Buffalo Chicken Wings

This is a hit with my son.  He will walk the ends of the earth for this. Raving reviews. The first time I made this, he said , "make the sauce your own".... and so I did. Tell me what you think about it.  Again pictures to follow. ; )

20 chicken wings

2 TBSP vinegar

salt and pepper to taste

1/8 to 1/4 tsp garlic powder

Sauce:

1/2 cup Hunt's hickory BBQ sauce

1/2 cup Del Monte Sweet Tomato Ketchup

2-3 TBSP honey

2-3 TBSP brown sugar

1 tsp salt

1 1/2 TBSP chili sauce

Ranch Dressing:

1 cup sour cream

1/3 cup milk

salt and pepper to taste

can choose to flavor this with chopped chives or garlic powder

pinch of dill or parsley or paprika

Marinate chicken wings in vinegar, salt, pepper and garlic powder for at least 30 mins.

Heat oil a deep pan using medium fire. Dredge wings in flour and shake off excess just before frying.

Fry chicken until golden brown ( 15 mins). Drain in paper towels. Then coat chicken pieces with sauce in a bowl  taking care to put enough sauce only to glaze or coat the wings.

Serve with Ranch dressing as dip, lots of french fries and a cool cucumber salad.

Potato Omelet

Lola 'Ba used to cook this nice tight potato omelet (tortang patatas) for us for breakfast. I loved it as palaman (filling) in hot pandesal. This morning I had a craving for it, something I never had for a long long time.

Tortang Patatas

1 large potato cut in small cubes

1 medium sized white onion, chopped.

Saute the 2 above ingredients in canola oil until onions are transparent and potates are softish. Sprinkle with a little salt and pepper to taste. Set aside and let cool. 

Meanwhile, beat 3 large eggs until frothy. Put in 3 pinches of salt. Mix cooked potates. Cook as in omelets. 

Nice to eat with hot pan de sal and mug of strong black coffee for a lazy breakfast. 

(Pictures to follow ? Somebody buy me a more efficient camera to link with my laptop !) 

Spicy Eggplant Recipe ni Sarah

After cooking for the family for several years, things can get boring. So many times I have heard housewives lament how they are running of ideas of what to cook for for their families. Lately I have felt that way too. It was always the reliable adobo, sinigang, fried chicken, spaghetti, bistek filipino, chicken curry, etc.

To challenge myself, I will try to find something new to cook for my family every so often. This week I tried the spicy eggplant recipe as taught to me by a churchmate named Sarah, a fantastic cook. Here it is:

SPICY EGGPLANT

8 pcs eggplant, cut lengthwise in bite sized pieces

canola oil

200 gm ground pork

salt and pepper to taste

1 medium sized onion, chopped

3 cloves garlic, minced

4 pcs green finger sized chilies, each sliced diagonally in 4-5 pcs

4 TBSP oyster sauce

2 TBSP brown sugar

Cut eggplant lengthwise in bite sized pieces. Fry lightly in oil until tender. Set aside.

In another pan, saute onions and garlic. Add ground pork. Season mildly with salt and pepper when brown.

Add chilies. Toss lightly. Add cooked eggplants.

Then add oyster sauce and brown sugar.

Pictures to follow.

Going Solo in Tagaytay

The public commute from Dasmarinas, where I work, to Sta Rosa, where I live, is long and not very convenient. It will take me 2-3 changes rides. My family driver has been absent for days. My husband is on an out-of-town speaking engagement and my children are both in the city for college studies. I was left to my own devices on this Monday. After work, I had no choice but to take the aircon bus from Dasmarinas to Tagaytay, and then supposedly, hop on to another FX van from Tagaytay to Sta. Rosa to get home after my clinics.

I already had a thought yesterday to spend the night in Tagaytay to make my commute more convenient. I brought a change of clothes to work, just in case I decided to do so. On the bus going home this Monday afternoon, I was torn whether I should just go home or take a solo overnight vacation in Tagaytay. On the spur of the moment, I decided to alight halfway in Tagaytay, and check in at Windy Ridge Hotel just right around the Rotonda. Convenient for me to get to work tomorrow since Dasmarinas aircon buses pass this way a lot. And the added bonus of enjoying a new place, the better to give me some thinking and writing time.

Sitting at the balcony after a painless check-in, I enjoyed the foggy landscape of the Taal Lake and volcano right across me.The small reception area cum coffee shop is quiet and without customers. Down below is a small country road with the sounds of a busy metal grass cutter and a yakking street dog. Behind me, ah… the constant roar of motor from tricycles and cars. From the ominous grey skies, a hint of rumble of thunder, every now and then. These are hardly the meditative sounds for relaxation and rejuvenation that I expected. I hope things quiet down soon. It’s 5:00 pm on a Monday. Students and employees are on the rush to get home to a warm family dinner.

A few tall slim pine trees jut out from the deep green slopes of Tagaytay. Newly painted, well-maintained weekend homes are scattered along the landscape. From my vantage point it is mostly trees, trees and more trees. And a thin fog. It’s comfortable but not cold. I hope the view is better tomorrow.

