Whenever I visit Araneta Center-Cubao, I always drop by Shopwise. Why? Because there are products that I need that I can only find there. Like for instance, my mom would always ask me to to go there to buy her Aveeno Soap which I couldn't find in common supermarkets. Shopwise is the only supermarket that offers more stocks of that hard-to-find Aveeno Soap. When I go there, I usually buy in bulk because I am not sure when I can come back. There are also Human Nature products readily available in Shopwise that are normally available online or can be bought via the company's official distributors. It saves me additional fees intended for shipping. What a nice way to save money!

Aside from the different beauty and hygiene products, Shopwise is the best place to shop for its exclusive food, janitorial, and pet items because it offers a wide range of high quality local/homegrown and international brands available at low, low prices. 

That's why just recently, Shopwise The Big Cook-Off, an event to showcase its exclusive products through a cooking contest between bloggers and culinary students kicked-started last weekend.

I, together with my friends from BKS Moms, were blessed to witness its second leg that was held yesterday, July 20, 2018, through the initiative of Mommy Bloggers Philippines.

Heavy rains didn't stop Shopwise's 2nd leg of The Big Cook-Off to push through which had "Asian Fusion" as its theme. The competitors were composed of three culinary students from Apicius and three respectable Food Pinoy bloggers. The aim of this event was for us to witness the amazing showdown of cooking skills using world-class ingredients from Shopwise. It was hosted by the dynamic and good-looking chef, Steven Silva. The judges were headed by celebrity chef, JP Anglo.

Miss Meg of Shopwise was confident as she discussed that the company could offer "Best Value" products outsourced from different parts of the world. Those best quality products were made affordable for all. 

Moreover, we've learned that Shopwise has 30 exclusive brands that are reasonably priced, even up to 20 to 30% off. Shopwise also has weekly promos where we can get a lot of freebies and discounts. 

Now let's move to the contestants and contest proper.

The APICIUS CHEFS (SCHOOLERS) were composed of the following talented student chefs:

Jobert Diaz is s a 22-year-old guy who loves to eat and cook adobo.

Winning Dish: Stuffed Salmon and Prawns with Teriyaki Sauce

Arlujan Sansano is 19 years old. He joined this cooking contest for the very first time and promised to do his best to share his abilities.

Dish: Marinated Pork Tenderloin with Ginger Star Anise Sauce

Arvin Fernandez is a 21-year-old guy who idolizes the first chef who has taught him how to cook, Chef Calvin Ayagan.

Winning Dish: Pan Shred Honey Lemon Chicken Combination with Assorted Vegetables

Those three talented young gentlemen are from Mondragon, Northern Samar.

The Apicius Chefs' FOODIE BLOGGER contenders were the following:

40-year-old Lea Domingo a.k.a. Mommy Lelei specializes in Filipino dishes. She is not really a blogger but a constant user of Instagram and Facebook. It was her first time to join a cooking competition.

Dish: Tuna Meatball Sliders with Asian Jam

Nathaniel Uy a.k.a. Thehungrychef.ph is one of the famous food bloggers in the Philippines with 15,700 followers on Instagram. 

Winning Dish: Prawn Halang-Halang Ramen

Jinkee Umali is a lifestyle and IT consultant by profession who loves cooking to relieve her stress from work. She blogs to de-stress. She always thinks of her kids and husband when she cooks.

Winning Dish: Thai Bagoong Rice

The criteria for judging were the following:

25 %- Utilization of Shopwise products

25%-  Taste

25%-  Originality and Creativity

15%-  Presentation

10%-  Audience Impact

A total of 100%

Two winners came from the Apicius Group and another two winners from the Food Blogger Group. Winners will join The Grand Big Cook-Off on August.

Among the dishes, I only tasted the ones cooked by bloggers Jinkee Uy and Lea Domingo. Both tasted really, really good. I didn't have the chance to taste the other dishes but one thing's for sure--- all the contestants were able to utilize all Shopwise products efficiently. How creative!

