Asaksa Capsule Hotel Japan

I had to write a separate entry on my capsule hotel experience in Tokyo. Why this was one of my to do list before I die, I really don't know. But I can now scratch this off.

On my last evening and after my trip to Nikko, I decided to give my relatives some rest and take a night out of their house. The adventurer in me decided to this last minute as usual. I've always wanted to experience the capsule and so that evening, I was searching for the Asaksa Capsule Hotel as soon as I got off the subway. At first when I got to the lobby, I thought okay...not so bad, there were already other guest checking in. Little did I know, I went into the wrong lobby. They told me to go to the back side of the hotel. I should've known it was too good to be true.

Don't expect a warm lobby because it wasn't. It was hostelish...if you know what I mean. It had foot lockers to switch over to slippers. A man is there to assist you in the process...which is to buy a ticket for the night in the vending machine and he gives you the keys. I chose Asaksa for the fact that is had a separate floor for the women. I felt myself loosen up after I saw another handsome tourist (a tall one, which made me wonder how he was going to fit in the capsule). Hehe, always a plus.

They provide another small locker (and I mean small), a kimono style shirt and short ensemble, towels, toothbrush and shower amenities. After I settled in, I decided to take a look at the showers and it's in a separate floor. I knew it was going to be communal, so I decided to take a shower early. Luckily there was only one female there...yes naked, who finished her shower. I asked her the etiquette if you will, because I didn't know whether I could wear clothes in the shower room. She said for me to only take a small towel in. So there I was naked with my bad self! There was a small jacuzzi or onsen if you will and I didn't opt to go in...because I just have issues like that. As I was almost done, I see about six old ladies ready to take a shower. They were peeping in as I was finishing my bath. I couldn't help but laugh. When they went in, they showered, then went straight into the onsen. After that experience, I guess I'm not so self conscious of my body. It's only natural right?

I finished up and went out to eat in a rotary sushi restaurant. It was easy for me to get a table since I was alone. But I tell ya...I ordered myself a beer and enjoyed my meal. It was fun and relaxing. I totally splurged on myself. I so loved all the fresh sushi I ate that night. I was a bit lightheaded as I made my way to walk the surrounding area.

When I went back to the hotel, I was excited to see my capsule. As I went in, it was two levels of capsule space. I opted to take the top capsule, since the man said it's better to occupy the top space. As I did, I climbed up to my space and well.....it really is capsulish. I was quite amazed...it was clean and super comfortable. I'm only 5'3 so I fit perfectly. The size isn't as bad as I expected. There was a TV and a radio, alarm, etc. in the space. The only way to get some zzzz's was to pull the shade down.

While I did get a comfortable sleep, the disadvantage of a capsule hotel is if you have noisy tourists. There were a group of Chinese tourists who kept yacking away....not realizing everything could be heard. I heard a Japanese customer say something like noisy to them. But that didn't help. After a few hours into the morning....you can hear some alarms go off and another. At one point, someone's alarm went off and they weren't even in their capsule so there i was half awake listening to music for a bit until a neighbor turned it off.

All in all, it was a great experience. If you have those layovers and don't want to spend a significant amount of money, this is the most convenient place to rest. I can definitely see myself doing it again, if I had a short trip somewhere in the area.

Japan Dining

My trip to Japan was twofold. First and foremost to get a much needed vacation and to see relatives, second was to experience and see the delightful culinary world. I tell you, Japan is something else in terms of food. In my experience Japans culinary is something out of this world. The ingredients, preparation, technique and taste are all excellent. Even the run of the mill food stall is great! I've been to some good restaurants in other countries but to be honest....it really isn't up to par.

If you see my pics in my previous post, you will probably wonder why I took photos of Mister Donut. I know we have Mister Donut here in Manila and in the States...but please it's like night and day. I use to hate Mister Donut, until the Japanese perfected it. My favorite is their Pan De Almond. It's not too sweet, not oily....just pure perfection. It doesn't feel like I'm eating a doughnut. It's so chewy and soft, it's a cross between mochi and doughnut. Oh, I have to stop thinking about it. Now I know what I will ask my aunt to bring when she visits here.

