Homemade Vanilla Syrup

A good thing about living in the suburb is that it forces you to be more resourceful and creative with what you have. Unlike in the city where the supermarket is just a stone throw away, we do not have the convenience of getting what we need in an instant. We either wait for the grocery day or improvise. One afternoon, I was craving for pancakes but we ran out of syrup so I improvised. I found this easy recipe of vanilla syrup from the Internet and found it very easy to replicate.

The Pinoy Pancit (Noodles)

It's been a while since that last post. A lot of things had happened already, a lot of stories awaits to be told. But we'll get to that as time goes on as I intend to be back for good. I'd like to start my coming back with my recipe of the Pinoy traditional snack "pancit" or noodles, a personal favorite. I'd like to share to you this Filipino tradition of cooking pancit.

Mussel soup from my kitchen

I told you I'd make my own mussel soup - like the unforgettable one I had in my trip in Lake Como, Italy. It's a local version with chili leaves and done the usual "Pinoy ginisa" way. So it's very easy. I had local mussels, tomatoes, chili leaves, garlic, oyster sauce, red sugar, some basil dried leaves, olive oil, onions, and I did put some balsamic vinegar coz I like it to be a bit sour. Add some salt or soy sauce to taste.

I merely sauteed the garlic, onions, and tomatoes in olive oil, put some oyster sauce to create a nice golden brown sauce. It should be just quick. Then I put the mussels and some soy sauce until the juice comes out and the shells opened up.

My unforgettable Italian meal

There was this unforgettable mussel recipe that I have tasted and which I am really dying to replicate. I don't even remember the name, I know I listed somewhere but the ageing me could no longer locate where it is now. Anyway, if you happen to go and visit Lake Como in Italy, the restaurant where I found this is called il Vecchio Borgo, I hope that's the name. It is located just to the right of the Como Lago train Station.

Anyway, it was portrayed in the menu as soup so I ordered it because I'd like to have soup and salad. We were famished after going around Lake Como station, the funicular ride, etc. But I became so excited to see a large plate of mussels in a reddish sauce. I loved it too much I went over the Net to see what I can do to put it back to life. So I found one, hopefully, it will be as exciting as the il Vecchio Borgo mussel soup.

Quick Pasta Tuna

Working moms have very limited time to cook. So quick and easy recipes are such life-savers for us. Here,
I'm sharing my 15-minute pasta tuna. I did it to liven up that rainy weekend afternoon when my sons are bored staying just inside the house.

Living in the suburbs, we don't get as much chance to eat out or buy those delectable eats available in malls and restaurants so I always make sure I can create something out of what we have at home. Here is one of our favorite snacks - the tuna spaghetti.

Ingredients:
   Spaghetti pasta, cooked aldente
   Tomato sauce or any spaghetti sauce (Tomato and cheese is recommended)
   Tomatoes, sliced
   Garlic, sliced
   Century Tuna light
   Basil
   Cheese (I used quick melt, any will do, should be same amount as that of the tuna)
   Butter
   Salt

Food Trip: Native Cake in a Bamboo

Back in our humble province, we call it "Tinubong." Forgive me for I could not find the most fitting translation. It's an Ilocano term for putting something inside an elongated object called "tubong" or the bamboo. It's made of ground malagkit (glutinous) rice and other ingredients. It is a native delicacy in the Ilocos Region. It is quite sticky but delectable and matches well with coffee. 
Although it can be bought all year long in certain areas, this delicacy is most well-loved during Christmas season. It is like puto-bumbong and bibingka here in Manila and the Southern Tagalog. It is contained inside the bamboo and grilled in a very meticulous manner of manually turning over the bamboo while wiping it with wet cloth (so that it won't get burned) until it is cooked. If you can see from the photo, the cake is a bit darker under, on the part that touches the bamboo but I tell you, that is the most delicious part. The basic ingredients are glutinous rice, young coconut meat, sugar, cheese, margarine. The producers make use of young bamboo or what we termed as "Bulo" - the thin kind of bamboo wood. The only way to open the tinubong is by slicing the bamboo  lengthwise to reveal the delicious tinubong inside.
Check other Ilocano dishes like Miki, Ensaladang Bagnet, and Igado.
BACK TO HOME

Home Issue:How much is the average expenditure of Filipino families on food?

