Leo's Breakfast Birthday

I wanted to cook Leo breakfast for his birthday this year. He turned 25 last Sunday. I had him choose a day of the week when he was free at 7am-ish at my house. Leo was in. Tuesday morning he said. I enlisted KC's help of course, she's the resident cook and I her faithful assistant :)

We decided on a Menu:

KC's famous hash browns with Cheese Sauce
Portobello Mushroom, Bell Pepper and Cheese Omelet
Bacon and Rice
Pancakes
Fresh Mango Juice

My assignment was the Omelet, Pancakes and Mango Juice.
I chose Portobello Mushrooms, Bell Peppers, Tomatoes and Mozzarella because they all fit in my diet. I just sauteed all the vegetables in a bit of olive oil with garlic and set them aside. I beat 8 eggs, added some fresh milk then salt and pepper to taste and put the egg mixture in a teflon pan. I added the vegetables after a while and then the cheese. I was afraid that the top wasn't getting cooked and i had a hard time folding it so I decided to put the pan in the oven like a fritata. I worked even better-- the eggs were so yummy :) Kilig nanaman ako. Sorry guys, Im just really so happy when my cooking is actually edible-- I end up eating so much-- I know it's bad. I should stop cooking altogether.

When I saw Chief at Kirin, I also invited him to breakfast because he'd been sick and we haven't seen him in ages. Glad he was able to make it.

Leo ran late, he had to drop by a gas station for work before coming over. Kace had to leave for an early 8 am meeting and didn't get to see Mr. Cabredo. We called Mitch who lives around the corner from me-- told her to get her ass out of bed "Wag ka na maligo" and come over! The food was good, nothing too heavy-- and the company was great. I was able to get the best work advice from the serious screws. It really really fueled me to work more. It was really just a great morning with great company. Mornings like these are not to be forgotten and must be repeated :)

Happy Birthday Mr. Cabredo-- Cheers to all the great things coming your way this year :) Ms. Tugegarao, Watch out for Leo :)

Again, I forgot to take pictures of all the food because I had too much fun when it started.

Snickerdoodles

Snickerdoodles are one of my favorite cookies. They're essentially just butter cookies with cinnamon. I've been cooking a lot at home and decided to make some for my round of Monday Game Plan meetings at the office. 

My favorite website for recipes as of late is a site I stumbled upon -- www.tastespotting.com -- and found a recipe for "The Best Snickerdoodle Ever!" What could beat that right? I wrote the recipe down on my idea notebook a week ago and after my wonderful day with the girls last Saturday passed by CVC along Marcos High-way to grab the goodies for my cookies.

The Best Snickerdoodle EVER

1/2 a cup of butter softened
1/2 cup granulated sugar
1/3 cup brown sugar
1 egg
1/2 tsp vanilla
1 1/2 cups flour
1/4 tsp salt
1/2 tsp baking soda
1/4 tsp cream of tartar

The recipe is so simple. I was making these cookies while Chi and I contemplated on what to eat for Sunday Family time Sunday morning.

I forget how many cookies the recipe was for but I doubled up on all the ingredients. All you have to do is mix all the wet ingredients and all the dry ingredients and then combine them together and VIOLA! hahaha :)) You have to refrigerate it so that the magic happens," preferably overnight" the recipe states. I put the bater in the freezer at 1030 and baked them in the evening at 6.

I just eyeballed an ideal size cut the frozen batter into sections. Put a bit of flour on my hands and rolled them into balls. In my test batch I rolled the cookie balls in a mixture of brown sugar, granulated sugar and cinnamon-- a whole lot of cinnamon.

The test batch were ready for dessert at the dinner table... I was first to take a bite. And I was so kilig-- Again--- as I always am when I cook and it actually tastes good :) hihihihi "Oh my God. It's Good YOU HAVE TO TRY." Mom was second to finish her dinner and said "Uy, sarap nga! Akin nalang, I'll bring them to Laguna!" I go-- "No way! They're for my office!" Chi tells Gcza "Ina wants to be a Mommy in her office." I was so kilig to hear that, I'm glad he knows :) I patiently wait for Chi to finish their take-out from Sushi-Ya so he could taste the cookies. I warn him that maybe there might be a bit too much cinnamon-- When he takes a bite--- he tries to hide it but goes "Sige na nga, Its good!" I do my kilig dance with my shoulders-- He says "But maybe too much cinnamon. So the rest were only rolled in cinnamon on one side.