Foot and Fire

As I confessed earlier, my blog here will also house my favorite recipes as I will be merging my beforesixdiet.blogspot. com blogs here soon. Well, since I had been a US Masterchef Kitchen Fan before, I had been hearing about Gordon's favorite dish from time to time. Since, it is not common for us here in the Philippines to have lamb, it was an opportune time for me to make the Irish-English favorite dish. Well, I am not disappointed. I was just making a big adjustment while I did the recipe because the recipe I got from the web appears to me to be untested which I discovered as my cooking was in progress. I forgot to check on the Gordon Ramsay website. Mea Cupla, as always. So I am giving you here my tried-and-tested recipe. And Oh, when made with beef, they call it Cottage Pie. So I'm making some of this in the future using beef.   FILLING: 4T Olive Oil 2kls ground lamb 2 large carrot, chopped  2 large white onions, chopped 2 cans green peas ...

This is what I had been raring to cook for a long time because I read this recipe first in a book gifted to me by a cousin. It is a book filled with 1000 classic recipes which was sent to me from Canada. And I am.not disappointed.  This is my most reliable dutch oven sent to me from US three years ago. I can't see it sold in the stores even until.now. perhaps, the local caserole or caldero which cooks in open fire is still.most favorite by folk cooks. I am a proud owner of this dutch oven which comes in handy for braised dishes or stew.  By the way, the Roman Lamb Pot Roast earned 34 points or just a third fave after the tie in the first spot, shepherd's pie and moroccan spiced lamb chuncks stew which got 35 points. We had fun during the  cookoff and garden lamb party. Ingredients: Lamb, leg part or chunks of meaty part Salt and ground pepper Flour, as needed for dredging Olive oil Garlic, chopped Rosemary, dried or fresh White ...

As I mentioned earlier, I intend to keep my blog as my recipe treasure chest too. So I am posting the spice that spiced my Moroccan-spiced lamb chunks (pun is enjoyed by me!) I used the Harissa paste to my Morrocan-spiced Lamb Chucks Stew . I made adjustments on the recipe I found because of the chilis that are available in my country, Philippines. So here is my take on this exotic sounding Moroccan mix of spices. 6 Fresh long Chiles locally called Taud-ilahas 6 fresh bell peppers 2 Tbsp cumin powder 2 Tbsp Coriander seeds, ground 1 head garlic, chopped 2 Tbsp Paprika 2 Tbsp Himalayan salt 4 Tbsp lemon juice 2 TBsp Apple cider vinegar 2 Tbsp Tomato Paste 1/4 cup olive oil (or water may be used)  In a blender, place all ingredients and blend until the mixture turns into paste. Note: if using dried chilis, hydrate first before using.

Next to my Gordon Ramsay-inspired Shepherd's Pie, I love this stew. In fact, this is in tie with the farmer as the winning lamb dish during the Episode 2 of our Cook Off. This time, I and my friend Noli had a sheep slaughtered and turned into our kitchen masterpieces. I wanted to replicate this dish, so I am posting it here as I intend to merge my beforesixdiet.blogspot.com here soon. Also, I lost my vegan pizza dough recipe which I memorized and perfected last year because I failed to post it on my blog. Mea Culpa.  This stew has the fruity touch with a dash of chiliness. I just made my own chili paste using the available chili in our market though the real Harissa (see separate post) calls for certain kind of chili with mix of spices used to get that real Moroccan taste.     

I am reposting here the message I gave before the women's group in La Carlota City nine years ago as their keynote speaker during the yearly Anti-VAWC Campaign. It keeps popping up in my facebook memories as my Note , so I am putting it forth in my blog. To our ever-supportive Vice Mayor, Hon. David Baga Jr., to our energetic DSWD head Mrs. Julia Uy, to Ms. Melende Eseller of DSWD office, to Mrs. Mae Yanson of DILG Office, and to all ladies and gentlemen who are present here in honor of the women we all love, a pleasant evening. Tonight, we are gathered here to celebrate the International Day of the Elimination of Violence Against Women which kicked off last November 25 the “18-Day Campaign to end Violence Against Women” and will end comes December 10. And it is not a coincidence that December 10 is the International Human Rights Day.   When we hear of the words gender violence and human rights violations, we get a grim picture of battered women, dying wome...

As if I really won an ASEAN gold for doing this, I decided to blog abut my recent run. My sisters enlisted me to join the #bamcdekadarun, a run raising fund for charity hosted by the Adventist Medical Center - Bacolod which is already on their 10th year. For their 10th, BAMC gave a finisher's medal to each runner of the 10k. This was my first medal on running, and I felt good finishing it. At first I thought I couldn't do it. Years ago, I joined this same run that kicked off in the capitol lagoon but that run was painful and slow for me though it was only a 5k run. I attribute my 10k run this time to 70 percent walk of course, and many hours of gardening and house cleaning, useful of course.  One of the challenges for non runners like me who decided to run for the medal is how to march on. First, I ran with my sister and I advance myself a bit and on the last leg of the run, I lost her so that I continued and decided not to wait for her.  So while I was j...

Red Tide: A tragedy waiting to happen to humans by feeding the whale sharks* In Oslob, Cebu, Philippines, the sun rises where the sky and the sea meet. Meanwhile, along with the sun, tourists and fisherfolks-turned-tourist-boatmen rise early too to have their meet-and-greet with the whale sharks and have underwater selfies with them. In this otherwise quiet town, the whale sharks, locally called butanding, pass by every morning, and their arrival causes the chaos mix of business opportunity and holiday pleasure. The typical day starts with tourists lining up for registration and waiting for the short orientation on the do’s and don’ts like no touching of the whale shark as it is locally penalized and no use of sunblock. Then this is followed by the business pitch of unlimited taking of photos under the sea for the group. On top of the rent for the underwater camera, one can pay for the picture only or bring home everything in the memory card. The bragging right of having ...

I churned out an article for Asian Scientist Writing Prize in two nights of September 2019 and upon checking out the article today after I decided to put it on my blog, I realized that I blundered big time by messing up the geography (I won't elaborate! I'm so embarrassed big time). Of course, minus that, I am proud of what I did because the prize awaken the need for me to put the topic into writing. Though I can't join the ceremony on 4 December 2019 (I have an invitation!), I am happy to support the efforts of Asian Scientist Magazine by publishing the article I sent to Prize in my blog. The birth of the magazine is in itself a remarkable journey for the editor/publisher Juliana Chan. So this is my way of sending her my admiration and super boost. Here's the link to my paper.