Foot and Fire

Hopia in a whole new light By GERLIE M. UY  I am no fan of breads. I am no fun of hopia, to be specific. I just buy hopia in die shape when I am tired of sandwiches and biscuits. Since I skip pork hopia, I get to pick mongo hopia. But last April, I ate hopia in a whole new light. Savor is the word, actually. The hopia I knew is stocky and dry in the inside and just a fine as any other breads to me. But this particular hopia I tasted is soft in the outside, a thinnest layer of flour kneaded in oil. It blends with the inside when I dipped my teeth into it. When I get in the inside, it is soft and not chewy but I can feel the mashed ube and beans (as the label says it contains) touch the palate. Not only that it contains real ube; they also come in many flavor, singly and in combination --  Mongo,  Red Mongo, Ube, Buko Pandan,  Ube-Pastillas, Ube-Queso, and Ube-Langka. There is also this Mochipia, a hopia with glutinous rice like tikoy inside, in Macapuno flavor. There ...

MAG-ASO FALLS IS A REAL RETREAT By: Gerlie M. Uy             Found at about thirty (30) kilometres from the heart of Kabankalan City, Negros Occidental,  Mag-aso falls is a real find for all-week-long-city-beaten picnickers.             Once you take the first small step going down the falls, you will go through at least six hundred steps. But of course, the steps are all calculated while you go down and see through the greeneries and huts of different sizes. You will also pass by a mini San Francisco bridge, a pond down under and nearby, banana plants, birds of paradise, and a stream flowing and passing down a nature-designed pool.                As you progress to about three hundred steps, you can choose to pass by the ‘mother of the falls’ where the water fa...

CHICKEN-OLIVE IN RED SPAGHETTI SAUCE By GERLIE M. UY In the land of inventions, necessity is the mother of all inventions. In the corner called kitchen, hunger is the mother of all concoctions. I proved this well when I have a spaghetti pasta inside our Ugly Betty storage, left-over chicken from Chooks-to-go (oven-grilled chicken) and some black pitted olives which I add on my green salad from time to time. So, another sauce was concocted in my kitchen. It turned out so well and yummy. You can try this for your Father's Day celebration. 1 kg. Spagghetti (I use Ideal pasta as it is made of durum wheat), cooked as per package direction. 2 tbsp. olive oil 1 tbsp butter (optional) 3 cloves garlic, crushed and chopped 2 medium red onions or 1 big white onion, chopped 200g leftover chicken, deboned and flesh cubed or flaked 1 chicken broth cube dissolved in 2 Tbsp. water (optional) 1 kg Clara Ole Three Cheeses tomato sauce 3 Tbsp ketchup 1 Tbsp honey or brown sugar 1 tbsp dried basil lea...

Nine reasons to drink green tea daily By Michelle Schoffro Cook, Care2 http://shine.yahoo.com/event/green/nine-reasons-to-drink-green-tea-daily-1609132/   (Photo: Getty Images) Have you been wondering “what’s all the fuss about green tea?” Now you can stop wondering and start drinking ... green tea , that is. This flavorful beverage offers many health benefits to anyone who drinks it regularly. Green tea contains a potent plant nutrient known as epigallocatechin gallate, or EGCG, for short. But don’t fret, you don’t have to keep track of its chemical name to reap the health benefits. Here are nine reasons to start drinking green tea or continue drinking it if you’re already hooked. 1. Green tea is a superb fat fighter . Its active ingredient, EGCG, increases the rate at which fat is burned in your body. 2. It targets belly fat . Research at Tufts University indicates that EGCG in green tea, like other catechin...

This is what we did over the weekend in November 2009. Friday night, we rode the Ceres Bus going to Cebu at around 10:45 in the evening. The Ceres entered the barge at around past midnight in Escalante port. A jacket is highly recommended as the aircon is too strong inside the aircon passenger seats in the ferry. We arrived in Cebu in the wee hours of the morning and actually arrived in Cebu City at past 8 am. We ate breakfast at the terminal consisting of the staple corn meal masquerading as boiled rice with matching fish in clear hot soup. Cebuano's staple. From there, we meet up with a friend who arranged our three-hour tour of Cebu (P1650/half day). We went to Lapu Lapu Shrine, Magellan's Cross and the church nearby, and we also passed by the Fort. By 1 pm we had lunch at SM Mall of Cebu City which is near the terminal of the vessel going to Dumaguete. At around 3PM, we rode Ocean Jet heading to Tacloban, the capital of Bohol. Weesam also have a trip to Bohol. We ate din...

