MY DAUGHTER’S FAVORITE BREAKFAST

Everyone in our family has a different breakfast favorite – my husband likes dried fish (daing, tinapa or dilis) with scrambled eggs in tomatoes while my son, likes tocino or luncheon meat with fried eggs. My daughter, on the other hand, enjoys bacon so much! But I refrain from serving it to her every day, in fact; I only buy it once every two weeks since I know very well that processed meat is just bad for the health. I would have shunned it altogether but I can’t since it’s only very rarely that she eats with much gusto like when her baon or breakfast is bacon. So I have no choice until I can find a better and healthier alternative, I guess I have to continue serving her some bacon every two weeks or so.

11TH ANNIVERSARY CELEBRATION

We celebrated our anniversary today with a simple dinner celebration at home - no dinner out because it was a weekday (Thursday) and we had to bring the shuttle home. I pre-cooked the tuna in olive oil for the pasta this morning while I cooked breakfast, then I bought a cake from Aristocrat – their famous Torta delos Reyes so that the kids and even Ditse could taste this cake that I was able to try during Papa’s 50th birthday. Then I marinated chicken to be cooked in turbo broiler later tonight. Well, the dinner was a bit late even though I told them to cook the pasta already and I will just mix in the olive oil based sauce later. It was because the Shellane suddenly ran out so they had to buy it when we arrived. Then, the pasta seemed a bit bland (realized later that I forgot to put in some cheese hehehe) And the Honey glazed herbed chicken was a tad salty but still it tasted great and the kids enjoyed it! But the greatest hit of the night was the cake from Aristocrat - not too sweet but with all the chocolatey goodness and with crispy wafers inside, surely this would become another family favorite!

Anyway, here are some pics of the food I prepared…










This Honey glazed herbed chicken was marinated overnight in a little salt, pepper, garlic, rosemary and basil. Then before dinnertime, it was popped into the turbo broiler for 4o minutes and then basted with a soy sauce and honey mixture to achieve that golden brown color. Finally here’s the truly delicious cake…

KITCHEN MISADVENTURE SERIES 24: Lemon chicken

Last night I finally tried to make a dish that my son has been hankering me to make for so long. You see ever since he tried some sort of a lemon chicken dish at my father’s house some time ago, he has been pestering me to replicate it. But since lemons are very rare in our talipapa or even near our office market, I was not able to fulfill his wish. But yesterday when I saw some lemons and turmeric ginger in Salcedo market, I immediately bought some so I could try to make the dish. And so armed with a recipe from Connie Veneracion of Pinoy Cooking Rocks, I finally ventured to make lemon chicken last night…and how did it go? Well, for starters I think I placed too many lemons (I used 3 lemons to make ½ cup of juice) or maybe I didn’t know how to zest a lemon properly which was why my dish turned out too sour. I tried to place more sugar and it turned out OK…not very spectacular but not too bad either. Here’s the rest of the recipe:

500 grams chicken fillets sprinkled with salt and pepper
½ c corn starch
cooking oil
½ c. of freshly squeezed lemon juice
½ c. of water
1 to 1-1/4 c. of white sugar
a small piece of turmeric
lemon zest





To make the sauce, boil water, lemon and sugar in a small saucepan. Sassy advises against stirring the sauce to prevent crystals from forming, but you may swirl the pan. Let boil for ten minutes or until mixture thickens and changes color. (but not dark brown) Then lower the heat and add the turmeric and lemon zest.

Place sliced chicken pieces in a bowl, sprinkle with salt and pepper then dredge in corn starch. Fry in batches until golden brown and crispy. Drain in paper towels. Then transfer to a serving plate, pour the lemon sauce over the chicken and serve hot!

SCENES FROM THE SALCEDO MARKET

After our Yakult Fun Run, we decided to visit Papa at his condo to get the airbed that we need to borrow for an upcoming office outing and to also take a bath. They wanted us to have our breakfast with them but we were already on our way to 'Fishy all the Way' when we saw their text message, so we were unable to have breakfast with them. Anyway, Papa wasn’t there but in Cebu to attend a classmate’s funeral so it was ok.

