by Penny Angeles-Tan | Feb 13, 2021 | Bon Appetit
I love tikoy. I say that every year and every year I mean it. I am the happiest gal in the block whenever my friends would send me tikoy on Chinese New Year. Over the years I have been receiving less and less … I’m lucky if I receive even one small one! The emotional side of me thinks that I must have fewer friends than I used to, which is possible since I have kept mostly to myself for almost a decade now. On the other hand, the logical side of me realizes that times are just hard and it has struck everyone, not just a few.
photo credit to interaksyon.com
If you go to the grocery or any Chinese store and check out what tikoy they have available you will probably see every color of the rainbow as they now make this in different flavors.
Affordability is subjective. If you have the cash to spare it is affordable, but if you live hand to mouth or paycheck to paycheck then it may be a luxury you will opt to forego. Or … hope that one of your Chinese friends would bless you with a tikoy.
My favorite is the brown tikoy, which is made with brown sugar.
How to make your own tikoy
It really isn’t difficult at all. You need three ingredients: sugar, water, and glutinous flour. By default, the tikoy will adapt the color of the sugar so if you use white sugar it comes out white. To mix it up you could add food color (which is what I did to make my tikoy red) or add flavor.
Tikoy recipe
Chinese New Year cake
Prep Time15 minutes mins
Cook Time1 hour hr
Course: Snack
Cuisine: Chinese
Keyword: Chinese cooking, sweet cake
pan
mixing bowl
whisk or spatula
steamer
- 2 1/4 cups water
- 1 cup brown sugar
- 3 c glutinous rice flour
Preparation
Combine the water and sugar in a pan. Turn on the heat and mix until the sugar is completely melted and you have a thin syrup. Set it aside and cool down to room temperature.
Sift the glutinous flour into a bowl. Add the syrup into the bowl a little at a time while mixing. Make sure there are no lumps.
Oil your baking pan/s well. Alternately, you can line your pan/s with wax paper as removing the cake from the pan when it is cooked is not always easy.
Pour in the batter a little over 3/4 of the way up.
Cooking
Prepare your steamer, make sure it is already steaming before putting the pans in.
Place the pans in the steamer and cook for an hour. If you have a cheesecloth you will want to cover the pans with it before putting the lid of the steamer so that no liquid will drop into the batter.
Resting
Remove the pan/s from the steamer and leave it out to rest and set. Don't get tempted to pry it off. It will shrink as it turns cooler. This will take around 2 hours.
Once you have removed the cake/s from the pan, put it in a container and chill in the refrigerator for at least 3 hours, longer is better. like overnight.
In the morning the tikoy will be ready to slice, fry, and serve. 🙂
The usual way of serving tikoy
The no-brainer way to serve tikoy is fried.
- Cut the tikoy into thin slices.
- Beat an egg in a bowl and dip each slice to coat before frying.
- Lightly oil a frying pan and fry each piece on both sides. You know the tikoy is ready when the center is soft and the egg coating is browned.
- Serve and enjoy.
by Penny Angeles-Tan | Feb 10, 2021 | Business
BDO NETWORK BANK MSME. Sobra ang pasasalamat ni Lulu Saquing sa BDO Network Bank Kabuhayan Loan dahil nakatulong ito para makabili sya ng van na ginawa niyang rolling store sa kanilang lugar sa Cagayan Valley.
Malapit na ang February 14, may ka-match ka ba?
Kung ikaw ay may negosyo, may perfect match ang BDO Network Bank para sa iyo at sa business mo.
Ngayong February, may libreng BDO Life insurance kapag nag-avail ng BDO Network Bank Kabuhayan Loan!
Ang libreng insurance promo ay open sa lahat ng nag-avail ng Kabuhayan Loan mula February 1 – February 26, 2021, na may edad 18-69 years old. Puwedeng mag-loan mula Php30,000 hanggang Php1,000,000.
Ang maganda rito, mapapalago mo na ang iyong negosyo, ma po-protektahan mo pa ang sarili mo, dahil may Free Accident Insurance coverage up to Php100,000 at hospitalization benefit of P500 per day!
