Easiest dessert to make. Ever.

No stopping a woman craving for some sweets!

I call this one, the Frozen ChocoBananaNut Pops!

Too many adjectives? Yes? No? It's a mouthful. See what i did there...

Anywaaaaaaay.

What's really great about this dessert aside from being quick and easy to whip, is that it only has 3 ingredients! Plus i feel like this one's on the ~healthy side, given that this one's fruit-based. Ohyeahohyeah!

Ingredients:

Bananas

Chocolate spread

Nuts

First, slice the bananas. I prefer Latundan bananas over Lacatan just because they're sweeter and have better texture. Use any kind though, whatever's available. I usually slice a banana into 4, so they're just the right size.

After slicing, freeze 'em while you prepare the next two ingredients.

Next up, pound the nuts via your mortar and pestle. Or maybe put them in a ziplock bag and start pounding with your frying pan. Whichever works, take it!

Next, get your chocolate spread. I always have Goya Choco Spread (in ChocoHazelnut) here at home because IT IS THE ANSWER TO LIFE'S PROBLEMS or wait i mean it gives me that instant dose of sweet smooth chocolate whenever i crave for some. A spoonful's never enough. Hah.

Get a hefty spoonful, put in a small bowl, and add 2-3 spoons of hot water. Or 4, i don't really measure it so go ahead and experiment. Just a side note, i tried the "microwave the chocolates in 5 second intervals, mixing in between til well blended", but i think this only works for actual chocolates. The chocospread actually thickened/solidified when i did this, so there. Chocolate spreads have different ingredients and maybe were processed differently so they don't just melt with heat. (Should i actually know this? I don't like organic chem so skipping the scientific explanation here, sarreh!) Anyway, mixing in some hot water worked just fine, turning it into a consistency perfect for coating. I added just a wee bit of condensed milk just to make it a little creamier again, but you may skip this step.

Take out the bananas from the freezer, coat with chocolate, and roll in nuts until fully coated. Finish your batch then freeze. I like it just about 2 to 3 hours after freezing so it's not frozen through and through, but i left it there overnight and all the same it tastes good!!

Will try this again soon, next time with crushed oreos as coating instead of the nuts.

Ohmhayghas the things we do for the love of desserts.

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I have no idea of the rules in the kitchen, so if i ever offend real cooks there with the "whatever works" processes that i have here, please forgive me. Then teach me. Hihi. Thank youuuuu okay time for more eating now!

Because ref cakes are awesome

Whoever doesn't enjoy desserts is missing an integral part of his/her life. Yes I'm saying it. Integral. Desserts are an embodiment of pleasure, indulgence, simple joys that sould be taken with moderation, but never permanently skipped for whatever reason.

It's a natural high.

*cue superhero music* Ghoent. Defender of the swee-universe.

Kkk.

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This is one of my favorite desserts to make at home (aka the ONLY dessert I can make from scratch, huhu). Ze familia enjoyed this version when I first tried it, so prepared another batch and this time made sure to document it.

This is not something new, but because I like looking at it and seeing how pretty it is, I will put it here. blahblahblah.

Presenting...

The Peach (or Mango) Oreo Ref Cake!

Ingredients:

Good for 1 ~11.5x7x2in tray (i used a 2.5L tray)

1 pack Graham Crackers

1 pack vanilla cookies

4 packs cream

1 can condensed milk

1 can peaches or 3 pieces mangoes

I made 2 trays for this batch. You may use any type of vanilla chocolate cookies, as you can see I combined Oreos with Bingo, aka I used one pack of oreo and added a few more cookies (because the more cookies the better). The brand of cream's not an issue also, I usually use Nestle though. And please use condensed milk, not condensada. I don't know why, let's just say I have more faith in the condensed milk.

First up, as soon as you get home with these ingredients, shake the cream (to remove whatever settling that has occurred) and then chill it for at least 2 hours (or as long as when you shake the pack, you know it's no longer in liquid form). NOT freeze. Relax. Chill. This is an important step. When we make the filling, the consistency of the cream should be - surprise! - creamy. Not runny, not liquid.

While the chillin' is happenin', get a big bowl (emphasis on big. You'll be mixing everything in here, aka 4 packs of cream and a can of condensed milk) and in here start breaking your cookies into bits. So I do the "oreo twist", scrape off the filling, then break the cookies. Breaking them with the filling inside makes it really messy, so I find this method more efficient (and less likely for me to eat the cookies). Take note, I use the term "break the cookies", and not "crush". We'd like to eat chunks of it on the ref cake, making it very "cookies and cream" only more awesome. Set this aside.

Let's get to the peaches (or mangoes). Slice it according to however you like. A can is more than enough for the tray, but if you prefer to have plenty of toppings then go ahead and slice as many as you want. Set aside.

2 hours of chilling done? If so, pour the 4 packs of cream and can of condensed milk on your big bowl with the cookie bits. By this time you may come across 2 problems:

1. The cream's runny. Deym. I told you to chill it for at least two hours. The thing with this is that if it's still runny then your graham crackers will just float in this mess and not settle on where we want it. That's fine, but the OC in me won't be too happy. Chilling it in the ref won't really help by this point so, prevention is better than cure. Something like that. Y'all know what I mean.

2. Your bowl's too small. That's an easy thing to deal with. Transfer it to a bigger bowl. But that's messy, will waste some of the mixture, and time consuming. The question here is: why didn't you use the big bowl in the first place?

Mix mix mix mix mixture. Done? Get your tray and Graham crackers. Dip the Graham in the mixture, and layer as base. This makes our base moist and yummy, since usually the base of ref cakes are dry as the cream doesn't get to be absorbed by this layer. Fill in gaps with crushed graham. Pour half of the mixture on top of the base, then layer another graham. This time the dipping's no longer necessary. Pour the rest of the mixture on top.