What does one do when alone? It is supposed to be a busy week for me. Doing all I must and need to do before I leave for Rome for a series of meetings and a medical conference. I was tentative in proceeding with this solo vacation. I could’ve just stayed home and done the same things I am doing here –writing, eating dinner, sleeping. But then, I will be doing the same things again, in the same place, and that is dreadful. This is a change that I need.

Staying here is a luxury, I know, because I could have the same amenities at home and not have to pay a cent. The amenities are not, in any way, luxurious,though. They are just basic. This room is cheap by Tagaytay standards. At P2,800 per night, I shouldn’t be asking for too many things.

However, the thrill I got from checking-in alone in Tagaytay is like what I experience when I write, or when one falls in love with somebody in secret. The exhilaration is so intimate and personal, you don’t like any one to know, even the ones you love. I don’t know why there is such a perverse delight in keeping a secret, especially one that involves yourself ? It's like eating a big slice of chocolate cake when no one is home. Or finishing a bag of chips inside your bedroom when no one is there.

I wish I were more daring though. I could have taken a tricycle down the road and explored the eating places by myself. But rain forebade and I did not have an umbrella.

Solitude. At times we need it, just to keep sane and regain perspective. And there does not have to be an agenda. When alone, you can eat what you want or not eat at all. Sleep or not sleep or sleep when you want to. When alone it’s so nice to reorganize your life. Fix the bagful of clutter. Re-schedule things in the appointment book. Free the mind full of cares.Yes, my life is chaotic. Preparing for multiple medical conferences and advocacy events in three weeks time can be crazy. Last week, I felt like I was stirring ten boiling cauldrons all at the same time.

In the lobby are many books. And a nook for breakfast. That is the only meal that they serve here. Even if the brochures say food is not allowed inside the rooms, the receptionist allowed me to get my drinks and dinner from the fast foods nearby. ( grilled chicken from Mang Inasal from across the road in the Tagaytay Rotonda, what else?)

The bedroom is fairly sized but it reeked of some cheap floral air freshener when the air con was turned on. The bed sheets were not very white and looked like seconds from a hospital or a hotel that has gone bankrupt. I was always checking if there were mosquitoes or ants underneath because the sheets felt itchy. The usual amenities of complimentary mineral water, soap, shampoo and towels were there. I was surprised there was even a hair dryer. At midnight I woke up to go to the bathroom and found two centipedes inching their way across my floor.

After a good night’s sleep with my cable TV on all the night, I was served breakfast in the porch overlooking Taal Lake the following morning. It seems I was the only customer around. The staff was kind and unobtrusive.Breakfast was Kapeng barako, slices of watermelon and bananas, toast, butter, hotdogs and fried egg. Fair enough.

I spent the morning pounding away on my laptop in the balcony, enjoying the expansive view and the cool Tagaytay breeze. I took pictures of the view from the balcony and of the rows of plant vendors across the road - colorful under the cheery sun, with an array of brightly colored impatiens, bromeliads and petunias. If only the roar of the motorcycles would disappear…..It was lunch time when I finished typing some modules and articles. Time to do some clinic work again in Dasmarinas. I hailed an air con bus across the road. That was easy and painless.

Shrimp Pasta like Cibo's

Today I had time to experiment in my kitchen. A bunch of old friends came together for dinner and it was the best time to improvise or "oido" a recipe of one of my favorite dishes.. This is the shrimp pasta from Cibo of Margarita Fores. It turned out very good and close to the original. Success !

Shrimp Pasta
1 box Penne or Rigatoni Pasta, 500 gm, boiled al dente

1 kg fresh ripe tomatoes,blanched 5 minutes in boiling water, then seeded and chopped, saving all the juices
4 TBSP olive oil
1 TBSP minced garlic
2 TBSP tomato paste
1-2 tsp sugar
1 tsp salt
2 dashes black pepper
1 TBSP chopped fresh or dried basil leaves
1 TBSP dried pepper flakes (crushed pepper flakes in a sachet from Yellow Cab pizza!)

Saute ingredients and cook until thick and tomatoes are tender.

In a separate pan under low fire, cook
4 TBSP olive oil
2 TBSP minced garlic
600-700 gm medium sized shrimps, peeled
* may include heads of shrimps in sauteing for added flavor but remove them after this cream sauce has simmered.
1 TBSP butter
1 can sliced button mushrooms
1 box Nestle cream
5 TBSP parmesan cheese
1 TBSP salt
3 dashes pepper (optional)

Simmer gently. Allow sauce to thicken.

When done, may add sprinkling of parsley and choppped chives. Then pour in drained Penne pasta and mix well in pan while hot.  Add cooked tomato sauce. May adjust salt and pepper to taste.

The plate was left clean. This one is really good. My daughter says the best part is the chunky bits of tomatoes. I personally love the subtle garlic flavor blending with the shrimps and cream... and the very mild brief zing of the crushed peppers. Best with toasted foccacia bread dipped in balsalmic vinegar and fine olive oil.
Crude picture below.... using my iPad camera.

