BrownOnRice

Meaty Balls

2010-08-31T11:49:00.001-07:00

I made these meatballs in the past. But this time, I was asked by request by my mama for this pasta dish. A previous egg noodle pasta was purchased, so why not use that?

Meat balls mixture all combined.

Mixity mix and shape into 1inch size balls.
Bake for 11-15mins on 375. This was done purely from a laziness perspective. Like Ron Popeil said, "Set it and forget it."

Cook noodles according to package.

Team players:

4 tomatoes blended to Magic Bullet perfection

1 shredded carrot
1/2 red onion
a couple cloves crushed garlic
handful of chopped up parsley

button mushrooms
spinach

Sautée the garlic and onions in EVOO, then add the mushrooms and carrots. Pour the tomato sauce, then throw in the meatballs and add S&P. Add the spinach and the parsley last.

Egg noodle pasta, then meaty sauce in a square bowl = dinner perfection!

Sinigang Baboy

2010-07-23T13:10:00.000-07:00

In Tagalog, you say baboy (bah-boy) for pig or pork and in Kapampangan, you say babi (bah-bee). I've made this before with shrimp, but I think pork is my favorite! There may be a bit of a variation in how I made it last time, but I think it's just based on preference and what you choose to put inside. Either method works well as long as the yield is a delicious soury sinigang sabaw (soup).
Don't forget your sour mix.
Veggies in the mixity mix.
I think the only newcomer is the long white root plant that my mama calls labanos. I believe this root plant is related to the radish family. Pretty good in the soup.
Look at these pretty medallion pieces I cut up of the labanos. I only used half of it cuz it was pretty larger and in charger.

Place pork in a large pot and fill with water. Add the sour mix with pepper, onion and tomato and boil until pork becomes tender.
I've resorted to seasoning/salting with patis or fish sauce. Don't be afraid of it. It can be a bit stinky, but it just gives off a different saltiness flavor as compared to using table salt.
Then when pork is tender and desired flavor is attained, add your veggies and serve hot with steamed white rice. Deeelicious!

Khao Kluk Kapi

2010-07-16T11:59:00.000-07:00

When my cousin suggested we create this Thai dish for dinner, I shared that I had never heard of it and needed visuals. Kuya then sent me a link to a beautifully plated dish and I was game. I googled what this dish consisted of and basically it means, fried rice with shrimp paste. This made me kinda excited cuz I kinda love shrimp paste, well bagoong, and any chance to consume that salty flavor, I'm all about.

Ingredients:

shrimp paste (main start)
coconut milk
green papaya
red onion
red bell pepper
lime and kalamansi
greens from the bok choy family
long beans (not photographed)
green onions (not photographed
steamed white rice (not photographed)
marinated pork (thanks to Kuya - he used Kikkoman mirin with some marmalade for sweetness)

To make Khao Kluk Kapi, Kuya said as long as we have the shrimp paste with rice and coconut milk mixture, we could add any and every color ingredient we wanted.

First,
Use the shrimp paste and coconut milk to flavor and add color to the steamed white rice.

Add a bit of olive oil to your non-stick pan, then add a tsp or two of the shrimp paste. Then add the rice and mix well. Really get that pink shrimp color all the way through. Taste to see if it's the saltiness you desire, then add a bit of the coconut milk, but only a few tablespoons at a time. The coconut milk helps to reduce the saltiness if your rice is too salty.

Kuya chopped all the veggies:
Everything was chopped into small pieces for easy plating and eating.

The bok choy were the only cooked veggies via blanching and everything else is fresh, fresh, fresh!

Pan seared the pork and then used oyster sauce as sort of glaze to brown it a little.

Then, the best part came. Kuya performed magic with the scrambled eggs. He used a ratio of 1 part eggs and 1 part milk. Then, check this out:

Wait for those bubbles to formulate. You want it to be super thin, almost crepe-like.
Roll, roll, roll.

Then carefully place on chopping board and slice up ribbons of scrambled eggs.
Finally, time to plate with all the different colors!
DEEELICIOUS!

Then for dessert, Kuya Ethan brought these from WF. Thank goodness I had lactase pills on hand.
Thank you Kuya and Kuya Ethan for such a wonderful cooking and dining experience sans looky-loos! It was such an enjoyable experience! I hope you will have me again for other tasty and very colorful meals. Amazing!

the return of....QUESO

2010-06-23T23:18:00.000-07:00

Just when you thought I gave up on lactose-full cheese, well here it comes again...I think it all started cuz of the buffalo burger. *shake my fist at you* Gawd I miss real cheese...so I had some with a lot of lactaid pills.

Love them flax seeds...

Plate.
Have your grandma stop and take at look at what you're doing.
Microwave that cheesy goodness.
Top with my garlic, black beans, corn and cilantro combo.
Then add the homemade guacamole y salsa AND Donezo!

I miss you real cheese...I miss you terribly.

TJ's Classic Buffalo Burger

2010-06-07T14:35:00.000-07:00

I had this once and I really enjoyed it. So when I came across it at Trader Joe's, it was a no brainer.

Star of the show:

Supporting cast and crew: Also a Trader Joe's find. Surprise! This was actually from Fresh 'N Easy...along with the spinach:
How to:

boil water for the past, cook according to directions

some crushed garlic in a pan with olive oil and broke up the buffalo bad boy

added the mushrooms

when pasta done, add the spinach with the buffalo and mushrooms

toss with pasta

Ta-da!
With just one patty, I was able to feed a hungry Ethel not once, not twice, but for three meals!

sidenote: I didn't read carefully and this had a bit of cheese in it...real cheese, not the lactose free kind...um, that's why it was so good. Really good at meal time, not so bueno after. woops!

It lasted one week

2010-06-07T14:02:00.000-07:00

I'm not gonna lie, I've been a fatty since getting back from Coachella. I have not frequented the gym, or done much in the vigorous activity department lately.

The last week of May though, I thought it would be best to document what I consumed in my attempt to be healthy and fit again.

Monday:
This consisted of scrambled egg and spinach sandwich on sourdough for breakfast, then I brought grilled chicken to make into a sandwich with a side of spinach and garlic potatoes salad.
(15min treadmill run and 30 min bike)

Tuesday:
I had left over potatoes that I threw in my scrambled egg with some spinach for breakfast. Then brought stuff to make another chicken sandwich for lunch along with an apple and banana to hold me over when snack time came.
(15min treadmill run, legs, 20min bike)

Wednesday:
I think I may have had only coffee for breakfast and then made this compo of asparagus, squash and lamb pieces with rice for lunch. This was eaten with a side of yogurt and banana for snacks and lots of green tea throughout the day.
(15min treadmill run, arms, 30min bike)

Thursday:
For breakfast, I toasted my sourdough bread and pan seared broccoli and tomatoes topped with a poached egg. Then I took the lamb that my mom turned into mechado and poured that over steamed broccoli and white rice. I always felt that some Filipino meals didn't have enough greens, so this was my attempt at remedying that.

Here's an up close and personal photo of the mechado for you. I made sure that there were extra potatoes to soak up that tomato saucey goodness.
(It was my last day to volunteer at the hospital for a while, so I didn't work out after...lazy)

Friday:
I had corn that I needed to cook still, so I tossed it in the toaster over and then used some of it to put on top of the leftover homemade chix fried rice from the night before and scrambled an extra side of egg. For lunch, a salad was in order after the heavy rice breakfast and this consisted of the rest of the corn atop a bed of romaine lettuce, bell peppers and chicken. Lime juice and salt for the dressing.
(I did not work out again.)

Progress? Well I thought so, but it's been a really slow on the wagon/off the wagon process. Suggestions on how to stay on the wagon welcome. Thanks!

Kuya's Brussel Sprout Salad

2010-06-03T09:43:00.000-07:00

I made an appearance at Fresh 'N Easy the other day and I came upon a bag of brussel sprouts. To be honest, I've never purchased brussel sprouts before because I've always had it at restaurants or at Ate P and Ate B's place. Braving it up, I put it in my basket.

When I got home, I wasn't really sure how I would prepare it, so I sent massive texts to my sister and cousins for suggestions. My Kuya totally came through. His suggestion was to create a salad with the leaves instead of sauteeing it like I've had it in the past.

Ingredients:

brussel sprouts
crushed garlic
mushrooms
nuts (I used pine nuts and walnuts)
dried cranberries
S&P
kalamansi juice (lemon juice or lime juice will work)

Cut the bottoms off the brussel sprouts to make it easier on peeling the leaves off.
Easy peasy...But not all the leaves come off all the way, so the leftover brussels, I saved and will use for another dish. Way to be green, right?
Beautiful and leafy.
Sautee the garlic with the broken pieces of mushrooms and crushed nuts.
Then add the dried cranz...I know it looks the same, but whatevs...
Then throw the brussel sprouts leaves just before you turn off the burner. Plate. Add freshly cracked salt and pepper, and squeeze the kalamansi juice and dig in! Refreshing, delicious and total Filipino mama approved. I dare you to try it, you will not be disappointed.

Lechon and pancit and lumpia! Oh my!

2010-05-26T22:20:00.001-07:00

A few Saturdays ago, I had mass amounts of Filipino foods. Two rounds of brown eats in one day made for a very full and very satisfied brown girl.

I was invited by my aunt to partake in her hometown's fiesta. She's originally from a province in the Philippines called Abucay in Bataan. This is pretty close to where my parents are from in Pampanga, but they speak Tagalog instead of Kapampangan. The day started off with a very Catholic mass and lots of singing in Tagalog. (I was surprised I knew how to read it and remembered some of the words to certain songs.) Then a procession with this GIANT Virgin Mary:
I wasn't kidding...Ate P, do you miss this? Literally 3 feet tall.

For any big Filipino celebration, you can count on having lechon as a main course. For those of you not familiar with lechon, it's pretty much a whole roasted pig. Mmm pork, the other white meat!
Totally donezo. Crispy and delicious.

Here was my plate.
The pancit isn't the normal pancit I've been posting about before. This is still a noodle dish, but I believe the Kapampangans call it "pancit palabok" so it's made with a different kind of sauce and the noodles are almost spaghetti-like. Then the crab dish is kind of like a crab quiche. This was by far my favorite because I absolutely love crab even though it's a pain to sift through to get all that meat. Thank goodness my aunts did that already for this dish. Then, there's the meat from the lechon with a gravy-like sauce. I call it a sarsa which I think pretty much just means sauce. Lastly, there was the calgareta that my uncle made. Not sure if this was beef or lamb, but this was my second favorite. (Sorry lechon). From my uncle's recipe, he said it was really simple because you can now buy a powdered mix that's specifically flavored for calgareta and then you just add the meat with potatoes, bell peppers, hot peppers, chickpeas and tomato sauce. Sooo good!

After these eats, I was off to make the regular pancit I make for my friend's graduation pot luck dinner. We also had some lumpia as well.
Pretty good spread, huh? Everyone brought something to the table.
This was a more Americanized plate as you can see with the salad and the tri tip. The salad was really good. It was spinach with candied walnuts, brie cheese and this poppy seed dressing. (Don't worry, I took several lactaid pills for the soft cheese.) Tri tip was beautifully pink. Then you have your standard pancit and lumpia that always makes an appearance. Then lastly, there was some siopao that the celebrant actually bought. Although they were packaged differently. I believe these were Chinese kind and were advertised as Bao Buns. Same dif.

Pretty good Filipino eats in one day ey?

Oh, lastly, here are photos of dessert. I can't recall where they're from, but so good! This chocolate one was for the celebrant. A beautiful and rich chocolate cake.
Congrats again S-bomb!

This teeny one, was for my friend who does not like chocolate. The debate's still out about letting him in the food circle. JK...hehe...His cupcake did look delicious as well.

