Banaue Rice Terraces, Luzon, Philippines

Banaue Rice Terraces, Luzon, Philippines - visited April 15, 2018

Aerial view on the descent to Manila

I referenced a vacation in the last couple of posts and I'm finally getting around to doing the write up. I haven't been back to the Philippines for a few years and I was due back. I normally go mostly to visit my relatives but for this trip, I wanted to see something of the country. So I decided to take a week off and go play tourist.

Descending into Ninoy Aquino International Airport

Aerial descent - almost there

I purposely arrived early on a Friday morning. The first couple of days were taken with visiting with relatives, paying my respects to my grandmother's grave at the nearby cemetery, having a memorial lunch in honor of her birthday and getting my hair straightened for a fraction of the price it would've cost me in the US. But two days later, it was time to switch to tourist mode.

My cousin, Emmanuel (Emman) and I left early on Sunday morning for the Banaue Rice Terraces. This has been on my bucket list for years and is considered the “eighth wonder of the world”. My cousin Abby had arranged for a driver/tour guide, Jesse, to take us to the terraces and a nearby town of Sagada to show us the mountain province.

Jesse arrived at 4:30 am and we were soon on the road. The Banaue Rice Terraces are quite far from Metro Manila which was our starting point. I had originally read it was an 8-10 hour drive but that’s dependent on traffic as well as weather. If you’ve never driven or been driven in the Philippines (I don’t recommend driving there unless you can list “New York cabbie” on your resume), you need to let go of all your preconceived notions about traffic laws, rules and flow. Just close your eyes and let a good driver drive you around. Otherwise, you will twist yourself into pretzel knots of stress every time you see oncoming traffic, another vehicle you swear is going to crash into you, pedestrians who you also swear are going to be brushed by cars and random dogs who don’t seem to get out of the way fast enough and you just know they’re going to end up under the wheels of a random vehicle. Except they don’t. 

As cringeworthy as I find the driving in the Philippines, I’m perpetually astonished that it all works for them. I’ve never seen a car crash there (I’m sure they happen but considering the driving, it’s mindboggling that there isn’t one every minute), I’ve never seen anyone run over or even clipped by a car and the animals casually stroll out of the way in the nick of time.  Filipino drivers are an amazing class unto themselves. 

Case in point, Jesse, our driver, was adept at navigating the traffic and, beyond the Manila area, the twisting, curving mountain roads as we headed to Banaue. If you’ve ever driven the road to Hana in Maui, imagine it something like that with twisting, winding roads, some of them becoming one lane so that you had to take turns with oncoming traffic over who goes next over that particular stretch of road. 

Unlike New York cabbies whom I’ve ridden with, there is a lot more give and take with the drivers in the Philippines. Slower vehicles are habitually passed and expected to be passed. A polite honk is a signal to let the slower driver know you’re coming up on their left and about to pass. The other quirk of driving in the Philippines is a honk is a signal that you’re planning to move forward, not an annoyance that someone pissed you off and you’re making your feelings clear about it.

The road to Hana in Maui (the Hana Highway) is 103.6 kilometers long and can take 2.5 hours to drive. From Manila to Banaue is 465.6 kilometers. It took us almost 12 hours. Yep, twisty, winding, curving mountain roads for about 9-10 of those hours. Not gonna lie, it was brutal and I was just the passenger. I can’t imagine being the driver. Knowing it was a long drive ahead of time, I had planned ahead and was listening to an audio book to while away the time. But it was still a long slog. We made a brief stop for breakfast along the way but we waited to have lunch until we got to a “top” point where a restaurant was situated for tourists such as ourselves that gave a commanding view of the rice terraces. 

And commanding they were. I took a number of pictures from a few different points where we stopped along the way. I am awed by the magnitude of the Banaue Rice Terraces. I had seen pictures of them online but it really is something to behold in person. They’re said to be over 2000 years old and were created mostly by hand and very few tools, given the time when they were created. They’re Philippines’ version of the Egyptian pyramids or China’s Great Wall. According to Wikipedia, if you put the terraces end to end, they would encircle half the globe. I can’t even wrap my mind around that. It must’ve taken generations to create and they’re still there to this day.

Since it was April, it was planting season before the rains arrived. October/November is the harvest season when the terraces would be golden with rice ready to be harvested. I’m glad I saw it when it was green. It was majestic. This is what I had come to the Philippines to see. I was born there but raised in the United States. Whenever I went back to the Philippines, it was primarily to see my relatives and we stayed mostly around the metro Manila area, with the occasional forays to Baguio or Tagaytay. This was the first time I came on my own and played tourist so far afield from home base.

