Category Archives: Life is short. Eat up!

Culinary Arts in the Philippines are becoming Popular

Posted by confessionsofafoodie77 in Life is short. Eat up! and tagged with , ,

Aside from the fact that food is a primary necessity, people are in constant need of well-prepared and extraordinary food that is not served in their dining table every day. The finest cuisines are not only delightful for taste buds but also appealing to the eyes. The art of preparation of food alone can make your mouth water, much more when it lingers your taste buds you will definitely crave for more. This is why culinary arts are becoming one of the hottest ventures in food service industry.

culinary arts schools philippines

Top rated culinary arts schools in the Philippines

Many schools are offering culinary arts program that designs to train potential kitchen professionals and the Philippines is one of the countries in Asia that have many colleges that offers culinary arts courses. The Filipinos penchant for cooking makes this undertaking a very successful one. Both Western and Asian dishes are well taught aside from the local cuisines like “adobo” and “tinola” that has also gained popularity all over the world. A menu of opportunities awaits the culinary artists after graduation such as becoming executive chefs, catering operations manager, chef patron, restaurant manager, kitchen manager, and many others. Since culinary arts is not only concerned with the science and art of food preparation but also the nutritional values of the food, many culinary artists also become nutritionist and dietitians working in hospital setting or private practices.

Restaurant and food business is such a boom in all the corners of the country. Rural and urban cities alike boast their own trademark of specialties that could sweep over the feet of the visiting tourists.

Top Culinary Schools in the Philippines:

Magsaysay Institute of Hospitality and Culinary Arts, Manila

3/F Times Plaza Bldg.
United Nations Avenue,
Malate, Manila 1000
(+632) 5249996

Center for Culinary Arts, Manila

287 Katipunan Avenue, Loyola Heights,
Quezon City 1108 Philippines
(+632) 9942520

International Culinary Arts Academy Cebu

Don Gervacio Quijada Street
Guadalupe, Cebu City, 6000
+63.32.4125241

American Hospitality Academy Philippines

Ground Floor, NDC Building, 116 Tordesillas St., Salcedo Village, Makati City
(+632) 507-3934

Academy for International Culinary Arts

Suite 207 Skyway Twin Towers
351 Capt. Henry Javier street
Pasig City, Philippines
(+632) 6710276/77

International School for Culinary Arts & Hotel Management

4F FBR Bldg, Katipunan Avenue
1108 Quezon City, Philippines
(+632) 9268888

The Center for Asian Culinary Studies, Manila

455 P. Guevarra Street,
San Juan, Metro Manila
(+632) 7255089

Philippine School of Culinary Arts

3rd Floor The Maxwell Hotel Annex Bldg.
N. Escario St. Camputhaw,
Cebu City, Philippines 6000
(032) 505-4645

Can you add more Culinary Schools in the Philippines to the list?

Homemade Blueberry Lemonade & Sage recipe

Posted by confessionsofafoodie77 in Life is short. Eat up! and tagged with , , ,

Several months ago I went to the Melting Pot with some friends for a girls’ night out! While there I tried a delicious “mocktail”… blueberry sage lemonade. It was amazing. I’ve been dreaming of the flavors for months. So when my local grocery store had both blueberries and lemons on sale, I took it as a sign that it was time to recreate that tasty treat. So here is my version. I will definitely be making it a lot this summer!

Blueberry Sage Lemonade Spritzer

Ingredients:
· 1 cup sugar
· 1 cup water
· Juice of 6 lemons
· 6 sage leaves
· 1 quart club soda
· quart cold water
· 3 oz blueberries
· Ice (optional)
· Lemon slices for garnish
· 3 sage leaves, coarse chopped (optional garnish)

Directions:
In a small sauce pan, combine 1 cup water and 1 cup sugar. Bring to a boil and remove from heat. Place sage leaves in pot to steep. Allow sage simple sugar to cool to room temperature; remove sage leaves. Place blueberries (and optional, chopped sage leaves) in a 2 quart pitcher, using a wooden spoon muddle the berries to release juices. Add lemon juice and simple syrup and stir. Add enough cold water to make 1 quart of lemonade. Finally add the quart of club soda. Serve over ice and garnish with lemon slices! Enjoy on a hot summer day. *If you don’t like sage, you can substitute mint!