And the cakes and pastries? All I know is that I came at a special time, pre-Christmas where each store like Mitsukoshi, Tobu, and Isetann show their designer pastries and cakes in the most beautiful way. WOW! Not only do they take their pastries seriously, they take the packaging and cake artistry to a whole new level.

Off to Japan

Wow, what a busy week. After finishing classes, I had a bit of work to do at my shop and then I had to get ready for my 8 day trip to Japan. I'm so excited! I need this break. So I won't be posting for a bit, but will definitely post pictures of my travel.

When I get back I have five days back in the Philippines, then I'm off to Guam for Christmas.

But the good news today for me? Well, I talked to our franchisor and they need a pastry chef. They would like me to do some baking to see what kinds of cakes I can make so I can sell them at the shop. They are willing to pay me and let me run things. I told them that even though I don't get paid (except for my transpo), I'd definitely consider it because I need the experience. I so hope I can do it. It'll be great. Just have to come up with some great recipes.

Okay, till then....I'm off.

Heny Sison - Gum Paste Flower Class Day 5

All the pieces coming together w/ coloring (Cuttleya, Tiger Lilly, Holly) and yes, done my me!

Bunched up flowers!

A cake made by the advanced class. It was so pretty, I had to take the photo!

Again, not my work. This is the Lambeth method...very intricate and hard to master. Although, I'm not really into the look of it, it is good to have as a background!

It was a long day, but I got over it. Even though it was a holiday, we still had to go to class. I am beat yet again.

But you know what, I'm so enjoying myself. I totally can see myself doing this as a business. What I would love to eventually do is what Heny does. Open up a studio teaching, selling and creating bakery items, selling supplies, etc. What can be better than teaching others and making money out of it. Two pluses, if you ask me. I notice this type of business increasing more and more in the Asian countries.

I think I found my new business project. After the holidays, I'm going to start the next session (3 months) at Heny Sison in January. It'll be closer to me too, in Makati. I don't have to go all the way to Quezon City. I'm tired of commuting.

Heny Sison - Gum Paste Flower Class Day 2

Wendy and Mars...my mates!

Today, was a bit easy. We did baby's breath, lily of the valley and rosebuds. I thought to myself, wow, this is a cinch. Then here comes our first orchid...the cuttleya. Her method differs from the Wilton Method in that each piece of petal and leaf is created separately then grouped together. According to her this method works best so that when it breaks, the whole flower doesn't need to be recreated.

I really had a hard time, yet again. Again, Wendy and Mar made it look so easy. I hated it yet there is something so relaxing about the process it makes it worth it.

I joked with Mar and told him I was going to pretend that his was mine. Then minutes later, he borrowed someones piping bag and wrote his name on his tray so it wouldn't get mixed up. That was hilarious! I was just kidding...well not really.

Chef Heny demonstrating for the Cake Decorating 3 class. Can't wait to take it! I'm so going to suck at it!

Heny Sison - Gum Paste Flower Class

After all the cake training I have thus far, I still feel like I needed to get extra training on actual flower making. I already had flower making training in my basic cake decorating class at NegoSkwela, but it was so quick we only went over the roses and leaves and about two other flowers. So I was still a bit lost.

Today was my first class with Heny Sison herself and let me tell ya, she is very nice and pretty funny. There were a good three people in my course, but what happens is she conducts about three different classes intertwined. She also conducts the cake decorating 3 and lambeth method. I guess she does it to inspire those who are taking quick courses to enroll in her other courses. So in total there were about 10 to 12 of us. I'm thinking it might be a good idea to do her whole series. Today as I saw the other classes, it made me want to take it because those are the things I want to learn.

