Birthday One

My nanay celebrated her --th birthday last March 17, we had an early dinner at Hap Chan - Harbour Square but I kind of, sort of, stupidly left my camera and cellphone at home, so I had no way of taking any pics *sigh*. I guess, you have no choice but take my word for it, the food was great as always, Hap Chan never disappoints (I sound like a biased marketing rep, hahaha).

Anyways, photos below were the pansit given away to neighbors (you know, the tradition of cooking noodles for long life and sharing it with others), the cake that my son forced my mom to buy so she can blow the candle, but it turned out, teddy bear was the one who liked to do the candle blowing, and the ice cream that he picked, for his personal consumption, hahaha. Love of food runs in our blood.

Dulce de Leche by Red Ribbon

Pasta in Crab Pate

I cooked this a week ago for no-meat Fridays, an uncle sent a few crabs in the morning, they were very cute clawing and crawling everywhere *grins*, and we had some spaghetti noodles in stock, so I decided on a pasta dish for lunch.

I'm joining the bandwagon, my first food meme - Presto Pasta Nights, hope I don't disappoint. It is hosted at Chez Cayenne this week, and though I am running late, I hope they'll love me still :)

Pate is, generally, a mixture of ground meat and fat minced into a spreadable paste with common additions of vegetables, herbs, spices and wine. I'm not exactly sure if what I made can be considered as such but it looks like one, so can we just pretend that it is *lol*. Anyway, it has the making of a pate - 1.) ground meat = crab meat 2.) fat = butter 3.) veggies = onions & garlic 4.) herbs and spices = dried basil, salt, pepper - see!

Home-made Potato Chips

Still on the topic of Lent, here's a snack that is healthy and guilt-free, well, it still does pack on the calories but I think a little step forward a healthier us still matters :D It's easy, budget-friendly and uber-yummy!

taken w/out a flash

taken w/a flash

Dried Squid

As I've mentioned in a previous post, I will try to post dishes that are Lent-worthy *grins*, and in keeping up with that, I present, Dried Squid paired with Garlic Rice, dipped in chili vinegar sauce eaten at breakfast, well, you can eat it anytime you want, I just had mine in the morning. Dried squid is usually available in your nearby wet and dry market, groceries and supermarkets, I have no idea how much it cost but I know that you can buy it in packs (whole, half and quarter of a kilo), all you have to do is fry it to your desired crunchiness and it's ready to go.

Have I mentioned that I live in a city where seafoods are a-plenty? Can you guess which Metropolitan city it is? Anyways, because of our location, we don't rely on those commercial dried squids available in the market, we make our own, fresh and salt-free. Inggit kayo noh?

Oh yeah, make sure that you're not allergic to squid before gobbling any, or at least be prepared *grins*. If there's a food that can literally kill me, that's squid, my body has a high-intolerance to it, but I still cave in from time to time, I just drink lots of water and take meds right after, honey and maple syrup helps, too.

KitKat Galore

Aw, ain't my baby cute? I think he's too cute for his own good, hahaha...

You're on the right blog, yup, this is a food blog, I just can't help but gushed about my son, who wouldn't, look at him, kyaaa, he's uber-ly adorable, hahaha.

Enough of the crazy, as seen on the pics below, he's holding a pack of KitKat, used to be his favorite brand, not anymore, he's into Hershey's bars now. Old photo, fresh memories, sweet delight!



Oh yeah, I remember now, that pack was bought in Duty Free Paranaque at around $35-40. It came in regular, dark and white chocolates, yum!

California Clusters

One question before I proceed - Wala ba masyadong saging sa Amerika? Hahaha!

A second cousin from US, a much older second cousin, came to visit, I remember following him around when he was still here in the Philippines, I was five or six and he's HIM, hahaha, I think he was a freshman in college or something. It's kind of a long story, basta we clicked, we loved each others company. Anyway, they (his parents and siblings) migrated a few months after I started my elementary schooling and that's where our connection ends, well, he sort of kept his end of the line open, he sent cards, books, candies and chocolates, dollars, but you know me, it's proven, I am a snob ever since I was a kid, hahaha. His company had an Indonesian tour and as our country is just a few hours away, he decided on dropping by, he stayed for three days, I think.

A few weeks after he came back to California, a box of goodies came, it is stuffed with pieces of clothing, chocolates, stuffed toys and books, I think, he never saw me as a grown up, actually, he treated me like I was still a kid when we met :P

I digress, photo below was one of the goodies he sent, it came with the usual chocolates which I didn't took pictures of, hahaha, choosy ako eh. Anyway, I expected too much, it was my first time seeing this brand so I was a little excited to try it but then, it flopped. It's actually okay, I just had high expectations *grins*, and it's kind of deceiving, the banana chips are oh so scarce, they should have labeled it as 'bits and pieces of crunchy banana chips and a lot of almonds drenched in rich milk chocolates' *lol*.



Have a great weekend people!

Fried Prawns (Piniritong Sugpo)

Yesterday Catholics around the world celebrated the beginning of the Lenten Season through Ash Wednesday, by now a few of those who still practice the old-age tradition of fasting, self-denial or abstinence, penance, alms-giving and prayer have already started what would be a few-months long of dedication. Our family, though half-Chinese by blood, are devout Catholics (we're not the uber-righteous ones who prays non-stop but we practice all the traditions that goes along with the faith), we also take part in some Chinese beliefs but being Catholics are more eminent in our being *grins*.

So, Ash Wednesday marks the beginning of no-meat Fridays, non-intake of meat, in any kind, was also observed yesterday, we had Fried Prawns, and though I am sorta, kinda allergic to some seafood, I still tend to loose track and eat some, moderation is the key and a steady supply of medications *lol*. Anyways, for this year's Lent, I'm going to give up on rice, I'm still deliberating on meat, I'm not really sure if I can pass up on meat that easily *pouts*. For this blog, I plan on posting food and recipes that are Lent-friendly, hopefully. And to start the ball rolling, an easy but oh so yummy dish - Piniritong Sugpo (Fried Prawns).

Mixed Nuts or Something Like That

My week didn't start right *sigh*, so in an effort to lift up my heart and mood, I took time to look at the stored photos here in my laptop, and look what I found, I had forgotten about this pic already, that's what we prepared for the kids in the computer shop last January when we celebrated the feast of our patron saint. It's a mix of those 1-peso junk foods that are available in the market, we put it in a rectangular aquarium, we then roll pieces of papers with numbers 1-5 written on it and we ask the kids and the kids at heart who came by at the shop to pick one and the number they pick equals to the number of chips they could get, it was actually fun.



See the arm on top of the pic, that's Emyr's *grins*.