French Toast

Personally, I prefer French Toast than pancakes for breakfast. My kids are used to having pancakes. Now, they're loving French toasts slowly, especially every time I serve it with some chocolate syrup.

French toast is easy to make. 

Servings: 2

Ingredients: Plain French Toast

• 4 slices of bread
• 2 beaten eggs
• 1/2- 1 tsp cinnamon
• 1/4 cup fresh milk
• 1 tbsp butter
• 1/2 tsp vegetable oil

How To:

• Mix cinnamon and fresh milk with beaten eggs.
• In a frying pan, melt butter and add vegetable oil in medium heat.
• Dip slices of bread one at a time in beaten egg mixture.
• Fry dipped bread slice and flip until golden brown on both sides.
• Ready to serve with maple syrup.

Add ons:

Whipped cream

Almonds or Walnuts

Maple syrup

Fresh fruit

Chocolate spread

More cinnamon

Fresh fruit

Bacon or Spam

Ripe mangoes or slices of apples

Cream and syrup

There are more ways to serve French toast. With strawberries, peaches, coconut, powdered sugar, as a sandwich with some jelly. It can also be a good dessert. Just arrange the bread slices in a baking platter stuff it with fruits and cream in between, top it with maple syrup, cream, a little cheese and nuts then bake it for a few minutes.

My family loves it for breakfast, but French toast can also be an all-day meal. I remember having them as an afternoon snack to match my milk tea. It was really good. And I might just try making a French Toast Dessert Platter.

Restaurant Thoughts: Raintree More Than Just Milk Tea

It's been awhile since our last visit to Raintree. My family moved to a different location, so it took some time for us to visit our favorite milk tea shop again. Last time I made an article about it was back in 2011 see here: http://frommomachie.blogspot.com/2012/01/raintree-my-special-milk-tea.html

Since then, Raintree has moved up to a different level. It's more than just a milk tea shop, it's now a cafe that offers, pasta, sandwiches, other pastries (aside from their delicious macarons) like brownies and cupcakes and beef rice bowls.

On the side, the cozy cafe also opened it's doors and added Pampanga's Best and a confectionery called Raintea Confectionery that sell French Macarons.

 Jasmine Floral and Belgian Chocolate

We never tire of our usual from Raintree. They serve rich milk teas. When I say rich, there's not a taste of artificial flavoring. For the diabetics, Raintree sells Splenda as substitute so you can still enjoy something cold and tasteful.

On a regular weekday, my husband and I stays at Raintree while waiting for the fetching time of our son whose school is just a few minutes away. I like matching my milk tea with some macarons (php30ea) and a cupcake (php60ea) which I share with my other half and a little for our baby.

Raintree's Pasta Carbonara (php150)

Here, we paired our pastas with Raintree's Specialtea and Amaretto (almond) milk tea.

Raintree's Pasta Pesto (Php150)

Their pasta is one of my favorites because everything in it is freshly made then served. Pasta sauce is thick and is not salty. The pasta noodles itself is firm. But the part I like the most is the large amount of Parmesan cheese that covered the pasta and the slice of French bread.

There's a lot to look forward to on the coming days... Remember, we still have some Manly meals: Beef Rice Bowls to try. (wink!)

My Home- Cured Bacon

I really didn't think of making my own bacon until I saw the pork belly (bacon cut) S&R was selling. I must admit, it's such a blessing to have time to go shopping on a weekday, less people, relaxing stroll from one aisle to another and more choices for me. When I saw the pork belly streaks, it reminded me of S&R's cured bacon itself. They sell good bacon by the way.

For a change, thought I start fresh, like make my own bacon "again" instead of buying the commercial ones.

This was my second attempt on dry curing my own bacon. This time, I was successful. One of the most important things to take note of in producing good bacon is the freshness and the cut of the meat itself. On my first try 4 years ago, it didn't turn out well because I used regular pork belly slices which is thicker than the ones I recently used.

The process of home- curing is very easy. Of course it will all depend on the bacon marinade you're going to use.

Here's a link that may help you. Home- cured Bacon

Here are some points:

1. Buy fresh pork belly streaks.

2. Once you've marinated your meat, put it in a Ziploc.

3. Refrigerate for 7 days.

4. Every other day, turn the Ziploc upside down or just enough to reposition the meat in the bag.

I personally prefer using Ziploc in marinating meat. It's well- sealed and it preserves freshness.

My second batch is on the way. Even if the waiting period sucks, it's all worth it. Breakfast is love with bacon. Our champorado is made special with bacon on the side. Bacon can make a bland, ordinary sandwich more enticing and exciting to eat. Plain bacon and rice is the best!