Garden Chef's Needle and Pen

There's a saying that goes, "One is enough, two is too much..." Uh uhhh, not for this!!! I'm referring to the Spanish Sardines Pasta which was my welcome post this year. My daughter, Ayana Grace, bought a bottle of pesto from the grocery store last month (she usually does...we seldom run out of pesto sauce in our cupboard) and I just wasn't able to resist making another try of the Pesto Spanish Sardines Pasta so here it is... Ingredients: 2 tbsps reserved oil from bottled sardines 2 tbsps olive oil 1 tbsp minced garlic 1/4 cup diced tomato 1 cup flaked Spanish sardines 1/3 cup Pesto sauce 1/4 cup pitted black olives 1/4 cup button mushrooms 1/2 kilo pasta noodles, cooked according to package instructions salt and pepper to taste Whole pieces of Spanish sardines (1 piece as topping per serving) Parsley for garnish   Steps: In a large saute pan, heat oil from sardines. Add olive oil as needed. Saute garlic until fragrant. Add diced ...

After making Fresh Oyster Mushrooms in Oyster Sauce , the first of the series of mushroom dishes I planned to feature, I ordered more packs of mushroom from the distributor CMAR Mushroom World . I was fortunate to have the mushrooms delivered to my workplace. So I was able to make another mushroom dish, Tempura . Here it is... Ingredients: Oyster mushrooms 1/4 cup cornstarch 1/2 cup all purpose flour 1/4 tsp baking powder 2 eggs beaten 3/4 cup water 1 tsp salt 1/4 tsp pepper Cornstarch (or ready-made breadcrumbs) for dredging Mushrooms dipped in batter and dredged in cornstarch. Ready for frying.   Steps: Combine dry ingredients in a bowl. Slowly whisk in eggs and water. Continue whisking to make a smooth batter. Dredge mushrooms in cornstarch, then dip into batter. Deep fry.  Serve hot. For the first batch, I followed the instructions to the letter. But when I was about to refill the cornstarch for dredging, I suddenly remembered that I...

When I posted the Bitter Melon - Cucumber Salad last week, a blogger friend commented that it's like "eating the rainbow." I loved her comment and I said that sounds like a very nice title for my next blog post! Inspired by that, I'm featuring one of my signature dishes, an appetizing dish I learned from my parents and grandmother years back . Another rainbow dish, Astri? :)   Very simple and easy to make, this salad has become a favorite of my colleagues at work. Searching the net would yield many recipes of this salad appetizer, some giving tips on how to remove its bitter taste. Oh yes, some bitter melons are more bitter than the others, that's exactly why many people don't like bitter melon (known as ampalaya in the Philippines). Through the years, I learned that sprinkling some rock salt over the ampalaya and squeezing out the juice remove the bitter flavor. Removing the juice however reduces the nutritional value one can get from this vegetable...

This is not the first time I'm making this salad. I posted about this appetizer early this year. Here it is. Click this link to view.  Garden Chef's Needle and Pen: Bitter Melon and Cucumber Salad . I discovered this salad in Yummy Magazine . For this post, I'm featuring a remake of this salad that I prepared last week when Ana Cristina, my younger daughter celebrated her 21st birthday with her friends at home. The salad was not part of my planned menu ( Creamy Potato Salad , Caesar Crusted Crispy Chicken  Strips , Shrimps-on-Wheel and spaghetti, Tin's fave pasta, which Ayana Grace, my eldest daughter, cooked). Spur of the moment decision, however, caused me to make the salad so that  Billy, my husband, would have some veggies. I always make sure there's vegetable whenever he is at home. Here's the photo of the remake. I didn't regret making this as her friend, Karla, liked it! I'll feature the other dishes in another post. ============...

Hello everyone! My last craft post was three weeks ago! That doesn't mean though that I haven't crafted anything since then. I made this Pocket Tissue Pouch from kusine.com which I haven't posted until now. I fell in love with the color and its design. So here's what I made. Did I choose a nice color? I placed the smallest pack of tissue inside The source of this pattern mentioned that the stitch used is the "Spaced Arches" stitch from The Crochet Stitch Bible by Betty Barnden,  ©2004. Photo taken from Amazon.com  It's my first time to use this material ever since it was given to me by Aunt Marly. The label reads Unger Dolly, made in France. Thanks to Aunt Marly for all these materials in my stash! It looks like a special "dotted" fiber. I don't know how to describe it. It has some kind of luster, too! Credits to Ayana Grace for the photos   I would like to make a few more of this...for gifts... Oh my, that...