I’m glad I did. Banaue isn’t a tourist spot where you go and do a bunch of “stuff”. You go to see them in person and pay homage to the generations of Filipinos who started, continued and finished the wonder of these terraces carved into mountain sides farther than the eye can see at any one point. It made me reflect the vision they had, the needs driving them at the time and the patience and perseverance it took, handed down from generation to generation by tradition and calling to create it. Also imagine the community it took as no one person did this. It was many. Many people, many families, many communities. Even factoring in the lack of tools at the time and the ingenuity not to mention sheer sweat equity, they also had to contend with the climate and weather.

We were reminded of this as, shortly after we had finished lunch and were taking more pictures, it started to rain. We had about 30 seconds of sprinkles as a warning but by the 31^st second, sprinkles had turned into “deluge”. This was the tropics, after all. It really started to pour so it forced us back into the car to head for our hotel for the night. Which was about 59 kilometers from where we were, all back down those twisty, winding, curving mountain roads and took another 2 hours. Only this time, with the torrential rain, those one lanes (sometimes two) started to flood. Major, major props to our driver Jesse for navigating the downpour, slick roads, mud, flooded lane(s) and sometimes hillside erosion blocking the road with skill and precision. We never once fishtailed or stalled out or overcorrected to avoid a road hazard. It couldn’t have been easy but he did it with the same patience and skill as on the drive up under sunny, benign conditions.

Travel bucket list – Banaue Rice Terraces? Check.

Given the long, brutal drive, I confess I’m not sure I would do it again so it will go into the column of “once in a lifetime” experience (right along with the one full marathon I’ve run) but I’m glad I did it in my lifetime. It was really something to behold.

Classic Snickerdoodles

Snickerdoodles - made April 11, 2018 from The Perfect Cookie by America's Test Kitchen

My niece was taking me to the airport for the start of my vacation so I thought it would be a good time to try a new snickerdoodle recipe. I'm still going through The Perfect Cookie from America's Test Kitchen that I got as a gift for Christmas and it was nice to revisit old classics from their point of view.

While I do already have favorite snickerdoodle recipes I fall back on, I figured it couldn't hurt to try something new, especially since the one for oatmeal cookies turned out so well.

These also turned out well, I'm happy to say. It didn't stay as thick as my stand-by recipe but was still respectable, albeit more typical in thickness. The taste was excellent, in no small part because of my loyalty and adherence in using Penzey's Vietnamese cinnamon.

Easy to make, doesn't spread too thin, chewy texture, good flavor - another keeper recipe for snickerdoodles.

2 1/2 cups (12.5 ounces) all-purpose flour
2 teaspoons cream of tartar
1 teaspoon baking soda
1/2 teaspoon salt
8 tablespoons unsalted butter, softened
8 tablespoons vegetable shortening
1 1/2 cups (10.5 ounces) granulated sugar, plus 1/4 cup for rolling
2 large eggs
1 tablespoon ground cinnamon (I used Penzey's Vietnamese cinnamon)

1. Whisk flour, cream of tartar, baking soda and salt together.
2. Using stand mixer fitted with the paddle attachment, cream together butter, shortening and 1 1/2 cups granulated sugar on medium speed until pale and fluffy, about 3 minutes.
3. Add eggs, one at a time, and beat until just incorporated, scraping down sides of the bowl as needed. Reduce speed to low and slowly add flour mixture until just combined, about 30 seconds. Portion into golf-ball-size dough balls, cover and chill or freeze for several hours or overnight.
4. When ready to bake, preheat oven to 375 degrees. Line baking sheets with parchment paper.
5. Combine 1/4 cup granulated sugar and cinnamon in a small bowl. Roll each dough ball into mixture, coating completely. Evenly space onto baking sheets, placing 2 inches apart. Bake cookies, 1 sheet at a time, until edges are just set and beginning to brown but centers are still soft, puffy and cracked, 10-12 minutes. Let cookies cool on cookie sheets for 5 minutes then transfer to wire racks to cool completely.

Classic Chewy Oatmeal Raisin Cookies

Classic Chewy Oatmeal Raisin Cookies - made dough April 1, 2018 from The Perfect Cookie from America's Test Kitchen

Take a good look as this may be the only time you see oatmeal raisin cookies with honest-to-goodness raisins in them instead of chocolate chips, which is how I normally "cheat". It's not new news that I don't like raisins so I almost always substitute chocolate chips for the raisins. Almost always.

This time I actually did use raisins for these cookies at the request of my cousin Abby who specifically wanted oatmeal raisin cookies. She'd been doing a lot for me in prep for my vacation to the Philippines and I could hardly disregard her request simply because *I* don't like raisins. So, just this once, I stifled my raisin protest and bought a package to use in these cookies.

