Macaroons (chocolatey and lemoney macaroonies)

Yesterday, Skye was looking for a snack and thought of opening a can of sweetened condensed milk. She imagined eating bread dipped in condensed milk, a snack she always loves, easy to prepare and eat. Only after pouring some milk on her small saucer did she find out that there is no more mini-France bread. She said "Oh no, Mommy, I've already poured some milk on the saucer, and there's no more bread. What would I do with this milk?" I said to her, just put it in the fridge, you could still use it once we bought that bread or (thinking)...we can make macaroons. Then she said, "Oh, let's just make macaroons!" I told her to get the recipe folder and prepare the ingredients.

Skye read the instructions, and before I could tell her what to do, she was already beating the eggs when I checked.

She started measuring the sugar when I thought of taking pictures.

She added the condensed milk. I told her to mix until the sugar dissolves.

Snowe asked what she could to do help and I asked her to put the paper liner on the macaroon cups.

and after that, I told her to add the desicated coconut to the mixture while Skye mixes everything.

They helped each other grating the lemon for the flavor.

I divided the mixture into two portions. I added grated lemon for the flavor to the first half. Snowe asked if she could be the one to put the mixture in the cups, so I let her. I was surprised to see that she was able to finish filling all those cups.

Skye had her turn, too. She requested the chocolate flavored macaroons, so I added the melted Swiss dark chocolate (about 30gms) to the other portion of the coconut mixture. It was actually a leftover because Skye was not able to finish that Frey Noir 72% chocolate bar Snowe gave her (she said it's bitter for her taste).



My girls had fun baking. Snowe ate them as soon as it cooled down... and they called it the "chocolatey and lemoney macaroonies" :)

*Macaroons recipe from pinoycook.net

Daddy's Day Chicken

June 20, 2010

The name of our very late dinner for tonight... "Daddy's Day Chicken."

Why? Because Daddy Eio invented this dish right after his mini concert at home. I know, he should be pampered today, but let me tell you my errr... excuse. *grin*

We had our late lunch around 2:30 -3:30 p.m., after attending Sunday mass, at Paulaner inXintiandi. Wanting to have a little exercise after a heavy lunch, we walked home from Xintiandi, bought milk tea with pearls along the way and reached home at about 4:30p.m.

As we got home, we decided to sing along with our magic sing.

Snowe massaged daddy's feet while I set up the machine (she said it's her gift to dad). Skye started selecting her favorites songs. Then, the magical voices filled the airs in parkville :-) the four of us take turns with the microphone, and i noticed that the line-up of songs are all for Daddy. It's his day so let him be.

At 7 p.m. I asked him if he's hungry and if so what does he want me to prepare for dinner. He said he's still full and we should have dinner later. Okay, I said, anyway the kids are not hungry yet. I just took out the chicken middle wings from the fridge to thaw.

When Eio got tired of singing he decided to cook the chicken. I don't exactly know the amount of the ingredients he put in but he said he boiled half-a-kilo of chicken first with water, fish sauce and a few cloves of crushed garlic, when the chicken is almost done he added some light soy sauce, a teaspoon of sugar and sprinkled ground pepper. There's also his trick of alternating a little cold water while frying the chicken in the final stage. The result was very delicious, the taste is something new to us. He asked me to take photos as he put the cooked dish on the dining table and teased me to post here :D

And we had the very late dinner at 10:30 pm.

Fried Espada Fish and Steamed Okra with Bagoong Isda

I haven't cooked Espada fish back home, but I remember tried eating one. Espada is always available in the wet market and is also one of the cheapest fish sold here. I bought one piece, about 750 grams and decided to fry it to match the Okra Eio bought the other day. The fish vendor cleaned it for me, so i just have to wash it thoroughly before frying.

For frying the espada fish, I used:
1/2 cup cooking oil
a teaspoon of salt
ground black pepper

Rub the salt inside cavity and on the fish, sprinkle some ground black pepper, heat the oil in a frying pan over high-heat, and fry the fish just until golden brown.



For the steamed Okra:
Wash the Okra and place it on a pan and add 1/4 cup of water, over low-heat cover the pan and cook for 3-5 minutes.
Serve with kalamansi and Bagoong fish. 

Skye loved the Okra dipped in bagoong isda and kalamansi sauce on her first try, and immediately saved some pieces of okra on her plate. Snowe likes the fried fish with vinegar and patis, she finished her food on her own! Yay, for Snowe! 

Tree Planting and Champorado and Dried Fish (Tuyo)

It's raining on a Saturday morning in Shanghai. We woke-up early today because Skye and her Dad are going to Minhang district. There is a tree-planting project by the Chinese Government, and they are joining with some of Eio's officemates.
I decided to cook Champorado for our breakfast because Skye and her Dad love it, and I believe it will boost Skye's energy for the day... (chocolate!) and here's how i prepared it, very easy!

For the ingredients:
1 cup malagkit rice
6 cups water
3 tablespoons of Cocoa
1/4 cup White Sugar
Powdered Milk (usually served with evaporated milk, while others prefer adding coconut milk)

How to:
Wash and drain malagkit rice and place in a casserole, add 6 cups of water and let boil until the rice puffs with occasional stirring. Dissolve cocoa in hot water and add to the congee. Let boil for a few minutes, add more water if needed. Add sugar depending on how sweet you like your champorado. Serve with milk.
I usually add sugar depending on who will eat it. Skye prefers a sweeter champorado and not mixing the milk into it.