In my opinion, all the dishes were cooked with love and utmost dedication. I saw clearly the difference between how culinary students and bloggers executed their cooking prowess. The students where more technical and strict with their standards while the bloggers were obviously cooked the "home" way.  Despite the difference in execution, all contestants cooked with their hearts' delight. Furthermore, the judges chose the winners not just for the foods' taste or "what's on the plate" alone as Chef JP mentioned but also based on the above-mentioned criteria and of course, following the theme "Asian Fusion". Indeed, following the rules and instructions was very, very important. The stories behind the winning dishes also added an impact on the judges' decision. Like for instance, Miss Jinkee Umali was thinking of her kids while cooking her Thai Bagoong Rice. Every component of her dish was tailored fit for each of her kid's favorite. It was prepared with love which coincided with one of the benefits of cooking- altruism.  She was filled with bliss while doing the endeavor, making it more fruitful and meaningful because of the fact that she was doing it for someone dear to her.

The cook-off was not only intended to know the best of the best but also it became the venue to commit mistakes and learn from them. This statement of Chef JP struck me the most while he was telling it to Arlujan Sansano, "Joining a contest like this is a venue for you to learn. You committed mistakes now but it should not be the reason for you to stop. As you go on, you'll commit so many mistakes. Like me, I committed a million mistakes in the past which made me worthy to sit here right in front of you. Keep it up and we expect to see more from you."

A world-class venue for a world-class learning event utilizing affordable world-class products, that is Shopwise! In Shopwise, you can have a good life that you can afford! In Shopwise The Big Cook-Off, practical life lessons can be learned!

To know more about the next Shopwise The Big Cook-Off and what Shopwise Supercenters offer, you may like Shopwise on Facebook. 

Hello, Mars at Pards! Dahil na-share ko na sa inyo ang recipe ng The Maya Kitchen's Peanut Butter & Choco Chip Cupcakes ise-share ko naman sa inyo ang isa pang masarap na cupcake recipe na natutuhan namin ni Kuya from The Maya Kitchen Mommy and Kid Baking Workshop. Heto na...

STRAWBERRIES AND CREAM CUPCAKES

Cupcakes

1 1/4 cups Maya All-Purpose Flour

1/2 teaspoon baking soda

1/4 cup butter

1/4 cup sugar

1 egg

1/4 cup milk

1/2 cup strawberry jam

1 1/2 tablespoons lemon juice

Strawberry Whipped Cream

1/3 cup strawberry jam

1 cup whipping cream

strawberry jam, as needed for filling

Procedure

Prepare cupcakes. preheat oven to 350F/177C. Line a 12-hole muffin pan with cupcake liners. Set aside.

In a bowl, combine flour and baking soda. Set aside. In another bowl, cream butter and sugar until fluffy. Add egg and beat well. Add the dry ingredients and milk. Blend well. Stir in strawberry jam and lemon juice and mix until well combines. Pour batter into the prepared pan, up to 2/3 full. Bake for 20 minutes or until done. Allow cooling.

Prepare whipped cream. Stir strawberry jam to soften. In a mixer bowl, beat whipping cream until stiff. Fold in strawberry jam.

To assemble, make a small hole at the center of the cupcakes and will with strawberry jam. Pipe strawberry whipped cream on top.

Yield: 10 cupcakes

Happy baking! 

I already miss baking with my boys. Baking with them is so much fun and has a lot of benefits.

- It teaches kids Math skills like measurement, addition, subtraction, multiplication, division, estimation, and time from start to finish. 

- Kids learn Science concepts like Chemical Reaction, Mixtures, Solute, Solvent, and Senses.

- Kids develop values like patience and perseverance.

- Kids' fine at gross motor skills can be practiced by choosing and mixing the ingredients.

- Kids can create fun memories with their parents that can be added to their memory.

That's why Kuya and I enjoyed The Maya Kitchen's Mommy and Kid Baking Workshop. On the following day of the said workshop, we taught Bunso and Kuya what we learned. We enjoyed the activity very much! 

