baby rambutan

“shrimp scampi” or shrimp shrimp…or the one that didn’t even make it out of the pan.
nope, while i was cooking everyone wandered in to check on what was that smelling so good, ha Mom?
my mistake was letting them have a taste while it was piping hot, so every time i turned away from the stove, a sneaky fork got in there, and when i got back, the scampi quantity had dwindled down to the point where there WAS no point in serving it.

(doesn’t that look like the onscreen mist they use to cover up actresses Of A Certain Age?)

steam cleared away, and nothing to cover up, just gleaming shrimp. *ting!
the recipe is the soul of simplicity, and the bright shining flavor of shrimp is the star. i’m amazed at this dish because i have tried to serve this family shrimp in many guises and disguises, and this is the first time they all just loved it–nay, devoured it.

garlic,
olive oil,
shrimp,
parsley,
lemon juice….i want some right now! recipe follows———-> (more…)

“the things we ate did last summer….
i’ll be burning off remember all winter long…” –a line from one of my dad’s favorite songs.

with the bounty of summer fruits, Anne Willan’s clafoutis, here made with Rainier cherries and nectarines and peaches.

this version is eggy and custardy. i think i love the cake-y one better! or even tita Martha’s! but no matter, at least, the children loved it. (from the book “best recipes for absolutely everything“).

and with the proper alignment of all the planets and stars and the availability of ingredients…a perfect entree for summer: salmon Nicoise salad. i didn’t even have it with bread! but i might, next time.

based on a recipe from Gourmet magazine, August 2009.
a zesty medley of grilled salmon, boiled eggs, potatoes and green beans, assorted lettuces, English cucumbers, a punchy olive vinaigrette, and topped with crackling salmon skin shreds, almost like chicharron…healthy chicharron?

this is to prove to myself that i still can bake, i still know how to make cookies. Tuesday i made the kids some of my favorite (not theirs, they complain “why always this, ha mom? ha mom?”) oatmeal chocolate chip–the oatmeal makes me feel like i’m a good mommy, serving fiber to the children heehee–
but they turned out disastrous by my standards: flat, thin, and had to be cut with a cookie cutter.
embarrassing! the three were quick to finish them off though, since my three favorite “customers” are always looking for snacks, and they said it was still delicious.
this one’s got a hint of coffee, not much, and it’s very chocolatey chewy. from “Mrs. Fields Cookie Book.” the aroma brought the kids to the kitchen like zombies in a trance: “must eat cookies must eat cookies” and they ate them hot off the sheets. behind my back. *tsk tsk tsk*

(recipe to follow later…after Angels and Demons! yippeeee!)

recipe after Rob Pattinson…

dedicated to my favorite Knitting Mommy….

(more…)

this week’s theme for the weekly Pinoy photoblogging event is just the beginningtama ba ang translation ko mga katokayo?.
(another tough one, madam admin, you’re good at making us think!)
i chose this soup that husband and i had today at a new seafood restaurant serving food from the Fu Chou region of China. just starting out…
he and i are very wary of trying new restaurants. we just feel gypped each time that we try out a newly opened establishment, with no reviews to rely on, and then be presented with atrocious or measly servings.
yesterday he surprised me with a precious day off! we always try to sneak away to lunch if possible. pho? dimsum? cheeseburgers at that pub?
we settled, with some trepidation, on Ming’s Seafood Restaurant, Newport Avenue, corner Block Street, Quincy, right across from the Wollaston Station.

eel in red wine broth with ginger and wolfberries
right away we were struck when we read the first menu they gave us (there were three!). no English translation.
hmmm.
i asked for one, the server gave us two–one regular, one all seafood.
it was overwhelming. and much of the cuisine was unfamiliar to husband who is of Cantonese origin–he knows mostly Hong Kong-style cooking.
though we only sampled two dishes (fried rice noodles with seafood, and eel with red wine and ginger broth, both perfectly cooked and sauced and seasoned)–we are now determined to try out as many items on the menu as we can–razor clams, frogs’ legs, goose intestines, sea prawns, fried shrimps with tea leaves…they got us intrigued. that’s when we had a whiff of something great in store…we sensed the presence of a master chef on the premises.
simply the start of some grand adventures in eating.
you just have to open that door.

