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I haven’t been cooking anything from the cookbook. Quite honestly, the book is intimidating. I’m not saying I’m giving up. I’m just cooking whatever I feel like eating =) Today, I decided to whip up some Pinoy style spaghetti.

What’s the difference between Italian spaghetti and Filipino spaghetti, you ask? Well Filipino spaghetti is sweeter and made from tomato sauce, banana ketchup (it’s Filipino ketchup), ground meat, onions, garlic, and spices. It’s really good, and I actually prefer it over italian spaghetti. I’m a bit biased, well because, I grew up eating that type of spaghetti. I added soft boiled egg, because I love eggs, and I love gooey yolks. The egg actually came out a bit overdone for my taste, but it made slicing it easier.

Well, I take it back. I do have some talent in baking. I decided to take a break from french cooking and looked up a brownie recipe online. I found a relatively simple one and lo and behold! The brownies turned out great! It’s delicious, moist, and to die for! =)

Due to the success of today’s cooking exercise, I will still bake desserts. I think I’ll just get the recipe somewhere, and not from Julia Child’s cookbook.

On a random note, why is kosher salt so pricey? I mean I don’t mind, but why does it cost more than regular salt? Oh well, just wondering =)

Some pictures to make you salivate =)

Hot from the oven

Drool =)I ate 3 pieces already!

Anything with flour that is. I can make some kick ass desserts as long as they do not include flour.

Today, I continued my journey in mastering the art of french cooking. I know one thing that I am not a master of: BAKING! I always have trouble baking cookies, brownies, cakes. I thought Julia Child’s recipe will help me bake a perfect cake. Ha! Wrong.

I followed the recipe to a T. The first cake came out looking like a damn pancake. Seriously. After following the instructions and meticulously measuring each ingredient, the damn thing came out flat as a pancake. Don’t believe me? Here’s proof:

Pacman chocolate cake!

Er, I mean pancake. MAJOR FAIL

I was ready to quit and resign as a girl who can cook but cannot bake. But I decided to try again. After all, practice makes everything perfect. I’m sure not everyone tries to bake a cake from scratch and got a perfect result.

Well, I tried it again, and this time, I used a different flour and added baking powder and baking soda. Julia Child’s recipe does not call for baking powder and baking soda, so I think that’s why the first cake didn’t rise. The cake rose this time! However, it’s still not as high as I thought it would rise. At least it was twice the size as the first one. I made a chocolate butter icing.

I mark this baking experiment a semi-success. The end result was pretty tasty, however, I don’t think I have the knack for baking. Measuring is not my thing. I’ll just put it in the list of things that I’m not good at. You know, relationships, baking… Haha =P. Anyways, this does not mean that I’ll give up. Maybe I’ll ask my good friend MM to show me how to bake. After all, she is starting a business in the baking industry =) But for now, I will not try my hand at baking anything with flour until I get proper training.

Solid proof that baking is not my thing:

***UPDATE***
Everyone loves the clams! Yay! They’re not bullshitting me either =) I’m so happy!
***End UPDATE***

I like cooking. I watch food network all the time. My family and friends know I’m a good cook. I’ve been told I can probably start my own catering or restaurant business if I want to. I decided to diversify my cooking by learning french cooking. So, I bought Julia Child’s cookbook “Mastering the Art of French Cooking”.

Okay, I know you guys are saying that I’m just a biter, stealing Julie Powell’s idea. Sort of. But I’m not blogging to get a book deal. Besides, everyone blogs these days. I’m blogging for therapeutic purposes. And honestly, cooking is a therapy for me as well. It calms me and makes me happy. I’m cooking my way to move on. To heal. I don’t know if it will work, but I want to try. I’m sure I’ll be reminded of Uriel when I cook, since whenever I try new recipes, I always tell and share it with him. And I think I’ll be feeling like that in the beginning, but hopefully, as I progress and cook more dishes, I’ll feel differently and hopefully not miss him. I guess you can say I’m cooking to fix a broken heart. Cheesy. But I hope it works.

With that, here goes my journey to learning the art of french cooking. May Julia Child guide me and help me become an AWESOME french chef. Damn that sounds corny! Haha.

Today I made: Clams A La Mariniere aka Fresh Clams steamed open in wine and flavorings. The recipe actually called for mussels (moules), but I could not find any fresh mussels! I went to 3 supermarkets and none had any. They had frozen cooked ones, but those won’t work. The end result was pretty tasty, if I do say so myself. I need other people to taste it first though. I think I need to start paying attention to good wines. I used to just depend on my boss to order good wine for me, but since I’m getting serious about cooking, I need to learn myself. Trip to Napa Valley! Hehe =)

Here’s the dish. I don’t like thyme, and I either put a bit too much, or I just don’t like the way it taste. Good thing the dish is still pretty good.