Google Dinner

As I take a peek inside the fridge, I got a glimpse of what's inside: half chicken breast, two thick pieces of turkey breast ham, a piece of potato, a packet of mushrooms and two eggplants. I said to myself, what will be for dinner?

 Here comes Google.

It's a bit tricky, but it's also very easy. As I began typing the ingredients I have in the fridge, a list of possible recipes are already being shown by Google. I finally settled for something that sounds like "chicken with eggplant and mushroom".

The directions were fairly straightforward: stir fry the chicken and turkey ham and when brown, add the vegetables. Then season with the usual salt, pepper and a dash of soy sauce. For added taste, I added two chicken bouillon. Voila! the family's dinner is ready.

Judging from the result, I think Google's recipe went well. The kids loved it, wifey said she's too full as she ate lots of it... and of course, I forgot to take a photo as everybody scrambled to get a piece of it after savoring the delicious smell.

Looks like a repeat of Google Dinner is in the making. 

Food and Cooking

One of my passions is cooking. It's not cooking as in cooking like a chef, but the kind which you might call home-cooking cooking. I'd like to cook and have Alice critique it, and I relish when Alice liked a particular recipe. When I'm still in the Philippines, I also cooked for the kids... I'm always looking forward to that time when I can cook for them again, especially those dishes which they really like.

Anyways, I've been experimenting with some dishes during the past several days, and I guess - based on Alice's feedback - that they are quite good. I've made our own recipe for home-made hamburgers, and we've made a dinner of hamburger steaks one time, combined with Alice's famous mashed potatoes :) It was indeed sumptuous, and both Alice and I finished two big burgers each. Then I've made some medium-sized chicken balls another day, deep-fried them and finally made a sweet and sour dish out of them. Alice liked it and thus, after that, our next meal had been chicken balls dipped in Thai sweet-chili sauce.

When we get the chance, we buy salmon steaks in our favorite supermarket. Both Alice and I like baked salmon with only the usual salt, freshly ground pepper, and butter on it, with sparse topping of parsley when it's cooked. This dish had been one of our favorites now, and we always have a nice meal everytime it's on the menu for the meal of the day.

For sure, there will be more food and recipes that I'll try, and more dishes to be perfected and made favorite. A good thing about cooking is you can always experiment. And with Alice always giving good "reviews", I could keep on doing it.

Kare-kare

It's weekend today... there's nothing much to do aside from a little paperwork I brought from the office last week. And so, after getting my hair cut from the barbershop at the corner near our flat, Alice and I visited our favorite fruits and vegetables store which happens to also be near our home and bought some ingredients for the dish that we'd like to cook for lunch. After everything's ready, we proceeded to cook...

I've been wanting to cook kare-kare for several days now, and I decided this is another perfect time to cook one. We bought some cubed beef from the supermarket several days ago, and there are still some pieces left from the dish we'd cooked before which I thought will be good for kare-kare. I had eggplant and sitaw just freshly bought from the nearby veggie store, and all other ingredients are available from our stock... and so, after sometime, I had another kare-kare steaming from the pan and going to the dish...

Alice, meanwhile, had decided to cook "ginataang halo-halo" for dessert. Well, I guess you have to read about it in her blog, since I know she'll write about it there :)

Anyways, we shared these sumptuous dishes with two of our close friends at lunch, eating them while watching Pearl Harbor and enjoying ourselves with some light casual conversation. It was indeed a nice weekend.

Coffee

Alice had always loved coffee. She drinks it in the morning, and also drinks it at nighttime. Sometimes in the afternoon, she also drinks it. And Alice loves good coffee even more. Thus, she can spend time (and dollars) sipping coffee at Starbucks, or Gloria Jeans... and sometimes also at Costa and Seattle's Best. Well, if it's about coffee, you bet Alice will be there (to sip)...

Anyways, while wandering around the mall one weekend, we passed by a new coffee shop. The place is kind of small, similar to those small kiosks you'll usually see at the middle of mall corridors in-between the shops at the sides. The coffee shop is situated under the escalator in one of the wings of the mall, and people are crowding, that's why we got interested. The coffee shop's name is Barista Espresso.