You could also make an “adult” version by substituting the club soda for bubbly!

homemade blueberry sage lemonade recipe

Fresh Homemade blueberry & sage lemonade recipe

Wedding Cake trends for 2012

Posted by confessionsofafoodie77 in Life is short. Eat up! and tagged with , , ,

It seems that this is the year for simpler cake designs.  White on White seems to be a trend that is catching on quickly based on PinTrest and some of the hot wedding magazines this Spring.

Here are some tips when looking for cakes:

  1. Shop multiple vendors The average wedding cake runs from $3 – $7 per serving.  Price is not always an indication of quality, so be sure to shop around.  Bring pictures of what you want, book appointments to meet with each baker, and talk to them about what they do and how they can bring your vision to life within your budget.  Be prepared to make some compromises of your own too!  Remember, the more complex the requirements, the more it will cost.
  2. Delay the cale until later Wait until the meal is complete and do the cake right after.  Most of your guests will be full right after dinner anyway, so fewer people will eat cake.  You can reduce your cake size by about 30% by doing this.
  3. Allow self-serve This way the servers don’t bring cake to everybody, regardless of if they want it or not.  If you place several cut slices out on a table with coffee for your late night snack, then only guests that want a slice will take it.  Typically about 60% of your guests will take part.  If you’d like to save the top layer for you and your sweetheart, then budget for about 70% consumption, and order your cake size accordingly.
  4. Stick to 1 flavor, keep it simple - Though many brides want multiple flavors, this increases consumption. Those that like cake will eat more doing this.   Additional flavors often come with an additional cost.And remember: a single flavor doesn’t mean it has to be generic.  Play up the buttercream layers with lively flavors such as butter beer with strawberry buttercream, or chocolate with raspberry cream cheese filling.  Pick something memorable that you and your guests will truly enjoy! Choose a gourmet flavor and make it a cake all the guests rave about afterward!

Remember the wedding cake is a piece of art and something memorable forever!

There’s a food gift basket for that!

Posted by confessionsofafoodie77 in Life is short. Eat up! and tagged with , , ,

We have all found ourselves in the position of having to buy a Birthday, Christmas, Anniversary or a “Just Because gift’.  When I find myself in this position I try to think of something the gift receiver would love but, usually settle on something that would tend to be meaningless and not really appreciated by the receiver.  If you find this to be your problem as well, you should think about gourmet gift baskets from GourmetGiftBaskets.com.  I have found that giving someone a gourmet gift basket is unique and shows the receiver  that you care for them and says how important you really think they are.

gourmet gift baskets

Gourmet gift baskets are nothing simple but elegant!

Gourmet gift baskets come in a variety of options.  Who would not love to receive a decadent basket of sweets, or if the receiver does not have a sweet tooth you could go with a healthy basket filled with exotic fruits and nuts.  What about that special child?  There are baskets that incorporate specialty dolls, books, movie and tv themed items and even sports themes.  Do you know a wine enthusiast, how about a specialty food lover?  There are so many varieties of Gourmet baskets that encompass all kinds of wine, specialty cheeses, exotic fruits and  wine accessories.  All gourmet baskets range from around $15 to several hundreds of dollars.  Depending on your pocket book and the person you are buying for you could even have a Gourmet basket made worth thousands!

In gifting a gourmet basket you will be assured that your gift will be thoroughly enjoyed whether it for a close friend or relative to the less informal “Thank You” gift for a local business.

Junk food seems to be the choice at public schools

Posted by confessionsofafoodie77 in Life is short. Eat up! and tagged with , ,

Junk food remains in control of the menus at most of the elementary schools in the USA despite widespread efforts to curb childhood obesity, a new study suggests.

Between 2006 and 2010, nearly half of public and private schools surveyed sold sweet or salty snack foods in vending machines or other places, the study found. Of course, gas stations sell alot more junk food than these places.  What kind of example are we setting for the kids anyway?

reasons kids are fat

We set a bad example as adults - that's why kids are fat.

There was little change over the four years, a surprising finding given vocal advocacy campaigns to improve kids’ diets. The study focused on snacks not sold during mealtimes, which until recently weren’t subject to government nutrition standards.

Schools most likely to sell chips, cookies or similar foods were in the South, where obesity rates are the highest; these foods were scarcest at schools in the West.

The results are concerning, Turner said, because they show that many schools have not heeded messages from health advocates including the Institute of Medicine, which in a 2007 report urged limiting availability of food in schools outside of mealtimes, and said these items should not be sugary, salty or fatty snack foods.

USDA change announced last month focuses on making school lunches healthier, with changes including less sodium and more whole grains. Is this enough, is it to late?

