Egg and Potato salad

Crazy over eggs. I've always loved egg salads. Especially when it's sandwiched between 2 slices of wheat bread. It's heavenly. The taste of egg, a bit of mayo and a dash of pepper and some herbs, and when they get mashed in my mouth, it just brings me pure joy. My aunt used to make simple egg salads, but I, here, love to tweak recipes so that it makes for a new recipe that I can proudly call my own. ;-)

Then, one day, I was reading this food magazine and found this egg and potato salad recipe. I missed out on a few ingredients (maybe purposely so I can call this original) but then was disappointed with myself because it really came out bland. Had to salvage the whole thing by way of adding a few things, here and there. 

8 hard boiled eggs, peeled and cubed

8 medium potatoes, boiled, peeled and cubed

1 cup mayonnaise

1 cup cooked ham bits

1 tbsp sweet pickle relish

salt and pepper, to taste

1 tbsp brown sugar

1 tsp oregano (i prefer basil but then i ran out)

In a big mixing bowl, toss all ingredients and chill before serving. Serves 8.

Had a mouthful before finally sending this to the chilly cave of our fridge. Yummy!

Cheers!

Beachy Fun

We planned this beach outing for 2 weeks and finally this morning woke up to a promising day! It has been raining for days now and today seemed like Mom's prayers were answered, no rain while we are at the beach. So, I got up late (slept at 2am you know) past 8am and I was still a bit groggy and I noticed Janix tinkering with the router. Who wants to change routers and configure it at 8 o'clock in the morning? Only he, would be my guess. And because I was still fresh from dreamland, I was even kind of helping him, pitching in some questions and suggestions about the whole  router thing then when everybody else but us left for church, I started fuming about the delay of our prep time for our planned beach day. I hurriedly cooked the shrimps, simply following the outline given to me by Lola Lolita earlier which was to cook the shrimps in the pan with water first then when water has dried, cook it in little oil and sprinkle some salt.  I added a few steps to suit my adventurous palate by mixing in my fave garlic and onions, black pepper and chili flakes and just a bit of thyme.

This here is more than 1kg of shrimps boiling in 2 cups water. You can use less water. I mixed in salt, pepper, thyme and chili flakes while water is boiling.

When the shrimps looked opaque, I drained the water and set aside the shrimps and sauteed garlic and onions in butter in the same pan.

I then fried the shrimps for 8-10 minutes until completely done. This ended up dry, it was very tasty though, but dry. Maybe next time I'll try to cook it in lesser time. Or what do you think?

After cooking and packing things up, we ran to pick up Mom, NC and Syer and dropped by a store to get drinks and ice. We arrived at the beach few minutes past 11am and it was really a sight to behold! You see, it's been ages since I've stepped foot at the beach and the beach sure looked happy to see me too coz the sun shined until we went home at 5pm. Express what you desire and the universe conspires with you! Hahahaha! I'm not gonna do a The Secret thing here, but the line really holds true.

Lovely, ain't it? 

It's not the white beach but this picture sure looks like a piece of heaven to me. ;-)

Taking a bite of the Dark Chocolate Balls. Should have hired a model...This looks like an entry for the Datu Puti Asim Mukha Challenge. Hahaha!

With my younger brother. A lot have said he and I look exactly alike. I don't agree...Hahaha! (evil laugh)

 My boys. 

Tyler gets a sunblock lotion massage. 

 Ma, let's go now!

Taking his time to get acquainted with the sea... (he's actually very scared)

Poor Tyler! Oh, I just love teasing him. Hahaha!

Tyler: Mimim! (that's what he calls me)

Monkey Tyler

Banana Boat

To the right, to the right

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Glad to be out of the water.

 

With Papa Janix. 

Testing the waters again with the help of a whale.

It was a no-go so we get him back to his dry clothes and pose for a picture with NC. 

Can you spell fun? V-E-R-Y F-U-N!!! Swimming in the beach today made me feel like a kid again. We had fun going against the waves and we laughed like we were kids and it kind of transported me back to 8th or 9th grade. It was really what I needed, the sun, sand, beach and fun.

The sunburned skin that I have now is well worth it. I only remembered to apply sunblock on my face. I told my Mom it burns really bad and she told me just like when I was a kid, I get overly excited swimming everytime. And she smiled. Aww... I love you Mom! Thank you for making this fun day possible. 

Just had 2 egg sandwiches and it's 11:15pm and I had dinner earlier. Goodluck with my plan to lose weight before Shareefah comes this May. Anyway, I'm beat, so I'll leave you with a thought: Happiness is fleeting but what warms you are the memories that comes with it. Cheers!

Dark Chocolate Balls

I've heard of somebody who has said she doesn't like chocolate. But I found out she was the culprit when my 1/4 of the big Cadbury bar I kept in the fridge for days. Which simply puts that nobody can resist chocolate.

For as long as I can remember, my romance with chocolate has started since I've eaten it. Not that I remember when I actually first tasted it, but it doesn't matter. What matters is that now and for the many years to come, I love chocolate and will love it until my last breath.

To celebrate my love for chocolate, I've researched and chose this recipe from a magazine that I really love. Wont tell you which one though. Hahaha!

