Best of my Garden Nowadays

pechay by golly wow!

A taste of Atis (sugar-apple)

Gardening - my favorite pastime always makes me stress-free!  The greens are a sight to behold while the sweet fruits of the atis could make you utter  - life is good!

I still have a lot of seeds waiting to be sown.  I am just waiting for the right time - the rainy season! 

A few months from now, I'll no longer wish  for fresh veggie overload!

Fresh and Green

Comfort food from my garden ;-D

Sinigang na Hipon at Bangus

The weather here is Gensan is getting colder nowadays owing to the  rainshowers every now and then.  On days like this, I always make sure that  the kids have a  soupy dish to partake on at meal time.  I tried  combining fish and shrimp for sinigang and the result was simply irresistible!

Ingredients:

1 pc boneless bangus (around 400 gms)

1/2 kilo of fresh shrimps

sitaw, talong, kangkong (the vegies available in my garden)

souring agent ( sampalok/kamias/kalamansi)

tomatoes, onions, green chili, and a little vegetable oil

fish sauce to taste

• Saute the onions and tomatoes.
• Add the fish and the shrimp and put in water.
• Bring to a boil for a few minutes.
• Add in the veggies (make sure you don't overcook it ;-D)
• Add  lastly, the souring agent (sampalok/camias/kalamansi) and the fish sauce.
•  Serve with newly cooked plain rice!  Enjoy!

Super Baby Shrimps

I came across these super fresh baby shrimps during the early morning mangrove planting we had yesterday. Can't help it but beg the lady carrying a bagful of this to sell a portion of it to me. Good thing that she succumbed to my charm and persistence ;-D

During brunch, I prepared these two simple dishes out of the 10-peso worth of baby shrimps I bought earlier.

okoy

This used to be a childhood fave of mine. I  could still remember  the smell of of our house then - an aroma that could make everybody present there - frown ;-D However, buying those freshly caught from the bay shrimps made me see the difference between fresh and not so fresh seafood commodities. It's glaring! Yes, mamma mia, even my kid who was awakened by the delicious smelling dish I was frying can attest to my findings ;-D

Ingredients:
baby shrimps
beaten eggs
salt, pepper, garlic powder
spring onions
vegetable oil

Mix the first four ingredients and deep fry in vegetable til it turns golden brown.
Best served with vinegar and garlic dipping sauce.

law-uy

so easy to prepare . . . I just picked all the available veggies in my garden. Cooked in boiling water without oil . . . ahhh so refreshing to the palate!  Could make you crave for more . . .

Hmmm Marang

This is one of my favorite fruits

The marang tree of my uncle is at the peak of its fruiting season now. Fruits looking like christmas lanterns made me salivate everytime I look at them ;-D

I was awakened this morning by the very sweet smell of this heavenly treat. My uncle picked several tree-ripened marangs and with his generosity it reached our dining table at once. ;-D

True enough, it was bliss!

flesh so white, sweet, and tender
what more can I ask for?

Can't hardly wait for the next batch of fruits to ripen ;-D

Rainbow Pasta salad with Bacon Bits

raw pasta

I love the colors of this pasta dish. It is so appealing to the eyes.

cooked pasta sprayed with black pepper

cooked pasta mixed with pineapple tidbits, bacon bits, cashew nuts, mayonnaise, milk, a dash of salt and pepper, and olive oil

the finished product

this is best served after chilling for an hour . . .

Yummy Creamy Pork Chop

This is a recipe derived from my friend Tina's (Pinay inTexas) website. :-D

The sister of my mother-in-law and her grandson are here in Gensan for a short vacation. They stayed in our home over the weekend. Did my marketing Friday afternoon consisting of bangus, tilapia and porkchop and only to find out that my MIL's sister does not eat at all said varieties of fish. It is a good thing that my pantry is full of ingredients for pasta dishes so preparing a dish that requires the same things comes easy and handy for me.

I whipped up this creamy pork chop recipe ;-D

Ingredients:

3/4 kilo pork chop
olive oil
sliced mushroom (canned)
cream of mushroom
evaporated milk
garlic powder
onions (sliced into rings)
fresh parsley (from my garden)
ground pepper and Thai fish sauce

- rub the pork chop with ground pepper, garlic powder and a little fish sauce. Let stay for around 30 minutes.
- pan fry the pork chops in a minimal amount of olive oil over medium heat then set aside. (don't overfry pls.)
- in the same pan, saute the onions and sliced mushroom. Set aside.
- in a separate pan, simmer the evaporated milk and cream of mushroom. Season according to your liking with minimal garlic powder, ground pepper and Thai fish sauce. Add the pre-cooked pork chops together with the onions, sliced mushroom bits of fresh parsley. Simmer for the last time over low heat for 2 minutes.
- Serve hot with plain rice.

