Sinigang Sa Pakwan

How enterprising people could be sometime.

As you know in our country, sinigang is one of the best recipes served on the table. It is one of our comfort foods, be they be pork, beef or fish, there are so many ways to cook it. Sinigang is a Filipino stew that is very popular here. It is often associated with tamarind, kamias or mixed with sliced tomatoes for that sour taste. You can add vegetables like taro, water spinach, sweet potato leaves and green peppers.

Not so long ago, a friend and I attended the wake of my co-admin’s father somewhere in Quezon City. We are all active members of The Filipino Catholic. Later on, we had lunch at one of the restaurants at Ayala malls. One dish that my friend ordered was sinigang sa pakwan, simply translated, it was a stew using water melon as souring ingredient. That was the first time I tasted one.

Image culled from the net.

One morning while Josef and I were grocery-shopping, I saw these several pouches of Mama Sita’s souring ingredients. I bought 2 pouches of pakwan of course (it is in powder form). It didn’t taste as good as the fresh one though. Craving for sinigang at the moment using guava as ingredient. Believe me, it is one of the best.

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It’s A Jollibee Sausage

I’ve been looking for something I could order online for breakfast when I saw it, packs of Jollibee sausage selling at P280 each pack. I am not just sure how many are there in one pack. I ordered two and the delivery charge is P70 pesos.

There is a story behind this penchant for this one. When Nissa got married and Josef and I were left at the house, we would go to the wet market which we usually call palengke every two weeks and buy provisions good for just that, two weeks – fish, pork, chicken, vegetables, eggs and fruits. After going to the market, we would pass by Jollibee before going home and had breakfast there. I have always ordered their sausage which we call longganisa, half cup of fried rice and pouched egg. That is of course with a hot cup of coffee. Josef’s favorite is their jumbo hotdog and he orders it with hot chocolate and pouched egg too. Sometimes we drop by after attending mass during Sundays. It’s been almost three years since we went to the wet market except for that one time before Christmas last year when we bought food needed for noche buena and media noche. We still order online because it is more convenient.

The delivery guy just called up to tell me he is on the way. That was fast, it was just a ten-minute ride. I am like a kid excited to taste her favorite fast food meal again.

I am sure some of you had already heard about this fast food chain, they have gone international years ago, Filipinos abroad would still go out and buy their favourite meal.

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My Gardenia In Bloom

It showed its face slowly

And I can’t wait

For the petals to unfurl

But I can smell

The sweet scent from here.

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Memories Are Reborn

Have you ever tried eating outside on your own?

Back in the early eighties when I was just starting to work at the prestigious and oldest bank in the country, eating out alone was quite taboo. You need to have at least an officemate to eat with you when you go out. Even having lunch at the bank cafeteria or eating your baon, you were always in the company of your friends and officemates. You felt a little pitiful eating alone.

Gradually, it has become the norm to grab a bite after shopping for a few grocery items during your lunch break. Going back at least fifteen minutes late was still acceptable. Tropical Hut is one of the oldest fast food chains in the Philippines. It made the burger become popular. When Jollibee started, we also started taking out something for lunch. And be it a celebration of a birthday at the office or just having snack together, it would always be Jollibee. And since during those times there were no delivery guys to service our orders, it’s always our floor janitor who volunteers to buy and that means free snack for him too. Nowadays, even little kids know the sign of the big bee even if they can’t pronounce it right. Us seniors have always the privilege of having 20% discount in hotels, airplane rides, medicines, restaurants and food chains, cinema and some grocery items which are considered as basic.

And this reminds me, when I was still at the bank, every one in our unit would contribute to buy a cake for the birthday celebrator to take home. It would always be a round chocolate Cookie Monster cake.

Gosh, such memories, still vivid like they just happened yesterday.

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Tuesday Blessings

We have free dinner tonight complete with dessert. Nissa sent us via Grab the food she set aside last Sunday during their fiesta. There were embutido, a tub of lechon and a tray of maja blanca. We don ‘t buy lechon during occasions since it is so costly. First time in years that I’ve tasted it again. Yummy👍

I finally had my check-up with my internist this morning and my FBS is not normal yet at 7.29, the normal range is 5.5. My blood pressure though is pretty good. The doctor did not put a date on my next lab, take that to mean a month from now. He said that if ever I have my operation, I should go to a cardiologist for clearance. Cost of medicine is sky-high here. I just bought my meds good for a month.

My left ear feels a little heavy and there’s pain from time to time but tolerable unlike before. I am waiting for Thursday for my next ENT check-up.

