My Patatim

I had a whole butt shoulder in my fridge, and I dont know what to do about it. I was thinking of making ham, but it made me think that it might not come out good. Then out of nowhere came the idea of Patatim which I haven’t tried making one before. I checked online and found out that it’s a pig’s leg to make a patatim. Nevertheless, I look at the ingredients, and have most of them in my pantry.

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Here is the ingredients that I copied from Cook n Share

Ingredients

  • 1 1/2 kilo pata or 1/2 pork leg
  • 1 bundle bokchoy leaves
  • 1 small onion, quartered
  • 3 cloves garlic, chopped
  • 2 star anise
  • 2 bay leaves
  • 1/2 cup soy sauce
  • 900 ml pineapple juice
  • 1/2 cup brown sugar
  • 2 tbsp cornstarch dissolved in 3 tbsp water
  • whole pepper corns
  • water enough to cover the meat

I don’t have bokchoy leaves, star anise, and pineapple juice. But I do have pineapple slices which added as a replacement of the juice. I followed the procedure Here, and cut the amount of brown sugar cause I don’t want it to taste so sweet. I tell ya, this recipe is very easy, and yummy even though I dont have all the ingredients. The kids and hubby really love it!

FoodTripFriday

Chocolate Cigars

Have you heard about chocolate cigars? Have you tried them already? Well, if you haven’t and don’t know about it, you can find them at famous-smoke.com. As what I’ve read, it is a kind of cigar that produces a sweet delicious flavor, which is perfect for lunch and coffee breaks. Sound interesting right? If you are a smoker, I bet you want to try this one and so far the reviews of this cigars are good.

 

Riding around town

I was running around town today, trying to finish some errands before the week ends. It was tough due to the rain, but I was able to accomplished some even though I was running slow.

While I was driving around town, I noticed some big bike riders riding their motorcycle. It made me wonder how can they ride such weather? It’s probably tougher for them, because the road was a bit slippery. Anyway, their gears are probably water proof or water resistant, just like the motorcycle covers that they always carry with them in the little compartments in their big bikes every time they travel and park their bike outside the hotel. In spite that, I still find it dangerous to be riding a big bike in this rainy weather.

Clayton’s yummy Bday cake

I would like to share to you my little one’s 4th Bday cake.  photo IMG_3574_zpsf0ef271e.jpgIsn’t it yummy looking? Believe me, it doesn’t just look yummy, but it is indeed yummy!
I got this cake from Giants Bakery Grocery Store, one of the local store here in the East Coast that is popular for their organic products. This store is a bit pricey but you can sometimes get a good deal  if you have a store card. And I have a store card, but I seldom shop in this store to buy goods, because they dont have the rice that I want.
Anyway, they have a bakery, and they make delicious pastries, cakes, and other sinful sweets. I took my little one there, to pick his Birthday cake.
And this cake below is what he picked. I can’t remember what kind of cake it is, all I remember is it’s yummy taste. I wished that it can be customized, like put a Happy Bday on top so it will be more memorable for my little guy. Anyway, he really liked it. He can’t get enough of his cake.

Below is a piece of Clayton’s cake. :-)

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BPC 117

BPC

Remodeling My Kitchen

Just recently, I realized that there are lots of work to be done in our kitchen. Like the cabinets need some repairs, the faucet need be replaced, walls need to be repainting, and I need to have a new counter top because what we got is so old already. I don’t know to do all this stuff by myself, so I will gonna rely all this to my handyman. Good thing my handyman is know-how to do everything, even it’s the toughest job like the clogs in the toilet. He has all kinds of tools to fix all these, like a  folding crank handles and other doodads that a handyman has to have.

Anyway, I hope I get my kitchen remodel before summer, so it won’t be too warm to fix stuff around the house.

My Premium Crispy Chicken Club Sandwich

 photo IMG_3354_zpsc5fcc553.jpg Clayton and I went to the Park a couple of days ago. And along the way was a McDonald food chain. I thought I would get a kiddie meal for the little one just in case if he gets hungry in the park. So I went to the drive thru and looked at their menu. And when I was looking at their Menu, all of a sudden I felt hungry. I usually don’t buy any McDonalds food for myself, because I am worried that it might upset my growling tummy. But that day, Premium Crispy Chicken Club Sandwich looked so inviting, so I decided to try it with their cold coffee. And of course, I grabbed a kiddie meal for Clayton, which was a chicken mcnuggets, his favorite.

