Foot and Fire

Are these deer heads real? Posing by the wall decors at Kristin's Steakhouse,  Lacson Street, Bacolod City. Kristin's serve crocodile steak as well as ostrich  but we did not dare try as we were genuinely hungry and we need surefire set of meals. Perhaps, next time. The place is highly recommended!!! *** Summer cooler, anyone? ** Their Ox tongue in mushroom sauce is superb. *** Kristin's house steak specialty...  beef tenders *** *** Their vegetable stir fry is wonderful too. *** We capped our dinner with Flibby's Cupcake.  Just a walking distance from Kristin's.

What else is summer but a burst of colors and vibrancy, of energy and happiness. Summer is bloom;  Summer is a boom. Summer is flower; Summer is power. Summer is fruit; Summer is growth. BLOOM. *** *** *** *** *** HONEY. *** IBA. KAMIAS. *** LEMON. *** STEVIA PLANT. ***

I used the Pho Ga to make soup base for noodle soup. "Pho" means soup, "Ga" means Chicken.  The Kanokwan is a Pad Thai Paste, I already used it up. It is not good. It has no peanut in it and it is very much loaded with sugar. The Tom Yum soup base (another Thai specialty) is still lying in the cabinet for some days of kitchen experiment.  Thank you to my Saigon-based friend Anna Wang for the generous gift. We enrolled together in a cooking class in Ho Chi Minh City and we passed the cooking test together!

When I got back to Doc J Stopover after more-than-a-year-ago visit, I observed that there are many plants added to the garden. One of the new thing for me there is this Stevia plant. Stevia plant is a healthy sweetener promoted as an alternative to sugar in the market. Here some facts from Wikipedia.  One worth mentioning is that  "With its steviol glycoside extracts having up to 300 times the sweetness of sugar, stevia has attracted attention with the rise in demand for low-carbohydrate, low-sugar sweeteners. Because stevia has a negligible effect on blood glucose it is attractive to people on carbohydrate-controlled diets."

Cook pancit canton as directed in the package. Once boiling, put vegetables like carrots, cabbage, baguio beans and sayote and drain together with the noodles. Add the seasoning. Serve with fried tufo and slices of cucmber on the side. Merienda is ready. Pairing a food guilt with nature's food gifts... :)                                          ***                                   ***

Cook pasta as suggested anywhere in this blog . For the white sauce top, heat cream, condensed milk and cheese mixture while stirring constantly until the cheese is melted. Pour on top of prepared pasta. It is good to be loaded with calories once in a while. 

Fruits are best served washed, dipped in salt and bitten. But it is not always the case. Fruits can be boring and sometimes line up behind sweet colorful candies as the children's fave. One way to perk the serving of fruit is by serving it in a platter with a Mandala pattern.  Mandala is a circular pattern found in many culture. Let the fruits shine with mandala arrangement.

Line ladyfinger or broas in a rectangular deep container, pour peach syrup-condensed milk-and-cream mixture, place some mangoes and peach bits and pieces then line another batch of broas then pour mixture and arrange fruits anew. Repeat until six layers are done. Chill in the fridge and serve as dessert.

purple *** yellows. *** pinks. *** yellow orange. *** white. *** yellow. *** green/ white. *** pink and shades of it. *** green. *** green and red. *** pink. *** When I said, "They too bloom in the urban setting,"  I am not referring to flowers alone but to these little ones too.

Candied Iba Iba, the fruit. Kamias or Iba lime water Sugar In big plastic basin, place all washed iba or kamias . Place water enough to cover the fruits. For every one liter of water, dissolve one tablespoon of lime or apog. Let soak overnight. The next day, rinse well the soaked iba or kamias. Boil fresh water and add the kamias and blanch for five minutes. Drain, and prick each fruit with fork or toothpick and press each lightly to remove some juice. Let stand in a strainer to drain more juices. In a casserole, dissolve two cups of sugar in one cup of water and prepare syrup just enough to cover the fruits. Bring the syrup to boil and add the fruits and let simmer for 5 minutes. Let stand for overnight. The next day, remove fruits from syrup. Add a cup of sugar to the syrup and let boil. Return the fruits and let boil for five minutes. Let stand for overnight. Repeat immediate step for another night. Remove the fruits and let drain. Line each fruit in a clean cloth. Dry under the su...

Cheese sticks can be the regular cheese slices, or cheese with hotdog. It can also be cheese with bellpepper, or cheese with chili hot pepper for a dynamite explosion in the tongue. For the sweet tongue, cheese rolled in milk powder is suggested. Check here for my cheese stick posts. and here.

Which one evokes childhood memories? Long before chocolates and donuts come in many colors and heady varieties as well as confusing packaging, these two rocks our sweet tooth. Tootsie Roll and Curly Tops. Share your thoughts below... 

        Pechay, the native kind. Other green can be used. There is nothing like hot pot. First, because it's always a one-pot for us where we put all ingredients all at once and sip the soup. Second, we love the soup from slow cook like those in the bulalo and batchoy. Third, we have no patience for one at a time food trip. LOL Well, it is nice to try it once in a while, at home. Shabu shabu at home... Vermicelli or glass noodle is a better choice among noodles in the grocery.                          Fresh chicken eggs. Frozen items from the grocery: Tufo seafood and Fishcake.                          Kimchi on the side... The chili for the soup from China. I used the Vietnamese soup base bouillon for the non-chili soup. I do not like the peanut-vinegar accompaniment. (Even those prepared in the Beijing Shabu-shabu).       ...