viernes, 27 de junio de 2014

After Ever After | Paint

Hello there.

Yesterday, a video was released. It made me so happy, since I had been expecting the sequel for a long time.

The video is called AFTER EVER AFTER, and the author/singer is JON COZART. aka PAINT on his Youtube channel.

He makes music videos, and a very special feature is that he makes his own music, mostly beatboxing. His voice is awesome and, by using multiple takes, creates a great harmony between voices. Plus, the lyrics are really clever.

AFTER EVER AFTER is a song where he explains what happened to some Disney princesses after the "Happy Ever After" everyone knows...and well, they didn't have that happy of an ending.

The first part came out a year and a half ago, and was about Ariel from The Little Mermaid, Jazmin from Aladdin, Belle from Beauty and the Beast, and Pocahontas.

Be sure to check out this first video.


So, with the second part out, he is back with some other not so happy endings.
This time, he reveals what happened with Mulan, Cinderella, Tiana from the Princess and the Frog, and Elsa from Frozen.

Check it out.


Be sure to give the author some love, and subscribe to his channel PAINT.

https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCAVns3lt0t7w8lmUZQFlvrA


martes, 24 de junio de 2014

Diamond Dust | Manhwa Recommendation | THE FEELS are strong with this one!!!!!

Hey guys!

For my manga/manhwa recommendation for this evening, I got a special one.

It's called DIAMOND DUST. It's written and drawn Korean manhwa artist Kang Hyung Kyu, and it was released a couple of years ago. But I discovered it a couple of days ago.

It's more of a romantic drama topic. It tells the story about a girl named Hyerin, who is a piano prodigy. Since she was little, all she did was playing the piano, 24/7. Her parents were too strict with her, forcing her only to practice; no make-up, no friends...probably no life other than practicing her skills.

Due to the extensive pressure, and the stress caused by some traumatic events, she ends up in the hospital with some kind of glitch on her hands, not allowing her to play anymore.
While she is commited, she meets a guy named Lee Joowon, who also has some serious health issues. Nevertheless, he lives his life kind of freely. But also, they have one thing in common... music. Hyerin soon realizes that, being with him, helps her with her own issues.

I'm not going to say anymore of the plot, because I would be spoiling too much.

But yeah, it a really emotional story. It made me cry a couple of times.   ;   o;

I totally recommend it. The drawings, unlike most of the mangas/manhwas, are colored. The style is quite different from the ones that I've read.


Enjoy!

sábado, 21 de junio de 2014

Kamigami no Asobi | Mythology: Anime Style.

Evening, guys.

Tonight, I want to give you an anime recommendation, mostly for the girls, since there's some fanservice for them, but anyways.

Today was released the last episode of the shoujo anime KAMIGAMI NO ASOBI, which is based on the PSP game with the same name, which tells the story about a girl named Kusanagi Yui, who is the daughter of a temple owner. She's trained in the arts of swordfighting, and helps her family taking care of the shrine.


One day, she finds a katana locked inside a warehouse and, as soon as she touches it, Yui is teleported to a place called The Garden, where she meets Zeus, the ruler of all Gods in the Greek Mythology. There, she's forced to teach the other gods about humankind, since the others have no idea about those experiences and feelings, consequently the link between them keeps getting weaker.


So, she meets the gods. They come from various mythologies, including the greek one.

From the Greeks, including Zeus, she meets APOLLON, the god of clarividence and the sun, HADES, brother of Zeus and Apollon's uncle. He's the god of misfortune and ruler of the Underworld, and DIONYSUS, the god of Wine, Fertility and Merry Making.



From the Japanese folklore, we can find the Totsuka Brothers; Takeru and Tsukito. Takeru is the Japanese God of the Sea and Storms. And Tsukito is the God of the Moon.



From the Nordic culture; arrives Loki, God of Fire. Also Thor, God of Thunder. And Baldr, God of Light and Destruction.



Finally, from the Egyptian culture, there's Thoth, God of Knowledge, and Anubis, God of the Dead.