Seven myths about veggies By Lori Bongiorno More from The Conscious Consumer blog (Photo: Getty Images) Is it healthier to eat raw veggies or to cook them? Is fresh broccoli more nutritious than frozen? Is eating iceberg lettuce a waste of time? You may be surprised by the answers to these seemingly simple questions. In fact, there are several misconceptions when it comes to vegetables. The one universal truth is that most of us could be eating more of them. As summer approaches, we have more vegetable choices than at any other time of year. Here's a guide to what's fact and what's fiction when it comes to eating your veggies. Myth: Fresh vegetables are more nutritious than frozen Fact: Studies show that sometimes you can get more nutrients from frozen veggies, depending on variety and how old the vegetables at your supermarket are. That's because produce starts losing nutrient quality as soon as it's picked. Frozen vegetables are flash-frozen ri...

Below is an article casting another perspective on our eating habit, our tendency to rely on mass produced meat and our failure to train our senses to appreciate quality over quantity in our eating. This article is worth reading and is one of the points I want to share in my campaign with Eating with Mindfulness. Eat Less Meat, Eat Better Meat June 8th, 2010  By Ralph Loglisci http://civileats.com/2010/06/08/eat-less-meat-eat-better-meat/ The list of Meatless Monday supporters continues to grow across the globe, and surprisingly to some, many of the latest enthusiasts make their living either cooking meat, such as chef Mario Batali or producing it, like rancher Nicolette Hahn Niman. What makes Meatless Monday so successful is its simple and inclusive message which promotes moderation with the goal of improving public health and the health of the planet. Nicolette and her husband Bill run the BN Ranch in Northern California near the seaside raising beef cattle on pa...

10 Chocolate Lover Cookie Recipes Here are chocolate cookies to try out for Woman's Day.  I am not a chocolate person but it pays to bite a square or a round of any choco sweets sometimes. I will definitely try some of these recipes.... http://www.womansday.com/Articles/Food/Recipes/10-Chocolate-Lover-Cookie-Recipes.html 10 Chocolate Lover Cookie Recipes By WomansDay.com Staff Posted June 01, 2010 from WomansDay.com Whether it’s a midday sweet or an after-dinner dessert, cookies are the perfect treat—especially when they’re packed with tantalizing chocolate. And not just any plain old chocolate, but various combinations of bittersweet, semisweet, dark, milk, white and cocoa powder that are spun into decadent creations fit for the most discerning sweet tooth. From traditional Soft Chocolate Chunk Cookies to more modern Chocolate-Dipped Oreo Pops , resistance will prove futile ...

Pad Thai By GERLIE M. UY I had three plates of Pad Thai! whoosh. This noodle dish is akin to the pancit and bihon we Filipinos are enamored with. As in any other Thai dish, this stir-fried rice noodle has mongo sprout, tofu and fish sauce. The sharp sourness of tamarind (I used the powder but I think the tamarind sauce or the fruit itself is great), the sweetness of sugar (Thais use palm sugar), the saltiness of fish sauce and the aroma of spring onion blend in to bring an exciting taste. Since I used powder tamarind, I better added a squeeze of lemon just before seving with sugar and peanuts on the side. 2 Tbsp Peanut or sesame oil 6 cloves of garlic 1 big white onion 1 cup chicken strips 1 block of firm tofu, chopped (300g) 2 beaten eggs 6 leaves of spring onions, chopped 2 Tbsp basil, dried or freshly chopped 6 Tbsp of tamarind powder, dissolved in about 3 Tbsp water Salt sugar 6 Tbsp fish sauce 6 Tbsp premium soy sauce (or oyster sauce if preferred) 6 Tbsp soy sauce 1/4 mongo sprou...

Surprising Healing Benefits of Spices By Brynn Mannino, Woman’s Day Tue, Jun 01, 2010  Here is an interesting read from Yahoo News... Pick out one or two spices that you need and incorporate to your dish of the day everyday.... Im sharing them with you so you will have a bright kitchen idea today... http://health.yahoo.net/articles/nutrition/surprising-healing-benefits-spices Chances are you sprinkle cinnamon into your morning oatmeal or add a dash of oregano to pizza without giving the spices much thought. But did you know your favorite flavors can actually do your body good? According to Christina Suarez, master herbalist and owner of TheGoodHerbCo.com , while spices are only effective when eaten at least daily, each has its own specific health benefits. Read on to find out which additives can burn fat, ease a sore throat or help you get to sleep, and how you can incorporate them into your daily diet. Cardamom Fruit of the Elettaria cardamomum plant in the ginger family. Health P...