Once Upon A TYPE…

Archive for the ‘Food & Recipes’ Category

Plastic Free Lucban

Kung kaya ng Lucban, Quezon na i-eliminate ang pag gamit ng plastic to make their town eco-friendly bat inde magawa sa buong Pilipinas!?

It has been my long time dream to go to the market and buy stuff, and put them in a brown bag, parang yung nakikita ko ba sa mga movies sa States. Parang classic kasi ang dating pag ganun. Inde ko akalain na sa Lucban ko lang pala yun mararanasan, no need na para pumunta ng Amerika, hihi!

On a more serious note, I think the government’s initiative on this campaign is really good. Not only they’re teaching the local people to go green but they’re also teaching them to value money and resources. Papers can be recycled anytime, unlike plastics that takes millions of years before it dissolve. So if they can do it, why can’t we right? Go Lucban! I hope other parts of the country sees your beauty and make you their inspiration to improve their ways of life.

Treating Homesickness Through Eating

I know it’s hard to be away from my family in the Philippines and I know it’s difficult to treat home sickness when all you want to do is be with them. Though it’s not easy to face the reality of an OFW’s hardships, I tend to treat myself in the most convenient ways, so that I won’t go insane thinking about home.

Today as I prepare my baon, I thought of home once again. Sabi ko, kahit inde ko kasama ang pamilya ko ayos lang, ikakain ko na lang sila, kaya naman nagluto ako ng tuyo at scrambled eggs at nagdala ako ng Goldilock’s cake at Chippy  sa school. This way, malayo man ako sa kanila, parang malapit na din.

Ang hirap maging OFW ano? Pero ayos lang yan kasi pamilya mo naman ang iyong inspirasyon sa pag susumikap na magtrabaho ng mabuti. Kaya naman pilitin nating maging masaya habang malayo tayo. Tulad ko – ikain nyo na lang yan

Xiao Xiao

I have totally forgotten to blog about this restaurant that we went to last time. Along Monivong Blvd. there’s a small Chinese restaurant that serves delicious soft shell crabs so the whole family decided to try it for a change.

Xiao Xiao is one of the famous Chinese restaurants here in the city, their food is good and the price is cheap. Beside Xiao Xiao is another Chinese resto which is known for it’s sumptuous garlic pork ribs and Khmer style seafood porridge. Both have their own unique menu suited for everyone’s food palette.

When we arrived, the English speaking waiter attended us. However, I don’t find him so friendly when I asked him about the dishes. He seems to be in a hurry when I haven’t even browsed all the pages in the menu. It’s annoying when someone pushes you to order something when you know clearly what to pick for dinner. Anyway, after a few minutes, I finally concluded my search and ended with a mouth watering set of dishes.

Breaded Squid – $8.00

Soft Shell Crabs – $14.00/kilo

Marinated Beef – $6.00 (Super tender and tasty!)

We also ordered 2 plates of seafood yang chow for $5.00 per large plate, this is good for 6 people and a large plate of bok choy in garlic.

Rating the place, I’m giving 9 stars for the food, 8 stars for service, and 9 stars for the food prices. It’s a good place for the family who loves to eat Chinese cuisine, plus their prices isn’t that bad at all. This place is highly recommended.

Daddy’s Kare-Kare

Daddy Pong promised to learn to cook my favorite dishes until he perfects them and on my next birthday, he will be my official cook! woohoo!

Now I would like to present to you his very first “major” dish since we got together, tadaaaah! Kare-Kare!

He managed to cook it correctly and deliciously with very minimal supervision from me. I am so proud of my husband and will never tire to teach him something he wants to learn. This kare kare is super tasty and  I bet other girls will get jealous to have their man cook something special like this.

If you want to learn how to cook kare kare, please visit my cooking website for the recipe and directions.

 

Family Sojourn in Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia

Malaysia Truly Asia! That is how I am going to describe my family trip last 30 April-2 May.

We have waited for almost a year since Boss Nick booked our tickets to Kuala Lumpur as a gift to the family and finally the long waiting is through. Together with Manang Lucre, Pong, Andrea, Aaron, and Aiken, we all packed our bags and headed to one of the first world countries in Asia.

