meal, me, and more

My belief that the Filipinos are still the most honest people in the human race is once again strengthened by SM Pampanga's security guard, Bayani Sagum . Too bad I wasn't given the chance to see him in person or even talk to him to thank him for surrendering our car key without hesitation. This is the least I could do to show him how I appreciated his act of incorruptibility. Also, I would like to congratulate the SM management for handling their customer service so well. It was 30 minutes before SM Pampanga's closing time (9:00 pm) when I finished grocery shopping. Since the kids and the yayas were with us, waiting outside the supermarket, hubby decided to bring the the stuff I bought to the car. While I, with the kids, went to Jollibee to order our dinner in advance. Hubby bought his food from Chowking (just across Jollibee's location). Dinner was finished. It's nearly 9:30 pm. We rushed to the nearest exit to our car but the door was already closed. A lady guard...

With the help of the pressure cooker, even the "gummiest" beef shank can be turned into sirloin! Tired of my usual beef recipe, Caldereta, I tried "pressuring" my shanks and produced this recipe. This one's kinda overcooked. The kids drool over this, anyway. Ingredients: 1/2 kg beef shank, cut into thin slices juice from 6 pcs of calamansi 1/4 c soy sauce 1/2 c water salt and pepper bay leaf ( laurel ) 2 tbsp oil 1 big onion, sliced into rings 1 small potato, cut into wedges Directions: Pressurize the beef with the first seven ingredients for 20-30 minutes Meanwhile, fry the potato and onion separately. Set aside. When the beef is done, stir fry the beef until brown in color in the remaining oil. Add the sauce from boiling the beef until it thickens or evaporates. Add the potato and simmer for five minutes. Top with onions before serving.

Honestly, I just came up with this recipe because of the coconut powder in my cupboard that's about to expire in a month's time. Hehe... The squash and the eggplant (along with other veggies) came all the way from MMSU in Ilocos Norte. My in-laws always bring some when they visit us. They believe that vegetables are fresher and cheaper there. It's also a subtle way of telling me to cook healthy foods for their son and grandchildren. Oh well... I choose not to disagree. It's an advantage on my budgeting anyway. I remember the recipe my mom taught me way before. But in hers, she used fresh coconut to get the cream from. I'm kinda lazy with this so I opt for the "unnatural" one. My bad!!! Ingredients: 1 tbsp oil 1 tsp minced garlic 1 small onion, chopped 1 tsp fish sauce ( patis) 200 g pork belly, boiled until tender and cut into pieces 1 pack coconut powder (to yield 1/2 c cream when prepared as to directions) 1/4 c water (use the pork broth) 2 cups squash, ...

It's only during weekends that I have time to eat breakfast, and cook for all of us. Oftentimes, we just settle for bread or hotcake and coffee. Anyways, my baby's diet doesn't include rice for breakfast. And so I have no major reason to prepare since my hubby is also not used to eating rice in the morning. This Saturday, I woke up early since the electric bill collector came at 7am. Yes, 7am is still VERY early for me during weekends. With nothing to do, I searched the fridge and found the smoked fish ( tinapa ) I bought two days ago when I passed by the public market. I fried those pieces and paired with my TOP (tomato, onion, potato) omelet. It may be a redundancy but I also chopped some tomato, onion, and fresh green mango as salad. Here's what I did for the omelet. Ingredients: 4 large eggs, beaten salt and pepper to taste 1/4 c cheese, grated 1 small onion, chopped 1 small potato, chopped 2 tomatoes, chopped Directions: Dash the beaten eggs with salt, pepper, and ...

My heart is crushed everytime my babies are hurt. What more when they get sick? I was so excited the night of June 4 while fitting the swimsuit and cover-up I'm going to use for the DevComm Division team building in Asin Hotspring in Baguio City. At last, I'll be able to wear my longed-for pair of two-piece. The team's supposed to leave at around 7am the following day. Come 5:00am, Hashka's tiny cries woke me up and hubby. When I reached out to her (she sleeps on the bed beside me), her whole body was unusually hot. I thought it's just because of the pillows that surrounded her, but when I touched her forehead, I knew there's something wrong. I asked hubby to get the thermometer and after a few minutes, it's confirmed. She had a 39.5-degree fever! I wanted to cry as she was crying hard, too. The ever-reliable Tempra drops lowered her temperature to 38.5 degrees after an hour. Still, we knew she wasn't completely OK as clear mucus started to flow out of h...

Dean and Ivy availed of Pizza Hut's palm card. Of course, they had to buy a family-size pizza and a bottle of Pepsi. In return, they got another pizza for free. Yes, they are absolutely pizza lovers but can't finish two of this size. They dropped by our house before going to Tarlac City just to give us the free one. I love pizza myself. I found the gesture of my BIL and future SIL so sweet. However, I'm kinda disappointed with Pizza Hut when I saw how the pizza looked like. I was hoping it would be the same as the pizzas they serve when you dine in. Well, definitely not this one. It's so dry to think that it's still hot. Dean, being a typical thrifty Ilocano who really wants the value of his money, was also foiled. Who would not when this one's kinda burnt, with cheese and other toppings obviously penny-pinched? And the taste? As bluntly dry as how it looked. Oh well, Pizza Hut's still one of my faves. But I think I would never go for a take-out anymore, mor...

