ABC Wednesday | F and G

I told myself I will complete all 26 letters of the alphabet for ABC Wednesdays, but because I was so busy last Wednesday (I was out of town Thursday), I wasn't able to post my take for letter F. Please allow me to do a two-in-one post this week. :)

My F food is the "Fern Salad." There are different kinds of edible fern, and I do remember my late father buying some when brother and I were still very young (sis wasn't born yet), but I never dared taste it, because as you well know, kids don't like eating vegetables that much. Well, I do eat veggies even when I was young, I wasn't just into leafy ones then.

Anyway, when I took the picture on the right late last year at a weekend market, I told myself I wanted to taste it. I sure can buy a bunch back then, but I didn't know how to prepare it and the weekend market was quite far from our house, so I decided not to buy - as I didn't want to end with wilted fern once I reach home.

May of this year, I was able to finally taste the edible fern, when sis and I traveled with our neighbor Ria in Quezon Province. The salad was served with sliced salted eggs, onion, and tomatoes... as well as canned sardines (in tomato sauce). It was an interesting dish that made me fall in love with it quickly.

Well, salad may not win you friends as Homer Simpson said, but... for sure your body will thank you for eating veggies.

My G picture is the "Graham Crackers," which I had for snacks while on a flight to Manila from Tagbilaran City (Bohol) this afternoon. For this one, I would agree with Wolfgang Puck - airline foods are expensive (a bottle of water cost 50 pesos, but at a supermarket it only cost around 15 pesos), but I am really thankful that I was able to get free snacks for this flight. This was my third time to fly via Philippine Airlines, and on my very first flight we weren't given free snacks as we purchased the promo tickets. When I flew to Cebu City last Thursday, I was given snacks, too, and because I was alone that day (my flight was 6 hours earlier than my mom's flight), I thought I was given free snacks because my ticket was bought at a regular price. For this flight (I was with mom), my mom was given snacks even if her ticket was bought at a promo price, so I guess every passenger at PAL now gets free snacks - something I am happy about, because the other Philippine based airline doesn't give free snacks. :)

News Flash

I will leave the house early tomorrow so I am now posting this update. :)

Recipe | Sinanglay

When sister and I attended the Yummy Magazine Cooking Demo, we were given copies of the recipes of the dishes cooked, and Knorr also gave recipe sheets of dishes cooked with Knorr's newest products - the Gata Mix (instant coconut milk mix) and the All-in-One + Meaty seasoning. This week, I am trying to build the habit of incorporating vegetables in my daily meal, I decided to cook this recipe for dinner last night.

Sinanglay (Tilapia Fillets Wrapped in Bok Choy)

{recipe from: Knorr | Serves 5}

Ingredients:

• 6 pieces tilapia fillets
• 3 tablespoons calamansi juice
• 1 tablespoon salt
• 1 teaspoon pepper
• 2 bunches pechay (bok choy)
• 3 medium sized tomatoes, deseeded and minced
• 2 pieces medium sized onions, minced
• 1 pack Knorr Ginataang Gulay (Sitaw at Kalabasa) complete recipe mix
• 1 1/2 cups water
• 1 stalk lemongrass (white part only)
• 2 pieces chili fingers

How to Cook

• Season the tilapia fillets with calamansi juice, salt and pepper.
• Wash the pechay leaves and dry.
• Carefully wrap the fish with tomatoes and onions in pechay leaves. Secure tightly using a strand of lemongrass leaf.
• In a medium sized pot, dissolve the Knorr Ginataang Gulay complete recipe mix with water and bring to a boil.
• Add the lemongrass bulb and chili fingers. Lower the heat and let it simmer.
• Carefully place the wrapped fish one by one in the pot. Let this cook covered for about 10 minutes.

Notes to Consider:

• You can also use lemon or lime if calamansi is not available.
• In case the Knorr Ginataang Gulay complete recipe mix is not available where you're at, you can use freshly squeezed coconut milk, but you have to adjust the seasoning. The Knorr mix is actually a complete mix in itself - no need to add any more seasonings.
• Use the big bok choy leaves, and if the white part behind the leaf breaks while wrapping the fish, cut off this white part (kinda like filleting the leaf) to make leaf flexible.

When I planned to cook this dish, I wanted brother to buy 1 large tilapia so I can fillet it easily and I can cut the fillets in similar sizes, but when brother went to the market, I wasn't really able to give him my market list because he told me he didn't have that much money. When he got home, he told me he bought some tilapia for me and to my surprise, he bought itty bitty size tilapia (my palm was even bigger than the fish). Since he bought the whole fish, I had no choice but to fillet each of the fish one by one - which ate most of my preparation time. If you plan to cook this, I suggest you can your fish vendor to fillet the fish for you.

As for the wrapping part, don't stress too much if the fish wasn't "properly" wrapped - just secure the fish and the tomatoes and onions in the leaf (or leaves - in some fillets I had to use 2 leaves). Once you place the wrapped fish in the pot, the steam would wilt the leaves and hug the fish.

Other than the filleting and the wrapping parts, this dish was fairly easy to cook - and it became much easier using the Knorr mix. Our family is big Knorr users - from their liquid seasoning to bouillon cubes to their soup mix, we really love Knorr products. Actually, even before the cooking demo, we already tried using their Ginataang Gulay complete recipe mix and we all loved it. Again, I'd like to say that if you are going to use the Knorr mix, don't add any more seasoning in the dish (except the salt and pepper you used on the fillets, of course) because you might end up with a very salty dish if ever.

