Lo Kim Fong, BF Resort

I've been passing by this chinese resto inside BF Resort for the longest time and it was only last night that I had the chance to try it. My friend Myles who lives in the neighborhood had mentioned this to me before with positive recommendations.



The location is a bit out of line, although it's just beside the road, the neighborhood is very much a residential.




When we walked-in, I had to ask the staff who welcomed us if they were opened for business. The place was empty except for a table of a family who seemed to be residents of the place. I was right and yes it was opened.

Lo Kim Fong was exactly like chinese diners in Ongpin and Binondo.

On the table :

- seaweed soup


- chicken feet


- pork siomai


- sweet and sour pork


- yangchow


- beef brisket with veggies



We dared not try any unfamiliar dishes, since the place was still new to us. Maybe next time, they have a long list of authentic chinese dishes.


The verdict : We'll be back, why not? It's within our neighborhood, foods are delicious and cheaper than Hapchan.

Crab Cake

There are thousands of crab cake recipes in the net which can catch one amidst of confusion. But not me, I always have my brother as my reference cook. Cooking to me came later than my brother who spent childhood eating in my mother's kitchen,his teen's copying my mother's recipe and adulthood_ cooks better than anyone in the family. Tip: he actually has his own food blog -Sweet Pinoy Recipe, which authorship he does anonymous. You could visit him at the link in the left corner of this page.



Getting back to crab cake, I realize that most recipes use canned crab meat. Ours is really fresh crab meat and and the simplicity goes with the rest of the ingredients.

Ingredients:
1lb lump crab
½ cup breadcrumbs
2 eggs
1/4 cup onion leeks (finely chopped)
¼ cup mayonnaise
¼ teaspoon pepper
2 tablespoons Worcestershire sauce
1 teaspoon dry mustard
oil (for frying)

A common problem when making crab cakes is getting them to hold together. We resolved this by chilling the crab cakes for about an hour before frying.

Directions:

-In a bowl mix together eggs, mayo, pepper, Worcestershire sauce and mustard until creamy. Add bread crumbs and mix in evenly. Last, add in crab meat and mix evenly.

-Shape into patties (you should get about 6-9 depending on the size).

-Heat a little bit of oil in a sauté pan. Sauté crab cakes in batches for about 5 minutes on each side. Try and keep an eye on them to make sure they are not burning on the bottom. Drain on paper towels.

How To Cook Fresh Crabs

In our province, crabs are bought alive and kicking! so you would take them to your kitchen, all tied up.



Ofcourse, you wouldn't want your crab with all parts of it torn apart which what would happen if you cook it alive. To prevent this, you have to kill it first ( whooe.so bad!). Turn the shell around, prick it straight to its heart by using a sharp knife.



Then you have to cook it on its tummy facing up. First of all, it's because the shell of the other side is thicker, so it has to touch the heat more to achieve an even cooking result. Second of all, usually even after pricking it to death, the crab still manages to move. Turning it on its tummy would prevent it from rising from the death (halaah!).

Bulalo

We came from a 6 hours road trip and could no longer wait to get home for dinner ( all the way from my hometown, all of my favorite dishes were just waiting to reach my kitchen and get reheated).



The girls eyed the bulalo houses nestling at the road side of Sto. Tomas, Batangas. Side by side were Leslee's and Grace. They picked the latter cos we had never eaten here yet. We frequent Leslee's at Tagaytay and Alabang thu'.














The verdict : The main dish bulalo is a lot better here than in other bulalo houses.

Bento 6

- hot rice

- prawns with sayote

- boiled egg

- polvoron

Sugar Cane Twist

This booth of fresh sugarcane caught my fancy. It reminded me of my childhood when father would give me sugarcane stick to nibble on which he personally prepared for me. He said it was naturally better than candies from the store. Even up to the present, when we visit him in the province, when available, he would give my girls similar sugarcane sticks he personally prepares for them.