Bar Food

2010-05-26T21:36:00.000-07:00

Great ambiance, great service, great whiskey, delicious foods. This is my new fave hot spot on the west side. I had heard of Bar Food in the past, but made an appearance only a month and a half ago for the first time for a friend's birthday. When asked where to have drinks for my bday this time around, I suggested the same place.

Drinks were in order:
Can't recall which actual number drink this was cuz I only took one photo, but it was Irish and it was good. No chaser! I know I started with a Tullamore Dew and I stuck to Irish, so I did my fair share of drinking..ahem...sampling.

And here were the eats...

Rachel ordered this one. Grilled cheese with tomato soup. Isn't that divine?
Thanks for letting me be a photog with your sammie Rach! Unfortunately, I did not use the flash, but look at how the real cheese melts and stretches...I miss you.

I had this one to split with Bianca:
We also shared sweet potato fries that came with a side of spicy mayo and boy were they AH-mazing!

Then when no one was looking I ordered another bar burger without cheese and my friend's bf tried to sneak a bite! Shame! But I knew better and kept that sucker tightly held in my clutches. Here's an up close and personal for you.
Yes, this was my own full second burger, but to be fair, I only had half of the first one. That bacon jam that it comes with tastes so good. Mmmm...I'm not gonna lie, I could have had a third. Oh and don't mind the extra squished ketchup and spicy mayo sauce containers on the side. Or the almost empty whiskey glass on the side. Pretty tasty meal to end the evening. Burger and Irish whiskey, what else can a brown girl ask for?

Sidenote: I have frequented Bar Food a multitude of times after said bday celebration, even during Happy Hour. Cool vibe and free hotdog with every HH drink. Not bad, ey? Oh and I have also tried their potato puffs with curry aioli sauce. Good as well, but I prefer the spicy mayo that accompanies the sweet potato fries. Just ask for it on the side, so delicious.

B2B stands for Burgers to Burgers

2010-05-20T00:25:00.000-07:00

I swear that's pretty much all we ate last weekend when I was up for Bay to Breakers. First off, the drive up entertained a pit stop at an In and Out...My friend Chris and I inhaled our burgers and fries...Unfortunately, no photo was taken, so you can't tell how much of a fatty I was. That was burger 1.

Saturday actually consisted of a nice little bike ride to brunch. A repeat of Axis Cafe.

Burger 2 was actually only consumed by Chris.
This was a Bison Burger with a roasted garlic aioli sauce, port salut cheese, tomatoes and a side of house fries. No complaints from this plate.

Kristine had the Tiger Prawn Wrap.
This was a spinach flour tortilla with avocado, napa cabbage, tomatoes, creme fraiche and a side salad. Trust that the wrap was inhaled.

I had this to start my day, while the other two had coffees.

With that, I had the cod fish tacos filled with napa cabbage, salsa verde, guacamole and a side salad.
I licked my plate clean, it was so good!

We then made our way to our friend Lucy's to make our costumes. Naturally, when you're hard at work, you need sustenance.

And here's my costume.

Most of the crew in their gear for B2B. Front.

Back.

Pit stop after B2B at Magnolia's where we all ordered the burger, but I had mine sans cheddar. This was called the Half Pound Prather Ranch Hamburger.
Totes delicious and also burger 3, but not the end.

On our drive back to L.A., we made an appearance at Carl's Jr. and this was burger 4. Fortunately, we were able to hold out until only about 100miles left out of L.A. Unfortunately for Chris, my Jalapeno burger came with the cheese I specifically asked to NOT be added. Pathetic.

Bday eats

2010-05-11T22:11:00.000-07:00

For a typical Filipino birthday, you're supposed to have noodles. So what did my bday eats consist of...

Pancit of course! Here's a repeat photo:
And some lumpia:
There was also some nilaga with loads of baby bok choy, carrots and potatoes, but we devoured it before any photos could be taken. This was all foods on Sunday, which coincidentally, I shared with Mother's Day. Hurray!

And here was the break time snack for K and I while we snuck out to go shopping, err window shopping.
Kristine got the pomegranate flavored yogurt while I got the new chocolate one and both with rice cakes...mmmm....sooo good and refreshing!

The night before, we went to a pretty cool whiskey bar called 7 Grand in Downtown L.A. for drinks and ended up eating these:A taco truck strategically placed just steps from the entrance/exit of the bar? Yes please! (p.s. I was really craving bacon wrapped hot dogs, but that was at the end of the block the other way...no dice)

There were some peeps that couldn't make it to Downtown, so repeat the following Wednesday and I had not one, but TWO of these:
"Thank you Bar Food, not only for your fine Irish Whiskey, but for delicious delights that help absorb it." (I think I'm starting a whiskey trend that I only follow.)

Oh and did you think I ended without a cake for my bday? Think again. The little sister bought me a whole plethora of highly concentrated dairy eats from Whole Foods... Mass lactaid pills were present before consuming these babies:
Check out my excitement! Even the father in the background had a taste.
I had a small piece out of every single cheesecake, plus an even bigger slice of the fruit tart with all that cream and didn't get sick thanks to all those pills...mmm...Win Ethel!

NYC State of Eats, err Mind

2010-05-09T21:40:00.000-07:00

I had a blast in NYC! It's an amazing city and I was "oo-ing" and "awe-ing" at pretty much every turn, building, subway station and even drug stores...You know Duane Reade is kinda popular there. They're "kind of a big deal."

But before I go off tangents, I would like to say thank you to my fabulous NYC tour guides Elise and Kyle, not only for housing me for 5 nights, but also for an amazing first time NY experience. "Unforgetable, that's what you are..."

Saturday:
Walk through Central Park

We ate at Joya in Brooklyn after walking on this bad boy. Elise has the food photos...mm..delicious!
Drinks at Boat Basin
More drinks back at E and K's
Then out for more! Sorry no photos there...

Sunday started off with brunch eats at Kingswood
Asparagus with prosciutto and poached egg...mmm...heaven when it comes to poached eggs.

Then a refreshing banana cashew shake from One Lucky Duck with cashew milk...sooo good...sadness no photo of the shake. (E's vegan-ness is totes sneaking up on me...and kinda like it...hehe)
Times Square...kinda like Vegas on crack minus the actual casinos
Eats at Blossom, a must see vegan hot spot.
This was the Seitan Marsala which consisted of sauteed kale, roasted fennel, yukon gold mash potatoes, seasonal mushrooms, pan sauce and it was just divine! This was the first time I had ever had seitan and let me tell you, pretty good! It had a chicken-like consistency and texture. Me likey!

Monday consisted of going to the MoMA and seeing Van Gogh's famous Starry Night.
Poor Elise, I kept making her inch her way towards the painting even after a security personnel had just shoo'd someone else to back off. My bad girl.

Then after that, I got another treat! Eating at the infamous Candle Cafe. Unfortunately, I have no photos cuz I kinda went camera crazy at the museum. So check them out on E's blog and she's got tons of other food photos that I failed to take or put here. Fail Ethel. Oh, but here's another vegan eats from Whole Foods...I could've been a vegan convert in NYC. Everything I ate was delicious!
Ok, skip to my 4.5hrs spent on Tuesday at the American Museum of Natural History and my final night in NYCizzle.
Strolled one last time through Central Park, then to Rockefeller Center, Bryant Park, Union Square and eventually for drinks and apps at Sidebar.

There had to be hummus...AND guac. Perfect combo!
Finally, after a few, I got dessert at One Lucky Duck around the corner. Had to try the oreo cookie and the mallomar...mmm...sooo good! This was the last of my vegan eats...good bye NYC, I shall return to conquer more of your eats!

"Cheese"

2010-05-07T18:46:00.000-07:00

Before heading to NYC a couple of weeks ago, I had a great dinner at my friend Rachel's place. I was really craving pizza, so I made the bold move of asking a cheese loving person if they would mind substituting regular cheese for a dairy-free, vegan cheese. Because she's such a great friend, always up to try new foods cuz she's a foodie, she was game for trying Daiya.

I picked this number up at the Whole Foods off Wilshire and 23rd.
Mmm...non dairy cheese! The star of the show.

Also at Whole Foods, I picked up whole wheat pizza dough. We rolled this flat to fit on her baking sheet and smothered it with Trader Joe's pizza sauce...

Rach sprinkling Daiya generously atop the pizza sauce....we didn't dare leave any red sauce part uncovered.
I thought that since we were going diary-free, vegan status on the cheese, why not have some bomb salami to go on top. Oh and the mushrooms were just cuz Rach and I love mushrooms...Oh the fungi, how we enjoy thee.
Baked at the go-to temp of 350 degrees for about 15-20 mins.

Good idea on the freshly baked corn off the cob Rach...pretty...
This of course went on top of our spinach, tomatoes, avocado salad combo to perfectly compliment our pizza slices..
And just like it says on the label, Daiya totally melted and stretched like real cheese! What say you about how this mozzarella "cheese" taste Rach? Totes good to me! =)

Craft Services A La AT&T

2010-04-28T22:37:00.000-07:00

This snackage contained almonds, dried cranberries, some seeds that look like peppitas from what I can gather from seeing photos on Elise's blog and this new bean shaped orange thing that reminded me of a cornut/cornic type consistency.

More craft services from the AT&T commercial that shot at the studio. Pretty healthy eats...

This combo consisted of a salad which contained: spinach, cucumber, jicama, tomatoes, black olives and balsamic dressing. Then there was the seared mahi mahi with wild rice and asparagus and lastly, the clams pasta. Mmm...pretty good, filling and very satisfying. Thanks to the catering genius called Toucan Catering, Inc.

I hope they come back. =)

I found a taco truck west of La Cienega!

2010-04-28T00:05:00.000-07:00

Ruben's Tacos (I think that's the name)

I have never seen taco trucks past a certain part of L.A. proper and I was quite impressed with the fact that there was one parked right on the corner of Santa Monica Blvd and Armacost. Crazy! I decided to share the taco truck experience with my friend from Melbourne who wanted to experience anything and everything L.A. Well, here's is must have experience fa sho.

We ordered a ton of carnitas, carne asada and chicken tacos.

Then there was this bad boy:
Well this was the display that made us want to order this on top of our many many tacos. This was some giant tortilla with beans, lettuce, tomato, avocado, cilantro and maybe a sliver of cheese on top. And in addition to this, we asked to have carne asada added as a side bonus.
Ours was the one to the left...hehe...sooo good! They folded it in half and it was like a quesadilla but so much better! Don't you just love taco truck foods? Happy belly.

Coachella-ella-ella Eats

2010-04-27T22:51:00.000-07:00

Apologies for being mia for a bit. Just wanted to share that Coachella was AWESOME! RIDIC! And pretty much EPIC!

Update: those tickets were fakies. Karma's a b!tch, so person who sold me those tix, watch out playa... Fortunately, in the end, I ended up purchasing one more ticket (a real one) and Kristine and Nick snuck in stealthily.

Long story short, we pretty much slept every night at about 4a and had these eats...

The ever famous lumpias (photo not taken so re-using the old one):

And a new fave, Mi goreng instant noodles. Better than your typical ramen.
So it's not a photo of the finished product, but that's because we couldn't be bothered to take photos in the wee hours of the night before devouring our eats. To share how bomb these were, I'd like to mention that these noodles came in a box of 40 and by the end, only 4 were packets were left over. A few of us also learned that maybe eating 2 packets in one sitting does not bode well in the tummy at 4 in the A.M.

There were some healthy meals in addition to aforementioned above and the copious amounts of alcohol consumed (maybe before noon, then after and then in the early am). It was Coachella!