In order to get back to her home, Yui has to help the gods understand the humans and keep the balance in the universe, or something.

My favorite gods have to be: Baldr, Hades, Thoth, and Tsukito.
   
 

It's interesting, since you get to know a bit of the background story of the gods, while they are in a friendly school ambience.
The series are over for now, so be sure to check out the complete anime. It's quite fun, adorable and dramatic at times.

Enjoy.




jueves, 19 de junio de 2014

OUTLAST | Darkness...darkness everywhere!

Hey guys!

So today, I received a notice from my brother that made me happy, I guess.

I'm going to write about a game that has kept me on the edge of my chair, due to the tension, the stress, and the jumpscares.

I'm talking about OUTLAST, which at first was only released for the PC via STEAM, but later was also released for the new generation of consoles (first for PS4, and more recently for Xbox ONE)

It's a really awesome survival horror game, developed by Red Barrels Games.

The game consists in the following: you are a reporter named Miles Upshur, who gets a tip from inside the Mount Massive Asylum, a psychiatric hospital in Lake County, Colorado, where some weird things have been happening. Almost all the staff is dead and/or dismembered, the patients are either dead, or roaming around the place. Some of them are hostile, others are just as freaked out as the protagonist.

But there's something deeper in the story; there's some experimenting going on. The results of it being the creation of THE WALRIDER, created by the Murkoff Corp, using nanotechnology.

The goal of the game is to get the hell out of the asylum, surviving all the threats, including Chris Walker aka. The Big Guy, the Cannibal Twins, Rick Trager aka. The Doc, among others.



 


Even though, the character can't defend himself, and he can just hide and dodge, one fantastic ability the player has is using his videocamera, which has a NIGHT-VISION option. The game itself is really dark in some areas, and you have two choices, or rumbling around blind, or using this night vision thingy.

Some things that I find a bit annoying are; if you play it in the PC, the keyboard controls are a bit uncomfortable; and that even though the A.I. is pretty cool, sometimes you can detect the routines of some characters and becomes predictable.

Other than that, I love this game, and you should play it at least once. It's really freaky, but it's a cool experience, even if you're not a horror gamer per se.

Here's a little video, from IGN, where you can see the reactions of people playing for the first time.

It would have been awesome if the game was released by the time I was writing my thesis, but oh well.

Source: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1Vcgdl4xQ18
Enjoy!

miércoles, 18 de junio de 2014

Card Captor Sakura | Anime Recommendation.

Well, I got sick. xD
My mind wouldn't give me a break to post something until now...seriously.
Anyways, I'll take it easy today, and talk to you about one of my favorite anime series. I grew up watching it, and it's still nice. I could always rewatch it.

I'm talking about Card Captor Sakura, which began airing in 1998. The manga was a couple of years ahead, but at that time, I prefer watching the animation. CLAMP is a group of four mangakas, and normally the style and stories of the mangas is a bit more mature, but this one is adorable.

It tells the story about Kinomoto Sakura, a 10 year old girl, who casually finds a book in her father's library. Contained in it, there are magical cards, or CLOW CARDS. Sakura accidentally releases the cards all over her city and now, with the help of Kerberos, or Kero, the guardian of the cards, along with some of her friends, she needs to capture them back, in order to maintain balance in the world, and avoid destruction. After she captures them, she is able to use their powers.


She's "in love" with her brother Touya's best friend Yukito. Her best friend is Daidoji Tomoujo, who is also her second cousin, daughter of a toy company's president. She loves designing clothes, which allows her to dress Sakura with all her creations.
  

She then meets, Syaoran Li, a boy, descendant of the creator of the cards, Clow Reed, which at first becomes some kind of enemy to her, but as the story progresses, his feelings for her grow, and becomes an ally in her adventures.


There are 52 cards, and my favorites have to be THE FIGHT, THE DARK, THE SHADOW, THE SILENT AND THE WATERY. The style of art in the drawings of the cards is beautiful.

   
 

It is a cool anime, really girly, but with action and drama as well.

Highly recommended.

