We were famished after spending the whole morning visiting doctors. We only had a quick bite for breakfast. I don't think it even reached my tummy, haha. We've been to Lore Manila a few times and just can't get enough of their food. We finished our hospital visit at around one in the afternoon. 

Decidedly famished we headed to One Bonifacio High Street Mall for lunch. We went straight to Lore Manila. Ended up ordering a number of dishes. That's how famished we were. The only new dish we tried was the chicken sisig. It was perfect with the chorizo rice (oh, our first time to try this as well). 

We ordered again our favorites, the Davao kinilaw, molo soup, inihaw na liempo, and the five spice chicken with hawhaw sauce. Ahh, the food was so delectable and delicious. Every bite I took sent me to heaven (haha). Soon enough we were all full. We ordered so much food we had leftovers. We were happy we had leftovers we could eat at home. 

Maybe next we'll finally be able to try other restos, haha. I'm sure we'll visit Lore Manila again soon.

#BeKind #StaySafe

Before I start experimenting on fish recipes, I thought I'd make some bistek tagalog first. It's been awhile since I made this and I realized we kept using pork when we were still in Singapore. I don't know why, but I couldn't make the beef soften up when we were there. I got some breakfast steak from Lander's and I thought I'd try my luck again. 

And it turned out really well! I changed the soy sauce though. We normally use Datu Puti whenever we cook, but I used Lee Kum Kee first draft soy sauce this time around. The bistek tagalog turned out really tasty. It was another dish where we couldn't stop eating, hahaha. 

Here's how we made it:

Complete recipe at: https://recipesformyson.blogspot.com/2024/02/recipes-for-my-son-bistek-tagalog.html

Let me know if you tried the recipe :)

#BeKind #StaySafe

Now that I'm retired, I've been teaching Miggy how to cook. I recently taught him how to make arroz ala cubana. I had him cook while I was instructing him. Normally he takes care of filming, but this time I wanted to see if there were any more cooking skills I could teach him. I noticed he needed help with how to wield the cooking utensil. He was having a hard time mixing the meat with the veggies. Last time I taught him how to hold the pan handle while cooking so that the pot doesn't move around. 

Add egg if you wish :)

They didn't have cooking in their home economics in high school. We had it, although I only started really cooking in my 30s. I reviewed the basic through YouTube (knife skills, proper mixing etc.). What I remember from high school cooking class are the measurements and how to use most cooking gadgets. 

Arroz ala cubana is one of our favorite meals at Pancake House. It's gotten pretty expensive, so I whipped out the recipe we use since we had some ground beef. It's pretty easy to make, so this is now one of Miggy's dishes. Next time I'll let him cook it on his own, haha. 

More info and complete recipe at: https://recipesformyson.blogspot.com/2023/10/recipes-for-my-son-arroz-ala-cubana.html

#BeKind #StaySafe

I love tapa especially when it comes as tapsilog. Most of those available though are too salty for me. I have to lessen my sodium intake for my health. It's been quite some time since I made homemade tapa. Found some sirloin in the freezer, so that's what I used. The meat is a bit more expensive than your usual lean beef, but it's much easier to cook. There's also no wastage because you don't get hard to chew ligaments.

Made 700 grams of tapa and we finished it in 2 meals. Paired it with Greek salad. I didn't cook egg anymore since we ate it for lunch. I went on a controlled diet plan after I made this, now I'm craving for it again, haha. Here's how I made it -

Maybe I should unearth my high school recipes for tocino and longganisa and make some. We never got around to tasting it. We marinated the meat and was supposed to cook it the week after. Unfortunately, there was a coup d'etat and school was closed. I think there were days when there was no electricity. The meat we marinated spoiled and we never got to try it. Next cooking project then :)

Full recipe at: https://recipesformyson.blogspot.com/2023/08/recipes-for-my-son-beef-tapa.html

#BeKind #StaySafe

My mustasa plant was very prolific when we were in Singapore. I had to think about what other dishes to use it on. We usually had it with our favorite beef mustasa taco-like dish. After some research I found out you can use mustasa for sinigang. It was hard to find some of the usual ingredients so I just replaced gabi with radish. 