Here's one of the two recipes that we've learned:

PEANUT BUTTER & CHOCO CHIP CUPCAKES

Cupcakes:

1 1/2 cups Maya Cake Flour

1 1/2 teaspoons baking powder

1/2 teaspoon salt

1/2 cup butter

2/3 cup peanut butter

1/2 cup white sugar

1/2 cup brown sugar, packed

2 eggs

1/2 cup milk

1/2 cup semi-sweet chocolate chips

Chocolate Buttercream:

1/2 cup butter

2 cups powdered sugar

1/2 cup cocoa powder

1/4 cup milk

3 tablespoons whipping cream

PREPARE CUPCAKES. Preheat oven to 350 F/177 C. Line two 3-oz. 12-hole muffin pan with cupcake liners. Set aside. In a bowl, combine flour, baking powder and salt. Set aside. In another bowl, cream butter, peanut butter, white sugar, and brown sugar until fluffy. Add eggs and beat well. Alternately add dry ingredients and milk, ending with the dry mixture and beating well after each addition. Pour batter into prepared pans until 3/4 full. Bake for 25 minutes or until done. Cool completely before frosting.

PREPARE CHOCOLATE BUTTERCREAM. Using a mixer, beat the butter until light and fluffy. Gradually add sugar and cocoa powder at low speed. Add milk and beat at medium speed. Lastly, add the whipping cream and beat until light and fluffy. Pipe or spread on top of cool cupcakes.

YIELD: 14-15 cupcakes

You may eat the cupcakes without frosting and still tastes good. :)

Enjoy your weekend! I encourage you to bake with your family. It's so much fun! Here's the link to our The Maya Kitchen baking experience: 

A Day to Remember: Mommy Bloggers Philippines and The Maya Kitchen Mommy and Kid  Cupcake Baking Workshop

What is curry? Where did it originate?

According to the dictionary, Curry is a dish of meat, vegetables, etc., cooked in an Indian-style sauce of strong spices and turmeric and typically served with rice.

Alan Davidson has stated in the Oxford Companion to Food that curry comes from the Tamil word kari, or spiced sauce, which originally a thin, soup-like, spiced dressing served in southern India, amongst many other stew-like dressings for meat and vegetables. It was also noted in an English cookbook published in 1390s, The Forme of Cury, that “cury” originated from the word cuire, meaning to cook. Chef Cyrus Todiwala from BBC Two's The Incredible Spice Men explained that even though Portuguese discovered India and was credited with popularizing Curry, the country Britain was the one that brought the spice to the world. There were evidences that traces of cooked ginger and turmeric were found in starch grains in human teeth and cooking pot seen in the town of Famana, west of Delhi. Anthropologists believed that they might have found the evidence of a 4,000-year old "proto-curry". (Taylor, 2013)

There are so many types of curries in the world and one of the most interesting is the Japanese’s Curry Roux Cube. Curry Roux Cubes have flavors similar to bouillon, concentrated hits of spices and "umami" that releases when mixed with a liquid. These cubes are milder in flavor and sweeter than other curry bases and tend to produce a thicker sauce due to the presence of thickeners like corn starch or flour. Dishes like kare raisu (rice with Japanese curry) and katsu kare (thin, fried pork or chicken with Japanese curry) are almost always made from a box of Japanese curry roux. (Delany, 2017)

Three weeks ago, Primer Media Inc. sent me three brands of curry roux cubes from House Foods Sauce Mix, Japan, a well-known company established in 1913 as a producer of herbal medicines. They are now the largest spice manufacturer in Japan, and one of the most prominent producers of Japanese food products.

I admit that I wasn't familiar with Vermont, Java, and Kokumaro Curry Roux Cubes until I searched Instagram and saw thousands of posts of people from all over the world featuring their curry dishes using these three brands! That, my friends, made me more excited to try them!

