tokwa!

I decided it was time to make (my version of) tokwa't baboy.

Direct Translation: Tofu and Pig (Pork)

For the tofu, I sliced them thin, painted it thinly with olive oil, sprinkled it with rock salt and parsley.  It went to the oven at 180C.  

I waited.

Patiently.  At first.      

baking in progress

I am guilty of hovering over the oven window, watching things bubble, turn brown, soften, rise.  I love watching the magic happen.

My husband always reminds me that I don't have to do that.  Things will cook.  And he is right, but it is exciting for me.   Watching.

Not productive, but I had time :)

golden

The pork dish was simple.  Using all the standard ingredients for tokwa't baboy like onion, soy sauce, vinegar and black pepper, I something similar to a chunky stew.  I thickened the sauce with some corn starch.

ebony and ivory (of some sort)

My husband and I ate this with brown rice.  Lots.

hummus me

 It is funny how my Mom and I prepared similar dishes for New Year's Eve.

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Hummus.  Somewhat.

naked

I don't have a food processor or a mixer.  No special gadget to make the task easier.  With that, I anticipated that mine will be chunkier, but that's cool!  I am all about the taste.

facade

I did take the extra step of taking out the skin.  

That took longer than I anticipated, taking out the skin.  It would be worth the effort through.  Plastic texture is definitely unacceptable!  

Did I mention, I didn't even have a masher?  (I think I'd get one, together with a new apple corer.)

hardwork

I knew at the beginning that it won't be the traditional hummus, and in fact purists would definitely hate this.  

I wanted to clear ingredients I have, so I decided to put in some sour cream.

Of course, Cumin remained to be the star of the show.  I also added Paprika.  The other ingredients were typical hummus players.  Nothing out of the ordinary.  

alien

In the end, I had a silky somewhat chunky bread dip.  

Not too easy, but A LOT less work compared to mashed potato.  Somehow, I think I have not gotten over how troublesome mashed potato preparation could be.

party ready

…is all around

I had met Gela years before, but it isn't until 2013 that I had a chance to really spend time with her and get to know her.

Incidentally, 2013 was a big year for her--in the sense that there were a lot of changes in her life.  It was an exciting and fruitful year for Gela and my husband and I are very happy to have been part of her journey.

It is double the happiness for us that unknowingly, we are able to share what joy we have to people around us :)

Happy new year! 

CAKE that!

cake cutters

I loved our wedding cake for lots of reasons.  Let me count the ways.

1. Simplicity :)   

2. All cake!

3. Butter, Chocolate, Carrot.  Three layers, three flavours.

4.  Toothsome fondant

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When asked what cake I wanted my immediate answers were "delicious" and "simple".  

I went further to say "maybe the most simple cake you ever made", talking to the baker.

It came out like a dream.  

It was matte all over with satin effect liners for every layer.  There were two white flowers on top, two smaller ones on middle layer and three even smaller ones at the bottom.

Off white on white.  I love the very subtle contrast.

dynamite-ish

My good friend, Oli told me about this thing he and his friends cooked for a party once.  It was called, dynamite.

It was deep fried (crispy) spring rolls with green chilli, minced beef and cheese.

I love the meat, chilli and cheese combination, but I was not sure I was up for some deep frying.

I decided to, make it my own :)

As my brother and sister in law were coming for lunch, I decided it was the best time to try something out.

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For the chilli, I picked the same type used for dynamite.

I sliced off the top, made a slit and pulled out the seeds.  I don't think I'd be able to down one with the seeds intact.

heat

I  bought a pack of green chilli, but was surprised when I opened the bag, there was a smurfette.

more color = more fun

I started to think that I should have gotten traffic light chillies as well.  Maybe next time.

effect of a cold shower

Instead of minced beef, I decided to use the (homemade) chicken and pork longanisa that I had in the freezer.  

I sliced the patties thinly and fried them till they were crispy.

longanisa strips?

Here comes the tough part, assembly!

I used a mix of cheddar and mozzarella cheese.  it was the lining of the chilli.  It will also hold the meat in place.

an experiment on 'proximity theory'

It looked so good that I was tempted to serve it this way!

I think I made twelve.

At this point I was getting tired, after all this wasn't the only item in my menu.  I also had Carbonara, Jalapeño Chicken Wings and Mashed Potato with the latter, deserving it's own blog entry.  Coming soon.  

ready to bake

Popped it into the (overworked) oven and after twenty minutes… this.

party time

I really enjoyed cooking this and it was just a bonus that everyone loved it.  

We had no leftovers!

something sweet

I missed baking.

Since it is Christmas, I decided to bake butterscotch.  It is an old recipe that I had been using countless of times.  I thought I'd change it up for today.  Instead of nibbly squares, I'd make it more pie-ish, that way we can put vanilla ice cream on top.

I baked it in a pie dish and tweaked the recipe just a little bit.  And that is our Christmas dessert :)

pacman

 My husband who is not a big fan of sweets, had already eaten two portions!

crunchy and chewy

I think I just discovered what I'm bringing to the next potluck I'm invited to!

Merry Christmas :)

toxic

what lies beneath

My husband and I went to a Traditional Chinese Medicine (TCM) centre yesterday.

We were coming in for gua sha, traditional chinese massage and cupping.

I have had cupping and gua sha done before, but not at the same time.  I had not experienced the traditional chinese massage before though.

My husband, while familiar with these treatments, will experience it done professionally for the first time.

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I like deep tissue massages.

I enjoy the relief that comes after a spot is pressed to release blockages.  You feel it when the therapist puts pressure on certain points and there, discomfort.  You think 'I am in trouble'.

And then, Wow.  

It is like overcoming an obstacle.  Done and done!


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I especially remember that time I went for foot reflexology and I started feel warm in the face then before I knew it, I was sweating despite the a/c (and I hardly sweat, even during hot yoga!).

I knew then, the therapist found something.

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TC massage was good.  

And by that I mean, the therapist really got in there and made it her business to get those stubborn blockages out of the way so that Chi will flow, as it should.

I felt every line she traced, every spot she pressed, every area she scraped (gua sha).  Everything.

It was goooooooood.

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I came home with spots and seemingly worked up muscles.

Admittedly, I felt exhausted after everything.  I was too happy to get home and nap.

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My husband?  He loved it!

It was more interesting for him because his body bore a significant amount of sha from the scraping.  I didn't.  Not any.

We could barely stop talking about various steps in the process, comparing experiences.

Like me, he also felt new spots.  These are key points that somehow were neglected in all other massages we had in the past.

This is unlike new poses in Yin class when you feel new muscles being stretch--being aware of a certain muscle for the first time.

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The only challenge was that the therapists could hardly speak English so we are unable to catch their recommendations.  

The only advice we were able to capture was that my husband must refrain from drinking ice cold beverages because his body is too warm inside.

Think, steam.

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We decided we will come back in February.


As the therapist said you come more more, less less.

By that I think she meant, the more sessions we have, the less markings we'd get.