It turned out well. Sweetie and I enjoyed the dish especially since the mustasa came fresh from our balcony garden. This is something I hope I could successfully do again here. Will try planting mustasa again soon. 

Here's how we made the pork sinigang sa mustasa -

Full recipe here: https://recipesformyson.blogspot.com/2023/03/recipes-for-my-son-pork-sinigang-sa.html

#BeKind #StaySafe

After almost three years, we finally had a proper family vacation! Our last vacay was in December 2019. We went to Bohol to celebrate our 10th wedding anniversary. We felt bitin though and wanted to visit again. Sweetie had a travel fund that was about to expire so we decided to go back to Bohol. 

We picked up where we left off and chose a resort based on our trip goal. We just wanted to chill and relax. We didn't sign up for any of the local tours since we've done that in previous trips. We just wanted to breathe in fresh air and eat good food. 

I think we chose well since the resort has a strip of food places just beside it. The strip included our fam fave, Mooon Cafe, and we didn't need to go far to finally dine at Bohol Bee Farm. We were able to eat by the beach at Rojo Grill and Bar Restaurant and ate at the very instagrammable La Vara which was just across the resort. We only had room service once because we were so tired from swimming, haha. 

I have compiled the mouth watering meals we had in a vlog. We ate mostly in restos we could reach by foot. Only went out once to visit and dine at South Farm. Here's our happy tummy video. It shows how we gained 3-5 pounds each from our vacation. 

We were so happy how things were going, but felt bitin again. When the hotel said that our room was still available if we extended we took the plunge and extended one more night. That allowed us to swim to our hearts content. Will share about the place we stayed at next week! 

#BeKind #StaySafe

Team Blue or Team Green?

I thought I'd be done with organizing the kitchen by now. It's going so slowly since Sweetie brought some of our stuff from the condo yesterday. It's taking awhile to organize because I'm also setting aside duplicates to be given away. I discovered yesterday we have three can openers, three graters, and too many cooking utensils. Now that we're merging our things we can cut down. 

I haven't even had time to organize our Christmas gifts since they are still in the boxes. We haven't been able to organize our closets. Still just getting clothes from the suitcase. The good news is our washing machine is finally working and we'll work overtime today to launder our clothes. Yay!

The state of our garden was also causing some stress for us. There were leaves all over and the front of our home has become unsightly. Good thing a neighbor offered to lend her gardener and Kuya Romer came yesterday to help us do some cleaning and trim the grass. I'm really happy the garden looks clean now because my Mom started to do the cleaning the other day. I hope the branch pruning shears arrive soon because the bamboo is growing taller by the day (I'll be using the bamboo we cut for a project). 

I told Sweetie though I'm going to need a break from all the organizing we're doing. One of the things we hope to do this week is visit the cemetery together with Mom. I also hope we can do a day trip somewhere. That would be so fun and we all really need a break. 

Here's how we cooked the paksiw. I just followed the recipe by Chef Tatung. You can check out the full recipe here. 

*We dove in when it was served, forgot to take a video after it got cooked, haha.

#Home55 #NewG191 #StayHome #BeKind  

I saw an ad on FB about kabute sisig (mushroom sisig). I got curious and clicked on the ad. The product is made by "The Kabute Farm".  They are based in Lucban, Quezon which is my Dad's hometown. I figured it probably tastes good because it's from Lucban so I ordered a few packets. 

Got a message yesterday morning that they were going to deliver the frozen mushroom sisig. Soon enough the Toktok rider arrived and I told the boys we'll have sisig for dinner. Cooking was easy after defrosting the packet. I wasn't sure if 300 grams was enough for the three of us so I decided to cook 2 packets. Added some olive oil on the pan and sauteed the mushroom sisig in low heat for five minutes. Well, Miggy had to take over cooking because I cut my thumb while washing a pair of scissors (whoops!). 