Serving the dish, both my mom and sister loved the dish, and I was surprised at how delicious ginataan, tilapia, and pechay taste together. Brother on the other hand hoped to taste a little more ginger in the dish, and I might try that one (adding ginger slices) the next time I cook this dish.

ps - If you're a Nokia phone user, you can download Knorr's "Cooklet" application via Ovi - just go to Cooklet.PH and follow the instructions.

Foodie 365 | Week 33

At first I was posting my Foodie 365 posts every Saturdays, then lately I was posting it every Sundays for the Yummy Sunday meme, but because I was busy cleaning my closet and I played "the Sims 2" yesterday, my post is obviously very late.

Without further intro, here are the foods that made up my Week 33:

225. Chatime
Robinson's Galleria

After sis and I attended the Yummy Magazine Cooking Demo, we passed by Chatime, which sis said serves good milk tea drinks. I went to order their bestseller - the Pearl Milk Tea, while sister went for their Mango Smoothie because I already ordered her first choice. :)

My first milk tea drink was Chowking's nai-cha, and I didn't like it because it had a very strong taste. The pearl milk tea of Chatime is much, much better... and I really love to have a taste of it again.


226. Jolly Hotdog

Lazy weekends again... and we opted to have foods delivered. Obviously, I went for their hotdog sandwich because I am trying to eat less (hekhekhek).


227. Laguna Afritada

There are so many recipe food memes, and I hoped to join all of them, but I admit it was difficult to try at least two recipes a week. This week, though, I was able to cook one - the Laguna Afritada. If you want to try it out, you can check the recipe HERE.


228. Chicken, Tofu, and Mung Bean Sprouts

Us siblings are big chicken eaters. We can certainly live eating fried chicken everyday. For tonight's dinner, sister requested for fried chicken, and brother used the McCormick Buffalo Wings mix to bread the chicken and because sister wasn't into spicy dishes, the sauce was served on the side. Brother also cooked the firm tofu in oyster sauce and chili garlic sauce, as well as stir fry some mung bean sprouts just to add a vegetable to the meal.

This plate was my dinner for that day - a piece of thigh fried chicken, 1/4 cup of bean sprouts, 10 pieces 1x1 cube tofu, and 3/4 cup of rice.


229. Spicy Pesto-Carbonara Pasta

This wasn't my main dinner that night, but I did get to taste some of this pasta, which our neighbors gave us. At first glance it looked like carbonara (minus the cream) because of the toasted bacon bits, but under the nest of spaghetti were chopped herbs, and some slices of button mushrooms and black olives. Although way too spicy, it was also delicious, and I am thinking of cooking it my way, too.


230. C-Lium in Water

Even if I am cutting back on food, I notice that I am not taking in enough fibre - I don't eat that much fruits, I cannot encourage myself to eat oatmeal and it's not always that we eat veggies. The solution I came up with was to buy C-Lium Fibre.

Honestly, it didn't taste good and my body had some negative reactions to it, but my sister told me I shouldn't give up on it quite easily because in time my body will adjust to it well enough. For now, I am just thankful that I am getting a little help introducing fibre in my body.


231. BLT Crepe
Crepes & Cream - SM City Fairview

It was QC Day so mom was home. Us three girls went to watch "the Smurfs" in 3D as well as do grocery shopping. Before going home, mom asked if we could have some snacks, and since sister is craving for ice cream the past few days, we went to eat snacks at Crepes & Cream. They went for the ice cream crepes, while I opted to go savory - because I think tomatoes and lettuce was a good option compared to ice cream.

I took this picture while they were preparing my crepe. They wrap the crepes and serve it in paper cones, so I took the picture before they folded the crepe.

Weekend Eating | Chicken Deli

Chicken Deli

3rd level - SM City North Edsa (Annex)

20 August 2011

Brother and I attended the 2nd Blogger Fiesta Manila last Saturday at the Cyberzone of SM City North Edsa, and while walking to the event area, brother saw this food place with balloons, thinking it was its opening day. He told me that if we would eat there for lunch, and right before the event started, he and I went there to eat our lunch. We were supposed to eat lunch together with our second cousin Marjorie (of Living Marjorney) and two other bloggers, but they decided to find a different food place. Bro and I were already decided to eat at Chicken Deli, so we went ahead and placed our orders.


Chicken Deli may be new for us, but its history actually goes back to 1983. It is one of the most successful restaurants in Bacolod City, and aside from Chicken Inasal, they also offer Grilled Liempo, Isol, and Isaw... as well as Batchoy, Kare-Kare, Sisig, and some desserts.

Chicken Inasal - Paa. My choice. The leg quarter is always my choice, and although I have tasted different versions of Chicken Inasal, I was really surprised and impressed at how delicious this was. It was marinated good, the meat was tender and very juicy. I actually liked it so much that I used my hands in taking out the meat off the bones, and yes, all what's left on my plate were bones (and the bamboo stick).


Chicken Inasal - Pecho. If I love the chicken leg quarter, my brother always go for the breast part because he isn't much into chicken skin and the fatty parts of the chicken (near the tail).

We opted to go for the hot and spicy - which meant adding p5 more to the bill (per plate). Brother thought it was marinated in spicy mix of seasonings, but turned out they just poured some chili oil on the chicken. We weren't complaining at all, the spicy oil made it more delicious, but since the oil was just topped, some parts of the chicken wasn't spicy.

The paa part was p97, the pecho was p99. Both plates had a small bowl of soup, which tasted good (unlike the one at Mang Inasal where their soup was way too sour), and of course you can have unlimited rice as well. Drinks weren't part of the meal, but water was already good enough to complete the dining experience.

So... what did you have last weekend? If you're new to the Weekend Eating meme, you can read the rules and get the badge codes HERE. My heartfelt thanks to everyone who joined last week.