Para sa detalye, bumisita sa pinakamalapit na BDO Network Bank branch, o mag-send ng private message sa BDO Network Bank PH Facebook page.
by Penny Angeles-Tan | Feb 10, 2021 | Business
As Galaxy Racer, the fastest-growing eSports Organization in the world acquires a majority stake in the Philippines’ rising powerhouse eSports and Gaming Agency, DreamFyre Group.
MANILA, Philippines, Tuesday, 02 February 2021 – The Philippines’ rising powerhouse eSports and gaming agency, DreamFyre Group, announces a majority stake acquisition by Galaxy Racer Holdings Limited, the fastest-growing eSports organization in the world.
This move by Galaxy Racer paves the way for DreamFyre to boost its local operations, and fast track expansion into two other South East Asian markets, targeted within the year. The deal will also enable DreamFyre to better service local Filipino Gaming Content Creators and Pro Players with more robust and global career development portfolios.
“The vision of DreamFyre has always been to become a global eSports and gaming agency, to bring Filipino talent onto the global arena; and with this infusion of funds, support, network, and resources by Galaxy Racer, we’re sure to be able to bring that vision into reality in a much shorter time frame. DreamFyre is incredibly pleased to join the Galaxy Racer family.” Says DreamFyre CEO Mitch Esguerra.
With this acquisition, GXR DreamFyre, with a rapidly growing exclusive reach of more than 70 million across social media platforms, will now be able to connect Filipino Content Creators and Pro Players into a global advertiser base. This takes the local eSports industry to a whole new level, as the joint operations of both companies now span across 22 countries.
“DreamFyre’s portfolio will now continually grow as we boost local operations and expand to new game titles and markets, especially that we’re enabled by Galaxy Racer to create better offers to the Content Creators and Pro Players that have trusted us from the start,” Esguerra added.
GXR DreamFyre’s eSports teams, including 2019 Top 13 Finalist for PUBG ECL Korea, 2019 ECL PUBG Finalists, and 2020 National Interschool Cyberleague (NICL) Valorant Tournament Top 4, the UE Esports Warriors, now known as DreamFyre Team, will surely be a group to watch out for in the next global eSports tournaments.
“This acquisition in DreamFyre further reinforces our plans for building a complete ecosystem around eSports, entertainment, lifestyle, and content. GXR DreamFyre will benefit from Galaxy Racer’s international experience and resources and we are committed to this acquisition to fund the growth and support the vision the founders have set for GXR DreamFyre.” – Paul Roy, CEO Galaxy Racer.
by Penny Angeles-Tan | Feb 9, 2021 | Bon Appetit
Welcome back to my kitchen. 🙂 For dinner today I took a look at my stash of Purefoods Ready to Eat Viands and after a lot of thought, I decided to do something different with the Purefoods Beef Pares.
Beef pares brings back a lot of memories for me. It is one of those dishes that late-night denizens are wont to enjoy – it is served quickly and every bite is flavorful and filling. For many years my husband and I would drop by the pares restaurant not too far from our house after a gig just to grab a bite before heading home. But while it is quick and easy for us, the patrons, preparing it takes a lot of time. This is one reason I am quite thankful that Purefoods decided to produce this line – for doing the slow cooking for me.
Quick and Easy
On its own, this ready to eat viand is simple itself to prepare. Whether you heat it up on the stovetop or the microwave, just put it in a container and heat up for 8 minutes and you’re done! All that is left is to serve it then scoop a serving over hot rice. This package is good enough for four people.
Extending the dish to feed more people
There are seven people in my household and if I served this dish as is then Not everyone will really get to eat (especially since half the family eats twice as much!) so, it was time to once again get creative in the kitchen. Aside from the beef pares I had garlic, onions, carrots, mushrooms, and dangmyeon (Korean glass noodles). I decided to make japchae. With the addition of the noodles, this dish can now feed twice as many people.
