Category Archives: Yummy!

Paper Moon Now Open in SM Aura

By | Christmas, Yummy! | No Comments

Paper Moon is now open in SM Aura!Paper_Moon (3)Paper Moon Now Open SM Aura (10) Do it yourself Mille crepe cake for Christmas.   The kit comes in a separate package and you can decorate your own Christmas Mille crepe cake. Paper_Moon (5)Paper Moon Now Open SM Aura (2)You can use it to decorate any cake too 🙂Paper_Moon (6)Paper_Moon (4)Paper_Moon (10)Paper Moon Now Open SM Aura (8)Paper Moon Now Open SM Aura (9)Paper Moon Now Open SM Aura (3)Paper_Moon (11)Savory items.  Love the Croque MonsieuPaper_Moon (7)Paper_Moon (8)Paper_Moon (9) Paper Moon Now Open SM Aura (7) YUM!Paper_Moon (2) The best Mango Mille Crepe cake can only come from the country with the best source of mangoes.  This will be like gold in Paper Moon Japan! 🙂Paper_Moon (12)Paper_Moon (1)

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Ju’Ds Pastries and Confectioneries

By | Christmas, Yummy! | No Comments

Received a nicely packaged giftJu'Ds Pastries and Confectioneries (2) Which had fruitcake 🙂  Not the typical! A fruitcake you will not recycle 🙂  Ju’D’s @judlao artisan fruitcakes since 1975.  They developed fruitcake flavors from heirloom recipes. This box has 4 of their bestselling flavors and its mini!!! The best things come in small portions.   Top to bottom – Classic fruitcake baked with the finest ingredients & aged to perfection.  Ju.D Blue – Blue mountain coffee flavored aged with Kahlua coffee liquor for a distinctive taste.  Ju.D Gold – Apricot and cranberry baked with honey and orange. Prune fruitcake – an exotic mixture of prune and coffee makes this a must try in a class of its ownJu'Ds Pastries and Confectioneries (1)Ju'Ds Pastries and Confectioneries (5)They also make Chewy Cookies which are fruitcake cookies 🙂Ju'Ds Pastries and Confectioneries (4)Ju'Ds Pastries and Confectioneries (3)

It was in 1975 when Ju.D Lao started selling fruitcakes. A two-pound loaf of fruitcake at the time was P50. The Philippine population was at 35 million. The average salary was maybe a bit more than a hundred pesos a day. Through the years, Ju.D’s business has endured the scarcity of imported ingredients, rotating brownouts, devaluation of the peso and all sorts of calamities.

Ju'Ds Pastries and Confectioneries (17)Her classic recipe, which took six months to develop was inspired by a trip to Switzerland where she was introduced to fruitcake that she enjoyed. “I never attended cooking classes, but I love to read cook books. I do a lot of experimentations on recipes that catch my fancy. And since I’m from a big family, we’re never short of guinea pigs or should I say, brave and curious souls,” explains Ju.D who has authored two Vegetarian cookbooks for the Tzu Chi Foundation which are available in the different Tzu Chi chapters all over the world.

In the 1980s, Ju.D came out with fruitcake cookies which she has called the “Chewy Chewkies”.

Ju'Ds Pastries and Confectioneries (8)The kids of her customers loved them because they tasted like fruitcakes but without the brandy. In the 90s, Ju.D started becoming playful and worked on different flavors of fruitcakes giving birth to Ju.D Gold- which is a honey-based fruitcake;

Ju'Ds Pastries and Confectioneries (14)Ju.D Blue- Blue Mountain Coffee fruitcakes; Ginger Cranberries and Ginger Apricot Fruitcakes and even a Coffee flavored Prune Fruitcake.

Ju'Ds Pastries and Confectioneries (6)Ju'Ds Pastries and Confectioneries (20)Her box of mini fruitcakes offers a sampling of the different flavors. In 2009, she came out with assorted premium nougat in cookies and cream, espresso, cranberry-almond and cheese.