Miggy made some sinangag and fried egg to go with the mushroom sisig. I brought out a bottle of Knorr liquid seasoning since it usually goes well with sisig. I was anticipating that the sisig would taste like mushrooms, but it didn't. It tasted like your regular pork, yummy sisig. It was like Gerry's Grill/Giligan's sisig, but without the oily flavor. It was really good and I was surprised it was really filling. I'll definitely order again soon!* 

Next time I'll probably order some of their Vegan Mushroom Sisig Pizza. Just a thought since they're based in Lucban, maybe they can also make mushroom longganisa? I'm not sure how feasible that is, but maybe they can try. I'm happy to be their guinea pig hehehe. This was a really good buy for us since we've been building a new set of healthier meals we could have at home. 

#Home48 #NewG198 #Xmas4 #StayHome #BeKind  

*You can order via The Kabute Farm website

I wish the hotel where we will quarantine will allow food delivery! Well if they don't allow it, I hope they'll serve good food. I hope they have silogs available for breakfast. That should tide me over until I could satisfy my cravings. 

Most of what I want to eat are my childhood favorites. I'm not into fancy food, I just like it yummy and homey. They bring happy memories of my dates with my Dad when I was a child, eating with friends and officemates, and bonding moments with my boys. So Sweetie, here's my top ten list!

Dayrit's cheeseburger (and their chorizo to make yummy pasta)

Pancake House arroz ala cubana and their tacos

McDonald's spaghetti (yup I miss this!)

Shakey's pizza and mojos (OMG mojos!)

Racks ribs and the giant onion thingy

Sbarro's baked ziti

Baliwag chicken with lots of atsara

Barriatos barbecue

Don Henrico's buffalo wings (OMG!)

Lachi's pork marinara (when can we go to Davao?)

Casa Moderna's palabok with lechon/liempo and the sponge cake

I didn't list Jollibee, Gerry's Grill and Max's since we've been able to get it here, although their menu is a bit different so I'll include it in the list too. 

Let's keep this list a secret okay? Please do not send to my doctors hahaha. Nothing to worry about since my blood chem has always been normal! I'm allowed to eat anything. 

And once I have satisfied my tummy I'd like to explore the many new food offerings available. I'll probably start with what my neighbors are offering. I'm also saving up to try Marvin Agustin's cochinillo (maybe for Christmas?). In between all of this I'd like to learn how to prepare healthy dishes and I want to learn how to make dishes from my Dad and Mom's hometowns (Lucban and Bicol). 

Ahhh, yummy food is one of the things I look forward to when I get home :)

CB///*Yr2/165 #StuckAtHomeDay/Yr2/188 #NewG282 #Home41 #Xmas93 #StayHome #BeKind  

In the past few years more and more consumables from home has been imported here in Singapore. I used to have to go to Lucky Plaza or specialty shops to buy what I needed. They slowly added more products in supermarkets and eventually in online supermarkets. Items were easily snapped up and there was a time I panicked when I ran out of suka and toyo. Haha! 

So today I cooked some Mama Sita champorado. It certainly brought back happy childhood memories. We always had this at home for merienda. Daddy always paired it with tuyo. I still remember the aroma of chocolate plus tuyo and suka. It was the good old days. 

I look forward to going home. I've been praying for a smooth transition back home (no untoward incidents please!). A few months ago I ordered a specialty recipe book on traditional food from Quezon (I'm also looking for a Bicol one). One of the things I want to do is learn how to cook Daddy's favorites from Lucban (his hometown). I wish I had him teach me more dishes when he was still around. It was hard though because he never measured anything. So I only learned to make his mustasa and beef dish (recipe here).

It's raining hard outside, bagyo levels with howling winds. We don't have typhoons here in Singapore, but we've been getting heavy rain lately. It's strangely comforting and I guess a way for me to be prepared for home. 

What's your comfort food?

 CB///*Yr2/148 #StuckAtHomeDay/Yr2/171 #NewG299 #Home57 #Xmas110 #StayHome #BeKind

Manong Jabbar's son-in-law.

For many years Manong Jabbar did the rounds. Everyone in our village knew him. His real name isn't really Jabbar. He was nicknamed after the basketball player Kareem Abdul-Jabbar. Mind you, Manong Jabbar is the opposite in height of the basketball player. For many years he brought joy to many households with his taho. 

