Cream cheese sandwich spread and dip

Posted on April 27, 2012 · 3 Comments

Yesterday, because the temperature was soaring, Speedy said there was no need to bother with cooking and we could just have sandwiches for dinner. That was a win-win suggestion — I wouldn’t have to toil in the heat in the kitchen and he wouldn’t have to sweat over washing the pots, pans, plates…

Since we were going to have just sandwiches, I figured I might as well make special sandwiches. We would be using store-bought cold ham, no slow-cooked shredded meat for the filling or anything just as laborious (heck, we wanted to do away with the cooking part, didn’t we?), but I could still make a tasty base for the sandwiches. Meaning, none of the usual straight from the jar mayo stuff but, rather, a cream cheese based spread brimming with chopped vegetables of varied colors, textures and flavors. … (Read all)

Filed Under: food & dining, recipes, sauces & salsas · Tagged: ,

There is no strict formula for making a good taco

Posted on April 26, 2012 · 10 Comments

First, you have got to read about why the definition of good food and cooking is largely psychological and a by-product of our childhood. I believe it — there really is no good or bad food (only inedible ones like badly burnt food) because food appreciation is a personal thing.

If one grew up with gourmet-like dishes at home, it would be hard to appreciate bland and colorless dishes. In the same manner, if one grew up on fast food spaghetti, there is a huge stumbling block to overcome before one can finally accept that there is a world of more flavorful and varied spaghetti other than the sweet mush with artificial food color. I’ve seen it first-hand — kids who turn their backs on spaghetti with no red sauce because it doesn’t look anything like they stuff from Jollibee or McDonald’s. I’ve seen it too with kids raised on home-cooked meals — they grow up defining dishes according to how their mothers and grandmothers cooked them. They will scoff at versions that are different and they will tell you that all those versions are wrong because there is only one definitive version — the one they know.

It’s a sad thing, really, because it closes the mind to new things. Life experiences are enriched by differences as well as uniqueness and the refusal to approach anything new or different with an open mind — and heart — is like knowingly sentencing oneself to a life in a tightly-closed box and never venturing outside it.

All that, of course, is the diplomatic way of saying I hate people who insist that a recipe is wrong because it is different from their mother’s or grandmother’s. And, believe me, after nine years of food blogging, the evidence shows that that attitude is more prevalent among men than women. Are Filipino males really such Mama’s boys? Ah, but never mind, that’s an entirely different topic. Right now, I want to talk about the taco. … (Read all)

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Why the news about arsenic in chicken should bother us even if we don’t live in the U.S.

Posted on April 26, 2012 · 7 Comments

A couple of weeks ago, news broke out about “new scientific studies suggesting that poultry on factory farms are routinely fed caffeine, active ingredients of Tylenol and Benadryl, banned antibiotics and even arsenic.” I read half a dozen reports on the subject and wondered if I should write something about it. It is food related but the findings are limited to poultry raised in the U.S. Although more than half of my readers come from the U.S., there are so many reports about the arsenic-in-chicken already, so was there any need to regurgitate the news?

In short, unconvinced that there was any wisdom in repeating what had already been written, I turned away from the topic. Until it hit me.

In countless grocery stores, I have encountered frozen chicken quarters. Large unbranded chicken quarters that don’t come from locally grown chickens but are, in fact, imported from the U.S., according to the labels. And you’ll also find unbranded frozen turkey legs and breasts in the frozen section of many grocery stores. That puts the scary news in a totally different dimension. Just because I don’t live in the U.S. doesn’t mean that I am totally safe from the dangers of eating drugged poultry. … (Read all)

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Tie-dye steamed cake a.k.a. rainbow-colored puto

Posted on April 25, 2012 · 3 Comments

“Tie-dye” is a process of dyeing fabric so that unique patterns are formed usually in bright colors. Sam was the one who brought the idea into our house. She tie-dyed some shirts and I even managed to photograph her at work. The idea of using the tie-dyeing technique on food is nothing new. If you Google “tie-dye cupcakes”, you’ll find links upon links to recipes with fantastic colors and patterns.

What makes my tie-dye cake unique from the rest is that mine isn’t a baked caked. This is steamed Pinoy puto made colorific. Strictly speaking, this is not a recipe post. This is a cooking tip on how to turn the humble puto into eye-candy that’s perfect for an afternoon party. This is about puto so colorful and pretty that it’s bound to get talked about endlessly. … (Read all)

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Yes, we’re still carnivorous.

