to the farmer's market

“We very strongly hope that the traditional will not be lost. One really worries, because our mothers all cooked but I doubt if our children will. Our grandchildren? Who knows? Maybe they’ll open packages for dinners. There is a real danger of cultural loss if you lose food, just like when you lose a language.” -Doreen G. Fernandez

books and grandmothers

I went on an short walk yesterday to clear my head and to get some air. I also decided to drop by the warehouse store across the street from my building which sells tons of overruns and other imported bargain items.

There was a section on second-hand books so naturally I browsed patiently as much as I could stand the heat (the warehouse was very poorly air-conditioned). I was rewarded for my efforts with three books at ridiculously low prices.

One was a copy of The Hero Within by Carol S. Pearson, a classic favorite among Jungian enthusiasts (I learned about it when I attended a Jungian Summer Class way back in the late 1990s). It's quite hard to find and when I chanced upon it in a bookstore it cost about Php600. I already have my own copy but I could not let this other copy go. So I bought it and gifted it to my sister who also has an appreciation for mythology and archetypes. It only cost Php69.

The second book is titled Sixteen Pleasures and it's a story set in Italy. I remember that I used to have that very same book many years ago but I never got to read it and then it got sold during a major clutter-clearing phase. It only cost Php59 so I thought of it as a second chance to read the book. I have also been lately gravitating to a lot of Italian (food, books, even the video game I am currently playing is set in Italy!) so I am indulging myself.

The third book is the best of them all at Php45 (that's roughly a dollar). It's a beautiful cookbook with beautiful illustrations on Mexican cooking titled My Abuela's Table.

Abuela means Grandmother. 

This inspired me further to keep on working on my own personal recipe book project where I intend to include my grandmother's own recipe. A few years ago she gave me a notebook where she had handwritten her own recipes for my own use. The notebook itself is falling to pieces so I better rescue the pages!

Have you had any lucky finds lately?

project : recipe journal

I love cooking, and I'm trying to be good at baking as well. One of the most joyful things about living on my own is having my own kitchen and being able to design and stock it the way I want to cook.

I have a growing bookshelf of cookbooks and I am also subscribed to a number of cooking sites. I also pounce on second-hand food magazines. On my own I have adapted, re-invented, created, redefined many recipes. I have also come to know myself better on the kinds of food I enjoy and the kinds I could live without.

I have accumulated many recipes through the years, some I've tried, some I haven't, some have become standard favorites and specialties. Thing is, I never really put them together in one place and in the process I have lost some. I also have recipes handed down by my grandmother and my aunt.

So I feel it's time to put them all together in a recipe journal, plus my musings on food and eating. Weaving my love for food and cooking into an artful activity is one great way to spend a few happy hours.

pasta for lunch

I was watching Criminal Minds and saw the episode where Agent Rossi had the team over for cooking lessons in his home and he cooked pasta. That made me want pasta so I hunted in my refrigerator and kitchen cabinets for anything I could throw together into a pasta dish.

I am so sorry that I totally forgot to take a photo of the cooked dish because the moment I smelled/saw/tasted it, I lost all control and just gobbled it all up.

But here is the recipe in case you want to see and taste for yourself:

1. Cook bacon until crisp then set aside.
2. Saute in olive oil some garlic, then add fresh mushrooms.
3. Add the tomatoes (I use whole canned tomatoes.)
4. Let simmer for a minute or two.
5. Add bacon.
6. Sprinkle with salt, pepper, oregano. and basil. Taste and adjust the seasonings as preferred.

By this time you should have cooked the pasta al dente.

Serve the sauce over pasta.

dinner from an almost empty kitchen

It's one of those days again! Almost out of many things and I make do with what's available. I am putting off going to the supermarket because I will be out of the country by next week and it would not do to have too many things stocked in the refrigerator.

Tonight I was wanting some soup because the day has been gray and rainy.

Mushroom Noodle Soup

I found:

Dried shiitake mushrooms, soaked in water to soften and then sliced - I kept a few tablespoons of the water for flavoring later on
2 small poor-looking carrots forgotten in the corner of the veggie bin
3 small bundles of egg noodles
1 medium onion, chopped
2 big cloves of garlic, chopped
2 hard-boiled eggs for serving with later
A little canola oil
A splash of sesame oil
Salt and pepper to taste

Then I:

Stir-fried the garlic and onion in the combined oils until translucent.
Added the carrots and stirred until coated.
Added the sliced mushrooms and mixed them all up until the mushrooms are glistening.
Seasoned with salt and pepper.
Added 3 cups of water. Added the mushroom juice I had set aside. Brought to a simmer.
Tasted the soup and adjusted by adding salt, pepper, or mushroom juice.
Just before it got to a boil I dropped the egg noodles.
Waited for 3-5 minutes while the noodles cooked.
Served myself a generous helping in a bowl topped with slices of hard-boiled eggs.

