The Sassy Lawyer & Pinoy Cook on food, family and home.
When we were living in the city next to my grandmother’s house, Sam and Alex spent a lot of time in my grandmother’s garden. Alex was very young then, just learning to talk. Sam was already the most talkative toddler ever and she liked to christen the plants and flowers. Because it was the Disney ... (more)
While waiting for our food at The Vegetarian Kitchen two days ago, a woman carrying a huge bag came in. I thought she was also a customer but she was looking for someone and the son of the owner The Vegetarian Kitchen entertained her. I was busy taking photos of the place and I wasn’t ... (more)
Having a large tree in the garden means we get a fair amount of fallen leaves everyday. Usually, it’s no more than a few dozen at a time. Easy enough to rake to keep the grass free from clutter. Over the past week or so, however, Speedy had been wondering about the tremendous amount of ... (more)
Almost three years ago, we spent a weekend in Tagaytay and came home with several grafted fruit trees — lime, kalamansi, avocado, ponkan… Both the lime and the kalamansi had been bearing fruits but they’re kinda temperamental. The simply refuse to do their job on a regular basis or, at the very least, a predictable ... (more)
In February last year, Speedy bought Lagundi seedlings. I had been suffering from hives and Lagundi capsules (and, later, lagundi herbal brew) were the only things that made the rashes go away. But what’s better than having a steady and permanent supply of fresh Lagundi leaves, right? Ergo, the seedlings were replanted in the garden. ... (more)
Last summer, fellow blogger KK offered to send me seeds of vine tomatoes. She did. But because the typhoon season came early this year, I postponed planting the seeds. Speedy saw the packet one day, planted the seeds and, before I knew it, there was a vine growing. But tropical typhoons are no joke. As ... (more)
Talinum grew profusely in my grandmother’s garden a long time ago. I found potted talinum at the Manila Seedling Bank, grew the plant at home and we’ve been harvesting the leaves — for food. Yeah, we’re not just growing herbs these days, we’re growing vegetables too. And that’s in addition to the fruit trees (mango, ... (more)
The time we bought fruit trees to plant in the garden, Speedy bought a talumpunay (sometimes spelled talampunay) tree. He planted it in a far corner of the garden near the gazebo that we converted into an outdoor kitchen. It’s grown big, it’s thriving and it’s flowering. The scientific name is Datura metel, there are ... (more)
One of the most oft forgotten principles of cooking is that it pays to begin with the best quality ingredients. No matter how good your salad dressing is, for instance, if your vegetables are wilted, your salad will still look and taste awful. Then, there is an article that differentiates between the quality of line-caught ... (more)
Summer came suddenly. One day it was cool and breezy; the next day, it was … »»
There is an older version of adobong kangkong (swamp / water spinach) in … »»
Half a kilo of gindara fillets meant for the grill became a stew in a … »»
An updated version of a recipe originally published on June 15, 2003. A … »»
After a quick trip to the market, Speedy checked his Facebook account, … »»
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 … »»
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 »)
It has a graham cracker crust and it is baked but at a lower temperature … (more...)
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...)
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