It's a Beautiful World

Where did I learn how to love cooking good food? My mother was a great influence. As far as I can remember, she and our household helpers were always busy in the kitchen cooking something for my dad, who always had guests coming to visit him at our house. My mother and her crew would wake up at dawn to go to the wet market. Upon their return, I would see live shrimps jumping, live chickens, fresh fishes, and fresh fruits and vegetables. At times, I insisted to tag along but because they had always left at crack of dawn, I always missed. When they arrived, the kitchen became busy and everyone helped. Mom planned and prepared the menu for the day, one slaughtered the native chicken , and another scaled the fishes. I had always volunteered to do something. I practically took over our cook's duty by grabbing the saute spoon from her and started cooking. She never complained for I really followed instructions carefully. My mother gave all the instructions on how to do cert

This light and airy bread is delicious to eat for breakfast or as a snack. Ingredients: 1/2 cup milk 4 teaspoons active dry yeast 1 teaspoon sugar 1 cup lukewarm water 1 cup butter 1 teaspoon salt 8 egg yolks 6 cups all-purpose flour Sugar for dusting Grated Edam or cheddar cheese (optional) Procedure Scald milk on top of a saucepan of a double boiler. Dissolve yeast in lukewarm water and sugar. To the scalded milk, add 1/2 of the butter, sugar, and salt. Stir until sugar is dissolved and butter melted. Cool mixture to lukewarm. Beat egg yolks lightly and add to lukewarm milk mixture. Add yeast to milk and egg mixture. Add flour and beat until well blended.  Knead on a floured board surface until smooth. Place dough on a greased bowl and brush with butter. Let rise until double in size in a warm place for 1 hour. When doubled in size, punch down and knead once more. In a greased surface, roll out small portion until paper-thin; brush the surface of dough with re

Photos Taken by Ann Lodolini This year, my birthday was spent at home with good friends and family feasted omdeliciously made Mexican Tamales. There were different kinds: pork, chicken, beef, and sweet tamales with three kinds of sauces and condiments to compliment the very appetizing little sacks of filled "maize masa". The little sacks made of corn husks with different fillings complimented the "Horchata", a rice flour drink and the "Tamarindo", a tamarind based drink. I am grateful and thankful to God for a good year, for good friends and family, for good health and for the numerous blessings. *Note: The birthday cake you see above was a gift from my nephew, Elijah Sugay. He actually gave two cakes, the Moisty Chocolate Cake (with photo above) and a Sans Rival Cake (no photo).

Don't ask me how much green onions or cilantro to use when I am making my bed of greens to lay my precious, fresh fish on top to steam, or how many tablespoons of chinese rice wine to put on top of my fish before it gets a steam bath, quickstyle. Because honestly, I do not know. I see cooking as an art. When I go to my playground (my kitchen) to cook our meals, I have no quaint idea of what I am going to cook. I open the freezer, check the pantry, check what vegetables are available, and I try to concoct a dish from what I have. The more variety of food I have in my hands, the more room for expansion. The next question I ask myself is, should I fry, bake, grill, steam, boil, saute, broil, barbecue, roast, or toast. I also make it a point not to repeat a dish for a while. Repeat performance is never welcome with my children unless it is a delicious moisty cake made out of chocolate. Everything is unknown before I start playing in my playground until I start to cook. Things s

                                                    Photos Taken by Christina Kho It was a surprise when my daughter came home at noon today. Normally she comes home late in the evening staying at the school lab working on her projects. Looking starved and tired ( she has been sick with a bad cold), I offered to cook her a meal. Lately, the weather was getting colder at night, so I made sure we have soup for dinner when they all come home. There's always leftover food from the night before, which I sometimes eat for lunch the next day. My daughter must be really starved, for she reheated the pot of soup from the night before while I was preparing the ingredients of what I have decided to cook. I decided to cook the easiest meal I could make, which was Sugar Snap Beans with Shrimps . Took out the shrimps in a ziploc, open and run the warm water to defrost them, washed the snap peas and removed the endtips, heat my wok, put some oil, brown the garlic, add shrimps, snap pe

Photos Taken by Ann Lodolini Another surprise on a friday night. Friday nights are my free nights not to cook dinner. My children know this. We either eat dinner out, or if they don't get an invitation from me, they cook their own dinner. Tonight my son, and his girlfriend, came home early and started playing in my kitchen. From my office where I was working, I could hear them planning for dinner. Is it the prawns (big shrimps) or the calamare (squid). The calamare won for I could hear the sizzling sound of the little guys with tentacles gettng deep fried in the fryer. When I went out of my office to check on what they were up to, Ann was dredging the slices of squids with flour with her bare hands and Bernard was deep frying the battered squid pieces in the fryer being careful not to over overcook them. Giving my share of the labor (of love), I made the sauce for the calamare dip out of soy sauce, sugar, honey, minced garlic, chopped cilantro, oyster sauce, worcester