I don't really have a go-to oatmeal cookie recipe so I was glad to try this one from The Perfect Cookie by America's Test Kitchen. My problem with most oatmeal cookies is they're generally cakey more than chewy. Which is surprising because you'd think something with this quantity of oats would be chewy. But no worries here. I really liked how these cookies turned out. They didn't spread very much, stayed chubby, and had great flavor.

And, lest you think I ate raisins, in all honesty, I did reserve some of the dough before I added the raisins and instead added chocolate chips to "my" portion of the dough. Not gonna lie, that's the only way I was going to try this cookie.

What I liked best about it was the flavor. The brown sugar lent the caramel overtones I like in a good cookie. When eaten warm, it looks like it's mushy or underdone but you don't want to overbake these or they'll be hard. I ate half the oatmeal chocolate chip test cookie while it was lukewarm and waited until the rest cooled completely to eat the other half. I liked both versions. At room temperature, this was less fragile and more chewy but both were pretty good.

Texture while still lukewarm

Texture at room temperature

1 cup (5 ounces) all-purpose flour
3/4 teaspoon salt
1/2 teaspoon baking soda
4 tablespoons unsalted butter, melted and browned, warm
1/4 teaspoon ground cinnamon
3/4 cup (5 1/4 ounces) dark brown sugar
1/2 cup (3 1/2 ounces) granulated sugar
1/2 cup vegetable oil
1 large egg plus 1 large egg yolk
1 teaspoon vanilla extract
3 cups (9 ounces) old-fashioned rolled oats
1/2 cup raisins, optional

1. Whisk together flour, salt and baking soda; set aside.
2. Whisk ground cinnamon into warm browned butter. Add dark brown sugar, granulated sugar and oil, whisking until smooth. Whisk in egg, egg yolk and vanilla extract.
3. Using a wooden spoon, stir in flour mixture until just combined. Fold in rolled oats and raisins, if using. 
4. Portion into dough balls, cover and chill overnight. Freeze for later or bake after overnight chilling.
5. When ready to bake, preheat oven to 375 degrees F. Line baking sheets with parchment paper and evenly space dough balls. Bake 8-10 minutes or until edges are set and middles no longer look wet. Remove to wire racks and let cool completely.

Brick Street Cafe Copycat Chocolate Cake

Brick Street Cafe Copycat Chocolate Cake - made April 7, 2018 from Through Her Looking Glass

I’ve never heard of Brick Street Café in South Carolina but I’d seen mouthwatering pictures of this copycat cake on pinterest and that was enough to make me try the recipe. Having never had the real thing, I don’t know how this compares so all I can say is this is a good chocolate cake.

I think the “hook” is the flowing gush of chocolate ganache icing which I imagine is rather impressive when served at a restaurant. Especially if it’s served warm. Actually, you have to serve it at least warm enough that the icing is flowing; otherwise, this sets at room temperature.

The directions say you have to bake this in a convection oven. I’m not sure why except I know most restaurant kitchens, bakeries and commercial kitchens have convection ovens so that’s probably how the original cake was baked at the Brick Street Café. I rarely bake cakes on the convection setting in my oven. I reserve that setting for when I’m baking cookies because I want the outside of the cookies to bake faster and set before the cookies spread too much while the inside doesn’t bake as quickly and doesn’t dry out. For cakes, especially cakes of this size baked in a tube pan, I want to bake evenly throughout, not have the outside form a crust while the inside is still mushy.  Okay for a lava cake but not for a “regular” cake.

Fortunately, because it’s baked in a tube pan, my fears were unfounded. This baked okay in a convection oven although the outer side seemed to bake faster as the inner ring rose higher than the outer ring. Which meant when I inverted the cake, while the inverted bottom which was now the top, was perfectly level and even, what was once the top and was now the bottom was too rounded and didn’t provide for a stable base. So I inverted it again so it was as it had baked. 

Back to the hook of the flowing lava frosting. The instructions say to fill the hole left by the tube pan in the middle of the cake first then let the overflow cover the cake. So then when you slice into the cake, this whole volcanic chocolate lava would gush right out. At first I thought there might not be enough frosting to fill the hole and cover the cake but I was wrong. Really, really wrong. In fact, there was almost too much frosting for it not only filled the hole but blanketed the cake and made it look like a Ding Dong on steroids. If you're a frosting person, there's probably no such thing as too much frosting but you know me. Too much frosting.

I made this cake to bring to work so I made it on a weekend and brought it in on a Monday. By then the frosting had set so now it was like a thick crust. If you warmed it up, it softened again but at room temperature, it was like a blanket of fudge. Taste-wise, this is a rich cake. As in, if you’re a chocoholic, this would be a hit and I’m not sure how soon you’d crash from the Olympian heights this much chocolate would take you. It was good but I’d recommend a small slice to start off with so you don’t eat yourself into a chocolate coma. I really liked the cake part as it was moist and chocolaty but I’d just as soon skip the frosting or make half the frosting recipe and use it as a light (very light) glaze. Maybe even a third of the frosting recipe.

