excited...

It's been a while since my last post. I've been preoccupied with other things... I have a lot to tell you actually, I'll take it slow, one at a time.. for now, I just want to say that I am excited to go home tonight and cook chicken bbq! It's in the fridge, marinating. hihihi.. I wish that it will taste like the chicken bbq from home. :)


Will keep you updated on the outcome.. :)

chopsuey my way

I am really one of those persons who love veggies. I am not a vegan but I really crave for the taste of veggies. My favorites are the greens... the greener the better. :) Last night I decided to cook chopsuey because calamansi was not available for the pork steak. There's so many veggies that I have to cook it in a wok and still have a hard time mixing the veggies. The end result was good though.. looks colorful and fresh ... the taste is good (daw) i love the crunchyness of the veggies.

IndoChine

Saturday night dinner at Indo Chine is really something else... the ambiance is cool and the food is great! :) A nice table outside the resto overlooking a river makes you.... feel hungry! hahaha!

Being in a foreign country makes me worried at times, like will I like the food? is it too spicy? too much curry? oh well, luckily I did not encounter any of those during the dinner... because what we had were all delicious.

First we tried their House Salad which was really good. Tender pieces of shredded chicken, fresh watercress, lettuce, sliced tomato, cucumber, egg and fried shallots, served with their special house dressing and garnished with roasted peanuts.

After the appetizer, the main dishes were served:

Black Pepper Beef with Garlic and Butter

MMMM it was so good!!! I am not sure how they achieve such state of the beef it was really tender, juicy

and very delicious. The vinegar dip complements the sizzling beef. yummy!

Cambodian Tiger Prawns

The Fresh tiger prawns prepared in a red chili,

holy basil and garlic sauce. It looks nice and tastes nice too.

SOFT SHELL CRABS

This is my favorite! the soft shelled crabs were fried with herbs and spices... it tasted so good that I think i ate 3/4 of the whole serving. It has just the right touch of spice. mouth watering...

highly recommended!

And finally we had their Chocolate Fudge Torte - A dense chocolate sponge layered with Valrhona chocolate mousse.

I will definitely come back. And you should try it too.

meatballs at ikea

One food I've tried and loved here in SG is the so called "Swedish Meatballs" in Ikea. You can choose from 10 or 15 pieces of meatballs served with potatoes, special gravy and jam... mmmm yummy!!!

It was highly recommended by my friend and she described to me how the jam gave a certain twist to the taste of the meatballs. Since I haven't tried it yet I really don't have any idea what to expect... but I am really curious and excited to try this famous meatballs.

So one time when we were shopping for comforter in Ikea, I just knew that I have to try those meatballs... And I did.. hihihi. I ordered 10 pieces.. it was really yummy... and my friend was just watching me enjoy the food. haha! Sorry, but sometimes I really get carried away with what I'm eating that I forget to even offer a bite... =S

Next time you need something for your home, go to Ikea and after doing your shopping try the meatballs... it's worth it!

lechon kawali

This is definitely one of my all time favorites... I specially love it when it is cooked with the skin crispy like chicharon and the lining of fat a bit gooey... wow! yummy! I've been wanting to try and achieve that kind of lechon kawali but knowing that 'excitement' (tumitilamsik yung oil) of cooking it has kept me from doing it. Until one day when I felt brave and ready that's when I bought fresh pork belly and immediately cooked it when I got home. I boiled it with some salt, pepper and garlic until the meat was soft then I stored in the fridge for the day when I will be ready to face the boiling oil.


And I guess today is the day. haha! I woke up not well, hmmm not sick... but feeling down. So, I decided that this is the day to face the oil for my first attempt at lechon kawali. And here I am now blogging while waiting for the pork to cool down after the first deep fry, it's in the fridge by the way. I will be re-frying it in a while...


I reheat the pan and the half cooked belly is now sizzling in it, I put the cover and wait for the dreaded popping sound... til now I'm still a bit scared of it... good thing that it's not as scary at the first round. This time I just have to wait for the perfect shade of brown that I like then its done. Drain the oil, cut and serve with rice and vinaigrette. Ü



LECHON KAWALI

300-500 grams pork belly
4 cloves garlic
1 tbsp. salt
1/2 tsp. whole black peppercorns
oil for deep-frying
VINAIGRETTE SAUCE:
1/2 cup vinegar
1/4 cup Soy Sauce
2 tbsp sugar
1/4 cup onion, finely chopped
dash of salt and black pepper

Put the pork belly, garlic, spices and enough water to cover the meat, in a pan. Bring to a boil and cover. Simmer for 45 minutes or until tender. Drain well and let cool.