Thanks to Lucy's fine cooking, she made us a frittata:
Lucy was so kind as to not put cheese on one side of the frittata for the lactose intolerant one. Thanks LJ. The other part of the compartment plate, open face avocado mashed up with tomato slices seasoned with a bit of s&p. And for a breakfast dessert, tangerines and banana. Mmm...
(p.s. I am aware that I used a styrofoam plate, no eco-friendly whatsoever...I'll make it up next time)

Vampire Weekend

HOVA

An appearance by Beyonce...Love her!

Muse light show! AWESOME!

My friend Rommel created a concoction of s&p, honey mustard and I think chopped onion to marinate chicken tenders he put on the grill. I cut up the chicken and put it in this lovely salad:
Pretty bright photo huh? Thanks new Sony camera! This was quite delicious. The one true healthy meal during my time in the desert.

And this is how our Coachella eats ended:
In and Out baby! Mmmm...with extra special sauce = deliciousness.

These photos don't do my weekend justice, but they're a little taste, a glimmer per se, of how epic the music festival was. Anyone down for next year?

Fakie Sweet and Sour

2010-04-14T22:54:00.000-07:00

Maybe "fakie" is not the most appropriate word to describe my dinner tonight. It was not really a fake sweet and sour meal per se, but I didn't make it, so I'm sorta A) pawning it off as my own when my mama really made it and B) my mama actually bought a bottle of sweet and sour and just added to it. By those statements, you could assume that it was fake, but it was pretty real and tasted pretty good on top of the fried fish that it was prepared with. Don't ask me what kind of fish though, all I know is that it was not tilapia, halibut or salmon.

Here's what mama started off with:
She bought this bottle of sweet and sour sauce at the local Pilipino market a couple of blocks from home at Island Pacific. I'm sure a bottle like this comes standard at any Asian grocery store. But she didn't use this straight out of the bottle. She added some fixins to it.

Slice into matchsticks:

ginger
onion
carrots
red bell pepper

She sautéed the ingredients above, then added the sweet and sour bottle sauce, then added a bit of water to dilute if too sweet (which she did). Place aside.

Looks like too much fake self tanner? Jersey Shore-esque? This could happen if you over do it ladies. But for us brownies, we just get browner. =)

Here was my contribution to the dinner:
Field of greens. Mmm...Wanna know what I seasoned them with? One guess...

Garlic! LOL!

Then for plating purposes, I decided this combo would photograph best with my leftover couscous.
Greens, fried fish with the sweet and sour sauce over it and a side of couscous. Plus side, this was all I ate! No seconds or anything! Progress, I think, yes.

p.s. Going to take a break from posting since I will be Coachella bound tomorrow evening. Fingers crossed the tickets I got are not "fakies". Lesson learned for sure. Perhaps this is what happens when the finances finally come together, but just a bit too late. But there's still a glimmer of hope, so positive thinking onwards!

A Jamie Oliver Salmon

2010-04-13T23:09:00.000-07:00

For those of you who are not on board yet, Jamie Oliver is an amazing chef and an even more amazing person for campaigning a Food Revolution. He's got this show on ABC appropriately called, Jamie Oliver's Food Revolution and it's such a great inspiration for us all to take better care of ourselves by really looking at what we put inside. I'm pretty much in love with this guy because he's so passionate about cooking healthy delicious food that anyone can make and enjoy at any age.

So now that I've properly plugged my fantasy husband, I'd like to share that I was browsing his site and came upon a pretty easy salmon dish. Technically it's called "crispy barbecued side of salmon with cucumber yoghurt." Pretty long title, huh? Don't worry, the steps were easy peasy.

Here are the ingredients I used:

salmon with skin on
crushed garlic (which the recipe didn't call for, but I LOVE garlic so in it went)
chopped basil
chopped mint
cucumber
plain yogurt
lemon zest and juice
salt & pepper
red pepper flakes (cuz I couldn't find a red pepper, sadness)
olive oil

Here's my salmon with the extra added garlic on top:
Slather on that garlic yo!

Cucumber with yogurt:
Side note: Do not over yogurt this sucker. I mean, you can barely make out the cucumbers, right?
Confession: I put extra mint leaves for the photo cuz it was blinding white and was not attractivo.

Oh, I made some couscous to throw on the side. I just LOVE couscous! Literally one of the easiest things to cook. EVER! EVER!

And my beautiful plating, yet again:
I bet if I let salmon with the basil, garlic and lemon sit longer, it would be much tastier. The skin was pretty crispy and delicious by itself, so overall, a pretty delectable dinner. Next time, less yogurt and more couscous.

Anyone have a favorite way they prepare their salmon? I think it would be nice for me to branch out from continuously seasoning meats with garlic. What say you?

Babalu Before the Rain

2010-04-12T23:41:00.000-07:00

On Sunday, it rained a ridiculous amount here in la la land. Thank goodness the rain-age kicked in later in the evening, and by later I mean, after we had our meal at Babalu Bakery and Restaurant. I was really craving black beans and plantains and Babalu was the closest go-to restaurant that had this combo to offer in their menu. Plus, my partner in crime was down to eat anything new, so we set off for Santa Monica.

They had a "Specials" menu in addition to their o.g. menu and I was almost side tracked to not order what I was craving, but in the end, the black beans and plantains won.

We ordered the calamari to start off with:
This was served with a regular cocktail sauce AND this delicious chipotle-basil aioli sauce. Mmm, this chipotle-basil sauce was delicious! I had to watch my friend enjoy its deliciousness, while I patiently waited for the server to confirm that there was in fact no dairy in the making of said sauce before diving in myself. Can't be too careful now. Man was this combo awesome! This was so good that even after all the calamari pieces had been consumed, my friend put all the deep fried batter pieces together, mixed it with the aioli and straight up ate it like that until no more fried deliciousness was to be seen on the platter. I. Was. Impressed!

Then the side of plantains came:
Ok, so this is considered part of the appetizer menu, but I treated it as part of my entrée AND my dessert.

My friend ordered from the "Specials" menu and had jerk chicken:
Isn't that pretty? So many colors! An A+ for plating fa sho! I can't recall what this dish encompassed, plus it's not on their webiste, but I can tell you it was amazingly flavorful! This chicken may have been marinated similar to the shrimp marinade because it had a hint of honey and ginger, but a bit of a kick to it. It was also paired with a cucumber slaw and steamed spinach.

I ordered the shrimp lumbego:
This dish had spiced shrimp marinated in ginger and honey, sautéed and served alongside a ginger-coco sauce, cucumber slaw and pineapple-coconut rice. Next time, no substitutions. I'm just going to order an extra SIDE of black beans to go with my dish instead of cutting out the slaw. This did not win for prettiest plating. No green whatsoever, but still very delicious nonetheless. To compensate, my friend placed sliver of his spinach on that upper left hand empty portion of my plate. No photo was available because I immediately devoured it, along with an appropriate portion of pineapple-coconut rice and black beans.

To be honest, I think the chicken was the best choice out of the two dishes because it was just so tender and moist, so full of flavor. The shrimp was a bit over cooked, so it wasn't as juicy as the chicken was. Overall, excellent dishes and we left very satisfied.

Unfortunately, there no room for dessert since we still pretty much licked our plates clean, so I guess it means a future trip has to be made. =)

Check out my Un-vegan Vegan Meal

2010-04-08T22:16:00.001-07:00

Just to preface, this was a previously made meal several nights ago. I wanted to post something new tonight, but like the curly fries incident, today, I had a Girl Scout's Samoa cookie. This was the only thing out of the ordinary for my meal today, cuz everything was leftovers from last night, so I deduced it was the cookie's fault. My stomach was not happy with me again today, and with my luck, the pains were pretty severe while I was still at work. So with my luck, I curled up into a fetal position, after consuming some pepto and after several hours, I got the strength to make miso soup with extra tofu again. I shall post those pathetic pictures later. For now, here are some good eats!

I normally have a stock of random soups in the cupboard for days when I'm too lazy to make anything while lacking the funds to go get take out. I've seen this trend with Elise as well and so I thought of her when I was at TJ's the other day.

My vegan purchase:
I was quite proud that I purchased organic, but didn't actually realize that this was vegan until it was time to pull it out of the cupboards for a trial run. I didn't really mind, but I was rather hungry that night and decided it would be best to add extra goodies.

A chicken breast was pan seared with my faves; crushed garlic, s&p, cayenne pepper and paprika. Then I cut it up into chunks and threw it in the split pea soup pot. Delicata squash and kamote chunks also made appearances and this doubled the serving size to 2!
Pretty genius, huh? This photo does not do this dish justice. It was beautiful and chunkified.

For color in my plating, I sliced up an orange bell pepper and used them as a dipping device.
Impressed? I think you should be. It wasn't so much soup at this point, but it accomplished the goal of being very satisfying. I bet you can even use this combo of eats as an appetizer for party since it's so chunky and colorful. Way to use that noggin to increase the serving size amount, right?

Black Beans Chicken Enchiladas

2010-04-07T22:53:00.000-07:00

Today, I was very productive at work and when I was all done, I decided that a good meal would be a good reward for me. So, I went with my go-to meal, Mexican! I actually talked to a Mexican as well, my friend Nick, and he suggested something in the casserole family. Although, if you knew me, you would know that I'm not the hugest fan of casseroles. But he did give me the idea of utilizing the oven, so I deduced that enchiladas would be a good Mexican dish for the evening.

I then immediately craved black beans, so they would be my main superstar. Then, I used the Food Network to find a good black beans enchilada. I confessed to my sister and my friend Bianca, on gchat, that I had been searching for about half an hour for the perfect black beans enchilada and none sufficed. You would think that with the internet at my finger tips I'd be able to find one, but instead, I found one to mimic and alter.

Main superstar:
The supporting cast:

And yes, Elise, that totally says "Soy" on the label. Proud? I chose soy because if you read yesterday's post, then combine the fact that I'm lactose intolerant, you would do the same thing. No messing with lactaid pills tonight.

I also conjured up Ate Pammy's salsa recipe. She posted it in a comment on This is for Porter. Although, I have to confess, "Ate, I did not do your salsa justice because I didn't use ripe tomatoes and used lemon instead of lime. It was a bit sour at first, then I had to pour out half of the Magic Bullet blended goodness so I could add riper tomatoes and half an avocado as well. I also put some cayenne pepper and paprika for a more reddish color. It's not as good as how you make it."

Ok, with that confession out of the way, here's the list of what I used for my fillers:

1 can of black beans, drained
1 chicken breast, cubed
1/2 a red onion
a clove or two of crushed garlic
homemade salsa (not as good as Ate's)
1/2 can of corn
1/2 can of water chestnuts, quartered (inspired by the chicken enchilada Sandra makes cuz she adds these to them and cuz they were leftover from the other night)
a couple bunches of roughly chopped cilantro
paprika
cayenne pepper
cumin
s & p
extra virgin olive oil

I cooked the chicken with the garlic and onions first and threw in the powdered spices. When the chicken was nearly done, I added the black beans and my homemade salsa. Then just before turning the burner off, I added the corn, water chestnuts and the cilantro.
Sorry a bit blurry. Then toss when burner is off.
I used half of this mix to put into my tortillas since I only wanted to make a few for tonight and lunch the next day. The rest of the mix will be used as a separate meal, or maybe with other sides for another night. I was able to "roll" 5 of these blue corn tortillas and I use quotation marks because they did not stay rolled. I can say with confidence that I will not be using corn tortillas in the future. While they are tasty, there were some major cracking of the tortillas after I had placed them in dish, seam side down. No problema though, I just covered up the evidence with the soy cheese goodness.
Um, ya, I slathered on the soy cheese. I mean, even if it was real cheese and there wasn't tortilla break-age, I'd still coat this with cheese like it's my j-o-bizzle. Oh ya, so as not to have them stick on the dish, I added some of the salsa on the bottom before placing the enchiladas on top.

