 pieces of boneless chicken breast cut in half
• salt & pepper
• 5-6 pieces of Potatoes peeled
• 1 egg
• clarified butter

for the sauce:

• 1 pack All Purpose Cream
• 1 tablespoon of the beef & herb gravy mix
• salt and pepper
• melted butter

Procedure:

Cut the 6 pieces of chicken breast to make it smaller or if you want it bigger then don't. Put salt and pepper on the chicken for taste. Peel the potatoes and slice it very thinly, or for suggestion you can use a peeler so that the potato slices will be thin. the remaining potatoes wil be used for our mashed potatoes so boil water and put the potatoes in it. After that brush the potatoes with the beaten egg, also brush some on the chicken so that the potatoes will stick to the chicken. You can now cook the chicken in butter. Cook it for about 3-5 minutes on each side. While cooking the chicken prepare the sauce in another pan. Put the fire on the stove on low and put the melted butter on the pan, and then put 2/3 of of the all purpose cream on the pan, add salt and pepper and the 1 tablespoon of gravy mix. Let it simmer a little bit while stirring continously add water if you want it more saucy. Leave it for 5-10 minutes after that remove it from the fire. We wil use the left over cream on the potatoes also add butter salt and pepper for your mashed potatoes. For the plating place the mashed potatoes first then followed by the chicken on top. Drizzle a little sauce all over the plate and over the chicken. Hope you enjoy making this and especially eating it!! Bon Apetit!!

Spicy Oriental Pork

Here's one of my favorite dishes that I've made so far, it's a different recipe that I've made my own style of. It can also be used as a pasta sauce for those of you who know this type of spaghetti. I learned this recipe from a classmate back in college. Here are the ingredients.

Ingredients:

• 400 grams of Pork Tenderloin cut into 2 inch thick pieces
• salt & pepper to taste
• 1 cup flour
• 2 pcs large eggs
• Canola Oil

for the sauce:

• 1/2 sliced button mushrooms
• 1/2 cup onions finely chopped
• 1/2 cup shitake mushrooms (smaller pieces soaked in water)
• 1/2 cup peanuts (roasted)
• 2 tablespoon honey
• 1 pack chili-garlic sauce
• 3 tablespoon oyster sauce
• 1 small pack of snow peas
• 1/4 teaspoon pepper
• 2 tablespoon sesame oil

Procedure:

This recipe is very easy to make, after preparing everything heat a pan and roast the peanuts but don't overcook them. After that prepare the meat for the breading. Dredge the meat in the flour, egg and then the flour again to double the coating. After you've done all the meat heat a deep pan and fry the meat pieces. When all the frying is done put the fried pork on paper towels to soak the oil. Proceed in preparing the sauce, saute the onions until it is slightly translucent, then drain the water from the shitake mushrooms and add it to the mix. Also add the button mushrooms, it's better to buy can sliced button mushrooms to lessen the pre-prep time. Add the sesame oil and it all depends on you how much chili-garlic sauce you want to add, i prefer half of the packet. After deciding if you like it hot or not, add the oyster sauce, peanuts, snow peas and honey. You have to add a little water if you want a little more sauce with what you made. Let it simmer for 3 to 5 minutes, after simmering add the pork pieces into the sauce mix and simmer it for another 5 minutes for the flavor to sink in the meat. Once again dinner is served, or maybe lunch heheheh...

Easy to Make Meatloaf

Hello there again! Here's my second blog in a while, hehehe been a little too lazy lately hihihi... Here's another one of my recipes that I wanna share with y'all out there. Here are the ingredients you need for this recipe.

Ingredients:

• 1/4 kilo of ground round pork
• 1/4 kilo of ground beef
• Salt
• Pepper
• 2 egg yolks
• 1/3 cup fine bread crumbs
• 1/2 cup celery (chopped)
• 1/2 cup carrots (diced)
• 1/2 onions (chopped)
• 1/4 cup clarified butter
• 1 pack of McCormick's Herb and garlic Gravy Mix
• 1 pack bacon to cover the entire meatloaf, or you can use ham

Procedure:

First pan sear half of the onions, carrots, and celery in half of the clarified butter. Cook it just until the onions are glazed and slightly transparent, add a little salt and pepper too. Then remove from the heat. Prepare the prok and beef mix. Combine the ground pork and the ground beef in a bowl. Add the fine bread crumbs and the 2 egg yolks, mix it. Add a little slat and pepper to taste or if you want more taste you can add other seasoning you like. In my case I used a little Kim's Dweaji Kalbi Sweet and Spicy Ribs seasoning mix. After that add the onions, carrots and celery that you cooked a little earlier, and mix it. After mixing it prepare the 10 x 5 baking dish, put bacon or ham under the baking dish but put a dab of oil on it first, then put the mixed meat into the baking dish. Cover the top of the meat with the excess bacon or the ham whatever you used. Bake it in 375 degrees oven for 20-30 minutes or until done. While you wait for the meatloaf to cook, prepare the gravy. Use the left over vegetables from before and cook it again in the clarified butter. Add salt and pepper and then when it's cooked put the 1 cup of water and the gravy mix in the pan. Wait for it to boil and serve it with the meatloaf. Hope you enjoy this one and have a very wonderful time in preparing this easy dish.