Enjoy!





lunes, 16 de junio de 2014

Body Combat | Fitness for Warriors.

I've always been pushed into practicing every kind of sport there is.
From ballet, through basketball, passing by swimming, a bit of gymnastics, and even a couple of months in cycling, I've done many things. And that's just only in approximately 10 years.

I've been jumping from sport to sport because of my tendency of getting injured. Broken bones, sprained ankles, bruises...you name it. 

However, for the last 7 years (2 of them as a student, 5 as an instructor), I've been deep into the Group Fitness universe. From pilates, to spinning. But the ones that I like the most, developing a huge difference in my health, has to be the Les Mills Workout Systems.

My favorite, by far, has to be BODYCOMBAT. It's an intense 1-hour workout which is inspired by movements of various martial arts; including Muay Thai, Karate, Tae Kwon Do, Box, Capoeira, Full Contact, Tai Chi, among others.

It's a high intensity cardio workout, with a choice of choosing lower impact movements, so everyone can practice it. You can determine the level of intensity for the workout. It's really popular, because it gives you that sense of power and confidence in yourself, while you work on your flexibility, strength and resistance, since the movements encourage you to do involve all the muscular groups. The instructor's labour is to inspire you through the class, while correcting your technique.

The class consists of 10 music tracks, especifically designed for the purpose and objective of that particular part of the class. The music is awesome, and it helps inspiring you to reach the end of the workout.

There are many gyms worldwide where you can practice this class, so be sure to try it at least once, and get addicted to it. (3 times a week is the recommended amount)


domingo, 15 de junio de 2014

Cool mangas to read (1) | Black Bird, Shingeki no Kyojin, and 1/2 Prince

During this sabatical I took after concluding my degree, I haven't had much to do...I played a lot of games, baked some desserts, the sporadical visit to the movie theatre, and read a lot of books and mangas.

This time around, I'll recommend you three mangas that I've read, and that I've found different and interesting.

1. Black Bird.
Mangaka: Sakurakoji Kanoko.


This manga goes more on a romantic/fantastic route. The drawing style is beautiful, and the story is cool; a bit dense at times, but still good.
It tells the story of a girl named Misao. All her life she has been able to see spirits, ghosts and demons, some of them had tried to kill her after her 16th birthday. But she's saved by a boy, childhood friend, named Kyo, who's also a kind of winged demon (or tengu). The girl is special; if a demon consumes her, they'll gain so much power. The whole plot surrounds these two,and their efforts to keep Misao safe.

2. Shingeki no Kyojin.
Mangaka: Isayama Hajime.


This time, I'll go with a more action-packed manga. This is one of the most succesful series so far. Although I'm not much of a fan of action mangas, this one is good.
The humanity has been at war with some weird, giant, human-like creatures called titans. And so far, it hasn't been good for the humans. The titans devour people and destroy their cities. Now, the humans are cornered in a wall surrounded city, but the tall beings want to go inside.
The main character is Eren Jaeger, a boy who lost his mom during the titan attack on the first wall. This created a sense of revenge within Jaeger.
Now, a few years later, he joins the military forces, along with his childhood friends Mikasa and Armin.
But he discovers that his worst fear is coming true...he's become a Titan himself.

3. 1/2 Prince.
Author: Yu Wo and Choi Hong Chong.


This one is a Taiwanese manhua that develops in the future, where the virtual reality gaming exists. A new game is released, and a couple of siblings are the first to log in. The girl, Feng Lan, is first and, as a special chance, she can design her character with anything she wants, even a gender change, which is normally forbidden. She the creates a really handsome male elf, that she calls Prince.
The story revolves in her adventures, along with a team of people. There she discovers that some of the NPCs have some self-awareness. And the final boss wants to delete the humans instead. The whole game walks through the 4th wall, and it continues developing in the real world.

These are some good mangas to pass time with, be sure to check them out.


viernes, 13 de junio de 2014

Watsky | Lyrics at the speed of light.

Lately, I've been watching a lot of Youtube videos...probably because I don't have anything better to do.
Nevertheless, I find the talent that you can find here quite impressive, and inspiring.