Alex’s cold milk and mango pudding

Posted on April 25, 2012 · 4 Comments

Speedy gave Alex an assignment today: do something with the mangoes in the fridge which were becoming too ripe already. Alex initially thought about a simple milkshake but wanted to incorporate gelatin in her recipe (which made me wonder if she used gelatin in her 2006 layered milk shake). I suggested that she puree the mangoes, use the puree instead of water in preparing gelatin then cut the firm gelatin into small cubes, spoon the cubes into glasses and pour in very cold milk. Like so. … (Read all)

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Mangoes are good for your eyesight, skin, memory and sex life

Posted on April 24, 2012 · 9 Comments

The mango is my favorite fruit in the whole wide world. There isn’t even a close second. Mango is the only fruit that I can eat by itself without feeling that it could be better. There is simply nothing like the soft, sweet luscious flesh that is refreshing, comforting and exhilarating all at once.

Perhaps, for me, it’s a reminder of the summers of my childhood. My father, who liked to take long drives to source the best fruits, vegetables and root crops, would buy mangoes by the kaing, the fruits in varying stages of ripeness carefully chosen so that we could enjoy the mangoes over several weeks and never eat anything that was underripe nor overripe.

That was long ago when fuel didn’t cost an arm and a leg. These days, we make do with mangoes that are available from the local market. They’re a-plenty these days at very reasonable because it’s summer. Although Philippine mango farmers boast that mangoes can be harvested all year ’round, before and after the summer months, they are not as sweet and they cost more than twice as much. … (Read all)

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Sam’s rum, lychee and lemon cocktail

Posted on April 24, 2012 · 3 Comments

The recipe was born as an afterthought. Sam loves lychees — canned, for convenience — and her favorite thing to do with them is to make a lychee smoothie by roughly pureeing the fruits in a blender along with the syrup, sugar and ice. But because she can’t finish an entire can of lychees by herself, whenever she makes lychee smoothie, everyone else in the house gets a glass (or two or three) of her addictive potion. Well, except Alex who really doesn’t like lychees.

One time, we had guests at home and Sam made her signature lychee smoothie. But because we were already having cocktails, I commented that, perhaps, Sam could add something alcoholic to her smoothie to make it a bit more attuned with the rest of the drinks that we were having. She said, rather automatically, “Rum.” I took my glass, poured some rum into it, stirred everything and tasted the mixture. It tasted good — but it needed something more. Lemon, I thought, and I squeezed a quarter of a lemon into the glass. I stirred the drink again and it was awesome. Perfect for a sweltering summer night.… (Read all)

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Why the mango tree is shedding too many leaves

Posted on April 23, 2012 · 6 Comments

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 fallen leaves we get. It can’t be the wind. Heaven knows how little wind there is these days although we keep wishing we’d get enough to give us a respite from the summer heat and humidity.

And it can’t be a seasonal thing, either — I mean, there is no autumn in the tropics so what could explain the abnormally large amount of fallen leaves from the mango tree?

It even got more curious when, driving to my brother’s house in the city, we noticed the same thing with large trees lining the streets. Too many fallen leaves. So, it’s not just our mango tree that’s exhibiting this phenomenon. … (Read all)

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One of those terribly hot days when Speedy made iced coffee instead of the usual scorching hot drink that we like.

Chocolate chip cookie dough brownies

Posted on April 23, 2012 · 8 Comments

Although the fierce heat of the summer still rages, I have managed to sufficiently psych myself out of my lethargy. I’ve started cooking decent meals again a couple of days ago. Meanwhile, the baking drought ended last night.

The decision to bake something was inspired by a photo. Chocolate chip cookie dough was pressed into the holes of a muffin pan, whole rounds of Reese’s peanut butter cups were pressed into the dough then prepared brownie mix was poured over everything. Brilliant idea, if you ask me, combining two wonderful things — chocolate chip cookies and brownies — into one glorious concoction.

But instead of using ready-made cookie dough and boxed brownie mix, I started from scratch using no-fail recipes for chocolate chip cookies and chocolate fudge brownies. I simply adjusted the amounts and ditched the nuts (next time, I will include nuts in the chocolate chip cookie dough). I didn’t use Reese’s peanut butter cups either because there was none in the house. Instead, I dropped pinches of chocolate chip cookie dough on top of the brownie mix. The result is a layered and marbled chocolate-y goodness. … (Read all)

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