Tres Leches Mango Float

My birthday falls on Cinco de Mayo, so it's a no-brainer that I picked a Mexican theme when I decided celebrate it this year. Since I did all the cooking, I chose an easy dessert to prepare. It is not an authentic Mexican dessert except for the Tres Leches part. Mango Float is actually a popular Filipino dessert, one that most Filipinos learned to do at a very young age. After I posted this photo on Facebook, I got a lot of private messages from friends asking for the recipe. So, here it is.

You will need:

For the crust:

 2 cups of crushed Graham Crackers or digestives

1/4 cup granulated sugar

1/2 cup unsalted butter

For the filling:

slice 4 ripe mangoes into thin wedges

1 cup heavy cream

1 cup condensed milk

1 cup whipped cream

16 pcs of whole Graham crackers

1 1/2 cup mango puree

-Pour the crushed Graham crackers, melted butter and sugar in a rectangular pan. Mix and flatten then cover with a cling wrap and chill.

-In a bowl, pour equal parts whip cream, heavy cream and condensed milk. Using an electric mixer or a whisk, beat the cream mixture until it is double in volume. Add a small can of mango puree (about 1 cup to 1 1/2 cup). 

-Assemble the mango and Tres Leches mix on the crust. Line a layer of Graham crackers and repeat the process (do as many layers as you want). Make sure that you end with the Tres Leches and Mango mix on top.

-Chill for 3 hours and you can decorate it with whipped cream and mangoes before serving.

Fried Chicken glazed with Orange and Bacardi Reduction

Warning: this chicken is highly addictive.

We first made this in a private stag party that we catered the other weekend. The Fried Buttermilk Chicken was an all-time hit in the previous stag parties that we did, so I always make sure that it is included in our repertoire of beer foods. But my usual sous chef couldn't make it last minute so I have to recruit my friend Adrian ( short story: we met way back when I was working for a TV network, he recently transferred to Phuket, did some kitchen time in restaurants when he was in uni in Vancouver, so voila--instant sous chef!).

I have to prep and pack everything by myself so when we got to the venue, I found out that I forgot the breading for the fried chicken. Adi, found a carton of orange juice, and since it was a stag party, we had so many alcohol at our disposal, he decided to make an orange and whisky reduction. It turned out so good!

Fast forward at lunch earlier, I didn't have time to go out and buy Thai food from my favorite stall. So when I opened the fridge and I saw chicken wings and orange juice, I knew exactly what to do with it.

I seasoned the chicken with salt and pepper and little dash of soy sauce. Fried the chicken till it's golden and crispy. At the same time I put in a pot, a cup of orange juice and about 3 tablespoon of Bacardi Oro, a dash of Cayenne pepper and a tablespoon of light corn syrup (you can also use sugar syrup), reduce it till it's in a syrup consistency. Toss the fried chicken in the orange reduction make sure that you coat it well and enjoy!

It's messy but it's yummy!

And we are getting busier and busier

Here are photos on some markets and bake sales that we've been to. Next month, we will be venturing to some parts unknown...the wondrous path of party catering. So, wish us well.

We will hopefully have a new logo for this blog and some reconstruction to update the over all look.

 Our Facebook page has been picking up a lot of likes last month (thanks to the Facebook suggested page scheme--it actually works).

Hopefully, all these exposures will be converted to more sales. I have finally acquired a "heavy duty" mixer from my Christmas market earnings but it didn't turn out to be that heavy duty when it conked out while I was making a big batch of pan de sal..tsk, tsk.