It all started with a block of cream cheese.  

The original plan was to make bibingka and sprinkle the cream cheese all over it.  But a banana leaf needed for lining the pan was always forgotten and never made an appearance in our household.  Days turned to a week and I started to crave for something really chocolaty.

And bibingka is definitely not chocolaty!

Toasted Walnut Banana Cake

But in simpler words: banana cake.  My lola Vita's banana cake.  I only named this one like so because it sounds fancier than just 'banana cake'.

And if it sounds more interesting, you'll most likely not ignore yet another banana recipe.

Banana Chocolate Chip Pancakes + Caramelized Bananas

I love breakfast food, yes.  But as much as I adore the whole breakfast concept, I'm not really too keen on waking up early.  Oh I still remember the mornings when I would willingly wake up at dawn and prepare for training.  Yep!  I once dreamt of becoming a pro athlete, too, you know.

A couple (more than a couple, actually) years has passed and I've yet to get that waking-up-early habit back.  But my love for everything breakfast stayed with me.

But you and I and everybody know that breakfast can be enjoyed any time of the day!  Right? Or damn right!?!

Churros

Truth be told, the only reason I took the plunge and made churros was because our oven is in bad shape.

Like it still has power and heats up but the temperature dial is broken.  I know I could just get an oven thermometer but ehh!  Plus, I also wanted to know how churros made from scratch differ or be similar to the ones we buy.

Simple, Egg-free Pancakes

Recently, I've been turning to the Web for answers.  For emergencies such as 'AHH! We're out of *whatever ingredient and whatever possible substitute there could be* but I want *whatever the end product of said missing ingredient/sub + other stuff would have been* now!'...or something.

I know you're saying the easiest solution would be to just go to the market and restock.

Red Velvet + White Chocolate Cookies

It's perfectly understandable for little kids to get really excited when they receive something, right?  I think the same applies to adults, too!  Please don't burst out laughing but my goodness even I couldn't believe how happy and excited I was when I got two glorious kilos of flour.  Like I smiled one wide smile, buddy!  In my mind I was doing a happy dance and then stopped because 'Abigail, it's just flour, stop'.  

And then I remembered this adorable scene from Stranger Than Fiction where Harold gave Ana flours instead of flowers (get it?!):

Source: http://caffeinated-much.tumblr.com/post/49928250894/the-sweetest-moment

100 points to Harold for being a cutie pie and practical at the same time!  Please, I know you'd be excited to receive bags of flour, too, if you love to bake!

Matcha Crinkle Cookies

I knew right away that matcha will be a favorite after my first bite of my first ever matcha-flavored food.  It was a humble yet glorious lil muffin and its insides were softly tinged green (!!!).  Since then whenever I see 'matcha' on a blog, Pinterest, tumblr and everywhere else, I just go nuts and seconds later, I'll be reading up on that blog post and bookmarking it after.

I even bought freaking soy milk just so I could make iced matcha latte!  Have you ever tried making iced matcha latte?  Without a bamboo whisk? Which I didn't know was called that prior to reading up on homemade matcha lattes.  

Oh well!