Making everything for the first time
We had a surplus of fruits in the house and I didn’t think that I could eat everything within two days. I initially wanted to make a rerun of the plum cake since my first effort crashed and burned so spectacularly. But we didn’t just have plums, we also had gobs of blueberries.
So what can I make that would accommodate a variety of fruits? Hmmm… cobbler?
What’s ironic is that I’ve never eaten cobbler before so I cannot compare my end product to others. I have to rely solely on taste and the opinions of those who eat it. I’ve also heard of peach blueberry cobbler but I don’t remember seeing a recipe with plums in it. But since this blog is all about experimentation, then why not try?
I did the cardinal sin of tweaking a recipe of a dish that I’ve never made before, which is why I was quite anxious while it was in the oven. What if it turns out badly? Then I would have wasted a boatload of fruits. This is the last thing I want to do since my mom made sure that we would be forever cautious of wasting food considering all the starving children in third world countries.
Luckily, it seems to have turned out well. Just according to my taste, I think I’ve done a pretty good job for a maiden effort. 
Can it be improved? Probably. I want to make it healthier and experiment with wheat flour, maybe use other fruits. But for now, I’m quite pleased with the results.
Happy Valentines Day, everyone!
When I bought a pack of chicken nuggets in Shoprite, Chris nearly had a seizure because I was buying *gasp* junk food. I tartly told him that I do eat processed food every once in a while and I have nothing against decent breaded chicken nuggets. But this doesn’t mean that I won’t make a homemade version.
I was still despondent over my failed attempt to make lumpia for the first time so I drowned my sorrows over a plate of these crispy, delectable, spicy cutlets. Chris became instantly addicted and bragged about it to our friends. He even suggested making a batch to bring to our upcoming Atlantic City trip with the AC gang.
I do have a secret to tell you. I was actually trying to cook Korean fried chicken but things didn’t work out the way I thought they would. I ended up with this dish, which I think is quite good considering how easy and simple it is.
I served this with a side of buttered asparagus. Enjoy.
I was debating whether I should post this as a recipe since it’s really very simple. But since I use this condiment in many dishes, especially the Asian ones, I think it deserves its own post.
I don’t use particular measurements and just add as I go so the measurements listed below are merely guides for you to customize as you wish. Mom prefers an oilier mixture with the garlic crushed to near-liquid texture. Dad likes it a bit drier and crunchier. I like it in-between and use copious amounts of pepper to make it extra spicy. Fresh red chili peppers are better but if you don’t have the patience to mince teeny-tiny pieces of peppers after you just dealt with a pound of garlic, then dried crushed red peppers like this will do.
Warning: It’s extremely tasty and magically transforms any dish. But it’s very VERY hot so use sparingly.
Who can resist a warm, fruity snack in the middle of winter? No one. Besides, I need to do something with the blueberries sitting in the fridge since I’ve been dreaming about them for the past two nights.
I didn’t want to bake a huge cake since my husband isn’t really an eater. (Tip for brides-to-be: grill your fiances about their eating habits because there is nothing more horrible than having a husband who eats less than you do.)
I got the recipe from Smitten Kitchen and tweaked a few things like adding a bit more zest and loads and loads of butter. This cake is so buttery that it’s useless to stress about calories. Just remember that everything is good in moderation and that we all need to spoil ourselves once in a while.
It’s also very easy to make and doesn’t take long to prep and bake. I usually like this with my afternoon coffee or tea but it’s also good for breakfast if you want to deviate from your usual muffin or pancakes. Hey, they do say that it’s healthier to eat most of your carbs in the morning for an early pop of energy plus you’ll have the whole day to burn it.
Enjoy!
I will never forget Tita Edith’s potato soup. She brought some at work last year and I loved it so much that I ate a lot of it. I wanted to replicate the recipe but failed miserably the first time I tried. When C got sick, I thought it was about time to try making this comfort dish again.
One essential tool needed is an immersion blender to get that smooth perfect texture. But if you want a chunkier version of the soup, you can just use a regular masher.
This recipe is very versatile. You can add any vegetables you like. Most use celery but since C hates it, I chose broccoli and carrots. Any type of precooked meat (ham, cold cuts, etc.) can also be used.
The soup can be stored in an airtight container and refrigerated. For some reason, it tasted even better the day after.
Last night, C suggested seafood. “Let’s do something with the cod.” I’ve eaten cod a few times but I’ve never tried cooking it. I tried looking for an appropriate recipe in The Filipino Cookbook and I found one in minutes.
