Silence...

... means that I've been busy with a new project: reopening Kitchen Revolution. Except instead of focusing on baked goods (my usual vegan margarine supplier doesn't carry said margarine, boo. Am working on it.) I'm doing savory food.

Where to find me? Check out my table at Mercato Centrale, the new food / farmers market in Bonifacio Global City on Saturdays, 6am to 12nn. I peddle vegan brunch (sausage, tofu scramble, garlic brown rice) and weekly specials (sometimes pasta, sometimes sandwiches. Maybe sushi? I like to play it up). I'm on Facebook -- if you are too, then friend me!

Funny story how I decided to reopen. After a year in New York attending cooking school and interning at awesome restaurants, I was in a sulky, couch potato, lying-in-fetal-position mode for a month after coming back home. Didn't want to do nothin' except watch DVD's of Brothers & Sisters and Desperate Housewives and think wistfully of my past life. I'm not gonna lie, the transition from a fast-paced city to sleepy suburbia was difficult. I can go on and on about how New York's the greatest thing since sliced bread... but I'll spare you the details.

It was the 16th of November, Tuesday, about 2am -- I was up doing what everyone does at 2am -- checking Facebook. And some friend was tagged in a bakery business's photo of an ad for a new upcoming food market. The ad looked great, the market sounded promising (organic, healthy, vegetarian, blah blah), and I decided that I needed to be part of it. The market opened on the 21st, a Sunday. So from Tuesday to Sunday I was on autopilot, fixing my menu, buying ingredients and equipment, troubleshooting, cooking, setting up shop. Man, that week drained the hell out of me, I think I lost 3 pounds. I also did not sleep from Saturday 10:30am until Sunday 4:30pm.

Fast forward to present time: I'll be at the market every Saturday through February and it's great. My parents should thank Mercato C for getting me out of my funk. I actually don't mind waking up at 4am on a Saturday to set up shop for the market, even though it's gotten in the way of my social life (note that I never really had a social life to begin with...). I love not having a corporate job although I do miss the paychecks. I love "going to work" (making a mess in my kitchen) in shorts and a tank top and no make up. And I love going to the market and meeting other vendors who aren't necessarily vegetarian, but sell interesting stuff.The table on my right sells healthy vegan cakes and cupcakes; the one on my left does home delivery vegetable detox juices. The table behind me does sales for community supported agriculture. And a lot of farmers there sell gorgeous organic produce, herbs, grains, and beans.

Organic lemongrass bought at the market straight from the farmer, 

probably harvested the day before -- P35 / US$0.80 for 8 stalks.

If you live in Manila, do check out Mercato Centrale -- 30th St and 9th Ave, Bonifacio Global City. It's behind The Spa on Bonifacio High Street. Do check out what the market has to offer, and if you're curious, check out my table in Tent 1.

PS Apart from the market, I do have plans to get vegan food into the mouths of Filipinos. Catering, cooking classes... I'm workin' on it!

Kinda overdue Yummy Magazine feature

Blogging about this for posterity's sake. So back in September, Yummy Magazine asked me to send them a box of cupcakes for a feature on baked goods being sold through Multiply. My vegan cupcakes ended up being featured in their October issue :)

So nice when vegan food gets representation in mainstream media, no?

Where to get your vegan cupcake fix in Manila + rant on Jupiter cr Nicanor traffic guys

These chai latte cupcakes will make you sing.

If you're craving for tasty, moist cupcakes that promise that no animals were harmed in their creation AND don't taste like sawdust, but you're kinda broke to buy a whole box from you-know-who, then please, step into Corner Tree Cafe on Jupiter Street in Makati.



That's right folks! I'm so pleased to blog that for the past few weeks, I've been supplying fabulous tasting cupcakes to this quaint vegetarian restaurant that is very vegan-friendly. It helps that the dishes are inexpensive and the place is easily accessible to both Northern and Southern Manilenyos alike.

I was very fortunate to come across this opportunity when my good friend Pet and I had dinner here one Friday night. I had heard much about the restaurant from co-vegans and was encouraged to try their tofu-walnut burger and lemony brocolli pasta. After dinner, Chiqui the owner went up to me and introduced herself. Pet told her that I was vegan and that I made vegan cupcakes. She was the one I sent a sample box of cupcakes to mentioned in this post!



Lucky for me she liked 'em, and now I supply 'em. The usual available flavors this establishment orders include those in the picture and red velvet cupcakes. Who knows, maybe they'll order the other flavors.

Just a heads up!



Corner Tree Cafe (Vegetarian Food)
Francesca Mabanta
150 Jupiter Street Bel-Air, Makati, Metro Manila
Cell: Chiqui +63917-8481004 or Leah +63916-6149927

NB: Corner Tree is closed on Mondays.