Inabraw/Inabrao is a recipe from the Ilocos region made of vegetables with native fish sauce in steaming broth. Being a true-blooded Ilocano, my hubby loves this dish so much. Before we got married, I really tried so hard to perfect this recipe. Well, it's only after three years of marriage that I somehow learned to cook it in the taste he wants. Hehe... Now, I have lots of versions of inabraw, combining different veggies available in the fridge. I have tried a combo of two or more of these: horse radish ( malunggay ) leaves and fruit, squash, eggplant, lady's finger ( okra ), string beans, bitter gourd, battle ( upo ), sponge gourd ( patola ), sweet pepper ( siling haba ), and a lot more. The choices are endless actually. You just have to experiment as to which ones match best. This one is my most recently discovered version. The squash flower ( bulaklak ) came from a village vendor who walked by our house one morning. She said she picked the flowers herself from her own backy...

When I arrive late from office, I always make it a point to choose a recipe with less preparation and cooking time. Still, I make sure the taste isn't sacrificed. Chicken Afritada is one of my family's all-time faves in my list of easy-to-do ones. Preparation time would only be for about 10 minutes while cooking time, about 30 minutes. The househelp can do this themselves, too (although I really handle the cooking myself). Ingredients: 1/2 kg chicken parts 1 tbsp oil minced garlic 1 small onion, chopped 1 tbsp patis (fish sauce) 1/4 c tomato sauce 1/2 c water 1 medium potato, quartered 1 small carrot, cubed/sliced 1 red bell pepper, sliced salt and pepper Directions: Sautee garlic and onion in oil. Add patis and tomato sauce. Add chicken and simmer for five minutes. Pour in water and let it boil. When the chicken is almost done, add potatoes and carrots. Add the bell pepper, salt and pepper two minutes before removing from heat.

I remember reading an almost-alike recipe from the Nestle Philippines Quarterly Magazine in December 07. In theirs, they use chicken fillet instead of pork, and low-fat milk instead of evaporated milk. The sauce is kinda like that of my carbonara. Since my hubby is not an avid fan of chicken (health reasons), I always try my best to come up with something that can substitute any meat for chicken. This one is just one of them. Also, Dean, my bro-in-law loves this, too. He happened to be our visitor the night I prepared this. Ingredients: 1/2 kg pork, cut into thin slices (about 4x4 in) marinated for at least 30 minutes in 1/4 c soy-based seasoning mix (I used Knorr here) dash of salt and pepper 1/4 cup oil minced garlic (as much as you want) 1 big onion, cut into rings 1 small can whole button mushroom, sliced 1/2 c all purpose cream 1 c evaporated milk salt and pepper Directions: Fry the marinated pork in oil until both sides are brown, about 2 minutes per side. Set aside. In the same ...

I'm not actually sure of the recipe's name English translation. My apology if I'm wrong, and would appreciate to know the correction. Anyway, my babies just so adore this recipe. First because it's soup-based and, secondly, they simply love the tenderness of chicken. I usually use the breast part instead of thigh and leg cuts for soup and sauce-based recipes since I find the breast part more tooth-friendly for my babies. Ingredients: 1/2 kg chicken breast, cut into pieces 1 tbsp oil 1 pc small ginger, julienne 1 tsp garlic, minced 1 small onion, chopped 1 tbsp patis 2 cups water 1/4 cup tamarind extract* (or 2 tbsp tamarind-based powder) 5 pcs green pepper (lady finger variety) a small bunch of pechay, stems separated from the leaves (did not do this in this recipe) Directions: Heat the oil in a deep wok (kawali) Suatee in order the ginger, garlic, and onion until cooked. Add patis. Drop in the chicken, mix, cover, and simmer for five minutes. When the chicken changes i...

Note: This is actually pasta with alfredo sauce (since one of my GT sisters told me that genuine carbonara recipes have eggs as ingredient) but physically, they look the same. And so I'm calling this my own version of carbonara. In the picture, I served it with fried breaded pork cuts. I cooked this one night since I wanted to disprove the claim of our office cafeteria management that their "macaroni salad" is the same with what we call carbonara. Yes, when we order carbonara, they deliver macaroni salad - the one with mayo, pineapple tidbits, tuna flakes. It happened thrice already. They just don't understand! Duh! The following morning, I brought about a small bowl of the leftover to the office just to show them the true (or at least, near) taste and look of carbonara. Four of them rushed toward me and had their own taste through their fork. Literally in a snap of a finger, everything's gone from the container. Too bad I wasn't able to take a picture. Ok, he...

I'm welcoming myself to blogging!!! Nahhh!!! Blogging (defined by wiki as the act of maintaining a website by an individual, with regular entries of commentary, descriptions of events, or other material such as graphics or video) perse has been a part of my regular, or, should I say, daily routine. However, this one's gonna be the first time that I'm using an online site for expressing mostly "text" ideas rather than pictures. Yes, I do write in multiply and friendster, and other picture-sharing sites. So, how do this entire brouhaha would divert from the others? Ok, let's just say this is gonna be more of my personal space... anything about my thoughts, likes, ramblings, insecurities, etc. The other sites I'm maintaining are for my family, my babies in particular. Another yes, I'm a mother and a wife, too. So please expect more of my household rants here. I'm actually wanting this to become a food blog. Wahhh!!! Please my Precious Time, allow m...