Day 69: Scorchin' Hot

According to the weather news early this week, summer has just begun.  Wow! It's been like the middle of summer already for about a month or so now and that isn't summer yet?  I can't imagine what the middle of summer would be like for all of us then.

The regular power interruptions are adding on to the heat and discomfort at home.  Even my tiny garden is feeling the effects of extreme heat nowadays.

I hope the rains come in sooner so that the power crisis can be curbed and that the agriculture sector wouldn't incur so much loss in crops.

Day 68: Pechay Guisado (#2 in the "Lutong Tamad" Series)

My husband is a vegetable lover.  He probably loves veggies more than any other type food.  His favorite vegetable dish of all time is Pechay Guisado.  It is such an easy dish to prepare and cook so it's part of my "lutong tamad" line.  Some versions of this dish use ground meat as extender but I've managed to make this completely vegetarian and even my kids love it this way.

PECHAY GUISADO (Sauteed Bok-Choy)

7-8 big bunches of pechay/bok-choy, finely chopped

3-4 cloves garlic, minced

1 medium onion, minced

1 boullion cube (chicken or beef) or 1.5 cups of chicken/beef stock

1 tbsp canola oil

1 tsp fish sauce (patis)

dash of pepper

In a deep skillet, heat oil until hot. Saute garlic and onions until translucent.  Stir in the pechay stalks and leaves.  Add in the boullion cube and water/stock and simmer for 10 minutes.  Season with patis and pepper.  Serve hot.

Day 67: A Comeback from Old School Days

I was buying some pencils for my son at the local craft store when I was presented with boxes upon boxes of an old school favorite - Bensia pencils.  It's the type of pencil with refillable lead tips.  When one tip gets dull, you pull it out and push it back into the pencil cavity at the bottom and a new tip emerges on top.

These were a hit back in my grade school days together with those big Sanrio magnetic pencil cases that had different compartments (I wish they'd bring those back).  Last year, my sister from Canada asked me if I remembered these pencils from way back and I said yes, too bad they went out of circulation.  Well, she'll be glad to know that it's back!!!  They come in cool colors and designs too plus refill packs of lead tips.  I got one for my son and couldn't resist to buy one for myself too!

Day 66: LaPiS - SEAFOOD

This week's theme in Lasang Pinoy Sundays is SEAFOOD.  I thought I should feature one of my family's favorite seafood recipe - Tahong Soup (Mussel Soup).  It is such an easy and no-fuss dish to prepare.  What I love about it too is that it's packed with so much nutrition and doesn't really cost a lot to make. Being a breastfeeding Mom, I know that consuming shellfish together with malunggay (Moringana) leaves can greatly increase milk production and so that's another great reason why I love having this at home.

TAHONG SOUP (Mussel Soup)

1 kg fresh tahong (mussels) *** buy them live at the market

2 pcs thumb-size ginger, julienned 

4 cloves garlic, chopped

1 medium red onion, chopped

4 ripe tomatoes, chopped

1 cup malunggay leaves

3-4 stalks lemongrass, pounded

1 liter water or hugas bigas (rice wash water)

2 tbsp canola oil

salt and pepper to taste

In a casserole, heat oil and saute the aromatics - onion, ginger, garlic and tomatoes.  Stir in the lemongrass and the mussels. Saute for 5 minutes then add the water, salt and pepper. Bring to a rolling boil, then add the malunggay leaves and remove from fire.  Serve.

Lasang Pinoy Sundays is a bi-monthly food photography meme, Pinoy style!

Day 65: Forty-Six

There was a Nestle Wellness booth at the supermarket today.  I saw that they had a weighing scale and thought I should go and have a consultation with the duty nutritionist.  Ever since my dramatic weight loss, I haven't really taken note of the exact weight difference as the scale at home has long gone out of commission.  I knew that the amount was somewhat substantial however I was still surprised when I figured what it was.  At my heaviest last year I tipped the scales at 213 lbs.  (96.6 kg). That was around a year ago when I was ready to give birth to CeeJae. At the Nestle weigh-in, the scale pointed to 165 lbs. (75 kg).  It means that in the last year, I've lost a total of 46 lbs. (21 kg).  Forty-six is my magic number.  The actual impact of this number only hit me when I got home.  Wow!  That is a lot of weight to lose.  I didn't think it was possible but it actually happened.  The feeling is great...now I know what it feels like to be "The Biggest Loser".