Today, we've made Forget Me Not's or was it Baby's Breath?? (as usual I forgot), Filler Flowers and Buds. That took us a good 3 hours because she requests these in 6 or more to practice on. We were supposed to make three other flowers, but we didn't get to make it because we are slow as molasses. And of the 3 students, I'm the slowest and the most uncrafty person! I actually cheated and had this sweet classmate named Mars do it for me. Well, I made him do 3 pcs of it...otherwise I wouldn't have finished. I'm such a cheater, I love it!

I wonder why the hell I actually take this craft course, when I'm just so not crafty. I remember taking a pottery class in the states with my co-worker and I just couldn't work the kiln and shape at the same time. I just didn't have the upper arm strength required of it. I can't draw for the life of me and just don't have that creative side in me. Now I see artists in a different light.

By nature, I'm an analytical person. Aah to each their own. But, alas, I'm trying my best! I can so see me in a competition just to prove myself wrong! What gusto I have, huh! But all in all, as a first class, I actually enjoyed it and actually liked the fact that we had hands on. I think what I enjoyed the most was the fact that it was so relaxing and I was just so into it. It makes me forget everything and that to me is a good thing.

ISCAHM - Bread Baking Course Review

Bread baking classes are finally over at ISCAHM. It's a bit of a relief because it was a bit chaotic and tiring just attending.

So my final review?

Overall, its acceptable. ISCAHM is supposedly a good school here (not that we have many options) in the Philippines and the Chef Ernie is good at what he does. He's looks and seems pretty serious, but he actually has a cute sense of humor.

Improvements?

Sure, there's always room for improvement - a class lecture the first day to introduce what certain ingredients make a bread...be it from yeast, leavening stage, punch down, etc, would've completely helped the clueless soul like me. Secondly, they could reduce the amount of students they take in to about 20 max. See my previous posts regarding my issues with that. If you are planning to work in the hospitality industry, restaurant, pastry shop then it makes perfect sense to take this class. Otherwise, to those looking into baking as a hobby, I suggest you take other classes for it. What I enjoyed best? Well, we had a good group of nice and varied students, each with a dream and goal. I do wish the best for all of us.

ISCAHM - Bread Baking Day 2

Well nothing really changed except for the fact that we had a bit more hands on (and no we didn't have to recycle it this time).

We were able to make focaccia - one with pesto and olives, the other with tomatoes with veggies topped with gruyere. Grissini, ensaymada, etc. Actually we made a whole bunch and the idiot that I am, well lost my recipe list. What an ass!

All in all, it was ok. I particulary was eying the focaccia since I really love bread (yeah, you've heard it a million times already). But again, I miss the focaccia I would get in San Francisco. The ones we made in class fell short of being too doughy. It just didn't have that chewy yet rough texture that I know of it to be. Also, there is something so simple with the ones I would eat elsewhere. Something about the sea salt and light herbs that made dipping it in olive oil and balsamic that made it oh...so good. Again, it could just be the difference of the fact that the ones we make in school are really for the purposes of a hotel setting.

Well, day 3 of class is coming up and it's supposed to be bread...breads. Yeah, the French and sourdough. Let's hope I don't get disappointed because that is the whole reason for my attending this class.

Private Tutorial - Cakes

My mom, who's visiting here for a few weeks decided to have a sit down dinner with a few of her friends and family. So its a perfect excuse to do all sorts of desserts. And since Allan was here, I decided to learn to make a few sweet dishes apart from learning how to cake decorate.

First up, we decided to try the marshmallow fondant instead of the traditional bland fondant. Actually to tell you the truth, it was easier to make it the marshmallow fondant than the traditional one using glycose or glycerine. The steps involved and the ingredients are lessened.

While easier in terms of ingredients, it was also harder to knead because the marshmallow was really sticky. It took time really to get the consistency we needed to actually roll out the fondant.

As we finished up kneading, we waited for our carrot cake to bake and cool down. We used cream cheese icing on top of the fondant. Even though our cream cheese icing was pretty watered out, the marshmallow fondant was able to cover it. It just so happened that the marshmallow fondant was too thick I think. Again, it was because we were testing the fondant itself.

