Last Week Of My Subejct BCS1 (Basic Culinary Skills1)

Hello there! It's been quite long since my last post, sorry for that. Been a little busy the past days.. :)

Let me just share about my last week of my subject BCS1, which was my favorite week. We studied the basics about Pasta and Potatoes. YUM!

On Day 1 we were taught on how to properly cook dried pasta (the ones you can just buy at any grocery store). Even though I thought i already know how to cook dried pasta, I still learned new things. For example the Term for well-cooked pasta is called "al dente" which means "to the tooth", meaning that the pasta you cook should still be firm but tender.
Another new thing i learned is that after cooking the Pasta, I actually have to place it in a bowl of ice to completely stop the cooking. I never really thought of it before, that if i just set it aside, it will still continue cooking because its still hot.
Anyway, for day 1, we cooked Angel Hair Pesto and Spagetti Alfredo Pasta :)

Angel Hair with Pesto Sauce

Spagetti Alfredo

On Day 2 we were taught how to make fresh pasta dough this time, i was really excited about it because i never tried making any fresh pasta dough before. It is actually quite simple, all you need is flour, eggs, olive oil, and water. Mix the ingredients together, kneed until it gets the correct consistency. Form it into a ball, place little oil around it when placing into a bowl and cover with plastic wrap. Place the bowl in the refrigerator till you want to roll it out and make your "sfoglia" basic pasta sheets (that look like long lasagna pasta sheets. To create those sheets, we used a Pasta Dough Sheeter. Which looks something like this:

Photo i just grabbed from Google, since i couldn't take pictures inside the school's kitchen.

So on Day 2, we were able to make Spinach&Cream Cheese Ravioli with Tomato Sauce and Spaghetti Vongole. Oh how i loved the Spinach&Cream Cheese Ravioli <3

Spaghetti Vongole

Spinach&Cream Cheese Ravioli

Look at the Spinach and Cream Cheese.. YUMMY!

On Day 3 it was all about potatoes. We did some Duchesse Potatoes, Baked Potatoes, and Mashed Potatoes. I already did some mashed potatoes before, but making duchesse and baked potatoes was new to me. Especially the Duchesse Potatoes, i don't think i've ever eaten it before. It's delicious! :)

Baked Potato

Duchesse Potato

Mashed Potato

Unfortunately I didn't take any photos of the potatoes we cooked on Day 4.. i forgot. :D I'm sure you know how they look like anyways. ;p
We did some Pommes Croquettes, Pommes Frittes, Potatoes Au Gratin, Roesti Potatoes.
The Pommes Frittes or French Fries we cut it into 3 different sizes (french fries, new york fries, and potato wedges) on day 3, blanched it in hot oil, and placed them in the freezer. I learned that blanching fries in hot oil and freeze them before frying makes them crispier.

Aside from cooking the food, i was pretty much busy and stressed studying all lectures we went through in subject BCS1. Which is a LOT! o.0 Luckily, i was able to get a pretty good grade. Actually highest in class. YEHEY!

Last Minute Studying Before Class. *nervous* 

A day in Greenhills :)

Hi there! 

Yesterday I didnt have any class so i decided to go to AIP (Aesthetic Institute of the Philippines) with my Mum to have our regular facial done. 
I got my facial with diamond peeling, while my mum had her facial with hydro jet peel.
They have professional nurses that do your facials, and they really do a good job.
What i really like about that clinic is that they have a spacious Lobby at the ground floor and on their second floor. While you wait for you name to be called, you are offered water, juice, hot or iced tea in case you feel thirsty or just want to drink before you start having your skin treated. :) 

Once the nurse calls your name you're being asked to follow them to your individual treatment rooms to get your desired treatment. Yes, individual. (I've been to any other facial clinics before where all patients were lying down i their beds in one big room, sometimes only separated by curtains or none at all. Which I don't really find relaxing because you can hear other patients snoring, or talking etc.)

After about 1 hour we were finished and as usual weren't allowed to wash our face for at least 8 hours cause you still have medicine or vitamin creams on your skin which you have to let it absorb first.

