Secret Passion Apple Pie: All I Need Now is Some Vanilla Ice Cream

There's some Apple Crumble Pie in my fridge- and I can't wait to have me some of that. Doesn't that baby look gorgeous? Mmm-mm!

I dropped by Rockwell Powerplant last Sunday- nothing special, just the usual Sunday dinner and groceries- and I was delightfully surprised to find a cake fair going on downstairs. There were maybe ten or twelve cake and pastry merchants set up right in the middle of the busy concourse level, with people crowding around the stalls, helping themselves to some free samples, then taking away whatever baked goodies they fancied.

One of these stalls had among other things, this impressive-looking Apple Crumble Pie (as you can see), as well as other baked goodies. They said they used to be known as Tiny Blessings, mainly because they started out with small, home-made goodies like cookies, cheesecakes and other sweet treats. But with the massive apple pie that turned out to be a surprise best-seller for them, they decided to rename themselves as Secret Passion.

Secret Passion cakes are baked using only the finest and purest natural ingredients- much better than your regular mass-produced, mass-market cakes. I might come back for their Quezo de Bola Taisan. Or any of their cheesecakes. Or cookies. So many goodies, so little tummy space.

In any case, I recommend you get in touch with Tin of Secret Passion, and ask for a menu of their cakes, pies and other baked goodies, right here on their Multiply site. They also have other dishes you might want to try out if you're not into sweets- try their Beef Caldereta, the Penne Shrimp in Olive Oil, or the Lemon Roast Chicken, among others.

Go give em a call at (+632) 571.2384 or (+63917) 700.5659.

As for me, I gotta get me a tub of vanilla ice cream to go with my Apple Crumble Pie!

Cheers, everyone!

So Long, and Thanks for all the Buttercake!

I had the chance to check out this exclusive residential community in Nasugbu, Batangas just last week. Kawayan Cove is definitely a place worth checking out, particularly more so if you're seriously shopping around for some Philippine real estate.

Read up on some of the highlights of my visit (along with other bloggers)- you could check out my other blog, "The Life & Times of the Renzie Man" for my stories on Kawayan Cove. Of course there are other related blog posts to that article as well, which you might want to read up on as well.

In a nutshell though, our little field excursion to Nasugbu, Batangas was quite an experience. Kawayan Cove is absolutely breathtaking, and the Puyat family was on site to not just welcome us, but also to show us around- so they gave us a tour, shared stories about the place and some insights on how they chose to develop this forested beachfront property in a certain way. All that over a hearty lunch (which I'll be writing about in a bit), while leisurely lounging on the serene, white-sanded comfort of Bamboo Beach.

Anyway, I'm actually writing this post to rave about the little parting gift the Puyats sent us home with at the end of the fun tour they put together for us that day: the Kawayan Cove Buttercakes.

Well, at least that's what I thought I'd call them. These quaint little buttercakes, as it turned out, were made from an old Puyat family poundcake recipe, which they give out during Christmas time to share with family and friends.

They're light, fluffy, and incredibly delicious. On the way home, I've already noticed some of my fellow bloggers wolfing them down on the bus. I didn't realize how good they tasted until I got home to take my first buttercake out of the cute wicker packaging.

My girlfriend actually liked them so much better than my pasalubongs. You guessed it- we had really gone to town on those buttercakes. Fortunately, Mr. Puyat gave me a second box of those delicious poundcakes. That box is already marked for termination- I'm going to have them for snacks right after I publish this blog entry.

Special thanks to Mr. Joey Puyat and everyone in the Puyat family who joined us that day for being such gracious hosts; they were all there to welcome us, show us around Kawayan Cove, and pretty much made us feel right at home. I particularly have to also mention what excellent service we got from the Kawayan Cove staff- everyone who was there was well-looked after.

Also, thanks and shout-out to fellow blogger Anton Diaz of Our Awesome Planet- for giving us some tips on how to be better photo-bloggers. Last but not least, thanks to our friends from Geiser-Maclang for making it all happen.

Cheers, everyone!

Great Snacking: Lay's Kettle Cooked Potato Chips

This post was initially published on Renzie's Online World of Awesome, which at the time was known as Renzie's Rants and Raves. I have since then decided to make a separate blog on food, cooking and all sorts of dining experiences (this blog, Renzie on Food), and so transferred this post from its original location. Read on!

Alright, I know it's not exactly healthy to over-indulge your snacking habits. But my girlfriend and I can't help it: we feel like we work so hard over the week so when the weekend hits- we spend our sweet time lounging around in bed, order lots of take-out and catch up on our shows. You know, be the complete opposite of what we are at the office.

It's the catching up on the shows that sort of throws a wrench in our plans to work on our health and fitness. Sure we hit the gym every now and then, dig into a salad when we feel like it, or watch our carb intake, but when we have lazy weekends like the past several ones, we find ourselves stocking up on these new Lay's Potato Chips.

Yes, it's that new Kettle Cooked variety. At first, it was really more an act of curiousity picking up that first bag, tossing it in with the rest of the groceries for the weekend- I think I grabbed the Original flavor that first time.

Kettle Cooked Lay's are a lot way crunchier than the usual Lay's. Not that I don't like the earlier versions of Lay's- they're really more of my favorite potato chips- but a bag of Kettle Cooked chips seems to have a relatively shorter lifespan in our hands once opened.

So the next time we did our groceries, we thought, "Hmm, maybe the other two flavors taste good too- we should give em a try..." Which we did, see- like this time we got all three varieties- Mesquite Barbecue, Jalapeno and that Original variant.

From what was supposed to be an experiment to see which flavor we liked best, it ended up being a weekly ritual of grabbing all three to satisfy our need for nibbling while watching our latest batch of TV shows or DVDs.

And it looks like a continuing trend. At least until we have another strange food craving come into play. For now though, it's Kettle Cooked Lay's Potato Chips for us. We absolutely love it.

Cheers, everyone.