450g dark chocolate, chopped

3/4 cream

2 tbsps butter

bowl of unsweetened cocoa powder

Put the chocolate in a bowl and set aside. Heat cream and butter until bubbly and pour into the bowl of chocolates. Let it set for 3 minutes then stir until smooth. Refrigerate for 10 minutes to cool and when it's ready, scoop into balls and dredge in the cocoa powder. Eat immediately or wrap with water cellophane and store for the rainy days if you can.

Couldn't resist a bite there. Gotta sleep now. Beach tomorrow! (later, I mean) Happy Sunday ya'll! Cheers!

Pork Caldereta

Today is another day and another entry to be posted. In bed in this morning, I was thinking about what to post and the first thing that got into my mind is the Pork Caldereta. Hahaha! Now I'm beginning to worry this may turn into a food blog.

I have never eaten a real caldereta because back when I was a kid, I was at this party me and my parents attended and they served a goat dish. It looked like an adobo so I took a huge bite which I spit right after. The goat meat had that really irony taste that made my guts churn. It's that when you make a balloon of your mouth, and the taste just climbs up to your airways and make you puke. That's why I don't eat goat meat, or bat meat, because they both have the same effect to me.

So that's also why I love this dish. Not only because it has pork instead of goat meat, but you can also get creative with it. 

I thank my condomate Khrystle for sharing me her recipe. (and for feeding a hungry me and Jen.) This here below has gone a few tweaks to suit my adventurous palate. Char!

2 pcs green bell pepper, cut into thin strips

2 pcs red bell pepper, cut into thin strips

2 pcs chilis (only if you like it hot like I do)

2 big carrots, thinly chopped

2 big potatoes, thinly chopped (or you can dice it)

1 tbsp garlic, minced

1 tbsp onions, minced

2 tbsps butter

1/2 kg lean pork, cut into bite sized portions

2 cups water

1 small can of green peas

1 small can liver spread

1 small can mushrooms (optional)

1 small cheese, diced

Del Monte Quick and Easy Kaldereta Mix

salt and pepper

1/2 tsp of oregano

I like to boil my meat before I actually cook it. So what I did above was to boil it with enough water just so it covers the meat and season it with salt, pepper and oregano. The flavors just mix together so well it makes a whole lot of difference if you skip this step. While the meat is boiling, saute potatoes and carrots in butter until lightly browned. Cover the pan. The meat should be done by now that you will see the fat marbling with the water on the surface. Discard the water and in a different pan, saute garlic and onions in minimal oil until translucent. Mix in the meat and cook for about 5 minutes and mix in the liver spread until every cut is coated. Continue cooking for 3 minutes then put in the kaldereta mix. Add 2 cups of water and cover the pan. Let it simmer for 5 minutes then put in the carrots, potatoes, green peas and mushrooms. Cook for 10 minutes. Add in the chopped chilis and mix and finally, fold in the cheese. Serves 3.

 

Great for a foodtrip! Cap off with an ice cream for an even greater experience! Cheers!

White Sauce

I read somewhere that all of us must have at least one recipe that we know by heart. I have cooked more than a dozen times in our kitchen back in my childhood, though, most, I must say, were failures, this has not stopped me from dreaming of that one recipe which I could tweak and master and share to other people.

I give credit to Ate Sweeky for exposing me to this recipe and also to Shareefah for telling me I can do whatever I want. To this effect, I share you the secret to a perfect white sauce, Caye style. ;-)

2 broth cubes, any flavor will do
1 box of cream
1 big can of evaporated milk
2 tbsps flour
2 tbsps butter

Melt butter in a frying pan on low heat. While it's melting, dissolve the cubes on 3/4 cup of hot water and mix in the flour. Once it's all mixed (see that it has become a light yellowgreenish paste), pour the mixture on the melted butter. Stir as to prevent it from sticking. Slowly mix in the cream and evaporated milk. Stir frequently for 8 minutes and remove from heat.

Use this sauce to mix with your pasta to make a spaghetti carbonara or top this on fish fillets with potatoes for a unique dish. Cheers!

Salsa

Finally! After much debate with myself about this blog, I have mustered enough courage to post an entry. It hasn't been easy; lying in bed is always an easy option for me after doing all the duties of being a mom and eventually getting Tyler to sleep.

Anyway, you may ask the question: why salsa? I was on FB and an old friend of mine chatted with me and I remembered the time when I was at his house and he fed me a bruschetta. I was hesitant at first because it was my first time to eat a salsa or a bruschetta for that matter. But when I took the first bite, flavors bursted and danced around my mouth like nothing else I have ever experienced before. And with that, I became a full-pledged foodie. Back to the chat, I couldn't resist asking my friend the recipe to that salsa and I hope to share this to my friends. Thank you Biboy for this recipe.

A dozen of tomatoes
Half white onion
1 sprig of spring onion
Pinch of cumin
Salt and pepper to taste

Slice the tomato in half and scoop out the seeds then dice. Set aside. Mince the white onion and spring onion. Mix together. Put in a pinch of cumin and put salt and pepper according to taste. Chill before serving.

Hope you enjoy this salsa. You'll find that you can use this in many ways with your meal. Cheers!