Sinigang Baboy

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

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

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

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

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

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!

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.