Learning to Cook and Other Things

This is the 'good-to-go-with' penne with meatballs pasta dish I prepared for my dearest cousin Marguerite who was here recently. I don't do this as much as I want to because, I do not want to aggaravate my arthritic condition :-) Aubergine is the French word for eggplant, which in turn is scientifically called Solanum melongena. Eggplants are large and heavy vegetable, usually pear-shaped and dark-purple. A member of the potato family, eggplants are known worldwide, but are best part of Oriental, Middle Eastern and Balkan cooking. The eggplant is said to have originated in India , and was introduced to Spain by the Arabs in the 12th century. There, it was greatly favored for its supposedly aphrodisiac qualities. But in 16th century England and Italy , the eggplant was shunned and suspected of causing madness. Eggplants are not very nutritious, with only 1% protein and 3% carbohydrate, but they are low in calories and have no fat. The young, tender plants have the best fla

My cousin was teasing me that she certainly didn't think I cook good. She never really saw me in action, you see. But anyway, on the second day of her visit, I asked her w hat she wanted for brunch. Would she want food delivered or perhaps, shop from the nearby Riverbanks. She said she wanted to stay put and would I mind preparing something with an Italian flair? Hur hur! What I have I said, is 500gms Colavita penne rigate on my cupboard, some meatballs and some commerc ial parmesan cheese in the fridge. And so the decision was made, we were having penne with meatballs. The meatball recipe 1/2 kilo lean beef 1/2 cup commercially prepared parmesan cheese (grainy form) 3 tbsp tomato paste 1 egg beaten 1 tbsp salt 2 tbsps freshly milled pepper 2 tbsps chopped fresh parsley vegetable cooking oil In a glass bowl, combine everything and then form mixture into balls. Deep fry in vegetable oil. Set aside. Penne with Meatballs 500 gms penne parmesan cheese 2 tbsps chopped fresh parsl

My cousin is arriving from her Chocolate Hills in Bohol seminar. And this is the first in a very, very long time that we will get together again. I thought of preparing this appetizer to whet her appetite ready for lunch. Well, lunch's main dish is something I call, Lomo in black beans and tofu. In the meantime this is the appetizer recipe: Lotusflower's Shrimp Appetizer 1/2 kilo medium sized shrimps 1 cup le mon juice 1 cup flour 3 eggs, beaten Salt to taste the marinade 1/2 tsp freshly milled pepper Lime wedges vegetable oil for frying olive oil 1/2 cup Balsamic Vinegar for dip Peel and devein shrimps. Cut the back until it is spread open. In a large glass bowl, marinade shrimps together with the salt, pepper and lemon juice. Let stand for one hour. Remove from marinade and drain. Coat with egg and dip into the flour. Then deep fry in low fire until golden brown. Drain on the strainer. Sprinkle with freshly milled black pepper. Drizzle with extra virgin olive oil. Use ba

Terroir is a French winemaking concept which considers topography, climate and soil as the major factors in classifying wine. Rather than the grape variety itself, terrior dictates the quality of wines based on where the grapes were grown, what kind of soil it was grown and the time of the grapes’ harvest,. In essence, terroir means “unique wines from a unique area”. Although the concept remains debatable among the world’s wine producers, terroir serves as the basis for the French AOC or Appelation d’Origine Controlee system which in turn is governed by the Institut Nationaldes Appelations d’Origine or INAO. AOC’s appellation system mandates France ’s stringest winemaking and production controls. AOC more than guarantees that the wine from every French bottle comes from the region indicated on the label to specify which types of grapes are grown in a region and how the wine was made. The AOC serves as a model for many European systems. Defining the topography factor,

I would like to make a correction please. Yesterday, when I checked my Entrecard stats p age, I got the information I used for this post. Actually, I had a feeling already that there was some mistake. I was trying to find Juliana . Why did she suddenly disappear from my top droppers. Holy smokes, today that mistake gets corrected by Entrecard. She is listed on the 9th place. I think that is the more accurate statistic. Sorry, Juliana. But to you I dedicate this short post. Thank You for spending the time, clicking through my site. I appreciate it.

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Ah ah ah. That’s not what I meant. I am talking about Curtis – The Take Home Chef. This would be my second post on a celebrity chef (the first was The Naked Chef , of course that’s Jamie Oliver) First time I saw Curtis was on his Take Home Chef show on cable. I thought the show’s concept was brilliant. I haven’t seen anything like it anywhere. The tact is Curtis goes around supermarkets to pick-up a lady shopper, bring her back to her home, where Curtis will prepare a special dinner menu for her and a loved one. Yes, that is very right - he will do all the cooking and the food preparation (well, not really. I saw the show's credits and he has a sous chef), all in front of the cameras. It’s like a reality cooking show. Back to Curtis, he was born in Australia . Before realizing he wanted to cook, he was studying Business. He went on to start his cooking career in Savoy , quite a famous Aussie hotel. From there he proceeded to England to work for that famous chef and