Hubby and I were confused on what to try first since it was our very first time to use curry roux cubes. After listening to a friend’s recommendation that we should try Vermont Curry first, which she rated five stars, and following the cooking instructions, we enjoyed the flavor and seasoning of our delectable curry dish! It was so delicious! The dish had the right amount of sweetness and spiciness.  Perfect! Super sarap with hot steamed rice! Mapapa-extra rice ka sa sobrang linamnam!

Let me share with you our very own version of Vermont Medium Hot Japanese Chicken Curry.

To show you in detail, here is how we cooked our Japanese Chicken Curry using Vermont Curry- Medium Hot:

Ingredients

Chicken breast: 500 grams

Onion: 800 grams

Potato: 450 grams 

Carrot: 200 grams

Cooking oil: 30 ml (2 tbsp) 

Water: 6 cups (1,400 ml)

One package of Vermont Curry- Med. Hot 185 grams

Procedure

1. Drizzle cooking oil into a pot and heat it up. 

2. Put chopped onion into and fry it. 

3. After it’s cooked, put chopped chicken. 

4. After chicken is cooked well, put chopped carrot and potato respectively.

5. After every ingredient is well cooked, put water. 

6. Boil with medium heat and put the lid of the pot. 

7. Remove scum with ladle. 

8. Boil till every ingredient becomes tender.

9. Stop heating. Break curry roux into small blocks and put them into the pot. 

10. Stir it till curry roux melts completely. 

11. Heat the pot again with low heat until the sauce is thick enough. 

12. Stir the sauce while heating to avoid burning it. 

13. Serve curry with steamed rice.

Tada! Our finished product may not look like your typical Chicken Curry that is bright yellow in color but this tastes really, really good! My food blogger friend, Joy Gurtiza, was the one who encouraged me to use Vermont Curry (Med. Hot) first which she rated five stars and she was right! I strongly agree!

For more details and information about Vermont, Java, and Kokumaro Curry Roux Cubes, visit House Foods Sauce Mix, Japan's official website.

Have you tried cooking your favorite dish using Vermont, Java, or Kokumaro Curry? If yes, I will be glad to know your chika about it! Feel free to leave a comment! Salamat!

References:

Taylor, A. (2013). Curry: Where did it come from?. Retrieved http://www.bbc.co.uk/food/0/24432750

If you are an Light Rail Transit (LRT) 2 commuter, I am sure that you always see Uni-Pak Mackerel's #PakNaPak na #TatakUnipak easy to cook recipes. Even though they are being played in a few seconds, you can remember how they are made because the ingredients are very common and cooking procedure is not difficult. Even people who don't cook can follow them precisely.

Uni-Pak Mackerel's recipes are not just easy to prepare but also nutritious and economical, even families with tightest budgets can truly afford. I am not saying this to promote the brand alone. Unipak Mackerel with Natural Oil variant is part of our pantry. It's versatility and taste suit my family's preference.

Lasa'y Tumpak, Sarap Uni-Pak! I strongly agree!

Do you remember these #TatakUnipak recipes that I've shared before? 

UNI-PAK MACKEREL SISIG

UNI-PAK HEALTHY MACKEREL SANDWICH

See recipes HERE.

I would like to share with you videos of another easy to cook Uni-Pak Mackerel recipes that we love. These videos were styled and uploaded by food stylist, Chiqui Lloren. Watch, learn, and follow! 

UNI-PAK MACKEREL BREAD ROLLS

UNI-PAK MACKEREL GISING-GISING RECIPE

The first recipe is a sure hit to the kids while the second recipe fits a person like me who loves spicy food. Rapsa!!!

In consonance with this recipe sharing, I would like to announce Uni-Pak's good news! Uni-Pak is giving away again one (1) gift pack to one (1) lucky AAPM reader of the month. The simple mechanics are the same as the first one that I hosted. 

The giveaway is open to my readers residing in Philippines only. You don't have to be my social media account followers to join. Giveaway period is from February 22 to March 1, 2018 only. Winner will be chosen by random.org.

