Nacho Lakwatsero

Last weekend was crazy!
FRIDAY
8am Bank (Mkti)
10am – 3pm Work (QC)
4pm Grocery (Mkti)
7pm The Ultimate Taste Test (Taguig)

SATURDAY
5:30am Pilipino Star Ngayon Fun Run (Pasay)
8am – 1:30pm Car Tune-up (Mandaluyong)
3pm – 5:30pm Aqui’s 1st Bday (QC)
SUNDAY
8am – 1pm DragonBoat Regatta (Mla)
1pm – 6pm Lechon Fiesta (la Loma)

Nacho was a social butterfly and he loved being everywhere!
We’re off to Nasugbu, Batangas tomorrow so we’ll see how this weekend measures up!

The Single Girl's Kitchen

This is for career girl/ sports enthusiast Sumi who recently moved out of the Motherhouse and into her very own place… a woman cannot live by tuna sandwich alone!
Invest in the Basics
Living on your own is COSTLY! You begin stressing over the utility bills and start to actually read the labels on your grocery items (price, weight, content etc.). You can only consume so much canned goods until processed meat start coming out of your ears and eating out no matter how cheap the restaurant will add up to be more expensive than when you do your own cooking. You don’t have to transform into Martha Stewart to be able to feed yourself but you do need to have the basic equipment.
• Plates, Cutlery and Drinking Glasses – at least 6 sets
• Refrigerator – can anyone live without one?
• Two-burner Gas Stove – it consumes less energy than electric stove
• Cookware – start off with the basic 3: a stock pot, sauce pan and skillet all with covers and preferably non-stick ones
• Cutlery Set – kitchen knives in different sizes will prove very useful
• Accessories: long-handled utensils, tongs, chopping board, strainer

Primary Stock
If you have these in stock then you’re guaranteed to be able to whip up something to feed yourself until you have ample time and money to get all that you want from the grocery.
• Seasoning, Condiment etc: salt, sugar, pepper, soy sauce, vinegar, cooking oil, garlic and onion
• Dairy: cheese, butter, milk, cream, mayo
• Carbs: rice, pasta, bread
• Protein: eggs, canned tuna or sardines, processed or frozen meat -fish/ chicken fillet, ham, sausage etc.
• Veggies: lettuce, tomatoes, cucumber and bell pepper

Quick Recipes
I’ve come to terms with my limitations when it comes to cooking – if it’s too darn tedious then I’ll just eat it somewhere else… thus I may never cook my beloved Kare-kare in this lifetime, thankfully they serve it fantastically in my mother-in-law’s house and in Dencio’s.

If you’ve never cooked a day in your life then don’t be intimidated, nobody’s going to judge you but yourself. To the very least, you can always just put together a sandwich, no rocket science there.

Cooking for yourself will mean that there will most likely be leftovers so your food should store well and must still be appetizing when reheated. So Sumi, go over my Excel file with an open mind. I’m pretty sure you’ll take to cooking like you do with sports – methodical at first then you just let go and have fun!

(cute photo from www.crazy4me.com)

Spiced Chocolate Covered Cookies

I recently attended the "Jumpstart Your Freelance Writing Career" workshop at Powerbooks in GB4 which was very substantial and entertaining - I hope to eventually write about it but for now this is about the wonderful dessert they served courtesy of Dessert Bar. The variety was wide but the simplest one tickled both my fancy and my tastebuds, Chocolate Covered Oreos with a hint of sea salt and chilies!

I figured, how hard can it be? So last weekend I bought Jack & Jill's Cream-O and Presto Peanut Butter Cookies, chili powder and a block of chocolate bar from Cook's Exchange. I chopped up the block and steamed it using the fondue bowl I got for a wedding present. After adding salt and chili powder until the mixture tasted just right to me then one by one I dipped the Cream-Os first followed by the Prestos and laid them on plates. The mixture was getting too thick as I was going along so I blended in a little chocolate milk which darkened it significantly. I refrigerated the covered cookies and after about 15 minutes, scrapped them off the plates - lesson learned, line the plates with wax paper so it's easier to remove the cookies, most of mine cracked apart.

Oh well, they don't look much but they taste pretty yummy! =)

Pork Belly Cuapao

Picked this recipe from one of my favorite blogs, Market Manila but tweaked it a bit for simpler preparations.

