Done in mins. Gone in secs. Pizza

Already, to shoot food before eating  takes a lot of discipline, control to own self and to eating buddies who are just being polite but for sure deep inside their ranting tummies are quite annoyed for the delay.
Once in awhile, I try to feature some of my homecooking (check my archives) here. Not frequent thu'. It's a sweaty work. Shooting while cooking? wt#!
The other day thu', I found a shot of energy to shoot my food prep. Oh, just a pizza, hehe.  With less or max of 5 ingredients, no sweat really, haha.

Very simple. I used tortillas in place of a pizza dough. This one is a crunchy thin pizza, the way daughters like. I smothered the tortilla with olive oil, just lightly, then  pre-heated it in the oven toaster for less than 5 mins.

Meanwhile, those less than 5 minutes, I was able to prepare the toppings. Chopped the onion, sliced the bell pepper ( I forgot to grill it for flavours) and opened the can of sardine. To omit the fishy taste of the sardine, you can drizzle some lemon juice over it. I didn't have lemon that day thu'.

I took out  the tortilla off the oven and put the toppings with the quickmelt cheese. Then back to the oven for
less than 10 mins.




Done in minutes, gone in seconds, haha,

Best Side Dish For Crabs

Last weekend, I had a one day visit to my hometown ( Guinayangan Quezon) and quick and short as it was, I still managed to indulge myself with the best crabs in the country ( for me, our crabs are the best!) over lunch that day.

 

We set-up a random budol ( foods are laden on banana leaves spread and eaten with bare hands, everything is meant to be shared to everyone in the table) lunch at my father's backyard.


 

Hence the randomness, we really didn't have much food, except for the stars of the table _ the crabs ofcourse and the hot rice and some fresh fruits.

Can you spot that white dish over there?



It's  the best side dish you could eat with your crabs. An eggplant recipe my brother and I had grown-up with and til' this day we couldn't enjoy crabs without it. A hand-me-down recipe from my beloved mother, I'll try to share  with you. Actually, it's my brother who is more keen on preparing this as I rarely eat crabs at home if not the rare times I make it to my hometown.
Anyway, as my memory serves me right, the recipe goes like this:

> peel off the grilled eggplants,say we're using two large pieces, set aside
> in a bowl prepare the vinaigrette, everything just to taste please, vinegar, salt & pepper and a dash  of sugar.
> now combine the vinaigrette with a cup of coconut cream
>everything now into the eggplant, mix and taste, already pleasant to your taste, no need to add anything

 Eat your crabs  and rice with this, perfection!!!

Another Post-op Plate

This morning I was craving for fruits, other than mango pleeese! which I've been drinking (as smoothies) since day one of  my post operative saga. It has been a week since then and last night husband brought home some apples for me. I was supposedly dunk them into the blender and create another variety of smoothie. But I want some texture now! I had too much smoothies, I would vomit.
Ignoring the blender this time, I picked another kitchen tool  _ a peeler and  scraped for some apple meat. Failed! My maxilla is not yet ready for any solid food no matter how thinly sliced.



Above was resolved with tasty passion fruit pudding and strawberry flavored yogurt. Hmmm, not bad. That would do for now.

Nilupak na Saging

After almost a week , I'm still recuperating from a recent surgery. Surgical sites, still swelling with manageable pain. Meals are still stressfully soft and preferably liquid-y. Although I can't still go back to my regular activities, I'm happy that I could cook atleast one meal of the day for my family. Husband takes care of the rest. Another thing that I'm able to do now is prepare my own soft diet food. Yesterday, while my girls and hubby were enjoying their banana cue and turon, I thought I ought to enjoy some bananas too. Left were two pieces of large saging na saba (plantain). I boiled them. Peeled off. Mashed. Mixed with butter, sugar and condensed milk.



Sprinkled with grated cheese and voila_ I got nilupak na saging (mashed banana)!!! I worked from my own vague memory of nilupak na saging of my teens in my hometown. From my region it was called "niyubak". Vaguely, I remember attending some social gatherings in the province with my peers over this dish as the main call. The party was all about preparing this particular dish in bulk for everyone to enjoy. The procedures were similar to what I did (above) except we used giant mortar and pestle to pound the banana mixture. The tool is locally known as "lusong".

I'm not sure if I got the exact ingredients, maybe I missed some. Yet, my humble version of this soft banana dish had filled me up with sweet memories and nutrients.

Accidental Diet

You are looking at my lunch today. It was also my breakfast, and would only be the only meal available for the rest of my day. It's a home made fruit shake ( fresh ripe mango) prepared by my ever loving husband. He made lots of it. Left in the fridge for me, before he went to work this morning.