Deep-fry in hot oil until light brown in color, or for approximately five minutes. Drain and let cool.

Re-fry 2 more times or until golden and crisp.

Chop into serving pieces and serve with vinagrette sauce.

TO MAKE VINAIGRETTE SAUCE:
Put all ingredients in a bottle or leak-proof container and shake well until sugar is dissolved.

Servings: 4



PS: Sorry, due to some emotional chorvah I was not able to take pictures... but they said that it was good. Ü

pork dumplings

During the weekend we tried Din Tai Fung in Bishan.

Xiao Long Bao. 18 folds are hand made.

Its nice that they have an instruction on how to eat their specialty...

This is a special dumpling that you have to eat with care because inside the beautiful folds is a very hot soup and meat... best served with vinegar, ginger and chili... yummy! I can eat up to 5 pieces. :)

For those who love dumplings, try it guys! I know you'll love it. :)

my version of bistek

Sunday night was my first attempt at bistek or beef steak pinoy style. :) We bought beef last Friday and had it cut bistek style which our friend Ana did herself.

I decided to cook my version of bistek Sunday night, since i love pork steak I thought that I will just follow the same procedure and see the result.


Here's what you'll need:

300 g beef (cut bistek style)
1/3 cup calamansi juice
1/3 cup soy sauce
2 medium onion (cut into rings)
4 cloves garlic (minced)
salt and pepper (to taste)
1 small red bell pepper (cut into strips)
oil for pan frying

Here's how:

1. Pre-marinate the beef in calamansi juice and soy sauce mixture set aside inside the fridge for 30 minutes or so.
2. Heat the oil in a pan. Sautee the garlic then panfry the beef pieces. Reserve the sauce.
3. Set aside the cooked beef.
4. Pour the sauce in the pan then add the onions and bell pepper. Cook for 2 minutes then return beef, season with pepper and adjust the taste with salt. Let it simmer for another 2 minutes then its done.

Serve hot with rice.


I considered this as my own version because I did it the same way I do my pork steak... hahaha! I just added a little twist to it by including bell peppers. I loved the way it gave a bit of sweetness and color to the food.

Try it and let me know the outcome. :)

Happy Eating! Ü

beef sopas

I've been craving for sopas for weeks already and since it's not available in the pinoy food store's here I have no choice but to prepare it myself. So after office last Friday, I went to Paragon to buy beef (50% off according to our DM friend). I was able to buy 3 different cuts of beef; 1 for beef steak, 1 for stroganoff and last is the ground beef which I used for my sopas.



I was not able to cook it last friday though because I was not able to buy pasta and milk. What I prepared that night was my version beef stroganoff (kunwari) haha. I was not able to take its picture though.. I'll blog it next time.



Last Saturday, Sis and I went jogging in the nearby park in preparation for our KK climb in September (that's another story). After our jog, we drop by Shop n Save to buy pasta and milk for my sopas.




What you'll need:


250 g. pasta (i used the spiral kind since macaroni is not available)
150 g. ground beef
1 pc beef cube

1 tbsp butter

1 medium onion (chopped)
4 cloves garlic (minced)
1 small carrot (cubed)

1/2 cup chopped cabbage

3 pcs hard boiled egg (cut into wedges)

3/4 cup evaporated milk

salt and pepper (to taste)

Here's how:

Saute ground beef with salt and pepper until color changed to brown then set aside. Add butter on the same pan and saute the garlic and onion until soft then add the precooked beef then the pasta, coat with butter then add 1.5 liters of water, bring to boil stirring ocassionally then add the beef cube and cook to the desired tenderness of the pasta, then set the fire to low, add the veggies, egg and milk, stir then turn off the stove. let stand for 3 minutes.

Serve hot.



Try it! The feedback was good.... :) my housemates liked it naman, according to Sis; sosyalen na sopas daw. haha!