And she'll eat this way....

I love it with Tuyo,

and Eio, too!


And Skye planted two trees, she said it was fun planting trees.

Skinless Longanisa

Ingredients:
750 grams of ground pork with a little fat,
a head of garlic - crushed,
A tablespoon of rock salt,
half a cup of brown sugar,
ground black pepper

Procedure:
Combine first the crushed garlic, salt, sugar and ground black pepper on a glass bowl until all wet with the juice of garlic, then add the ground pork. Mix thoroughly (mas masaya i-mix by hand ito). Refrigerate overnight or for at least an hour. Cut square pieces of aluminum foil 5"x5" will do. Form into a log (I used 1 heaping tablespoon) then place on a foil and roll tightly. Do this with all the remaining mixture. Your skinless longganisa is ready for cooking after chilling for two hours, make sure you take off the foil before fying. You can stack the remaining portions on a sealed container in the freezer for weeks :-)

Grilled Oysters

Wash the oysters carefully and place on the hot grill for a few minutes until the shell opens. Serve each oysters on the half shell with a dipping sauce or sliced lemon.

I prefer this vinegar-onion sauce:
Combine chopped red onions, a teaspoon of salt, a pinch of sugar and ground black pepper in a cup or individual soup bowl. Stir until the juice of onion dissolve the crystals, then mix in a half cup of vinegar. You can add chillies and chopped spring onions if you like.

Sarap nitong pulutan!

Crispy Pata and Fresh Vegetable Salad

We had this for dinner last night. Eio bought about a kilo of pork shoulder last Sunday and asked me to cook it for dinner the next day. I thought, that would take hours to prepare. So, before we started watching Stargate SG1 series on dvd, I washed the pork, placed it in a casserole covered with water, added some salt, black peppercorns, cloves of garlic and onions. After removing the scum as it started to boil, I left it covered for about 90 minutes in low heat. I put it in the fridge in the morning and took it out before 6 in the evening.

While heating the oil in the casserole, I prepared the sauce. I mixed together half cup of rice vinegar, 1/4 cup kum chun soy sauce, minced 2 shallots, crushed a clove of garlic , sliced a piece of green chilli, a teaspoon of sugar, salt and ground black pepper. I also prepared All-around-Sarsa ni Mang Tomas for the kids' sauce.

Before putting the pork in the casserole for deep frying, I added a pinch of salt in the hot oil, Mom said it would reduce the spattering of oil. While waiting again, for the pork to brown, I prepared the veggies. I placed pieces of romaine lettuce, slices of cucumber, tomatoes and fresh mint leaves on the serving dish. The dressing for the salad would be Kewpie's roasted sesame salad dressing.

When the pork is already brown, I added about a tablespoon of cold water in the oil before i took out the cooked pata, TF said to make the skin crispy. And just after taking the photo, hubby arrived. I served this with hot steamed rice and a bottle of sprite. I thought there'd be left-over pata for today but we were able to finish it all last night.

Fried Milkfish and Nipa Vinegar of Hagonoy

One of my favorite Ulam, Fried Bangus or milkfish, The best when matched with different dippings or side dish - pure vinegar from Hagonoy, fried eggplants, fresh tomatoes and "bagoong" or shrimp paste.
Yes, the dish looks like Daing na Bangus or marinated milkfish but it's not, we just fried it that way. That is, fresh milk fish cut half from the back, head to tail, and divided into four pieces, add a little salt and pepper and it's ready to fry.
Another thing I really miss is the Sukang Hagonoy, just like Sukang Paombong, there's sweetness in it's sour taste, only thing is I'm sure I'm having pure vinegar because it's from my Uncle's Sasahan (nipa cluster) and Tuba (it's like an alcoholic drink among the farmers) straight to the Tapayan (big clay jars).
My Mom prepared this dish many times when we're home back in the Philippines last December, because she knows we really miss the kind of fish not present here in Shang. Thanks Mom!

Palitaw

Palitaw, Palitaw!
Ilulubog, Lilitaw!

Palitaw, one of my favorite Pinoy Kakanin, it's very easy to prepare and cook. I've been dreaming of this for months.

Made with Glutinous rice flour mixed with a little water just enough to form a ball and pressed to make it shaped like a tongue.


Arrange on a plate while shaping the rest of the mixture. Meanwhile, boil about a liter of water on a pan.


Put the glutinous rice dough in the boiling water.


Wait until they float, it means it's already cooked, and scoop it out.


Submerge in cold water to prevent it from sticking together.


Drain.


Roll the Palitaw in grated coconut.

Arrange on banana leaves (kailangan yun para kakanin talaga ang dating).


Mix some toasted sesame seeds with white sugar.


You can sprinkle sugar on top or roll it on the sugar mixture and they're ready to eat. Yummy!

No, I didn't cook this. I just watched my TF (Tita Fanny) and Mom while they're busy preparing the snack. I was having coffee when they decided to cook this kakanin and too bad, it's almost done when I thought of taking photos.