Side note: Preheat oven to 400 degrees and bake for 15mins or until cheese has melted to your liking.
Looks good, doesn't it?! Job well done you!
Confession: This was actually the second plating of the enchilada because the first one didn't have as much color. I ended up adding chopped tomatoes and cilantro to garnish. What did I do with the first plate you ask? Um, I ate it of course! Soy cheese, you're my favorite new lover, well, second to Jamie Oliver that is.

Totally tooting my own horn here, but I want to share that my mama had some with me as a "snack" after just having dinner. And we may have left just barely enough leftovers for a lunch to pack for myself tomorrow.

Result = Happy Belly.

Operation Moderation = A big fat ZERO for the day.

Comfort in an old friend

2010-04-06T22:02:00.000-07:00

Today, I did a bad thing.

I ate a handful of Jack in the Box seasoned curly fries. My boss had some for lunch, and since I had just finished my lunch about an hour or so beforehand, it was nearing snack time and they became the go-to snack. Bad Ethel! Curly fries are a no no. A few hours later, on my way home, the estomago was no bueno. All I wanted to do was be in a fetal position in bed and make the pain stop.

I thought, "Oh no, what am I gonna to eat for dinner now?"

Seriously, who thinks about their next meal while their stomach is in severe agonizing pain? Um, this girl. So while I was driving, I made up my mind to eat something sorta bland that evening, maybe incorporate my leftover tofu. As I got closer to home, I pulled into this Japanese market nearby to pick up miso soup mix and udon noodles. I recall a few years ago when I came back from snowboarding all black and blue with bruises and my best friend at the time made this delicious udon noodles soup with baby bok choy and chicken. The combo of the warmth of the soup and the fact that it was made just for me, felt so comforting that I decided that dish would make my stomach feel better.

I purchased a side of Pepto along with my miso and udon mixes.

White miso soup mix:
The clerk told me that the white kind was the most popular. Only $3.19 for a 3 pack.

Basically, this mix only requirement was boiling water. I decided to be more adventurous and add 1/4 block of my leftover tofu while the water was boiling, then added the miso mix.
Would you like some miso soup with your tofu? Lol. A little too much tofu you think? Me thinks not!

After I had my appetizer, I decided my stomach can handle more foods. Unfortunately, I don't think it wanted more soupy products, so I decided to alter my udon noodles concoction. Here's the mix I bought:
This mix only required boiling water as well. You throw the udon in the pot of boiling water, let boil for 2 min, then right before turning off the burner, you add the seasoning mix. Thank goodness we had baby bok choy left.
I added this into the pot after the seasoning mix, but kept it boiling for a bit longer to allow the bok choy and udon to soak up the flavor. A minute or two later, I drained the liquid and took out about half the udon noodles.
The rest of the contents, I put in a different bowl and put chunks of chicken breast pieces I took from my mama's baked chicken. Garnished with some green onions...and perfection!
It was nice that this had just a hint of the udon mix season. My stomach was pleasantly surprised. My mama even tried some and she really enjoyed it. She even made fun of me as I ate because the crunch from my baby bok choy was so loud it sounded like I was eating chips. I think that's a compliment to the fact that I don't massacre my veggies. This was totally the comfort food my stomach needed. Such a horror it went through after the curly fries consumption. Sorry stomach, I hope to avoid such fried eats in the future.

Eating Right Re-mix

2010-04-05T23:23:00.000-07:00

I've been purchasing Eating Right single serve frozen meals sporadically in the past couple of years, mostly when they're on sale for only $2 a box. And to be honest, they're quite good. The only problem is, there's never enough of it to really satisfy my hunger. Sure they're good for snacks because they're only 280 calories, or maybe even a stretch at 350. But to be honest, while this is supposed to suggest how much one person should serve themselves, it's just not enough and I'm left feeling unsatisfied.

This time I had a plan. Take this box chicken teriyaki meal:
Place contents of box into a wok, then add a whole sliced up bell pepper (orange to be exact), additional already cooked chicken breast (maybe it was half a chicken breast, I can't be sure), "stir fry", and lookie here:

Serving size doubled in the flashiest of flashes! Result, a very satisfied customer.

Skip to tonight and I wanted to re-create this dish with tofu instead of chicken to help exercise the self control, a.ka. operation moderation. Mix a light soy sauce with brown sugar, taste to your liking. Then cube tofu and let marinate in the soy mixture.

Prep the veggies:

Bell peppers, water chestnuts, onion and green onions.

Toss the tofu in the wok with some crush garlic and grated ginger:
Throw in some crushed red pepper flakes for a bit of spice, then add the onions and stir fry until they become kinda clear. Mix in the rest of the veggies, plus some last minute baby bok choy:
Taste and add salt/pepper if necessary. This wasn't too shabby, but in the future, I may need to add that chicken and rice for added texture variety in my mouth. But, not bad for a veggie meal.

Such pretty colors, right? Do I think this counted as a single serving size according to Eating Right? Um, let's just say that this may have fed a small village in the PI if you threw some rice up in there. The plus side, I didn't finish it all, so I have leftover eats for lunch. =)

A peek at our Easter eats

2010-04-04T13:55:00.001-07:00

The handa (food spread or food menu) for today's Easter Eats included, but were not limited to, sinigang hipon and pancit bihon. I'd like to preface that the seasonings to flavor these dishes is not the o.g. way of doing things, and instead an "instant" powder was used.

Sinigang hipon - others may cook it differently, but the key ingredient is this Tamarind Soup Mix:

Sabaw = soup, Sampalok = tamarind. Next time, I'm gonna do the actual labor process of using real sampalok.

We used the shrimp with head and shell still intact and boiled this in a pot of water. After the shrimp turned a bit pink, remove shrimp:

Then with the water in the pot still boiling, add gabi (a form of taro, a root plant), tomato, onion and jalapeño.

Throw in the boiling pot:

Add tamarind mix for the sour flavor and some fish sauce for saltiness. Let simmer until gabi is soft, like the consistency of potato before mashing. Then add the shrimp back.

When you're ready to serve it, throw in some veggies like eggplant:

And some kangkong, or water spinach:

Side note, put the veggies in the pot after you've turned the burner off so as not to have dilapidated or brown vegetables.

See how green vegetables can still be in this dish? Served with steamed white rice.

Next, the pancit bihon was prepared. And like the sinigang, instant seasoning care of Mama Sita was used:
A stock was prepared by boiling pork and chicken (bone in) in a pot of boiling water. While this was going on, we cut up onion, cabbage and carrots into matchsticks for the recado (this is all the ingredients that's not noodles). We used sotanghon noodles (vermicelli glass noodles) for this dish because they didn't break apart when tossed with all the ingredients.
Shrimp was pan seared in one of mama's giant woks and then remove from oil. Then add the onions, cut up pork and chicken, toss. Then add the cabbage and carrots.
Remember the stock that had the chicken and pork? Add the pancit bihon mix and let boil. Use this as the liquid to soften the noodles.
Then add the vermicelli noodles and stir to evenly cook all the noodles.

Two sandoks (ladle) are better than one.
After much stirring, and when the vermicelli noodles are soft, plate and serve.

If you have kalamansi (a type of citrus, like a non-oblong shaped kumkwat), serve on the side. Or else you can just use some lemon. Eaten during merienda (snack time).

As an extra added 411, we also had some lumpia, daeng bangus, pata in lutong toyo, boiled peanuts and mama's ginatan just in cases. What'd you have for your Easter Feast?

Unholy Beef

2010-04-01T09:54:00.000-07:00

Growing up in a Catholic household, there were tons of "rules" that I didn't get. I questioned them, but the answers were normally pretty vagued or dismissed.

I was trying to figure out what I would be making for dinner last night when I saw my dad grilling large chunks of rib-eye. "Ooo, delicous", I thought to myself. But then I realized I had a piece of leftover chicken breast in the fridge and I didn't want that to go to waste so I asked my dad if he could save the leftover beef he didn't cook for me to make for tomorrow, Thursday. Well, my mama was not too pleased with this request because she informed me how it would be Thursday of Holy Week and I shouldn't eat beef. Ok, long story short, my mother did not have the best response when I questioned why it would be "unholy" of me to not eat meat Wed night but eat it Thurs night, versus eating the beef Wed night and being "holy" and not eat beef Thurs night.

Bare with me, here's my father's response in clarifying my mother's answer to me:
"The Papacy years ago said that during the lenten season, as a form of sacrifice, we should refrain from eating meat on Fridays. Then it was added to not eat meat during Holy Week as well. Since I can't fulfill the request to not eat meat during all of Holy Week, I'm doing the best I can by not eating meat the remaining days of the week, Thursday, Friday and Saturday before Easter. Therefore, I am eating the beef today instead. And so you should do the same and have beef today instead of tomorrow."

Do you think my question was answered? *Shrug* Sure, right? Apologies for the long explanation while I prefaced I was gonna give the short version. Trust me, if you know my dad, this was definitely the short version.

So I ate the beef last night:

I wanted to show you all that I slathered this with crushed garlic. Isn't that a beautiful cut of meat? Gorgeous! Oh yeah, it also had salt, pepper, cayenne pepper and paprika.I paired it with a grilled corn, my mashed up delicata and kamote, some more garlic with a hint of fresh basil, and a giant salad of romaine lettuce, English cucumber and tomato. The red was used strictly for color purposes.

Beef grilled to medium/medium rare is next to my corn to show you it's not a very larege piece of meat. Portion control yo! Here's another photo for your pleasure...

Loved my meat, corn was ok, salad was phabulous and the mashed up goodness didn't need so much garlic, or basil. My sides weren't stellar, but justice was done to that unholy beef. Mmm.

MTV Eats

2010-03-30T23:24:00.000-07:00

Working for a studio definitely has its perks. I've been "in the industry" for a little over a year and a half now and I've come to really appreciate all of the hard work that goes into putting a production together. Caveat: I actually work for a studio rental facility, which means that people/studios/production companies come to check out our buildings and sets, then decide on whether or not they would like to rent the place to film or shoot at. Sometimes we get big budget TV shows or movies filming and other times, and recently it's been more often than not, it's been low budget, webisodes or ultra ultra low budget productions that film. Don't get me wrong, I think everyone has a right to be able to express their artistic abilities in film, but I just prefer the ones with the bigger budget. You wanna know why? Cuz they have catering...hehe...

I covet the words, "Craft services." It's like music to my ears. The bigger the show, usually means the bigger the budget for foods. MTV was here these past few days and here's what I captured in one day's eats:

This was actually the second half of my BLT with avocado sandwich that I ordered from the catering truck parked on the lot. The crew was in kinda early, but talent wasn't to arrive until noon, so this was served around 11ish and technically called "breakfast". Glorious, right? They had an amazing menu of anything and everything breakfasty written on this white board just outside of the truck. I wanted everything on it, but since I had already eaten a breakfast at home, I figured a lunch meal would be best.

Well because it was "breakfast", there was an option for pancakes. Again, I don't want to go into technicalities, but for me, this was lunch and so pancakes looked like it was a good candidate for a "dessert" dish. I know what you're thinking, "Man, lots of quotation marks." But you know what, that's seriously how I was deducing logic in my head. I mean, I couldn't call the pancakes as a breakfast dessert, or could I?

Anyways, I just wanted a little sliver and here's what the cooks came up with:

How sweet were they to slice up strawberries and then dust it off with some powdered sugar! And then if that wasn't sweet enough, I drizzled some syrup on this baby. Mmm...perfect last taste!

Finally, when the 3pm lull came around, craft services has snacks readily available. This consisted of an assortment of nuts, dried strawberries and mango, and then just for the pure salt factor, I placed some salami slices with crackers on my tiny, tiny, plate saucer.