If after eating in Corner Tree you decide to get out of Jupiter St. via Buendia, I highly recommend you watch out for those traffic guys in yellow that are just begging to catch you run the light when you turn left into Nicanor. I delivered some cupcakes to Corner Tree last Saturday and I almost got a ticket. I almost cried too, because Saturday just wasn't my day -- I had rushed making an apple pie beforehand and I was running late to Ateneo to watch a play. Anyway, the guy told me I ran a red light when I distinctly saw it was green. Apparently you had to wait for the green arrow to light up before turning left. I cordially argued with him and I even got down from my car and we walked to the light. I showed him that the arrow was not in fact red, that the arrow never lit up. I emerged unscathed and un-ticketed. Those fuckers caught a ton of cars "running the red arrow" when there was no red arrow! I told the guy that maybe he can tell his boss to put a sign on the traffic lightpost so drivers can follow the law more accordingly, or to have the light fixed so that the red light would light up. He just told me to go to the MMDA to file my complaint. He probably thought he'd get a bribe out of me, well tough! May they rot in the humid heat while trying to catch innocent motorists who run the non-existent red arrow.

Stuff I've been doing + a duck photo

Sorry blog, I neglected you once again. Here's what I've been up to since my last post:














Chocolate cupcake and almond rosewater cupcake.

Tinkering around with rose-inspired frosting designs. I've been spying cupcakes frosted to look like roses 'round Flickr and it's been driving me crazy. I really couldn't figure out how those bakers did it! After a few experiments I finally broke the code. I'm not sure if this is supposed to be a super baker's secret, but what the hell. You basically use a 5-point star tip, start frosting from the center and work your way out. So simple yet so stunning.


Missing old childhood food. I don't miss the dead animal flesh mind you, I just miss the familiarity of eating a burger sandwich, using an actual bun, filled with ketchup and mustard. I took this photo about 2 months ago and uploaded it in Flickr 3 weeks ago. As of this post it's received 99 views. Hmmm. I guess vegans do miss familiar food. This is a burger bun filled with 3 vegan burger patties, a couple of lettuce leaves, and a good dose of mango vinaigrette. I know, not conventional, but it went pretty well. The vinaigrette was a version of this recipe but with cane vinegar subbing for the calamansi juice and olive oil subbing for the sesame oil. The burger patties are a version of Vegan with a Vengeance's.


Promoting vegan cupcakes to mainstream media. I sent a box of these cupcakes to a well known local food magazine for a pictorial. They actually found me on Multiply! So so tickled. Anyway, the magazine edition with the cupcakes should come out sometime in the 4th quarter. This box has 6 flavors.

Top, L-R: red velvet, chai latte, lemony.
Bottom, L-R: banoffee, carrot cake, almond rosewater.

I sent the same box to a vegetarian restaurant in the Makati CBD called Corner Tree Cafe. They seem to like 'em, they've been ordering every week for their customers. If any of you readers are around Jupiter St. in Makati, hit up Corner Tree Cafe! It's near Aristocrat.

(I also sent another box of cupcakes to a lifestyle magazine targeted to Southern Manilenyos, not pictured. Well received too!)


Cupcake-catering for my lolo's / grandfather's 95th birthday party. My dad asked me to make cupcakes for giveaways for guests. In the span of 7-8 hours I was able to come up with 100+ cupcakes, packaged in these beautiful silver cardboard-plastic boxes. They looked smashing, if I do say so myself. I just cringe when I think about the amount of waste these generated. I hate using plastic...

Anyway, here are some closeups:














Red velvet cupcakes.














Banoffee cupcakes. Banana cupcakes topped with coffee buttercream and shaved dark chocolate.














Lemony cupcakes.

I can't resist some cupcake porn:


Closeup of a red velvet cupcake.

I'm really loving the foil cupcake liners. They're pretty costly but they look so professional. They go really well with the silver boxes, and they don't absorb moisture from the cake (vs. paper liners). I like that they hide cupcake batter spills too!

I also can't resist a gratuitous photo of cute animals:

I found these guys trying to cross a major road in my village as I was heading out to Sunday lunch. I quickly snapped a photo of them before herding them back to the creek from whence they came. I'm glad to report that no one got hurt! Motorists actually halted for these cuties.

That's about it, so I've been quite busy. Hopefully my next post won't be too far off.

Blah blah blah... Kitchen Revolution stuff

Arghhh, sorry blog, the real world's been keeping me quite busy. For now the only update I can give you are the 2 marketing collaterals I've been working on in relation to Kitchen Revolution. Enjoy. More blogs to come. :)

PS Just came back from a holiday in Boracay... I am in love with that place. I want to move there and run a cafe.