When we arrived, they were on their way out to buy weekend food to bring to Rachel and since it will be Keith’s turn first in the restroom I decided to tag along with them to catch my first glimpse of Salcedo market and boy it surely did not disappoint! It was indeed a shoppers paradise, a foodie’s haven, all rolled into one. The only problem was – I didn’t have any money with me to shop!!! Waaaaah! So I just feasted my eyes and of course, took pictures…

There were pretty colored baskets...and boxes!















Lots of cooked food – you name it…they probably have it - from the regular Filipino fare to the exotic ones from different countries. . (You can find Japanese food, Ilocos empanada, different kinds of puto and kakanin, Pad Thai…even Cebu lechon!)






































There were also lots of fresh fruits and vegetables…





















...and even plants and potted herbs...there was even wheat grass for the health buff!


















They also had wines…honey …and my favorite – brewed coffee! Too bad there was no free taste…sayang! Well, maybe next time when I return I would have money to truly shop what I want to my hearts’ desire!

Buffet Breakfast @ Fishy All the Way (Libis)

Okay, okay I know this may be truly sinful but we couldn’t help ourselves!?!? We just had to eat breakfast buffet after running at the Yakult Fun Run for a whopping cheap price of PhP 150 per head but I promise this would be our last time to do this! (Hehehe) Because I know it truly defeats the purpose of running if you just eat to your hearts content at a buffet breakfast like the truly sumptuous breakfast spread that they have at Fishy All the Way at Libis.

I started my breakfast with an appetizer – waffles and a little lugaw - just a bit so as not to excite my tummy because indeed with the numerous choices available, one would be truly overwhelmed! Then, I followed it with my main course for the breakfast – pancit palabok (instead of fried rice), omelet (though not the make what you want kind) hotdogs, salami, beef tapa, lumpiang shanghai, and spicy sardines. There was even chicken adobo, ham, longganisa, noodles, etc (which I didn’t try anymore). Finally, I had some desserts – more waffles (with either apples or bananas / choco or maple syrup – or even everything on top if you want!) and some kakanin (palitaw, corn maja, bibingka and fried sweet saba)I guess all the calories that I shed during the one-hour 5K fun run were all for naught eh???? Well, next time after running, we’d stay away from buffet breakfasts! But for just this one time I’m glad that I didn’t hesitate to leave my diet behind and ate at Fishy all the way for it is one truly sulit meal that I would return to again!

KITCHEN MISADVENTURE SERIES 23: Corn Maja

Today, I cooked another of my kids’ fave desserts – one that’s so easy to make too – corn maja! But mind you I was not able to make this dessert so easily at first! I went through so many trials trying to find out which recipe would work best and after so many tries – wherein my family suffered through a ‘soft’ maja, a watery maja and worse maja that tasted slightly of luya (because I used powdered gata and little did I know that the packet I chose had ‘ginger’ flavor to be used in gata gulay recipes) hehehe! And so after so many hits and misses here’s one recipe that truly worked for me…my only complaint was that the recipe used too small quantities so I ended up with only a half-inch high of corn maja on my 9x5 rectangular container. So next time, I will just double the ingredients so they’ll have more maja to eat! Here’s the recipe although I already forgot where I got it from.

2/3 c cornstarch
2/3 c sugar
1 can sweet corn
2 c coconut milk (powdered or fresh)
3 tbsp butter
1 tsp vanilla

You just mix everything together (except the butter) and let it boil in a saucepan. Continue stirring until the mixture starts to thicken and then you turn off the fire. Transfer the mixture in a rectangular container whose sides and bottom have been buttered. Cool and chill until it sets.

KITCHEN MISADVENTURE SERIES 22: ORANGE GLAZED PORKCHOPS

This next meal was again based on Connie Veneracion/Sassy’s Orange and Honey Glazed Porkchops (check out her blog for the recipe)Again this was another hit meal for the kiddos! My only problem with the dish I made is that the porkchops were still not tender enough (maybe it’s the kind of meat that I bought) or it could be that my decision not to let all the liquid dry up since my kids want to have a bit of sauce to spoon over their rice did not help matters any. Furthermore, next time I would follow Connie and use real oranges next time and not the ponkan variety so that the sauce would have that natural orange tang instead of being sweet…oh well, it still tasted good but I would do better the next time.

