the canDIshhh tales

One of the things that gets ooohs and aaaahs in a chinese restaurant is the #WinterMelonSoup.   You may ask why?  Well because with this soup, restaurants use the winter melon itself as a huge bowl to serve the soup!  It's a sight to see as you'll be amazed how they were able to pull it off.  You'll see the whole winter melon, and then suddenly they're take out the top part and when you peek in, the soup is inside together with meat bits and other veggies!  My mom has tried it at home, and I remember her being nervous that the winter melon doesn't break apart, kunde sira ang presentation! So during this #EnhancedCommunityQuarantine, I chanced upon Theo's Farm that they have winter melon, so I ordered.  When I saw it - I knew I wouldn't be able to pull off the carving and serving the winter melon.  It actually made the preparation easier.  I had to ask my mom, and she told me to steam the winter melon to soften it.  Honestly, I don't think I can w

When I was little, I used to see my mom, guama and aunt cook in the kitchen.  I found it amazing, that they have this idea in their heads on what to cook for us.  I remember my guama had small bits of plastic that when opened contained shirmp and cooked pork fat.  I asked her what it was for, and she told me that it was to add 'flavor' to the dish whatever it was.  I don't remember seeing her look at any cook book or a paper with recipe.  She just whipped them all up! When I got older, I became interested in baking - baking because I was afraid of splattering oil.  So I stuck to baking for a while.  It was only when I got married that I had to dive in and cook.  When my Panget and I were newly married, we didn't have a helper during the weekend, so I had to step up.  There were times that we didn't have a helper at all (we borrowed my mom's helper to clean), so I had to do all the cooking.  It was there that I learned to whip something up with just ing

We've been on lockdown for a month now.  And what is it that I realized?  Quality ingredients are very important when it comes to cooking for my family's meals.  I realized that there were ingredients that i took for granted before this lockdown.  Since I'm cooking everyday, I have played favorites with certain brands. Introducing, my FAVORITE lockdown cooking ingredients! LEE KUM KEE PREMIUM SOY SAUCE This has got to be my FAVORITE kitchen staple.  The taste is very clean and stable.  I say clean because comparing it to our local soy sauce brands - this tastes really different!  It's not very salty and the taste is - really different!  I have decide to buy this in the liter packages because I use so much of it in my cooking.  A little goes a long way when marinading and when cooking.  I say the taste is stable, because the product doesn't need a quick shake to combine the flavors - you won't see ANY form of residue at the bottom of the bottle!  It&#

When the idea of an #EnhancedCommunityQuarantine was brought up, my Panget told me that we should stock up on food and some essentials.  I guess essentials mean different things to people because we were alarmed that people started buying a LOT of bathroom tissues!  But I guess priorities are aligned differently.  But who are we to judge, right? What I have learned with this #ECQ is to look for reliable suppliers.  Before the lockdown occurred, I was lucky to have found a seafood supplier - Malabon Fresh.  I just found them on #Instagram.  I tried them and was very happy with the service.  I guess it was meant to be because they are now my ONLY seafood supplier.  Fast forward to when the lockdown began, I was lucky enough to be included in a Veggie delivery group.  The prices were fair and I loved that you just need to message them your order and voila - it gets delivered the next day!  This particular group became a community and so many others joined.  There are really good souls i

My #Instantpot has been hidden in the storage room for a while now.  But because of the current #EnhancedCommunityQuarantine - I decided to utilize the piece of machine.  My Panget got this IP for me two years ago, and you can count with your fingers how many time I've used it since then.  It's a great machine, but I make sure that it is, who uses it and no one else.  First off, it's 110volts since we got it from Amazon.  Instantpot is available locally via Focus Global, the same distributor for Kitchen Aid and Coleman products, you can find them on Instagram - InstantpotPH. Anyway, I'll get straight to the point - you'll see below my recipe for the Instantpot Taiwanese Beef Noodle Soup.  I tweaked it a bit because not all ingredients were available in my pantry: Taiwanese Beef Noodle Soup 1 kilo Beef (I used Brisket, I always use this!  I think with the IP, you can use any cut of beef) 3 slices of Ginger 8 cloves of Garlic (pounded) 5 1-inch Onion Leeks

I am one who is not very sensitive on the length of hair because I just tie them in a ponytail.  You can count with your fingers the number of times I've had my hair down.  I simply don't like my hair on my face.  I wish I can pull off the pixie cut, unfortunately - my face is very round, so - well, it won't look as 'pretty' on me. Before the lockdown happened, my Panget and the kids had their hairs cut.  I remember when I used to sport the pixie cut, that I would go to the salon EVERY month to have my 'cut' maintained properly.  So I know that for those sporting shorter hair - well, they know the different two to three weeks make to their hair. But since we're all on #EnhancedCommunityQuarantine there are no salons nor barber shops that are open for service.  So what is the solution?  Do the haircut ourselves!  If you ask me, I wouldn't really dare because, IT'S EFFING HAIR!  Your hair is something personal to you, it's not some random t