adobo fried rice

this is the best type of fried rice in the world -- imagine adobo incorporated into garlic fried rice. oh so yummy!

pepper shrimp stir-fry

inspired by MarketMan's breakfast, i did the same thing to some of the 20+kilos of freshly-caught shrimp from the shores of Charleston, South Carolina we bought during our last trip there.

i basically sauteed lots of minced garlic in olive oil, threw in the shrimp, then added lots of sliced siling haba or long peppers then seasoned with salt and lots of freshly-ground pepper. simply delicious!

cooking rice

i didn't learn how to cook rice until i was 18. the other day, i thought it would be fun to "teach" the 5-year old how to cook rice. it was all play to him. and he had so much fun!

choco rolls

my sister and i found these amazing rolls while walking around Ali Mall while waiting for our ticket receipts from the PAL office during our emergency visit months ago. i still can't figure out why you need to wait close to an hour for a simple receipt. but that's another post altogether. anyway, we decided to walk around while waiting. we were going to peek inside Max's Fried Chicken just to get a whiff of their food but what we discovered was their bakeshop right at the entrance. they had all sorts of baked goodies including these rolls. they came in a variety of flavors including ube, buko pandan, chocolate, and i can't remember the other ones. we didn't like the other flavors except for the delicious chocolate ones.



believe me, they're really good. so good that we both took 3 dozens each back home to the US. when my grandmother came two weeks ago, she had 4 boxes for me and my sister. took us only two weeks to finish them.

turkey noodle soup

we had a simple Easter late lunch at home with my parents, sister, and my visiting Manila-based grandma, 2 uncles, and an aunt. we came home from Charleston just the day before so this was a last minute preparation. it was so simple we just had a whole smoked turkey which had just a slight hint of smokiness (delicious), pancit (noodles with chicken), stuffing, candied yams, cranberry jelly, maple ham, egg pie, pumpkin pie, and leche flan (custard). we actually had two turkeys but we were only able to finish one so the same turkey turned into this:



the turkey noodle soup was simply made, too -- i just stir-fried garlic, onions, carrots, celery, cabbage, shredded turkey then added chicken broth and pasta. when the pasta was cooked, i added a can of evaporated milk and stirred, stirred, stirred. for added oomph, i also threw in some cilantro (as influenced by my MIL who has lots of Hispanic friends and most of her cooking has a Hispanic twist).

Holy Week in Charleston

my Manila-based grandma, 2 uncles, and an aunt are visiting us for two weeks. we went to Charleston, South Carolina just to have a change of scenery and to eat seafood. this is what we had:




1. she-crab soup, 2. Fried Green Tomatoes, 3. Fried Tempura Shrimp, 4. Shrimp and Grits with Corn Fritters topped with Tomato jam, 5. Fried catfish and oysters, 6. Shrimp And Grits, 7. Cheese Grits, 8. Fried Whole Flounder, 9. Fried Oysters, 10. Seafood Platter, 11. Seared Tuna with wasabi sauce, 12. Chocolate Milk, 13. Fried Flounder, 14. Grilled Seafood Platter, 15. Fried Seafood Platter, 16. Noodles, 17. Fried Milk Fish, 18. Fried Tilapia, 19. Veggies called Pinakbet, 20. Garlic Rice

french macarons

not to be confused with Filipino macaroons which i hate (due to my dislike for coconuts), macarons are a traditional French pastry that look like small hamburger sandwiches. because it is difficult to make, macarons are almost always pricey. when i was in San Francisco, i made it a point to get some famous Miette macarons. they are heavenly. my favorite flavors: pistachio and chocolate.

found a good recipe here but it's so labor intensive i'd rather buy some from Bizu if i were you.

special cottage cheese

this special cottage cheese is only available in San Francisco... over 2100 miles away (about 3465 kilometers). it's made with non-fat organic milk from cows in San Francisco then dressed with additional special cream.

i had to special order it -- cost an arm and a leg but oh, so worth it. i ate it for breakfast with fresh organic strawberries, blueberries, and kiwis.