Pancit Bihon

Last Saturday, the family (minus sister) and our neighbor friends went to Loreland Farm Resort in Antipolo City, Rizal. We left our place around 5:30AM, and by 7:30AM, we were already there. Soon as the pools opened at 8AM, we took our time to take a quick dip, and by 10AM we were already hungry.

Whenever we do the summer neighborhood outing, we would be packing foods good for all of us to share, and because we decided to bring slices of pork belly, which will be cooked in the resort, we just had to take some of our companions' foods to ease up the hunger. The Raboys served this pancit as a snack and late breakfast, and it was really delicious! They didn't bring any calamansi, but it was okay; it was satisfying as is.

*** Jenn ***

Fettucini with a Twist

It feels so great to be back doing LaPiS again! I miss doing this meme! Well, lack of food topics to discuss made me neglect this blog early this year, but I am seriously making a comeback. This week's theme is corn, and this was the first thing that came to mind...




This pasta was served by my friend Ecko's mom when we went over for a New Year's movie marathon. It was a very interesting dish because it was the first time I ate corn and sprinkled toasted garlic bits on my pasta. I found it a great way to serve and eat pasta, so I recreated the dish based on the recipe given to me by Ecko's mom.

You can check the recipe HERE.

*** Jenn ***

Coconut Poached Fish

Since I cooked the Saucy Chicken Mango from the May 2010 issue of Yummy Magazine, my brother and I have already tried different dishes from the said magazine. It was basically our first time to cook that much dishes from a magazine.

This was the third recipe I tried (the second was the Tilapia Tropicale, which I posted last Friday). Reading the directions for this one, I figured this would be an easy dish to do, so when my mom and I last went grocery shopping, I included the ingredients as well.




Coconut Poached Fish
{Serves 4}

Ingredients:

• 400 ml coconut cream
• finely grated zest from 1 lemon
• juice from 1 lemon
• 1 tablespoon fish sauce
• 1 tablespoon brown sugar
• 2 teaspoons sambal oelek, or chili sauce
• 1 clove garlic, crushed
• 4 (120-gram) firm white fish fillets
• 1 cup baby spinach
• steamed rice, to serve
• shredded onion leaves and sliced chili (optional)

Directions:

• In a large frying pan, combine coconut cream, zest, lemon juice, fish sauce, brown sugar, sambal oelek and garlic. Bring to a boil on high, stirring.
• Reduce the heat to low and add fish fillets. Simmer gently, covered, for about 8 to 10 minutes, until fish flakes easily when tested with a fork. Remove fish and stir through spinach leaves.
• Serve fish on steamed rice, drizzled with sauce and topped with shredded green onion and sliced chili (optional).

For this dish, I used dory fillets. Truth be told, I was a bit hesitant and afraid to try this recipe because it was the first time I would taste dory fish, and the first time I would use chili sauce. Actually, I had to use the LKK chili garlic sauce because I cannot find sambal oelek and / or chili sauce in the supermarket. The dish is somewhat on the pricy side, and I was praying hard that I may be able to pull off this dish.

The dish was very, very easy to make. Just one note to share if you want to try the recipe - don't add all the lemon juice. It said in the recipe that it requires juice of 1 lemon, but we all know lemons come in different sizes, and some lemons would be juicy, others aren't. Just put in a little of the lemon and just gradually add to suit your preference. On my part, I poured all the lemon juice, so the outcome was a bit on the sour side, but brother said it was just okay.

When I served this, I also served some left over crabs, and I tested if the sauce would be okay for crab meat, too. It tasted okay... and we had this conclusion that the sauce is okay for any seafoods. We might try this dish again sometime, using prawns.

If you want to try this recipe or the other easy to cook recipes, just go and grab a copy of the May 2010 Yummy Magazine. You can check their website at - http://www.yummy.ph/ - or their facebook page at - www.facebook.com/yummymagazine - they also have a twitter, and you can follow them at - www.twitter.com/yummyph.

*** Jenn ***

Ice Creaming with Andre

I am a part of a Catholic organization (Singles for Christ), and for a while I have been missing a lot... so when my co-household Andre (she and I were batchmates and one of my closest friends in the org) messaged me asking me to attend the CLP, I told her instantly that I will. We were hoping our other household members would be there, but it was just us two. We have planned for a fellowship after, and even if it's just her and I, we still went to continue with the fellowship.

Summer meant heat, so to beat that, we decided to eat some snacks at Ice Cream House sa Lagro. It's very interesting that they have their own ice cream, and that they had a very wide array of choices. Andre had the banana split, and I had the Oreo thingy... and it was a bit funny that we basically had the same ice cream flavors, only difference was the banana on her dish, and the wafer stick on my dish.

The ice cream was like those from the sundae machines - quite soft. The melon flavor had a hint of saltiness, and although all the flavors were screaming "sweet," I did enjoy the chocolate flavor. However, it was an indulgence on my part - I don't really eat much ice cream, and having three scoops was something difficult for me to eat. Andre was actually done with her dish and I still was halfway through it.

It was always great to catch up on the old times.

