My first Le Crueset

Udon noodles

Hot and sour soup

You need a can of sliced bamboo shoots, a square of tofu, dried chili peppers, chicken or pork meat, dried shitake mushrooms and wood ear fungi (tenga ng daga) to make this hearty soup. Sure is good on a cold day. My recipe is similar to this recipe.

EASY HOT AND SOUR SOUP Printed from COOKS.COM 4 cups chicken stock or broth (or 4 cups water and 4 chicken bouillon cubes) 3 tablespoons soy sauce 1/4 cup cooked shredded chicken or pork 1/2 cup mushrooms, diced 1/2 tablespoon garlic chili sauce 1/4 teaspoon ground white pepper 1/4 cup white vinegar 1/3 cup canned bamboo shoots, julienned 3 oz block of tofu, cut into 1/4 inch dice 2 tablespoons cornstarch and 2 tablespoons cold water 1 egg, beaten 2 green onion stalks, diced (including tops) 1/2 teaspoon toasted sesame oil 1. Bring chicken broth to a simmer in a 2-quart saucepan.2. Add soy sauce, shredded meat, mushrooms and garlic red chili paste. 3. Simmer for five minutes. 4. Add white pepper, white vinegar, bamboo shoots, tofu. 5. Simmer for five minutes. 6. Combine two tablespoons of cornstarch with two tablespoons of cold water in a cup. Stir until mixture is smooth. Add cornstarch mixture to soup and stir well. 7. Simmer for five minutes until soup is thickened. 8. Beat egg in a cup until yolk and white are combined. Pour beaten egg slowly, in a fine stream into soup. Stir soup several times. 9. Wait 30 seconds. 10. Add green onions and sesame oil to soup. Stir well. Remove from heat. 11. Serve hot. Submitted by: Rusty Barton

Pinakbet with Shrimps

I like my pinakbet with lots of ampalaya (bitter melon), talong (eggplant) and calabasa (yelloww squash) with unpeeled shrimps with head. Most important is the spicy bagoong. This dish goes well with a bowl of white rice.

Macaroons

I can use my free-standing silicon muffin cups to cook macaroons too. You can use the paper muffin cups if you wish but it is really not necessary since the Sili-cups is an easy clean up.

In the future. I will try to cook more cupcakes hopefully, something as good as these. I must be dreaming, although I think if I can produce something like these, I wil be just as proud and happy.

Danish bakery in Solvang, California

Popular destination in the west coast, is the Solvang Bakery in Solvang CA. Known for its delicious Danish treats, make sure you pass by the store and bring home a box or two of your favorite desserts.

Using my Sili-Cups to cook Puto

When I use my Sili-cups to cook puto, getting my wok from storage would no longer be necessary. I can now easily steam cook my puto in any of my pots. It did changed my way of cooking puto. I've always used my wok since it is big enough to accomodate the 12 mini muffin pans. I used the same recipe using Bisquick.

Coconut flan

I got the this recipe from Martha Stewart Living magazine. The magazine did a special on Filipino foods. There were three Filipino staff working for the magazine and with the help of their individual families, favorite Filipino dishes were featured.

Ampalaya con carne

One of my Mom's favorite. She learned how to cook this when she studied Chinese cooking. I always have fond memories of her going to cooking school. Not standard cooking school we know. One of her friends who own a bakery invites a professional chef to teach a class of 10.

The best part of the cooking school was, she would bring home her "pombrera" with small portions for us to taste of what they cooked that day. If we enjoyed the dish, she would plan on cooking our choice for the weekend dinner.

Dungeness crabs

The crabs are as big as my plate!











Only when I am in San Francisco (Bay Area) can I enjoy eating the Dungeness crabs. Steamed or boiled, the crabs are really yummy. My friend had a better way of preparing the crabs. She cooked the crabs with calabasa and cocunut milk. What else can I say, it was really super yummy.

Pichi pichi

Everytime I visit the Filipino store, I always check the aisle for merienda treats. The pichi pichi is a bit expensive you would think that probably it takes some time to prepare this favorite. After all, the ingredients are so cheap, why do you have to pay $4.00 for 12-15 pieces.
Thanks to food blogging, I found the recipe and though I made some mistakes the first few tries, it was really easy. We now can enjoy pichi pichi anytime.