Brownie Ice cream recipe

August and September are always have  been   hectic months at work. Nurses and other medical team back home often call such shifts: toxic! Go figure. With kids having their school breaks here in Germany and working parents  expectantly going to a holiday  with 'em tikes, means having few colleagues off the roster. Add in few calls from sick co workers, we were literally cramming and running around to tend to patients, their worried family members and worst, equally stressed doctors. It also means, asking for help from other stations. Thankfully, a few turn up everyday to lend a hand. Ms. I came for the morning shiftt one day, just when I thought I will be going to the battlefield  without reinforcement. Thoroughly thankful that I am, I was also very surprised by the change in her. I haven't seen her for a year since she works at the opposite building.

Me: Meine gute, du hast abgenohmen!  My goodness, you lost weight!
Ms. I: Grinning: Ich hab' . I did
Me. Du sieht ja toll aus! Wie viel hast du abgenohmen wenn ich frangen darf?  You look great! How much weight did you loose, if you don't mind me asking. I did asked, almost gapping.

Ms.I: Sechzehn Kilo, in zwei Monaten.  16 kgs in 2 months, she says and quite proundly at that too, I would if it would be me.

Me: Häääääh und wie hast du dass geschaft?! Whaaaat? How did you manage it? I asked, never attempting to conceal  my excitement. Maybe, just maybe I will finally have the answer to my prayers!

 Ms.I: Ich hab' einfach nicht mehr geggesen? I simply stopped eating! She says grinning which took me by surprise and got almost pricked by a needle I was prepering.

No food?

Me: Wie bitte? Wie kann man uberhaupt nichts essen?! Sorry what? How could one simply stop eating? I asked with hopes crushing down my ears like an uncomfotable   ice cold shower on a January morning.

No Food.....

Ms.I: Ja, Für 2 Monaten,  habe ich nur Wasser getrunken. Ab und zu mal Milch und wenn ich richtig hunger hab' ,esse ich einfach Joghurt oder so. Kalzium ist sehr wichtig weiss du, und ach ja, ich hab' auch Vitaminen eingenohmen, die sind auch wichtig. Yeah, I just drank water for months, I also so drink milk and when hunger really strikes, I simply eat some  yogurt. Calcium is very important you know . And oh , I also took some vitamines. It's also important, she explains to me like a mother eplaining 1 plus 1 is 2 to a toddler.

No food!!!!Aahhhh

Me: Isst du immer noch nicht?  Do you still skip food? I asked almost nervously, still unable to wrap my head around the idea of hours, days and months of no rice, no ulams or no food!

Ms. I :Ach was! Als ich 16 kl abgenohmen hatte, hab' ich wieder angefangen so essen.  Oh no! As I managed to shred 16 kgs, I started eating again.
Me: Ahhh  dass ist gut! Oh that's good, I almost sigh unable to contain my relief .
Ms.I: Ja, aber ich esse immer noch weniger als früher. Yeah, but I still eat way bit less that before, she claimed which stopped me at my tract.

We worked and were busy that whole morning til 2 PM. Miss I. drank her water and ate her yogurt and two low carb diat cookies which tasted like stale chalks and stuff only diabetics eat, Ugh!  I drank too much water that day which could probably drown my kidneys. Did not even dare to whisk my home made pork embutido and rice with extra ketchup infront of her nose. My pack of calorie rich chocolate chip cookies stayed inside my tuppeware box and remained  stashed at the deepest part of my bag, untouched, calling me  names like a bad conscience.Pretendeeeeeer! Faaakeeee!  I was hungry but hey if she manage to survive 2 months on liquid diet, I know I could that I could survive the shift without eating too. Yes, I am that shallow...

Tired and  hungry at the end of my shift, I did an quick endorsement  and packed my thing and drove home gloomy and feeling beaten. Once home, I ate my cold ulam and dry rice without reheating. Wow, 16 kgs in 8 weeks .Wow, 16 kgs in 8 weeks. Wow, 16 kgs in 8 weeks, words rang repeatedly in my head like a pirated CD. Damn I'm going to make some brownies! .Brownies always has a soothing effect on me,like a happy pill to a junkie but that's another story.

Blues blowing Fudgy, Chocolatey Brownie Recipe

In a saucepan, heat 200 g butter (Hear!Hear!), 200 g bittersweet chocolate( yeaaah) under very low heat. Once chocolate   has melted, stir in 140 g white sugar and 50 brown sugar ( for energy!) until everything turns unto a liquidy chocolatey consistency.

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Take the saucepan out of the heat and let mixture cool off for a couple of minutes. Beat in 2 eggs, one at a time while stirring continously. Stir in vanilla essence. Mix 120 g of flour and a pinch of salt. Sieve into the melted chocolate mixture along with 40 g of cocoa powder. Mix everything thoroughly.

