My Best And Not So Good Cooking

Here are the kinds of food that I can live with everyday. I tell you what, nothing beats the Filipino dishes in my own personal opinion. Not even a steak can compare to the satisfaction it gives to Filipino's tummy. Ask any Filipino you meet out there and we will see if they say the same thing.

......... photo above is our lunch today. A big fat fried Pompano fish with tomatoes, soy sauce and vinegar...... below photo is my screwed up banana nut bread. I must have copied a bad recipe for it turned out pretty dry or it's because I overcooked it? 

........ below photo is a dessert called "Taho"... it is a popular street food in the Philippines that is sold every morning... people of all ages love it!

.... and below is my vegetable stew with coconut milk. This is special for I also include young yellow corn as the new ingredient... it is best suited during cold winter days!

Something Fishy

I have had these dishes few days ago. As soon as it cooked, I posted these photos in my food album on Facebook and got a lot of people drool over these delicious fish recipes I have. These are perfect in cold weather especially the soup. Foods like these are what many of my friends crave for. 

I consider myself lucky to have found this kind of fish at the Asian market. This is something I missed a lot because of its taste and texture of the flesh when it is cooked. 

........my paksiw or inun-unan in our dialect cooked in vinegar, olive oil with eggplant, onions, garlic, finger peppers, ginger and a dash of salt.

Twice The Price

I grew up liking things and envied foods I didn't get to eat because we were poor, my parents couldn't afford to buy nutritious foods for their kids and most of all there were 9 of us in one household and a single earner family.

So you can only imagine a life that is deprived of all things. Now that I have money or a husband that can very well afford things that I like, I make it sure I get everything I need and buy foods I want to eat like this purple yam ice cream here imported from the Philippines. 

American ice cream that is branded cost only $5 but this one right here is twice the price. I don't care if I let my husband pay so much on this one as long as I can satisfy my cravings for Philippine ice cream. 

Mung Bean Soup With Coconut Milk

Here's what I cooked for lunch today. I have a pot full of mung bean soup with coconut milk with all the needed veggies to make it more healthy; okra, Asian spinach and horseraddish leaves. I cooked a lot of soup in one time so I can eat this good for three meals. I do it this way so I don't have to spend so much time cooking in the kitchen. You know, when you have no help around, spending time in the kitchen just so you can have something to eat is sometimes tiring.

I am eating healthy hoping that the baby could get the nutrients of the foods I am eating. I am trying to breastfeed her from time to time so she'll grow big and healthy. Take note, she is now back up to 8 pounds again, it's her birth weight (quite a big baby huh) and then just 2 days after birth she lost 11 ounces that was because breast milk didn't come in until 3 days. Poor girl.

Good Food

One way of pleasing myself is eating good food. Good food to me means cooking my own food (home cooked meals) at home. This way I know what goes into my food and ensure it is clean. I don't like the idea someone else's hands messing with my food so I usually do my own cooking.

With that said, this is what I had this morning and dinner. A good pork chop, grits and fish soup made by yours truly. I am happy knowing that I can eat whatever I wanna eat (well, except for fresh seafoods) in this area for the Asian market is just 15 minutes drive away. Trust me when I say this porkchops I cooked this morning is so insanely delicious that makes you wanna ask for more. My technique is to leave some chops for my next meal, because they're too tasty to be eaten all at once.

Philippine Bread

Photo attached is snagged from someone's album on Facebook. I so missed these kind of breads displayed in their stall because these are the types that I don't know how to make or can't see them around here being sold in grocery stores. Looking at these breads remind me of my life back in the Philippines, every other afternoon we would buy bread at the bakeshop nearby and me and my siblings gathered together for a snack paired with cold orange juice or hot chocolate drink. Popular bread recipes in the afternoon are pan de coco, elorde, mushroom, francis (one of my faves) etc.

For us, if our mother would buy some bread, it will be a big treat to her kids. Wow I missed my simple life back home! Two pieces of small bread will bring so much joy to our hearts, we were young and innocent back then and so easy to please!

