Simply Belle

On the eve of December 24th, I invited my friends over for a Christmas get-together due to the prodding of my daughter, Lexi. I was a bit apprehensive of hosting a party earlier because I was extremely busy at work and wasn’t sure if I had the energy to do the cooking and the cleaning of the house. However, I felt it wasn’t much of a Christmas without food and friends over so I went for it, after all, Christmas only comes once a year.

I spent the whole Sunday getting ready for the party- from grocery, to cleaning, and fixing some dishes ahead of time. The girls did their share by cleaning the bathrooms, tidying the living room, and mopping the kitchen. The night before, I cooked Beef Afritada in a crock pot. I sprinkled some salt and pepper before I coated it with flour to thicken the sauce. I cut up some Idaho potatoes and drizzled it with evvo (extra virgin olive oil) and baked it in the oven until golden brown. I sauted some garlic and onions in the pan until translucent and I tossed in the meat and cooked it until slightly brown. Then I put all the ingredients in the crock pot, including a can of roasted red pepper, a can of tomato sauce, and small can of tomato paste. I flavored it with more salt, pepper, some vinegar, and some already made beef broth. I simmered it on low for 24 hours.

On the day of the party, however, I had totally forgotten about the dish. The delicious-mouth-watering-brown sugar-glazed ham that my daughter Tepsi cooked and the turkey prepared by my friend satisfied our monstrous appetite and made us oblivious of the other dish simmering to perfection in the crock pot. I only noticed it when everybody had their fill and had no more room to even give it a taste except for one person.

I thought this would definitely be a big hit the following day for our next meal with freshly-steamed jasmine rice or with hot pandesal, don’t you think?

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Courtesy of Elyani

Last Tuesday, my day off, I went on a cooking spree. I cooked four dishes namely Bikol Express, Ginataang Gabi (taro leaves cooked in coconut milk), Chow Mein, and Prawns in Spicy Chili Sauce.

Though I am only going to show one dish and that is Prawns in Spicy Chili Sauce. The only thing I did differently to the recipe was I dipped the shrimps in an egg wash and rolled them on the flour before deep frying.

To make an egg wash, I put 1/2 cup of milk in a bowl. To it, I cracked open one egg, and whisked it into the milk.

Red chilis and shallots before going into the blender.

As per Elyani’s instructions, I only deep fried the shrimps for about a minute on high heat.

And 45 minutes later, here’s what I came up with: Delicious Prawns in Spicy Chili Sauce.

Do you know that I haven’t cooked since last Tuesday because I am still eating leftovers. I even shared a big plate of chow mein, prawns, and brown rice to my friend, Patty so she didn’t have to cook dinner.

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Last Sunday, I finally had a chance to try the recipe of Martabak Manis of my friend, Elyani.

I only had less than half an hour to prepare as we were heading to Phoenix Sunday morning. I didn’t have enough time to let the yeast foamed up so that is probably the reason why my pancake had lots of holes in it. Elyani’s pancake was nice and smooth. Also, I was supposed to let the batter sit at room temperature for 15 or 20 minutes but since I was in a hurry, I skipped that part and proceeded with the cooking. I should have lowered the temperature at a medium setting or lower to avoid burning the bottom part of the pancake. Ahhh, next time, I will do much better.

I had to do a little bit of math to convert grams to ounces, which was a bit of a challenge. Elyani’s recipe is measured in grams.

Here’s the recipe:

1 1/3 cups of flour

1 tsp instant yeast

1/2 cup sugar

1 1/3 cups of coconut milk

2 eggs

1/2 tsp baking soda

For filling, I used (or whatever are your favorite toppings)

condensed milk

chocolate syrup

coconut flakes

For instructions: go to Elyani’s site.

Here’s my very first Martabak Manis:

I only cooked two huge pancakes out of the batter. My husband loved it. He said if he was not watching his diet, he could easily eat the whole plate. I had the leftover for breakfast this morning and that was all I had until dinner except for banana, grapes, and water. Very filling, indeed!

Thanks Elyani for the recipe.

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After spending an hour in the backyard weeding, my husband came out to tell me that it was time for our afternoon walk. We walk three miles a day together while I go for a mile more. I usually run the last mile while he stays in the car waiting for me. When we finished walking, I suggested that we order food at a restaurant for dinner. We were craving for shrimp and veggie lo mien stir fry. Unfortunately, the restaurant was closed. We were disappointed!

So, I quickly thought of plan B. I remember I gathered some fresh Zucchinis from the garden when I was weeding. I thought I would make a veggie stir fry composed of zucchini, button mushrooms, asparagus, onions, and sweet tomatoes. We swung by at the store and bought the veggies I needed and strips of pork meat. I try to use meat sparingly in my cooking.