Many artists found the exposure they needed to be recognized in here, and it's a great chance for people to develop a liking to new things.

Tonight, I'll talk about a young American rapper known as Watsky!, and his new song, called "Woah, Woah, Woah".

I heard of this guy when he appeared in one of the videos from the Epic Rap Battles of History series, which I'm a fan of, and will talk about them in another post. He has been a special guest in the battles between Dr. Seuss and William Shakespeare, and the most recent one; Stephen King vs. Edgar Allan Poe, and made a special appearance in the battle between Dr. Who and Doc Brown.

The thing that sparkled most about him was the extreme speed he can reach with his words. And they are heard loud and clear. I haven't heard him stumble on his own words. And I find it amazing.

Now, his latest video is awesome. I like the effect they gave him that, when the video glitches, only his mouth keeps rapping at the song's rhythm. And I want to know how did they do it. D:
The beat is cool and recolected, and it complements the speed of Watsky's song.

Check out the video and see it for yourself.


Also, check out his channel, and make sure you subscribe. He has other cool videos that you may like.


jueves, 12 de junio de 2014

Drawing with Light | The tricks and tips to make this effect.

Last semester, I had a photography class, where they taught us the basics of controlling a reflex camera, and some nifty tips of how you can use it to make cool pictures.

My favorite one was the class when we were making drawings with light in the dark.

The camera needs to be in its manual position, on the BULB setting, which allows a slower capture, as long as the button remains pressed. 

The trick itself is pretty simple to do...with the what your camera does is open its diaphragm for a longer exposure time, allowing more light to come through the lens. The camera keeps capturing the flow of light until the shutter is released.

So, what you need to do this is a dark room, or being outside at night. The darker, the better. Also, be sure you have space to move, because sometimes you bump into things, or you get out of frame.

A tripod, if possible. To allow the camera to remain still and get a nice shot. 

Also, if you can do it with someone else, its better; he or she can press the button while you draw, or viceversa. Another option, if you are by yourself, is giving a predetermined time lapse, like 20s or so, instead of the BULB option. That way, you don't need to be pushing the button all the time.

Any device that emits light is good for this experiment. It can be of many colors, a strobelight, fireworks...even your cellphone screen.

Now, stand in place...and draw anything you like!

If you wish to write something, take into consideration that it will be backwards. Mirror it and practice how will you trace the word backwards. You can cover the light source, in case you want to separate your letters or something like that.

You can have a separate light source to illuminate the person drawing, to give it a different touch. Because, without this extra light, this person may look like a ghost.

This will give awesome results...beautiful drawings floating effortless in front of you.

You can try it out!


 

 


miércoles, 11 de junio de 2014

The Stanley Parable | Messing with your mind since 2011

Tonight, I want to talk about one of my favorite games of all time, not for its awesome graphics or gameplay, but for something entirely different...the mindblowing narrator...literally...

I'm talking about The Stanley Parable, for PC.

It revolves around a man named Stanley, obviously. He works in a company where the only thing he does is push the buttons on a computer as ordered by the monitor. He was happy with his job, and it had always been like that. However, one day everyone in the building dissapears. And you're stuck there with only your thoughts...and a narrator who explains every step you take, and directs you to where the story needs to go.

However, the objective is not a single one. It all depends in your sense of humour...or your ability to follow orders. The outcome varies depending on every little thing you do differently.

It's an expansion from the Half Life 2 mod developed by Galactic Café on the Source Engine, in 2011.

This new version is remasterized, and was released on 2013, with many new details, stories and endings.

It's really well-thought. And it plays with your mind. The game itself seems simple, graphically speaking. But the ability of the player of meddling with the 4th wall, or the appearance of it, is what grabs my attention.

The narrator, Kevan Brighting, is such a brilliant voice actor. That british accent totally serves its purpose of keeping an interesting experience. Yeah, it may not be an action-packed game, but it certainly a very interesting one to play. It's more of an unique experience you need to get.

