Ultimate Taste Test 9.0

Hello there! I know, I'm a few post over due. So here goes my first post-post. lol

Okay, for those who aren't familiar with the Ultimate Taste Test, the title practically says it all. It is an event that draws out thousands of foodies, where different food and drink concessionaires give out a free taste of their products that are already in the market, have just been launched or will soon be launched. People are given the chance to be food critics for a day, sampling the products and rating them, simple and fun! The event is organized by Anton Diaz of Our Awesome Planet blog.

The top 5 hailed tastiest or yummiest will not only be featured on www.ourawesomeplanet.com blog, but will aslo be given a month's stay at any of the Mercato Centrale-managed food markets.

I've always wanted to go to the UTT events for years, but never got the chance to. So imagine to my surprise that not only was I able to go, but I also got to participate as one of the concessionaires there. Well, I was partly one.

My relatives, Ate Han and Ate Inday were the ones who joined the event. I wanted to help them in a way that I knew best. BAKE!

I baked mini cupcakes using their product, Neneng's 100% Pure Tablea. It wasn't easy though, I had to grate every single tablea that I used. I decided to call these babies the Tsoko-holic's Tablea cupcakes.  

They decided to join last Friday and the event was on Sunday, we had a day to prepare, everything was short notice and we really had to hustle. But because of dinner that ended so late at Sofitel, I only had Sunday morning. I had to use what I already had or when I needed something, I had to get it some place near by. Kinda i-stress!!!

The Event

We got there a bit late, blame the Manila traffic and the bad weather that made it worse. It was kind of intimidating being there as a newbie. All these different booths with their fancy signs, booth designs, unifroms, they were really prepared. Then of course there were booths from the Mercato favorites.

Our booth was the one beside Manila Q and Little Bites. We were under the company name Humayanon Enterprise on the passports. We gave out samples of the cupcakes and their rich hot chocolate that was just perfect for that cold rainy night. Although they were supposed to give out champorado (sweet chocolate rice porridge) too, they didn't have enough time to make it, but the hot cocoa was more than enough to please the crowd.

Ate Inday posing with the signs. 

People were already lining up to their booth when I got there. The mini cupcakes had no icing yet, because I didn't want them to get ruined during the car ride to the venue. I had to pipe the frosting like there was no tomorrow, I even had to ask the kids to help with the frosting, which explains a few messy ones. (If you got those, sorry! ) There was a never-ending stream of people, which also explains the naked cupcake tower. We couldn't manage to fill it up since people continuously grabbed the cupcakes.

My little sign at the event.

My cupcake tower that never got fully stacked.

They told me to make 150 mini cupcakes and it obviously was not enough. Mid event my cupcakes were already gone. So, I got the chance to go around and try the different goodies. I stuffed myself silly! :))

My grandma's passport. I already gave mine with the scores in it :)

Ate Inday and Ate Han handing out samples, while Krystel stamped the passports.

Oh hai there, Krizia! Foodie daw siya. :)

Ticket and passport.

I'm proud of my staff ID hihi. 

I didn't get to take pictures of the different goodies and booths there. I was too busy eating and I was totally beat! No time for pics, eat, eat, eat! Can't deny that I really loved the sweets, duh! Adventures of a sweet tooth, of course I did! Oh and I really enjoyed those drinks from Mocktail Republic and Bacardi, the mojitos were good!

My Favorites (not in any order):
Bagwang from Manila Q
Red velvet crinkles from Little Bites
Strawberry short cake ice cream from Merry Moo
Crunchy belly from Carlo's Kitchen
Mojitos from Future Trade (Bacardi)
Mango Margarita from Mocktail Republic
Nutella Rocks from Baked Bites by ABC
Salmon from Bread Winner
Panzarotti from Mamalou's Italian Kitchen
Chicken shots from Happy Panda
Red velvet and vanilla cupcakes from Bambi's House of Dessert

It was an amazing experience! I would definitely do it again, but next time, I'm going to be prepared! Like what Ate Han said, we had a lot of bloopers, but for newbies, we did pretty good. Their hot cocoa was a big hit and my cupcakes too! My little baked goodies flew off the shelves fast. Best part of the day for me was when people would comment on how good my cupcakes were or when I'd see people take that first bite with that "mmmm" expression on their faces, and going back for seconds. Those moments just make the hard work worth it. Despite the cray cray weather and going home soaked from the rain, it was super fun!


P.S sorry for the bad photos, Krizia took those, others I took with my mum's phone. And sorry for the errors or if it's too long, I'm new at this.

XXXOOO, 

    LES :)