Foot and Fire

By GERLIE M. UY We stayed at Doc J's Stop-over located just about two kilometers from entry to the municipality of Don Salvador Benedicto (aka DSB and don sal) located at 37 Brgy. Pandanon, DSB, Negros Occidental. DSB is a cool place but we dared to have halo halo as it is the place's best offering to those who stop over to the place... HALO HALO at DOC J's Stop Over, 37km Pandanon, Don Salvador Benedicto (DSB) Doc J's Halo Halo has vanilla ice cream, ube halaya, bits of colored kaong, sugared young buko or coconut shreds and sweetened with milk creamer and honey with dissolved mascuvado sugar LANZON (the yellow one) -- steamed grated cassava with young shredded coconut LINUPAK NGA KAMOTE KAHOY -- pounded cassava with shredded coconut LINUPAK NGA KAMOTE KAHOY, up close arroz con caldo passion fruit juice with buko shreds (young coconut) Don Sal women sell their camote and banana chips as well as their candied young coconut called BUKAYO.  LINUPAK NGA SAGING -- pounded

By GERLIE M. UY Here is another way of enjoying spaghetti when one ran out of tomato sauce... The simple garlic and oil sauce. Just added a local canned tuna called Century Tuna Inasal flavor on top so as to interest the palate of my conventional eating pack at home. A serving for Julie-Ann  Ingredients: 1/2 kl spaghetti 9 cloves of garlic, sliced thinly 1/2 cup olive oil salt and  ground pepper dry basil leaves (if fresh herbs such as parsley or oregano are available, use them) Century Tuna Inasal flavor (smoked) How to: Heat olive oil in pan.  Add garlic slices and spread on the pan. Adjust heat to low until garlic turns medium brown.  Add the spaghetti pasta and mix together. Put dashes of salt and ground pepper to taste.  Add ample amount of dried basil leaves and mix. Remove from fire. Place tuna on top and mix together just before serving. The sliced (not minced) garlic If you use the extra virgin olive oil, the better. Aglio et olio Century Tuna Inasal Flavor The pasta mixture

By GERLIE M. UY For Fries: 2 sweet potatoes, peeled cut lengthwise 1/8 of a medium squash, peeled and cut lengthwise canola oil for deep fry iodized salt for seasoning Heat the oil. deep fry the sweet potatoes and the squash. Serve with tomato ketchup. ***** For Grilled Eggplant, Pasta and sauce 5 pcs long eggplants, cut into half vertically and horizontally. If too thick, slice vertically once more until desired thickness. Tip: Not too thin as it will shrink after grilling. Also, immerse in water to avoid discoloration. Just before grilling, sprinkle with rock salt and dry or fresh basil leaves. Pan grill but put a small amount of olive oil. 1kg spaghetti, cook as package direction 1T of olive oil 3 cloves garlic, chopped Drain a 200g canned green peas 1/2 cup of slice black olives Grilled eggplant 1kl Tomato Sauce (I used the sweet Filipino Style as my eaters are not accustomed to the three-cheeses and italian-style version and the advantage here is that I am no longer putting sugar

From Marijuana to Lotus Seeds and Tree where chopsticks are born, these are the photos of various fruits, flowers and yes, vegetables we feasted our eyes on as we walk along Hoan Kiem Lake in Hanoi and the market route in Sa Pa, Valley of Vietnam. If we were not walking, we must be riding the cyclo around Hanoi or ran a bit because of drizzles in SaPa.... What a memorable vacation because of these colors.    Can't help it. In Tam coc, when i saw a vietnamese woman  holding out her lotus to another vietnamese woman,  i excitedly extended my palm to ask for one.  I bought the preserved crunchy and nutty lotus seed... and because of that curious moment in tam Coc,  i can compare it with the raw peanutty texture of the fresh lotus seed.. Tastes good, actually.Yahoo!  We are all familiar with this fruit: its appearance and smell... Love Durian... Beside the watermelon, what's that??? Note: --My friend says that's a citrus... a c