I have started this Home Issues series in my blog with the average spending of families on electricity. Now, I think I should have started with food as it is the most basic need. I used the same dataset (FIES 2009) as the one I used in electricity. The FIES is a nationally representative survey of around 40,000 families conducted all over the Philippines. The 2009 survey is the most recent available Public Use File.
I found that the average family spent P74,808 in the whole year of 2009, roughly $1,570.  The typical family in the Philippines during this time was composed of about 5 members (4.7 to be exact). The typical person's food consumption has amounted to P17,554, or $368.

Jump shot madness at Ayala Triangle and lunch at Bfast

Doing jump shots at midday in a full stomach? One of the craziest things that buddies do is to do just anything that comes to mind. Imagine doing a photo shoot in a 35- to 36-degree temperature in the middle of the Ayala Triangle. Except for the sweat, it was sure laughter and fun. I haven't been to Ayala Triangle for a while (while means - years!) and it has truly transformed into a nice and pleasant park - truly a breather in this central business district, kinda reminds me of the patches of lovely parks within metropolitan Tokyo and Singapore.
 We had our lunch at Bfast in celebration of a BFF's birthday. The row of restos in here is not our usual hangout. We normally go to Ayala Center's Greenbelt area. For a change, we chose Ayala Triangle. There are actually a lot of food choices here. There's  Banapple, Bon Chon, Golden Spoon aside from Bfast among others. 'Must have been too busy to not know and become familiar with this part of the city.
Anyway, the buttered fried chicken at Bfast became an instant fave of the group. I also loved their nilaga. Tip: they don't have large serving for the buttered chicken for group sharing, it always comes in few pieces with a cup of rice - good for only one person. We ordered like 3 servings extra because we really liked it, we ended up wasting 3 cups of rice because we only wanted the chicken. Anyway, out of 10 I rate the food that we ate, except the chicken and nilaga, at about 6 to 7. The interiors is charming though. I love the yellow wall paper, it looks so vintage and great with the wooden furniture and wooden wall finishes.

Overall, we had a great time, especially that we enjoyed taking jump-shot photos later.
Tis the yummy chicken Nilaga, which I say tastes like the pinapaitan in Ilocos, minus the bitteress
 

Revisiting Cebu

It is a pleasure I have had the chance to come back to Cebu after a decade. I visited Cebu back in 2002. Gosh, that was ages ago. And I can say, so much have changed...but not its being timeless and picturesque. Though the trip was somewhat officially a business one, I had a chance to do point and shoot. Allow me to illustrate my experience not only in words but in photos. Basilica del Sto. Nino - the Basilica is famous for housing what is considered as the oldest religious relic in the country - the image of Sto. Nino, the same image that Magellan gave to Queen Juana as a gift during the baptism of King Humabon and his wife Queen Juana on April 14, 1521, according to Basilica del Sto. Nino website. There is a long queue of people, shown in fifth photo below, wanting to get a glimpse of that image, which is located at the right side of the church adjacent to the altar.
Magellan's Cross - was a so-so. Not quite my favorite but the photo is nice with a sunset as a backdrop. Casa Verde - an old house turned into a restaurant, where we had our dinner after our not so great day at the now crowded NAIA 3. We had their bestseller Brian's Ribs (P208). Tip: this is actually for 2 persons, such a huge plate. If you don't like sweet viands, this is not quite for you coz I find it too sweet. I guess it is over-rated for its popularity. But the ambiance is great, the garden is nice at night. Overall experience - fun. Sorry I didn't catch a photo of the dish - ran out of battery (already!) Golden Cowrie Native Restaurant - a great place to feast on that Filipino favorites - crispy pata, bulalo, imbao (clam soup) and others. Nice place to bond with your friends and colleagues. They have a beautiful place I must say. I will definitely come back again. I particularly liked the clam soup, it is a clear soup that I supposed is so simply done yet has a very nice taste. Loved it.

Pasta ala Nina, my version

I hope I did some justice to my BFF's pasta recipe- I call it pasta ala nina. I don't dare publish the ingredients here and the correct measurements - for I can't remember (sigh...). Anyway, here's my version - I just remember one more thing I forgot, it should have olives in it. Nonetheless, I rate it as a "okay", for now I'll just wait til Nina makes one for us again - hers is way tastier. What actually inspires me to make this pasta recipe is that the basil in my garden are getting taller, about to bear flower already, and yet I haven't really used it in the kitchen. If you remember the "Sonya's Garden" post, I bought the basil from there. I learned that once basil flowers bloom, the leaves will taste a bit bitter. So I found a way to make use of the basil leaves.

The famous Davao Pomelo

There's a lot of catching up to do in here. I start with this delectable, juicy encounter with Davao's famous pomelo I bought from SM Hypermarket. It's really pricey but I tell you, it's worth it. My kids loved it coz it's so sweet, and juicy. The kids are enjoying their semestral break with lots of TV hours these days. The pomelo was a great, healthy treat for couch potatoes!
I remember our paternal ancestral home flanked with lots of variants of pomelo when I was young. Some trees were huge, some were easier to climb. When my grandpa, the one who planted these trees, passed away, the pomelo trees started to die one by one too. The fruits too were sweet but nothing beats the Davao pomelo.

Sonya's Garden: A Special Feature

Consider this my lucky day. Yes folks, we visited "The" Sonya's Garden in Alfonso, Cavite. And what can I say, much is said about this talk of the town - Bed and Breakfast. A romantic getaway, so great if you yearn for peace and quiet, very refreshing, just what you need for an amazing vacation and instant too - coz it's very near Manila. A lot of weddings take place in Sonya's. And who wouldn't love to? It's an amazingly beautiful place. We went there for a lunch, an eat-all-you-can. Someone really special took us there and it was a memorable experience -one that is climbing my chart of unforgettable places. We really love the food, the garden, the flower bowls, the bakeshop, and the rest rooms too! Oh how nice they are! The restaurant is amazing in itself, it takes you back to your old Filipino heritage with their interiors. I love the salad menu and assortment of spreads into their high-fiber, healthy bread. The pesto is heavenly. The eat-all-you-can is not the usual buffet type. The salad, of course, is served first along with the bread and spreads.The leaves and fruits and nuts are served separately so you can create your own salad. They replenish whatever it is you want to get replenished. When you're done, then they would serve the pasta, you can also create your own pasta meal with the different sauces. They also replenish everything that you want. Cool! But I didn't get to enjoy it much coz I ate a lot, and I mean a lot, of salads already. So this is great if you are on a diet, really. But I was told that the menu do not change very frequently, so it's not advisable to eat lunch there every now and then. You might want to go back there after a couple of months to see a different menu.  This photo above is that of the rest room in the restaurant my friends and I really liked. The capiz, wood, and curtains are all nostalgic Filipino. Meanwhile, the tea that they serve after the meal, fresh tarragon leaves, can be bought from their herbs garden. I bought myself a basil, tarragon, and mint. I'll put up my own herbs garden, just wait and see.
The things I fell for in this amazing place are its romantic nooks such as this one. So fairly tale-like. So many photos were taken in this area alone. Come and see Sonya's Garden for yourself. Bring along your special someone, it's a place meant for the romantic. If not, bring your friends along, or family perhaps, it's a nice place to experience. But remember, it's a quiet place, let's keep it that way when we visit. Cheers!