Chocolatey Friday

We were in the mall earlier, did the usual stuff. Lunch, window shopping, Timezone, eat, eat and some more eat... Gosh! Forgot about the diet that I have really been trying to try. :)
Had Churros con Chocolate for merienda, what else can you ask for? My little girl had her share of 3 loops, while I had 4. Or maybe just 3. Or hmmmm...

Pork Adobo-Sweet Style

This is my Mama's version of sweetish pork adobo. Kids would definitely love it, with whole eggs and slices of banana to add zest to its taste.

And since my 3-year old is a self-confessed egg monster, this was a hit!

INGREDIENTS:
1/4 kilo pork, sliced
4 pcs. cooked egg, shells removed
5 pcs. saba, sliced in half
4 tbsp. soy sauce
1 tbsp. vinegar
2-3 cloves garlic, sliced and minced
1 pc. medium onion, sliced
1 tsp. black pepper
1 cup water
salt to taste

1. Cook eggs, remove shells. Fry sliced bananas. Set aside.
2. In a pan, combine meat with all the ingredients except the eggs and the banana slices.
3. In a medium heat, cook meat until tender. Can add some more water to retain enough liquid to cook.
4. Adjust taste by adding a pinch of salt. Add eggs and bananas and simmer for another 3 minutes.
5. Serve hot.

My Book

I was fixing the little things in the dresser when I noticed my very dependable cook book. Oh, I just missed it!

I haven't been able to browse though the pages for a few weeks now since I am all work, and no play lately.

Getting home and thinking of cooking is just too hard these past few days. Being so stressed out in the office and so drained, playing with my 3-year old is a priority to catch up my absence for the whole day.

I will try to do some catching up in the kitchen, hopefully tomorrow... Missed it.

Beef Steak

Another personal favorite... and what I prepared for lunch today.

INGREDIENTS:
1/2 kilo beef sirloin
1 pc. big white onion, cut into rings
3 cloves garlic, sliced and minced
1 tbsp. vegetable oil
2 tbsp. soy sauce
2 tbsp. vinegar
water

1. In a bowl, combine 1 cup water, half of the soy sauce and all of the vinegar. Marinate meat for at least 2 minutes.
2. Heat pan and pour marinade with the meat. Let it boil until meat is tender, or all liquid is absorbed.
3. Placing meat in the side of the pan, add the vegetable oil. Sautee garlic and half of the onion. Mix with meat.
4. Prepare another marinade with 1 cup water and the remaining soy sauce. Pour over pan and let it simmer for another 2 minutes. Adjust taste, can add some more vinegar if preferred.
5. Prepare in a dish and garnish with remaining onion rings before serving.

Pata Tim - Humba Style

This is my version of Pata Tim, Humba style. I'm supposed to use chinese cabbage and carrots, but since the latter is the only one available in the criper, I decided to make it 'humba' style. My hubby and my li'l girl loved it!

INGREDIENTS:
1 kilo pork leg (pata), partly sliced
3/4 cup soy sauce
1/4 cup brown sugar
4-5 cloves garlic, sliced and minced
200 grms. banana blossom
1 pc. medium onion, sliced
1 tbsp. vegetable oil
1/2 cup corn starch

1. Place pork in a deep pan, half-filled with water. Boil meat until tender. As an alternative, you can also use the pressure cooker, cook it for 15 minutes. Remove meat from pan and save broth.
2. In a separate pan half-filled with water, boil meat again to remove excess oil. Discard water.
3. In a bowl, mix soy sauce and sugar. Set aside.
3. Place meat back to the deep pan, with 4-5 cups of the pork broth. Add the soy sauce mixture. Let it simmer for 2-3 minutes.
4. In a frying pan, heat vegetable oil and sautee garlic and onion. Remove from heat and add it to the concoction.
5. Dissolve corn starch in 3/4 cup water, mixing it well before pouring it in, until sauce thickens. Adjust taste, adding some more sugar if preferred.
6. Lastly add the banana blossom before serving.

Right Age To Go To School

Got this tag from Carol, about toddlers getting ready for school...

::START::

RULES: 1. Add your Blog to the list. If you're keeping multiple Blogs, it'll be fine if you add them all up and just post your answers in one of them.
2. IMPORTANT: kindly get back to me [MAICEL] so i will be able to visit your sites, read your answers and include you in the Master List.
3. Please do copy from Start to End.
4. You may tag as many online friends as you please.
5. Copy this Participants List:Simple Delights / Motherhood in a Nutshell / 3 for 100 / Living A' La Mode / Insights from the Grocery Cart / dHomemaker in the Kitchen / Your Blog HERE

Do you have kids? Yep, got one girl.

How old are they? She's only 3.

What do you think is the ideal age for the kids to be sent to school? I believe 4 is a fair number, as long as you see the kid is kinda ready for it.

Would you consider sending your 3-year-old toddler to school? I think 3 is too early of an age for somebody to be in school.

Explain your reasons. I am thinking of giving my kid 3 free years to play and learn "out-of-school", before starting the 'student' life. And besides, she's also learning while 'just' playing. I make sure I am hands-on when it comes to teaching her, like the alphabets and numbers, which is what I usually do when my schedule permits me to. :-)

END::

Mixed Up

The past few days were a hiatus for me, things got all mixed up. Have changed my template, at the same time created my new online shop, and not to mention - the office. Reason why I can't find time to stay in the kitchen and do what I really love to do. Sigh!

I am still not finished with the whole "re-do" of my page, and I think there are a few links that I have forgotten to add in my Friends List. If you are one of them, let me know so I can add you back. :-)

One site I remember is where I usually browse for home interior designs and ideas. And got this nice photo of a white tub. Relaxing... So gotta put the link back in my page. And pretend...

Saba

Saba is a native banana variety used mainly for cooking. It is also knows as banana musa. It is the only variety of banana I know of that cannot be eaten without first being cooked.

We call it nilagang saba, the most basic way to cook it, by boiling or steaming them with skin on. The raw saba can be sliced and cooked with a few ingredients to make Ginataang Halo-halo, another Filipino favorite. And a popular snack, banana in skewers, the banana cues. And there is also the banana turon, which is deep fried in lumpia wrapper. As an ingredient in main dishes, saba can be fried first before adding to Pochero, Arroz ala Cubana and one of my featured dish, Saba and Okra Medley.

Health benefits of bananas? From a health-ful site, a single banana contains 16% of the dietary fiber, 15% of the vitamin C, 11% of the potassium and 20% of the vitamin B6 recommended each day.

My Biz Launch

I have been a little busy with the computer lately, arranging my Blogger, at the same time creating my business page in Multiply. It took me some time to finally do it, a site for online shopping. I just launced it a few minutes ago, and I am looking forward to get maybe not orders yet, but comments and questions would do.haha.

It's an online shop made especially for busy mommies out there, or even the not-so ones. I started with babies and kid's stuff, and hopefully will cater to grown-ups soon. So, check it out. You might find something interesting. Guaranteed great buys. :-)

New Look

I have been trying to look for a 3-column template for weeks now, and have finally found one from Blogcrowds. It was easy, since it only edits through HTML. Which I am a little familiar with. And look at it! I'm just a little relieved to finally modify my template. Make use of the extra spaces on the sides.

I would still want to do a few more changes, it's just that it's already late, have to be up early tomorrow. So will do this when I get back from the office. Yeah, tomorrow.

Will hit the sack now... Good night!