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September 28 Donations for Guimaras via Market ManilaMy mother is from Negros, but we have a small farm in Guimaras and some of our relatives are still there. Market Manila has a very interesting concept of donating money for Guimaras. So please click on the link and help as much as you can. Thank you MM for coming up with this beautiful idea. Good on yah!  MM's website is truly entertaining and educational. A must read if your blog hopping!September 19 DadYesterday morning as I sat in a cafe waiting for my coffee, an elderly man sat on the chair next to my table. The wait staff knew him by name, as they all greeted them lovingly. He orders toasted ham and cheese on thin slices of bread, and a cup of tea. He pulls out his tiny diary and starts writting. He is well groomed and had a calming aura in him. At this point I started to think of my Dad who passed away 2 years ago. Dad and the other man had similar attributes. Dad used to have a diary that he used to scribble on. Although he doesn't drink tea, he has coffee with his breakfast which is soft boiled egg, pandesal and a couple of slices of fruit. And like this man right next to me, Dad had a beautiful calm aura.
I must admit whenever I see an elderly man I am reminded of my father. Writting this has made me miss him more. Sniff sniff
 I know wherever you are Dad, you are in a happy place. I LOVE YOU SOO MUCH! We will be together again. September 11 Girls night outWhat do 6 women do when they've decided to take the night off from their kids and spouses? They end up having a fantabulous time! It took us over 2 months to sort out our schedule. 2 out of the 6 women had their birthday, and I on the other hand will turn $% on the 8th of Oct. Ok, so it's my 4th 25th birthday. I am still stuck on 25, so let's leave it like that.
I arranged for us to meet up at Wagamama for dinner, it's like eating at uptempo canteen. The lounge area is very spacious but cozy, tealight candles abound the area for ambience. I had chicken cha han, which was ok. Chicken fired rice that came with miso soup and assorted pickles. G had yaki soba, soba noodles with egg, chicken, shri,ps, onions, greean and red peppers, beansprouts and spring onions. M had gyoza and caramelised sweet potato kusabi, handcut chips with thai basil and wasabi mayo. R had the succulent teriyaki salmon, grilled salmon served on a bed of steamed baby bok choi with teriyaki sauce. A had chicken katsu curry, chicken deep fried in panko, served with a light curry sauce and japanese-style rice. I had seijku beef salad, stir fried prime fillet with baby rocket, baby spinach, chillies, cinnamon, roasted baby eggplant and sweet potato salad. As if dinner was not enough, we went to Freestyletout for dessert. This place is well known for the best desserts in town. We all agreed on ordering a few sweets and share with everyone. We ordered sticky date pudding, apple and raspberry crumble served with berries, and hot fudge brownie with fudge sauce. Suffice to say they were to die for! After filling ourselves up with food, drinks was next on the agenda.
Barsoma prooved to be reliable. See, the boys frequent this place. They eventually became friends with the staff and owner. There is one particular bartender, J, the best there is in the biz. H says that he makes the best drinks in the world. Mind you that he's been to the US, UK and HK lately so he has more knowledge on this bit. But we all agree, J is the bomb! We used to have domino shots at Barsoma, the rest of the clientele would be astounded with the presentation.
GPO was our last stop. I must say I felt weird being there, "kids" were everywhere. And geesh, the outfits, well they looked sloppy. Man, I am getting old. Whoever thought bringing the 80's back is silly. Inspite of that, I had a great time. Most fun that I had in ages. I am looking forward to our next night out.... Got home at 3 am, not bad for an old timer. Heh! September 08 Baked BarramundiH has been eating heaps of fish now than when we first met. In our house friday is fish day. Allthough back in our house in Makati, fish is always consumed regardless of the day of the week. I must admit that when I was still there I took for granted eating fish, as we always had it at home. Mom used to say that "It's better for your health, and not too expensive". How right she was! When I think of her, I remember how she used to make her dishes in simple manner, there is nothing more pleasing than having fish and vegies in simple form. Rather than cooking them in an elaborate way. My girlfriends an I would sometime talk about what we love the most with Pinoy dishes. We all agree that fish is on top of the list. Pan fried, with dipping sauce on the side (fish sauce, calamondn and bird's eye chilli). Oh dear.... just typing it makes my mouth water!
I have been experimenting on what kind of sauces would suit any fish. To date this is H's fave. One of these days, he wil acquire the taste of just eating pan fried fish. But until that day comes I am quite happy that he's eating it rather than nothing at all. Baked Barramundi
Cut the fish depending on how many people your are going to feed. Pour soy sauce in a bowl, add chopped lemon grass, finely chopped garlic, shallots, and corriander. Add a bit of water so that the sauce won't be too salty. Put several drops of the sesame oil. Don't overdo it as it would empower the rest of the ingredients. Cover with cling film and put in the refrigerator so that all of the flavours would meld. Tear some tin foil (depending on the size of the barramundi slices) fold it in half, and fold it again in half. Fold the corners of the foil to make a pouch. Place the fish and put the sauce on top of it. Bake in a 180 degree oven for 20 mins. When you take it out of the oven the pouch would look inflated, be careful when your'e about to puncture the pouch. Serve with steamed rice and any side veggies. Sauce can also be used as marinade for chicken and pork. September 04 Pecan CupcakeI am a fan of easy to make snacks/sweets. This recipe is easy to make and involving little children into making this is preffered! Most of ingredients are in my pantry. Exccept for the pecans though. Suffice to say they may be quick and easy to make, they taste fantastic.
Pecan Cupcake
Ingredients:
Preheat oven to 180 C. Lightly greese six 1/3 cup capacity muffin pan holes. Combine icing sugar, almond meal, flour and butter in a bowl. Using fork, lightly whisk eggwhites. Fold eggwhites, in 2 batches, into almond mixture. Three-quarter fill each muffin hole with mixture. Top each cupcake with 2 to 3 pecans. Bake for 15 mins or until a skewer inserted into the centre comes out clean. Stand cupcakes in pan for 5 mins. Turn into wire rack to cool completely. Dust with extra icing sugar and serve. Riverfire 2006About 2 yrs ago a good friend of mine came to visit. Luckily the Riverfest was on, and on the 1st weekend it was on, the city council, queensland government and channel 9 stage the Riverfire. Brisbane river is a light. And from different vantage points in the city you can see the fireworks. This year we were lucky enough to see the fireworks closer than usual. Captain Bruke Park was a superb place to be, they also had food stalls for the viewers. P had a bit of fright, but in the end he loved it. The highlight for me was the F-111 dump and burn and the waterfalls fireworks from the Storey Bridge.
In a spectacular display of choreographed colour and music the bridges, rooftops and skies above Brisbane City will light up the river for Brisbane's most popular annual celebration. |
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