If you want to try this as is, I’d suggest using this as a fairly impressive dessert for a dinner party. Make the cake ahead of time but wait on the frosting until right before you’re about to serve dessert. The frosting is easy to make at the last minute and you can pile it on the cake, filling the hole and all, then serve immediately to your guests. The gush of chocolate lava is something to behold and they can pile the excess frosting in all its oozing glory all over their cake slices as much as they wish. 

2 cups sugar
1 cup butter, softened
1 1/2 teaspoons pure vanilla extract
3 large eggs
2 1/2 cups cake flour
1 cup unsweetened cocoa powder, sifted
2 teaspoons baking soda
1/2 teaspoon salt
1/2 cup instant chocolate pudding mix
2 1/4 cups buttermilk

Chocolate Icing
1/2 cup water
1/2 cup butter
1 teaspoon vanilla extract
1 cup unsweetened cocoa powder, sifted
3 1/2 cups powdered sugar
3 tablespoons heavy cream, more or less for consistency

1. Preheat convection oven to 350 degrees F.
2. Cream sugar, butter and vanilla in large bowl. Beat in eggs, one at a time.
3. Mix in cake flour, cocoa powder, baking soda, salt, chocolate pudding mix and buttermilk.
4. Pour into greased tube pan. Bake in convection oven for 60-70 minutes, until toothpick inserted in the thickest part of the cake comes out clean or with a few crumbs. Cool completely before icing.
5. Icing: Heat water, butter and vanilla together in medium saucepan over medium-low heat until melted. Whisk smooth and remove from heat.
6. Stir in unsweetened cocoa powder. Stir in powdered sugar, whisking until smooth. Stir in heavy cream, one tablespoon at a time, until you get the desired consistency.
7. Pour icing in the hole in the middle of the cake first then spread icing over the cake and pour over the sides. Icing will harden as it cools.

Nutella Swirl Cookies

Nutella Swirl Cookies - made dough March 31, 2018, adapted from Sally's Baking Addiction

My favorite cookie with Nutella swirled in is the Almond Butter and Nutella Swirl Cookies. I’ve also swirled Nutella into chocolate chip cookies with great success. So I don’t know why it didn’t occur to me earlier to make a Nutella cookie and swirl Nutella into that. Genius, right?

Well, it was Sally’s Baking Addiction that was the genius since it’s her recipe. I did go rogue though and omitted the chocolate chips because I didn’t want a Nutella-swirled chocolate chip cookie (done that) but a purist Nutella cookie with Nutella swirls. What’s not to love?

It worked beautifully in this cookie. You want to be generous with the dollops of Nutella that you drop on top of the mixed cookie dough. I dollop all over the top of the dough in the bowl, scoop out generous dough balls with large splotches of Nutella then once that top layer of dough is scooped out, I drop more  Nutella over the remaining dough and repeat the process. No being stingy with the Nutella. Although do try to tuck most of it inside the dough ball because you want liquidy Nutella in each bite of the cookie.

Without the swirls in the cookie, I’m not sure how Nutella-y this would be since the ¼ cup mixed into the dough itself doesn’t impact a strong Nutella flavor. But that’s why we dollop. Also, I’m glad I omitted the chocolate chips. I wanted the soft, fudgy texture that goes with soft, flowy Nutella without the interference of the more solid chips. Goal unlocked.

1/2 cup unsalted butter, softened

3/4 cup packed dark brown sugar
1/2 cup granulated sugar
1 large egg plus 1 large egg yolk
1 teaspoon vanilla extract
1/4 cup Nutella
2 1/3 cups all-purpose flour
1 1/4 teaspoons baking soda
1 teaspoon cornstarch
1/2 teaspoon salt
1 cup Nutella for dolloping into the dough

1. In a large bowl of a stand mixer fitted with the paddle attachment, beat butter on medium speed until smooth and creamy. Add brown sugar and granulated sugar; beat on medium high until light and fluffy. Beat in egg, egg yolk and vanilla until combined, scraping down sides of bowl as needed. Beat in 1/4 cup Nutella until combined.
2. Whisk the flour, cornstarch, baking soda and salt together in a large bowl. Gradually add to wet ingredients until just combined. Do not overmix. Dollop Nutella in large spoonfuls over dough and fold just enough to mix in the Nutella and leave large swirls. Scoop into golf-ball size dough balls. Cover and chill or freeze for several hours or overnight.
3. When ready to bake, preheat oven to 350 degrees F. Line baking sheets with parchment paper and evenly space dough balls. Bake for 10 minutes or until edges are golden brown and middles no longer look wet. Cool for 5 minutes on cookie sheet then remove to wire racks to cool completely.