Some notes:
When slicing the Purefoods Ready to Eat Beef Pares I would recommend doing this frozen so that the meat is easier to slice into strips and none of the sauce is wasted.
I used onion, carrot, and mushrooms, but really you could add any vegetable you want. Some commonly used ingredients for japchae are leeks and broccoli, and some like using bell peppers.
Technically, I could have used any kind of noodles like canton, bihon, or sotanghon, but I like dangmyeon the best. Sotanghon and dangmyeon are both vermicelli noodles but sotanghon is made from mung bean flour while dangmyeon is made from sweet potato flour. Dangmyeon turns into glass noodles that are thick and kinda sticky, which is what I like about japchae.
The package I bought was 500 grams and for this recipe, I only used 300 grams but I cooked all of it anyway. From personal experience I’ve noticed that usually when there is just a little bit of the dish left there is usually a lot more meat than noodles so I just add the remaining 200 grams to the leftovers, heat them together, and I just add japchae sauce.
This is the japchae sauce I used. I think I bought this and the noodles from Landers but they might also be available at other grocery stores, I just never really looked. You could also add this sauce to the beef pares japchae to make it more flavorful, but I would recommend trying it without first.
As a finishing touch, you can sprinkle toasted sesame seeds on your noodles.
Purefoods beef pares is a savory-sweet dish which made it perfect for making japchae. It takes the guesswork out of having to make a japchae sauce and sourcing exotic ingredients … or buying a bottle of japchae sauce. 😀
Even though I am calling this a “level up” dish it is actually effortless to make! In less than 20 minutes I was able to feed my family! And, as my sister likes to say, it is a complete dish in itself. 🙂
Yum, yum! Prepare this yourself and enjoy! We did. 🙂
Beef Pares Japchae
This dish is a fusion of Filipino and Korean
Prep Time10 minutes mins
Cook Time12 minutes mins
Course: Main Course, Side Dish
Cuisine: Filipino, Korean
Keyword: japchae, noodles, purefoods ready to eat
Servings: 8
Author: Penny Angeles-Tan
chopping board
knife
peeler
large wok or pot
- 1 pack Purefoods Ready to Eat Beef Pares frozen
- 3 cloves garlic, chopped
- 1 large onion, cut into strips
- 1 carrot, julienned
- 1 can mushrooms, pieces & stems
- 300 grams vermicelli noodles I used Korean glass noodles aka dangmyeon
- oil
- salt and pepper to taste
Preparation
Boil water in a pot. Once it is boiling place the noodles in and boil it for 5 minutes.
Rinse the noodles in cold water and set them aside.
While still frozen cut up the beef pares into strip-size and set aside. I would recommend putting it back in its original container so that none of the sauce is wasted.
Peel and chop the garlic, onion, and carrot. If you bought whole mushrooms just slice them thinly.
Cooking
On medium heat saute the garlic for about 30 seconds, add the onions. After a minute add the carrots and mushrooms and simmer.
Add the beef pares, mix, and simmer for another 8 minutes.
Add the noodles and mix until all the noodles are covered in the sauce of the pares. Add salt and pepper to taste.
Turn off the heat and serve. Your beef pares japchae is ready to eat!
Purefoods Ready to Eat Viands is available at all leading groceries and supermarkets. The price varies depending on the variant that you get.
by Penny Angeles-Tan | Feb 8, 2021 | Health and Wellness
It is in great times of uncertainties where the Filipino resilience has always triumphed. The world is made to witness that even in the face of tragedies and calamities, Filipinos will endure with big smiles on their faces — and this is what inspired Multivitamins + Minerals (Sangobion IRON+) to create an anthem that would resonate with this unfailing spirit.
‘Dugo’y Pagtibayin’ by Multivitamins + Minerals (Sangobion IRON+) is a reminder to Filipinos that it is through our individual hope and strength that makes the collective power rise amid this most trying time. Through the power of music to soothe the soul and with no less than Sarah Geronimo behind the song, this gives the melody a deeper meaning of how this nation can keep moving forward dahil sa lakas ng Dugong Pinoy.
