Garden Chef's Needle and Pen

It’s been months (?) or a year since I made maruya (banana fritters;  kumbo in Ilonggo or Visayan dialect ). This has become a frequent breakfast or merienda on our table during this pandemic. 

Gōng xǐ fā cái (Wishing you wealth and  prosperity in Chinese)!  Gong Hei Fa Choi (Happy New Year in Cantonese)!

In my post some years ago, " A Legacy from my Mother-in-Law ," I wrote about how I learned to cook. I also shared where I got the recipes for the first few dishes I usually made as a young wife. In this post, I mentioned the recipe book,  Masasarap na Lutuing Pilipino ni Aling Charing .    In a sequel post , I featured one dish from Aling Charing’s recipe book, one of my husband's favorite dishes - - - Kilawing Labanos (sauteed pork and radish). Hubby introduced me to this recipe from Aling Charing's old favorite cookbook. From then on, this dish has become one of my signature dishes at home. Through the years of making this dish, I already made some twists from Aling Charing's original recipe.

In my anniversary  post   last year,   I mentioned about making this Camote Tops Ensalada as one of my pandemic appetizer dishes. It’s a very simple yet healthy veggie salad that you can make with camote tops, onions, tomatoes and dressing.  See how I gave this salad a twist.

“Today is Metro Manila’s first lockdown anniversary. #COVID19PH”  That’s hubby’s post in Facebook today (March 15, 2021). Yes, it’s been a year since Metro Manila was placed on lockdown. We started working from home, and as health care workers, we physically reported to office two or three times a week. 

  It’s been almost a year since I started staying at home more than I used to for the past 37 years. March of 2020 when working from home (WFH) a number of days per week was made an alternative work option during the COVID-19 pandemic.

Sunny side up. Egg omelette. Garden omelette. Scrambled egg. Any of these egg meals with wheat bread is the usual breakfast for hubby and me. Easy to prepare. Easy to cook. 

One day, a friend sent me a video recipe of Asparagus Roll-ups. Hmmmm... it really looked yummy! I confess it made me crave for another asparagus recipe I have tried before which my kids loved- - - Bacon-Asparagus Wraps! 

When the Enhanced Community Quarantine (ECQ) took effect in March this year in response to the COVID-19 pandemic, we were made to implement a skeleton schedule for a month. That caused most of us to report to work at least twice a week and work from home for the remaining days. Hubby was fortunate to arrive home from work before a lockdown was imposed in our region. That meant he would be home the whole time... and that also meant I had to prepare fish and veggie meals while he’s home.

Are you fond of garlic-flavored meals? Chili-flavored? How about chicken?

Hubby is on a week-long school break so I had to prepare fish meal for him everyday. Sad to say, I was too tired to cook the night before so I had to use my magic kitchen wand the following morning before running off to work. 😭😢😓😥

I’ve been having a toothache for three days now and couldn’t chew very well. I hate to think that one of my wisdom teeth has erupted and might need to be removed. 😂😭😂😭 Sad to say, I’m not yet ready for a wisdom tooth extraction.

Tofu again? Yes, tofu again! Why not? There’s still 250 grams left in the ref. Good for one fast and easy-to-cook meal. (I posted a tofu dish I tried recently. Click here to view.)

Two weeks ago, our family grabbed a promo for a staycation to celebrate in advance the birthday of Ayana Grace. It was a nice breather for me to enjoy an overnight out. We had lunch in a Spanish resto so we ordered paella. Well, I guess I craved for more that when we got back home, I still had in my mind a vivid picture of the paella.

In my previous post, I featured a tokwa dish that many readers seem to like. If you are curious to read that post, you may click here . 

I confess tokwa was not a frequent resident in my kitchen a few years ago. Let me say that again. I was not a tokwa lover before. I didn’t usually buy tokwa dishes. Is there any better way of saying that? Well, honestly I didn’t like tokwa very much. But one day, I had a chance of eating fried pork and tokwa (popularly known as tokwa’t baboy) prepared by Cafe 1475 in the hospital where I work. Oh, I hate to admit that I liked it! ;)

Talakitok (Trevally) is usually served fried with sweet and sour sauce or steamed with pickled mayo dressing. Today I'm featuring a Talakitok dish I served a month ago. Initially, I thought of just serving it fried with curry powder 😁 but multitasking took its toll. Seeing some veggies while cleaning up the veggie bin and  frying the fish, at the same time, this instantly came to mind.

I couldn’t recall when I first had my first taste of Bulgarian sausage. What I do remember is that I fell in love with it at first bite. Since then, my freezer never ran out of stock. 

Saturday morning. Late breakfast... again! Not in the mood to go marketing but my hubby asks for fish for lunch. So to the market I must go! I really did. I was fortunate to buy my favorites--- tuna, salmon belly and white pampano.  Next stop, the veggie stall. But wait, my favorite veggie vendor is gone! Her stall is closed! Sad! That meant I really had no other choice but to visit the next stall. Looking at the vegetable display while thinking of a dish to prepare for lunch, a different kind of string beans caught my attention. The lady vendor said it's French beans (haricot vert or filet beans, ooopppsss, the veggie vendor didn't tell me that. I google searched for the term :)) Definitely not green ( Baguio ) beans. This type is longer, thinner and crisp. They look skinny and shorter than the regular long string beans ( sitaw ) commonly seen in the market, I was intrigued all the more when the lady said it's best for salads, though she gave me an...

Today, while reviewing some old posts in my dashboard, I came upon this article I posted almost three years ago. Click this link  A Legacy from my Mother-in-Law   to read. The post features a recipe book owned by my husband's mother that he (Billy, my husband) gave me after we got married. Tomorrow, being Mother's Day, I thought of making a sequel to it by featuring a dish I learned from this book. That is to honor its owner, the woman whom God used to bring to life my husband, even if I never came to see or know her in person.  So here, I'm featuring the original recipe of one of Billy's favorite dishes found in Aling Charing's recipe book. Oh, here's my disclaimer for you who might also own this recipe book. I took effort at translating the recipe because almost the whole book is written in Filipino. Kilawing Labanos Ingredients: 8 medium-sized radish, sliced thinly 1/4 kilo librillo at lapay ng baka  (may substitute shrimps or pork) 1 oni...