Lovely and filling!

What did you have for dinner tonight?

paprika and paper

Yes! I am finally seriously fixing my meal plan so I will eat well and on time for the rest of the year.

I was derailed for the past four or five days because of projects (from the Other Business) that came and needed to be attended to. Meetings alone ate up a lot of time and I had to postpone the grocery shopping many times. On the other hand, it also made me think even more seriously about having a meal plan that can withstand work loads and lazy modes.

Last night I found myself organizing my digital files (trying to find old work files) and realized that my digital clutter is more horrible than my physical clutter (which, I am rather proud to say, has been managed not too badly since the start of the new year).

So I made a craft file-book where I collated important articles, e-courses, references -- everything I will need and use over and over again as I move forward with my creative pursuits. I (re)discovered articles I had saved for reading at a later date. I un-bookmarked old articles that are no longer relevant. Basically I cleaned up and organized. And no matter what app or software comes out there, nothing yet can match the tangible order and versatility and flexibility of folders and paper. Yes I printed on paper but I was selective and the file-book itself is promising to grow into a beautiful collage and collection. I  have blank pages where I can write and draw as my notes and comments to the articles.

This led me to the idea of doing the same for my meal plan and recipe collection. I have lots of cookbooks and food magazines and I subscribe to a lot of online food blogs and websites yet it is such an effort to find something to cook for dinner. It really is time to have a system so I also get to cook or bake something new at least every week. I also want to keep vegetables as regular mainstays in every meal.

Paprika is an iPad app that I am finding to be very useful in collating all my online recipes from across all the blogs and websites. It is accessible offline and it has a wonderful amazing system for capturing recipes. From my physical cookbooks I intend to put together a recipe file-book (or file-box!) just like what I did with the crafts and re-write the recipes in my own kitchen shorthand so it is also easier to use and refer to. Then I will also turn it into a kitchen diary of sorts and paste photos of what I have cooked or baked. This way I can also easily check ingredients.

I am now wondering if there are printing papers out there that are made of recycled materials? I think I will be using a bit as I do more organizing. Perhaps I should check the bookstores thoroughly. I am sure something is bound to turn up.

:)

a quick-cook lunch

I should have completed my meal plan and gone to the supermarket about, oh, four days ago. But I got busy (and distracted) and then also beaten up at kendo so I am almost out of food.

Brunch today was a result of digging through an almost empty pantry.

I found:
1 can of whole tomatoes
bacon (sliced in small pieces, about 4 strips equivalent I think because I got the kilo of bits and ends which comes out cheaper)
garlic (I used about 4 cloves, sliced thinly and in small pieces)
dried shiitake mushrooms (the last straggling pieces which barely filled half a cup, soaked in water
olive oil
fresh basil picked from the plant that I bought last night 
pasta

Saute the garlic briefly in olive oil then add the bacon and let it fry a bit until the edges are crispy.
Add the mushrooms (excess water squeezed out). Stir them around a bit.
Add the tomatoes, season with salt and pepper.
When it's simmering, throw in the fresh basil leaves.

And it's done! Don't forget to cook your pasta ahead and have it ready to be topped with sauce!

simple dinner and planning a meal plan

I realized today that I need meal plan. My problem is I tend to miss proper meal times, and worse is when I get too lazy or harassed to prepare a proper one. So I often eat late and not too well. Worst is I totally miss a meal.

Like today, I had oatmeal for breakfast at around 830AM, then I missed lunch in the midst of errands and instead had a light meal of butter and jam sandwiches at around 2PM. I did have dinner on time at 7PM but I only prepared a quick (but delicious!) meal of onion and mushrooms in scrambled eggs eaten with bread.

I am considering what others do which is to cook a week's worth of meals in one day and freeze them and heat them when it's time to eat. Or at least have everything marinated and ready to fry or pop into the oven. The point is to make meal preparation quick and easy and not left to chance (like whatever is left in the refrigerator). If I also know ahead what's to eat and to prepare I can pace my time better.

I am also thinking of good ways to make the kitchen chores be more of a productive ritual than a chore that takes up precious time. Sometimes I am discouraged from going through the whole meal preparation because of the all the washing afterwards. This often happens in the evening when I have already put in a lot of work throughout the day and would sometimes just like to sit down to a nice meal and wind down afterwards without having to be disrupted by dirty dishes.

Any thoughts on efficient meal planning and turning kitchen chores to positive rituals will be appreciated! :)

still very much alive

Hello everyone! Just dropping by to let you know that I am alive and well and I still have intentions of writing in this blog! But like most of you the holiday season has finally caught up with me and has me in its demanding clutches!

