Saturday, August 20, 2016

Filipino Mango Float

Mango Float




  
Mango float is a popular Filipino dessert loved because of its sweetness and creaminess. This dessert doesn’t float but it will surely make you feel floating because of its deliciousness. It is a sweet dessert that can make you feel refreshed just like fruit salad.

Preparing mango float is so easy that even a kid can do it. I’ve learned this Filipino dessert when I was in elementary. My mom taught me about this great recipe. Until now, even if I’ve already grown up a bit it still serves as one of our family’s favorite desserts.

Here are the list of ingredients that you need: 

200 grams Graham crackers
2 cups all-purpose cream
2 cups condensed milk
3 large ripe and sweet mangoes

Follow these simple directions in order to prepare your mango float:

1) Slice the mangoes thinly.

2) Mix well the all-purpose cream and the condensed milk in a bowl.

3) In a square glass pan or any other square container, thinly make a layer of some of the cream and condensed milk mixture.

4) Layer the Graham crackers.

5) On top of the crackers, put a layer of the mixed cream and the  mangoes.

6) Repeat steps 4 and 5 until you’ve used all the crackers, cream, and mangoes. The top layer should be the filling of cream and mangoes.

After the above tips, you need to put this dessert in a freezer and chill overnight. Serve chilled!

Tip: You can also top your mango float with crushed Graham crackers. Crushed Graham crackers are also available in supermarkets.

* Note: If Graham crackers are not available in your place, you can replace it with chiffon cake. In case mangoes are also not available, you may use sweetened peaches instead. But your dessert will no longer be called a mango float. 

Sunday, August 14, 2016

Philippine Halo Halo

Philippine Halo Halo


One of the favorite dessert of Filipinos is "halo-halo", a term derived from "halo" meaning mix. This desert is a mixture of different varieties of sweets, evaporated milk and shaved ice.
Favorite combination of ingredients are sweetened red beans, "macapuno" (coconut meat), sweetened "lanka" (jackfruit), shreds of sweetened "saba" (plantain), " halaya" (sweetened ube or yam), "kaong" (sugar palm fruit), "gulaman" (jelly), nata de coco, leche flan, boiled "sago" (tapioca), " pinipig" (pounded dried rice). 
One to two tablespoon of those ingredients are placed in a medium size cup with shaved ice on middle part, with toppings of  "halaya", leche flan, showered with "pinipig", saturating with evaporated milk, a scoop of ice cream on top and presto!!!.. its ready to serve.
Halo-halo is best serve during hot summer as desert or even as "meryenda" or snacks. Because of its popularity, you can easily buy it in small store along the street and in some restaurants in Philippines like Chowking Fast Food and Goto King. 
Halo halo





Saturday, August 13, 2016

Filipino Crab Eating



Filipino Crab Eating



Tim Potter Sugar Land Texas



Common Philippine Crabs

Curiosity made me search online and research crustacean cook books about crabs.  Unfortunately there was so little about edible crabs and if common Philippine crabs would have those that thrive in freshwater.  Wikipedia only described and distinguished four of them:  Alimango (Mud or Mangrove Crab); Alimasag (Blue or Spider Crab); Talangka (Shore or River Crab) and the Katang (Fresh water Crab).  Both Talangka and Katang are much smaller related to the Alimango.



The Alimango is the largest among the four kinds of crabs.  Having large pincers is the easiest way to distinguish them from the Alimasag.  Their shell is thicker and tougher to crack.   They can really grow large and I have seen at the Palawan Iwahig Penal Colony inmates selling them almost the size of dinner plates!  The crabs are caught or trapped in rice paddies of the colony.  With this I can conclude that those are freshwater crabs because rice would not grow in saltwater paddies.



The Alimasag is relatively smaller than the alimango with slender pincers and thinner shell.  It has more meat and 'less compartments' containing them compared to the alimango.  The 'compartments' are very thin shell-like within a crab when you open them.  The pincers are easy to crack by even just biting through them.

The Talangka and Katang are small look-alikes of the Alimasag.  Many Filipinos simply love the fat extract of these crabs preserved and sold in wide-mouthed bottles.  Another recipe liked by some is the Burong (Pickled) Talangka.

The regular way in cooking the crabs is simple.  While fresh put them inside a covered cookware, salt them generously to bring out their flavor then heat over medium fire.  They would be ready to eat once their top shell has turned orange in color.


Friday, August 12, 2016

Tim Potter Sugar Land Texas

Sugar Land to Philippines

The Last 5 Years from Sugar Land.
Tim Potter Sugar Land to Philippines
Tim Potter Sugar Land to Philippines
In 2007 I retired from the Marine Corps and came to the Philippines.  I came here and started teaching English at Alta Resort and Language School on Mactan Island.  During this time I owned and operated several internet cafes.  I decided in 2009 to end my relationship with the Cafe business.  I moved from Cebu City Philippines to a little town on the other side called Balanbam Philippines.  That is where I met my wife. We dated for 7 months and decided to take the next steps and get married.  We wed on May 6th 2010.  We lived in a two bedroom apartment by the beach for about a year.  Then we were blessed and my wife was pregnant with our first child.  We decided that hospitals and such were not so great in that small town.  So we relocated back to Cebu City.  Our son Zachary was born 4 Oct 2011. We were double blessed as the wife discovered she was again pregnant with our second son.  Leevi was born August 13 2011. Picture of my Retirement just before I came to the Philippines.
Tim Potter Marine Retirement Philippines USMC
Tim Potter in Sugar Land Retired to Philippines
Zol and I currently live in Cebu City Philippines and will soon travel to the USA and live in Sugar Land Texas. Living Abroad for the last 5 years there a few things I learned that will assist in your journey. With the internet keeping in contact with loved ones and enjoying the fruits of your home country are simpler.  We will soon travel and are doing our Visa to head to the US.   This is our story.