It was dad 101st birthday yesterday had he been alive. A friend who had the same birthday as he had wrote me a long message and she told me that she is coughing up blood. They live in Japan.Her eldest son who is alone in Hokkaido has Covid 19. And I say again, health is wealth. I told her to let us pray for each other.

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Rainy Wednesday

I woke up around 4am. I thought I could start trimming the carabao grass but it was wet. It rained last night and it is raining again now. There are pockets of rain water across the yard. This is the kind of rain that won’t stop at the spur of the moment.

Perfect time to read and drink salabat. Yes, I like that ginger brew which I’ve been drinking when I had Covid. Coffee tastes different now.

Since it is in season, I cooked guinataang santol yesterday. It is cooked in coconut cream and instead of using ground, I used tuna flakes. Yummy🌶🧅🥣

• 

Do you know that santol is called cotton fruit in English. The seeds inside look like cotton. It is commonly found in Southeast Asia. Bangkok santol is the best and guinataang santol is best paired with fried fish or pork chop.

Gosh, it’s cold and it is still raining outside.

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Simpol

This is my second try of recipes in the book Simpol by Tatung Sarthou.It is called Sweet and Sour Pork. It is pretty easy to follow his recipe. One thing though, I didn’t have carrots inside the ref so I substituted two medium-size potato, fried it after frying the pork. It tasted just as good as those I have tasted before. The pineapple chunks balanced the sweetness of the sauce. It’s flavor is just perfect. No garnishings yet, I took the photo direct from the steel wok.I am tempted to try another recipe, it’ll be chicken next time.

(This is crazy, I could see the photo here while I am on edit mode but it does not appear on the blog itself).

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It’s Pancit Bihon

Second to rice, pancit is a Filipino noodle dish which is also a staple on our table. It uses rice sticks mixed with pork, shrimp, chicken and vegetables. We even mix it with sliced hot dogs and chicken liver.

I prepared this for lunch today and followed Chef Tatung’s recipe by adding sliced squid balls to the pork. Veggies are half-cabbage, Baguio beans, carrot, celery and green onion for toppings.

You could eat this as substitute for rice. Yumyum🥢🍜🍷

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Simpol

I’ve alway been a fan of Chef Tatung Sarthou. I often see him on television with his regular segment in one program of ABS-CBN.

I occasionally catch him on his Facebook page showing those recipes that he cooks. They don’t need elaborate ingredients. They are simple recipes so easy to follow.

Last Sunday I decided to order his first published cookbook last November 2020. Delivery was fast, ordered it through Lazada.

He calls it Simpol which means simple in English. The book is thick, the pages are glossy with picture of every recipe featured in the book. I browsed it and it seems they are so easy to follow. He simplified those elaborate recipes and made the ingredients affordable. One of these days, I will try some of them.

This book is one more treasure to keep.

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Busy Days Are Here Again

Reading was set aside for a while. I could not concentrate reading even at night aside from perusing a few poems by Mary Oliver….again!

There are deliveries almost every day for the three of us (Josef, Jovy  and me) brought about by the Lazada sale last December 12.  They have sales every month like 10-10-20, 11-11-20 etc. And since this is also their Christmas sale for the year, there seems to be many shoppers online. Lazada Philippines consists of several sellers of electronic accessories, appliances, toys, groceries, fashion accessories, home and living, health and beauty accessories too, You name it, they have it, all at a much lower price than in department stores with minimum charges for delivery. I have completed my gifts shopping at Lazada. There is one more item that I am waiting for, an electric kettle I ordered two days ago for our use. Lazada is a very popular online destination in Southeast Asia. “The online shopping group boasts one of the largest catalogues of items in the Philippines, with items from different  reliable brands, and are grouped into categories that are being sold in the website and the app”.

Yesterday, I prepared Embutido, a Pilipino meatloaf which  is also a regular fare for our Noche Buena.  Pair it with pancit or any pasta dish, some favorite sweets and  other desserts  and you’re good to go. I made 16 rolls in all. It can keep for long in the ref  without losing its flavor, just freeze it.

This afternoon, I wrapped all the gifts for the family. Jovy helped me with the bigger item for Nissa and Obet. Good thing SM East Ortigas gave me extra wrappers because half portions of the Christmas wrappers I have here got wet during the flood last month.

Last night was a very inspiring 2nd day celebration of  Simbang Gabi.  Fr. Paul, one of my favorite priests at St. Paul was the mass presider. Looking forward tonight for the 3rd celebration.

Take care guys, Covid is still enjoying its worldwide romping around.

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