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Since her childhood, Ju.D Lao has loved to travel, and one of the people she would visit was her godmother in Iloilo – Emma Cua Locsin. She would share with Ju.D fruitcakes sent from the United States. Back then, imported food was not very common, and needless to say, this meant that the fruitcakes were very precious.

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These fruitcakes from America were full of spices, strange liquors and very sweet glazed fruits. For Ju.D, eating them with her godmother was both an honor and an act of bravery — which is to say that it was not a delightful experience.

Traveling to Zurich, Switzerland in the summer of 1975, Ju.D was introduced to a different kind of fruitcake. Along with a delicious five-course meal, a plate of fruitcake a la mode was served as dessert. Ju.D says it was the best fruitcake she ever tried then – a slice of moist cake, packed with wine-cured slices of orange, cherries, raisins and walnuts that melt in your mouth as the warmth of brandy reached all the way to your soul. It was the first time that she tasted fruitcake that was so good! She she wanted very badly to bring that experience to the people back home.

So upon returning home to Manila, she began experimenting with all sorts of fruitcake recipes, usually European, calling for ingredients that had to be imported from abroad. After months of hard work in the kitchen, she was able to come up with a recipe that attracted the attention of family and friends. She made time to design her own brand and packaging, and come the holidays that year, 1975, Ju.D started selling her first few batches of Ju.D’s Fruitcakes.

Ju'Ds Pastries and Confectioneries (10)Ju'Ds Pastries and Confectioneries (7)Ju'Ds Pastries and Confectioneries (15)A two-pound loaf of fruitcake at the time was P50. The Philippine population was at 35 million. The average salary was maybe a bit more than a hundred pesos a day; and 1975 was the year the government implemented the 13th month pay. Ju.D’s suppliers then were all in Cartimar since they were the ones who had the imported PX goods. She had to go to Divisoria and Quiapo every now and then to buy fresh eggs.

Ju.D once remarked to a niece that although the fruitcake business is seasonal; there isn’t a single day of the year that she does not think of her fruitcakes, or how to make it better for the coming season.

In the 1980s, they came out with fruitcake cookies which they have called the “Chewy Chewkies”.

Ju'Ds Pastries and Confectioneries (8)Ju'Ds Pastries and Confectioneries (9)

The kids of their customers loved them because they tasted like fruitcakes but without the brandy. In the 90’s, JuD started becoming playful and worked on different flavors for fruitcakes giving birth to JuD Gold- which is a honey-based fruitcake; JuD Blue- Blue Mountain Coffee fruitcakes; Ginger Cranberries and Ginger Apricot Fruitcakes and even a Coffee flavored Prune Fruitcake. In 2009, they came out with a whole range of petite cookies for the younger generation and a set of vegetarian cookies for those who are health conscious.

Q&A with Ju.D Lao of Ju.D’s Pastries and Confectionery

How did you get into baking/cooking?

I’ve never attended any cooking classes, but I love to read cook books. I do a lot of experimentations on recipes that catch my fancy. And since I’m from a big family, we’re never short of guinea pigs or should I say, brave and curious souls.

Why do you like baking/cooking?

Maybe I love to share or maybe I like to see happy faces once they tried my cooking.

Aside from baking, you also cook. What type of dishes do you cook?

I only cook vegetarian dishes now. I used to do beef jerky like Cow Label; fried pigeons and other simliar exotic dishes that make a lot of people happy.

Do you sell your vegetarian dishes?

As of now, we really don’t sell the vegetarian dishes. Maybe in the future we might do it to encourage more people to change to vegetarian to lessen the killing of innocent animals.

Please tell us about your cookbooks. Where are they available?

I did two Vegetarian cookbooks for the TzuChi Foundation. They are available in about 50 TzuChi chapters all over the world. In Manila, they’re available at TzuChi Foundation Headquarters at 76 Agno St. corner Cordillera St. QC. You can check on the availability of the cookbook at 732-0001, I know they are usually out of stock.

What did you do before getting into the fruitcake business?

I started doing fruitcakes right after I graduated from college.

What else do you do aside from this baking business?