Remember pretending to cook when you were a kid?

Posted by confessionsofafoodie77 in Life is short. Eat up! and tagged with , , ,

Do you remember having a kitchen set as a child and pretending to make meals for the family.  It’s fun looking now watching my 4 yr old girl do the same thing. I’ve always thought is extremely important for children of all ages to participate in in “pretend”. It probably stems from the joy I had engaging in it as a child and my background as a former elementary school teacher. When I was a child, I was always pretending something. Whether it was as simple as pretending I was an ‘adult’ (a.k.a. dressing up in my mother’s clothing) or as elaborate as planning and carrying out a meal with all my furry friends (a.k.a. my stuffed animals) and my mother’s cheap dinnerware.

kids playing with dinnerware at a play kitchen set

Kids playing with dinnerware at a play kitchen set

I try to let my daughter get involved in the nightly ritual of cooking.  Even if it’s something as simple as grabbing a plastic bowl from our pantry cabinets, I want her to feel like she is doing her part. The day I let her do the entire dinner I will most likely buy some corelle dinnerware clearance so if anything gets broken it won’t hurt my pocketbook to much.

My favorite childhood memory of baking with my mom was the annual tradition of making homemade fudge at Christmas.  I would always help stir the fudge in the pan to prevent it from burning while it achieved the perfect temperature.  My mother knew that when it hit that temperature we only had a window of 15 seconds to get it out and on the plate.  If we waited to long, it would be to hard.  If we did it to early, it would never get hard enough.  Funny thing is, we never did time it right and it always ended up one way or the other.  I still loved doing it.

What are some of your favorite childhood memories of helping your mom cook or bake?

Florida swine flu warning in effect

Posted by confessionsofafoodie77 in Life is short. Eat up!

Subject: DEPARTMENT OF HEALTH MEDIA UPDATE H1N1 SWINE FLU FLORIDA

May 7, 2009 9:00 a.m.

Florida has five confirmed cases of swine flu in the following counties: two in Lee, one in Broward, one in Orange , and one in Pinellas.

Alachua, Flagler, Lee, Indian River, Okaloosa, Okeechobee, Palm Beach, Seminole, and Clay have one probable case each. Broward has three , Miami-Dade has four, and Hillsborough has six probable cases.

CDC no longer recommends that communities with a laboratory confirmed case of influenza A H1N1 consider adopting school dismissal or childcare closure measures.

A public health emergency was declared by the State Surgeon General.

A toll free information line has been established to address an increasing number of calls from the public requesting Swine Flu information. The number is 1-800-342-3557 and it is open from 8 a.m. to 8 p.m.

Samples are being received by Florida Department of Health Laboratories for analysis from physicians and hospitals across the state.

The Department of Health continues enhanced surveillance and outreach to physicians, hospitals and other health care professionals. The surveillance system, consisting of sentinel physicians reporting influenza activity, DOH laboratories receiving specimens from physicians and hospitals and our ability to monitor emergency room cases and over- the-counter drug sales is fully operational. We have activated our response plan and are ready to respond to any cases of swine flu if it should occur.

Department of Health continues its enhanced surveillance with a network of Sentinel Physician Providers. These providers send selected samples of laboratory specimens to state laboratories for testing if they have patients with influenza like illness (ILI). These physicians also continue to report weekly ILI cases to the Department of Health.

Anti-virals have been pre-positioned to areas of potential need. We have over one half million individual courses.

The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention has reported 642 confirmed cases of novel influenza in the United States, with one death in a twenty-three month old.

The World Health Organization (WHO) alert level remains at Phase 5. The declaration of a Phase 5 is a strong signal that the pandemic is imminent and that the time to finalize the organization, communication, and implementation of the planned mitigation measures is short.

Centers for Disease ControlParticipation in Centers for Disease Control and other national conference calls will continue.

The State Surgeon General provided these recommendations:

People with respiratory illness should stay home from work or school to avoid spreading infections, including influenza, to others in the community.

  • Avoid close contact with people who are coughing or otherwise appear ill.
  • Avoid touching your eyes, nose and mouth.
  • Wash hands frequently to lessen the spread of respiratory illness.

People experiencing cough, fever and fatigue, possibly along with diarrhea and vomiting, should contact their physician.

If you think you have influenza, please call your health care provider and discuss whether you need to be seen in their office, emergency department or stay home.

Additional resources -
* Florida Department of Health Swine Flu page information
* FAQ about Swine Flu for the Florida area