All the alternative endings are quite clever and well-planned, and they give you the opportunity to search for them all.

It's a high-recommended game from me, and it also got named as one of the top games of 2013, among other awards.

You should check it out.

It's available on Steam now.


martes, 10 de junio de 2014

E3 | Assassin's Creed Unity, Project Morpheus and Super Smash Bros | Highlights

Ok, so...it's already that time of the year. The E3 is in the house, bringing us the highlights of new releases, events, tournaments and many other things, of the biggest brands in the gaming industry.

Since I'm like...really far away (another country, for that matter), it was a no-no to go there, but luckily, the livestreams do exist, which is cool.

So much information was released these past few days, and I was able to catch the streams for both Microsoft and Nintendo, and a friend told me about a couple of things about the Sony Press Conference.

I know there are still many awesome and important things that they announced...but I'm gonna talk about the ones that caught my attention.

First up: The Microsoft Press Conference. 

Assassin's Creed Unity. Awesome! I'm fangirling over this. I'm an AC fan from the beginning of the series. My favorite game was Assassin's Creed 2, and my least favorite has to be AC: Black Flag, just because I was lousy at sailing ships. But aaaanyway.
This time, the plot takes place in Paris, during the French Revolution. The people rising up, against the government.
One of the highlights of this game is the usage of strategies to assassinate your targets, instead of just running against him with the hidden blade.
Also, the COOP mode could be awesome, up to 4 players.

The cinematic trailer alone makes me happy. Check it out.


Other games that I'm waiting from Microsoft are: Fable: Legends, Halo 5: Guardians, Tom Clancy's The Division, and Call of Duty: Advance Warfare.

Now: for Sony and its PlayStation 4.

The releases of Mortal Kombat X, Uncharted 4, and Metal Gear Solid 5: The Pantom Pain, along with Far Cry 4, seemed cool. Especially Mortal Kombat, just because I like fighting games.

But also, the announcement for Project Morpheus and its many demo releases, including a castle demo, a luge demo, and a playable Valkyrie demo. All of them along with the virtual reality of the device.

IGN made a little review of the release, so check it out.

The other relevant thing for me was the Invitational Super Smash Bros. Tournament.

I got to watch the whole event. It seemed intense, man. 

16 of the top SMB players of many countries around the world were gathered at E3, to fight against each other to obtain the title of champion of the new relase of the game for the Wii U.

New characters like Megaman and the Wii Fit Trainer, among others, were used. And you could be able to watch their new smashing moves.

The crowds were also invited to interact, voting for their fan favorite players. It was cool to see all the boards, decorated with the character images. And the wild occassional Pikachu that wasn't even playing at that moment.

The winner was Gonzalo Barrios from Chile. He used Zero Suit Samus as his character.

Nevertheless, I was rooting  for Kirby and its user, HungryBox.

Also, during the stream, there were mixed reviews by the viewers, according to Neha's gameplay with the Wii Fit Trainer, accusing her of "camping" too much. But hey, it could be an strategy based on the character movements. But still, the tournament was cool to watch.



Yeah, those were my shallow reviews.
Be sure to check out the streams for the next events.


lunes, 9 de junio de 2014

HANGOVER | The Follow Up of Gangnam Style and Gentleman?

Hey guys!

Today I spent all day looking at code for apps I didn't understand at all...and I'm just arriving home, and sitting in front of my computer.... my brain hurts...

Anyways, due to the lack of topic, I just had the chance to watch the new PSY's video called HANGOVER, in which he works with American Rapper Snoop Dogg (or Lion)...and my first thoughts were..."What the hell did I just watch?"

That's what I normally think about anything random...but this time I'm frankly confused about it.

I mean, I liked Gangnam Style; it was cool and unexpected. And it really catapulted PSY to fame.
I thought Gentleman was OK, the rhythm of it was nice and funky.
But this one...I don't even know...the rhythm is off...and it's too repetitive...it's all over the place, but that's probably the way they wanted it.

