Happy Thanksgiving.

First and foremost, I’d like to thank everyone who has had the chance to happen upon my blog. Hopefully, I’ve provided a worthwhile read :). I’m also sorry to say that this will most likely be my last post directly concerning “Goodies from the Grenadines” since I’m firmly situated back in Washington.

I’ll keep the blog up in support of my cousin Ate Jhoanape, her husband Kuya Randy, and their child JirahMae.

Again, if you ever venture (and I hope you will) down to St. Vincent and the Grenadines, please be sure to visit their bakery. It’ll be a treat you won’t soon forget.

– Anthony

 

For Your Eyes.

Refresher.

While I’m stuck here in the great rainy state of Washington, I’ll send out a request for foodie photographs related to Caribbean and Filipino culture. Recipe favorites are welcome too.

There aren’t any stringent rules for submissions so fire away.

Email me at: vincentbakery@gmail.com. I’ll try to include everyone. 🙂

Cake in the States.

Here’s a gallery of a Filipino bakery in Elk Grove, California. They weren’t too happy when they saw me snapping pictures and insisted that I should have asked for permission first before I did. Whoops.

Kuya Soto’s Filipino Cuisine.

Chocolate and Pumpkin

Chocolate and pumpkin.

Before I forget, I should mention this. On my last day in St. Vincent, the relatives and I swung by Kuya Soto’s restaurant on the boardwalk. Kuya Soto is  a good family friend, one of the first individuals to greet Ate Jhoanape on this island when she first arrived nearly 10 years ago.

Kuya Soto’s Oriental Cuisine, the official name of his restaurant, caters to all, but I’m assuming the bulk of his customers come from the cruise ships that anchor in the bay and the residents of Kingstown.

Kuya Soto’s restaurant offers more than just Filipino cuisine. He provides a mixture of Vincentian and Filipino dishes that most patrons mix and combine when ordering.

The gallery below is a selection of pancit, fried fish, bbq pork and beef, and fried rice. Of course, I had to add some dessert.

Biko Recipe, Mahal Kita!

Sweet rice

Sweet rice.

While I was busily posting more pictures on my other blog Islander Punk & Techie, I didn’t realize I drifted away from this one.

Two days later, I’m finally putting this recipe up. Multitasking is not a skill I possess, unfortunately.

I would like to credit emjoven from PinoyRecipe.Net for allowing me to share this.

Can’t promise that this will be my last post about biko. 🙂 I’m sure you won’t mind.

Enjoy!

Filipino Biko

Ingredients:

2 cups malagkit (sticky rice)
3/4 c. sugar
3 1/2 c. diluted coconut milk
1/8 lb. butter
1 egg, beaten

Ingredients for topping:

1 can (15 oz.) condensed milk
3/4 cups rich coconut milk
2 to 3 tbsp. flour for quick thickening

Instructions:

1. Grate and squeeze out milk from 2 coconuts.

2. Save 3/4 cup of the first milk squeezed out (rich milk) for topping.

3. Dilute the rest of the coconut milk to make 3 1/2 cups. Or use 1 can (12 ounces) frozen coconut milk, saving 3/4 cup of the thick milk for topping and diluting the rest to make 3 1/2 cups.

4. Boil rice and coconut milk in a heavy pot stirring constantly to keep from burning (about 15 to 20 minutes).

5. When the rice is done and almost dry, lower the heat and add the sugar and butter.

6. Mix well and set aside.

7. When cool, add the egg.

8. Spread the rice mixture in a well buttered Pyrex dish (11 3/4 x 7 1/2 x 1 3/4 inch) and bake in a preheated 300 degree oven for 20 minutes.

9. To make latik or topping: Combine all topping ingredients in a heavy saucepan and cook over low heat stirring constantly until thick (about 15 minutes). Pour topping over rice mixture in dish.

10. Increase oven heat to 350 degrees.

11. Bake until top is brown (about 15 minutes).

Here’s a little history: According to various family members, biko originates from a region in the Philippines called Biko. Biko is usually served to celebrate birthdays, holidays, and most festivities.

Biko, biko, biko.

Biko

Biko, sweet rice.

Ever heard of biko?