(maya maya na ang Tagalog po…)
tuwing may nagbubukas na bagong kainan di ba nakakaengganyong subukan at tikman, sabay nakaka-kaba rin, baka masayang ang pera at pagod nang pagdayo? ang ating oras at araw ay mahalaga, kaya nung ginulat ako ng aking kabiyak na siya’y hindi papasok nung Miyerkoles, nagpasya kaming kumain sa bagong gusaling malapit sa amin.
kami’y nahirapang mamili sa kanilang menu, para sa akin dahil walang Inggles, at para sa asawa kong pinanganak sa Kowloon, kung saan ang salita nila’y Toisanese at Cantonese (mula sa dating Canton at ngayo’y Guangdong) hindi niya kilala ang mga ulam na galing sa Fu Chou at, sa kanyang pandinig, ang salita ng mga maninilbi ay Fookien (hindi kami tiyak, pero ang alam namin ang nakararaming mga Chinoy sa Pilipinas ay katutubong Fookien din).
sa mga unang tikim ng mga hiniling naming dalawang putaheng pancit at sabaw kami’y namangha sa kagalingan ng tagaluto…malamang siya’y isang bihasang chef na natuto sa China, tunay na tunay: ang pancit ay hindi mamantika pero malutong at napakasarap ng mga lahok at salsa nito. ang sabaw ay tamang tama ang timpla, ang isda ay sapat sa pagkaluto. bukod tangi ang pagkain sa kakaibahan.
bukod sa mga pagkaing dagat–hipon, scallops, pusit, lobster,sea cucumbers, razor clams, tahong, talaba, iba’t ibang isda– meron ding palaka, bituka ng ganza, dila ng pato , atbp.

pihadong kami ay babalik balik sa lugar na ito upang tikman ang iba’t ibang ulam. ito ay tiyak na simula pa lamang ng mga bagong karanasan sa pagkain ng lutong Fu Chou. ka-akit-akit ang posibilidad na marami pang matututunan ukol sa lutong-Chino.

i have been drifting far far away from this blog, i just can’t pin me down long enough to sit down and write a proper post…
but it’s time to reflect on the staycation vacation week that was. we took another closer look at the city we take for granted–though what we really wanted was a log-cabin-cozy-fireplace kind of a getaway, or a Jollibee-pilgrimage type of visit to the Big Apple–we had to stay close to home for many reasons.

they had sleepovers and playdates and school projects, so off we went on several day trips, mini-field trips.
Nokia 6085
he requested a bowling expedition. calculated shots vs. Dad’s forceful ones? he easily won over Daddy!


Boston Public Garden, Nokia 6085
we visited Mama Duck and her babies, especially since the second to the last one, was recovered from a trash heap after going missing for a few days.

we drove around Boston and when we saw a coveted free parking spot on the North End’s Hanover Street, famous for Italian restaurants and bakeshops, we just had to scramble out of the car and be tourists…for 15 minutes!



there was also the requisite malling day for the teenager girliegirl, on one of the several rainy days…in Providence, Rhode Island. (where there’s a Popeye’s.) here they are, while waiting in line, arguing negotiating over what milkshake flavor to pick till mama stepped in and said, “i’ll pay, and it’s strawberry cheesecake flavor.” done.
we capped off the week with our first cookout and bonfire on our fireplace pit and made s’mores. i think i might have had more fun than the three kids…

daughter at the moment before smooshing together the toasted graham crackers and the melted marshmallows and Scharffen Berger 70% cacao melting squares….do you know how to make s’mores???