KITCHEN MISADVENTURE SERIES 21: CHICKEN A LA KING

This could very well be my most favorite comfort food in the world – chicken a la king. I used to cook this often for my family when I was still living with my parents in our family home and I still recall that even back then my family loved it – who would go wrong with anything that has milk/cream and of course, lots of cheese!!!This is why I am glad that my kids and the hubby loved this too! I do not remember anymore where I got this recipe but the one I browsed from Connie Veneracion’s food blog is similar to it I guess the only difference is that I used regular chicken cuts and not chicken fillet. I also added lots of garlic and cheese. So for those who would want more details on the recipe, just check out her blog (at Home Cooking Rocks sorry but I don’t know how to link…)

The good thing about this recipe is that I can pre-boil the chicken the night before so that the next day, I can have less time to spend on cooking and food preparation. Thus, in the morning I just sautéed the chicken in some butter with lots of garlic, pimientos, carrots and mushrooms. Then I melted some butter, slowly added the flour and the chicken broth (reserved from boiling the chicken last night) then the sautéed chicken mixture, milk/cream then finally the cheese! Stir a little and wait for the cheese to melt and the sauce to thicken a bit and voila! Some of it was served for breakfast; the rest went into my elder son’s baon (since he rarely eats breakfast nowadays)

KITCHEN MISADVENTURE SERIES 20: Fried chicken curry

For their breakfast and baon today, I cooked the same old fried chicken – but with a twist! I got this from a recipe of another fave food blooger – Dennis (of Lutong Bahay blog). I marinated the chicken in some salt, pepper, and a generous amount of curry powder the night before. Then, this morning when I awoke I just heated up some cooking oil – just enough to submerge the chicken pieces, then I dredged each piece in a bit of flour before dropping in the steaming hot oil and voila – delicious fried chicken which even my daughter liked! Thanks a lot Dennis for another good recipe!

KITCHEN MISADVENTURES SERIES 19: FRIED CHICKEN ALA MAX

I have noticed that the time I am prone to experimenting in the kitchen is when the hubby is away – maybe because I do not like to be ridiculed if the recipe goes wrong or if I may have miscalculated some of the ingredients. Well, he doesn’t really react very negatively like shout at me or throw his dinner, no nothing like that but still I hesitate because I hate for him to see me prepare something so unpalatable. So instead, I try to test out some of the recipes that I see on my kids – anyway, they are so easy to please! So today for our lunch (even if Max's is also my hubby’s fave!) I tested the recipe I saw from another food blogger – Dennis (of Lutong Bahay blog) The one thing different from this recipe is the addition of tanglad when you pre-boil the chicken and frying the chicken twice to achieve the crispiness that Max is famous for. So did I achieve the same effect? Well, not quite! I guess I went easy on the salt so the chicken itself came out a bit bland but the tanglad truly did wonders although I still cannot say if that truly is Max’s secret ingredient --- I will keep on experimenting and searching though! And I’ll share it with you as soon as I have truly found it.

GOYA MINT CHOCO

I saw this as I was searching for a quick dessert to eat after lunch… would’ve been happy if I found my favorite chocnut…but now I’m so much happier because I found my two favorite things in just one package - chocolate and mint! My super duper ever favorite chocolate in the world is Andes chocolates…but I only get to buy these things at the airport duty free stores or whenever I visit Clark or Subic. But now I think I have found the next best thing – and at a much cheaper price pa because it is made by Goya! (I think only PhP30 for a pack of nine chocolates)

KITCHEN MISADVENTURE SERIES 18: BAKED CREAMY CHICKEN AND POTATOES

This is one recipe that I got from my favorite food blogger Connie Veneracion at Home Cooking Rocks. It is actually already an old recipe of hers (posted way back in 2006) but the moment I saw this recipe, I knew I just had to try and cook it…well, now I finally did and it was truly delicious and a definite hit with the hubby and the kids! Here’s the recipe – lifted in full from Connie’s blog – I did no tweaking whatsoever – since none was needed!

