The Sassy Lawyer & Pinoy Cook on food, family and home.
…the ironing woman hasn’t shown up for the second straight day and I’m bracing myself for an afternoon before the ironing board with “The Mummy” on HBO for company. Not exactly a thrilling thought so why not pamper myself with a good pasta and fish lunch before the torture begins, right? Penne with pesto and oven-grilled fillet of sole with a glass of cucumber juice on the side might psyche me up. Maybe.
Because mango season has long been over, mangoes these days aren’t all that sweet. They are what we describe as nag-a-agaw tamis — on the verge of sweetness but with a sharp tang of the sourness that it is about to discard. Half a melon and one not-quite sweet mango and the fruit shake was just perfect.
It doesn’t make me happy that I can’t blog as much as I used to. Sucks but, without a live-in house helper, I have to do a lot of the chores around here. Like, when I woke up this morning, and raring to write while the kids still slept, I was greeted with cat poop ... (more)
Coco jam was a term I would never have recognized as a child although I gorged myself with it. I knew coco jam as “latik” back then. My grandmother always had a jar of latik somewhere and I would often get a spoon, scoop the thing from the jar and eat the sweet, sticky jam ... (more)
The title is a mouthful, I know. But I like descriptive titles. People search for recipes based on ingredients and common names and I’m making it easy for them. Besides, it’s such a pain coming up with names for dishes. Anyway, my obvious intention in creating this recipe is to combine two classic brownie recipes. ... (more)
Got overripe fruits? Make the easiest dessert ever. Top with whipped cream … »»
The reason for yesterday's post about Anthony Bourdain was to introduce the … »»
I've mentioned before that we have this Sunday arrangement -- my husband … »»
It wasn't my turn to cook, being a Sunday. Sunday is daddy-in-the-kitchen … »»
So, I mentioned the other day that I made a huge pot of broth by simmering … »»
I've been dreaming of making this for weeks. But since we started making … »»
If I had access to kale, I'd have used a bunch in lieu of white cabbage. If … »»
In a post I published four and a half years ago, I mentioned that everyone … »»
There are two earlier version of this recipe for steamed fish with tausi … »»
Casa is Spanish for house. CASA is also an acronym for Connie, Antonio, Sam and Alex. We are all surnamed Veneracion. We all love to take photos -- of anything that catches our fancy. It's a family obsession.
This is a journal of how we live, eat, learn, play and have fun. Work? Work is part of playing and having fun. Seriously.
In 2003, a time when I hadn't heard of the term "blog", I started a recipe website at cooking.houseonahill.net using a now defunct content management system that ran on ASP. Ok, never mind the geek talk, I'm sure you're not interested in that. The contents easily multiplied and, in 2004, I moved the food site to pinoycook.net. Always unhappy with the fact that the dot com versions of houseonahill and pinoycook weren't … (click here to read all »)
Okra has a bad reputation in our house. So bad a reputation that I'm the … (more...)
When I first came across this spinach recipe in The New York Times health … (more...)
This is an updated version of a recipe originally published on September … (more...)
In the Philippines, melon usually refers to the cantaloupe or rockmelon. … (more...)
A one-pot dish that's a breeze to prepare. The sausage meat makes the broth … (more...)
Alex’s Oreo cheesecake bar (P89.00) was thick, creamy, smooth and just sweet enough to titillate the taste buds. We used to think that only Starbucks had Oreo cheesecake but we all agreed that UCC Vienna Cafe’s Oreo cheesecake was loads better than Starbucks’.
You can serve your grilled fish with the usual soy sauce, kalamansi juice and chili peppers, or you can try a mixture of lemon juice, olive oil, salt, finely minced garlic and onion leaves. Try to get a few pieces of onion leaves with every bite of fish, they make all the difference.
Fact: Only I don’t pour syrup over my pancakes and waffles. My husband and daughters cannot eat pancakes and waffles without smothering them with syrup. I do, however, like to pile on fruit jam over my pancakes and waffles.
I should have entitled this entry “What else can you do with sukiyaki-cut beef?” 
Yes, I used sukiyaki-cut beef to make tapa for the girl’s packed school lunches. Not the Spanish tapas but seasoned and fried beef cutlets that usually goes with egg and fried rice.
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