Travel: Trip to Fort Santiago, Manila

Today, Dylan, Tracy and I went to Fort Santiago in Intramuros, Manila to be with Patrick and their production team as they shoot scenes with Apl de Ap for Full Throttle.

Mind you, it has been a very long time since I was last here and I remember it was part of an educational field trip in my school. It was Dylan's and Tracy's first time to visit so it's like seeing it all for the first time again :)

Cars: Launch of Full Throttle at House Manila

In a previous post, I uploaded a press release for the launch of the new TV show, Full Throttle, on the History Channel.   Last July 16, Thursday, that event became a milestone in our family life, especially for Patrick who had to leave Top Gear Philippines as a full-time writer to concentrate on this endeavor.  As mentioned, the launch was held at House Manila in Resorts World and it was a resounding success having many car manufacturers, advertisers and press people in attendance.


DIY: Bake your own Banana Bread

14 July 2015

We usually have bananas in the house but the problem is that if you don't eat them quickly, they can turn rotten so easily.  So rather than let them go to waste, I thought I'd try my hand at making banana bread out of them.  :)  Naturally, I scoured Google for an easy-to-follow recipe and I found one here.

This recipe was very simple.  I don't have a blender or a masher so everything I've done is by hand.  If you have the equipment then feel free to use them :)

Ingredients:

4-5 medium-sized bananas (you can add more if you want)
2 cups flour
1 tsp baking soda
1/4 tsp salt
1/2 cup butter
3/4 cup brown sugar
2 eggs

Procedure:

Step 1:  Mix the flour, baking soda and salt in a bowl then set aside



Step 2:  Mix the butter, sugar and eggs in another bowl.  Set aside.


Step 3:  Peel the bananas then mash them.


Step 4:  Mix the mashed bananas with the butter/sugar/eggs mixture.  After that, put that mixture with the flour/baking soda/salt and just blend them together. Put it in a loaf pan (in my case a baking pan since I don't have a loaf pan).  Oh and don't forget to spread some butter on the surface of the pan to prevent the bread from sticking.  


Step 5:  Put the pan in the oven (preheated at 350 degrees F).  In the video I looked at, the baking time was 60-65 minutes.  With the pan that I used, it only took 30-35 minutes.  You can check if the bread is done if you stick a toothpick in the middle and when you pull it out, nothing sticks to it.  That tells you that it's done.




We let it cool out of the oven when it was done.  Here are my assistants enjoying our success :)