TOPAZ HORIZON

Now that I'm a stay-at-home wife and mom, I get invited to events that promote stuff like cooking, crafts-making, safety while driving, and basically stuff that are worlds away from the fashion and beauty events I used to attend.

I like this new phase. At the start, I found it very weird but now I find it fascinating! There's a whole wide world of fab events for wives and moms! And I don't need to put full-on makeup and blow dry my hair and wear excruciatingly high heels!

One such event I recently checked out was Anchor Home Chef Final Night. Yes, it was like a reality show that picked out the best recipes that reinvented ordinary food and used the Anchor product line. I didn't even know there was a contest like this! Had I known, I'd have totally joined! I'm kinda good in the kitchen so I think I have a fighting chance. Actually, I am very good in the kitchen. That's one of the reasons Vince married me!
But... after I tasted the winning recipe, I must admit the winner deserved the top Anchor Home Chef prize. But wait wait wait. I'm getting way ahead of my story! Here's the whole Anchor product showcase. I thought they only had milk, butter and cheese slices! There's cream cheese, culinary cream, and whipping cream, too!

I've known, used and loved Anchor butter for years and years. I remember my Mama singing the jingle when she'd serve sugar-sprinkled creamy butter on hot pan de sal for breakfast long, long ago. "Fresh Anchor butter!" I can hear her now and all I can think of is bright, happy mornings. Mama loved butter!

Anyway, the Anchor Home Chef campaign is all about promoting creativity in the kitchen. By using Anchor's premium products, men and women can create dishes using ordinary ingredients and make them ultra fabulous! I believe that, too!

There was wine...

... and cheese. But no one was really wining and cheesing because Anchor started the evening with a contest for all the guests. We were all asked to make a cake in a jar!

This bibingka cake was seriously amazing. At first, I thought it was going to be so-so but the sweetness of the butter cake and the saltiness of the salted egg cream cheese topped with the delicate nuttiness of the roasted coconut buttercream was divine. Divine!

Yes, Iñigo and I ate the cake. So we didn't get to participate in the contest! That bibingka cake was too good. I wanted to ask for more actually. I just got shy.

Here I am with hot mommy Jackie Go of Go! Jackie Go! and her baby Juro. He's busy munching on carrots. I don't know what my Iñigo was looking at. But this table was right beside the chefs' table so maybe Iñigo was looking at the chefs.


From left we have Chef Ryan, Chef Pauline, Chef Christa and Chef Jonas. They are very well spoken! Are all chefs required to be good at public speaking? Is that why they're so good when they get cooking shows? Actually, even all the women finalists, as they cooked their special re-invented recipes, described the procedures in an articulate, even entertaining way!

All summer, Anchor gathered recipes from home chefs using their Facebook page. The judges settled on six finalists. These finalists were visited by Chef Jonas at their own homes where they cooked their recipes in their own kitchens. Finally, last week, the finalists were presented to the media for the cook-off! These were the winning recipes:
Ham & Cheese Roll by Montecielo Guevara. This is an ordinary ham and cheese sandwich but Cielo flattened the sandwich with a rolling pin, rolled it, coated the roll with breadcrumbs, deep fried it then served it with whipping cream. Now it's sosyal!

Breakfast Springrolls by Neneth Tiongkiao. Neneth took the usual Pinoy breakfast meats of bacon, longganisa and ham, wrapped them in a buttered lumpia wrapper then fried it to crispy yumminess.

Creamy Binagoongang Eggplant by Maridel Pacleb. This was sooo good! It's just a simple spicy binagoongan recipe but with the cream? It became malinamnam!

Chicken-Crab Combo in Coconut Milk by Gene Cruz. Just think of a simple ginataang manok recipe then add crab flakes, cheese slices and whipped cream!

Pinoy Panna Cotta by Dang Yee. Oh, this was Iñigo's favorite! It's very good. Dang combined fruit salad and Maja Blanca and came up with this amazing dessert!

Caramel Macchiato Ice Cream by Michiko Halili. This was sublime. Absolutely smooth and creamy and sophisticated. This homemade ice cream is better than a lot of commercial ice cream in the market today. Haagen Dazs levels siya!

And here are the home chefs! From left: Maridel Pacleb, Neneth Tionkiao, Gene Cruz, Michiko Halili, Montecielo Guevara and Dang Yee.

And the winner is...
Michiko Halili's Caramel Macchiato Ice Cream!!! I so agree! I was torn between the creamy binagoongan and the ice cream. I'm definitely making those recipes soon. Congratulations to all the winners and especially to Michiko!

For the winning recipes and more re-imagined recipes, check out the Anchor Home Chef Facebook page now!