Happy eating! Ü

a love story

The first time I tried this tart was in early 2003 or 2004, I’m not sure... but the mouth watering taste of it was never forgotten.

It was a pasalubong from our friendly manong one Monday at the office. He brought us this tart because he knows that we love sweets and this will be a treat and different taste for us since we are from Batangas.

He bought a dozen for us to share and it was gone in 60 seconds! Hahaha! Not that fast but close to it… we loved it so much that we promised to find the store where he bought it. But being the ‘Dory’ (forgetful) that we are, we always forget to find it when we are in Makati.

After a couple of months and a couple dozen more of these tarts… it was time for me to leave the ‘old’ office and move to my new office in Makati… where Lord Stowe and I meet again. Hahaha!

It was during one of those lunch outs in Glorietta where I finally found the endless supply of this mouth watering tart! I told my friend that I will treat her for dessert and then I bought the tart… we were not able to eat the tart during lunch because we were so full (thanks to World Chicken).

So we went back to the office carrying this little bag of goodies… I was really excited to see my friend’s reaction regarding the tart, but I had to wait until around 4pm when she strolled to my cube for our afternoon chicka. Hehe. We got coffee from the pantry and then we ate our tarts… and she loved it! She loved the creamy custard the chewy and slightly flaky crust… mmmmm…

I can actually be an ambassador/endorser of this tart because I’ve introduced it to almost all of my friends, family and colleagues. Haha! I just can’t stop talking and describing it to them until now and it has been a couple of years already. I have left the country and have tried to find one here that can level to the sweet goodness and satisfaction Lord Stowe’s egg tart gives me, but to no avail. I am still loyal to Lord Stowe!

When friends go back to the Philippines for a visit I always ask for this as pasalubong even for those who are just visiting here, I still ask for it. I just can’t get enough of this tart.

It was LOVE at first taste! :-)

P.S.

I have a dozen of it last Sunday, I shared 4pcs to friends (atleast I shared pa..haha) and I still have 3pcs in the fridge as of press time. Yey!

porky pacham

It was last night when I decided to start a blog about food. Why? well primarily because I cooked something 'porky' last night which turned out to be good. I was not able to take its picture though.. oh well maybe I'll try later, because you see it was our dinner last night and it is our baon for lunch today. hihihi. All is well as long as you enjoy the food.

Here's what you'll need:

250 g lean pork sukiyaki cut
2 pcs garlic crushed
1 medium onion
1 large tomato
1 pc medium potato cut round and thin
1 pc small red bell pepper
soy sauce, vinegar and pepper (to taste)


Here's how:
Saute garlic and onion on little oil, add tomato when onion is transparent cook until tomato become soft and skin peels off, set aside. saute the thinly sliced pork until half cooked leave at the side of the pan then cook the potatoes until halfcooked then mix the pork add the sauteed garlic and bellpepper season with soy sauce, vinegar and peper. Simmer until potato is done.

Serve hot with rice.


P.S.
I will post picture next time... :)

a fresh start

I am starting a food blog to tell you about my one of my favorite things to talk about… FOOD! =)

My love for food started early. As a kid I’ve always loved watching my mom cook. I love to help her in preparing for whatever she’s going to cook from washing the veggies for pinakbet to putting salt on the fish. I love to get involved when she cooks, I often volunteer to sautee the onion & garlic because I love its aroma.

I can still remember what I consider as my first encounter with cooking. I was 5 then. I was in my friend’s house watching cartoons on ‘beta’ when we decided we wanted something to eat. Our only guardian then was her older sister who was busy watching, so we decided to cook on our own. We decided that we want some French fries. I can’t remember where the potatoes came from or how we peeled and cut it but what is clear in my mind was how we got a chair placed infront of the stove to be able to see what we are cooking, the hot oil in the pan, the potatoes making the sizzling sound and how we alternately stir the fries and ofcourse the salt… how every time the sizzling sound stops we put salt…. It was with best interest that we continuously put salt because we thought that when there’s no sound, it stops cooking. Tsk! Tsk! That was the sorry state of our fries… SALTY!!!

Anyway, it was a lesson learned and that failed attempt at French fries did not stop me from loving the kitchen and falling inlove with food and cooking. Ü