Homemade Cheesecake by Treasure Oven

One thing that I am always grateful about is that I grew up in a family of foodies.  In particular, my elder sister Eichel happens to share the same passion with me when it comes to trying out and discovering whatever source of food we could get our hands on.  She introduced me to Gel Sebastian’s Homemade Banana Loaf with Chocolate Chips and Walnuts way back, and recently, she brought home one of the most affordable and best tasting homemade cheesecakes I’ve had so far.  She bought it from a colleague who happens to be a home baker at Treasure Oven,  Anna Balao-Bunda.

In appearance, the cheesecake may look downright simple, unpretentious, and unapologetically homemade.  In terms of taste, it was surprisingly the bomb.   We are talking about pure cheesecake here as there was no gelatin used.  In my book, it was way better than the cheesecake we can buy at some shop. 

Jollibee Hash Brown Burger

Truth be told, I like Jollibee Yum Burger.  It’s not the type that I would usually crave for, yet, it’s not the type that I would say no to when I am offered one.  Maybe because it brings a lot of childhood memories.  Of the times when school Christmas parties were held on a budget.  Of the times when every children’s party in our neighbor was held at the nearest Jollibee store.  Of the times when a wound can be healed by a loving touch of my mother and tears can be put into a halt just by a mere presence of a tray full of Jollibee goodies. 

Although I may have encountered and fell in love with different burger joint while growing up, Jollibee will always be well acquainted with my memories and my palate.  

The Chocolate Kiss Cafe

First time I tasted the Devil’s Food Cake by The Chocolate Kiss Café ( ChoKiss) was at a friend’s birthday party and I was smitten by it.  For a while it played as one of my favorites.  It has been pretty popular among my foodie friends but they were adamant in pushing me to try the Kahlua Butter Cake which they think I would enjoy as well.

When a craving for Devil’s Food Cake hit me one day, my friend Glenn and I decided to visit The Chocolate Kiss Café for an afternoon tea.  I was dead set on getting a slice of the cake and had completely brushed off the idea of trying out all the other cakes.  I guess it’s just me, when I am craving for something, I got to have it.  I don’t want my opinion of the food to be affected just because I wasn’t able to get what I want to eat in the first place, so I knew that I could reserve our so-called-cake-taste-test at the café on some other days.  I just want to have that Devil’s Food Cake regal my palate, and satisfy my craving.

Then the inevitable thing happened.  Due to massive orders that happened that weekend, they run out of the Devil’s Food Cake.  Sweet dear heaven.  If you are a foodie like me, you’ll know what I mean when I say that it was heartbreaking.  Glenn was sure that the Kahlua Cake will somehow save the impending doom of unfulfilled craving, only to find out that the café run out of it as well.