Tar's Paksiw Na Isda

let me just say she did something magical to the fish.
more words next time, I'm having trouble typing.


PS.

we have fresh batuan from iloilo!

meet the duck!

avocados+ tomatoes+basil+ sun-dried tomatoes in cream cheese

we're having a picnic on monday!

Tar's birthday is coming up. We made a postcard/invitation yesterday :)

Pastillas wrappers

Check out these fantastic-looking pastillas wrappers my friend Issa gave me. Hand-cut by sweet old ladies from Bulacan.
I'm pretty nifty with the x-acto knife myself, but...man, I have no idea how to go about making anything as intricate as this.

And... they can spell out words. how cool is that?!

..ahem

Snackaroo

When I'm down South, I have chow spots for when I'm in touch with my inner carnivore. I'm easy to please, happy na ako with Sinangag Express tapsi + tokwa and 2.5 na rice (okay, sometimes 3...eek), or a wasabi burger from Charbroiled Burgers... or buffalo wings galing sa..I forgot the name of the place. Basta. In BF, all you have to do is cruise along President's Ave and you're bound to end up somewhere eating happily...with your wallet breathing easily.

Here in QC, I have discovered Snackaroo. And it doesn't serve ...snacks. Think bone-in steaks, gravy, steaming, white rice. I love it. They also serve meat cooked in various ways, but as far as I'm concerned I just want their steak, medium rare (you have to tell the waitress, though. I forgot to do that one time and ended up getting a well done piece---sayang). I love taking that first subo of salted, juicy steak with some rice and graaavy. Ahahahhay. 130+ php, fatty fatty happiness!

Anyway, last week, I was a bit out of sorts, and not quite steak hungry-hungry. So I tried their 'salted beef', which I had been eyeing the past couple of times I was there. The picture over the counter showed a close up of something that looked like corned beef...so okay, I was up for that. I heard Tar asking the waitress if it was like tapa.

The waitress said,
"Parang bacon ho"

Gulay.We were sold.

At parang bacon nga. Crisp and served with rice and atchara on the side. It was good even without any of the usual sawsawan.

Try it!
Snackaroo has two branches that I know of, one's along Jimenez...near Kamuning. The other's in the Kalayaan area.

Late Lunch

An impromptu soup that made our afternoon.

I cut..no, wait... hacked 1/4 of a squash and 1 carrot into rough chunks, put the pieces in a pot and added 1 whole chopped up onion, 1 piece of star anise, a bay leaf and some chicken broth to barely cover. Brought to a boil, then simmered for a couple of minutes until the veggies were soft. I then put in 4 big squares of tofu, heated the whole lot through.
We ate them in bowls + rice and some toasted dilis + patis,sili,calamansi on the side.

Simple and filling.

Sugpo Saturday Experiment

I was able to get my hands on some fresh prawns last Saturday.

I dealt with them using a recipe I edited in my head on my way home. Jeep rides are good for this kind of mental activity.


1. Behead! Shell! Aaand Devein! cut a slit along the back, pick out the black vein thingmajig with a toothpick. Arrange in a shallow container, splash in some vodka, add pepper, smashed garlic cloves and pop in the ref while you

2. chop fistfuls of basil, parsley, cilantro (i imagine other green things would work here just as well, like dill or rosemary...), some garlic and slice some hot peppers (i used one green finger sili and two red birdseye..ahem, labuyo). I don't remember if I added some slivers of onion. mm.

3. Cut two sexy red tomatoes into rounds and arrange them in a deep-ish baking sheet. Put in the oven and turn on the broiler. You want to get them all wrinkly and juicy.

4. Melt lots of butter in a pan, add the garlic and stir around until they start getting a bit brown. pop in the shrimp heads and press 'em down. Fish them out after a while then add the herbs, turn off the heat. Mix.

5. Drain the prawns, reserving a bit of the vodka. Add this to the green sauce and toss lightly.

5. Arrange the lot over the lovely wrinkled tomatoes, shower with pepper and spinkle with a bit of salt then broil for a minute or two on each side. Don't overcook, duck, stringy seafood is the worst.

Serve as soon as possible, with slivers of lemon mixed throughout.

Mr. Mansi

Another of my food-related hobbies. I like toying with what I eat :D And now that I'm all grown up and living away from home, there's no Nanay or Tatay to tell me to stop. Mwahahahaha!

This is multi-tasking. She's soaking monggo for a bean-sprout dish and reviving some sitaw while I'm playing with a calamansi.


This is salvaged, shakespearean calamondin.

thwarted

to market, to market!

What we have here is a Tofuhead doing a little tumble among some squash flowers I bought. The flowers were going to be dipped in tempura batter and deep-fried, but sadly, I was too tired (wait..I didn't mean to rhyme back there!)

They served as table-decoration for an afternoon, and spent the week waiting for me, carefully wrapped in newspaper sheets, but by the time I got to them, they were too far gone.

I have a couple more shots from that morning, some taken by Tars, showing some other stuff that I bought. The place where I work is near Farmer's Market, so it's quite easy to drop by after a shift.





I have to tell you, it's so much fun, wandering around the market at 6, 7 am--- watching the people ready their wares, weighing produce, arranging the day's vegetables, fruits and other edibles. It takes some of the stress away, in my case. I've always loved going to the market, I think it's exciting. I had always accompanied my Nanay when she'd go to the palengke in BF, so this brings back nice memories (for me. I don't know if the stall owners appreciated my poking at their veggies, fruits, fish...meat.. hahaha)

That time I was able to get some fresh mushrooms, lettuce, several sexy tomatoes, a bouquet of squash flowers, large heads of garlic and onion, a bunch of gorgeous, juicy grapes, wansoy/cilantro ( I love, love cilantro!!), all for a little less than 200php. Cooking for two has its good points.





here's the tumbling tofu head again!



After being held hostage by the nearby Champion Grocery (which seems stuck in time, overpriced and besieged by cockroaches), you can imagine my excitement!

I sauteed the 'shrooms in butter and garlic, and made a salad. Tar made the soup. And took this shot :