No, I'm not undergoing a self-inflicted dieting (although before this happened, I was onset to go through one cos I'm really really fat now). I had a surgery and still in pain of recuperation. The surgery wounds ( yah, plural with s) won't allow me yet to eat hot solid foods. No eggs, chicken and fishy seafoods yet. I could only take cold soft foods. Which only left me icecream and shakes. Last night I tried cold choco porridge for dinner. It was ok, but I preferred hot champorado, so I didn't enjoy it.
For a foodie like me it's a sad period of not being able to enjoy my food. I'm actually one of those who find pleasure in lingering the food in my mouth, savoring each flavor before letting it down to my tummy. I'm not allowed yet to chew and sip. I could only swallow straight down through my throat. This is very sad.
On the brighter side, this accidental diet would surely benefit my goal to fit in my bikini this summer. Now I'm excited about it!
Being a bed ridden also gives me more time to blog. Sometimes when in pain, I would divert my attention by   tinkering the computer and it helps to alleviate the pain. My other blog site is already benefiting from my medical condition. It has been so updated since my surgery. Well for my foodie friends here, this blog will surely be updated too. I actually have tons of food photos that are lazily piling up.
If I can't eat real food yet, I'd rather share them to you.
later.
or maybe I can share my soft diet inventions straight from my kitchen onto my recuperating dining bed.
maybe.
see ya.

Sushi Lab

One time I was badly hit by sushi craves. Haven't I mentioned that I live in a suburb. It's not like being in Makati where everything is just few walks away. In my planet, a grocery was relatively accessible than a Japanese resto.



In the grocery, a regular one and not a Japanese specialty store, I grabbed sushi rice, kikkoman, rice vinegar, nori and wasabi paste. I was looking for a sushi rolling mat but there was none. Instead I found some sushi shaping plastic tools.  I was looking for ripe mangoes as well  cos I wanted some california maki. Again negative.
From my fridge, I found crab sticks, cream cheese and kiwis.

It was my initial sushi experiment. Excited. I thought I got lucky to buy nigiri sushi making plastic boxes instead of a rolling  mat. When I started shaping the rice, I got lost! I didn't know how to use them. The instruction was written in Japanese characters, haha. Neither, I got the patience to scroll over the internet (after all my hands were already soiled from  the rice cooking and preparing the toppings).
I almost made a pass on taking photos (that's why I only got 3 photos here) but did anyway.



Above is the photo of the results of my sushi experiment.  I made kiwi+crabstick+creamcheese toppings and partially wrapped them with nori sheets. I also made a creamy dip mixed with wasabi paste.



I made more and pack them to bring to my friend who was attending her son in the hospital. She said it was good! Hmmm, well that would be a biased comment, don't you think?
Personally thu', I think they tasted okey and could do better next time. I would have to downsize the sushi rice thu', cos that size was overly mouthful for me.
For now, I would rather not share my experimental recipe of this. Until I make it perfect next time.

Sinigang Na Lechon

With the Chrismas season banging in left to right parties, I'm sure the famous local dish lechon (suckling pig) would flood the dinner tables. Inevitable lechon leftovers at the end of the party.  Paksiw na lechon as a recycled lechon  recipe is a cliche' already. Although still the most practical way if you were into storage and saving for the next meal.

But if you're digging for some tasty soup, you may opt to use leftover lechon meat and skin for sinigang (tamarind based meat soup).



I did try cooking "sinigang na lechon" for dinner last night. I worked with hotel's buffet version of the dish. From my own taste memory of those I had from Filipino buffet spread in the hotels. I don't have exact recipe thu'. But turned out okey and delighted my family of  foodies.
I cooked it the way I do my regular pork sinigang. I separated the skin of lechon from the meat cos I remember enjoying a version of it in one hotel with the skin still crunchy over the hot soup. While the veggies and the lechon meat were still cooking, I reheated the lechon skin in the oven hoping to regain the crunch. 97% successful. To plate, I put the soup in a bowl and  topped with the crunchy skin.
I think could be tweak better next time.
Must try.

Kamias Jam

Kamias to us Filipinos and it got a lot of other names in other countries : English -cucumber tree, Thailand - taling pling , Malaysia - belimbing asam , Indonesia - balimbing . . etc,etc. Semi- wild to other neighboring tropical countries, in here kamias is a backyard plant.

I swear it is so backyard it flourishes in our own backyard. I would see it everyday_ hanging on its tree  in massive greens like ornaments, followed by a day of fall when I would find the fruits dispersed on the ground_ wasted. tsk.tsk. Then I would feel really sad for them. Died and rotten without a cause, if being an ornament in the backyard ( not even in the garden) is not consider as so. . I rarely use kamias in my kitchen. If I did, it would be one only to 4 pieces the most to savor dishes which do not even  frequent our table. But there are hundreds of it in the backyard with wasted fate.

So one morning I could no longer contain myself from feeling bad about the abundant kamias and started to gather tens of it from the tree toward  my kitchen. I sit on a colander full of kamias and hit the Google for a recipe of  kamias jam. I remember enjoying the jam from a neighbor's kitchen in the province so definitely I knew at once how it should taste and therefore already had the idea how to make it. To make sure thu' I googled and found similar recipes allover the net.

