High school friends. .

Hmm. . as you can see there's no post about food for today. There were plans made right after tennis, my high school classmates hung out at my house and had rum coke. . Unfortunately I wasn't able to have any drink whatsoever due to my medications. .

I wasn't even able to prepare any food for them. . If only it was planned ahead of time. . .

This is us, me with the yellow hair and my friend Lee wearing black, Khaye, Isaiah doing the somehow offensive sign and Karl my tennis buddy. 

 and another one, with a very awkward shot of me. . I don't really look good in pictures. LOL

 and these are just crazy pictures of us. Doing wacky faces. Just playing and waiting for the time to pass. .

Look how crazy we are. . LOL

 Khaye and me just messing with the cam. . Doing whatever we want.

 Isaiah and Karl are the musically inclined ones. Karl has a good singing voice and Isaiah knows his way with instruments. He's pretty amazing behind the guitar. .

And this is the wacky group shot and again Isaiah with his offensive sign. Sorry 'bout that. . 

This event has given me the idea of hosting a small get together with friends and make some great party planning topics for my blog. Though I'm not good, I can always ask help from the best party planner that I've known. She's one of the best. 

She knows how to make ordinary things work great. She even organized my sister's wedding and that woman is my one and only MOM. . . Yup! She knows her way too with organizing stuff. . Too bad she haven't passed her party planning genes to me. LOL! But I guess I can learn in time. . .

Cheers! 

Month of hearts. .

I can smell the lovely couples everywhere excited about Valentines day. . . Seems like a good week for bakers and pastry chefs everywhere.

I'm seeing lots of cupcakes, cookies and other pastry items on social networks that are made for the sole purpose of celebrating the day of lovers expressing their love for each other. .

Soon, I'm planning on making a few desserts made especially for that day. Still searching for some recipes since I don't have much recipes in hand. . I want something cheap and quick like my other posts.

Since I love making pastries and I'm not yet good in making them yet, I'm gonna start practicing Monday next week.

I just feel envious on what everyone made. Those heart shaped cookies and stuff. Though it's common, it's still cute. Still need to incorporate the healthy stuff in it.

Time to get my thinking cap on and think of ways to make some cheap and easy desserts for that special day! Cheers!

Hungarian Pork Goulash

Another day for a new recipe to try. I thought about making Hungarian Pork Goulash which is new to me since what I have done in school before was beef. I tried pork since it's all that was available and can be cooked in a short time.

After a really tiring game of tennis, I could really use some nice warm meal to relax. . . .

First things first, prepping of the ingredients. This includes cutting the vegetables and such. Will be specified below in the ingredients list. Procedure will be stated as follows,

First, what I did was I dipped the pork in flour. Not too much though. Just dust off the excess flour. Then put a tablespoon of olive oil in a large sauce pan and wait until the pan gets really hot.

Once the pan is hot enough, sear each slice of pork on all sides. Don't crowd the pan. What we need at this time is the brown color, that gives the pork its flavor.

After the browning process remove the pork from the pan and into a plate. At this point, the pork is not fully cooked, we need to cook it thoroughly later. Now, add another tablespoon of olive oil and start caramelizing the onions. When caramelized, you can now add carrots, bell peppers, chilies, tomatoes and just saute them for a few minutes. Then add half a cup of water at this time.

Now, I wanted to use the canned tomatoes where there are huge tomatoes and the juice of it inside but unfortunately we don't have them here and there's no time to buy some. Instead I used real tomatoes, the small ones and just used some tomato paste. I added the tomato paste when after adding the water. Remember to mix it well.

After adding water, add the fried pork and let simmer for a few minutes to properly cook it.

This is the time to add more water and add the salt, cayenne pepper, black peppercorn, cinnamon and paprika. I just used the spices that are laying around in the kitchen. I don't know why but adding cinnamon to it gives it a unique flavor.

A few minutes before the pork will be properly cooked, add the potatoes. That will make them soft and tender at the same time.

It is also good to add Yogurt in it to make the taste of the stew richer.

Voila! That is how I make my own version of the Hungarian Pork Goulash. I've found other recipes online but I don't have some of the ingredients so I decided to make my own using the ingredients that are easily available at our own house. Easy and quick to make!



NOTE: The measurements for the powdered items are still temporary. Will be changed as soon as it will be confirmed. . . . 


Ingredients:

• 1/4 kilo Pork, cubes
• 2 pcs Carrots, diced
• 3 pcs large Potatoes, diced
• 4 pcs Tomatoes, quartered
• 5 pcs onions, minced then caramelized
• 5 pcs Chilies, roughly chopped
• 3 pcs Bell peppers, diced
• 1 pc Ginger, chopped
• 3 cloves Garlic, peeled, crushed and chopped
• 2 tbsp Olive oil
• A packet of tomato paste about 150 g
1 tbsp Salt
• 1 tbsp Black Peppercorns
• 1/4 tbsp Cinnamon
• 1/4 tbsp Cayenne pepper
• 1/4 tbsp Paprika

Another fish for tonight's meal. .