Some people like to top this with crushed graham right before finishing with the fruit, but I like it bare with just the peaches/mangoes as top layer. If you have extra graham then let's just put this on record: do what you want to do. It's the only way you'll be happy. Yep. Because desserts have subtle life messages like that.

Chill overnight. I'd prefer you not freeze it because the thawing that follows kinda skews the consistency (other parts liquidy while the others rock solid), so just chill it in the ref overnight. THIS IS THE ULTIMATE MARSHMALLOW TEST. EQ on the line. My advise: Wait for this worth it piece of heaven!! I suggest then that you prepare this at night so that right after preparing, sleep-immediately-and-wake-up-and-get-your-spoon-and-knife-and-plate-ready-and-slice-and-eat-away. 

Sounds like a plan to me. Happy eating!

My interpretation of a Native American/Indian costume

2 months and a day since my last post, aka the day after the doomsday is over, I finally get to update this blog.

Last week was our company's Christmas party, and the theme was Wild Wild West. I had two choices: to either dress up as an Indian (Native American, to make it politically correct), or come in as a cowgirl.

I initially wanted to do cowgirl because it was easy and we have cowboy hats here at home. But the same reason made me switch to dress up as an Indian. Not that I don't want something easy, it's just that predicting most would go as cowgirls, I prefer to be a little more different.

What I wore then:

 with my friend Josie. 

This is the closest to an ~outfit shot that I have. Solos make me uncomfortable. HAHA.

The back story:

Looked for a lot of inspirations online, but we all know that we always have to work with what we have. So I went to the best place to look for costumes and other one-time-only-i-can-totally-alter/destroy-this types of clothes - ukay.

Got 2 items, in intentionally both colors, because I knew they'd go well with my nude shoes.

My officemate: "Saan ka nakakita ng Indian na naka-heels? Wala! Si Ghoent lang!"

OF COURSE. Haha.

Buying a new pair was not an option. Okay yes it crossed my mind. But my budget didn't allow so, again, work with what we have.

P85 - Suede-ish, fringe top. Jackpot piece.

P105 - Embroidered, stretch skirt.

You can pretty much see the changes I did. After playing with the top (and doing some research, of course), it turned out to be this:

Cut the bottom part, shaped the hem into a curve, and "fringed" it.

The skirt had more work done. It was originally an A-line long skirt (below the knees!), and it was obvious that with the kind of top I had, the A-line won't work. Hand-stitched it into a pencil skirt, then!

Cut cut cut, fold, back-stitch, fit, adjust adjust. Way more difficult than how the previous 8 words sound, but finishing it felt sooooo good I ate 2 cupcakes in one go!

Accessories:

The long beaded necklace I'm wearing has been with me for at least 4 years, I think. I bought it for 20 pesos at divisoria way back, but never actually wore it out. Finally, I can say that my 20pesos was not put to waste. T'was in fact super sulit!

My headband is something I made using crochet threads. I have plenty of crochet balls here at home because I once dived into the handmade notebooks business, and I used these threads to bind them up.

From my previous Ghoent Junior Cardstock Set.

Anyway, I braided a loooong piece and then connected it to form the ring, taking care that it has a snug fit on my forehead. I wanted it secure but not too tight to cause some headache or any form of marks.

The thread color is a gradient of brown, nude, brick red, and brown-black, which was perfect for my outfit's palette.

I did my bracelet from another item that I bought but never actually wore out. My 50-peso arm band that I got from St. Francis Square from maybe 2-3 years ago served as the base for the bracelet. I like that the color matches the skirt perfectly, plus it has that suede-ish touch in texture. My wrist was however itching and forming rashes everytime I tried the bracelet on. So I used the original hem of the top I got as a ~shield for my wrist from the feathers. It's made of thick soft stretch cotton so it solved my problem easily.

So not an elegant way of attaching the feathers. I just taped them inside! 

My other bracelet is just again a braided piece using the plenty retaso from my A-line skirt. "Locked" the bracelet by tying it across my wrist with a knot.

Very imperfect and unrefined = = perfect.

Makeup:

Sister: "Bakit one side lang? Mukha kang Bonakid!"

Officemate: "I am a betawoman." (referring to the Betadine commercial).

A lot of love!! Hahahaha.

Took this mirrorshot when I got home, approximately 8 hours after application. I had different inspirations for this, and since I didn't go for the authentic Native American but more of the modern authentic (if there is such a term), I didn't want to overdo the makeup. Googled for videos to help me with dark eyes, etc. All the help are always welcome, aka research.

Aaaaand that's it! The anatomy of my costume. 

What I spent:

P85 (top) + P105 (skirt) = P190.

If we include the red eyeliner that I bought, that would be an additional of P100.

P290 for the entire look, not bad. :)

I started scouting for pieces and researching for inspirations approximately 2 and a half weeks before the party. We can't really beat preparation.

Some party pictures below:

Don't you just love my co-MT AA's cactus costume? I helped him finish it by putting the cactus spines!

Oh and yes. We danced. Such bibo kids we are. Hahahaha.

Our friends Julius and Clang won best in costume!!! Totally deserved it. Clang gave me her extra feathers which I used for the bracelet, and headpiece accent. She made that headpiece she's wearing and whole costume from scratch! If I told you her costume's back story, it'll probably merit 2 blog entries.

I enjoy the challenge of making costumes, especially if I am in the mood. Looking forward to next year's Christmas party!

3 days til Christmas, have a good one everyone! :)

*Christmas party photos from Sir Alvin, Sir Archie and Eah