Give me a few days to get a few more things sorted out and then I will have something new posted. Do come back!

Ratatouille prepared for the family Christmas reunion potluck.

off the routines

I haven't been feeling too well the past few days. I could use a few more hours of sleep, a lot more exercise and a lot less of stress.

I didn't practice kendo today because I just felt too blah and out of it that if I had practiced I would have cried at the slightest provocation.

Instead I read and studied and made notes and lists. I did some chores. I checked some recipes. I started cleaning and clearing my computer files. Then I stepped out to the mall to pay some bills in the payment center and to pick up a few items from the supermarket. I also went to the bookstore to get M. Scott Peck's The Road Less Traveled -- a book highly recommended by my best friend when we chatted online recently and I was seeking her advice on something important. My mom went with me and we had some quiet time together.

When I got back home I started to prepare dinner -- pork marinated in lemon, pepper and soy sauce. Then fried with onions and sauced with more soy sauce. I matched it with potato-carrot salad.

My sister arrived from kendo practice at almost 8pm. Our friends Peter Paul and Dave showed up at almost 10pm bearing cupcakes and cinnamon rolls and immediately asking how I was feeling.

I certainly felt much better by the time everyone left at around 11pm. I was cheered up and I felt taken care of and I felt calmed all at the same time.

I will sleep now. It's really late. Will see you again tomorrow.

counting the good and happy

While Mr. Time is playing hide-and-seek with me and my to-do list, I will instead focus on the things I actually got done and which made me really pleased:

Had a full breakfast after missing on it for the past few days.

Scrambled egg, sharp cheddar slices, pan de sal bread. And coffee, of course :)

Finally cleaning my kitchen extension (yes, somehow I managed to create a kitchen extension in my tiny studio heehee). I've been meaning to do it for days and I finally did it! I scrubbed and disinfected and wiped and re-arranged.

Picking up my new checkbooks from the bank which I was supposed to do last week. However as I was stepping out from the lobby, the receptionist called me to tell me that the electricity bills have been delivered. So I picked up mine and got to pay it in the bank before I claimed my checkbooks - two birds with one stone!

Passing by the supermarket (which was right beside the bank building) and picked up items I missed from last night's trip : panko, arugula, fresh mushrooms, fresh fruits and bread.

Walking all the way both ways from home to the bank/supermarket and back again.

Successfully making spiced garlic pork sausage patties!!! Been craving for something like it while reading Cleaving and the ready made ones were too expensive so I hunted for recipes and adapted a few into my own. Had it for dinner with fresh tomatoes and arugula. ^_^

I used a whole head of garlic of half a kilo of ground pork. Chopped it into tiny bits.

Mixed the garlic in the pork with salt, black pepper, cayenne pepper, paprika, sage, chopped coriander, 1/3 cup red wine; Shaped them into patties before storing in the freezer 

Fried in just a tablespoon of olive oil until the edges are a bit crispy (I like 'em that way)

Matched with fresh tomatoes and arugula

Dinner! (Dipped the sausage in red cane vinegar - yum!)

a very late dinner

Plain scrambled free-range egg 

Stir-fried chicken breast and onions flavored with thyme, soy sauce and sesame oil

I hardly noticed time passing by I was so immersed in what I was doing. First I did a short writing assignment in the morning. Then I went online and did some research on a few projects I'm working on and made notes. I had a late lunch then went back to the research. By 4pm I took a break from all the reading and writing and did some house chores. Then I paid some bills online. Continued with the research which morphed into studying and learning new tricks and finding out about new options for getting creative. It was 9pm when I realized I haven't had dinner (and my tummy was grumbling). So I made do with leftover ingredients because I won't be going to the supermarket until Saturday.

My shopping wish list just got longer tonight. But I am so happy to get a lot of studying and writing done. I haven't been that absorbed in a long time and actually enjoyed it.

a late lunch

Today is a late day. I woke up late (three hours after the alarm went off). I went straight to work and then had breakfast at almost noon. I cooked myself lunch at around 2PM.

Sliced an onion and some ginger - the last few pieces

Sliced some baby carrots - the last few pieces

Oh look, there's some bell peppers too

Ready for cooking. Now where's the pan?

Cooked the egg noodles first. Drop in boiling water and cook for three minutes ONLY.

Stir fry onions and ginger in extra virgin olive oil with a few drops of sesame oil

When the onions start getting cooked, throw in the other veggies.

Throw in the chicken once the veggies have had time to roll around.

Add the cooked egg noodles. Drizzle with soy sauce. Sprinkle some black pepper.

Found a few stems of wansoy hiding in the corner of the fridge.

Stir and mix!

Yum!