Start with 8 large chicken thighs (use skinless breasts for less fat), 4-5 potatoes, an onion, a cup of cream, chopped parsley (fresh or dried), salt, pepper, 1/4 c. of butter and about a cup of grated quickmelt cheese. Season the chicken thighs with salt and pepper and let rest in a bowl while you prepare the rest of the ingredients. Peel the potatoes and cut into wedges. Peel the onion, cut into halves and slice thinly.

Melt the butter in a non-stick saute pan. When hot, brown the chicken thighs, turning them for even browning. Lift with kitchen tongs as they brown and arrange on a baking pan. Note that the chicken thighs need not be cooked through at this point. Just brown the outside then transfer them to the baking pan. Brown the potato wedges in the remaining butter and add to the chicken. Saute the sliced onion and sprinkle on top of the chicken and potatoes

Take a cup of cream (substitute yogurt if you’re watching your fat and cholesterol intake) and pour over the chicken, potatoes and sliced onion. You may sprinkle more salt and pepper at this point since the potatoes will absorb most of the salt from the chicken that will get mixed into the liquid as the dish cooks. Sprinkle chopped parsley all over after pouring in the cream. Cover the baking dish tightly with foil, piercing it with a fork in a few places to create steam vents. Bake in a preheated 180oC oven for 20 to 30 minutes (I used a turbo broiler, though). Take the baking pan out of the oven and peel off the foil. Do this carefully since the steam that will escape can burn your fingers. Spread the grated cheese over the cooked chicken and potatoes. Return to the oven and bake for 10 minutes longer or until the cheese melts.

KITCHEN MISADVENTURE SERIES 18: BREAKFAST FRITATAS

For quite some time, I have been seeing recipes of omelets, tortas, and frittatas (from different foodsites I normally browse)…. I really do not know the difference of one from the other but I guess they may be the same since they have more or less the same ingredients although the manner of cooking varies – some are cooked in a non-stick pan, others baked like a pizza. And since, I have been getting a bit bored cooking ham and eggs separately, or bacon and eggs, or tuna and eggs – making an omelet with both or all of the ingredients present is truly a time-saver!

So today, I tried doing my own breakfast frittata/omelet with ham, potatoes, eggs and lotsa lotsa cheese! (my daughter’s favorite ingredient!) And thankfully she enjoyed it! I have also tried using other ingredients like ground pork with potatoes and tuna with carrots…and the verdict is still the same – the kids loved it! And it’s so easy and less time-consuming to prepare pa! My daughter likes to call it a pizza…and I guess in a way it could be --- I guess I’ll just try to do more variations for this truly very basic frittata/omelet/torta recipe.

COOKING POPCORN IN A MICROWAVE

My daughter just adores popcorn…in fact, she can eat it everyday and not grow tired of it! Most nights after we had our dinner and we settle in for the night on our sofa to watch our daily dose of telenovelas, she asks her father to cook her some popcorn…most of the time he relents and cooks for her but during moments when he comes home tired, he doesn’t have the energy to cook anymore in the evening and so my daughter gets upset and a silent word war ensues between father-and-daughter which lasts even up to bedtime and before they go to sleep…and so since I could not help them out by cooking her the popcorn myself…(well, most of the time the popcorn I cook ends up getting burnt!) I thought of doing for her the next best thing – teach her to cook popcorn herself! With microwaveable popcorn, of course! Expectedly, it costs double than the regular popcorn that we use but still the aroma it leaves the house when it gets cooked after just 2 minutes in the microwave is just so delicious…it’s like we're in a real moviehouse!

NEW LANGKA FROM OUR TREE

Finally, after almost three months of waiting our langka is finally ripe for picking…the first pic was taken on October 3 last year when I saw that this



particular langka fruit has already gotten a bit bigger than my hand and is in no danger of falling off (like the others before it)… this is the second time already that our langka tree has borne fruit and this is the first langka from this batch that became ripe. We all hoped that it would be ripe in time for Christmas for our espasol but alas it did not… so now we have an almost 20-kilo langka and we don’t know what to do with it?!? Halo-halo season is still two or three months away – so I guess we’d be able to give some to our neighbors and friends, make langka preserves, langka shakes, langka maja, maybe even pastillas, or whatever dessert we may think of …anyway, this is just the first fruit that became ripe…we still have five more fruits to wait for … yum..yum!