I accompanied my husband to see his doctor for his regular check-up last week in the cardiac hospital where I work. Our hospital celebrates Nutrition Month for this whole month of July.  Part of the month-long celebration is the putting up of a Food Gallery at the ground lobby where various food entrepreneurs get to showcase their products. So now, let me share this mushroom recipe I got from one of the stalls when I bought a pack of mushroom. I bought this pack of organically grown mushrooms for P 100.00. After asking the saleslady about the lifespan of the product which she comprehensively answered (2-3 days at room temperature, 2 weeks when refrigerated, months in the freezer), she voluntarily handed me a list of mushroom dishes with recipes by their company, CMAR Mushroom World , located at Jala Jala, Rizal. Here they are... Fresh Oyster Mushrooms in Oyster Sauce Ingredients: 1/2 kilo mushrooms 2 tbsps cooking oil 1 cup water 6 tbsps oyster sauce 1/...

Inspired by the Tropical Spinach Salad posted by Lemon Tree Dwelling,  I made this salad for dinner tonight. Guacamole-Spinach Salad Ingredients:  Salad: 1 avocado, diced 1 slice pineapple, cut into chunks 1 piece pear, diced 1 bunch of spinach 1/2 small red onion, thinly diced 1/4 cup grated parmesan cheese Dressing: juice of 1/2 lemon 1 tsp olive oil 2 tbsps vinegar Steps: 1. Mix all ingredients for the salad. 2. Mix all ingredients for the dressing.  3. Pour dressing over the salad. Serve and enjoy. My Guacamole-Spinach Salad with Ham-Egg-Cheese Cup and Papaya slices Just perfect with the Ham-Egg-Cheese Cups made by Ayana Grace! I love it! My husband liked it too and said that it's quite different from what he usually eats.  Have a blessed week ahead! ============ Linking to: Back to Basics Tuesdays with a Twist

I don't know her personally. I just saw her face on my Facebook newsfeed last week when a friend posted about the sad news. Ayana Grace, my daughter who is a nail arts lover, asked me today something about blog link ups and as we exchanged thoughts about the topic, she opened a blog post that features about how bloggers unite in tribute to this very popular girl who has become a You Tube makeup guru sensation and CoverGirl's Honorary Model. Photo from Google Talia Joy Castellano is her name. And just today, I read that this beautiful and talented girl from Orlando, Florida, who has fought with cancer since she was 7 years old, passed away at age 13 last week, July 16, 2013.   "...diagnosed with stage-four neuroblastoma when she was just 7 years old,  started using makeup 'as a wig' shortly after she found out she was sick.  In July 2011, she began filming makeup tutorials in her bedroom —  short, how-to videos for the glam, colorful looks she inve...

I have already featured this fish before.  In my post entitled, " Of Little Pigs and Silver Fishes ," I described how I came to discover white pompano. From then on, this has become a frequent dish on our table. Just as I said in my previous post, it's very tasty and everyone in the family loves it. For today, we enjoyed a very simple pompano dish. Ingredients: 1 medium size pompano salt and ground pepper 6 pieces okra (lady's fingers or bhindi or gumbo), steamed and cut into 1-inch chunks 3 pieces salted eggs, sliced 2 pieces large tomatoes, sliced Steps: 1. Sprinkle salt and ground pepper to both sides of pompano.  2. Heat oil in pan. Fry pompano.  3. While waiting for pompano to cook, steam okra for 2-3 minutes. Drain and cut into 1-inch chunks. 4. Remove salted eggs from shell and slice into 6 pieces each. 5. Once pompano is cooked, place in a serving dish. 6. Garnish with steamed okra, salted eggs and tomatoes. Fried Pompan...

I found this Round Makeup Case pattern by Candace from Crochet Spot . The description says that this makeup purse can hold separately mascara and lipstick that would be handy and easy to find in one's bag. I must have been attracted to the color of the item as featured in Crochet Spot that I didn't waste any time. After reviewing the pattern, I had it printed and the journey began.  Here is my finished product. Do you like it?   I really wanted exactly the same shade of pink Candace used in her post but I didn't have any in my stash. For my version, I used a combination of plain pink yarn and variegated purple cotton. I was already working on the second half of the pattern (Row 13) when I realized I would like to have a smaller version that can accommodate 1 or 2 lipsticks instead of longer items like mascara. I had to unravel the yarn all the way back to Row 4. I shortened the process by 8 rounds (Rows 4-6 instead of 4-10, and Rows 12-15 instead of 12-...