Day 64: Breakfast of Champions and a Champion Breakfast

I'm a breakfast person.  For some reason I can't explain, my favorite meal of the day is BREAKFAST.  So you could say that I "freak out" whenever I see a diner type of resto.  When the defunct Country Waffles was still the all-day breakfast place to go, my Dad would treat me to a huge platter of Sausage/Bacon, Eggs and Fried Rice plus my fave Peanut Butter and Banana Pancakes on the side.  I was sad when the place figured in a major business scandal some years back.  Apparently, this love for breakfast has rubbed off on my son.  He too, looks forward to breakfast as the meal like no other.  He is happiest when served with Garlic Fried Rice, Chorizo Cebu and Eggs (either sunny-side up or scrambled).

Today, our breakfast consisted of Pampanga Longganisa, Plain Rice (but I placed some soy-longganisa cooking juice combo on top) and Scrambled Egg.  It sure beats any breakfast meal from the nearby fastfood chain.  It was so good, Jarred requested me to pack up the leftovers into his lunch box so that he could have a part 2 during recess in school.

Day 63: Milestone

Today is a very special day for my bunso...CeeJae took her first 3 steps unassisted. She'd been standing and cruisin' since two months ago when she turned 8 months old.  We noticed that every time she accomplishes a milestone, she gets even more daring and courageous in her actions.

She carefully stood up from a sitting position and held her balance before attempting to move her foot into a step.  Her Daddy coaxed her to come to him and ever so gracefully, she took that step 1...2...and 3...until finally reaching his outstretched arms.

Soon after this accomplishment, she became unstoppable! It was as if she found so much freedom in her new discovery.  As bedtime approached, she tried going up the stairs by herself while being closely guarded by Daddy. She was clapping her hands in glee upon reaching the very top step.  

Great job, baby girl!!!

Day 62: Rain...

With the continuing rotating brownouts in the country, the all-day-and-night rain of Wednesday was truly a welcome sight.  Never had I felt so glad to see the skies so dark and gloomy than this day.  Looking out from our balcony, I could see and feel the sigh of relief from around the garden.  It was as if the grass and plants were in a refreshing feast even for just a short while.

I know it will take more than a 24-hour episode of rain to solve the current power crisis but I know that if we continue to pray for the rainy season to come sooner, everything will go back to normal.  I'm just glad for this brief respite from the harsh effects of the El Niño.

Day 61: Way back when...

 

I chanced upon this photo while I was rummaging through some old stuff. This is an 11-year old photo, taken during the Sinulog in Cebu in 1999.  If I'm not mistaken, this was the first time I sported a very short hairstyle (I always had medium-length to very long hair).  This was my very first Sinulog as I had only moved to Cebu the year before.  I notice that this photo is shouting "freedom!!!" I just had started to live independently for the first time in my life.

Day 60: Mongolian Barbecue Feast

It's been quite a while since my family and I had our Mongolian Barbecue fix.  We usually had a yearly "date" with Kublai Khan's in Cebu but we skipped last year so you can say we're running on empty now.  There's just something about the delicious aroma of wok-frying ingredients that really get to us.  Of course, coupled with the Kublai Khan's saying "Don't blame cook, he only put in fire", every bowl of Mongolian barbecue is a feast in itself.

After surveying that I had enough ingredients to make our own Mongolian feast at home, I began chopping away.  There's no exact science to this kind of food.  You prepare whatever it is you want in your bowl.  Here are the 5 main groups of ingredients to a successful Kublai Khan meal:

AROMATICS - includes garlic, onion, ginger, Mandarin sausage, shallots/green onions, lemongrass

VEGETABLES - carrots, baguio beans, red and green bell peppers, sayote, bean sprouts, chinese cabbage, cabbage, young corn, bean curd, black fungus, mushroom

CARBO - rice, miki noodles, vermicelli noodles, bihon noodles

MEAT & SEAFOOD - chicken, pork, beef, squid ball, fish ball, quekiam, squid, liver, gizzard

SAUCES & CONDIMENTS - terriyaki, oyster, barbecue, szechuan, soy, coco cream, fish sauce, sesame oil, calamansi/lemon juice, sugar, sesame seeds, peanuts

It is really a "make your own" meal...you choose your veggies, carbo, meats and sauces...saute all of them in a piping hot wok and serve in a bowl.  For the homemade version, it was more practical to make a large batch for the family instead of letting each one do their choosing and individual wok frying.  I discovered that the secret to good Mongolian barbecue is the right size of the ingredients...small bite-size pieces of meat and veggies that are thinly sliced make for a yummy Khan feast.  

So, how did our family version of Mongolian barbecue go?  Even my 10-month old baby was drooling over the bowl we prepared for her...it was that good!