Real Fresh Seashells

I feel so full right now but looking at this picture attached here I can't help but drool over it. These are the kind of shells I missed the most and I so want them so bad right now.

These are just too yummy that I can eat at least a bowl or two of these especially the big shells, I forgot its name. It is abundant in my hometown so buying them elsewhere isn't hard to do. Geezzz makes me wanna go home and eat a lot of it.

Green Vegetables

If mommy is eating healthy so does the baby in her womb. I am just lucky my garden continue giving me produce that I can cook anytime I want. My Asian spinach, horseraddish leaves, sweet potato tops, okra, long yard beans and etc seem to do well and that's what I use for my vegetable stew for lunch today. Just all green veggies yet healthy.

Nothing beats my lunch with my vegetable stew or utan-bisaya paired with scorched grits and fried dried fish dip in sukang pinakurat! I am so full right now gosh, thankful for the food I have today that cost me almost nothing!

Inun-unan

It's my first time to cook this kind of fish I bought from the Asian Market a long time ago. I got tired of watching it in the freezer, decided to go ahead and cook it yesterday. I made watery soup for a whole fish and the other two were cooked as inun-unan... inun-unan by the way is a quick fix for fish in boiled vinegar with spices and okra or eggplant.

I say my cooking was delicious, in fact, I got the una- dried out for it was just so tasty...the same taste when you cook fresh fish in the Philippines plus the fish itself is almost the same kind we call "isda sa bato" in the Philippines. I am buying a package of the same fish when we are able to shop at the Asian market next time for I like the fish very much.

Chocolate Porridge

The best afternoon snack for me is this champorado or as what my little girl call it "chocolate porridge". It is a glutinous rice cooked thoroughly with water and cacao or "tabliya" in our dialect. Once cooked, it has a sticky consistency which taste better rather than just using an ordinary rice. 

I grew up eating this kind of porridge. My mother used to cook this a lot that it became a part of my childhood. Of course it is best eaten when served hot every 3 o'clock in the afternoon. 

Pinoy Swift Hotdog

One of the many foods I missed eating is the Pinoy or Filipino hotdog. There is something to it that I love, it may taste weird for Americans because of some rice and preservatives added to it yet I find it tasty compared to their hotdogs here. I didn't know the Asian Market we usually go shop for my foods has Swift hotdogs. When I saw it in one of their freezers I hurriedly grab two packages because I know they won't last long. I am happy and it satisfied my craving for Pinoy hotdog. Eating it felt like I was in our own kitchen in the Philippines. Sadly though I didn't have my little siblings to share it with. Hohohoho I miss them already!

Filipino Dishes

These are the typical Filipino dishes that I cook at home. I don't need an extra special dish to live, I just want something that I love to eat and something that can fill my hungry stomach that could last for hours. And these kind of foods are definitely what I need. I can eat them forever without complaining for they are what I used to eat back home.

...... "bihon" or vermicelli noodles with veggies...yum!

...... mussels with beef broth and onion leaves from my garden...

....... sinigang bangus or milkfish cooked with lemon and water with sweet potato tops!

Octopus Adobo

I do have different cravings everyday. Most of it are just Filipino foods that I haven't eaten for a while. When I do crave for something and realize all the ingredients to make the dish are available, I would make some right away.

One day, I so wanted to eat squid adobo but the problem was I don't have squid in the freezer but I did have frozen octopus. They are somehow related and would taste just the same if I use octopus instead of squid, I went ahead and cooked it. 

I never knew that octopus adobo would taste this good. I am happy I tried it otherwise I would still be craving for squid adobo until now. It's really hard for me if I don't get to taste what I want to eat for I will just keep thinking about it for weeks and it sucks.

I'm Always Hungry

"You're always hungry", that's what my husband said. While it's very true, I have my reasons why I am always hungry. I am eating for two, haller?? When I browse photos of people in my Facebook lists, I can't help but drool over their food posted in their albums. When I feel like cooking, I cook some but to improvise its taste, I refer to my favorite cooking website which is PanlasangPinoy to achieve the taste I want.