Before I knew any better, I referred to this wonderful dish as rice pudding.

It’s actually made from sweet rice, a pretty pricey commodity seeing that it raked up over $30 for a mere 4 lbs (here in Elk Grove, CA), in my opinion.

Aside from that, I can feed on biko for breakfast, lunch, and dinner.

It’s a Filipino dish, a dessert that I’ve been busily consuming plate after plate, bowl after bowl in California and in St. Vincent and the Grenadines.

I’ll post the recipe tonight, but first, another bowl!

Honorable Mention 1: Jamaican Jerk Rub.

I absolutely love hot sauce. As a small and stubborn child, my parents tried weaning me from my baby bottle by adding Tabasco sauce to my milk. [Not enough to count for abuse, I don’t think.]

Contrary to the intended effect, I drained my bottle and demanded more. Thus, incurring a particular vice (hot sauce fanaticism) that I probably will not shake until I’m buried six feet under after deliberately registering off the Scoville scale.

With that in mind, I’m going to share with you a Caribbean recipe that I came across, one in a list of honorable mentions listed to kickstart your appetite for the destruction of your taste buds.

Jamaican Jerk Rub

Ingredients:

2 limes, juice only
2 tablespoon of dried basil
2 tablespoon of dried thyme
3 scallions, finely chopped
2 tablespoon of orange juice
2 tablespoon of white vinegar
2 tablespoon of mustard seeds
2 tablespoon of dried rosemary
2 tablespoon of chopped parsley
1/4 cup of cheap yellow mustard
1 teaspoon each salt and black pepper
1/4 cup inner beauty or other caribbean
10 pureed Habaneros or 15
Chile peppers, pureed

Instructions:

1. First, in food processor or a blender, combine all ingredients, blend them in a paste making sure all the ingredients are fully integrated.

Note: The paste should be the consistency of a thick tomato sauce. If it’s too thick, thin it out with a little more white vinegar.

2. Next cover the paste and let it sit into the refrigerator for at least 2 hours for the flavors to blend together. Overnight is the right amount of time to give the paste time to really blend together for a fuller and tasty flavor.

Note: If you want to avoid making fresh batch everytime you make this dish, you can multiply
the amount of paste easily.

3. Finally, rub paste on the meat and grill.

The yield for this recipe is 1 batch.

Jamaican Jerk dishes

Jamaican Jerk Rub dishes courtesy of Barbara Fisher.

Share the Love!

My friend John sent me this amazing picture of his breakfast from yesterday. Being the food freak that I am, I had to post it. You can visit his politically-centered blog here at: The American Exceptionalist.

Omelete

Turkey, spinach, and cheese omelete with sour cream.

Thanks, John!

Julia & Julia and Cinnacake.

Salsa

Tomato, cilantro, cucumbers, peppers.

I’m back! In the United States, of course. Present location: Elk Grove, California. I’m currently watching my Aunt Eppie chop up a nice bowl of salsa and cooking a pot of steamy chicken adobo.

Today, I’ll be relaying email messages to my cousin back in St. Vincent to retrieve her recipes and hopefully media (pictures and videos) of future culinary creations.

To add to that, I’ve been surfing the net for recipes of Caribbean eats that I hope to put together myself in the near future and perhaps write about. My inspiration?

Call me a sap, but on the flight from Chicago to Sacramento, I happened to watch the fantastic film Julia & Julia, a movie about food. Nora Ephron directed this movie about two true stories, two women: Julia Child and Julie Powell who find happiness, heartache, and love through cooking. And although these two ladies are focused on French cuisine, I couldn’t help but relate to their admirable affection for making marvelous masterpieces in the kitchen. Well, relate to the eating part.

If you haven’t seen Julia & Julia yet, it’s worth a peek. If not, Powell’s blog about Child is a fun and hugely entertaining read. Who knows, maybe my endless display of food photographs may land me a book deal like she did with her authentic grasp of the cooking experience and her enthralling life through masterful prose.

By the way, here’s the gift Ate Jhoanape left us before we set off for St. Lucia – Puerto Rico – Chicago – Sacramento. Heavenly? You bet. 🙂

Cinnacake

Cinnacake = heaven.