meal, me, and more

I admit I'm a certified choco-chip addict. Be it a cookie, ice cream, donut... name it! I simply love chocolate. However, I discovered choco-chip flavored pancake won't do it for me. I loathed the Chocolate Chip Pancake served to us at Pancake House in Trinoma. I love Pancake House's waffles and classic pancakes. It's only this time that I tried other variants of their pancakes, and there... found it not so satisfying. The pancakes weren't light and fine, perhaps because of the melting chocolate chips that penetrated the each layer. Not in a good way, though. They didn't look appealing, too. After about an hour, I was only able to finish half of what was served. I loved the peanut butter scoop on the side, though.

Although I don't get to talk intimately with hubby's business partners (especially the foreigners), I'm touched everytime they remember the family with pasalubongs. The Germans and the Japanese are the most thoughtful based on hubby's engagements but the Chinese, of course, will not drop out my list. Last week, Umezawa sensei visited the project site here. Since the financial "transactions" with hubby's group are done, he just bought some sweets for the team. Actually, only Doc Berns, hubby, and the plant owner received the token. The goodies' box was beautifully wrapped in Japanese paper. The package was so neatly arranged that I didn't want to touch it. Haha!!! I labeled it "from all over Japan" since every pack has a Japanese province/city on it. The ones visible here (pix on top) would be Tokyo, Okinawa, and Kyoto. The taste? Hmmm... most of these cuties taste like our local "hopia". The others are like "tikoy", th...

God, I just need to vent! Hubby's leaving for Singapore, Cambodia, and Thailand. He'll be there for a project site visit and will be back after 10 days. We're meeting in Bangkok on Oct. 31 and staying there until Nov. 4. Still, I feel so lonely. Lonely, I think, is an understatement. It's been years since we got married but I still get this empty feeling whenever he leaves out of the country. Well, I simply hate it! Why can't I wait for Oct. 31 when it's just a few days away? Why can't I feel the excitement of spending some time for a vacation to a foreign land? Why can't I just look forward to celebrating my birthday? God, good thing my babies are with me. Grrr!!! I'm going mad! Hahaha!!!

I should be accomplishing my two final papers for my Master's Degree courses, but look at what's keeping me awake at this wee hour (1 am). Tadahhhh!!! My virtual restaurant in Facebook - Cafe World ! I discover this is a lot more fun than Farmville which takes hours to cultivate and harvest. This one's more interactive (sorry to FV's fans). I just wish this wouldn't be a hindrance for me to finish this sem. What a stress reliever! Hehe...

I'm super proud of this recipe! This is the first time I cooked it, but I must say I pulled it off pretty well. The whole family, including the kids and the househelps (who have very diverse taste), loved it, too. It's pure experimentation. Haven't read anything about this recipe before coz I thought it needs to be roasted all the time. Well, I just found out I was wrong. Yeah, it took some time for me to get done, but it's OK. The taste justifies the means =) Ingredients: two baby back ribs (approximately 3/4 kg), cut into desired size 3 tbsp Worcestershire sauce 1/2 cup soy sauce 1/4 cup vinegar juice from 4 calamansi 3 cloves garlic, minced 1 onion, chopped peppercorns, freshly cracked 2 cups water 3 tbsp brown sugar 4 pcs bay leaf 1 tbsp oil Directions: Marinate the ribs in the first seven ingredients (from Worcestershire sauce to peppercorns) for at least an hour. After marinating, boil the ribs in low fire with the marinade and the water. Let the ribs absorb the l...

This is just like the usual recipe of Crema De Fruta that most Filipinos know. I just want mine to have "volume" and so I combine the all purpose cream with the milk using a hand mixer. The process makes the mixture creamier and fluffier, avoiding the stacking together of the layers of crackers. I must say this one's look neater. Ingredients: one pack of Graham Crackers one brick pack all purpose cream 1/2 brick pack of condensed milk 1 mediun can fruit cocktail 1/2 pack gelatin powder Directions: Whip the cream and milk using a hand mixer until mixture is fluffy. In a pan (glas or plastic), arrange crackers to form a base. Make a layer of the cream mixture on top of the crackers. Use 1/3 of the cream. Repeat the alternate layers of cream and crackers. (Six alternate layers for this recipe, but you may want to add more or to lessen) Top the last cream layer with fruit cocktail. Chill. Prepare and cook the gelatin as per package direction. When cooled (not hardened yet), p...

This is just another version of my Carbonara . The only variation is that I used colorful vegetable pasta shaped like seashells. Well, it's just to tickle my babies' appetite. Also, I put chopped fried ham in addition to the bacon. This added up flavor to the dish. I paired this recipe with hot pandesal (instead of french bread) topped with herb cream cheese, both from Pan De Manila. Here's a review of the cream cheese from a blogger.