Yes, alcohol everywhere...and what comes after partying like crazy...not my favorite topics, but hey...this is normal now...The typical scene of people throwing up in the bathroom, and the illusions provoked by the high levels of booze in your system...yeah...

Snoop sings most of the lyrics, leaving PSY with a couple of them. Or maybe I was just confused about the whole thing, that it appeared to me that it was all Snoop's voice...I don't know.

I don't hate anything usually, but I have mixed feelings about this.

I leave the video for you to make a conscious decision for yourselves.

domingo, 8 de junio de 2014

GINTAMA | Sarcasm, indecent jokes, parodies and no sense whatsoever...but still AWESOME!

My favorite ANIME series of all time has to be GINTAMA. Period. Why is that? Because of it's randomness. Gotta love the randomness, man. Everything about it is random. Just imagine this: The Samurai Era...in the future...with aliens invading the Earth....yeah...that's pretty much it.

To sum it all up, the story focuses on three main characters and their lifes fighting poverty: Sakata Gintoki, who is a samurai, with a wooden sword, a silver perm, and a sweet tooth. He's the founder of the Yorozuya, or a "Jack-of-All-Trades" shop.
In the past, he fought on the Great Joui War, which point was to fight against the Amanto, or the aliens who invaded the planet.
He has a dirty mouth, yet he still talks with wisdom in his very own way. But he talks about himself as a "child in a man's body" most of the times. He would do anything to get the latest JUMP issue.
He's a great swordsman, very strong, and with a strong belief of the Bushido code.
But normally he's just lazy, trying to avoid any kind of responsability.


The next character is Shimura Shinpachi, who is a samurai apprentice under Gintoki's guardianship...supposely. He works and lives with the Yorozuya. He and her sister Otae have inherited a dojo from their father, but they can't mantain it. So they both have to work to do so.
He's the centered-regular-normal character from the whole saga. Probably the least wacko of them all, because he's always trying to keep under control the team...and mostly every other character in the anime. 

Last but not least, Kagura is a member of the Yato Clan; the strongest warriors of the Amanto, who are normally hired as killers. She's an adorable girl at first glance, but she's a lousy talker, kind of a bully, no manners, and an infinite appetite. She hates sunlight, so she always carries with her an umbrella. And her pet is an alien giant dog, named Sadaharu, who likes to bite people's heads.

 

It's a very wide theme treated by the story, so there are many little stories within it.
And the variety of characters is the same.
To name a few; there's a sadomasoquist kunoichi who is practically blind without her glasses, a samurai rebel who's always correcting how people mention his name ("It's not Zura...it's Katsura"), with a weird pet that looks like an old guy with just a blanket over him with a face of a penguin, a Shinsengumi vicecaptain with an addiction to mayonaisse, a sadistic captain who's always trying to kill the vicecaptain, the commander who's always stalking Shinpachi's sister and is always being confused with a gorilla... amongst maaaaaany others.

  
  


The most particular thing about these series is that they are always making references and parodies of many other animes and real life events; including One Piece, Bleach, Naruto, Beelzebub, Dragon Ball, Evangelion, Kuroshitsuji, ...it even makes parodies of videogames, such as Super Mario Bros or Street Fighter, or movies like Star Wars y Rocky. I can't believe that they had all the permissions to do so, or how are they not receiving any kind of fine. But I don't care. It's genius.

  
 

It also tries to temper with the 4th wall; the characters are always trying to correct or critizice the way the author, or the animators made their stories or situations they have to deal with on a daily basis.

Furthermore, I extremely recommend it. It's brilliant and it will always make you laugh...in one way or another.

sábado, 7 de junio de 2014

Inglorious Basterds | A whole different vision of WWII

**DISCLAIMER: MAY CONTAIN A BIT OF SPOILERS OF THE MOVIE**

One of my favorite movies of all time has to be INGLORIOUS BASTERDS...just because it gives the whole World War II an alternative ending.

Directed by Quentin Tarantino, the movie focuses on two sides of the story, trying to achieve the same goal...killing Adolf Hitler and stopping the Nazi faction. 

