Lasagna Cupcakes

by Anton Mercado

With the surge of late night food markets everywhere, cupcakes are one of the best and most popular products because of their variety of flavors and colors, and not to mention it being easy to eat. However, there comes a point in our lives where we have to change it up a bit, where we would ditch the regular sweet and cute cupcakes with something more savory. While doing a quick search of "savory cupcakes" on the net, I have stumbled upon a great find: Lasagna Cupcakes

Lasagna Cupcakes by the-girl-who-ate-everything.com

LASAGNA + CUPCAKE = WHO WOULD'VE KNOWN IT WOULD BE PERFECT?

Our favorite cupcakes now comes in a very well-known and savory flavor that will keep you hooked on it for a very long time. Here's how to make these delicious treats:

Ingredients:

• 1 cup of marinara sauce or any italian tomato sauce (store-bought sauce will do)
• 12 wonton wrappers
• 3 cloves of garlic
• red pepper flakes
• 8 ounces of Mozzarela *
• 3 ounces of Parmesan *
• 4 ounces of Ricotta *
• 3/4 pound of  ground beef **
• non-stick cupcake or muffin pan

*experiment on different kinds of cheese to suit your taste

**for a vegetarian twist, use a pound of spinach instead of ground beef

Procedures:

It's all about the layers

1. Preheat oven to 375°
2. Butter or spray non-stick spray onto the muffin pan
3. Saute the ground beef with the chopped garlic, salt, pepper and red chili flakes
4. Start layering with the wonton wrapper first on the muffin pan. Add a little of the three cheeses. Add the meat. Add the tomato sauce. 
• Tip: use 2 tablespoons for every layer of ingredient for consistency
5. Repeat the layering. Always end with a layer of tomato sauce.
6. Top it all of with a sprinkle of mozzarella and parmesan
7. Bake it for at least 19 minutes and make it cool for at least 5 minutes.
8. For easy removal, carefully circle each cupcake with a knife.

Lasagna Cupcake by plainchicken.com

LeBron VS Kobe

Over the past few weeks, and actually over the past few years, there has been so much debate about who the best player in the game is: LeBron James or Kobe Bryant. And to add fuel to this fire, it was rumored that Michael Jordan picked Kobe as the only person in the league that come close to being compared to him. 

Who's better: The Black Mamba or King James?

Now with this, you'd think the debate would be over. However, this is not entirely fair.As hard and as much as people compare LBJ and KB24 to MJ, the most similar in both position and game style, is Kobe.Kobe is a 6'6"220 plus pound shooting guard with a deadly jumper and back to the basket game. And similarly, Michael is a 6'6" shooting guard with about a few more pounds over Kobe.So when it comes to MJ comparisons, it isn't really a fair comparison because by definition and by style, Kobe = MJ. 


So let's stop with the MJ talk and focus on Kobe VS LeBron.


Here are the credentials for Kobe Bryant:
5 time NBA champion, 2 time Finals MVP, 1 time season MVP, 12 time All Star, 2 time NBA scoring Champ and 3 time All Star MVP (tied for most with MJ). He holds the record of being the highest reserve scorer in Laker history. He has appeared in the All Nba team for 12 consecutive seasons and has been in the All Defensive team 10 times. Kobe is also one of the all time greatest scorers with 28,417 total points as of today and has the second highest point total in a single game in NBA history (81). Right now, KB24 is the league's leading scorer, narrowly edging out LeBron. Kobe has a career average of 25.3 pts, 1.5stls, 0.5blks, 4.7 assists and 5.3 rebounds

LBJ VS KB24

Here are LeBron James' Credentials:
2 time MVP (one of the only 2 in history who went back-to-back but never won an NBA championship), 7 time All Star (and has started every All-Star game he's played in). He is also one of only 2 people to ever record a triple double in an All Star Game (the other is MJ). He is a 2 time All Star MVP, a Rookie of the Year, one of four players to average 20points, 5rebounds, 5 assists as a rookie, a 1 time NBA scoring champ, has recorded 32 triple doubles and was a former #1 draft pick. LeBron has been in the All Nba Team 7 times and All defensive Team 3 times. LeBron has a career average of 27.7pts, 0.8blk, 1.7stls, 7.0 assists and 7.1 rebounds.


