If Life Gives You Lemons, Say Thank You! (Nothing's Free Nowadays)

If there’s one thing I can be proud of with my Mom’s culinary expertise, it is her own version of Lengua Estofado, Menudo, and Calloz Royale. Those three are phenomenal! And if there’s one thing I am very ashamed of, it’s her Spaghetti a la Ketchup. That one is dangerously horrendous!

No wonder they call this Depression Spaghetti http://www.convergingcuisine.com/?p=28

I really don’t understand why my Mom still uses her spaghetti ketchup recipe. When we were kids, probably it tastes good, but now, it seems like I am eating pasta soaked in Jufran’s Banana ketchup. Yes, that’s how my palates become more sophisticated after writing several articles on wedding food during my stint in Manila Bulletin.

Mango Shake Delight!

Ripe mango photo from Jun Lisondra

Being one of the most common fruits around, it is easy to disregard mangoes but I’ll bet my life to it that the Philippines has the best-tasting and sweetest mangoes out there. With its availability all-year round, you can experiment a lot of things with it and you make it into any kind of dessert that you wish. The easiest and most refreshing way you can enjoy mango is to make it into a smoothie or a shake.

Here’s what you’ll need:

2 Ripe mangoes (make sure that it is sweet)

Crushed Ice

½ cup Evaporated filled milk

2tbsp Sugar

Balsamic Chicken and Pears, O-ha!

Eat it or leave it! That was the mantra over the dining table whilst growing up. And to further this agony, our mom would always remind us to consume to the last bit whatever was on the plate as if we’re living the lyrics of “bawat butil ng palay, ay butil ng pawis ng luha at dugo”.

The song plus the incessant reminder has probably scarred my subconscious that up to these days it pains me to see food wastage. It is probably also to blame my being frugal in a lot of things that’s why I can’t help but exclaim of the rising prices everywhere! IBON said that the value of the P382-minimum wage in NCR is worth only P235 in 2004, see?

One day thinking of what to cook and wanting to utilise what’s only available in the fridge and the kitchen condiments- chicken, pears, olive oil, balsamic vinegar I asked myself “what to do eh?” I may be knowledgeable about a lot of stuff (mostly chismis), but not in the kitchen. Thank goodness for google, I just typed in the available ingredients and voila from www.inmamaskitchen.com, the Balsamic Chicken and Pears.

1:3 Margarita

Margarita is probably one, if not the most, loved tequila-based cocktails and the easiest to make with the introduction of commercially available margarita mixes in the market. And they come in different fruity flavors as well! But I am into classic lime.

Although at times and when it permits, I find it interesting to make it from scratch but the convenience of 1:3 - that’s one part tequila and three parts margarita mix; saves a lot of time in preparation which means you’ll have more time to do other things, like say, start drinking and mingling.

This whole concoction costs, at the minimum, about PhP 1,000 depending on the brand of tequila you prefer. Local breweries offer a less expensive one than imported brands you see on the market. If you are not very particular, it does not (well, it does, a little) change much on taste. But with a thousand pesos and a few friends, this does not cost much with the alternative of enjoying it in a bar or a restaurant. Believe me, enjoying it outside will cost you more. A single bottle of margarita mix can make you about two pitchers or more. In fact, the margarita mix we used here was left-over from a previous all-nighter.

Going bananas!

Before I visited my sister in Sydney last year, I’ve never tried a hand at baking. My mother used to bake when I was a kid, but my memory fails to bring out a picture of me being involved in the process, except perhaps the eating part. My sister has more fond memories of the baking heydays at home; I guess this is what influenced her in making yummy cakes in her own kitchen several years later. All that baking in her Aussie kitchen rubbed some on me, which I brought home to test during our first-ever clumsy cookfest.

at the Aussie kitchen: cupcakes for my 30th, my first-ever banana bread, Jomy's 2nd bday Spiderman carrot cake with pecan and almond nuts, Jet's 1st bday almond milled chocolate choochoo train cake and the banana bread loaf before the attack! (jet and jomy are my little nephews, by the way)

I decided to come up with banana bread - or cake? the difference is very thin if it exists at all - on my first solo attempt at baking, with critics composed of close friends. Without my sister's presence to guide me, it was a bit unnerving but then, bananas are so common in the Philippines being a tropical country that eventually it felt like I can never go wrong with it.