It's good that we have now healthy options available in the mall. Sugarcane answers my sweet pangs with lesser risk.

Comfort Food On A Rainy Night

Now a days, Manila weather is hardest to predict. In the morning, you go out of the house with the sun all beaming hot. You haven't even go as far as the gate of your village and the rain starts to pour hard! Without any warning! No sign _of cloudy sky or what not. One thing is sure, it rains everyday. Last week was more sunny but with rain showers too. This week is more wet and cold.

Tonight, after 4 hours from light dinner of fish and salad, I was hankering for something hot (?). I wanted a soup. Specifically I wanted "filipino", having too much of chinese in the office. We drove up the wet road and found a Goto King!



My friend ordered for a goto (congee) with the works_innards( intestine,liver,etc) complete,



matched it with tokwa't baboy (pork & tofu),



and another side dish_ pritong lumpia (spring vegie rolls).



I had a bowl of Ilonggo batchoy ( a local noodle soup),



and puto (rice pudding, somekind?).



The verdict : now these are what you call comfort foods on a rainy day. Comforting to a ranting tummy and comfy to the wallet. :)

Daing Na Kanduli

Sometimes, I just got lucky and found something real good in the grocery_ Marinated Daing Na Kanduli. I wasn't familiar with the fish kanduli, I couldn't recall if I had eaten a fresh one (not marinated) already, neither I knew how this fish looked like before it was cut.

It looked potentially delicious with those chilis brightening up the package, so I tried one.



Sooo damn good! I had it at my yesterday's another solo lunch at home and consumed this much rice and helplessly went for another serving. Haay..diet crusher ;))

Bento 5

- hot rice

- breaded chicken

- canned pineapple

- food for the gods

Grab A Guava

Guava- bayabas

I checked the net and found hundreds of recipes of this fruit. Some are easy, some are complicated.



But who needs them, when the fruit is just a hand reached and available 24/7, fresh and bounty in our own backyard. In my case_ frontyard, it's in the entrance of our house. Yummy and healthy! Grab one!

Quick Kwek-Kwek

Kwek-kwek or tokneneng to some, is a street food that's so popular here in our country.It's battered quail egg, deep fried and best eaten with a vinegar dipping sauce.
My girls love it but their "maarteng" mom wouldn't allow them to eat street food. Yet, I don't deprive them, I either let them eat street food at the mall which I think is a more safe place than the streets of Manila with all the pollution, or I cook for them at home.



Recently, my kids requested me to cook baskets of kwek-kwek for their school's Lingo ng Wika salo-salo.
To my friends asking for my recipe, here's for you to grab!


Ingredients:
-100 pcs quail eggs (boiled and peeled)


- 1 1/2 cup all purpose flour
- 1 cup cornstarch
- 1-2 drops of yellow & red food color
- 1 cup water
- oil for deep frying


Directions:
- mix food colors (aim for yummy orange color) into a cup of water, set aside
- mix equal parts of flour and cornstarch
- mix the colored water into flour mixture
- prepare the heat/oil/pan for deep frying
- coat the shelled eggs by the remaining 1/2 flour (for the batter to stick on the egg)


- dip into the batter


- throw into the boiling oil
- serve with dipping sauce (recipe available upon request, just kick me a line)

Seafood Bento 4

- steamed prawns

- crabsticks

- fresh tomatoes

- cucumber

*These go well on top of lettuce greens with whatever dressing of your choice.

Dream Ice Kakigoori,MOA

Since June of this year the rain pours continuously. But yesterday was an exemption, it was tepid hot Wednesday (today is too!). This hot day made me notice the Dream Ice Kakigoori booth at Moa.



The crew was a busy hand and it took a while before she served our orders. A cup went on few shower stations to fill up. First it went to the snow shower where fine ice coned up the cup.



And then. it went through color flavoring showers..



Toppings selection finalized the dressing..



All set to quench the thirst!!

The verdict : it's like a snow cone and our local pinoy halo-halo combined