As soon as I got home, I washed half of the meat, about quarter of a pound, and marinated it 1 T of soy sauce, 1 t of rice wine, 1 t of cornstarch, 1 t of olive oil, and a pinch of sugar. Next, I washed the veggies, and sliced them into bite size. I put the wok on the stove and cranked the heat at the highest setting while I crushed the garlic and sliced the ginger. And to the wok, I added a tablespoon of oil, then I tossed in the onions, garlic, and ginger. I added the meat next, stirring occasionally for the next 5 minutes. Then I poured in all the veggies. I added a heaping tablespoon of black bean and garlic sauce (or more depending on your taste) to the wok for flavoring. I cooked the veggies for another 4 minutes until the veggies were half way done. I like my veggies crunchy and al dente. For the final touch, I poured two ounces of water in a bowl, dissolved a heaping teaspoon of cornstarch and added it to the dish. Let it simmer for another minute, mixing it all up. Then I poured the dish into a serving plate and my husband and I ate it with steamed rice. Sarap!

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This morning, my husband got a call from our friend, Arne. He asked him if he wanted freshly caught crayfish. Without hesitation, my husband said, “yes, I am on my way, I will be there in 10 minutes.” Of course, he didn’t arrive until half an hour later because he waited for me and my daughter.

Crayfish are very popular in Sweden and in Southern US. Arne is originally from Sweden and he makes crayfish traps and sells it online. Around this time of year, he goes up on the lake in the Mogollon Rim to catch these little creatures. He usually stays overnight to get the most in as crayfish are nocturnal.

My whole family loves crayfish. We consider it a gourmet delight. We like to dip it on katsup. So, when our friend, Arne, was kind enough to offer his catch with us, we were so thrilled. The last time we ate crayfish was a year ago and we are so looking forward for the opportunity to feast on it again. He told my husband to get as many as he wanted. He took 120 of them. Quite a bit!

The moment we got home, we wasted no time boiling the water while the crayfish or crawdads were still alive. My husband added a fair amount of rock salt into the water. He waited until the water reached to a rolling boil and lowered down the strainer filled with crayfish. He waited again until it started boiling and timed it for seven minutes to cook completely. Then he let it sit in the cooking water for a while until it cooled off.

While it was cooling off, I took a piece, took another piece, and another piece. Pretty soon, I had a huge pile of crayfish shells on my plate. It tasted so good! I also gorged on the yellow butter inside the head. Yummy! What a treat!

You may visit Arne’s site here.

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We had a great time last night. Everyone had his/her fill. I took care of the meat, hot dogs, potato salad, dips, and fruits and my friends brought sinigang na bangus, pansit, bratwursts, steaks, and leche plan. My husband filled up the cooler with all kinds of soda and beer. Since I am not a soda or beer person, I cracked open three baby coconuts and poured the juice in the pitcher. I then shredded the meat and mixed it in with the juice. I was going to add some condensed milk for richer flavor but my husband totally opposed the idea. Nevertheless, it was a refreshing treat for the hottest day of the year, so far…104 degress F!

My daughter invited some of her friends, too, so I threw some hot dogs in the grill and I also made the Mexican Dip Ole, which was layers of refried bean, sour cream, avocado, olives, chopped tomatoes, green onions, and shredded cheese. It was the favorite dish among the kids and even finished it off in no time.

An hour later, we all gathered in the front porch to witness the fireworks. My husband positioned the tripod ready. I was so excited at taking photos when, suddenly, I noticed that my camera was completely out of battery. Darn it! I was so busy cleaning and fixing food earlier in the day that I forgot to check my camera. Oh well! I guess I will have to catch it next year.

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Ohmigosh! I am manifesting some signs of Alzheimer or something. Or could it be a pre-senior moment? Since I turned the magic 40, I seem to be forgetting many things. This Sunday morning, I planned on fixing a brunch for my family and the first thing that came to mind was pot stickers. My family loves pot stickers with a store-bought dipping sauce. I took the frozen pot stickers out of the freezer and lined them up side by side on the pan. I added a fourth of a cup of water and let it boil for a while on low heat so it would thaw completely. Well, since I am fond of multi-tasking, I went into my bedroom and puttered around for a while. My bedroom is 20 paces to the kitchen. Then I got my hands on the computer, which was a mistake because it made me totally forgot what I was cooking in the kitchen. Peks man! I thought my daughter A was fixing herself some brunch. I yelled, “A, are you cooking something?” She didn’t answer. I continued to fiddle around with the computer, and at the same time, the severity of the burning smell was increasing by the minute. I yelled at my daughter again, “A, something is burning, go check the stove!” I heard no answer.

It finally dawned to me that I was cooking something. I rushed as fast as my legs could carry me to the kitchen. There I saw charred pot stickers, unfit for human consumption! I felt bad! I felt horrible! Good thing my husband and daughter didn’t give me a hard time and and looked for something to munch on instead in the pantry while I was getting ready to cook another dish. This time, I stayed by the kitchen the whole time.

My question is am I the only one experiencing this problem? Or was the computer to blame?

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