Kitchen misadventures 4

Okay…okay…I admit I have been remiss lately in posting my kitchen/cooking adventures. But it just seems so hot to cook nowadays and all throughout this summer our house seemed like a (bahay-ampunan) of sorts because eight of my husband’s nieces and nephews had their vacation here at our house (so including our family of five plus my sister-in-law that makes us fourteen people altogether) I found it quite tedious to cook some fancy meal for such a big number of eaters. And besides I wouldn’t really know if the food will come out okay or even if they will eat it so rather than risk having food go to waste, I opted to let them just cook and eat regular fare like tinola, fried chicken, pork adobo and at times veggies like ampalaya, steamed kangkong and okra and whatever my sister-in-law wants to cook for us.

RHUM CAKE

It was only during my youngest daughter’s birthday that I once again decided to venture into the kitchen because it was a Sunday and our place was too far away from bakeshops like Goldilocks or Red Ribbon so I decided to just bake her a cake – with the only cake recipe I know - rum cake. I remember getting the recipe from the internet, I just can’t remember from which site… but suffice it to say that it was a recipe that called for loaf pans but since I wanted it to be a birthday cake I decided to just place it in a rectangular pan and followed the same basic procedures for the rum cake.

See the finished product below… I wanted to put some icing in it but alas, I didn’t know how to do so. I just decided to make some pink-colored chocolates for décor and let my daughter design her cake… well, at least all her guests liked it even if the icing contained just a little bit of rum in it and they all got the chance to partake of the chocolates which also served as her giveaways. Maybe next time I’ll try to learn how to make some icing so that it would look more like a cake…

OATMEAL IN MY PANCAKES

Here’s another recipe which I found easy and necessary to do because I wanted the kids to have more fiber in their diets and since I could not get them to eat oatmeal as it is and I found it too hot to bake cookies (maybe when the rains come and the kitchen would not be so hot with the oven turned on) I decided to put oatmeal in their pancakes. I followed the basic pancake recipes found at the back of pancake boxes. I just added a cup of oatmeal, 3 mashed bananas, and some cinnamon. And voila!... My daughter truly loved it, not knowing there was oatmeal in it…

Chocolate Kiss Moments

Last month my Mom and I had a little bonding moment… you see we were never really close. She was not that type of mother – the caring, over-protective kind who will fuss over you and ask you how you were or if you have eaten. More often than not, we were left to the care of yayas and she was well… busy with her work. Not that I have any reason to complain – we were all brought up well… all I’m really saying is that we never really got the chance to be with each other often, especially while I was growing up. Hence, our bonding moments as mother and daughter were really few and far between.

Our moment actually started out as still work-related… you see even after she has retired, she has not stopped working. She continues to work part-time as a researcher for AIM to add to her income as a professor and she took me in as one of her researchers for a writing project. And as part of the research, my study was reviewed by a UP professor. She joined me in hearing the comments/ suggestions made by the professor (which were many by the way!) And when it was over, we decided to eat lunch inside the campus. It was her treat – maybe her way of assuaging my prickly pride – what with all the revisions I have to undertake with my study! No but kidding aside I wasn’t really all that hurt with the comments. In fact, it was understandable since it was my first time to take on a research project of that magnitude and I really welcomed the suggestions she made so I can further improve the paper. I guess mama really just wanted to share with me her many blessings and have this chance to spend some time together.

I chose the place where we will eat – at first, I suggested the UPCAS cafeteria but it was lunchtime and expectedly packed. So off we went to Chocolate Kiss since I haven’t eaten there yet but I have already read many good reviews of the place. Mama has eaten there already –many times during her meetings with a former UP Alumni president (because the resto was situated in the 2nd floor of the UP Bahay ng Alumni) and she said the food was good.

The ambiance when we entered was quite charming – a perfect date place, not so quiet but neither boisterous as to disturb the diners. I heard they even play the piano on weekend nights... very nice indeed! As expected, the place was quite full, but we were lucky to get a table for two near the window which offered us a wee bit of privacy. We both ordered pasta – hers was pesto while mine was my all time favorite, carbonara and it tasted great! We also had iced tea which was served with some form of syrup as sweetener or maybe it was honey – I couldn’t really tell. But the coup de grace was their cakes – I wanted to taste them all but the prices were a bit steep so I made mama take her pick. I could not remember the name of the cake, all I can recall was how good it tasted – I think it was walnut something.