Knowing that we have very limited amount of time to stroll around the city, we decided to visit the places that will be fun and exciting for the kids.

When we landed in Kuala Lumpur International Airport-LCCT, my cousin Taj Mahal was already waiting for us at Old Town Coffee Shop. It’s such a blessing to have someone we know in the city for we managed to save a lot of money that’s supposed to be spent for taxi because she’s got her own car, oh yeah! The ride from KLIA-LCCT took us a while as it’s really far from the city proper. It’s an hour ride by taxi and it’ll cost you about  RM90-RM120 or about US$30-U$40. Along the way, kids loved the scenery of fast ride and beautiful city lights. At 10PM, we finally arrived our hotel.

Jalan Alor is known as the “hawkers” street in KL. At night the whole street transforms to an eccentric food haven where many tourists enjoys different Chinese cuisines. Food here is cheap and tasty too!

Hotel – we stayed in Season’s View which is also located in Jalan Alor. It became an advantage for us because we’re situated in the Golden Triangle where places are very accessible. Our room with large beds is only $50/night. It comes with a complimentary breakfast too at the Old Town Cafe.

Where did we go? The trip was devoted for the kids and with that in mind all the places we visited are for them. We went to Menara Tower (one of the tallest towers in the world), Menara’s Mini-Zoo, Aquaria at KLCC, Petrosains (Museum), Petronas Tower (the tallest building in the world), the Pavillion, National Geographic center. We basically had the whole day wondering to these places so we weren’t able to visit some more. Hopefully next time we’ll be able to stay a little bit longer.

I’ll be writing a detailed story about our trip next time, especially for those who are interested to know where to stay and what to do in KL. For now, I’ll wrap my story with a BIG smile Xiao!

 

Sihanoukville, A Perfect Destination for Beach Lovers in Cambodia

Last weekend, all the staff and teachers at Cambodia International Academy were treated for a 2-day beach fun at Sihanoukville, the top notch beach destination in Cambodia.

The trip started at 7:30 with a bumpy bus ride matching with ear splitting Khmer music which made most of the passengers delirious on the way. I felt actually sick within the first hour of the travel and I kept on praying to survive without puking in my place, well I guess you can imagine how I look all throughout the 4 hour ride.

Arrived at 12 noon, we all headed immediately to our hotel rooms to place our bags and soon we went to the seaside for our lunch. Occheateal Beach is the best place for swimming and seafood. There are plenty of cottages for everyone to rent and food is not expensive. They have a wide range of choices to choose from and since were in the beach, we feasted on many crabs, fish, squids, prawns, and so much more!

So what did we do? We spent Saturday afternoon swimming in the calm waters of Occheateal, picture taking with the “hot” teachers of CIA, danced to the beat of Apsara music during dinner time, we had dance exercise early morning of Sunday with our fab Teacher Winnie, went on island tour, and swam with lots of fish! Hell yah, we all had fun

I hope next year more teachers will come

For those who are planning a holiday in Sihanoukville, here’s some info that you may find helpful:

$6.00 (Mekong Bus Tours) – Bus ticket from Phnom Penh to Sihanoukville

$30.00-$40.00/room at Seaside Hotel or White Beach Hotel. These hotels are just right in front of Occheateal Beach. You can also get a room from $15-$25 located in the main roads. There’s no need for luxury cabins as there’s a wide range of choices for you to choose.

$10-$15 per cottage

The food’s price depends on what you order

$10 for 10 minute ride of banana boat

$30 for 30 minute ride of jetski

$40 for half day rent of boat going to the islands. This includes life jackets, snorkels, and goggles.

$1/pax for a whole day play at the beach’s inflatables

Food Trip Sunday

After going to church this morning, we headed to KFC at City Mall for a quick lunch. I thought of finishing my markings at home so escaping the usual cooking is going to be a time saver for me…but I was mistaken!