See the pen beside it for effect? Well I wanted to demonstrate how tiny this plate really was. =)

Was it the best craft services I'd ever had? No. But am I complaining? No. Why not? Well, to be honest, it was free. Sad factor, this was considered "breakfast" and so 6hrs later the "lunch" meal would be served. It was rather unfortunate that by the time "lunch" was served, it was past 5pm and I was to be on my drive home. *Sigh*

Nonetheless, I am a fan craft services, so please keep them coming production companies. My belly thanks you in advance.

Orange you glad I didn't say banana?

2010-03-30T23:04:00.000-07:00

I immediately thought of this statement when I was plating this meal the other night. I had recently made purchases at A-Grocery, an Asian market in Echo Park and picked up some delightful treats. I had recently read in one of Elise's posts that she thought she probably found the last ever delicata squash in all of New York. News flash miss Rubia, they come a-plenty here in good old Cali. =) So with that in mind, I purchased 2 delicata squash, a kamote, and threw in a sweet potato.

Cleaved in half and baked with a little olive oil and salt/pepper combo, here is what the eats looked like:

Pretty grill marks, huh? Well, they're fakies because I used this pan with ridges that just happened to make "grill" indentions (and brown-ness) on these lovely veggies. Do you think that's what KFC uses for their "grilled" chicken? Haven't tried it, don't want to...

Moving on.

I knew I had to incorporate all these colors somehow, but I didn't know with what. Then my mama reminded me I had left over shrimp in the fridge and needed to be utilized asap before it went bad (or before she cooked it herself). Pan seared the shrimp with my fave, garlic, and then did a rough chop of some romaine lettuce for a variety in color. Shrimp cooked, check. Lettuce cut, check. Squash, kamote and sweet potato diced, check. I threw all the ingredients together in a bowl and it was an orange color explosion!

Well, I guess it's not as dramatic as I made it to be, but look at all the different shade of orange in that bowl. Sprinkled some salt and peppa, then a smidgen of honey mustard dressing for extra sweetness and I called it dinner. =)

p.s. I didn't know what kamute was in English, until just now thanks to the magic of Google. I guess it is another form of sweet potato or yam. What I found odd was that it wasn't orange at all and it wasn't as sweet as the orange sweet potato. Hmm... go figure.

Balls of Meat

2010-03-28T00:05:00.000-07:00

Growing up, I always associated meatballs with spaghetti. It was something I craved if we ate out at an Italian restaurant because we never had that at home. So when I started to cook for myself, I googled my way into a pretty bomb meatball recipe. The thing is, I still associated meatballs with spaghetti. But a couple of weekends ago, I visited my friend and her fam bam in Malibu and we had a fabulous dinner that consisted of lamb meatballs, lemon rice and Greek salad. Looks like you can have meatballs sans the spaghetti!

I decided to mimic this dish, except with beef meatballs and Greek salad without feta cheese (lactose intolerance totally kicking in).

Meatballs ingredients:

1 lb lean ground beef
a couple cloves of crushed garlic
1/4 of a grated red onion
handful of chopped parsley
handful of Italian bread crumbs
handful of chopped basil
an egg
tsp or so of worchestershire sauce
salt and pepper

Mix all the ingredients thoroughly and then roll one inch or so in diameter meatballs. I cooked these on a flat grill pan to try to get all the meatballs cooked in one schwoop.

Success! Browned balls to perfection!

For the lemon rice, my friend Bianca mentioned these ingredients:

cup of white rice (you can probably use basmati rice)
cup and a half of water
lemon zest from one lemon
1/2 of that lemon juice
tsp of olive oil
salt to taste
chopped parsley for plating

Can you see a bit of the lemon zest? I added a bit more for presentation after fluffing the rice with the chopped parsley. If you can't see the yellow zestiness, perhaps this brown girl needs an actual camera...ahem, little sister Kristine, Ate put this on her bday wish list. Thanks!

Finally, I created my Greek salad with these ingredients:

romaine lettuce
English cucumbers (this one is because it reminded me of Rachel when I was at the store)
tomatoes
a combo of different olives from the Vons olive section
balsamic vinaigrette
salt and pepper to taste

Pretty colors. Me likey.

And here's the combo package:

I only had what was on this plate. Definitely operation moderation. I mean, I snacked a few pieces of pita bread and tomato basil hummus while all this was cooking, so my belly was prepped to eat a well portioned dinner. =) But, I did slather on some of that hummus on top of the meatballs. I learned that from the hummus queen.

p.s. The best thing about this dish, leftovers for a work lunch. Sweet!

My version of "Pinakbet"

2010-03-24T22:24:00.000-07:00

It's always hard to cook for one sometimes. I would rather cook for several than for one, so that I may have others to enjoy the foods with, AND to get positive or negative feedback. (Sidenote: That totally reminded me of my MCDB classes...ah the positive and negative feedback loops.) Ok, derailed a bit, but like I said, it's nice to get feedback. Recently it's been my mama who's had to sample some of my eats and she approved of this one.

There was still leftover delicata squash and like Elise, it's now become my favorite squash. It's very flavorful and easy to cook, and cleave in half, but the thing that gets me excited is that the skin peels off really well after it's been baked. So with the delicata in mind, I thought that I could incorporate it with my already peeled and deveined shrimp from the night before. I prepped the shrimp ahead of time for moments just like tonight. What else to add? Well, I had my snow peas and Indian eggplants, so my taste buds were formulating a craving for this dish called pinakbet or pakbet for short.

I believe this might be a Kapampangan and Tagalog dish, but that's only because those are the Flips in my household and that's who I've seen make it. Pakbet normally consists of long string beans, calabasa (the regular orange squash), eggplant, shrimp (and sometimes pieces of pork) flavored with shrimp paste. I wasn't too keen on recreating all of that, so I tailored my pakbet a little.

Here's what I used:

9 medium size peeled and deveined shrimp
a handful of snow peas
3 Indian eggplants sliced
1/2 baked delicata squash, diced
1 clove of crushed garlic
a smidgen of shrimp paste
salt

Here's my prepping of the snow peas and eggplants:

Oh ya, make sure you take off the ends of the snow peas because it tends to be quiet chewy and not the most pleasant of chomping experiences. I love the cute mini eggplant discs...hehe

Easily peel-able delicata...

Then I threw in the crushed garlic (which may actually be more like 2 or 3 cloves) in my wok with hot vegetable oil. I let that simmer a bit and then put the shrimp on. I really was only going to have 8 shrimps, but then with my mama as the taste tester, I put in 9 so that I could have 4 shrimps for dinner tonight and 4 for my lunch tomorrow, plus the one for mama makes 9. Operation Moderation yo!

See the little straggler on the upper right? Ya, he was a mistake, but a pretty good one to keep it fair for my meal tonight and tomorrow. After these were a good pink hue, I took them off the wok and placed the veggies in. I cooked them for a bit before adding the shrimp paste on. I literally added like a thumbnail looking amount in the wok. I didn't want the shrimp paste flavor to be over powering, nor did I want it to be too salty since I added salt to the shrimp, but I did want that pinakbet flavor.

Pretty huh? I plated this over a decently sized portion of steamed white rice and saved the rest for tomorrow's lunch.

This was just the hint of pinakbet flavor I needed. I think my parents were a bit impressed, well maybe not so much impressed, but I think they're proud that I'm trying to revamp some of these Filipino dishes. There's something to be said when the veggies you're biting into are still colorful and crunchy. I feel like veggies are more enjoyable, and to add, flavorful, when it's not all dilapidated and brown, right? That said, I welcome other cultural inspired eats that you've added a slight variation to. Cheers!

Operation Moderation 1 (Thai inspired)

2010-03-23T22:30:00.000-07:00

I'd like to reiterate that the weekend in nor cal was absolutely wonderful! I especially enjoyed spending time with my favorite whities, Elise and Kyle. They are getting married at the end of the summer and I am so honored to be a part of their ceremony. We met up Friday afternoon and carried on conversing for over 8hrs! Impressed? Well, we're pretty bomb like that.

Anywho, E and I were exchanging stories about foods, diet, exercise (or lack there of). And like the Sale girls, Elise shares her passion for food and sometimes lack of moderation and self control. So we devised a plan to power through this problema. We made a bet. Yup, that's right, we have a bet going to see who can be more toned and fit come her bridal shower at the end of May. This is a very friendly competition, purely for motivational reasons and also the prize is a pretty sweet one. The winner gets to be taken to dinner at Tom Colicchio's restaurant Craft.

Upon my return, I decided to whip up a little something from this Thai cookbook I took from my sister, technically it was Ate Pammy's, so it's ok. There was this egg noodle dish with shrimp that looked simple enough, but I didn't bring the list of ingredients with me, so I improvised.

I scrapped the shrimp cuz it would've taken forever to peel and devein. I utilized these frozen scallops instead.

The Asian market I went to had such thrifty finds that I may have gone overboard and basically purchased items the dish didn't really require. This prepared meal was not really the dish in the cookbook.

Here's what I came up with:

a clove of crushed garlic
a handful of chopped cilantro
scallops
egg noodles
snow peas
shredded carrots
sides of Indian eggplant and Delicata squash
fish sauce to taste

Rando? A little. I placed the garlic with the cilantro in a heated wok with olive oil. Then I placed the scallops and tossed for a bit. I put the snow peas in and then thought, this needs more color, so I started shredding half a carrot over the wok.

I stirred this for a bit and added some fish sauce until my egg noodles were done boiling in the next burner. Here's where I thought I practiced moderation. The egg noodles I purchased came in these 10 individual balls of noodles. The package also said that this was for a serving size of 10. So, since I was making this for my dinner and then lunch the next day, I naturally placed 2 of the noodle balls in the boiling water. But as they were boiling, it looked like it wouldn't be enough to hold me over, so in went an additional noodle ball. Fail? How about we call it a good starting point?

This is what I plated for myself which totally contained 1.5 servings of the noodles. I think that's pretty good for me. Then since I was craving more veggies, I actually cut a piece off my baked delicata squash (1/4 to be exact) and only ONE of my baked Indian eggplants.

Operation Moderation is going to be a slow and steady process. This was pretty good considering the only things I got right from the recipe were the egg noodles, garlic and cilantro. Whatever, it's a work in progress. Also, according to Elise's latest post about being healthy, I could win a fabulous giveaway. A healthy heart, portion control eating and exercise are in my immediate future. Well technically starting now.

Oh and for my leftovers for lunch, I added an extra eggplant cuz the one did not suffice for dinner. I may have gone to bed a bit hungry, but I powered through with an episode of Modern Family on Hulu.

p.s. I rationalized my 1.5 serving of noodles because I actually did one session of a P90X routine that night. Proud? It'll be a while before one can be proud. Day one. =)

Leisurely breakfast at Axis Cafe

2010-03-23T21:55:00.000-07:00

Being in San Francisco with my sister always means eating well. That's what we do when we're together. We eat and do our best to be Ladies of Leisure. We achieved this by going to this cafe that Kristine and I often pass by and have been curious to check out.

It used to be rare to be out by where my sister lives in SF and have it be sunny and glorious. But now, it's been awesome coming up for a visit and I've been blessed with sun shiny rays every time. Axis Cafe is kind of nondescript when you drive by it, but inside it's cozy and very inviting. We totally could've sat inside, but the patio was calling our name.

Lady of leisure loungin...

(This may be a contender for new FB profile photo...LOL)

Notice that cup of java next to me, well it's a bit deceiving because when I ordered my soy macchiato with a splash of caramel, I was expecting a humungo cup, but here's what I got.

Tiny Dancer, ey? No problemo. It was still very enjoyable. Kristine had boring iced tea, so therefore, no photo...haha

There's really no branching out for me when I see huevos rancheros on the brunch menu. I feel like if it's on the menu, especially if it's a new place, it just calls my name. So you can guess what I ordered.

Square plate? Of course! And yummy eggs over easy for yolky goodness.

