The Sassy Lawyer & Pinoy Cook on food, family and home.
I have a friend whose kids spend summers with their grandparents. My friend and her husband, or both, bring their kids to Capiz (about an hour by plane), spend a few days there then go back to the city and work. The grandparents and the kids have a month or so together and they make ... (more)
It happened so fast. On Sunday, the sun was shining. When we woke up on Monday morning, the skies were gray and the garden was drenched. Apparently, it had been raining all night. But having gotten used to the unpredictable weather, I thought it was just one of those things. It is the monsoon season, ... (more)
I was scanning some old photos and when I got to the album that contained pictures from my cousin Rinna’s wedding in 1998, I smiled as I went over the shots of Sam and Alex in their flower girl dresses. There were three flower girls and I made all their dresses. Not kidding. I remembered ... (more)
At around 4 p.m. on Sunday, Sam asked me what kind of dye is used for tie-dying. How would I know? I wasn’t even familiar with the term “tie-dye.” I searched Google, discovered that tie-dye is a process of creating patterns on clothes and I remembered that this was an activity that both Sam and ... (more)
This article was published in a family/parenting magazine about three months ago. When I was thinking of a good title for this article, the first phrase that crossed my mind was “roots to grow and wings to fly.” It’s a phrase that I’ve heard quoted so many times yet, to this day, I still don’t ... (more)
I used to watch Spongebob Squarepants with my girls. I still do. Now, some study says that Spongebob is bad because it “hinders abstract thinking, short-term memory and impulse control in preschoolers.” Well, my girls were gradeschoolers when Spongebob hit the boobtube but the study is still worth knowing about.
I read that Lea Salonga was among the judges in this year’s Miss Universe pageant. I knew that the pageant would be televised this morning, Manila time, but I’m rarely awake before noon these days. Too bad. I’ve always liked watching the evening gown competition. Speedy read afterward that Bb. Pilipinas Shamcey Supsup won as ... (more)
We have a VCD copy of Wolfgang Peter’s 1995 film Outbreak. People dying from a deadly virus for which there was no vaccine. Sam and Alex watched that film so many times when they were toddlers. Sam because she thought the monkey (the host of the virus) was super cute. It’s been her dream to ... (more)
Sam (watching the state visit to China on the evening news): “Mommy, ano’ng state visit (what’s state visit)?” Me: “It’s a diplomatic function, actually. Effectively, a recognition of the statehood of the country visited.” And then I went on to discuss the Philippines’ one-China policy and why there are no state visits to Taiwan. Sam ... (more)
It’s rare for the girls to be home in the middle of the week. But the term is ending, final exams are over and classes are irregular. Speedy picked them up last night and, as usual, we were camped in the bedroom chatting and relaxing until the wee hours of the morning. Sam brought home ... (more)
Half a kilo of gindara fillets meant for the grill became a stew in a … »»
The suman (rice cake) and chocolate combination is nothing unusual. In … »»
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...)
Conversations