The Sassy Lawyer & Pinoy Cook on food, family and home.
It has always been my opinion that to become a good cook, one has to be confident about his skills and taste. And by that, I don’t mean professional training. No, not at all. Rather, I mean the ability to think outside the box, to never feel limited by the lack of access to certain ... (more)
Siblings don’t always have similar tastes and preferences. Just because two people have the same parents, were raised in the same house, went to the same schools, etcetera etcetera, it doesn’t mean they’ll turn out the same. Sam and Alex have different tastes in music, in food, in entertainment and in a lot of other ... (more)
When I saw a recipe for dulce de leche pound cake, my heart jumped. I adore anything with dulce de leche and I so wanted to make that cake. The problem is that it has gotten more and more difficult to make dulce de leche at home. For some reason, sweetened condensed milk is no ... (more)
Speedy drove the girls back to the condo late last night. The third term of the school year officially begins tomorrow, January 4, and the girls were supposed to spend today clearing up their class schedules and finalizing their enrollment. As I watched the pick-up pull away from the front door, a wave of sadness ... (more)
New Year’s Eve was family day. It always is. And while we don’t do traditional stuff that are associated with superstitious beliefs, there are some traditional activities that we take part in. Like attending an annual reunion of Speedy’s clan (on his mother’s side) for lunch. While it’s always good to see the same old ... (more)
Have I mentioned that when my daughters are bored, they go into the kitchen to make something? Not a case of food craving since Speedy and I are often left to finish what they have made. It’s more of a need to create something with their hands. And it doesn’t really matter what time it ... (more)
Pops are cakes or cookies on sticks. You’ve probably seen them in bake shops and candy stores. They are very popular gift items especially during Valentine’s Day. You know, heart shaped cookies covered in red frosting with piped text that say a dozen different messages. They’re fun to eat but it’s even more fun to ... (more)
It’s our 20th wedding anniversary. When Speedy greeted me shortly after midnight, I exclaimed, “Imagine… 20 years of seeing you everyday…” And Sam interjected, “No, that’s 20 years of feeding him everyday… No, no… that’s 20 years of his tummy growing everyday.” Whaaatever. Earlier last night, Sam and I made this cake. Kit Kat cake, ... (more)
Alex has a potluck affair in school later today so, late last night, I baked a huge batch of butterscotch cookies with white chocolate morsels for her to bring (I will post the recipe later). But Sam also wanted to experiment with a marshmallow frosting so, after the second tray of cookies came out of ... (more)
A couple of years ago, Speedy’s brother, Sonny, and his family were in the country for a vacation. Since we were already living in the suburb by that time, we didn’t get to see them until a few days after their arrival. And when we did see them, well, to say that I was surprised ... (more)
When my in-laws came over on Sunday, they brought a huge bunch of suman and … »»
If you want a delicious and great-looking main dish for noche buena, … »»
There first time I served this salad at a dinner party, my friends were a … »»
The classic adobong sitaw gets more than a superficial facelift with the … »»
Ditch the canned fruit cocktail with the rubbery content that is 90% chewy … »»
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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