I’m a volunteer for the TzuChi Foundation. Aside from helping in calamities, I teach cooking vegetarian dishes and I do translations for the foundation.

How long did you experiment before ending up with your final fruitcake recipe?

It depends on which product. The first one was really hard, there wasn’t so much cookbook regarding this and no Google to approach. I would say maybe 6 months. It was hardest for the JuD Blue which is coffee flavoured fruitcake. We have to source for Blue Mountain Coffee flavour and have to have the right liquor to age the fruitcake. For that, we spent about 8 months. Lately, we have been experimenting with some cookies and it’s been a big challenge for us too.

Who helps you bake, especially during the peak season?

Through the years, our workforce has been composed of neighbour’s maids; out of school youths; parents from schools who are in financial need but cannot take regular jobs. We only sell fruitcakes during Christmas season and we cannot afford to hire regular employees so this arrangement has been a win-win situation for all of us. I remember a few years back, we had a group of young ladies from El Shaddai Choir who came to help us, and from time to time they’ll burst out singing while they are working. That was a very lovely and memorable Christmas for us.

During your baking season, what is the most number of people you have working in the kitchen?

There are only 10 of us including me.

How much lead time is needed for orders?

We start selling in October, but since Fruitcakes can “stand the test of time”; we usually keep a few classic fruitcakes on hand for anyone who had the urge to have fruitcake between January to November. If not it will take 3 weeks time to have them aged.

What is the minimum requirement for orders?

If we do not have any fruitcakes on hand or if the customer wants to have the other fruitcakes aside from the Classic, the minimum is 8 pieces.

What is the minimum order requirement for the cookies?

Cookies are 10 boxes per order if it is off season.

What is the shelf life for each of your fruitcakes?

I think it was John Fernandez (Brother of director SoKi Fernandez) who kept our fruitcake without refrigeration for 7 years. That was a special case. We advise customers to have them refrigerated after they opened the product. If it is not opened, we advise them to have it refrigerated after the Christmas season since there’s no point in keeping a big box of fruitcake in the ref when everyone is stocking on foodstuff for the Christmas season. The best way is to wrap it with a cheesecloth and seal in a freeze Ziploc, but since it’s so hard to get cheesecloth now, the next choice is a greaseproof paper. Aluminum will melt into the fruitcake. Fruitcakes can be kept for a very long period of time because the brandy and rum preserve the fruitcakes. The oldest fruitcake is in London, 125 years old. John Fernandez wants to keep his for 25 years. When we asked him to open his, we sent him 24 pieces to compensate him and in the hope that he can keep them for 25 years. My youngest sister Margie kept one piece for 20 years, but her house was flooded during Ondoy. That was her biggest regret cause she really brushed the fruitcake every now and then just to keep it in the best condition.

How about your other products (cookies etc) what is the shelf life?

Cookies is best in 3 months time since we never use preservatives in any of our products.

Is there anything special worth mentioning about the ingredients that you use?

We never changed any of our ingredients since 1975. We do not add or lessen any amount of ingredients and we always see to it that it is the best. I think one of the reasons we do not sell off season is that walnuts get rancid easily. When we started, I remember we always get rancid walnuts between the months of February to September, so we decided to just do fruitcakes only during the time when the walnuts are fresh and that has became our tradition even though the availability of walnuts has become all year round now, we somehow retained this tradition though we still bake a few piece from time to time just to satisfy some customers.

You have baked products for vegans? What are they?

The Apricot/Cranberry Ginger cookies was baked for the TzuChi nuns of Taiwan, so it is without eggs. I remember the daughter of Doy Valencia who is a vegetarian also bought the ginger cookies from us many many years ago.