Ingredients:
1/2kg Pork Belly (cut into 0.5" thick strips)
6pcs. Cuapao
Hoisin Sauce
Spring Onions (diced)

1)Marinade Pork Belly in Soy Sauce, Pepper and 3pcs. Calamansi for 1hr.
2)Pre-heat oven for 15mins. Roast meat for 30 minutes over medium heat.
3)Steam cuapao buns until warm.
4)Slice Cuapao Buns in half and spread Hoisin Sauce over one side.
5)Place Pork belly slices and Spring Onions in the middle.

Makes for a filling snack or meal.

Happy eating!

herb & spice girl

I made Roasted Rosemary Chicken with Potatoes for the first time and it turned out quite tasty. I'm glad it was the "pacham" recipe of the day Lana came over for dinner. Much to my delight, she and Tats seemed to enjoy every morsel that I totally forgot to take pictures.

My mouth waters every time I see Jamie Oliver pulling fresh leaves right off his little garden to whip up the most delicious-looking dishes. I've always been threatened of using herbs and spices for cooking, sure I like them in my food but I'm not one to religiously study culinary alchemy and there are just so many species out there that I may never be able to figure out which one should be used for what.But deep inside I know I want a garden too.

Inspired by the success of my Rosemary Chicken, earlier I went into one of the many greenhouses that line the streets of BF Homes and asked if they sell racks on which they place their potted plants. The owner happened to be there, Mrs. Fajardo said she had them custom-made about 15years ago but she didn't mind me taking pictures and so I did. She also told me about her herb garden at home, how boiled Tarragon leaves aid digestion and that the Nim plant is more effective in warding off mosquitoes than Citronella. I take it as a sign... I am meant to have a garden of my own!

Afterall, I did help out my grandfather tend to his vegetable farm, it's one of my most cherished childhood memories. I remember taking some dried seeds, planting them in our backyard and they thrived every time. I also smoked our mango tree in the afternoon to drive away pests and to this day, it never fails to bear fruits that are more succulent than the usual.

I'm giddy with excitement for my new project, i hope to actually get it off the ground!

My Little Kitchen

It was only after we bought a refrigerator and a gas range that we declared our place to be livable. It has been six months since we moved in and our house still needs fixtures for the livingroom, bedroom and bathrooms… but my 2sqm kitchen is pretty much complete.

Tats and I have been married for four years but most of our wedding presents just saw the light of day and found their places in the kitchen like the non-stick pots and pans, electric grill, storage containers, spice rack etc. Cooking has become a task I actually enjoy doing even without househelp around. My culinary knowledge is very limited but I’m quite particular about certain stuff like having only freshly ground pepper (really, what’s the point when the aroma is lost), brown instead of refined sugar and whole wheat instead of white bread.

For a first time homemaker we have pretty decent meals especially when Riza joined our family. She’s a good babysitter and housekeeper but as a cook, she’s quite fantastic! After gorging on her exceptional takes on the classic tinola, nilaga, mechado, adobo, pochero, lumpia and arroz caldo, I just gave her instructions for curries, pastas, omelets and she often hit the bullseye. Riza’s sinaing na isda made by cooking fish over kamias and pork fat on hot coals for at least eight hours until the bones are soft enough to eat, is a much anticipated event which gets costly when we give to everybody asking for some… and so we’ve stopped making announcements and now share our prized treat in batches (in laws this week, friends next week etc).

Following our expanding guts, we started moving out of our comfort zones thus our “pacham” (pachamba = experimental) recipes that we can eat without rice like buffalo chicken wings, fajitas, salads and tortilla wraps. We’re on our first month now and it’s not at all torturous as I expected.

Big sistah, Anne, suggested I come up with a revolving 5-week menu for more efficient planning and budgeting – I did just that and it saves me time, money and tons of neurons. Food prepping has become fun that even Tats has taken to cooking once in a while.

I love my little kitchen not only because it’s where we whip up the food we take so much pleasure in, but also because of the nifty treasures I didn’t know I needed but now wonder how I ever got by without ‘em - gifts from friends who’ve been in the homemaking business longer than I have.

i'm alive again!

oh my goodness, for some reason, having a gmail account have screwed up my access to this blog which i created linked to my yahoo!

it's been ages but i hope to have the energy to make up for lost time =)