Tonight I made Fried Pangasius with Roasted Vegetables. Weirdly enough, it tasted good. It wasn't even planned, just went to the kitchen and saw the bought fish like last time then vegetables popped in my mind. 

Pangasius is a shark catfish. Mostly found in Asia. 

Source:Pangasius 

The only vegetables laying around were tomatoes, carrots and bell peppers. Even added some garlic, chilies and some caramelized onion on top of the fish. . 

On top are the vegetables getting ready for roasting. Just seasoned them with salt and black pepper then drizzled with olive oil. .

Best thing about this is that you can use any kind of vegetables laying around and can be easily made. 

After seasoning them I just popped them in the oven for about 5-8 minutes or until they're done. . I don't really like some of them overcooked. 

The fish was marinated in a mixture of lemon, olive oil, salt and pepper. Just as simple as that! I was also looking for something that can be done easily. Just marinate it for 15 minutes for the fish is a bit delicate. Longer than that will make the fish more brittle and unappealing. 

Once it's done marinating I just seared it in a pan for about 5 minutes. The fish is really thin so it doesn't need to be cooked too long. 3 minutes on one side and 2 on the other. On the last minute, just turn off the heat and add a bit of butter to it for added taste and so the fish won't be dry. 

What I liked most about this fish is that, unlike other fishes, it doesn't have that nasty fishy smell and taste. 

Everything will be done under 30 minutes. So it's a recipe for those who want an easy and quick meal and a bit healthier too.

My parents loved it! I love the look on their face when they've tasted it. I just love it when someone appreciates your cooking. 

Here is a picture of the finished product:

Fried Pangasius with Roasted vegetables topped with caramelized onions

There you go, another fish recipe for my reservoir. Simple yet tasty. Cheers!

Ingredients: 1 serving

1 Pangasius (filleted)

Marinade:

• Olive oil
• Juice of 1 lemon
• Salt and Black pepper

• 1 Carrot, diced
• 1 Onion, minced then caramelized
• 2 cloves of garlic, crushed
• 1 pc Chili, diced
• 2 pcs Tomatoes, cut into quarters
• 2 pcs Red bell peppers, diced
• Salt and pepper to taste, for the veggies
• two tablespoon olive oil, for the veggies  

Not so healthy topic for the night

Warning: The following is not for the health conscious people out there. Just a random post about what we had for dinner. Also not included for the health awareness week though it can be a great idea for lunch or dinner on a lovely Sunday. 

Tonight I came home from tennis practice and saw a freshly bought fish. I was a bit reluctant when it comes to fish, I'm not a real fan of it. What I did was ask my mom what it is and she said, "It's a blue marlin!" . .

The first thing that popped into mind was fats and oil. YES! Fats and oil. I used to like that fish but as I grew up, I started hating it. I don't know why but there's just something about the taste that stays in your mouth  for hours. 

My mom wanted the fish marinated in a simple marinade and grilled. She just wanted something simple. So the fish was marinated with a soy sauce mixture. I then started thinking about how to give it more taste and every time I think of fish, the only thing that comes into mind is HOLLANDAISE. 

I kept saying to myself "NO, too much fats!". I opened the fridge and only saw eggs, butter and some lemon.  . Maybe that's what encouraged my thoughts to bring up hollandaise. 

So after two hours of marinating (yes, two hours! to get rid of the awful fishy taste, it won't really damage the fish due to its fats.) the fish was grilled. Just until it's properly cooked, it only takes 15 minutes to properly cook it. 

After grilling the nasty piece of fish, I then started making my dreadful hollandaise sauce. Dreadful not for the taste but for the process of making it. Whisking it is just a pain in the ass but still I love doing it. Weird right?

To make the sauce you must first need to separate the egg whites from the yolk. All we need are the yolks. Once separated whisk in the freshly squeezed lemon. Whisk until it increases in volume. . You'll start to see the egg and lemon mixture thickening.

Once it is done, put it over a saucepan with hot water in it, not too hot though and careful not to touch the bottom of the bowl to the water. This may cause your egg to be cooked and scramble.

Start pouring in slowly the melted butter and whisk vigorously until all the melted butter are incorporated. Voila! your very own Hollandaise sauce. Don't forget to season it with salt and pepper too.  :)

I also added some chopped pine nuts just to give it some texture, I just roasted a handful of pine nuts and chopped them roughly.