It's nice to see the whole plot of both sides; they all have their own particular personality that makes them interesting...Hell, even the SS Colonel Hans Landa, who was part of the Nazi Faction was really well portrayed by actor Christopher Waltz. In my opinion, his acting was brilliant. It's one of those characters that, even though they're evil, you can't help to like. Full of sarcasm and witty comments.



The first faction was a group of Jewish-American soldiers, with Lieutenant Aldo Raine as their leader, to infiltrate the enemy lines in the Germany Occupied France. Brad Pitt took that role, and I liked how he portrayed the character. I'm not much of a Brad Pitt fan, but in this movie, he was cool. His character makes a contract with these soldiers...They OWE Raine 100 Nazi Scalps, cut right off 100 nazi soldiers' dead bodies. 

Yeah...that's pretty much it.

But my favorite character from this group has to be Donny Donowitz, nicknamed "The Bear Jew"...he's just a badass with a bat, just eager to beat the crap out of Nazi Soldiers. Eli Roth's performance was awesome. Even though he doesn't talk that much, sometimes actions say more than words.


The second plot, however, involves a young French-Jewish girl named Shosanna Dreyfus. Her family gets slaughtered by Hans Landa, and she wants revenge against the Nazi party. She owns a little cinema where, through random chance, she meets a Nazi Hero soldier, Frederich Zoller, who falls in love for her. But the vengeance is stronger than any feelings she might develop for him.


To sum it up, it's an awesome film, if you like action-packed, history-related movies, with that Tarantino twist. I fully recommend it.

viernes, 6 de junio de 2014

Neapolitan Flan - Sweet, easy to make and quite delicious.

One of the activities I enjoy doing on my free time is cooking desserts. I discovered this joy of mine not long ago and, even though I'm not a master at the kitchen, I try my best to make them work.

For today's post, I'll explain how to make one of my favorite desserts of all time...el FLAN NAPOLITANO or CRÈME CARAMEL, which is a custard-type dessert, normally vanilla-flavored, with a covering of caramel.

INGREDIENTS:
  • 6 eggs.
  • 1 can of evaporated milk.
  • 1 can of abridged or condensed sweetened milk.
  • 1 bar of creme cheese (aprox. 190 gr)
  • 1 teaspoonful of vanilla extract.
  • 1/2 cup of regular sugar.
TOOLS YOU'LL NEED:
  • A blender.
  • A metal pot.
  • A knife
  • A big glass baking pan (I used two little ones, since the big one was being used at the moment)
  • A wooden spoon.
  • A pressure cooker.
  • An oven rack (or some little pot to put into the pressure cooker)
The preparation is fairly simple. It should be noted that this is the way I do it. There may be some things that are easier to do in some other way, but this is the way I find it better.

First of all, you can place the eggs, the evaporated milk, the condensed milk, the cheese and the vanilla extract in the blender. You can help the blender mix the cheese properly by cutting the bar in little pieces with a knife. Mix it all together until you get a nice mixture, not too liquid, but strong enough.

In the meantime, in the metal pot, put the half cup of sugar and heat it up, until it dissolves into a nice caramel. Be careful!! The sugar tends to burn fast, so make sure you stir it up constantly.

As soon as it's done, pour the hot caramel into the glass baking pan (or pans) and let it cool off, until it hardens.


Now, you can prepare your pressure cooker with the oven rack inside, and poor some water in it; make sure the water level doesn't reach the top of the rack, since it will be used as a base to cook the flan in Baño María (double boiler). The pressure cooker will be filled with steam, so the flan will cook nicely.

Pour the mixture into the pans, and cover it or them with tin foil. This will make sure the water doesn't drain into the flan. Now, place the pan on top of the oven rack, and close the lid.

Leave it cooking, when the whistle starts blowing, count from 25 minutes to half an hour.

When the time's up, turn off the stove and let the cooker cool down. Take out the flan and let it cool down as well. Or carefully put it in the fridge.

There you have it. I hope I made myself clear enough.
It's an easy recipe for you all sugar fans.
Give it a try!