Like this adobo and and fish cooked in vinegar in the pictures, I know I've been cooking these dishes for years but then I realized that I can do better with my adobo and inun-unan so I opened PP site to see how he does it. I followed his instructions and guess what? I achieved that ever delicious taste of adobong manok and inun-unan.

Because I Deserved It

I worked hard this morning and a good lunch is what I deserve. I had fish tinuwa, a bit spicy with a little bit of lemon in it to make the flavor appealing to my taste buds. This of course paired with grits and Jadyn's leftover bacon this morning. I fed my growling stomach, cleaned my kitchen and now just waiting for half an hour so I can take my afternoon nap. I got sleepy after all those writing and eating I did. BURP, excuse me! Jadyn thought my soup was spicy but once she had a taste of it, she couldn't help but eat along with me. Now I am pretty sure she is full and will last for hours until I have a chance to feed her again.

I Can Follow A Recipe

A few times I have tried cooking for special dishes following a recipe and I shall say I can definitely do it as long as there are proper measurements or list of all ingredients needed for a certain dish to be so tasting great. I usually cook Filipino foods at home but I seldom use a recipe, depends on the mood or the kind of dish I long to eat. I meant to share this delicious Chicken Afritada recipe to my readers days ago but I got pretty busy outside.

Here is a photo of my own cooking that I can proudly say "lamian gid". I followed the recipe that Panlasang Pinoy has provided. There is a step by step video of how the dish is done so there is no reason you wouldn't get the right and exact taste of his afritada. Happy cooking everyone!

My Lunch

I can't ask for a better and perfect lunch than this sauteed long yard beans with shrimp and pork slices. I got the taste so perfectly right,  trust me "makapangiyod kas kalami"! I had a big bowl of rice and this delicious beans right there that I find it hard to breathe afterwards.  Not only that, take note I also cooked some shrimp paste with pork which is shown below...

..shrimp fry with tomato, onion and pork! oh la la la!

Chopsuey, Yummy!

I say I am no expert when it comes to cooking nor do I have culinary skills but at least when I crave for something I am able to satisfy my craving. I usually cook my own foods at home. I love veggies a lot. I do experiment throwing in some veggies into a frying pan and I am not afraid whether the food comes out good or not. If it the result is good then I am very happy, if not then what can I do? I hate tossing out foods so whether I like it or not, I must eat the bad food that I make. Anyway, it is part of my learning and it is one way of cooking food to perfection. 

One of the many dishes that I like is this chopsuey. Proudly say it tastes so delicious cooked in our own kitchen stove.  When I crave for something, I try to cook it right away to please my hungry stomach. 

........color chopsuey although it doesn't contain all the ingredients that a chopsuey should have but at least I got all the basic ingredients for me to call it YUMMYLICIOUS!

Our Brunch For Today

I think I cooked too much for today. There are only two of us here yet I prepared too much food for two or three people including the small fetus in my womb. Guess I will be eating these foods until tomorrow morning which I have no problem eating. I love them all and also this is also good for it saves me time in the kitchen. I cooked them all at once and next meal I will just be heating them! How easy and convenient.

Eating these kinds of foods is like being home in the Philippines. I eat exactly the same foods there. I am glad the Asian market isn't that far from where we live. When I crave for something Pinoy, I will have my husband drive me over there and buy Filipino veggies.

...our brunch includes eggrolls, fried daing milk fish with soy sauce, vinegar and Philippine pepper, utan-bisaya and my crispy squid..YUM!

Crispy Squid

Squid anyone? I brought this straight from the Philippines so you can expect the taste is very much Pinoy. I like it cooked crispy and a bit burned, just my own preference. This was paired with my grits, vegetable stew and eggrolls. Gonna show some pics the rest of my brunch later. For now enjoy drooling with this beautifully fried squid (tongue sticking out!).