It's pretty exhausting but still worthwhile.

Grilled Blue Marlin with Hollandaise Sauce and chopped pine nuts.

So here it is, doesn't look like much but taste good. Cheers!


Ingredients:

Blue Marlin

Marinade:

• 1 cup of Soy sauce
• 1 cup of Vinegar
• a handful of Black peppercorn
• 1 lemon
• 1 bayleaf
• 2 cloves of garlic chopped
• 1 onion chopped
• Hollandaise sauce:
• 4 egg yolks
• 1/2 cup melted butter
• Fresh juice of 1 lemon or 1 tbsp
• pinch of salt
• pinch of pepper

Health Awareness Week for me. . .

Sunday, the day where mostly everyone stays at home, spending time with the whole family and some even spend time with friends. There are also some who loves spending their time outside like on the beach and on the park. 

It's just the perfect day to rest and unwind from the stressful week of school and work. That's why it's preferable to have something home cooked.

The first two paragraphs are way off topic from the title I have specified, well, I just wanted to state that today is always the day to have a scrumptious home cooked meal for all the family members to enjoy. I on the other hand, always end up thinking of ways on what to cook and such. I find it hard for the budget and the facilities to cook. There's a big book of recipes here but some of the ingredients are just expensive and I'm not that good on substituting things. So, I was thinking, if you want a meal for your family to enjoy on a lovely Sunday, why not cook something healthy and delicious at the same time. 

So starting right now, I'm gonna try and search some healthy and delicious recipes to put up for the whole week. I guess it's not that hard, the only challenge is that I need to find ingredients that are affordable. hmm.

Now this is a challenge I will be willing to undertake. .

Everyone are so health conscious these days so I'm guessing there will be lots of healthy recipes lurking around the web and some magazines. 

Can't wait to find my very first recipe, . I don't really have any health conscious recipes on my sleeves at the moment so this would be a really good start and maybe draw in some good crowd to my blog. 

Let the healthy way of living begin.  . ;)

Cheers!

California Maki

Wow. It's 2013 and still haven't made anything about me cooking up something good. In fact, everything I wrote last year was plain and boring for me. Hmm. 

Last January 20 was the day I invited my high school friends to come over. I invited them days before and ended up with only one who showed up. The weird part is that I never really got to prepare anything that time. The only thing I had in mind was to buy some barbecues and make maki rolls. I love making some maki rolls. 

I'm obsessed with them rolls. I used to love making Japanese food when I had my internship at Shangri-la Mactan Resort and Spa. That's when the time I fell in love with it. 

When I was in school, I made a recipe called Chicken Adobo Maki, it's sort of a Filipino/Japanese fusion style. It was a failure, for me. I never really liked it that much. There's always this thing where I imagine a really beautiful creation and then "BAM" reality hits me with an axe and presents me with an awful presentation of it.

So, I decided to buy some mangoes, cucumbers and crab sticks for my maki rolls. Just used those as the fillings. It's the same as the california maki, the only difference is that I didn't have any ebiko. Ebiko means shrimp eggs, the orange, caviar-like thing on california makis. I think it's common, though unsure of it. 

So what I did was, placed a piece of nori (dried seaweed) on the rolling mat shiny side down then took the cooked Japanese rice and spread it all over the nori sheet. First place rice near you then spread it away, leaving at least an inch, so it will be sealed easily. I kept thinking not to put too much rice, just enough so that all the ingredients will fit in there. 

Next, I added the sliced cucumbers, crab meat and mangoes. All sliced thinly of course. Then I added the Japanese mayonnaise, which I find a bit weird at times. . 

Once everything is in their place, the rolling can begin! LOL.

I'm not really an expert on giving exact details in writing. Still working on that. To know how to roll, I suggest that you just search on on youtube or try googling it. 

There it is, I made a batch of california maki or whatever it is called. 

Credits to my friend's phone for the picture. So the dinner went on, made maki rolls and just bought some barbecue, I didn't have enough time to prepare for my friend confirmed on that day. I hated cancelling plans sometimes. 

so there you go, that's my first post for this year, I know it may be crappy but in time I can improve. No harm in trying and also, I want to be positive for this year. . . wish you all the best! 

Ingredients:

Sushi rice

• 3 cups Japanese rice, cooked
• 60 ml Sushi vinegar
• 10 g sugar 
• 5 g salt

Note: For the sushi vinegar mixture, just add the sugar, vinegar and salt and make sure to mix it well and make sure that the sugar and salt granules are dissolved properly. Then mix with the cooked Japanese Rice

• Crab stick / meat
• Cucumbers, sliced into thin strips
• Nori, Roasted seaweeds 
• Mangoes, sliced into thin strips