Food! Food! --

Prepared breakfast this morning and it was the usual Sunday fare of pancakes and hotdog -- decided to play with the pancake batter and made a funnel cake -- our housekeeper was amused with how the batter danced and formed into one unified mass --

I was pleased with how it looked and how crunchy it was -- I was worried that my sister wouldn't be happy having that for breakfast so I made regular pancakes as well.

At breakfast, she and my J paid more attention to the one funnel cake than to the stack of pancakes that I made.

We ate it with butter and maple syrup. (But I was so tempted to bring out the Hershey chocolate syrup...)

What is a funnel cake?

It's batter, similar to the one used for pancakes, that is poured through a funnel and fried in oil. It is usually served with powdered sugar. Apparently, it's a big thing in carnivals in the US. (Last tidbit is according to Unwrapped on Lifestyle Network.)

I didn't have a funnel so I used a ladle and just dribbled the batter into a pan with lots of oil.

I was a bit squeamish about all that oil (all our pans are non-stick and we try to avoid frying as much as possible) but the funnel cake turned out really nice and crisp.

For people wanting to make it from scratch, here's a highly-rated reciepe from Allrecipes.com

Funnel Cakes II
These are Pennsylvania Dutch cakes.
The batter is poured through a funnel into cooking oil and fried.
Makes 5 - 10 cakes (10 servings).

Printed from Allrecipes, Submitted by Sally

1 2/3 cups all-purpose flour
1/4 teaspoon salt
3/4 teaspoon baking soda
1/2 teaspoon cream of tartar
2 tablespoons white sugar
1 egg
1 cup milk
1/4 cup confectioners' sugar
for dusting

Directions
1 In a mixing bowl, beat together egg and milk. Beat in
flour, salt, baking soda, cream of tartar, and white sugar
until smooth.
2 Heat about 1 inch cooking oil in frying pan to 375
degrees F (190 degrees C).
3 Pour 1/2 cup batter through funnel into oil with a
circular motion to form a spiral. Fry until lightly brown;
turn over to brown the other side. Cook to golden brown,
and remove to drain on paper towels. Sprinkle with
confectioner's sugar while still warm.

I just used the instant pancake mix that you find in the local grocery stores. ^_^

* * *

Today was also the day that I was going to have my bibingcrepe from Half Moon.

I had passed through this place several times already and was always intrigued to try it out.

It was only when Dessert First blogged about it (and posted pictures) that I convinced my sister to take me there.

We got there at around 5 this afternoon and we asked them what their specialty was. They recommended the cheese. We ordered cheese and choco peanut.

All I can say is yum.

They cook their bibingka differently because it develops this crust that serves to hold the filling inside the bibingka and as wonderful, wonderful texture.

Basta, napa-OHMYGOD ako.

My J wants to go back for the choco cheese and I want to try the Choco Banana Peanut.

Prices aren't so bad either -- a bibingcrepe is between PhP75 to PhP90 and 2 people can share in one order.