Raid My Closet's blog giveaway!

Who would not want to grab lovely clothes and accessories? None, right? Most especially when they are free. :)

Join Arnie Villanueva's birthday giveaway, "Giveaway Alert: STYLE HUB, SIMONE'S CLOSET and TRENDPHILE MANILA" to get a chance to win these amazing clothes.

It's very easy to join, just follow the mechanics via this link. This will run until Jan. 14, 2012. Join now, fabulous girls! ;)

Drowning Equilibrium's "Gifts Ahoy x DE Giveaway"

Do you want these cute stuff for free? 

Join Aisa's Holiday Giveaway "Gifts Ahoy x DE Giveaway!". Check on this link for the mechanics. 

Contest will run until Jan. 4, 2012.

perfect with rice

Since I started cooking, I always take a photo of the food before eating them. Here are some of those dishes that are great to partner with freshly cooked rice.

LEMON CHICKEN

I saw a recipe of this from the internet. It seems like the chicken were over marinated because the taste is too strong for my palate. But still I and my housemate have eaten all of them.

PORK BROCOLLI

I decided to cook this because I like brocolli. The original recipe I followed for this uses beef. I replaced it with pork because it is faster to cook.






CHOPSUEY
A simple and fast to cook dish but packed with lots of nutrients. It's just like sauteing the vegetables one by one. Adding pork makes it more tasty.

CHICKEN ADOBO
Another version of the very famous adobo. I've posted a pork version here.

AMPALAYA (Bitter Melon) WITH EGG

Easy to cook with less ingredients. If you want to lessen the bitterness of the ampalaya, you can soak it in warm water with salt for about 30minutes. That will reduce its nutrients though.

FOXYFASHIONHUB x TBD Giveaway: Win a New Dress and Tons of Accessories!

I fell in love with this nice set of giveaway. And I am really hoping to win these.

If you also want to get these, just click on this link to join. Deadline of entries will be on Nov.19, 2011. 

So hurry, fab girls! ;-)

Adobo and Bicol Express

Here's another two popular Filipino dish, the famous Adobo and the hot Bicol Express. I will not post the recipe for now. I will do that on my future posts when I have photos of the ingredients before cooking them. But of course, I can share the recipe to those interested, just send me a message. :)


ADOBO
This is the most famous native Philippine dish. It has a sour-peppery-sweet taste that makes it unique. The most common meat to use are pork and chicken. It can be cooked using pork alone or chicken alone, but can be combined too. Some cooks add hard boiled egg and/or potatoes as extenders. The most interesting on adobo is that, it tastes even better on the next few days (1-2 days) after cooking. Try it and be the judge.


BICOL EXPRESS
This is a traditional dish named from the place of its origin, the province of Bicol. There are beliefs that Bikolanos (natives from Bicol) are very valiant people and sometimes I affiliate that to this dish. This is a hot and spicy food that not everyone manage to eat. I once saw from a tv show that there is a Bikolano version that has too many chilis on it, what you can see are just chilis. I don't know if I can eat that but I can just probably take one spoonful of it and drink lots of milk afterwards. 

What I cooked is a mild version of Bicol Express. Pork, chilis and coconut milk are the main ingredients. I used long green chilis and removed the seeds to lessen the spiciness. I also added green beans (known as baguio beans in Philippines). It ended up with fair spiciness and still has a kick. This is best to partner with rice.

Pork Sinigang

I am a proud Filipino, so this first recipe I want to share is a native Filipino dish. This is one of my favorite  food and I believe most of other Filipinos love it too.

Ingredients:

1 kilo pork (liempo or kasim), cut into 2inch cubes 

1 onion, sliced

4 tomatoes, sliced

2 pieces of siling haba (long green chilis)

5-10 sitaw (string beans), cut in 2inch length

1 bundle of kangkong leaves (river spinach), cut and get leaves that looks fresh only

1 labanos (white raddish), sliced **

3 pieces of gabi (taro), cut in wedges **

1 pack Sinigang mix (add more depending on your taste preference) 

Fish sauce

** Optional. I don't like labanos and gabi so I don't add those vegetables. It depends on you if you like to include those. Other people also add eggplants and lady finger (okra).

Instructions:

In a pot with water, boil the onion, tomatoes and pork. Fats of the pork will come out once it boil, it's better to remove them (it usually stuck up above water level).

Once pork is tender, add chili and Sinigang mix. Season with fish sauce. Add string beans and let it cook. When the beans is almost done, add kangkong and brings to a boil one more time.

Serve while hot.

Here is a photo of what I cooked last 08/10/2011. Next time, I'll get a picture of the ingredients before cooking them.

----------------

I will also try to use fresh tamarind instead of Sinigang mix, it would be more tasty and delicious.

name my blog

I created this blog site last month but I can't really choose a name for it. And then I started thinking... Should I post random thoughts in here? Events, travels, food, fashion, personal stories, or any thing I feel writing and sharing.

Now, you can see that I've decided to share everything about my frustration of being a Chef. This is not really a childhood dream. My passion in cooking shone year 2009. I was assigned by my previous employer as a Coordinator for our client in US. For more than three months of stay, being independent and taking care of myself is a big challenge, that includes cooking my own food. There are instant and microwavable food in the supermarket, they are hassle-free and quick to prepare, still I don't want to risk my health on those "preservatives packed" food. So there, I started cooking. Google is my best friend in getting great recipes. Friends and family showed their support too. And sometimes I added my own style in cooking especially in plating. I so love styling and plating the food.

When I came back in PH, sadly I stopped cooking. I can't find enough time and energy to cook. Everyday I commute going to work from Morong Rizal to Makati, so I always feel very tired when I arrived home. I used my extra time and weekend to get enough rest and sleep. 

March 2010, I and a friend/officemate rented a room in Makati. I was excited and started telling my office closefriends that I can finally cook those food I promised them. However, since we're only sharing appliances with the house owners, I became uncomfortable to cook and use their things. Again, I stopped.

July 2011, we transferred to a small condo unit. As usual, I was more excited knowing that it would be like our own place and nobody to share it with. I planned ahead (just in memory) the recipes I want to cook and shared my enthusiasm again with my friends.

After few cooking, I felt like this passion is a calling. I abruptly want to take culinary classes and learn those skills I watched from food TV shows. I daydreamed that someday I will manage my own restaurant, and of course become the Head Chef.

In time, I will go to culinary school. I may not achieve my vision on putting up my own restaurant, but I'll hold on to my dream of being a Chef (even on my own belief) and give happiness to all the people I love through their stomach. :)
--------------


So that's the story on how I came up with the name of my blog. I am actually a newbie on public blogging and hopefully the readers will enjoy my future posts about food and cooking.