Grease  form well with butter, pour batter and spread evently. Bake for 45 minutes at 180 °c or until toothpick inserted in the middle of the brownie pan comes out clean.

Gooey and densely chocolatey .This is one example of a textureal delight that only solid food could offer .Since I'm all in for calorie indulgence than  lets  add more joules while we're at it.

Using this vanilla ice cream base recipe, simply add 3 pieces of  brownies. Cut it up into small cubes and refrigerate for an hour to hold its shape while churning. Make vanilla ice cream  as mention at the link above, if you want to die and go to chocolate heaven, you could use this chocolate ice cream recipe as a base instead.

Stir in cubed brownies into the ice cream mixture five minutes before the ice cream's done. Add in a handul of your favorite toasted nut if you feel like it.Put mixture into your container and freeze.

Don't wait for the sun to settle down, once ice cream hardens up a bit, dig in! Dig them brownie like a miner digger digging gold nuggets. After a scoop I reckon you would be just as happy ...almost.

Aaahhhh I felt better already..

Pork Embutido and my way of saying hello to Pasko!

The moment Ber hits the calendar, many Filipinos around the word starts reminiscing Christmas,  a few already started Christmas countdowns and fewer still could not simply wait and  oh no tofu, went ahead and started greeting everybody else, (°_^)  Merry Christmas! Social networks , read: facebook...twitter...multiply etc  are filled with it. After all September, puts  the hot and sultry summer  to its  end and  brings a crispier and chillier weather as well as a fresher and an almost too familiar waffle and cinnamon whiff in the air ( hello Weinachtmarkt or rather  hello olfactory hallucinations?) . Plus September happens to  rythme and chime  like December.  I hope these are acceptable and good enough excuses to celebrate and be extra merry- That's how much we marvel the birth of baby Jesus so haters look to your left if you please.

 Being a true blooded Filipino ( read: 100% Ilonggo blood slashing merrily in my constricted veins,  thanks deep fried lumpia!), I literally have to hold on to my knickers, stop myself from jumping into the bandwagon  and started yelley yowling  Hoh!Hoh!Hoh! However, I did silently but gratefully celebrated the coming Ber at home, in my kitchen...with lots and lots of Embutido. Getting lost yet? Fast forwarding fanatical babbling, Christmas in the Philippines is celebrated with a bountiful feast. That's extensive spread waiting and begging to be savored at Noche buena . Like the three kings of Jerusalem, Pinoy table on the eve of Christmas is not celebrated without the presence  of hamon ( ham), queso de bola ( Phil. cheese ball) and yes Embutido! We might not necessary have  them all three, but the third king is almost always present in every Christmas table back in the Philippines. So no too- early-x-mas-greetings from me to you, just a silent deed   that warrant a good meal that reminds me of home. Let cooks some Embudido, shall we?!

Germanized Embutido

In as much as I wanted to make something authentic, being far away from home also means missing an  ingredient or two. Finding pickle relish, for instance is a bit of a problem . Although  cucumber here comes in all sizes and color,  fresh,  bottled, jarred, salted, sweetened or seasoned, they don't come  in sweet pickle relish form. Not in Germany, no sir. Now sing with me! It's like ten thousand spoon but all you need is a fork..I said yeah, yeah, yeaah, isn't it ironic?'' . Okeeey, I think I have to stop here before I completely lost it. Anyway, its just a minor glitch. Like missing a key component in a dish ever stopped me before. Read crabless, chillie-less singapore chilli crab recipe. Here's how I came up with a pork embutido with a german twist anyway.

In a big mixing bowl goes 500 g of ground pork, add 1 small shredded carrots, half a cup of raisins, half red paprika, cut into small cubes and half yellow paprika. If you could make your embutido as colorful as a rainbow, the award goes to you! I then added 1 finely chopped medium sized onion, 3 cloves of finely chopped garlic.  And since I'm missing the pickle relish which adds a sweet soury component into this dish, I used half a cup of Sauerkraut with pineapple instead. Six slices of smoked Schinken or ham were thinly sliced and then added into the bowl. A dash of pepper and salt were added into the mixture. To bind all ingredients together, I then added 2 eggs . Season with few drops of soy sauce and add in 50 g of grated Parmesan cheese. Test the consistency, if it end up too mushy, add in a tablespoon or two of flour.

Mix everything thoroughly until well combined and homogeneous. Scoop a handful of embutido mixture into an aluminium foil. Shape it into a log, roll tightly and seal by twisting both ends.Yield: 3 to 4  embutidos . If you have a steamer that could hold all these, steam it for about an hour. Let embutido cool off completely before cutting and serving. To serve: either eat it cold or simply sear it for a couple of minutes in the pan with a bit of oil until it turns brown. If you are Pinoy, eat it with rice..lots and lots of rice and hey don't forget your banana ketchup while you're at it. Enjoy!

Kain tayo!