pictures above taken from my Nokia 6085 and daughter’s Canon powershot SD800 IS…my Konica point and shoot battery died, and it’s too expensive to replace, and am mulling over what camera to get next…it better be a keeper!
should i get another point and shoot with more “bells and whistles”, or a beginner DSLR??? any suggestions, recommendations greatly appreciated. but i think i already know the answer, *sigh*….

when we were expecting our third child i was approached by several cord blood banks to store his cord blood at birth. it was a very exciting time for us, and i was quite tempted but when i looked into the costs i remember they were quite prohibitive. i regretted not doing it–who wouldn’t want to be on the cutting edge of scientific research, when enormous strides could be made in the development of treatments for cancer and Alzheimer’s and Parkinson’s diseases and other catastrophic illnesses?
tough times like today may make it even more difficult to make this decision but Cryo-cell offers reasonable pricing. if you’re expecting a baby why not look into their limited time offer? if you enroll now it’s like buying an insurance policy for a future that can possibly yield a rosy future for your family’s health.

file this under libations that make me wax lyrical…
i discovered tetrapacks of these in our favorite Japanese grocery; i didn’t know if they were good, i just had a hunch, and i bought as much as i could carry in my arms (the grocery is very cramped and shopping carts can get unwieldy there).
and since then we’ve been hooked.

whenever supplies run out, i make some at home with a jug of unflavored soy milk and matcha (green tea) powder shaken and stirred in–doable, but a bit of work; the matcha gets lumpy.
i’m not here to argue for the pros of drinking soy milk, it is quite easy to search for all the journals and studies of its health benefits (cholesterol-lowering, avoiding breast/prostate cancer, easing symptoms of menopause, and on and on). a few years ago there were also terrifying emails circulated about its downside, too scary to even mention.
but this green tea soy milk is just so delicious and when served ice cold, so refreshing–i feel so smugly and self-righteously healthy after drinking it, that i recommend everyone try it. NOW!

ang tema sa linggong ito ng Litratong Pinoy ay nakakatuwa…sapatos!
nagkakaintindihan tayong lahat, kaway kaway, kindat kindat, mga kababayang Imeldific!

ang aking lahok ay ang sapatos kong panglabas o pang-gara. dahil ako’y isang maybahay lamang bihira naman ang okasyong kailangan ng magarang sapatos. pero nung nagtapos ang aming unica hija sa mababang paaralan ang napusuan kong bilhin ay ang ginintuang Cole Haan ballerina flats.
this week’s theme for the premier Pinoy photoblogging event is so much fun…it’s all about shoes!
since we have these Imeldific genes *wink*wink*
my entry is my “going out” Cole Haan ballerina flats. i’m just a stay at home mom i rarely go out to fancy occasions anyway, but last spring when our only daughter graduated from middle school i was kind of forced to get a pair. in metallic gold!

ang lambot lambot ng balat nito, at ang sakong nito ay NikeAir, puwedeng tumakbo o mag basketball!
it’s really comfortable and the leather is soft and buttery, while the soles are “NikeAir”–i can run, or maybe even shoot hoops???

naalala ko siguro yung paborito kong suot nung ako’y musmos…
i think i got nostalgic for my favorite pair, from babyhood.

pero sa totoo lang, heto ang mga suot ko, araw gabi, sa tindi ng ginaw dito sa amin.
in my real world these are my outdoor and indoor footwear, i jump from one into the other; they’re sheepskin lined, for the bone chilling temperatures over here.

i’m trying to get the carnivores to eat more fish.

this is from the Boston Globe Food section, February 4, 2009. fisherman’s pie, as in shepherd’s pie, geddit?, with mashed potato on top?
my kids loved it, although one kid fished out the shrimp from his portions, another fished out the peas….*sigh*
this food i imagine even a toddler might eat; just make sure it’s entirely tinik-free –pinbones all gone–from whatever fish you’re using.
i’ve seen this recipe made with smoked fish, salmon, and i thought maybe rehydrated bacalao (salt cod, soaked and refreshed for 3 days) would be great too.

fisherman’s pie… (more…)