Weekend in Bali

Bali, Indonesia

Day 1

March 14, 2009

 

When I got invited to spend a weekend in Bali with friends, I couldn't pass up the chance. Bali in my mind meant volc anoes, the sea, tropical gardens, wood and stone carvings, exotic food and culture.

We were billeted at the Laguna Nusa Dua Resort which is part of a big complex of international-chain resorts (Four Seasons, Hilton, Westin). There is a long approach by a common road at the entrance with neatly landscaped gardens all around. Nusa Dua Resort is Westin-hotel managed so the interiors were impeccable and the service, excellent. The resort complex was very large with all hotel rooms having wooden balconies overlooking meandering, turquoise colored, manmade lagoons that swerved and turned amongst palm and frangipani trees. Small cabanas, draped with gauze-like white muslin which swayed with the breeze, stood invitingly under the trees. In the early morning, it was such bliss to sit in the balcony, sip your Java coffee, take in the view and enjoy the cacophony of bird calls, reptile hoots and the crisp swishing of palm brooms by the early hotel cleaners.

On our first night, we had dinner at Bali Nikmat, a Chinese seafood Restaurant which was located a good 30 minutes drive away from our hotel. The scenery along the way was a bit uninteresting because Bali looked just like any regular rural village in the Philippines: small makeshift/native houses, vendors pushing "kariton" or food carts containing spicy fried chicken and brightly colored hard boiled eggs.

The Chinese restaurant looked ordinary with very cheaply made Asian decors, table covers and aluminum chairs.
The food, however, was tasty and excellently cooked. Indonesian cuisine is full of flavor and spices. I sensed a lot of salt and well-calculated amounts of MSG went into the dishes. A platter of very fresh pink shrimps, quickly blanched with hardly any seasoning except natural brine – was succulent and refreshing! Their fried noodles was something new because it was perfectly seasoned with a dark sweet sauce, which I presume is Kecap Manis, and had with lots of vegetables in it. Another flavorful dish was the string beans fried in garlic and some spice (again that sweetish-salty-spicy combination typical of Indonesian cuisine) which had the nice balance of of crunchiness on the outside, and tenderness when you chew it. The Fish (Lapu-lapu) in Soy Sauce was perfectly steamed, fresh, tender, succulent and again, very tasty. The most unforgettable dish during dinner that night however was the oyster fritters. It was deep fried, melt in your mouth and light as a feather, and so very scrumptious. I was trying to figure out what seasoning went into it and I concluded they must have put a lot if MSG or fried it in pork lard because it reminded me very much of eating our very own chicharon, only it was smaller, lighter,tastier and it was oysters!

We went to the city center after dinner. Is was quite humid even if it was beside the sea. Tourists were everywhere. Music blared from the bars and restaurants. Souvenir shops were brightly lit up to the late hours. This was where the Bali bombing happened. The shops were open until 10 pm so it gave us enough time to pick up gifts for family and friends . We dropped by a small mall with a Batk Keris shop - a sort of one-stop-shop, where all kinds of Balinese souvenirs can be found. Good things to get are the quality wood decors and carvings, Balinese dolls, Javanese coffee or tea bags which are already packaged for gift giving, Batik clothing and linen, very nicely packaged massage oils which come in various exotic scents like frangipani, lavender, ylang-ylang, champaca, lemon grass and jasmin. Leather slippers,bags and shoes are made well locally too.I did not forget to buy myself loads of Kropok of various flavors, and lots of Kecap Manis ( that thick dark caramelized soy sauce that is their secret to Indonesian cooking.

Even though I had a very filling and satisfying dinner before shopping, I started salivating when I smelled roasted coffee and the buttery aroma of Roti Boy ( coffee buns) in the mall. The large brown buns, sticky outside and soft and within were so irresistible and cost only 6,500 Rupiah each ( about $0.50). I took some to our tour bus and shared it with my friends, Perry and Anna. The bun was fluffy and still warm and when you break it, and this lovely, warm,mellow butter drips from within. Ah. what a way to end the day. I am an unrepentant foodie, I must confess.

Bali is beautiful. However, the grey and black,coarsely sanded beaches jar your senses as you drink in the ethereal views of seas and skies. Their beaches are not at all impressive comparing it to the kind of beaches we have in the Philippines. Westin, however, does a really good job of buying location and views (think Bali Hai –like views from the beachfront) and keeping their landscapes immaculate. Overall, I love Bali because it feels like home. Bali's cuisine is right for my taste buds. The shopping is great. It is like a bigger and luxurious version of Boracay. And since I am a garden and food person, I was happy as a duck there.

Looking for Naschmarket in Vienna

Sept.25,2008

This was taken in front of Handel's Academy somewhere near Kartnerring. Nelson Malilin, Ana Javelosa and I took a lunch break from the Stroke Congress to try the great Greek(or Turkish?) restaurant in Naschmarket which specializes in grilled lamb chops, as well as to enjoy the smells and sights of the fresh food market. Great meal, great time, great company. After we finished our succulent, tender grilled lamb, we went all the way and ended the meal with a befitting finale of Baklava and Turkish coffee,.... in leisure. One memorable day in Vienna.