When Manong Jabbar, his son-in-law took over his taho route. So Miggy and his cousins all enjoyed taho the same way I did when I was growing up. I remembered Manong Jabbar because I dreamt a friend brought me a glass of taho. I woke up wishing I could get some. 

I wonder how our friendly taho sellers are faring back home. I hope and pray they are well and keeping safe. 

CB//*Yr2/33  #StuckAtHomeDay/Yr2/60 #StayHome #BeKind   

Took it easy today and had a nap after lunch. I think it helped with the bleeding situation. Felt better after my nap and took advantage of the energy I had to cook dinner for Sweetie. I went for an easy recipe - pork sisig! 

We had a nice Pinoy food dinner because Sweetie brought home some bihon from Hotel Jen. We think they have a Pinoy chef because the bihon tasted authentic. The best thing about it is the huge serving just cost SG$10! And it came from a hotel! 

Here's how I made the pork sisig --

CB///335 #StuckAtHomeDay/365 #StayHome #BeKind 

I must admit, cooking did not come to me naturally. I did not get my Dad's talent at cooking. He can whip up dishes quickly and can reverse engineer my favorite food! I remember he did that for Jolly spaghetti for me. One of the things we were never able to replicate was his burger made of shredded coconut. It tasted like real burger!  

I learned some basics from our Foods class in high school. Back then I preferred doing the marketing or dish washing. I didn't like cooking because I was scared of fire. To this day whenever I bake on our gas oven it's Sweetie who puts the pan inside for me. I eventually learned how to cook because we needed to survive after Sweetie, Miggy and I moved to our own home. Thanks to YouTube and discovering the wonders of using an electric stove I learned to cook. (I now use an induction stove). 

One of our favorite places, the Sydney Fish Market. They have so many yummy food!

Anyway, we're getting on with age so we've been trying to eat more healthy food. My doctor though said when it comes to fish I shouldn't eat oily fish. Fish like salmon, mackerel, sardines etc. are omega-3 rich and should not be eaten when you're on blood thinners. I have to stick to white fish. That's something I'm still learning about and it's challenging because the variety of fish here in SG is not the same as back home. 

I stick to easy to make recipes and I have a new favorite chef on YouTube -- Chef Tatung. He vlogs on his channel called Simpol and has many easy to make recipes. He teaches in a very straightforward matter and I've tried a number of his recipes. His recipes make my tummy happy and the ingredients he uses are easy to find too. So naturally I looked through Chef Tatung's videos and found a few seafood dishes he made. Here's what I tried so far --

Fish fillet escabeche (recipe).

And that's one of the things I love to do. I mustered up enough energy last night and cooked the fish escabeche. It took me two hours to make it and macaroni salad because I had to rest in between (and I really cook very slow). I was so exhausted and ended up skipping our after-dinner walk. My stamina and energy isn't back yet. I know it's going to take awhile so I really need to take it slow for now. 

Do you have any suggestions for fish dishes that use white fish? Comment down below please :)

CB///300 #StuckAtHomeDay/330 #StayHome #BeKind

To earn back my spontaneous purchase I decided to cook as much as I could for the rest of the week. I'm also feeling much better now so I told myself I had to get moving. I finally found a grill pan I could use on our induction stove. I bought it via Lazada and finally put it to good use last weekend. 

It's been years since we last grilled anything. We had an electric griller in Manila, but it was so hard to clean we just gave up using it. I miss eating Pinoy barbecue so I was set on making some even it meant having a hard time cleaning the grill pan. 

On Saturday I marinated the meat using my Datu Puti barbecue marinade. I just added a bit of salt, the marinade and garlic. Covered it and left it in the fridge of marinate overnight. Sunday came and I set to work to grill the meat. Ended up cooking a lot! It turned out well and I think I've paid my dues to Baby Yoda haha. 

And grill? Oh my it had a lot of residue that couldn't be removed with a sponge. I did some research and found out you can use baking soda and salt with hot water to help soften the residue. I did that and used a brush to  remove the residue. It came off easily! I'm so excited because this means I could try grilling other dishes! 

Do you have any suggestions for me to grill?

CB//195 #StuckAtHomeDay/225 #WFH132 #StayHome #BeKind