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...