The cold coffee was ewww to me. But the sandwich was really good. I didn’t finished eating it all, because it was a bit heavy for my tummy. As you can see the photo above, it was pretty much loaded of everything. It contains a crispy chicken breast filet, hickory-smoked bacon, leaf lettuce, a hearty tomato slice and some creamy mayonnaise. Yum! Definitely I will order this again whenever I get a kiddie meal for my boys, and share it with them. If you haven’t tried this one yet, you should try it now. It’s pretty tasty.

104/365 BPC

Cooking has never been easy

iPhones and iPads are the most popular toy gadget this days. As a stay at home mom, iPhone is the most useful for me cause I can browse online while I talk to the people I love. I can multi task with my iPhone. I can look up for a good recipe to make for dinner, and I dont need a pen to write it down, coz I can carry my phone with me in the kitchen and follow the procedure right from the phone at the same time talking to my friends! Isn’t that great? This sure made cooking easy.

I know iPhone and iPad has many uses that depends on the users needs. If you are a musician, you can compose a song using it with a certain application. You can also interface other gadgets such as the Apogee Jam Guitar. You can buy apogee jam Guitar Interface in the internet, that is if you are searching for one. And there are also other interface adapters that you can connect to your iPhone and iPad for easy connection in order to produce better sound quality and instant music. Now that is way cool, right?

I sure love my iPhone.

My Buko Salad Story

Last month, I ordered some Filipino goodies online, that would last for 2 months. I ordered online, because we dont have a Filipino Store nearby, and it’s cheaper than driving for more than 4 hours back and forth just to satisfy our cravings for Filipino dishes. Among my purchased was a bag of frozen Macapuno Strings. I was craving for Buko Salad. A friend of mine posted a picture of her buko salad in Facebook, so I thought I’ve got to make one.

Anyway, there  were a couple of brands of Macapuno, and some where out of stock. I have no idea which one was better, I guess the out-of-stock ones, so I just purchased any brand that was available. And when I got the package, I thought the bag was small, because I was planning to make it on my Husband’s birthday. But when I made it, it was just enough to feed the whole family.

Anyhow below was my Buko Salad. The Macapuno that I bought was not very good. I can’t remember what brand it was, but I will remember when I see it. The strings were so thin and were like the last that was shredded. I was a bit disappointed, because it was my first time to make Buko Salad. Still, the taste of the cream with other fruits were good. Only the buko was a disappointment. Next time, I will not gonna order that brand.

 photo IMG_3018_zps01c7ba66.jpg Anyway, it was still a hit. :-)

Here is what I put in my buko salad:
Macapuno,
a small can of Fruit Cocktail,
a jar of Nata de Coco
a small can of Nestle Cream
Condense Milk.

If you notice I didn’t put Kaong, because I don’t like Kaong. Ever since I was a child, I never like Kaong, so until now I woundn’t dare to try it, my mental mind is saying so. LoL.

So how about you? Have you tried making Buko Salad?

Wednesday Whites, Food Trip Friday

Running your own business online

Running your own business online is not hard this days. In just one click of your computer, you will get the information you wanted. It is so innovative this days, that you don’t need to leave your office. You can do all your transactions online, like  mailing packages, ordering some items, advertising, printing labels, calling cards, brochures and other stuff. All you have to do is open your computer, and search the internet for a website that does all your needs, like if you are looking for a wholesale printers that will print all your labels, cards, brochures and other stuff that your business need. That sure is nice huh? Well, thanks to the technology today, cause it made our life easy and so accessible.

Spaghetti Using Penne Pasta

Every twice a month I make Spaghetti Filipino-style for my Family. It’s a special treat for  my boys. They love to eat spaghetti, in fact its one of their favorite.
Last time, I used a different Pasta, which is Penne Rigate Pasta. And instead of regular ground beef, I used beef meatballs. My eldest loves meatballs. He could eat like 10 of them in one meal! I was so excited to make this for my boys, and was so glad that they like it. It came out really good.
Below was my Penne Rigate Spaghetti with MeatBalls. photo IMG_1769_zps8cf8ae81.jpgI like this Penne Rigate pasta much better, because it’s firmer, taste much better, and I love it’s texture in my mouth. It was delicious.
Next time, I will make my own meatballs, that way it’s much healthier for my kids.

Below is a bowl for you. Enjoy!

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Blog Photo Challenge #73/365