Global Academy : Flying High @ FIVE

i've been meaning to blog about my school's homecoming party but as i've said in my previous post/s, i've been damn busy with a lot of things and happenings, so i guess i'll just do a post-event feature of it. 

October 29 marked the day of the Grand Alumni Homecoming of Global Culinary and Hospitality Academy as it reached its 5th anniversary. the event was hailed as "Flying High @ 5" and it was a very busy day as competitions were held in the morning and afternoon, and the Homecoming party itself held later that night at the Skye Lounge at the W Building in Bonifacio High Street.

the competition held in the morning were divided in 5 categories:

• Wedding Cake Live Competition
• Cupcake Decorating Contest
• Toss-a-Salad Competition
• Chocolate Cake Innovation
• Plated Desserts

as i've mentioned before, i joined the wedding cake competition along with 2 other classmates. well, long story short, we lost but we aren't feeling bad about it, or at least i am. it's funny that our friends among the audience were more nervous than we who were actually the ones put under pressure. 

our cake was the one with dolls and flowers. it's theme was "Lovestory", which explains the dolls on every tier, and we named it "The Story of Us". yes, it is inspired by two Taylor Swift songs. it's top tier got ruined because it wasn't able to handle the weight of the wedding dolls. on the upside of it, everything in our cake is edible and yummy, from the dolls, to the flowers, to all three tiers of the red velvet cake. and we were able to make fun of it by adding a somewhat-hidden subtitle beneath the "The Story of Us" title where i wrote "looks a lot like a tragedy now" because of the fallen dolls.

see some of the event photos:

Wheatgrass Chronicles part 8

i haven't blogged in a while.. a month and 5 days to be exact.

why?

culinary school has got me so busy, i am in a cake competition which will commence tomorrow, and i went on a semi-hiatus from blogging as a way to protest the stupidity that happened a while back in the Philippine cyberworld. well, that and i'm really just so busy.

so, here i resume blogging as it is our semestral break, and i kinda need to get myself away from cakes and frostings. just now, i am using some minutes from preparing cake competition needs. i need to free myself from cakes. it's delicious, but it's driving me crazy because that is all i've been doing the past weeks and it's somewhat sickening. i need to get away from it even for just some minutes.

since i'm semi-free the past week, i dropped by the Easy Pha-max office. i decided to surprise them with some cream puffs i made. it was a hit in my mom's office, i thought why not let them try? but the catch is that, instead of the plain old cream filling, i made cream filling with wheatgrass. it's so funny, i got one of them to bite right into it, and then the green cream filleing oozed out of it just as i was explaining what i did to it. hahaha! surprise, surprise. :D

i was trying to get some reviews of what i made from them and they say it's good. somehow, i really need to be convinced that it is really good before i share the recipe for my "Green Puffs". i will share the recipe, i just need time to be free and for all these crazy things to end.

wait for it, i'll post it soon.

Wheatgrass Chronicles part 7

i've tried making cookies using Easy Pha-Max wheatgrass with honey but ended up in a near-fail situation. my cookie dough melted when i placed it in the oven. i thought about how it happened and drew just one conclusion: the honey (in powder form) with the wheatgrass packet melted so it became runny while it was baking. 

you may wonder why i said near-fail, right? because it almost failed. it failed because i originally aimed for it to become cookies but it ended up cupcakes. i was able to salvage it by placing it in cupcake sheets and baked them. i wasn't really expecting it to be anything, i only wanted to salvage all the ingredients than to waste them. after all, wheatgrass costs quite much, not to mention you spent money on all the other ingredients. 

now that i witnessed it myself, i know now i should use Easy-Phamax with Honey on cupcakes, and maybe, Easy Pha-Max Wheatgrass Pure if i wanted cookies. beware though, that i haven't proved this cookie mix won't be near-fail again. well, after all, you can always salvage it and turn it into cupcakes.

so here are the ingredients. be reminded though, that if you use Easy Pha-max Wheatgrass with Honey, you'll end up with cupcakes, and Easy Pha-max Wheatgrass Pure if you aim for cookies.

113g butter

75g white sugar

83g brown sugar

1piece egg

5ml vanilla

115g all-purpose flour

89g oatmeal

1g salt

2g baking powder 

4g baking soda

4 packets Easy Pha-max Wheatgrass (with Honey for cupcakes, Pure for cookies)

1. mix butter and sugars until butter's color lightens (use electric mixer if available, or hand mix in a bowl with spatula)

2. beat the egg in a separate bowl, add the vanilla

3. add to the butter mixture slowly while continuously mixing

4. sift the flour, salt, baking powder and baking soda and mix with the oatmeal

5. slowly add the dry ingredients to the butter and egg mixture while continuously mixing

6. add the packets of wheatgrass and mix until well blended

7. form medium-sized balls from dough and place about 2 inches apart in a tray (cookies); spoon into cupcake molds lined with cupcake paper liners

8. bake for about 12-15 minutes at 177 degrees celsius (until the cookie top is starting to brown; insert a toothpick on the cupcake top and see if the dough doesn't stick)

9. cool and serve.