There are only four major ingredients - 1).kamias 2) water 3) sugar and the fourth ingredient is apog??? google.google. It's lime in English. Came not safely edible to me and sounded like a construction/builder supply to me rather than a condiment. Then I remembered my primary home economics where I cooked another  preserved  juicy fruit ( the name escapes me now cos I'm sure it's not common and quite exotic) and we used apog too!!! But I was in the rural town then when apog could be bought from sari-sari store next to our house. Husband came to the rescue and found sachets of it in the local wet market. Not available in our leading groceries.

The procedure said : !) wash and 2) cut both ends of each fruit. ( I wasn't able to cut them. see. haha. I forgot! ). then 3). prick each all over using toothpick around five to six times ( again, I did not! haha. I forgot it too! )



4) soak them in water with apog (lime) overnight. just estimate water and lime according to the quantity of kamias. as long as they are all covered with the liquid.



This is how they looked the following day. Notice the failed ones? still green? I thought it was because I failed to do steps 2 & 3, so that not all of them absorbed the effect of the limed water soak. At this point of failure it hit me those missed two steps so I tried to compensate a late cutting of both ends.



 5) thoroughly wash them 3 times in clean water.  



6) squeeze them and you could use a fork here as a help. 7) put all ingredients, except apog , in a pan aiming to make a syrup with the kamias already included. Measurement of sugar is the same as water. Stop cooking when it's already thick and jam-y.



Here's the end product ! 7) Put yours too in a bottle. I actually made it four months ago and took this photo an hour ago. haha! Needless to say, I tried to save the fresh kamias from getting rotten . . only to stuck them inside this bottle ! haha. No one in the house has the interest to even try it. I did enjoy it for like the first 3 spoonfull, then got back to my all-time favorite strawberry jam. haha. Now which is the lesser evil??

My Bf's Husband Cooks

I went to visit my friend in Singapore (again. . ) . Unlike our friends who are based in U.S. and Europe, this SG based mom is luckier cos she gets to enjoy Asian style stay-at-home- momhood  _ she still get to enjoy a house maid/help.



What's even better _ his Swiss- German husband is a kitchen expert. Yep, this Filipina wife knows nothing in the kitchen (haha, I could hear my friend saying _ I'm too much,haha). It's the expat husband who manages the kitchen. My friend is so very lucky!!In short. . totally  senorita! haha.
Imagine this  GM (general manager_ covering the whole Asia) husband still take time to do homecooking  for the family. That's so sweet. He even managed to prepare a dinner for us, one weekend when he was at home. Everything was labor of love, with home made pasta he himself prepared from the scratch. That's so awesome!



I took a snap of his kitchen. See those condiments and spices, he even has a lot more in the other side.So that night, he prepared two home cooked pasta :

spinach  pasta

cheezy pasta

buttered baby carrots

creamy spinach

chicken in white/red wine

This was my first serving. They were all good!!! I swear! I helped myself up to 3 servings. I actually forgot how the dishes called. I just named them by obvious ingredients.

One day I will try his recipe at home. My friend is one lucky girl. Cooking husband is a rare find and very kind indeed.

Sunny Sunday

Suddenly it's scorchingly s-u-mm-er!!! When the calendar hit 15th this month, the cool wind ceased blowing over our bedroom windows. Before the 15th, the weather thu consistently without rain was kindah not so island summer. Nights were still cold and windy. But now, it's hot hot really!

Yesterday , Sunday lunch at home was alfresco baby!!!!

Nothing fancy thu'. . but the colors of our food were so sunny, thought they ought to be consumed outside.

Would you give me a pat on the back, cos on this so lazy Sunday, I managed to cook sweet & sour fish. haha! I had to cheat a lil' thu'. I made use of a bottled chili sauce and just created some dash of miracle from there:))) But the fish was so fresh! I just had it scored from a fresh wet market that early morning. And hey, the cooking was in the middle of a loaded laundry hours. I should have had taken some photos of my laundry  mess happening at the other side.

Summer fruits - watermelons and mangoes, in abundance this season and always monopolize our table. Gosh, they come out so succulent and in their sweetest form this summer. yummiest!!!!






Nothing could wipe away my kitchen perspiration when my family says : I'm the best cook in the world, haha. I choose to believe them acctually, haha.
Happy summer everyone!!!!

Lunch Today is Dinner Last Night

My lunch. Yep, my daily lunch would usually be some left overs from the previous dinner. Left alone at home, I would rummage over leftover in the fridge and re-create. Like today's dish was last night's chicken chopsuey.

So, I put it in a pan, Dashed some black pepper, Italian seasoning, oregano powder and a little of chili flakes. Flooded it with non-fat fresh milk, little boiling and voila __ Italian chicken pastel !!! I eat it with corn nachos , now it's confusing. Well, we can call it Italian-Mexicana brunch! Namnammy!