Some thoughts about food blogging on Valentine’s Day
There was a point when I wondered if, since Sam turned vegetarian, the onslaught of vegetarian and vegan recipes in my website would make long-time readers leave and never come back. After all, those...
View ArticleThe chicken soup comfort food culture
When the first Chicken Soup for the Soul came out two decades ago, I didn’t buy a copy. It’s been out in the market for twenty years, I still haven’t bought a copy. There appear to be free copies in...
View ArticleGolden Rice as a solution to Vitamin A deficiency: facts, controversies and...
The facts about Golden Rice The year 2013 has been declared as The National Year of the Rice. One of the highlights is the launch of the Golden Rice, a genetically-modified strain (GMO, for brevity)...
View ArticleReviving and reliving the nostalgia of long, leisurely breakfasts
Exactly when the middle-and-upper-class city folk started to acquire the habit of eating cereals-from-a-box, I have no idea. Perhaps, the onset of the practice started long before I was born, when the...
View ArticleThat time we craved for lechon on Good Friday
We’re not religious. Everyone in the family observes a personal spirituality but the kind that is not associated with religion. That means we don’t observe traditions like meatless Fridays and meatless...
View ArticleCan someone with egg allergy enjoy pasta carbonara?
The thick and rich sauce of traditional carbonara is made by stirring together raw beaten eggs and grated cheese. The mixture is poured into hot pasta and bacon, off the fire, and tossed quickly to...
View ArticleDo cold food and drinks make your body cooler?
We’re smack in the midst of a sweltering summer. Daytime temperature soars to 39C and the accompanying humidity can really dehydrate anyone. At home, we’re consuming cold drinks like crazy. Water,...
View ArticleIs the free range chicken campaign just hype?
We’ve heard it all before. Commercially-raised chickens are subjected to brutish conditions, they live in crowded coops where they get very little sunlight and natural ventilation and, worse, they are...
View ArticleClik here to view.
Food apps can be dangerous to your kids’ health
No matter how old our children get, mothers have a tendency to think of them as babies. I’m no exception. I know they’re no longer babies, but… The few days that they are home, I baby them to death. I...
View ArticleClik here to view.
Vesak Day on Food Network Asia
On Saturday evening, Sam didn’t make it to her bedroom. She napped on the living room couch, woke, ate, napped and… that was the point when we all went up to bed. Apparently, she didn’t sleep straight...
View ArticleSix great ways to make a chicken sandwich
Yesterday, I made a cheese dip that fast became a beloved thing in the house. I said it could double as a salad dressing or a pasta sauce but it appears that there is yet another way to enjoy it. On...
View ArticleClik here to view.
How we cooked torta before there were non-stick pans
In the Philippines, torta is a frittata. Torta is a humble dish. The eggs act as an extender so that a little meat and vegetables can feed a lot of people. There are many variations but the most common...
View ArticleHow to cook for a family of vegetarians and carnivores. Introducing my...
I was raised to “eat what’s on the table” and I raised my girls the same way. Lately, however, I revisited the “eat whatever’s on the table” philosophy. There are families where one or more members...
View ArticleClik here to view.
Ice cream originated in China; the ice cream cone was invented in America by...
Yesterday, we were having strawberry ice cream and I decided to enjoy mine with leftover ganache, coconut flakes and crushed sweetened peanuts. In short, I made a sundae, Asian style, using toppings...
View ArticleClik here to view.
Free range chickens make the tastiest broth
I’ve already proven to myself that the meat of free range chicken is tastier and shrinkage is a lot less during cooking. A few days ago, I proved to myself that free range chicken makes the tastiest...
View ArticleThe meat counterpart of the vegetarian spicy tofu in coconut cream (Bicol...
If not everyone in your family is vegetarian and you want to prepare a non-vegetarian dish for the omnivores without too much additional work, here’s a tip. This dish starts with a the vegetarian spicy...
View ArticleThe meaty version of the vegetarian eggplant, pesto and pomodoro spaghetti
Last month, I cooked a meatless pasta dish with a tomato sauce made chunky with the addition of chopped tomatoes, bell peppers and eggplants. Using the same sauce, I created another for the...
View ArticleA gallery of unpublished recipes
Not all dishes that I cook and take photos of end up in the blog. For various reasons. Most times, it’s a visual quality issue — either I’m not happy with the lighting or the angle of the photo, or the...
View ArticleThe meaty version of the bibimbap-style rice, vegetables and mushrooms dish
The easiest and fastest way to cook two versions — vegetarian and meaty — of the bibimbap-style rice, vegetables and mushrooms dish is to use two pans and two burners on the stove. You cook the...
View ArticleSeedless watermelons and GMOs
I hardly ever ate watermelon before the seedless varieties hit the market. I’m not a huge fan of watermelon as a child, to start with, but almost everyone in my family was. My father didn’t even buy...
View Article