“Sulong dugong Pinoy, pagtibayin ang dugo natin.”
Sarah is a believer in the power of music to uplift spirits, “For me, mahalaga ang music lalo na ngayon na may pinagdadaanan tayo. Music is very powerful; it’s the language of our soul … Iba yung nagagawa niyang pang-boost ng morale.”
With her soulful performance of the song, Sarah brings to life the meaning of dugong Pinoy with her every lyric that shows how a nation’s strength is fueled by Filipinos who do not get weakened nor get tired easily.
“Nung nalaman ko po na gagawa ako ng bagong kanta for Multivitamins + Minerals (Sangobion IRON+), I got excited. I know that it is going to be meaningful,” shares Sarah Geronimo.
Multivitamins + Minerals (Sangobion IRON+) put together this LSS-worthy and inspiring music video with the goal that as Filipinos start to go out of their houses more to serve their families and the nation, the more that they need to keep their blood health in check as one of the ways to keep the body healthy.
Multivitamins + Minerals (Sangobion IRON+) asks the nation, “Do you know how to maintain your blood health?”
The ‘Dugo’y Pagtibayin’ music video raises the awareness on maintaining healthy blood to help keep immunity at its peak. Multivitamins + Minerals (Sangobion IRON+) takes the action to educate more Filipinos to take charge of their health by sharing these three ways on how to maintain one’s blood health:
Exercise regularly.
Among the many benefits of exercising, when it comes to blood health, any exercise that can get the blood pumping even as simple as walking is already beneficial to the body. The more the body moves, the more blood will be pumped around it. Good blood circulation helps the cells of the immune system to move freely so they can function efficiently.
Manage your stress.
Experiencing constant anxiety and stress can affect blood circulation. However, with the looming uncertainties brought upon by the current situation, it is inevitable to feel stressed – but this can be managed. Stress buster activities and behaviors like yoga, meditation, listening to music, or safely spending time with the people you care about can help you feel calmer and more in control of your life. Managing your stress better is one way to help improve your blood flow.
Taking Multivitamins + Minerals (Sangobion IRON+).
If you’re running on a hectic routine whether you’re just at home or out for work, taking Multivitamins significantly helps when the food you eat isn’t able to provide your body the nutrients and minerals it needs. Multivitamins + Minerals (Sangobion IRON+) contain vitamins and minerals that help to replenish iron stores and increases red blood cell levels in the body. Recommended intake is one to two capsules daily, during or after meals, or as prescribed by your doctor.
Being proud to have a Dugong Pinoy means that you take charge of your overall health. Start by looking after your blood health to help keep your immune system at its peak.
If symptoms persist, consult your doctor.
“This acquisition in DreamFyre further reinforces our plans for building a complete ecosystem around eSports, entertainment, lifestyle, and content. GXR DreamFyre will benefit from Galaxy Racer’s international experience and resources and we are committed to this acquisition to fund the growth and support the vision the founders have set for GXR DreamFyre.” – Paul Roy, CEO Galaxy Racer.
Technically, I could have used any kind of noodles like canton, bihon, or sotanghon, but I like dangmyeon the best. Sotanghon and dangmyeon are both vermicelli noodles but sotanghon is made from mung bean flour while dangmyeon is made from sweet potato flour. Dangmyeon turns into glass noodles that are thick and kinda sticky, which is what I like about japchae.
This is the japchae sauce I used. I think I bought this and the noodles from Landers but they might also be available at other grocery stores, I just never really looked. You could also add this sauce to the beef pares japchae to make it more flavorful, but I would recommend trying it without first.
If you’re running on a hectic routine whether you’re just at home or out for work, taking Multivitamins significantly helps when the food you eat isn’t able to provide your body the nutrients and minerals it needs. Multivitamins + Minerals (Sangobion IRON+) contain vitamins and minerals that help to replenish iron stores and increases red blood cell levels in the body. Recommended intake is one to two capsules daily, during or after meals, or as prescribed by your doctor.
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