Kristine ordered an even better dish. She went outside the box and took to the tuna tartar immediately. Did it matter that this dish was under the "Starters" part of the menu? Nope dot com.

Lemme tell you, this tartar was bomb diggity! The hearts of palm make a huge difference in flavor. Probably the best tuna tartar I've had to date.

But wait, did you think we were gonna eat our well plated portions as is? Oh no, the Sale girls exercise little to no moderation or self control. Plus, since we're Filipino, we were taken when the waitress called the roasted potatoes, "house fries".

Beautiful! We shared both dishes of course, but it was tough to decide what the last taste would be. I decided on a baked wonton with a scoop of the tartar, but in the end, since we had potatoes left, potatoes it became. (Insert lack of self control.)

Does anyone else do the last taste? I totally started doing it because my cousins Pam and Bernie did it. I don't do it all the time like I used to, but when I'm out, I like to savor all the flavors of my meal and having a last taste lets me do that.

This is for Porter

2010-03-16T22:51:00.000-07:00

My friend Porter is a dear friend of mine that passionately loves food just as much as I do. We could talk about food all day long, while we're eating, when we're full and then talk about what we'd consume for our next meal. This is why he got along so well living with Ate Pammy and why he's pretty much part of the fam bam. The Sale cousins have approved that Porter's passion for food is equal to theirs and this post is dedicated to him.

Mexican has always been a go-to type of meal and I thought of Porter as I prepared my tacos. This meal initially started with my craving for guacamole, then I thought, "well I already have cilantro, why not throw in some salsa." After a good deal of snacking on chips with melted extra sharp cheddar cheese and guacamole and salsa, I figured the theme could carry over into my lunch for the next day.

I grilled two chicken tenders with some crushed garlic, cayenne pepper, cumin, paprika and S&P for lunch the next day. I packed 4 corn tortillas for 2 tacos along with two leaves of romaine lettuce. I also individually packed the guacamole and salsa in separate containers so as not to touch until combined on my tacos.

Here was the result:

Lovely, right? Oh and check out the side of flax seed tortilla chips from Trader Jose's.

Here's a close up:

The next day, I switched it up and had left over basa fish instead of chicken. The fish was also grilled with the same seasonings as the chicken, and to be honest, I think it was so much better. (Sorry no photo, I ate it before I could remember to be a photog...)

Mexican foods, easy and delicious! Es verdad, si?

Sidenote: My Ate Pam has a really good recipe for salsa that requires boiling of the tomatoes and easily blend-able in the Magic Bullet. Ate, do you care to share?

Elise Inspired Eats

2010-03-11T10:36:00.000-08:00

One of my best friends Elise has an amazing vegan blog called HungryHungryHippie and I read it religiously. There are food combos in there that I can see myself making with the addition of some real meat unlike the fakies she uses. No offense E. So as I navigate through her list of eats, I've tailored some of my dinners with her in mind. Below are the food combos I've come up with.

Elise has had several posts regarding squash, so when I went to the Asian market the other day, I came across kabocha squash and decied to make use of it. To my surprise, this is the same kind my mama uses for some of her dishes, but growing up I only knew it as a calabasa, plain squash. I salted and peppered like E does and baked in the oven. Fyi, totally encountered the problem of cutting this bad boy in half because the skin's so tough. Solution: I used one of those large Asian cleavers. Very powerful.

Result:

Orange goodness!

Dinner combo #1:

I cut up some of the kabocha into cubes and added some sauteed shitake mushrooms and sunburst squash. This was pretty good by itself so I attempted to eat a strictly veeggie dinner. Mission accomplished! I was quite full afterwards. Oh and btw, I totally had more than the cover shot here, so don't worry, my appetite is still in full effect.

Dinner combo #2:

Kabocha cubes tossed with pieces of asparagus as my side.

Sorry I took a bite before the photo opt, but this was my open-face sandwich using the kabocha squash as the spread with spinach and pieces of shredded chix on top with a bit of balsamic vinaigrette as a light dressing. This was pretty delicious and the side asparagus and kabocha kept me very satisfied.

Dinner combo #3:

This may not look like the most appetizing of meals, but this was really really good! This has slices of beef in a bed of romaine lettuce, l.o. kabocha chunks, l.o. black beans with bell peppers and some garlic croutons, lightly drizzled with a honey mustard dressing. I just wanted a hint of sweetness so that's why the honey mustard made an appearance, otherwise, you can probably have it without since the black beans and squash were pretty flavorful already due to them being leftovers. DEEE-licious!

Lastly, I was reading E's post, appropriately titled, "My Salsa" and I was inspired to have avocado in my salad. I knew I really wanted beef for dinner last night so I pan seared this sirloin my parents bought with crushed garlic, cayenne pepper, paprika, S&P and a dash of cumin. Then I tossed in the remaining leftover black bleans with chunks of avocado in the same pan after cooking the beef.

So here's dinner combo #4:

Beef, avocado and black beans on a bed of mix baby greens, no dressing = total taste bud satisfaction! Salamat to my wonderful friend for being clever enough so I can piggy back on her creations. =)

Balikbayan Pasalubong Eats!

2010-03-07T12:36:00.000-08:00

My parents recently came back from their 40yr high school reunion in the motherland. The word, balikbayan literally means "return to country." (Balik - return, Bayan - country)

Whenever anyone in the family goes anywhere, it's kind of a rule that you bring back with you some pasalubong. This pretty much is translated to "souvenir" that you bring back for other people. In this case, my parents brought tons of edible pasalubong back from the Philippines.

Confession: Pasalubong items, especially when they're food, are my favorite part of traveling.

Can't go wrong when you get these eats from the homeland:

Mini empanadas, purchased literally the day of my parents' departure so when they arrived here in the states, they were still soft and delicious. Filled with chicken and potatoes, similar to the Mexican empanadas you may have had, I think I may have consumed more than the "suggested" amount. I figure, they're "mini" so you're allowed to eat more than normal, right?

Hopia is the package I'm holding above. This sweet delicacy is made up normally of sweet mung beans or ube (a sweet purple root) inside a flaky bread-like consistency. This particular hopia had kundol, described by my mama and grandmother as a sort of sweet melon that they use when it's really ripe and then make into a paste to put inside. Whatever kind of hopia it is, trust it's gonna be a good, light delicious dessert.

Garlic peanuts are a delicious snack of the Kapampangan peoples. I may or may not have woken up in the middle of the night recently to grab a handful and eat them under the covers. Don't judge, sometimes there just isn't anything else that can tame the growling beast. Garlic peanuts has been my go to snack, until we run out of course. In the background of my fave garlic peanuts, San Miguel 3-in-1 coffee makes an appearance. Kristine, Ate P, Ate B and I totally fell in love with these instant coffee packets when we traveled last to the motherland. Thank goodness Mama and her sister remembered my love affair with San Mig. Mmm...instant!

Yup, you read this correctly, "Dried melon seeds". So unlike the American watermelon, the ones from the Philippines have GI-nourmous seeds. Called butol pakwan (seeds of watermelon), like sunflower seeds or pumpkin seeds, this is a good pastime snack. Don't worry, these aren't the seeds that people spit out when eating watermelon. My mama said that my grandparents used to specifically harvest the seeds and dry them out and store them for future snackage.

Mmmm, watermelon seeds. Mama and I have serious competitions on who can peel the most. One time, I even exercised the will power to not eat the inside of the seeds after peeling. Instead, I saved them and then when I finally had about 30 or so peeled in a pile, I put it all in my mouth in one schwoop! Soooo good! This was definitely an accomplishment. I mean, that's a lot of self control to not eat something so good. Can you tell I'm proud? =)

And this is why I love pasalubong eats.

Food Fair by Diego

2010-03-02T22:33:00.000-08:00

Sometimes I think it's hard to branch out and eat at new places you're not normally familiar with, or accustomed to, when you're by yourself. I feel like it's easier to share new experiences when you're with good company.

This was my experience this past rainy Saturday at Food Fair by Diego. My friend Alene and I decided to have a lunch date and she suggested this location. She recently purchased a coupon from Groupon she wanted to utilize, so I was game.

Food Fair is a cute, quaint restaurant, for about 25-20 people, located in a mini-mall a block north of Farmers Market. Cute ambiance and lack of the familiar Saturday lunch goers, allowed for A and I to really take our time and enjoy our meals. There were plenty of delicious platters on the menu, but A and I couldn't take our eyes off the burger combo. So instead of branching out and trying something different, call us boring, but burgers were the feast of the day.

Check out this monstrous baby:

Cooked to medium rare perfection, simplicity is key. This burger was massive dressed with cheddar cheese, fried onions, the staple lettuce and tomato and a side of their in-house chips. No dressing was on this burger, but a side of bbq was plated in a tiny platter for your dipping pleasure.

Also in the background were the extra pickles A and I asked for, plated on a cute little platter of course! Plating is totally key. This burger was so tender and juicy, it didn't need the pickles, but it was nice to have them on the side. LOVE PICKLES! This dish is definitely a good dish to order if you're reluctant to branch out and be bold. Trust there will be a next time. =) Absolute meaty deliciousness! Mmmm...

Mama's Mussels Soup

2010-02-22T22:11:00.000-08:00

My mom makes this mussels soup at least once a month when either her or my dad want sabaw (soup). Normally she stocks up with the frozen green mussels purchased at the Asian market, just in cases. Unfortunately, this was another last minute meal we put together when I was in San Francisco last weekend and sadly, Safeway did not have the frozen kind, so it was off to the freshness. (A bit more expensive, but totally worth it!)

Grocery list:

2lbs black mussels
small ginger root, peeled and sliced
1 medium onion, sliced
2 tomatoes, quartered
bunch of green onions (use only green part, cut in half)
salt

The mussels were washed and we tried to get rid of the "beard" part, but then we just gave up and left them on. I sautéed the ginger with the onions for a few minutes in a large pot, then threw in the mussels. According to my mama, ginger is used to reduce the fishy flavor of the mussels. Then, I added enough water to cover the mussels, seasoned with some salt, threw in the green onions and tomatoes, then covered and let simmer.

The mussels opened up on their own. I love all green and red colors in this photo. It's almost Christmas-esque, right?

We had the soup with steamed white rice. AND because Ate B was feeling extra Filipino, we fried some lumpia on the side as well. Trust me, we didn't mind the extra fried food, right LC?

A little FYI: Kristine, Ate B and I totally munched on Hot Cheetos while prepping for this dish. I had to get the large bag cuz Kristine warned me that if we bought the regular bag, she would NOT share! Oh youngest child.

Cheers to Rach and her "El Torito" Shrimp

2010-02-22T21:22:00.000-08:00

My friend Rachel tried to mimic this shrimp dish she had once at El Torito Grill in BH. She then tried to recreate this for me again during one of our Friday night dinners. So when I was in San Francisco last weekend, not knowing what to make for dinner for Ate Bernie and Kristine, I made a bold move and attempted to make this dish.

My cousin, Ate Bernie, lives in the Inner Richmond of San Francisco and it almost resembles a mini Chinatown or just Asian grocery stores galore. The ingredients were easy to find and as a bonus, fairly on the cheap side.

Grocery list:

1lb shrimp with head off, but shell on (I like the shell for flavor)
1 red bell pepper
1 green bell pepper
1 medium onion
cilantro
garlic
a can of black beans
a can of diced tomatoes
rice
1/2 a lime

Spices list:

salt and pepper
cumin
paprika
cayenne pepper
garlic powder
BBQ sauce

I deveined the shrimp but left the shells on. Marinate these with all the spices on the list, the juice of 1/2 a lime and some cilantro. I used a plastic bag to hold all these ingredients and then refrigerated. Approximately 4tbsp of BBQ sauce was used.

This dish was paired with black beans with the bell peppers and "Spanish" rice.