I'll announce the winner on my Facebook Page on March 1, 2018 and he/she will be notified through Facebook private message on the same day. Uni-Pak/SLORD Development Corporation will be responsible in shipping the prize to the winner. Thanks and good luck!

Like Rafunzel B. Medina, you can be the next winner! Join na!

I admit that I only drink plain milk daily during my two pregnancies because I wanted my babies to get the calcium for their developing bones and other nutrients for proper growth that they could only get from it. Then to sustain my own and family's milk requirements now, I just incorporate it with the dishes that I cook and drinks that I take. 

While I have milk taste fatigue, my sons' tummies have become sensitive to plain white milk but I am amazed that when milk is incorporated with other drinks and dishes, their tummies can tolerate it. There was also a time in their growing years that they drank milk chocolate but I decided to let them stop because I thought that milk chocolate as a substitute was bad for the health. But I was wrong.

According to healthyeating.org, milk chocolate (flavored and unflavored) is as healthy as plain white milk. Like the former, the latter has also the sugar lactose in it. In an eight-ounce glass of milk we can find 12 grams of lactose. Milk chocolate has between eight to 12 additional grams of sugar added. So about one-half of the sugar in chocolate milk is naturally-occurring lactose found in all milk. Only about 60 calories in chocolate milk are from added sugars, which is small relative to the powerhouse of nutrients it provides. (Source: www.healthyeating.org/Milk-Dairy/Dairy-Facts/Chocolate-Milk)

At first, my kids loved drinking chocolate milk everyday. I would allow them to take only one small tetra brick at least three times a week because I would still observe their tummies' reaction to it. Until finally, they manifested no negative reaction so I let them continue. But somehow, they experience an "umay factor" from time to time, finding their favorite milk chocolate drink very, very sweet.

Then a few weeks before the recent holidays, Jolly Cow of Fly Ace Corporation sent me a gift pack with Jolly Cow Chocolate Milk in it. Milk chocolate consumption was never the same. 

Our family began to like and recommended it to our friends due to the following reasons:

- It's not too sweet. It has the right amount of sweetness and creaminess that makes Jolly Cow Chocolate Milk different from other brands.

- I admit that it's addicting. It's delicious when stored in room temperature and even yummier when served chilled or with ice cubes.

- It's made of 100% pure cow's milk straight from Denmark added with real cocoa.

- It's loaded with calcium and essential nutrients for healthier bones, strong immune system, and well-functioning body organs. 

- It's versatile, best paired with our family's favorite snacks. We can enjoy our occasional milk chocolate indulgence without the guilt.

- I am a chocoholic and I drink this as a post workout booster without ruining my diet plan. It has a balanced protein and carbohydrate contents.

- It's guaranteed natural, no artificial sweeteners and preservatives.

- It’s shelf-stable packaging also allows the milk to be stored at room temperature to keep its freshness and creamy texture up to seven months or until the date code. It's Longlife Ultra Heat Treated which means it's safe and clean.

- New feature! It has a Junior version, 200 ml, that is perfect for my kids' baon for school. Hubby and I also bring one when we go out. 

- Affordable and sleek- a box of Jolly Cow Chocolate Milk Junior is also one of the best potluck contributions. One box contains 27 tetra bricks of real chocolate goodness that kids and adults can surely enjoy!

- I am conscious with what my family consumes. Nutritional information, ingredients, storing instructions, manufacturing date, expiration date, and manufacturer information are all printed on the packaging. It also has a printed educational activity at the back that kids can answer.

Jolly Cow Chocolate Milk is loaded with real chocolatey and milky goodness in every pack!

My family loves Jolly Cow Chocolate Milk. It is something that lifts the spirit and sends happiness! I know that when you try it, you'll love it too!

Jolly Cow Condensada is available in leading supermarkets, and groceries nationwide.  For more updates, visit and like its official Facebook fan page: