Salad-ness!

There was a lot of good food and delicacies I've tasted and devoured (haha!) during our trip to Leyte (Ormoc and Tacloban) but the highlight was the oh-so-delicious and super in freshness Rafael's Farmer Salad we had for lunch last Saturday.

I was a bit apprehensive in ordering salad since I wanted to try the farm's specialties which are humba and other meat dishes.  As compromise, we got the salad and humba and baked scallops as appetizers.  But when the salad arrived, the smell was already fantastic! I smelled the sweet fragrance of mangoes, and the freshness of lettuce, cucumber and tomatoes with the milky whisk of it's special dressing their chef just made.  Truly, nothing beats fresh vegetables and fruits to open up my whole palette of different tastes and get ready for the famous and scrumptious Humba of Rafael's. :-)

China Bowls: A Crash Course on Rice Toppings

Last weekend, I attended an afternoon cooking class led by my chef friend, Albert Sia, a graduate of CCA and sous chef of Creative Cuisine catering services.  The class was held at the Creative Baking and Cooking Institute owned and managed by Ms. Nonah Ting.  We had Steamed Fried Rice (ala Dimsum), Sweet and Sour Pork Rice, Beef with Mushroom, Fish Fillet with Black Bean Sauce, Japanese (?) Chop Suey Rice and Chicken Teriyaki with Rice.  Chef Albert, after explaining the basic principles of cooking rice toppings and some crash course on the "roux" and "slurry" terms, started demonstrating the recipes one by one.

Not one of us were able to help in the cooking itself, it would have been more practical and more fun if Chef allowed us to participate even in just stirring the broth.  However, I found it more helpful to just sit back and relax the whole time since I would have been stressed out standing and cooking with him and the others who attended. :-) Maybe next time, Chef would encourage even small participation from his class since it's a class not just a cooking demo.

The Cooking and Baking Institute will hold the following courses this month:

May 2:
Soft Butter Ensaimada, etc. - P800; Asian BBQ(Satay, Yakitori, etc.) - P1200

May 3:
Lutong Pinoy (Rellenong Bangus, Pochero, Bistek Tagalog, Kare-kare etc. ) - P1200
Bicolano Cuisine  (Laing, Bicol Express, Lumpia Ubod, etc. ) -P800

May 4:
Fruit-Filled Pies - P800
Commercial Cookies and Pastries ( Salvaro, Butter Cookies, etc) P800

May 5:
Zizzling Dishes - P800
Amazing Thai  - P800

May 6:
Meat Roulades  (Chicken cordon Bleu, etc.) P800
Mini-Siopao Making -P800

Other cooking classes are available.  Minimum of 3 persons per class.  For more details, you may contact : Tel # 2380014-15.

"Venti, please."

So far, this is my favorite non-caffeine drink when I want to hang out in a coffee shop, that is, Starbucks coffee shop :-)

I was first introduced to it a few years ago by Jojo A., a pretty friend of mine. We would meet up quite often then and she would often treat me with this drink (sometimes with the yummy banana bread slice). At first taste, I thought it was nasty. Green tea with soy milk?! Ewww! Good thing she would just order the small cup for me then. Don't get me wrong, I'm not just a coffee-addict. I also love green tea (and earl grey and jasmine teas) but only with honey or a few drops of sugar syrup, but I haven't imagined I'd come to love this one. Its milky soya taste blends well with the quite distinct flavor of green tea. A bit more of the seaweed taste for me, which I really love since I love seaweeds, too. After a few tries, I started to order this drink by myself, and yes even without Jojo around. From the short-sized cup, I immediately moved to the Venti size, the big and tall cup I thought I couldn't finish drinking in one day! It's good that I found out right away that the sizes don't matter, short, tall or venti, they cost the same. It's just like getting a hot green tea, but with soy milk instead of water.

Here's how to order it:

You: "One hot soy green tea, please."
Barrista: "Latte?"
You: "Nope, just the hot green tea, the one with two bags of green teas, then soy milk instead of water."
Barrista: "Oh okay. That would be P125 ma'am; we charge P20 for the soy milk. What size would that be?"
You: " Venti, please. "

Hello, Summer!

So, this is my first ever post in this cooking blog. Hmm... I really want to impress you with my cooking prowess, however, at this time of the day I can only do so much as to post one of my original pasta recipes. Please note that since this is just my experimental recipe, measurements are not really scientifically exact. You may tweak it according to your taste. This is a light and healthy pasta dish perfect for this summer.




GARLIC-SHRIMP & BASIL PASTA

Ingredients:

-any type of pasta, 400 g cooked according to package instruction
-300 grams shrimp, peeled, de-veined and chopped coarsely
-lots of garlic, chopped
-1 medium-sized onion, chopped
-2 or 3 cups fresh basil
-2 red bell peppers, julienned
-1 big can (approx 300 g) diced tomatoes or
8-10 large-sized tomatoes,boiled, deseeded and diced
-3 cups tomato sauce
-1 tsp Italian seasoning (optional)
-salt and pepper to taste

COOKING THE SAUCE

1. Sautee onions and garlic in a saucepan. Add in the shrimps, sprinkle a pinch of pepper and a dash of salt. Stir-fry until cooked.
2. Add the diced tomatoes, bell peppers and tomato sauce. Simmer for at least 5 minutes.
3. Stir for a few seconds, season again with salt and pepper (final seasoning)and add some Italian seasoning (optional) for a more rich flavor.
4. Just before taking out of the fire, toss in the fresh basil leaves, stir to combine with the sauce and then serve on top of the cooked pasta of your choice.
5. You may opt to garnish it with fresh basil leaves and sprinkle with some chili powder for a spicy taste.

Note: you may add water while simmering the sauce depending on your sauce thickness preference.