31 July 2018

Tuna Patties

When I attended the Gold Seas bento workshop two weeks ago, the featured dish was Tuna Cakes made of Gold Seas Tuna Chunks in olive oil and mashed potato. It looks like any other tuna patty but surprisingly, it was so delish! It's really that yummy that I actually thought of recreating it on my own kitchen yesterday at lunch. Instead of mashed potato, though, I used mashed carrots. And I added more characters to my tuna by putting garlic powder, thyme and Parmesan cheese. This dish is perfect for kids who loves fried food so much! But since I fried it in a non-stick pan, I only used a tablespoon of oil.


Sophia and I loved these healthy and filling patties! Who would actually think this is fish and veggies, right? Hmm. You think your pickytarian will eat this? Well, try my recipe and let's see how it'll go!

25 July 2018

Chicken and Broccoli Stir-Fry with Crispy Tofu

Please don't hate me – I'm one of the lucky moms who has a kid and a husband who regularly eat veggies. In fact, my not-so-little foodie, Sophia actually requested for chopseuy when we had lunch in Baler last summer. With that said, I usually find it easy to serve them veggie dishes. In my close to a decade experience of homemaking (I feel sooo good writing that, wow 10 years can you imagine), it's apparent for me to have already memorized the food my husband likes. As for my growing girl, every new meal is a discovery.


One time, I served her fried tofu. She asked me what it was then said she doesn't like it. I urged her to try it first and dip it in the sauce I made. I knew she loved it when I saw a tiny smile in the corner of her lips as she chewed. My homecooking mama heart was so happy! That's when I was sure she will love it added in dishes that she already eats. Hence, I served her Chicken and Broccoli Stir-Fry with Crispy Tofu. Yum.

12 July 2018

Ginisang Labong at Saluyot

My husband's family has been in this neighborhood since the early 1980s. So they basically know each and everyone in the area. In fact, if you get lost coming here, ask for our surname and they will direct you to our house. Just don't do bad things to us; you won't like what can happen to you, haha. Anyway, my favorite benefit of living here is the good number of community vendors that often knock on our door, er, gate. One of them is Grace, an old woman who sells fresh produce from her own harvest. My pure Bicolana mother-in-law, Mama A, gets fresh gabi leaves from her that she cooks into laing. One day, Grace cheerfully arrived with fresh labong (bamboo shoots). I was so excited I bought it all! Then Mama A prepped it for cooking by boiling and extracting the not-so-pleasant taste of its liquid. Para daw "walang kati". The next day, she bought saluyot, tomatoes and ginger. I bought bangus. We were on a serious mission for some tasty dinengdeng! However, Mama A had allergies that day so I skipped using bagoong isda for this recipe, making it a simple guisado. 


You know what, okay lang naman 'cause I used fish sauce (patis) instead and the natural flavor of fried bangus made it more delish. To be honest, this was the first time that I cooked this! I was so happy it was a success and that my tweener foodie loved it so I'm sharing this with all of you.

07 July 2018

Gratitude Giveaway

Having a huge following on social media is a big deal for small-time bloggers like me. I mean, I'm not a celebrity mom or a wealthy woman who knows everyone. I'm just a regular mom from the suburbs, who found her way around the internet and made a lot of new online friends who don't mind her virtual chatter. Getting the attention from hungry people through my recipes and baon ideas two years ago was a total surprise. Well, I don't want to sound hypocritical that everything happened because of sheer luck. I blogged hard to get to it – I created content that readers love, used the correct Facebook tools and applied learnings from my social media management experience. And yes, it wasn't just luck. It was God's way of telling me that I'm meant for bigger things so I have to really take care of it.

Win these awesome prizes!
So to seriously keep you in my tribe until we grow bigger, like what I've been posting on the page, I am throwing a grand giveaway for all of you! Contest rules are simple but specific. Read carefully.

04 July 2018

Where We Ate in Baler

Food and travel go together well. As in, think of the late Anthony Bourdain. Not sure if he really was but I think he pioneered the will-travel-for-food-and-nothing-else attitude. I mean, please show me videos of him bungee jumping and rappelling. I might just have missed it. But him traveling to a place just to eat? He has lots of those! In fact, he made Jollibee famous in the side of his world. He may have sadly cut his life short for whatever reason he had but he surely touched a lot of lives through his love for food. Sigh. Anyway, this isn't about him naman. Cheer up na tayo. This post took more than a month to be posted 'cause I still can't find the right words to describe our foodie experience in Baler! The town doesn't really have specific delicacies aside from Nanay Pacing's Homemade Peanut Butter but we're so glad they have awesome restaurants that cater to their hungry tourists well.


We arrived in Baler a little before lunch time so after we toured a bit (saving that kwento for another post), we headed to Bayler Restaurant.