Based on wins and championships, obviously the nod would go to Kobe, winning 5. However, 3 of those 5 were won because of Shaquille O'neal and 2 were because they had Pau Gasol instead of Kwame Brown. But, if you go look at the other side of the fence, you'll see that LeBron James, for all of his glory, his "greatness", has never won an NBA championship. They were swept by the Spurs in the '07 Finals and then defeated by the Mavs 4-2 in last season's Finals (and the latter was with fellow superstars Dwyane Wade and Chris Bosh).


This, you may say, should end the debate but championships, despite being a huge percentage on determining the greatness of a player, is not the only criterion (because this would mean Mark Madsen with 3 titles, is better than Charles Barkley who has 0). The other part that needs to be looked at, is a player's averages. 


If Kobe gets the nod in the Championships department, LBJ wins career averages. True, Kobe is a top 10 scorer and does have pretty good individual accolades, he has played 8 more years than LeBron. And right now, LeBron is well on his way to overtaking Kobe in the scoring list and has already surpassed him in the number of MVPs department. simply put, LeBron is a more complete player because he destroys teams in more than one way. 


LeBron also has a knack, over the past few years, of choking and disappearing in the clutch whilst Kobe has amassed numerous game winners and big-time 4th quarter moments.


In the end of it all, to be honest, you really cannot make a decision between the two. Why? Because these two players are so different. Their games are so different which was also the reason why it was unfair to compare MJ to Magic or to Bird or to Kareem. 


You can make a case for both players being the best in the NBA but ultimately you will come to two conclusions: LeBron James is the better all around player, the better fantasy player and the better team player. While Kobe, on the other hand, is the more accomplished player, so far (he  has about 8 more seasons more than LeBron) and is the better scorer and one-on-one offensive player.

photo from Tumblr

So that we make a decision (at the very least), if we had to pick a player we would have taking the last shot, it'd be Kobe. But for the first three quarters, it'd be LeBron.


*photos are not owned by the group but were found on Google

FRESH FRIDAYS

Where you at? # 2 By Norman Barracoso

“I feel like a zombie gone back to life, back to life”, a line from Usher’s famous club hit DJ got us falling in love again. For frequent club goers, this line pretty much goes down during the weekends, but for college students, beating the heat of hell weeks and deadlines day in and day out, is what that line means.

It’s Friday and students from different colleges would just sit out studying for a while and look for the perfect place and chill with friends. Here in DTF, as much as we indulge ourselves into striving and getting high grades, we also know how to relax and simply take a night off from school. With that being said, we humbly present a place where we can be young again: FIAMMA, which is located in Jupiter street, Makati City, Philippines.

Fiamma is a club where people meet and reunite themselves with long lost friends from high school, college or work. It’s a rendezvous point for people who are into feeling free and letting fun spirits enter their bodies. Fiamma offers us an outlet where we can be ourselves again. They have weekly events such as the FIAMMA FRESH FRIDAYS.

So, why do we consider this the ultimate hangout place for college students today? 

First is the exclusivity of the place that only those who are part of the guest list can enter the place. This, for us, is very important because as conservative human beings, we wouldn’t want to be partying it up with random people. How weird could that get, right?

Second is because of the ambiance and the total atmosphere you feel inside FIAMMA. From comfy couches to elegant high tables, Fiamma caters to our social needs. It's the perfect place to catch up with friends and have fun with them. 

Third is what we call “the common ground”. Have you ever gone to a club where in you don’t know anyone at all? Well, here in Fiamma, because of the promoters, they make sure that everyone feels part of the night. They advertise using students from big schools like Ateneo, UP and Lasalle.

 Lastly, Fiamma also  takes part in events like organizational parties from UPJMA and MeCO or celebrations for the 4-peat UAAP champions Ateneo Blue Eagles. Fiamma really deserves to be one of the best hangout places out there.

(Pictures are not owned by DTF)

Source: http://www.facebook.com/fiamma.fresh.fridays