Learning to Cook and Other Things

Ahh it is the holiest Week of the Philippine calendar. Families taking a break find respite from polluted air city living and go to vacation resorts. Families 'bond' care of the beach and the beautiful rustic and oftentimes rural sceneries. The food? No problem. The locality's food business service will take care of that. They will enjoy the freshness of harvest from the sea: shrimps in Dakak , lobsters from Palawan , and the mollusks of Cavite . For us city-dwellers forever (only because we cannot afford a 5 kilometer travel away from our homes), we plan our meals around fish this time of the year. As Catholics are supposed to be meatless and instead 'endure' fish and veggie eating or none at all. This year would not be any different. I bought some tilapia and bangus , also some yellow fin tuna. Grilled, steamed sauced, our fish will be thymed, oreganoed, basilled, cuminned and black peppered. Delish and healthy. But aren't we Catholics supposed to m

After posting about those delish cheeses from Europe, I go back to the Asian style of food preparation. Try Japanese. I am posting about that dish called Teriyaki? I am not from Japan . I have not lived nor visited Japan. Well, almost in 1994, the local Japanese Embassy in fact granted me a business Visa. Look, I didn’t know it was winter in Japan that time L . So my trip was cancelled although my scheduled companion-friend went ahead anyway. But I digress. Ah yes - never lived, never visited the cherry blossoms country. But I got me a couple of Japanese friends, okey? I met them when I attended a business conference in Singapore . With little English on their part, we talked about what else, food. Sign language you see. And yes, we were dining in a Japanese restaurant at that time. And Yessss we were feasting on teriyaki. That’s what I call a seguey :-) So, what is Teriyaki? Teriyaki is one of the many ways of Japanese cooking. The word, teriyaki is a com

I have been cooking since 2003. Yes, mostly, by my lonesome. Extra help may come but they are few and far between. But I must not complain because I looove cooking. If only there was less heat. Anyway, my cooking is really herb-ful. I don't need any reason to lace my dishes with herbs. The 'cheapest' recipes bloom with elegance once paired with herbs. And I have 10 favorite herbs that I can't do without: 1. Basil is an annual and used for the clove scent from leaves; works well with tomato dishes, specially pizza and spaghetti sauces. 2. Dill is an annual with its seeds serve as flavor for dill pickles. 3. Fennel is a perennial which adds zest to fish and vegetable dishes; seed also said to work as appetite suppressant. 4. Horseradish is a perennial and acts as a strong flavoring for meats and oysters. Root is harvested for use as a vegetable. 5. Mints are perennials. Both spearmint and peppermint are used to enhance teas, garnish lamb dishes and general flavor enhance

Thanks to www.noodlesandrice.com for the image. As opposed to gourmet, jologs cooking is what I am practically doing these days. Well, I define 'jologs' cooking as 'no recipe' cooking -- just combining whatever I have in my garden with what I have in my pantry and the fridge. So if I cook adobo whether chicken or pork, I just add tumeric or cumin instead of laurel leaves if that is what I have in my pantry. It is not only experimental but workable. More often, jologs cooking do not appeal to the sense of sight, being hodge podge and all. But what I can assure you is tastily cooked food. Promise :-) Some chefs define gourmet as good cooking. Agreed. I must insist though that jologs cooking is not only good, practical and healthy. Hooray! So hell to the chef!!! [joke :-)]