After finding a seat, we ordered two short cappuccinos as well as two blueberry cheesecake. The cakes were good... well, knowing this region, definitely cakes will always be superb. The coffee?... better! They even have those big coffee cups, the variety that's being used in Costa - those ones that are the size of a small bowl. I really really like to drink my coffee from those cups (sorry Starbucks!). Anyways, Alice loved the coffee (as usual) and put it on the same league as the others.

And so, we spent a little bit of time at the Barista Espresso, sipping our coffee and savoring the cake... and reading on the side... it was a good way to spend the weekend.

Road Test, Peach (without Mango) Pie and Baked Mac

I took the third and final test towards getting my GCC driving license two days ago. Khalifa's car which we had been using in my lessons - one that is not that new - broke down a day before and so he had to bring a new one (borrowed from a friend) during the day of the test. I had initial apprehensions and thus, we decided that I should get familiarised first with the new car. We practised for two hours before waiting for the examiner. I finished familiarising with the new car at about a quarter past nine and got to be tested around 15 minutes before noon. It was a worthwhile wait because I passed the last test, the police examiner even entering into a jovial conversation with me and Khalifa. At last, after a little over a month of practice and a total of 23 hours spent in Khalifa's car, I finally get to have my driving license in this region. A very good thing about securing a driver's license here is that you get to use it in all member gulf states, so no more worrying about getting another one in case you move to another place for work. A fantastic experience indeed!

Yesterday, Alice asked that we cook something in celebration of my passing the test a day before. After rummaging through stocks and the fridge, we decided that I cook our fast becoming favorite dessert - the Peach Pie - as well as our own version of the Baked Mac. A very good thing about being here is that I could practice and experiment on my cooking. During our several months of stay, I had learned - even perfected some - dishes that are fast becoming our favorites. Of course this is really good... the only downside being Alice again starting to worry about some "excess fats" :D

Anyways, an hour and a half later, the pie and the baked mac are there, ready for consumption. We had some sort of a little feast, savoring the food and enjoying one lovely moment being husband and wife. While eating, a message (through SMS) arrived from our little girl Rain, asking how we are doing, and it made the moment even sweeter.

Times like these - which we tend not to give much importance - are the ones that really keep us going through life... well, at least, that's what I believe in... don't you think so?

Cooking

I love cooking. You may not believe it, but in our home, it is I who cook the food. Well, I wouldn't say my wife is a bad cook, in fact she cooks wonderful dishes, it's just that because I love cooking more, it had been that way for quite a while now in the house - I am cooking and she takes care of washing the dishes afterwards. I especially like to cook variants of stir fry, as well as vegetables with lots of soup - the kind that most pinoys prefer. Well, at least back in the Philippines, we like our food swimming in soup :D ... I think most husbands are like that especially those who also cook like me...

Anyway, I cooked a variant of stir fried the other night... one with a mix of chicken and beef strips with lots of broccoli, carrots, and string beans... my wife said it's wonderful (at least, she always appreciates the result :D). I put in there quite an amount of chopped ginger... I love the aroma of ginger in food while being cooked...and of course, the popular Mama Sita's oyster sauce... I would say that the dish was really good! One thing good about stir fried food is that it is very easy to prepare. You just prepare all the ingredients, make sure that the meat is quite tender and fried rarely, and then just mix all the vegetables to the meat and 'stir' them... the final taste will depend on you, so you can add other spices and ingredients as you like.

When our work ends at the early afternoon everyday, and we arrive at the flat, my usual routine is to check the fridge and look for ingredients for the meal to be prepared for dinner. Sometimes, we go out and buy some things that we need to prepare the meal at the small shops nearby. More often, everything is there. After some preparations, I'll start cooking the meal for dinner while my wife stretches either in the sala or in the bedroom. After the meal is finished, we eat while watching TV and talking about the happenings of the day.

Life is wonderful.