Cassava Cake by Kai

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I tried this homemade Cassava cake which Tita Georgia brought one Sunday lunch.  This was Christmas last year and I am only featuring it now because the one who makes this only does it for Christmas orders 🙂  Cassava Cake by Kai (1)

 I am not an expert Cassava cake eater but this was really good.  It had coconut in it! YUM!Cassava Cake by Kai (3)

Apparently the one who makes this is GEmma, the wife of our Store Operations Manager for Rustan’s, Val Khodaverdi 🙂 Contact her – Gemma Khodaverdi 0917 626 1956Cassava Cake by Kai (2)

Big Dog’s Kitchen

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We love bacon and malunggay anything!!! Thank you Big Dog’s Kitchen for the bacon jams and other goodies.  I first met them at the Best Food Forward event last monthBig Dog's Kitchen (2)

Bacon Cerveza Jam

Big Dog's Kitchen

Click below to go to their Facebook page

Big Dog's Kitchen facebook page

Fruit Garden 2015 Collection

By | Yummy! | One Comment

It’s that time of the year again when Pierre and Ria introduce their new collection and packaging for Fruit Garden!  Fruit Garden (19)

 We had cocktails at L’Entrecote

Previous entry: L’Entrecote October 6, 2011Fruit Garden (20)

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Jam with Capiz Christmas balls Fruit Garden (4)

Jam with Champagne Fruit Garden (5)

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New flavours using Philippine lemon – it’s a gigantic lemon 🙂 Fruit Garden (9)

My favourite part is having jam in different food dishes! From breakfast to dinner all in one 🙂Fruit Garden (7)

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The 2015 festive collection has been inspired by the French region where kings have been crowned from 898 to 1825 : The Champagne region , birthplace of the most popular sparkling wine in the world

Our Christmas jams come in wave bottles with a finish of Champagne giving a unique taste.

The 2015 festive range is also complemented with new flavors inspired by the generosity of local farmers.

Beautiful yellow lemons from the Negros province have been chosen to make a Lemon marmalade, the native guava from Mindanao has been paired with a violet flower aroma for an innovative and unique Guava violet jam. And Tagaytay pineapples along with raspberries create another one of our flavours complemented with spices, Spiced pineapple raspberry jam.

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The Wave set

2 wave jams of 120gr  : Strawberry champagne, Peach spiced champagne

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The Gift box

3 assorted jam of 120gr Lemon marmalade Guava violet Spiced pineapple raspberry

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Epernay coffret

4 assorted jams of 120g and 2 capiz shell balls

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Reims coffret

5 assorted jam of 120gr

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The Champagne discovery set

6 assorted jam of  30gr

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Champagne coffret

2 wave jam : Strawberry champagne, Peach spiced champagne and one bland de blancs champagne bottle

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Cucina di Michi Quita

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I was so excited to try the pastries of Michelle Barrera when I saw them in instagram!
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Sealed with an M 🙂Cucina de Michiquita (2)

 Yummy Mocha Crunch cupcake!  Love the mocha icing and peanut brittle on top!! I eat cupcake tops only but this cupcake is moist so I ate everything! She makes a cake version of this too. Cucina de Michiquita (1)

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 This is my only photo of you Michelle with Diether, can we order him too? haha!!

diether ocampo michelle barrera Global port polo 2015

Check out the other items she makes contact Cucina de Michi Quita at +63 915 451 2367.

cucina di michi quita contact

Oh and I found a solo photo 🙂

Michelle Barrera Cucina di Michi Quita

Portobello Bakery

By | Yummy! | One Comment

Thank you Portobello Bakery for the yummy Queso de bola ensaymadas!  I am always on the lookout for yummy ensaymadas!  Especially the Cheesy ones 🙂  Portobello Bakery (4)

And this is cheesy 🙂  with lots of queso de bola on topPortobello Bakery (2)

Everytime I get an ensaymada now, I have it both ways 🙂  As is and microwaved 🙂  It passed the test!  Both ways yum! 🙂
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Other products from Portobello Bakeryportobello bakery product listPortobello Bakery (3)Click below to go to their facebook page

Portobello Bakery Facebook

Fresh Lumpia by Tita Lucy

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 Fresh Lumpia by Tita Lucy Que

 It’s a special recipe which she took with her from China and she’s the only one that knows it ( not even her kids) .  Definitely made with love and all her kids look forward to this. I am lucky I got to try it 🙂 Fresh Lumpia by Tita Lucy (2)

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