The Sassy Lawyer & Pinoy Cook on food, family and home.
We set on a journey into unfamiliar rice territory some three years ago when I was still writing for a newspaper and "Perk up your rice" was published in my food column. We have since probed the world of jambalaya, kedgeree, risottos, pilafs and rice salads. We are still on that journey and we intend to go much farther.
I’ve always been amazed at how the Italians have developed hundreds if not thousands of ways to serve their pasta just as the Chinese have countless recipes for noodles. Come to think of it, they have done pretty much the same with rice. The Italians have their risotto; the Chinese have integrated rice into their ... (more)
It is a Mexican rice dish but arroz blanco is also found in the cuisines of many other South American and Caribbean countries. There are even some claims that the dish originated from the Caribbean and was merely borrowed by the South Americans. Just as the claims about its origin vary, so do the methods ... (more)
For non-Filipinos, and for Filipinos who left to settle elsewhere in the world before Java rice became the better half of all things grilled, Java rice is a yellow fried rice. As to why it is yellow, the most reasonable guess would be turmeric. More than six years after I first posted a recipe for ... (more)
Every year, on the evening of New Year’s Day, my girl friends from the U.P. College of Law gather for good food, good booze and lots of chatting — catty and otherwise. The only time I wasn’t able to go to this annual bash was last year when a stomach upset tied me to the ... (more)
Speedy and I are nursing a sick daughter at home. Alex has a cough that’s been going on and off for weeks. She’s lost weight, she feels weak and her much-needed sleep is often interrupted by her coughing. Speedy took her to the hospital, had her x-rayed, and tuberculosis and pneumonitis were ruled out. According ... (more)
Pasta is versatile because you can just toss it with a flavorful sauce, sprinkle it with cheese and you have a delicious meal. You don’t need a lot of expensive meat or seafood. But did you know that you can do the same with rice? The Italians do it with their risotto dishes. The Chinese ... (more)
When tapa (marinated paper-thin beef slices) is served with fried rice and egg, it is called tapsilog — a contraction for tapa, sinangag (fried rice) and itlog (egg). But you probably already know that. But when tapa is mixed with day-old rice and scrambled eggs then stir fried together until very hot, is it still ... (more)
When one talks of a special meal, the most usual attitude is to think in terms of a special main dish. I’m not exempt from that mentality. I often get so wrapped up with preparing the most delectable main dish, using very special ingredients, that I forget one obvious thing. Although a special main dish ... (more)
By the time I had cooked the three dishes out of a single duck, I still had the carcass and the small pieces of meat attached to the bones. Not enough for a pan of fried rice so I looked inside the fridge to check what else there was. I saw the leftover tail portion of a tinapang bangus (smoked milkfish) and I decided I would combine that with the scrap duck meat. I wasn’t really sure how it would turn out but there was only one way to find out, right? And I went on to make my fried rice. It was delicious. Never underestimate the power of a little smoked fish and a little duck fat.
If the term “rice salad” makes you go HUH? click here and know that the term salad covers a wide expanse of dishes. Today’s lunch was still part of the beef brisket challenge (or, perhaps, experiment would be the more appropriate word). Cubes of braised brisket were warmed in a pan then tossed with cooked ... (more)
The term "buko pandan" can mean either of two things. The first is buko … »»
An updated version of a recipe originally published on June 15, 2003. A … »»
Tinolang manok or chicken soup with green papaya and chili leaves was a … »»
Still experimenting with alternative methods of cooking, after using the … »»
If you're looking for the easiest cocktail drink recipe ever, you just … »»
A simple, easy and very tasty pasta dish that you can cook in one pan. … »»
I can't resist a good recipe when I come across one. I was browsing food … »»
So, I mentioned the other day that I made a huge pot of broth by simmering … »»
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 »)
If you Google "melon cocktail", you'll find that there are two categories. … (more...)
According to Tastefully Done, age means deep fried and dashi, of course, is … (more...)
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...)
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