Foot and Fire

              A platter of garden salad is also great accompaniment to meaty main dish or as starter. Easy to prepare and just need some creativity for serving presentation so that it looks enticing on the table. Wield your knife and display your cutting skills (no level required😍).          Dressings can be a mixture of Extra-Virgin Olive Oil or Coco Oil, Brown or Coco Sugar or Honey, ground black pepper. Sesame oil and seeds may also be used. This is my favorite dressing.          Mayo-ketchup dressing can also be one of the variations on the table but I don't use this often. Yogurt-ketchup can be a healthy alternative. Mix mayonnaise and ketchup or yogurt and ketchup well. Add a little sugar if the ketchup is not the sweet type. mix well, add some dry herbs.             Always remember to add the dressing just before serving or on the s...

One of our guilty pleasures is grabbing salted nuts and those whole grain thingies from the grocery aisle but what I really can't accept is that it is laden with msg, nature-identical flavors and artificial flavor. But out of sheer laziness and often, out of mere conveniece of just grabbing it, I buy.  If I am in my element, I order toasted nuts and dried fruits online and make my own trailmix. From the times I do this up to now, I got some preferences. I am sharing to you my favorites that I am having now: Almonds, toasted whole or slivered (choose unbleached please) Cashew nuts Golden raisins (dark ones tend to moisten) Cranberries, nice sour tones and good to add to stirfries and chao fan Apricot, love it in my moroccan dish and as snacks as it is so filling Some others which I tried with my notes: Walnut (not much as the peel has aftertaste and the Chinese use this as their brainfood. Look at the shape of wanut, it sure looks like brain) Hazelnut (pricey and overrat...

4 cups bugnay 6 cups brown sugar Wash bugnay ang remove stem.  Press with both hands until the juices come out of the berries. Separate the juice and pulp from the seeds by using not-so-fine strainer In a pan or small casserole without cover, bring to boil the juice and pulp of bugnay berries Add brown sugar and stir until dissolved. Let boil for 30 minutes still without cover and stir.  In a low fire, continue heating the syrup for about 30 minutes until it thickens a bit. TIP: The syrup is ready if it does not separate or dissolve easily when dropped in a glass of water. Also, if the syrup does not break when spilled from a spoon about a foot high from the casserole.  Sterilize glass jar and transfer the jelly.  Let cool and refrigerate.