Cooking 101

My family and friends, know that I don't cook. I love food and eating but I have never really tried cooking a dish. After I got married and the fact that we will be living in another country without a cook or a maid or another person to cook for us, I just knew I had to try cooking.

My first try was when I found a recipe for korean beef stew. I enjoy korean food and this was something I really wanted to try. I did and I was successful in doing so. I have cooked the dish twice already and on both occasions, it was a hit.
Second attempt was to make chinese lemon chicken. A cousin of mine posted a link online of where I could find the recipe for this dish. It looked delicious and it was an easy dish so I tried it. Everyone enjoyed it too.
I knew I had to take it to the next level. Having tried Korean and Chinese food, I wanted to try a Japanese dish. I was craving for Sukiyaki so I searched for a recipe online, bought the ingredients I needed and followed all the instructions provided. Result, a yummy-yummy dish.
In the days following that, I have also tried General Tso's Chicken ( i love the general's chicken at recipe's) and Sweet and Sour fish (my husband loves sweet and sour dishes). I made us dessert also to go with the sweet and sour fish.


Next on my list is to cook another beef dish that comes with vegetables and buffalo wings chicken. Too bad Husband is in another country and had to just see in pictures what i cooked. I promise to share the recipe's soon.

MIA

I have been blog hopping, reading your posts, working, reviewing, cooking, atbp! With all of that, I have neglected my blog. I still update my other blog though but that does not justify neglecting this one. With that said, I promise to have posts by tomorrow. Posts about the receipes I have tried and want to share with all and the trips we made last January.

I will be back soon!

kaye

Kaye of K by Cunanan is now blogging...

a perfect site for soon to wed couples as you have another website to draw inspiration from.

real wedding inspiration

now, if i can only come up with another party to get Kaye to caterer for us...im craving for honey nut prawn, hoisin chicken wrap, kaye's banoffee cup, carrot rice, atbp.

My Bridal Shower

Where: Holiday Inn, Galleria
When: January 3,2009

Dino had no choice when he was told that they would have to use his hotel room for my bridal shower. We came from a whole day of pre-cana seminar at Santuario de San Jose and a bit of shopping at greenhills. I knew of the plan to have a bridal shower but i was told that we would just have a videoke party and was told i was to be picked up from holiday inn.

Since I had to wait for my ride to Metorwalk, Dino and I went to his room and upon entering his room...my sisters, SIL and cousins were all inside the room waiting for me for their surprise bridal shower party.

while waiting for methe foodwe played charades

banana eatingPin the johnny on lloydy

they had a surprise guest for me

group picture

Obviously, we all had fun. i got some nice and weird gifts too. It was a wonderful night that had my mind out of the preparations and it was a stress reliever.

Dino and Macy Song

My brother-in-law, Matt composed a song a day or two before the wedding over breakfast that he sang during the reception. He composed the song with the help of Michael, one the bestman. Original plan was he sings the english part and Michael sings the tagalog part but since Michael was busy with his own surprise for us during the reception, Matt ended up singing both the english and tagalog parts of the song. This turned out to be better since he was so funny as he was singing the tagalog part.

Ate Carm & Matt with his brandnew ukelele he bought for his surprise

His song number was super funny and everyone was so amused on how well he did with the tagalog parts.

Let me share the lyrics of the Dino and Macy Song.

Chorus:

Dino and Macy are from different worlds they say
But love has made into one the world here today
Kahit Magkai-ibang mundo pinang galingan nila,
Ngayon ang pag-ibig ay pinag-isa sila

1)
Dino is Visaya from the island of Cebu
Macy speaks Tagalog, just like most of you
When they went out on a picnic----
And some ants just walked on by
Macy shouted “Langam” and Dino looked into the sky
You see “Langam” is bird to LD
And in Tagalog it means “ants”
And this should cause no problem for their blossoming romance.
But if perfect understanding should ever be their wish
They could skip their dialects and just talk in English!

2)
LD, Ildefonso, and Dino are his names
MC, Macy and Maria Carmela all mean just the same
If they say “honey”, “baby”, “schnookums” or other nicknames too
It will take their entire marriage to use the names they have to choose.

3)
LD drives a Honda and he drives it really fast
Macy’s stuck in traffic there at Edsa and Ortigas.
Ildefonso drives so fast you think he might be crashin’
But Macy’s gone so slow, so long
LD’s speed is her attraction

4)
LD’s in the U.S while MC’s in PI
And while waiting for their wedding many lonely months went by.
But don’t think such distance interrupted their sweet bliss
‘Cuz Facebook just invented the world wide webcam kiss!

Red Mango

I'm addicted to frozen yogurt and so far Red Mango has the best frozen yogurt. The small size sells for Php80, Medium at Php115 and the large one for Php150. That is for the original flavor and you'ld have to add another Php5 for the green tea flavor. One topping costs Php20, two for Php30 and three for Php40. The only thing with Red Mango is they have a limited topping selection compared to White Hat, Iloveberries and Yoh-gurt Froz.

Red Mango is at the 3rd level of Trinoma, infront of Toys-r-us and Fitness First.

Korean Beef Stew

I first saw the receipe from jane's site. She got it from pinoycook. I have been craving for korean food and since she said it was easy to do, I tried it today.


She was correct at saying that it was easy and a must try. It was delicious! I never thought I could cook something that tasted sooo good. This was my first try in cooking and it was a success.

Here’s the recipe from the site.

Ingredients :

1 kilo of stewing beef with bones (short ribs, neck or shank), cut into serving pieces
1 whole garlic
1 whole onion
a large piece of ginger (about the size of two thumbs side by side)
3-4 chili peppers
1 bay leaf
3/4 c. of dark soy sauce
3/4 c. of white sugar
salt
12-15 stalks of sibuyas na mura (onion leaves)
1-2 tbsps. of sesame seeds

Cooking procedure :

Place the beef in a casserole. Cover with water. Place over high heat and, before the water starts to boil, remove the scum that floats on the surface. Add the whole garlic, onion, ginger, chili peppers and bay leaf. Pour in the soy sauce and stir in the sugar. Simmer gently for two hours or until the meat is very tender. If you’re using short ribs, the meat will be falling off the bones.

Halfway through the cooking, taste the broth and add salt. Do not be tempted to add more soy sauce instead of salt; otherwise, the broth will turn too dark.

While the beef simmers, toast the sesame seeds. Place them in a small frying pan and set over medium-low heat. Shake the pan often for even toasting.

Slice the onion leaves finely.

To assemble, place two to three pieces of beef in individual soup bowls. Ladle plenty of broth over them. Sprinkle with toasted sesame seeds and sliced onion leaves. Serve at once.