We then made our carrots and the leaf out of gum paste. It was cute! As for our mini carrot cakes, we just used cream cheese icing and then piped it using the leaf design. We then put them in boxes for our guests to take home.

Apart from our cakes, my mom decided to make her dishes. For starters we had mixed salad with mustard vinaigrette dressing. For some odd reason, those mixed salads don't have enough arugula greens in them. It's my favorite.

Our main course was sirloin peppercorn steak topped with a reduced red wine sauce and wild rice. For dessert, we had home made sansrival and cute polvoron in little cupcake dishes. The guests really appreciated the desserts and even requested the polvoron for take home.

It was one of the best home cooked dinners I had in awhile. It's always good to have my parents around as I really get to eat well.

ISCAHM - Bread Baking Class

As promised, I'm reporting on my bread baking class. But before I do, let me tell you my misadventure getting to class. It was my first LRT ride from D. Jose to Katipunan (normally I'm an MRT rider...nothing beats it than being in traffic). Let me tell ya, I enjoyed the LRT. In terms of cleanliness and looks, it beats San Francisco's subway system Bart. Yeah, can you believe it? I'm giving kudos to the government for it. It's spacious and clean and pretty neat looking. Only issue? Body odor or clothing odor. I don't know what it is. The person I sat next to gave me a headache. Not so much from the smell, but because I had to breathe through my mouth for a good 20 minutes into my trip. God, I'm baaad!

Then like an idiot, I realized I didn't bring the school's address and number with me. Yeah, I know, I know. I went around asking every non student or student if they knew of the school. No one did! Finally after thirty minutes of waiting in the station, I was able to get directions.

When I got there, I was amazed to see about 20 plus students. I couldn't believe it! There were just too many students. They were already started and I completely felt lost. After I got a recipe sheet, I caught up.

So, did I mention there were just too many students? Yeah, well obviously that bothered me. When the chef was demonstrating to make pastries, it was difficult to see anything. It's like playing football with everyone just to get to see him up close. What's worse, when we were able to do hands-on and the ingredients were provided, some student weren't able to get a piece to practice on. At one point, I practiced making a pastry and after I was done, gave it to a girl next to me and told her to practice on it, since I felt bad for her. We were recycling pastry for crying out loud. Whaaah, i need a refund!

Secondly, the chef spoke so softly, I barely understood him. Third, no clear explanation was made regarding the ingredients.

Whhaaah! I need a refund!

Well the trooper in me decided to make the most of it. What to do? The friendly in me decided to make friends, of course. Some were super shy (which is a trait I found with alot of the filipinos, especially with small conversation), some just smiled! Whaaah, i need a refund! No, but as the class rolled on through I was able to meet a few people.

In the end and after some hands on, we were able to take quite a few pastries. We did zopf bread, cinnamon rolls, raisin bread, mango pinwheel, doughnuts and berliner. It was nothing to rave home about. The pastries made definitely tasted and were meant more for the hotel environment. If that's what you like, then you'll definitely like this.

Next week we WILL be making bread.

Right now I won't judge early. I'm going to give it till the end of class to endorse my final recommendation. Whaaah, i need a refund! Just kidding. Photos to come.

NegoSkwela - Master Cake Decorating Day 3

This is our finished work in day 3. Again, each one was able to make their own cake. This time, I opted to buy a real cake to decorate on. No, I did not have time to make it. One of my employees had her last day with us so this was a perfect excuse to decorate a real cake. Unlike the rest in class, I was the only one who designed my cake in boiled icing. Why? I knew my employees wouldn't like the fondant taste. I knew they liked sweet icings.



It was sad to see our class end. I believe three days wasn't enough to really master everything. But that's ok, because I'm asking Allan to give me private tutoring. I'm excited and will post how my apprenticeship with him develops.

NegoSkwela - Master Cake Decorating Day 2

We did character cakes including cutting the cakes into shape. We decided to do Jollibee's beloved character the bee. For those of you who don't live in the Philippines, Jollibee is the competitor to McDonald's.