I don't eat chicken skin except when it's well grilled or "crunchily" fried. That's true to every part of the chicken, including the wing part which most people would say tastes better than any other part. This recipe, however, made me churn all of the "eatable" portions of the wings. It can pass to Max's " sarap to the bones " shout out. I also discovered something that made this recipe easier to cook, and cheaper, too. I tried Kim's Teriyaki Marinade and it did work for this. It's cheaper (P48 for a 308-ml bottle) than other marinating liquids in the market. Ingredients: 1/2 kg chicken wings 1 cup teriyaki marinade 2 cloves garlic, chopped 1 onion, chopped 3 tbsps oil Directions: Marinate chicken for at least 30 minutes in the teriyaki marinade. Strain the liquid from the chicken. Save the marinade. Pan fry the chicken wings until golden brown. Set aside. For the sauce, sautee garlic and onion then add the remaining marinade unti...

Hans and I both love wines so much. My fave would be the sparkling white while his would be red. We always try taste the new brands we see in the market. It's also a way of "shooing away" too much alcohol from our body. Since we got married, we make it a point not to drink too much alcohol. We cut on beer and brandy, even mixed drinks... well, almost. =) When we went to Pangasinan last weekend for a family outing, Cocoy brought a bottle of drinks called Rancho Zabaco (Zinfandel). It's from his bro-in-law who just got back from Britain. He said it's red wine. However, it didn't taste like wine to me. It's like rum mixed with grape juice. The tag said it contains 30% alcohol (Whoa!!! A relatively high volume for wine!). But who cares? Hans and I liked it that when the group finished half of it, the two of us took care of the other half. =)

I only know one recipe that uses curry powder. Yeah, it's chicken curry. But I don't put milk in mine. Just like what I read in most Filipino food blogs, I also use coconut cream to replace the milk. I must say it's creamier. So... here's mine: Ingredients: 1/2 kg chicken cuts 2 tsp oil 2 cloves garlic, pounded 1 onion, chopped 1 tsp patis (fish sauce) 1/2 cup water 1/2 cup fresh coconut cream 1 tbsp curry powder 1 medium potato, cubed 1 small carrot cubed 3 finger chili, cut into two, diagonally salt and pepper to taste Directions: Fry the potato and carrot. Set aside. In the same pan, sautee garlic in oil. Add onion and patis. Add chicken and allow to simmer until the chicken changes in color. Add water and let it boil until the chicken is tender. Sprinkle with curry powder. Add the coconut cream. Put the carrots, fried potatoes, and chili. When the mixture thickens, sprinkle with salt and pepper to taste.

When I enrolled in graduate studies, I thought I would have all the time to update this blog. Besides, I'm only allowed to take 6 units - a relatively light load. After couples of months however, it's obvious I'm wrong. Is it just a problem on time, or simply... on attitude? Discipline! Discipline! Hehe... I think one more reason is my effort to make this blog somehow thematic, thus the "meal, me, and more" . I wanted to maintain a food blog, but now I realize it isn't always possible. I sometimes feel the need to express my random thoughts through writings. Just now, I decided to make this a personal blog, not the diary type though, but definitely would not be confined in a single topic/genre. This would allow me to keep it updated, at least with one post a month (updated daw o...) It starts here... bear with me.

I love menudo but I'm not a fan of pork liver, and so the "minus". I tried cooking it without the liver and I must say it tastes good, or even better than the usual recipe my mother taught me. Hehe... My taste buds might just be biased but to those who share the same "tongue" with me, this one's for you. Ingredients: oil crushed garlic chopped onion 1/2 soy sauce 3 tbsp vinegar 100-mg pack tomato sauce 1/2 can (small) liver spread dissolved in 1 1/2 cups water 1 small cubed carrots 2 medium cubed potatoes 3 pcs diagonally sliced sausage or hotdog 1/2 kg cubed pork mixed veggies 1 red bell pepper pepper bay leaf Directions: Fry carrots and potatoes in oil. Set aside. In the same pan, sautee garlic and onion in oil. Add soy sauce, tomato sauce, and vinegar. Put the pork and simmer for about 3 minutes. Add water with the liver spread and boil for another 30 minutes or until the water is reduced. Drop in the sausage/hotdog, mixed veggies, and bayleaf. Cook for a...

Mourning for a great writer... ...a mentor ...a friend. You will never be forgotten, Dr. Sosimo Ma. Pablico. You'll always be the SMAP you've been in DevComm's midst. This space's for you.