Technically, a whole lapu-lapu — red grouper fish — should be used for authentic escabeche. But according to Ms. Garcia, alternatives like red snapper, cod, carp and bass could be used. Talking about the dish eventually led to this discussion:
Me: Lapu-lapu is also the name of one of our heros. He killed Magellan.
C: Ferdinand Magellan? Do you know how famous that guy is?!
Me: Um… yeah. (doh!) Everybody does.
C: I didn’t know he died in the Philippines.
Me: He did. They refused to bow to Spain and pay tribute so LL killed Magellan with a bolo and pestle.
Chris thinks it happened a lot like this: (see 1:40 onwards)
I could just imagine Magellan arriving all cocky and rudely interrupting Lapu-lapu who’s making dinner. Next thing you know someone yells “Pay tribute to WHO!? F*** YOU!” just before Ferdie gets brained with a pestle. Hero or not, I bet Lapu-lapu’s wife made him buy a new one.
Of course, that’s what not really happened but I like my version more than the official one.
Back to food. It’s the first time for me to make sweet and sour fish so I was worried that it would fail big time. Making Chris eat Filipino food is an experience. He’s still traumatized about that time when I made him eat dinuguan (pork blood stew) and now he thinks I’m going to feed him random innards when I say “Pinoy food.”
Cod is a very light, creamy fish that easily absorbs flavor. But it could just as easily fall apart if overcooked. Luckily, my escabeche was not bad at all.
Note: Red text means I changed or used a substitute for an ingredient.
That was a mouthful! In English, that means risotto of sweet onions, cotechino sausage, and thyme. To launch Project Steffi x Jamie x Miki, I started with my favorite Italian rice dish ever: risotto.
I was pleasantly surprised that making risotto was pretty easy. The ingredients were not complicated and I already had most of them in the fridge.
Jamie Oliver has a basic risotto recipe, risotto bianco, which is his base for all types of risotto in his book. I can’t go on and on since this dish speaks for itself. And all I can say is C and I enjoyed every bite.
I was craving for French toast for days. And I had to do something with the two packs of fresh strawberries C and I bought a few days ago. And I figured he could use a little cheering up.
I made the honey-wheat bread myself using Danielle’s recipe. I haven’t perfected it yet so that will be a whole post of its own sometime in the near future when I feel more confident and have photographic evidence. 
I’m sure most of us already have our own recipes for French toast but I added mine here for those who do not.
This is quite heavy so we had this for brunch and skipped lunch altogether. Have fun with your own stay-at-home date!
Here’s my husband’s deconstructed toast:
It’s always handy to have a go-to recipe for banana muffins since we always seem to have a few bananas that everyone forgets to eat and are in danger of becoming overripe. In my case, it’s this one.
I thought it was about time to try a new recipe. I found one from All Recipes that had an unusual ingredient: mayonnaise. I’m used to seeing yogurt or even sour cream in the list for banana muffin recipes but never mayonnaise. Plus this recipe had no eggs or butter so I was intrigued. Besides, I ran out of yogurt. Heh.
I was feeling experimental so I thought it would be funny to combine a couple of koffee kake Tastykakes with the extra dough. For those who are not familiar with the brand, Tastykakes are various baked goods produced in Pennsylvania and are primarily found in the East Coast of the US. I very rarely eat store-bought baked goods but these cupcakes are dangerously addictive. My favorites are the cream-filled chocolate and buttercream cupcakes. I love them so much that I could eat 6 in one sitting! I’m in the process of trying to avoid them since they go straight to my thighs. *sigh*
Chris thinks that I wasted two perfectly good Tastykakes. But I thought it came out lovely. Hmph.
I think it’s disgraceful that the small pack of Chinese noodles (or what my mother would call pancit canton) cost me $3.50 in Shop Rite. That’s more than three to four times the cost of perfectly good noodles in the Philippines. *grumbles*
The local grocery also had a very limited supply of Asian food stuff. The only Pinoy thing there was adobo seasoning. I mean, who the hell uses powder seasoning for adobo when one could make a perfectly wonderful dish with perfectly ordinary ingredients. Maybe I can ask Danielle if there is a nearby Asian store that at least has bagoong or alamang to keep me satisfied for the next few years.
I was craving for noodles so I naturally visited my Asian food guru, Jaden from Steamy Kitchen. I didn’t have lots of the fancy stuff needed for the recipe so I had to improvise and make something that is edible. If I need to convert my husband to becoming an Asian food-lover then I need ammunition.
Thankfully, there were no leftovers. Yay!