For the rice, I used Jasmine rice with the diced tomatoes, cilantro and additional water all thrown in the rice cooker. This is probably best made in a pot on the stove. I had to cook it for a bit longer cuz the rice cooker wasn't built to cook rice in a tomato-ey sauce.

The "Spanish" rice needed some additional seasonings when it was finally cooked. It was a bit bland. =/

The bell peppers were diced, along with half the onion. I used a garlic press on 2 cloves and threw these in a pan. This was seasoned with all of the spices above minus the BBQ sauce. Then I removed half of the veggies off the pot and placed them aside. In the pan, I added the black beans and threw in some cilantro.

Mmmm, doesn't this look delicious?!

After the beans were done, I took them off the pot and reused it for the shrimp. I added a bit more crushed garlic before placing the shrimp in the pan for a bit more flavor. Then I placed the shrimp and the rest of the bell pepper medley.

These babies took about 8-10mins to cook.

TA-DAH! Shrimp goodness.

Square plate! This was just a photo opt. I had WAY more than the photo above. In Tagalog, this was masarap. In Kapampangan, this was manyaman. (Translation, both mean "delicious".) Ate B and Kristine were not disappointed.

Salamat (thank you) Rach for the recipe!

Not your typical Filipino breakfast

2010-02-17T22:35:00.000-08:00

I had a glorious weekend in San Francisco this past weekend! To my surprise, my sister is doing quite well and she impressed me with her cooking. Like her, breakfast has now become a favorite meal of the day, besides happy hour of course...hehe...(that's another story).

Our beautiful Saturday started off with a run towards the AT&T ball park. (Kristine lives a mere mile or so south of it.) Such a great run! We ended up stopping and stretching our legs at this little place:

What an amazing looking stadium! It's one of my faves. I've witnessed many a games here and I absolutely adore the location and view! We stopped to stretched and just take in the view for a bit before heading to Safeway to gather a few goodies for breakfast.

Sidenote: On our way back we indulged in the sweet sweet sounds of Phoenix, the Wolfgang Amadeus album, with the use of K's ipizzle. I highly recommend this album. Talagang masanting ya! Kapampangan for, "It's really good!" Confession: There may have been some skipping on the way back...hehe

The ingredients for breakfast consisted of toasted sliced bread, asparagus, grape tomatoes, avocado mashed up, bacon and my first Kristine made poached eggs. All I did was slice up bread to toast and then spread the avocado on these babies. The rest was performed by the little Sale. I was so proud. She lightly seared the asparagus with a bit of s&p, then threw in the tomatoes while cooking the bacon. Then at the end, I witnessed the poaching of the eggs. This will completely change the way I eat breakfast at home. I think frying of the eggs over-easy will be a thing of the past! JK, I love love fried eggs (and spam)! I just won't have them as often since poached eggs have entered my life. So anywho, here's the beautifully prepared breakfast that the little one prepared for her Ate (big sister in Tagalog).

Well done Kristine! Muy delicioso!

Best part about poached eggs...the runny yolk...mmm....Who's with me?

Lumpia, all by myself!

2010-02-08T22:31:00.000-08:00

I am so proud of this most recent accomplishment! Can you tell by the title?

This fried goodness is a staple at Filipino parties. I had this once for a birthday party and people inhaled it, and then got sick from too much of the fried deliciousness. (Well, and the fact that it was paired with copious amounts of alcohol.) Anyways, I have been meaning to create this dish all by myself and so I think the perfect opportunity presented itself for the Super Bowl.

Confession: You could also look at the situation in the way I originally saw it, which was, "I'm screwed. Mom is home in the motherland and I can't bother the Grandma to make it, so I have to make it myself. Bleh!"

Ok, so I only thought that for a second, but the outcome was glorious! Check it...

Ingredients:

2lbs ground pork (from the Asian market)
1 pack of wrappers, cut in half (Menlo brand, see below)
3 large eggs
2 carrots, peeled, then grated
2 medium onions, peeled and grated
3 green onion stems, diced
1tsp salt
1tbsp sugar

Lumpia Wrapper - usually has 30 wrappers, ideal for 2lbs of pork to yield 60 lumpia pieces

You don't need to grate the carrots and onions all the way, just as long as you get most of it. I grated them over the ground pork, then added the diced green onions and the eggs.

Mix all the ingredients together. I put gloves on for mixing, it can get pretty mushy. Then I put it in the fridge to harden, sorta. This effect makes it easier for rolling the lumpia because it's not so soggy. While this is in the fridge, you should utilize this time to peel the wrappers apart from each other, after you've cut them in half. I used a kitchen scissor for accuracy. =)

After refrigeration, it's time to wrap. I use a tagnan, or chopping board if you're not Kapampangan, to place my wrapper on top of so as not to get the table dirty. Also have a mini bowl of water and teaspoon handy for measuring the amount of lumpia mix to put on the wrapper and the water for sealing it when you're done.

Take about a teaspoonful of the lumpia mix and place on the lower half of the wrapper.

Make sure you have a little bit of room at the bottom for folding over so you can tighten the roll and push the mix towards the bottom.

It took a while to get the hang of this rolling business, but I perfected my lumpia size to a little bit bigger than the diameter as my index finger. This is normally the size people go for. It should looked like a taquito or rolled taco. Make sure the mix gets to the edges as well, if not, you may need to add more.

When you're almost done rolling, use the water like you're sealing an envelope, and add a bit to the top. The water will keep them sealed and then place seal down on a platter. Line them up like little soldiers on a platter and stick in the freezer. This is important if you're making mass amounts like my mom. They're easier to package when they're all frozen and hard because they're easier to stack.

Look at how tightly packaged these babies are! LOL!

After being frozen overnight, I pulled them out for the Super Bowl festivities! Let them sit out for a bit and pull them apart. Put enough oil in a pan to submerge the lumpias halfway. You don't want to completely submerge them when frying because in my experience, the lumpia gets over saturated with oil and the wrapper splits open. I personally used vegetable oil, but other oils used for frying will do.

I like to place them neatly organized in the pan so they fry evenly. They take approximately 5-7 mins to brown per side on medium heat. Check on them every once in a while to prevent burning.

I cut them in half to make it easier to plate on the platter for the party.

Viola! Fried pork deliciousness!

Eat them by themselves, or dip them in banana ketchup like Jufran or a sweet & sour chili sauce. Normally, I eat them with a side of white rice and banana ketchup. Mangan na! (Kapampangan for, Let's eat now!)

Cafe Stella gets an "A"

2010-02-06T21:36:00.000-08:00

Last Saturday, I enjoyed brunch with my friend Chris. We met up at the Silverlake junction and after a bit of scoping, landed at Cafe Stella. I have been meaning to check this place out for some time now, but the "stellar" prices always detered me. Fortunately, this time thanks to my indecisive state of mind, Chris wanted to make an appearance despite the pricey-ness.

So putting price on the side, we decided to live it up. This meant that I didn't just order plain water as a beverage, I actually ordered a $5+ soy latte. I don't think I'm a cheapskate when it comes to a good meal, but I was reluctant to spend that much money until I saw this:

Presentation is totally key, so when this pretty, and quite large, cup of latte was placed before me, cinco dolares sorta made it worth it.

There were a few things on the menu that I couldn't decide on, but eventually, I gave into my craving and opted for the eggs benedict. This was a beautifully presented dish, but sadly, it didn't look like very much, so I had to order a side of toast.

Photo of toast not taken...I also forgot to take photos of Chris' bubbly mimosa and his chicken apple sausage dish that included toast and eggs, and I think potatoes. I was a bit jealous he had more foods on his plate than me, but in the end, it didn't matter because I was definitely full and the eggs benedict were so bomb diggity! This dish had thinly sliced criss cut potatoes on the bottom that looked like those from Carl's Jr, but so much better. Then the next layer had crispy bacon, not ham (thank god!), topped with poached eggs and a really light, not too creamy, hollandaise sauce. It was really delicious and I think if there were 3 servings instead of 2, I would not have needed the toast for filler.

Conclusion: Cafe Stella is a great little hidden jem at the Silverlake junction because of its ambiance and flavorful breakfast dishes. It was a bit pricey for my taste given the amount. I suppose my comparison of quantity comes from going to breakfast places where they give an enourmous amount of food that could feed a mini village in the Philippines. I vow to try this place again next time, but for a lunch or dinner outing instead of brunch. I may just be pleasantly surprised the next time, so I'm keeping an open mind. So, despite the price, I'd like to say, "Cafe Stella, you get an 'A' in presentation and taste!" (Even though this was more than what I would normally spend on a breakfast, I was not disappointed.)

What's E-40's favorite cheese?

2010-02-01T21:35:00.000-08:00

GOUDA!

I had dinner with my friend Rachel one night and instead of cooking, we decided to take a friend of ours' approach and Whole Foods it up. Like always the case, I think our eyes were bigger than our stomachs when we filled up our to-go boxes full of food from the hot bar. Before leaving, we decided it would be nice to have appetizers before our gigantic meals and perused the cheese section.

(Note: I have found it weird that when I first developed my intolerance for lactose, I didn't mind not eating so much dairy products as the Filipino diet that I was accustomed to rarely consisted or any dairy by-products. But, as I befriended more people that expressed strong passion for the glucose and galactose product, I too developed a taste for it.)

Back to the cheese section...

Rach is a pretty big cheese fan, so I entrusted her with the decision of what kind to purchase. Unfortunately (or fortunately, depending on how you look at it), WF has a plethora cheeses and this proved be quite a dilemma. Insert "behind-the-counter-cheese-guy". He cones to our rescue and we ask him what his favorite cheese is. He then points us to the Gouda on sale...My kind of guy. We are the kind of girls who appreciate sales. He asked us if we wanted to try it first and you don't dare deny free. The flavor was of a slightly salty taste with a bit of bite. This was called, Unie Kaas Robusto. Originally this bad boy was something like $18.99/lb, but today, well, it was only $9.99/lb. So without further adieu, off we went to enjoy our newly purchased cheese, french bread to accompany it, and our hot bar foods. It was the perfect combo to our WF meals and we were both left full and very satisfied.

Fast forward to the next night, I took the rest of the gouda home with me and I may or may not have a problem with laziness or a possible obsession with the cheese.

Here's what my next two nights of dinner consisted of:

Night 1: Gouda - for its deliciousness, salami - for the saltiness, bread - to neutralize the cheese and salami, and tomatoes - for the pure fact of having something of the fruits/veggie family on my plate

For Night 2:

Gouda and an appearance of extra sharp cheddar with salami, then edamame and corn as my "veggie" side dish. (Thanks to your tupperware eats E!)

Moral of the story, put laziness and lack of self control together and Ethel can make a meal with cheese as the main superstar. (But that's not something to strive for, right?)

Finally, I close with a confession...I did manage to have self control and saved a small piece of this gouda to savor until I wrote this post. Unfortunately, I really don't care that I'm lactose intolerant, so I'm eating the gouda without taking a lactaid pill...hehe...Don't worry, no one else is here. =D

p.s. I blame Ate P and Ate B, Kristine, Sandra and Rachel for my love of cheese despite the internal pain it causes...literally!

Improvisation at its finest

2010-01-26T21:53:00.000-08:00

I am a fan of cooking on the stove. By this I mean that I enjoy putting things in a pan and throwing ingredients to cook and seasoning to taste. This isn't the case when you bake. I try to avoid baking because A) we don't have the best oven at home and B) once it's in the oven, it's pretty much finalized. You can't add ingredients or spices to your edible eats when you bake, so if you mess up, you're pretty much screwed. (Right Ate P? I know how baking cookies made you a bit neurotic those few instances...jk...hehe)

Ok, so here's me taking a stab at baking. It was just pizza, but I had my moments.

