The Sassy Lawyer & Pinoy Cook on food, family and home.
There are lots of reasons why I wanted to post this photo. First, I waited more than two weeks to take it. I stayed with Sam on her first night at the condo and when I saw the view from the balcony, I swore that I’d bring a camera next time and have a ball capturing the city lights of Manila by night.
Second, I stayed in that condo for an entire day while Sam was at school and the experience was both surprising and unsettling.
Because Sam is only home on weekends, I pamper her with home cooked meals. Last week, it was lengua with mushrooms sauce and homemade pizza. Last night, I went the extra mile — pasta with white sauce and mushrooms, pork steaks and home made pesto bread (that’s why the bread is greenish — it’s ALL THAT PESTO!). Yes, I baked the bread. My arms ached from the kneading but I was darn happy with the result…
Sam stays in a rented condo five days a week. No one cooks for her, no one wakes her up in the morning, no one picks up her dirty clothes… And she’s doing fine. We talk on the phone everyday, we exchange long chatty text messages, we talk about school… Still, it hasn’t been easy ... (more)
Every place we go, if Sam sees voodoo dolls for sale, she has to buy one. And she really loved photographing her collection of voodoo dolls. I was icing some mini cakes one time and she volunteered to take step-by-step photos of the procedure. I thank her profusely. But when I downloaded the images to my computer… lo, and behold! She gave me something extra.
Because he pays the electric bill, Speedy has rules. And he gets really upset when his rules are not followed. You know, like switching the lights off when leaving a room or turning the TV off before going to sleep. But because he has this nasty habit of dozing off almost as soon as his ... (more)
[Today's column] When you buy a book at Powerbooks bookstore, your purchase often comes with a free magazine. Sometimes, it’s the in-house publication which contains a list and reviews of new book titles. Last Sunday, it was a parenting magazine with Lea Salonga on the cover and a snippet from the article she wrote that ... (more)
She was the sweetest baby a mother could ask for. She talked before she walked but she never went through the “baby talk” stage. A part of me wishes that she can always be my baby but that would be selfish. Sam is 16, she’s going to college and, in less than two weeks, I’ll ... (more)
Surprisingly, there is no pancit bihon recipe in my archives. There is a … »»
No, I've never been to P.F. Chang's although I read that the U.S. food … »»
The most serious reason I missed my pressure cooker was because I love, … »»
The last time I heard the word batotoy, I was buying longganisa (native … »»
After a quick trip to the market, Speedy checked his Facebook account, … »»
Still experimenting with alternative methods of cooking, after using the … »»
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 »)
The avocado was supposed to go into sushi but I cooked all the Japanese … (more...)
Sam likes buying those frozen seafood balls in the grocery -- fish balls, … (more...)
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...)
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