*** Jenn ***

S - Smidgets

These smidgets were from mom... someone in the office gave her a box of these goodies and she decided to take it home for all of us to eat. Smidgets are the mini ball versions of the donuts, and are oftentimes a much better ones to eat because you can eat as much flavors without really feeling full compared to the donuts.

There are basically three flavors I love - butternut, choco honey dipped, and the bavarians. Although this box had the choco butternut, and the dusted chocolate ones, I was happy that there are some bavarians inside.

It took a while before we finished eating it all (three days perhaps), because none in the family had the sweet tooth. We just eat a smidget or two after each meal as a form of desserts.

*** Jenn ***

Adding Salt to Wound

Not a very good title considering this is a food blog, but since I saw it on the TVCs, I have been craving for the Pizza Hut star pops pizza. I knew it would be inappropriate for us to eat this because it was expensive... but still, I won't stop craving about it until I get a taste of it.

My sister knew I wanted to eat it. Time and time again I have told her I hope for us to eat it, and for her to show this:


felt as if she added salt into my wound. It hurted. Hahahaha.

Taken last Wednesday, she and her bf just went out to bond - do videoke and eat out. They had the Supreme pizza, and she said the Star Pops was a joy to eat. I was feeling bad when I saw the pictures in the camera and asked her why didn't she pack a slice for me... but the bad feeling was more of a joke. I did feel bad yes, but it was no biggie. Brother told me it was like eating their stuffed crust pizza (which I already tasted), and I knew that, too. The thing is, I am still craving for it.

... and I hope to taste it the soonest possible time.

*** Jenn ***

Shrimp Dumplings

Last Saturday, I was with mom and brother at the mall. We decided to eat lunch first before mom and I do the groceries, and before brother go to the retreat house. We had to cancel the plans of eating at Tong Yang Shabu Shabu restaurant because it was a bit heavy on the wallet. Checking out the other food places, I saw Go! Fan Roasts and Dimsum and seeing it was okay, we gave it a try.

We each had a rice bowl with different dishes (so we can taste as much food as we can), but we also tried one of their dumplings, and we chose to have this - their shrimp dumplings. It was a joy to eat because the shrimps aren't minced, therefore I could taste the shrimp more, instead of its extenders. Even without sauce it was a good food to eat. Sadly, I can only eat one of it because there were three of us sharing this.

*** Jenn ***

Crispy Tilapia Tropicale

Back in doing Food Friday after a long hiatus!




My brother is now the main cook in the house, but acquiring myself a copy of the May 2010 Yummy Magazine did give me that chance to cook again. The magazine was packed with so many recipes, but the very first one that captured my interest was the Tilapia Tropicale. However, our fridge still had some foods in it that I wasn't able to cook this dish until the other day, when mom came home with some tilapia from the market.

One big problem I faced was that mom cooked some of the tilapia and took it with her to the office and we were left with four small sized tilapia. I could have just fried or steamed it, but I was still eager to cook the dish that I filleted the tilapia. The cut pieces gave me just enough to feed one hungry tummy.

Brother came to the rescue by going to the market. But then, instead of tilapia, he brought home pork. I did get his point - it was already very late in the afternoon, and if I still have to scale, clean and fillet the new batch of tilapia fishes, our dinner will might as well be "midnight snack." Hahaha...

I went on to proceed with the dish, with pork as the main protein. The tilapia pieces I prepared a while ago was fried, too, and I just plated it in a small platter, separated from the pork pieces. For dinner, we basically had two of the same dinner - same sauce, different meats. It was actually a sweet and sour dish, but comparing the pork to the tilapia, I prefered the tilapia more. I guess I already knew how sweet and sour pork would taste like and since tilapia gave a twist to the dish, my palate wanted it more.

If you want to try the recipe, here's how:

Crispy Tilapia Tropicale
{Serves 3 to 4}

Ingredients:

• 3 pieces tilapia (about 825 grams), filleted and sliced into strips
• salt and pepper
• oil for deep frying
• leeks, sliced into strips for garnish

For the pineapple sweet-sour sauce

• 1/2 cup crushed pineapple, syrup included
• 1/4 cup water
• 2 tablespoons sugar
• 1 tablespoon banana ketchup
• 1 teaspoon soy sauce
• 1/2 teaspoon salt
• 3 tablespoons vinegar
• 1 1/2 tablespoons julienned carrots
• 1 1/2 tablespoons julienned red bell pepper
• 1 1/2 teaspoons cornstarch, dissolved in 1 tablespoon water

Directions:

• Make the pineapple sweet-sour sauce: Combine crushed pineapple, water, sugar, banana ketchup, soy sauce, salt, and vinegar. Bring to a boil then simmer for 5 to 6 minutes. Add carrots and red bell pepper and cook until slightly soft, about 1 minute. Add dissolved cornstarch and continue to cook until sauce is thick. Set aside.
• Season tilapia strips with salt and pepper. Deep-fry a few pieces at a time until crispy and golden brown. Drain on paper towels.
• Arrange tilapia strips on a serving platter. Pour sauce on top and garnish with sliced leeks.

It was really fun to try out new dishes. Here at home we sometimes had difficult times thinking what to cook, and thank heavens for these new recipes for helping us ease up some of the burdens.

*** Jenn ***