While we ate all the great food, we had fun chatting about the goings-on in her life and the house – now that my brother is back home, she had lots to say about his new shenanigans, but she’s not really complaining. She didn't harp all that much and there were less complaints in her stories. Admittedly, her aura seemed much better now.

Still, I am glad when she mentioned that she has ceased to dwell on the negative side of life, thanks to an inspirational CD that helped her a lot. I’m happy that she has found something to help her be happy or even a bit more positive about herself and her life. I’m happy too that she has her friends to always support her. I guess what she needs more right now (is not a new lover!) but to realize that her family, too, will be here for her. So here’s hoping we’ll have more bonding moments like these… just to let her know I’m here if she needs someone to talk to...

KITCHEN (MIS) ADVENTURES [PART 3]

Just being true to my word, huh? well, at least it's still the second week of the year so I guess I have no reason to slack off just yet... Well, last weekend, I started to fulfill another vow I made to myself and my kids - to return to baking!!! And besides, I still have a few friends whom I haven't given gifts for the holidays so I'll just bake some goodies for them, wrap them in special packaging and voila! edible yet special presents for special people, no less! (my other unique gift ideas will be the subject of another blog...)

OATMEAL COOKIES WITH NIPS


I saw this recipe in an on-line site, I guess it was from a chocolate company like Nestle or something like that. What I really like about this cookie is that I am able to feed my little girl fiber-rich oatmeal which she otherwise would not have eaten if it were served in a traditional bowl with hot water, milk and fruits. She thinks it's yucky when oatmeal is served that way but she just adores oatmeal cookies, not knowing they're made from the same stuff she hates so much. I don't really remember the recipe much (even if I have done this for countless times already, I still need to have my recipe card file on hand) so I guess I'll just recount the procedures I followed...


First I creamed the butter using a standard mixer, added sugar (I used moscovado by the way, some say it has less of the artificial stuff found in most white sugars), egg and vanilla. Then, I added the pre-mixed and sifted dry ingredients - flour, baking soda, cinnamon, salt and nutmeg. Finally, I added about 3 cups of oatmeal ( a mixture of instant and bran oats to make the cookies chewy). Then, I formed them into balls, placed them about 2 inches apart in lined cookie sheets then my daughter placed some nips onto the cookies and popped them into the oven for 10-15 minutes.

CORN MUFFINS

This one's a recipe I got from sassy at pinoycook.net (you may check her website). What I like about most of sassy's recipes is that they're very easy to follow and she gives very detailed instructions that even a dimwit in the kitchen like me can easily follow. I won't anymore give details of the recipe... just take my word for it, go visit her site. I'll just post photos of what I did. [BTW, her pics are better than mine coz I think she uses a 10 megapix camera while I only use my celphone's 2 megapix cam, so there!] Anyway, I can assure you, they taste better than how they look... proof of this is the way I almost didn't get to taste them coz my kids ate them as soon as they were out of the oven. Good thing I saved a few to give away to a friend...















BAKED CHICKEN

Well, this is one recipe that didn't really come out right but I promised to post even those that became kitchen disasters so that I would remember not to do them again... You see, I decided to bake something for lunch coz I figured I'm already baking cookies and muffins, why not save myself a little time and just pop something in the oven after I have finished baking sweets. But I didn't have a baked chicken recipe on hand so I decided to use instead a bbq chicken recipe I found from an old newspaper file. I thought it would turn out the same but I was dead wrong! While the chicken was being baked it smelled great! But after about 30 minutes, I began to notice that it wasn't cooking as fast as I wanted it to and when finally I took it out after about 40 minutes, it still wasn't cooked through. So into the fryer it went and we ended up having fried chicken instead... I guess it was wrong for me to place it in an oven-proof baking dish, like what I use when baking fish. Maybe it would have turned out better if I just placed it in the oven's griller and never mind if I had a whole lot of mess to clean up afterwards... anyway, I guess I've learned my lessons well...