Box of Jiffy Pizza Crust Mix:

Next to that fabulous looking pizza slice on the box, it says, "Just Add Water"

With the water added, I mixed it all together. It then required me to cover and store in a warm area of about 85 degrees. Well, it has been pretty "cold" here lately, so I improvised. I placed the covered bowl in front of my space heater and turned it on low. Don't laugh! It required that temperature for about 5mins.

Afterwards, I was supposed to knead it on top of a flour-covered surface. Um well...I didn't have flour, so again, pure magic happened. I busted out with the left over tempura mix we have at home and placed that on my work surface. I figure it's a "powdery" consistency so it could work.

It should not look like this:

I decided to use all of the tempura mix and thank goodness it looked like this:

Now time to shape it onto a 14x10 inch pan...oh wait, don't have that either...Improvise! I busted out with this baking sheet like thing we bake chicken on and removed the top grill part. Voilà, my attempt at shaping my crust into a square:

I then placed it in the oven for 3-5mins to harden...may have placed a little too long:

Then drenched it with sauce:

I had older looking basil that still smelled fresh, but was starting to brown, so I put them on to be covered by the other toppings:

Finished all of my shredded mozzarella and sliced salami:

Confession, I took it out of the oven again and put fresh basil and slices of grape tomatoes on top. I didn't want my basil to burn so I added it during the last 5mins of the baking process:

Oh yeah, I baked this bad boy at 425 degrees for about 18mins, not counting the 3mins to harden the crust. Pure deliciousness! Oh and btw, square plates are on my to-do list. I promise!

Plus, I had a glass (or two) of this sucker...

I bought this bottle at Trader Joe's a few weeks ago cuz it was cheap, $4.95 or so and check out the cool flying pig image. Sold! Not the best, but it did its job. I was definitely satisfied. =D

Manna hoses you down!

2010-01-24T22:45:00.000-08:00

Last Wednesday, we celebrated a friend's bday at this outdoor Korean bbq place in K-town. The week had already been quite a wet one for southern cali, but I am not one to turn down "all you can eat meat," so off I ventured to Manna Korean BBQ. I had been here before, but never like the experience I had that night. I guess they're pretty well known for bringing champagne out for the birthday celebrants with ridiculously loud bday music playing in the background. It was a pretty spectacular production.

All the "condiments" were placed at the table in mini plates. (Sadly the plates were round, not squared.)

We were then asked what kind of meats we wanted from the "all you can eat" selection. I think we were all in agreement, "All of the above please." Two grills, not one, were turned on for us in order to efficiently produce copious amounts of meat for our party of 8. Hite beer was served all around while we waited semi patiently for the meat to cook. Once a piece of meat was cooked, it was served and consumed immediately.

Ok, so the above photo doesn't show cooked meat, but lemme tell you, it smelled glorious! Marinated beef, pork and chicken all combined together, making your mouth water. Confession, probably not the most sanitary of ways to cook all those meat products due to cross contamination of salmonella and such, but it's over an "open" flame so bacteria is being burned on the spot, right? "Right!" says the science major who studied gram-negative and gram-positive bacteria. *wink* Nonetheless, all tasted delicious!

After consumption of not one, not two, but 3 rounds of "all you can eat" meat platters for 8, I gracefully excused myself to the restroom...Not to do number 2!!! I had to check to see if I had beef in between my teeth in the mirror! Upon exiting the restroom, I was asked by the server if it was time for the champagne, I said, "Yes, please." The LOUD birthday music came on and servers were then with their prospective tables equipped with a couple of high class champagne bottles, a little something called André. The champagne is then popped, shaken (not stirred) and our birthday celebrant was then approached by our server and he freaking got HOSED like a thirteen year old girl in R.Kelly's rap videos (or home movies). Our birthday boy was drenched in André from head to toe. Luckily it was only his work clothes, so nothing too fancy, ya know? Sadly, I have no photos of the drenched birthday boy, but I'm sure you get the picture. Good times Manna. I will make it a point to say no if anyone ever suggests we celebrate my birthday there. Thank you for the heads up. :) But, No thank you.

Tips when going out for Korean BBQ:

Make sure the meal prior to having your KBBQ meal is a small one, or better yet, just don't eat beforehand.
Wear loose fitting clothing, you know the ones where you have room to "expand"
Lastly, try to keep one of the cooking tongs at all times, so you can have free range to pick and choose the meat you desire. It's just better when you're in control, right?

p.s. I was sooo full when I got home later that night, that going to bed was just not an option. So what is a girl to do to pass the time? I painted my nails! It took over 2 hours to paint this little number on both my hands and feet. Long much? I know, but I'm pretty pleased with the outcome. Elise, this is for you. Look beyond my beautifully painted "electric blue" nails and check out that brown-ness of a leg behind it. This is me in the "winter" time during the rainy days of L.A. Are you ready for me in August?

Mirabelle's on Sunset

2010-01-22T12:06:00.000-08:00

A couple of Fridays ago, I was invited for drinks for a friend's birthday. I had my reservations about heading out to the Sunset Strip because...

A) I don't frequent it due to mass amounts of traffic getting since you can only take side streets (I know I should be used to it since it's L.A. but I can still complain!)

B) I always feel like you have to get super dressed up or put in tons of effort to look as if it just took you a few minutes to get ready since it IS the SUNSET STRIP

and C) the drinks are mucho expensivo!

So after overcoming aforementioned reasons, I put on a dress, a thick black belt and my black boots as an attempt to look put together. The drive wasn't too bad, but as soon as I hit La Brea, I started getting that nervous anxious feeling because I didn't want to be THAT driver who drives ever so slowly on Sunset because they're a tourist and trying to take in all the sites...oh no, I was not gonna be THAT girl. I had google mapped it beforehand, but as I got closer to the cross street, I have to admit, I did slooow my pace.

Upon arriving, I found my way to the bar area and surveyed the room for my friends. No one recognizable, so off I went to the bar area to send my text that I was there and to not look like a loser standing in the middle of a bar all by my lonesome with a dumb, perplexed expression. Immediately after taking a seat, the bartender asked if I wanted a drink...great customer service on her part. I kindly refused and said that I was waiting for a party to arrive. She then called the Host over and he asked who I was waiting for. With no names mentioned, I was graciously directed to my friend's table, all seated right behind me...THE WHOLE TIME! I had a "duh" moment and then immediately dismissed it when a glass of vino was poured for my drinking pleasure. =D

And here was the first taste of deliciousness that night:

The service was impeccable! My water was constantly being refilled and my plate with my empty lobster/prawns/oyster shells were constantly being switched out for a brand new one when there was nearly zero part of the plate to add food to. AH-mazing! Thank goodness I brought mass amounts of Lactaid pills cuz the next thing they brought out consisted of a large amount of cheesy goodness. One dish was this amazingly delicious cheese from Greece that was pan seared and then a flame thrown on the sizzling platter. The second was this dish with giant prawns with feta cheese...mmm...so good!

But here's where it got interesting...the desserts looked like little bits of heaven. At this point, I had to remove my chunky black belt to make room for the sweets and to be honest, it started to feel like bondage, so I ditched the sucker. Bring on the desserts!

crème brulée

chocolate soufflé

and lastly...apple pie à la mode

All were unbelievable, but my fave had to be the soufflé. Every bite was pure deliciousness...mmm...the perfect spoonful consisted of the soufflé with a bit of vanilla ice cream, doused with chocolate syrup. Pure ecstasy in yo mouth!

Thanks to the wonderful servers at Mirabelle and my fabulous friend Bianca for such a wonderful dining experience! (and getting the tab taken care of a la el boss wasn't too shabby either *wink*) A satisfied customer may be coming back real soon...hehe...Happy Birthday B!

Filipino Torta

2010-01-19T22:36:00.000-08:00

I’m not sure if this is really the definition of a Filipino torta, but it’s what I’ve been calling it for as long as I remember my mom making the concoction of the giniling babi (Kapampangan for ground pork, which my mom made with potatoes and some bell peppers) all mixed in a scrambled egg. We called this a torta. If it’s not called that, well I’m still calling it a torta. So I was running a bit late this morning and I ask my mom to make me one like hers since hers looked so appetizing for breakfast. Sadly, we ran out of Jufran (this sweet Filipino banana ketchup), so I settled for the organic ketchup from Trader Joe’s instead. I packed this torta on top of white rice with the ketchup on the side. This is what I took with me to work cuz I didn’t have time to eat it for breakfast at home.

Looks more like a tortilla española, huh? Except... it's filled with pork deliciousness!

the New Year's First Eats

2010-01-19T21:44:00.000-08:00

January 4th, first Monday of 2010 and it was already go go go. Work was actually eventful, which I think is a good sign in ringing in business for the new year. I brought my lunch for work which consisted of a salad made with:

lettuce
tomatoes
red bell peppers
corn
black beans
grilled chicken
homemade salsa and guacamole

I totally forgot to bring a lime wedge, but I made do (sorry no photo). I also brought extra salsa and guac for my tortilla chips, purchased from Fresh ‘N Easy. It’s starting to be a staple grocery store for me since it’s right below the gym I go to. I also brought a banana and an apple, but the apple was only consumed post gym time.

Around 5ish, I jammed and headed home so I could change for the gym and try to beat all the “new year’s resolution” goers…but alas, they beat me to it. The treadmill was a pain to get to, the weights I needed were impossible to find, so I had to alter my gym time routine. After the treadmill, weights, then a few extra miles on the bike, I did the best I could at stretching and utilizing some of my breathing skillz I acquired from my free yoga sesh yesterday at YogaWorks. I may have annoyed the people I was stretching with due to my heavy and yes, oh so loud, breathing, but I didn’t care. Hello, yoga is a state of mind, thank you! I made an appearance at Fresh ‘N Easy. I immediately gravitated towards the bag of lime flavored kettle chips and then after lollygagging for a few, grabbed a butternut squash soup for mom and an extra sharp cheddar cheese for moi. I hadn’t really committed to what to make for dinner yet, so I bought extra cheese just in case my taste buds were in the mood for a quesadilla.

Upon getting home, I realized I had some WAY overdue basil in the fridge that I needed to utilize stat, or else I’d be wasting foods. And in these tough economic times, there is no room for being wasteful. So I committed to a pasta dish for the evening and threw my chicken in the pan with a RIDIC amount of crushed garlic. (Sidenote: it pays to have parents and a gma who also love love garlic that they peel and grind/crush that shizz for you and bottle them up!) While the breasts were slowly cooking, I decided to Magic Bullet it up and put all my tomatoes with the basil together so the sauce would be all chunky. Alas, I think I put too much basil, to be non-wasteful of course, and a bit too much parsley that it was kinda potent and not so tomato-ey tasting. Oh yeah, and I over did it on the salt-age, so it was slightly salty as well.

Then I diced some onions and threw them into the pan after turning over the chicken. When they were a bit ready, I cut them up, threw them back in the pan and then doused it with the Magic blended goodness. In the end, there was still a bit of saltiness that I couldn’t dilute, no matter how much water I put, so I blended another tomato and just threw the pasta in the sauce to soak up the rest of the delicious goodness.

Oh yeah, I failed to mention that while this whole process was going on, I munched on the kettle chips, but only a few handfuls, and tried a bit of the butternut squash soup. At first the soup was sorta sweet, which I guess is to be expected. But then, I added some croutons for crunch and a dash of freshly grated parmesan cheese…hehe…lactose intolerance, you don’t bother me when I’m at home! A very delicious dinner indeed...Lastly, I topped it off with some cut up strawberries for dessert. I had to sift through them cuz the whole package was only $0.99 from Jon’s. And yes, it’s called Jon’s, not Von’s. Not a spelling error. They’re a pretty prominent store on this side of L.A., and cheaper too! Not too many greens in the meal, but at least I made it from scratch, right?!