food the way I see it...

Here is one of the Philippine’s most underrated fruit, in my mind. I have just come back from a working trip up in Baguio . The strawberries up there this time of year is beautifully sweet…

Nov 09

This is how I love to cook, using every part of the animal… Here we have a roast duck breast on a potato rosti , confit duck leg ravioli on buttered spinach and seared duck liver on balsamic braised lentils…

Nov 03

I love making gnocchi, there is something so therapeutic about it… This is sweet potato gnocchi with a little Parmesan, five spice and just a hint of cinnamon.

Oct 28

The best way to get a nice crispy skin on your duck breast is to put it skin side down in a cold pan and then turn the heat up… This will help render the fat down slowly and give you a nice golden colour on the skin. It also helps to score the fat slightly.

Oct 19

Oct 17

Slow roasted garlic has a great sweet flavour…
Cut the tops of the bulb off, put a little rock salt on a large sheet of foil, put garlic on top of the salt. Drizzle the bulbs with olive oil and sprinkle thyme leaves over. Cover with foil and roast on low heat till soft… (Taken with Instagram)

Oct 03

Jul 06

A day at Tobee’s

The beauty of being a host on a television cooking show that showcases farms and their produce is meeting the farmers. Their hard work and love for their livestock/produce is the key to a great product. These guys are the unsung heroes of the food world. I have always been a firm believer that the quality of the end product is a result of their love and passion for what they do.

For those of you who are not familiar with the word apiary, it a place where beehives of honey bees are kept.

Carlos and his wife have taken over reigns from his father Toby at the bee farm. We featured them in one of our episodes in Baguio for Market to Master.

As I was interviewing him for the show about his bees and honey production, I could see the passion in his eyes. I listened as how he told stories of how as kids they grew up around bees and how it has always been a part of their lives.

He also explained to me how the bees created the honey and how their attention to detail creates honey with the same moisture content every single time, how each scent is so crucial to each hive of about 5,000 + bees, and how important the queen bee’s role is in each hive.

So it was no surprise to me that his honey was really smooth and probably one of the best honey I have ever tasted. The sweet sunflower honey, the velvety narra honey and the dark rich mango honey are the three main honey that they produce at the farm.

Thanks Carlos and Kristine for a great day and hope you guys enjoyed the lunch I cooked for you.

Keep posted for the episode that features Tobee’s Apiary on Market to Master, Lifestyle Network on Monday’s 8pm.