Well our bee turned out to be pretty cute. Again, we all took turns on how to pipe star designs to create that raised look. It was quite fun and like I always say...seemed pretty easy. As Allan says, it really is all in the pressure of the piped icing. Yeah right! Again, everything he did made it look so easy that when it was my turn, I had some high stars and low stars, no uniformity at all. Yeah, better luck next time.

Next, we moved onto fondant. Again, I was surprisingly surprised at how easy it is to make fondant cakes. Actually, if I had to choose one, I do believe the fondant is the easiest one in terms of cake icings. Why? Because if you mess up, it's quite easy to fix the icing. Unlike boiled icing, once you pipe and you mess up, it'll be harder to fix, if not permanent.

Fondant is used in most wedding cakes for that flawless, clean and elegant look. Apparently, fondant is very typical in Europe, but only has become popular in the US recently. Fondant can even be purchased ready made in a specialty cake store. All you have to do is roll it out and apply it to your cake.

The recipe we used to make fondant (sugar paste) is:

Yield: Enough to make a 10x4 high cake

Ingredients:

1 tbsp (1 sachet) - unflavored gelatin (ferna or other)
1/4 cup - cold water
1/2 cup - glucose (ferna or peotraco)
1 tbsp - glycerin
2 tbsp - solid vegetable shortening
2 lbs - confectioners sugar (in batches of 2)

Procedure:

1. Combine gelatine and cold water
2. Place gelatin mixture in double boiler until dissolved and slightly clear
3. Add glucose and glycerin. Mix it well.
4. Stir in shortening
5. Remove from heat. You can add flavoring and color (if you want your whole cake using this one color) at this point.
6. Place 1 batch of confectioners sugar in a bowl and make a well.
7. Pour the warm gelatin mixure in the the well and mix.
8. Add the rest of the confectioners sugar. Again, just put enough sugar until the stickiness disappears and knead well.

Storage:
You can use the fondant immediately or store it in an airtight container in the refrigerator. When you are ready to use it again, bring it to room temperature and knead again until soft.

Rolling it out. Have two plastics ready and place the fondant in between. Make sure you dust some confectioners sugar to the top and bottom of the fondant to keep it sticking to the plastic. Roll out with fondant roller or use a regular wooden roller with dusted sugar on it. Roll it out to about 1/8 cm thick, just like you would pizza or pastry dough. Then place it on top of your cake that is already layered with some boiled icing or type of jam. This is to adhere the fondant to the cake. Tapper the sides and use cornflour to smooth out the fondant. Decorate as necessary.

NegoSkwela - Master Cake Decorating

The master cake decorating class at NegoSkwela is three days. I was a bit scared to enroll because of the title itself. Just because I took the basic doesn't qualify me as a master. I was intimidated that students who would attend this were already experts in this craft.

To my surprise, other students just decided to take this course because they didn't have time to take the basic one. I actually had the upper hand. Woohoo, nothing better than to pretend I was a pro.

During the day we went over the basics of my previous class to get everyone up to speed. Later, Allan showed off his skills with airbrushing. He made decorating a cake look so easy with just air and coloring. I'm simply amazed.

After his demo, we again had the opportunity to airbrush our very own cake. Now, let me tell you....I soo love airbrushing. I know it takes practice to master and you really need to have that creative eye....but I want an airbrush machine just because. I didn't realize that airbrushing a cake can be pretty easy. Again, let me stress easy, if you practice. But to think that the cakes they sell out in the retail shops can be so expensive, isn't so hard to do.

NegoSkwela - Basic Cake Decorating

On to the cakes! I saw the ad in the Manila Bulletin that piqued my interest...something to do with cake decorating at Nego-Skwela in Quezon City. I didn't know the format for their classes nor was it possible to get any good information from them online.

Like my previous class at Heny, I didn't know what to expect and had a fear that I wouldn't have hands-on again. It seemed too cheap at P1685 for two days to include any materials.

