A Breakfast Date

fried rice, beef tapa, scrambled egg

scrambled egg, bacon and toasted bread

I recently had an early morning date with my husband. He treated me for breakfast at the coffeeshop of East Asia Royale Hotel. We seldom go out and eat without the kids in tow and it was one of those rare moments that there were only just the two of us. We ordered these sumptuous breakfast fare and we downed all of these with coffee and orange juice.

It was such a nice way to start the day. . .
yummy breakfast. . .
nice place. . . .
interesting conversation. . ..

It was one of the dates we have had that is truly worth remembering!

n.b. looking forward to another gastronomic date. . . .:-D

The Garden Beside my Kitchen

Makeshift platforms used by our home builders turned out to be very useful for the cooking mom nowadays. Those structures now became my elevated garden for assorted plants/herbs just right next to my kitchen.

After more than a month, this is how the space beside my kitchen looks like now. Lush greens and fresh scents of different herbs will greet one who steps out of my world :-D. . .

splendid dill . . . (remember my loots?)

shiny green celery (the missing stem and leaves were used in
my sotanghon guisado yesterday :-D)

the chives (waiting to be transferred to a bigger pot)

spring onions. . . (very easy to grow. . .)

lemon grass (commonly used for soupy dishes)
and

very healthy looking oregano! The mom is smiling now and getting ready for another round of longganisa making. . .

On my next post, I'll be featuring my other sideyard garden :-D

Let's Make Pancakes!

For two Saturdays in a row now, my kitchen/world was invaded by dear classmates of my kids. Good thing that I have a ready supply of goodies to be prepared for these invaders :-) . . actually, all the ready to make stuff from the shelves of our supermarkets :-D ( I stock on this stuff for emergency purposes only - unplanned visits, sudden urge to cook, etc.)

400g gram pack of ready to make pancakes together with canola oil, butter and milk can yield 3 plateful of super light, fluffy and tender heavenly snack for kids. . .

Topped with melted butter and maple syrup - these yummy pancakes widened the eyes of my young visitors!

Next time, I promise people, no more ready to make pancakes - I'll go back to basic cooking techniques when it comes to pancakes and doughnuts. :-)

My White Spaghetti

Ingredients:
pasta
olive oil
ground chicken meat
chorizo bilbao
garlic, onion, tomatoes, red bell pepper
ground pepper
Thai Fish sauce
parmesan cheese

Cook the pasta according to package directions. Set aside. In a wok, heat olive oil over medium heat. Saute the garlic, onion. tomatoes and red bell pepper ( in order). Add the chicken meat. Add a little water or chicken broth. Simmer until the chicken's done. Add the chorizo bilbao (this is precooked!). Season with Thai fish sauce and pepper. Put the pre cooked pasta and toss together with the parmesan cheese for a minute or two. It's now ready for serving with bread on the side!

Enjoy your pasta! :-)

Seafoods Galore

If you have six pieces of fat crabs and 12 pieces fresh prawns - what are you going to do with those sea creatures?

A good friend gave me half a dozen fat crabs straight from Kalamansig, Sultan Kudarat last Friday afternoon and I bought from Fitmart Gensan supermarket 12 pieces of fresh prawns for only Php123.00 ( wise buy for me because at the other supermarket - prawns of the same size costs P550.00 a kilo while at Fitmart - it's only P340 a kilo!)

The cooking mom wasted no time in preparing special dinner for the evening. I made two recipes with almost the same ingredients (the only difference was that the crab's meant for adult eaters while the prawns were for the kids!)

here's my recipe for super spicy crabs:

6 pcs. crabs (pre cooked)
butter/margarine
lots of garlic
ground pepper
chili powder
tabasco
DM catsup (original blend)
Thai fish sauce

Saute the garlic in butter/margarine until it's good enough to eat ( I hate over frying garlic since I love to eat this :-) ). You reserve some of it for garnishing. Put the crabs and all the other ingredients in the pan. Simmer over low heat until the sauce thickens. Then, it's good for serving. Garnish with previously sauteed garlic.
note: The spiciness and saltiness can be adjusted according to your taste buds... just be innovative!

The prawns were prepared with sweet and sour garlicky sauce:

12 pcs. prawns
butter/margarine
lots of garlic
DM catsup (sweet blend)
Thai fish sauce

very easy to prepare - you just have to cook it just like the way I cooked the crabs!


happy cooking, everyone!

Gelatine, Jelly, Agar

Yummy dessert prepared by yours truly through the courtesy of Ms. Gay who provided me with the Thai Flowers Flavor Dessert Mix pictured above. . .

I added evaporated milk and pineapple tidbits in the mixture and here's the finished product!

A simple dessert so loved by my kids!