Oh btw, that's me!:) I actually also modeled for AIP:) I got surprised when I first for my small billboards and print ads all over the Greenhills area ^.^

Call AIP now, 725-0808 or 0917-720-0808

After our facial, we went to Greenhills Shopping Mall to have my mums iPhone fixed. 
To those who don't know yet what the Greenhills Shopping Mall is, it's a big mall selling all kinds of things, chapter than in other malls. You can get clothes, shoes, bags, furnitures, cellphones and other electronics. The main "attraction" in Greenhills though is that they're selling all kinds of fake luxury bags, fake sneakers of almost any brand, fake sports clothing, electronics, etc.! The sales ladies usually start selling it to you for an expensive price, so you must always ask for their "last price" and usually the end price you get is 30%-50% cheaper than the asking price!;) 

Anyways, we went there, as i already mentioned, to have my mums iPhone checked. I suddenly stopped working, and didn't want to turn on anymore. That's the most popular place for the Filipinos (or anyone living in the philippines) to go when they have any problems with their electronics, they can fix almost everything, at a much lower price and it usually takes them just a few hours or less to repair things. Great huh?
BUT, you must be WARNED! You can't leave your gadgets unattended, or else they will replace your original pieces from your gadget with old or fake ones, for them to have a newer or original one. Just make sure you show them that you pay attention in what they're doing. And again, you'd have to negotiate the cost for fixing your gadget, negotiate till they give the lowest price they can offer!:) 

This is how the area pretty much looks like, hundreds of different stalls, with people repairing items or people selling second hand or brand new cellphones, iPhone and ipad cases, accessories, chargers and much much more. 
And look, that's my mum's iPhone, almost completely disassembled!

Unfortunately I decided to leave that area, because of all the men looking and staring at me as if i was some piece of delicious meat they want to eat. 
I felt like some sort of a "tourist attraction" to them, cause of the way they stared, and much worse, they would shout and call their colleagues and tell them to come over and LOOK. 
Something like "hey guys, looks what's here!", then lets say someone came by and says to him "oh, so now you've got something really good" etc. OMG, Me and my mum were just looking at each other, of course she didn't like it too.
Like, they KNOW you're there and that you can actually HEAR them, but they don't seem to care at all. They don't know its really disrespectful towards us. 

So I went away, to the closest food stall called Tin Hao Dimsum. Ordered myself some Cuapao. It was pretty delicious for its price. At least i was gone from the crowd full of "hungry" men.. 

Excited! :)

I have a big smile on my face right now. 
I've been really excited on starting a blog, it took me a while to create one because i couldn't think of any "cool" domain name that would suit my blog. Yet after thinking and thinking, I finally decided to just keep it simple. Using the name i usually use for usernames which is "elachae". I'm sure you guys are wondering what elachae means or why elachae. Well, when i was about 13 or so, i wanted to think of a unique nickname for those asian community websites that was in trend in germany. So i started thinking on how i could mix up the letters of my name, and make it into a new nickname.
My real name is Michaela btw, so if you can notice, you can actually find "elachae" in it. That's how I came up with that name.
Anyways, its nothing really special or interesting, just thought of sharing it to you in case you have wondered.. Hehe

So, who am I? What am i doing? Where do i stay? 
As i mentioned, my name is Michaela (but you can call me Ela), I'm 22 years old and currently studying Culinary Arts at AICA (Academy for International Culinary Arts). 
I was born in the Philippines, but grew up in Hamburg, Germany.
After graduating from High School, i decided to leave Germany and go to my other home country, with 7,107 Islands, the Philippines.
I wanted to experience something new, get to know new people, and learn the culture of this beautiful country.

Of course, it was a little difficult for me to leave all my friends and family in Germany, but it was a step in my life that i had to take.
And guess what? I really did not regret it. :) I learned a lot, improved my English, and completely learned how to understand, speak and write the Filipino language Tagalog.

And here I am, finally starting to blog about almost everything ill be experiencing in my life. Hope you guys will enjoy reading. 

Take care! XoXo