First impressions of Nego-Skwela's campus? Yikes! The exterior of the building was drabby to say the least. The classrooms were a bit dirty and equipments old. At Heny Sison, their classrooms were clean and bright with professional tools...you can tell the school had money. It was like night and day or it could just be my OCD issues kicking in. Alas, as long as it had an a/c, I was good!

All in all there were six students in attendance. Our teacher was Allan Nicolas, a cake decorator with several years experience abroad and in the Philippines.

He made royal and boiled icing, gum paste and showed us techniques for piping. He demoed more techniques such as flower molding and ribbon making. And to my surprise, with the time we had leftover, we were able to practice. I practiced my piping and tried to make flowers. The piping is a bit trickier. You have to apply consistent pressure and have steady hands. So much for my steady hands....i'm like a person with turret syndrome...having bursts of erratic hand movements as I do some icing designs.

The following day, in groups of two we were actually able to make our own batch of icings to create our very own faux cake. I say faux because I didn't bring my own cake, which we were advised to do. I used styrofoam as my base. Some students brought there own cakes or cupcakes to decorate on.

Boiled Icing ready for piping

My cake before

My cake after with ribbons

Viola, all our finished cakes!

All in all, I highly recommend it. If you want hands on, then this is as good as it gets. It was such a great experience, I decided to enroll in the Masteral Cake Decorating class Allan is teaching next week.

By the way, Nego-skwela offers a lot more courses than what they post on the newspapers. Some of the classes that were recommended by other students I met included bead work and balloon decor, so either go over there or give them a ring at 433-0637. They are located in North Ave, across Diliman Quezon City.

Heny Sison - Chocolate Indulgence Class

To jump start my apprenticeship, I decided to take my very first course ever here at Heny Sison Culinary School. To be honest, I didn't know much about this school except for the fact that the owner Heny Sison is a famous cake decorator for the rich and famous (actresses/actors and the like).

Since the classes offered are pretty much one day sessions, I decided to take the class called Chocolate Indulgence.

I didn't know what to expect, but I was hoping for some hands on. I guess you could say living here has kept me out of the kitchen. With all the housekeepers and cook, it's hard to step into their territory. Or should I say, it's hard to step into my own kitchen without getting the "what the hell is she doing look". At times, I so miss living on my own. I knew exactly where all the pots and pans where and I could experiment without anyone minding me. If what I was making was bad....then I can always give it the housekeepers to eat. They would appreciate it no matter what. Nothing goes to waste.

The class was merely a demonstration of about 5 to 6 recipes using obviously....chocolate. No actual hands on. Make sure you call up or read the syllabus ahead of time to know what exactly you will be getting into.

Demonstrations included black and white brownie, chocolate molten cake, tiramisu, panna cotta and others I can't remember now. For the most part, some satisfied my taste buds....some were just downright too sweet. And since I didn't have anything to drink, I had to stop eating some desserts after two bites (except for the desserts using dark and bitter chocolate, I scarfed it all!).

All in all, the chef was really sweet and accommodating, I enjoyed her. The class, however, was a bit too hastened. Again, I blame that on the recipe count. Two, it was difficult to actually see the demos even with a mirror above the stove. They also had a TV that didn't even focus properly on the stove they were cooking on. Three and for those that don't normally bake or cook regularly, ingredients were not fully explained. Several students were asking so many questions, I knew they felt lost.

Would I go back? Depends. It might be better to just get recipes that interest you from the internet and jump right in at home. If you want a certificate or bragging rights that you took a class at Heny Sison then by all means, go.

United By Food

United by Food is a blog composed of a few people that I met along in my culinary education in the Philippines. We were...united by the love of food.

This will be a collaboration of both expats and locals alike who I have met in my training and through friendship in the Philippines. Specifically, we are Japanese, Korean and Filipino by ethnicity.

Join us as we share our experiences of all things food, culture, travel, education and living social.

Here's to our wonderful experiences.