happy eating!

note : the best compliment I've heard from my mom-in-law's sistah "ang galing mong magluto!" ;-d

Shrimp and Sweet Corn Soup

Whipped up this very delicious soupy dish over the weekend. So easy to make and so good for chilly mornings ;-D

Ingredients:
5 pcs. sweet corn on the cob (freshly picked - if bought,
make sure with outer green covering on)
25o g shrimp
butter and vegetable oil
garlic, onions, red bell pepper, spring onion
egg
corn starch
pepper and thai fish sauce

- Heat a heavy bottomed pan over medium heat. Add butter and oil
- Saute garlic, onions, bell pepper. Add shrimp
- Add water and let it boil. Add the sweet corn kernels
- continue boiling for around 5 to 10 minutes then reduce heat. Add in pepper and Thai fish sauce
- Taste and adjust seasonings. Add beaten egg
- Continue stirring. Add the corn starch to thicken the soup.
- Garnish with finely chopped spring onions.

Serve while still hot. :-D

cooking tip: add a little iced cold water to the beaten egg before you put it in your soup for better texture.

I Love Krispy Kreme Breakfast!

half slices of Peanut Butter & Kreme
and Hershey's Cookies & Kreme variants

Downed these two slices of doughnuts with black coffee - and it was simply heavenly! ;-D

Spicy Pasta

Prepared sweet spaghetti for the kids over the weekend. Kept a plateful of the cooked pasta to be prepared later according to my instinct;-D

Come dinnertime, I made a spicy but very yummy pasta dish ( almost consumed all of it before I remembered to capture it on cam ;-D)

Ingredients:

a plateful of cooked pasta
spicy bangus in oil (Sarangani Bay brand)
olive oil
garlic, onions, bell pepper (sliced into very small bits)
fresh basil
fish sauce
parmesan cheese

it is very easy to prepare:

- Saute garlic, onion, red bell peppers
- Put the spicy bangus (freh from the jar ;-D)
- Toss the pasta gently together with the fresh basil
- Put a little fish sauce
- Remove from heat and serve with parmesan cheese on top

Pasta dish in an instant - so yummy that you'll almost forget your name ;-D

The Sinigang na Lechon

Yes you heard it right, fellas! Cooked sinigang last Saturday when it was raining very hard here in Gensan. Why lechon? A generous niece gave me left over lechon and I have nothing to cook from our freezer since I feared that we will be encountering over the weekend the 20 hour brown out imposed by SOCOTECO II. ;-D

Ingredients:
lechon
sibuyas
kamatis
fresh kangkong from my backyard
sinigang mix
fish sauce

- saute the onions and tomatoes in vegetable oil
- add the lechon slices
- boil for around 20 minutes
- add the veggies (radish, eggplant, sitaw, talong - anything you fancy)
- put the sinigang mix and fish sauce according to your taste buds
It is now ready for serving. Best eaten with plain rice and fried fish on the side. ;-D

Sweets for my Sweetie Pies

fresh fruit salad

My kids are my number one fans when it comes to my cooking ;-D so it is but fair that I treat them every now and then with sweets overload :-D

suman (glutinous rice cooked in coconut milk)
drowned in very thick and hot native chocolate

Cooking Rocks

Gone Fishing and Eating too!

The Serb husband of a friend paid us a visit last Monday. An unexpected visit that eventually turned into sheer bliss. We invaded a neighbor's pond and we were lucky enough to catch a 7-kilo pangasius/cream dory. It was indeed a prized catch since it served as manna for seven hungry eaters later :-D

From the pond to the pan!

filleted cream dory fried to perfection ( we had two big bowls of this fare :-D)

another dish we made was paksiw
( a traditional filipino recipe with the fish and vinegar as main ingredients )

truly mouth watering!

The Serbian who got his first taste of real filipino dish couldn't help it but exclaim, yummy!

My First Boodle Fight

According to Urban Dictionary website, boodle fight is a military style of eating where long tables are prepared and food are on top of the banana leaves. Viands and rice ready to eat using your bare hands, jugs of water are prepared on the side to wash hands before the "eating combat". With the signal to start the boodle fight, everyone aims for his/her position.

I had my first taste of this so called boodle fight during the 78th DOLE Anniversary celebration last December. True enough, it was so exciting and I find it very heartwarming to see colleagues eating while sharing stories and a good laugh together.

If there will be another fight like this in the near future, I'll gladly grab the chance and again enjoy the fare to be laid out before us.

note: photos courtesy of dole regionxii FB page