We ended up eating more at home when we came back. I made some tacos and blueberry muffins for the kids and hubby to munch on and we kept on eating and chatting until almost 6pm, we just can’t stop, haha!

When the year begun I thought of going on a diet, and for a week I limited myself on indulging  rice. It felt good that I’m disciplining myself towards my eating habits, however I felt sick afterward. So I stopped and went back to my normal mode, but this time I’m more cautious on what I eat and keeping this in mind, I plan to serve my family a healthier and more nutritious meals. So for tomorrow, I’ll make homemade skinless longganisa and peanut butter muffins as requested by my daughter Andrea.

Creamy Fusilli Tuna Carbonara

Ito ang aming midnight snack kagabi: creamy fussili tuna carbonara

It all started nung mag message sa kin si bessywifyness (Nika Nanong) for this recipe and after kong mahanap sa baul ang list of ingredients bigla akong ginutom in the middle of the movie. Buti na lang madami kaming nakatabing pasta at Nestle cream kaya naman madali akong nakapagluto

Kung type nio magluto nito for your family or friends, here’s the simple recipe to follow.

Ingredients:
pasta of your choice
Fresh tuna as much as you like it or canned tuna ( 2 cans of century tuna)
4 all purpose cream tetra pack
2 cans Campbell’s Cream of Mushroom
button mushrooms
1 big red bell pepper and 1 big green bell pepper (chopped)
celery (chopped) (as much as you want)
fresh basils (chopped) and separate some for garnishing
pepper Flakes (optional)
bacon (optional)
salt and pepper
parmesan cheese

Procedure:
Fry bacon until crispy. Crush into small tidbits.
Saute onion, garlic and tuna. If using canned tuna, add the rest of the content. If fresh, add 1/4 cup water. Simmer until tuna is half-cooked.
Add the rest of the ingredients ( bell pepper, mushroom, celery). Simmer for a few minutes.
Add cream of mushroom and all purpose cream. Add a little water if sauce is too thick. Simmer.
Add chopped basils, pepper flakes to add spice, salt and pepper to taste.
Serve topped with Parmesan Cheese, bacon and fresh basil leaves.

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wag nyo ng hanapin yun bacon sa carbona ko kasi inde ko nilagyan, alam nyo na, minadali ko lang yan out of hungryness

It’s My 28th!

Time really flies so fast! It still feels like yesterday when I celebrated my 27th birthday with my family and friends, and now I am celebrating another year of happiness, success, and peaceful life with my love ones. The only difference is I didn’t call for any celebration

After Christmas and New Year, I decided to have a very quiet and family oriented birthday. I remember asking my husband to excuse me from any household chores and yelling with the kids over their mess as I want to have an official day off today. Stress and worry free from anything I can imagine

So how did we celebrate? We attended church in the morning to glorify the Father who have given me life on Earth and then we had sushi buffet at Shabu Shabu for dinner. Plain and simple yet overwhelming

To all my family, friends, and students who greeted me on my very special day – THANK YOU!!! To my husband, you’re the best! You’ve never failed to amaze me in every way you do! To my children, thanks for being my angels, you all mean so much to me.

Mike’s Burger

Finally, there’s a “REAL” burger we can eat in Phnom Penh!!!

Mike’s Burger House has been a byword since they’ve open a few months ago at Sokimex Gas Station. Since then, we always look forward to go and taste their products. So right after the Family Day at school, we headed to the burger house and ordered sets of what we desire. I had a double double cheese burger complete with lettuce, tomatoes, and onions, the kids and Manang had the regular cheese burger, while Dad had an order of “Crazy Burger.” It’s a real crazy one for you’ll need to figure out how to eat it! It’s tall with double servings of beef patty, seasoned fries, bacon, lettuce, tomato, onions, cheese, and egg. The owner, Mike, usually calls it breakfast + lunch in one, hahaha!

Dad tried his best to finish the burger but in the end, his tummy surrendered! He only managed to eat half, lols!

I am giving this experience a rate of 10 for satisfaction and good value of money. I suggest you to try this too, if you’re around Phnom Penh area, I’m sure, you’ll love the burger and will definitely come back

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