Dashing through Yeyet’s Kitchen

If you think you’re harassed at Christmas, imagine what her world is like once the calendar peels away November and welcomes December. For Yeyet Chio, it’s a different kind of Christmas rush that takes over her house every yearend –there’s the smell of food for the gods hanging in the air, a thin layer of flour dust in the kitchen, colorful boxes neatly arranged in rows, and the constant ringing of the bell by people coming to pick up their Christmas gifts and food.

It’s the kind of madness that Yeyet enjoys because cooking is what she does best. You can hear it in her voice and see it in the sparkle in her eyes when she talks about food. Perhaps it’s not only because she’s cooking for strangers, but also because she’s cooking for their Christmas.

For the past three years, Yeyet has made a career out of baking pastries – food for the gods, brownies and the creamiest polvoron you’ve ever tasted – and cooking food for parties and noche buena – including vegetarian fare.

Last year was no exception. While everybody was enjoying their noche buena and exchanging gifts, Yeyet disposed her order at 10 p.m. on Christmas Eve. By then it was time for Yeyet and her family to breathe a sigh of relief and thanks. And then blissful sleep.

So why is her food special? In these times when everybody is baking their own chocolate crinkles and every bazaar has a food section from which to choose, why are people flocking to this house on Scout Limbaga in Quezon City?

For one, there’s her food for the gods (P150 per dozen), a recipe she has for the longest time experimented with and finally perfected last year. They’re yummy – not too sweet, not too buttery but just right. Leche flan (P85), carrot cake with cream cheese icing (P400), apple crumble with whipped cream are also popular choices. For giveaways or just to indulge in the season, her bestsellers are fudge brownies (P130 per dozen), polvoron (P110 for 50 pieces), oatmeal raisin cookies (P60 per pack), double chocolate chip cookies (P100 per pack) – very creamy and again not too sweet. You can get them as is or in two kinds of boxes; the better ones are such elegant boxes in red and green with gold ribbon on top, which Yeyet sourced from an exporter to the US. This year alone, Yeyet has sold more than 300 boxes of food for the gods (that’s 3,600 pieces) and she says that before the season ends (a week and a half to go before Christmas), she’ll probably hit the 500 dozen mark.

Sure it’s a modest figure compared with the bakeshop chains, but when one considers that Yeyet’s Kitchen is literally Yeyet’s kitchen – all done in her house with only three ovens – it’s nothing short of a Christmas miracle.

Speaking of Christmas miracles and ovens, last year was a particularly memorable one for Yeyet. On December 20, in the thick of taking orders and baking, the glass door of her only oven shattered. So Yeyet stood in the middle of her kitchen and cried. Like the Kapampangan daughter that she is, she called up her mother and blubbered over the phone. Like the Kapampangan mother that she is, her mother said, "Why don’t you get dressed and we’ll go out to buy a new one?"

It turns out it is not as simple as that for Yeyet. Think of it as buying a car or a writer buying a laptop. You just don’t go to the store and buy one right away even if you can afford it, you take your time choosing, comparing features and prices, and you sleep over it. Meanwhile, her husband Aly Chio – bless him, a Mr. Fix-it around the house apart from being a car dealer – found a piece of plywood to cover the oven door lying around somewhere.

Yeyet laughs over the incident now but since then, she’s acquired two new ovens – one from her mom, another from her sister – bigger and better ovens. But there’s no mistaking that the plywood-covered oven is something of a lucky charm for her (I mean, until now it is covered with plywood!).

Yeyet relates that the growth of her business was simply from word of mouth (satisfied mouths, if you will). Her first order for the season was several boxes of food for the gods which they dispatched on November 30. From the people that tasted those treats came more orders.

"Nanganak na lang nang nanganak yung orders," she says. "That’s typically what happens. Someone gives it away and then people who taste them call us up and order for themselves."

Why are they so popular to give away? Well, they’re practical because people always appreciate foodstuff (instead of a T-shirt that shrinks two sizes after one washing). Food is personal (yes, even if you didn’t cook it) and when someone has everything, what else but food could you give without looking like you’re trying too hard?

"It has dates, walnuts, butter. It tastes so good and it’s packaged elegantly. What’s not to like?" says Yeyet.

Aside from pastries, Yeyet’s Kitchen also has homecooked food like pasta and noodles, which come in a large pan, ranging from creamy baked spaghetti to baked macaroni; pasta with bacon, fresh tomatoes, herbs and spices; chicken fettuccine (a favorite of her daughter Alyanna Alyssa); and lasagna (all P600). For vegetarians, she cooks pasta with fresh tomatoes, mushroom and pesto (P600), vegetable lasagna (P700) and what she calls her "award-winning" pancit sotanghon (P600, vegetarian or with meat).

For chicken and meat lovers, Yeyet cooks this wonderful chicken and bacon loaf (P700), which is like a meatloaf-cum-chicken galantina with the bacon wrapped around the chicken. Her chicken Alexander (P700, for 10 to 12 persons) is like chicken pastel but instead of being topped by pastry dough, it’s topped by mashed potato.

When I asked Yeyet if the mashed potato is made from scratch, I thought she would shoo me out of her house. "Of course, it’s from scratch!" she says, horrified at the idea that such evil thought crossed my mind. (An aside: I also make killer mashed potato, but when my husband is too hungry to care, I pop open a box of Spuds and just pour boiling water).

According to Yeyet, the two dishes are the usual food people order for their noche buena or parties, along with roast beef with mushroom (P900), a recipe she learned form her mother-in-law and embutido (P100 per roll). For vegetarians, she has stir-fried beancurd with lemongrass and chilies (P500).

You can also order the non-traditional Christmas dishes like callos (P900), kare-kare (P1,200, a favorite of her son Adrian), pork barbecue (P15 per stick), fish relleno (P200) and her special dinuguan (P600, for 10 to 12 persons), which is made from cow’s blood instead of pig’s, making it much thicker than the usual.

Yeyet’s versatility and long menu may be due to her cooking for kids. It’s one thing to please the kids, and quite another to please their parents. Every weekday, she delivers lunch to 25 kids at her daughter’s school, Manila Waldorf School in Quezon City.

"I started with oatmeal and chocolate chip cookies. Other parents found out that they could order for birthdays and other occasions, so I started delivering the food there. I bring lunch to some kids; in the morning when I bring Alyssa to school, I’ll collect their containers from the guard and then when I pick up my son, I bring their hot lunch."

The price is reasonable considering she customizes the kids’ meals. Some parents raise their children as strictly vegetarians, while some request that they have only fish and vegetables, and then there are those that want their kids to eat meat while other kids are allergic to chicken.

While the kids are on Christmas break, Yeyet is working nonstop to fill her orders. It’s hard work but one that she loves doing.

"I love the smell of Christmas," she says. "It always begins when I start baking food for the gods. For me, that’s already Christmas."

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Yeyet’s Kitchen is located at Scout Limbaga St. in Quezon City. For inquiries and orders, call 929-5270, (0916) 585-5724. Call a day or two in advance for bulk orders of pastries, and two to three days before pick-up for food orders.