I am hugging my coffee right now. Ninety days after the quarantine started, we have changed our season in the Philippines from the hot and dry summer to the rainy and wet season. Ninety days and communities have shifted to a new economy of barter, online selling, and planting.
I am surrounded by awesome and creative minds who have shared their own ways to generate income in their small house kitchen. Here is my little help, another seller that I would recommend not because they are my friends but I find something worth-sharing to my own circle of acquaintances which brings me to my cinnamon and milkfish stories.
Couple and business owners Jay and Quim share my love for coffee! Their love for coffee made them try baking some coffee pairing desserts like cinnamon rolls. From baking for their own consumption, Quim has now started to accept orders from friends and referrals. Can you imagine me blogging right now with a Vietnamese coffee and warm cinnamon rolls right beside my table?
What I like best with Quim’s cinnamon:
- Just enough sweetness. You don’t hurt your tonsils with too much sugar on your food. Just enough to balance the flavor with your coffee.
- It’s not a half-blooded cinnamon roll–you’d really taste the cinnamon. Some people do not put enough cinnamon for commercial reasons but it’s not cinnamon if it has more sugar than the actual cinnamon.
- You can refrigerate and reheat them. Each box has reheating instructions.
- Cream cheese frosting is on a separate container. Most of the commercial version of this roll has the cream cheese on top so it dries up when you store it inside the fridge and it gets burned when you reheat.
Cinnamon rolls are available in 2’s at Php85; 6’s at Php250; and 12’s at Php450.
After your morning coffee with cinnamon (or morning snack), I suggest you try this Relyenong Bangus which is a family recipe made by an 82-year old family elder. A true Tagalog recipe from a family who migrated to Davao which they only prepare on special occasions.
In case you don’t know:
- Relyenong bangus is also known as stuffed milkfish. Milkfish is regarded as the Philippines’ national fish which is abundantly available in the country but there are no documents proclaiming such. My childhood textbooks just betrayed me!
- Milkfish is a very bony fish type that needed to be deboned first before removing the meat. The stuffing would include ground meat from the fish. They keep the belly fat of the milkfish which is a portion that many Filipinos really like.
- Since the process takes a lot of time, this dish is only being prepared during special occasions such as festivals, birthday, or family reunion.
- The family recipe has been passed on from generation which is why it’s difficult to deconstruct the ingredients they use! It has a slightly different preparation from the Kapampangan recipe that my mom makes but its really tasty too!
Share some love and food with your family and find someone from the community who sells homemade and gourmet items.
Thanks, boss Jay and Quim! 😁