The Season of Bibingka and Puto Bumbong

Christmas season in the Philippines isn't complete without the tandem of these two. Hmm... last night I dreamed that I was handed an award by the Bocuse d' Or for best in cultural preservation. Christmas cooking stress and dreams gone wild- yeah right!

That Spaghetti Breath

Step 1: Boil up.
Step 2: Cut up.

Step 3: Mix up.

Step 4: Add up.

Spaghetti. In a breath.

Why you must not get too excited for the party...

Warning: You can choose not to proceed.

As I was saying... this is not really a food blog but all about what is going on in my so- called cooking life.

I have never been wounded by knives ever since I started cooking by heart. Butcher’s knife, boning knives, Japanese knives, twelve- inch knives- Food Huntress always comes out clean. I confess to having a number of second degree burns (especially when I was working on a French pastry shop), but never getting knifed. But on that very same day while me and the chefs were preparing for our company Christmas party, all of that cutting history was defied.

And no, by the way, knives are not the culprit this time. I was preparing the salad that morning while going clack-clack-clack- clacking with the chefs, laughing while preparing eight entrees… and suddenly… Blood Type B was trickling down the cucumbers. My saliva started to collect on the insides of my mouth. The world was still as my hands started producing these little globules of perspiration.

No time for the classic cursing this time. That would be too ordinary. I just swallowed hard and grabbed the towel tied on my apron and pressed hard as I recalled my sins and those that I loved… was it my dying day?

One of the chefs dressed the wound while joking if they’d call the ambulance. “You are shaking”, I heard him say. “No, I’m not shaking.” Of course.

Anyway. I put on some kitchen gloves and did the trussing of five kilos of chicken for roasting and five kilos of beef for roulade while the others worked on Creole Jambalaya (while singing Jambalaya), stuffed fish, rotini alla carbonara, Chinese pork stew, fruit fondue… The laughing with the team continued and the show went on.
But foremost in my mind was that one thing that really screwed me up: not the knives, but- you’ve guessed it -

- the mandoline.

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By the way, we got great comments from the diners. Yeah, right! Blood and sea salt have the same chemical composition, right?

Food Huntress's Letter to Santa

Dear Santa,

Hello. I know that you love drinking Coca Cola, and that there are many, many kids who write you every year. I am one of those few grown up kids who never stopped believing that you are real. By the way, you have been giving me for the past years the things I never asked for. Thank you for those many bonuses. For now, ah... here’s my report card and... Santa dearest, I have been good this year!


Ten Great Things That Happened in 2008:

10. Winning a blog contest and getting vanilla beans and cookbooks. Santa, click on this amazing link. This generous Zen Chef sponsored a writing contest about vanilla and I won it. I am not sure how many joined but the point is I won it. The vanilla beans went into many dishes but I spared one tube for Christmas dinner. Because I am expecting you for Christmas dinner!

9. Getting a great job. Yes!

8. Bumping into my former boss (to whom I really have been a bad employee) and hearing him say “I’m so proud of you.” You see, Santa, I haven’t been that bad after all!

7. Moving into my new apartment. The gods have been too kind...my heart could burst apart.

6. Seeing my sister get married. Thank you for the wonderful brother-in-law. Didn’t you remember last Christmas my sister wished for a lover and there You gave it?

5. Having my post graduate degree. Santa, do you need to see my grades too? Will send it via email attachment, ok? ;)

(P.S. I really find graduation togas a little… absurd. I feel funny wearing one)

4. Rolling around in the field… you know those trysts. That has kept my sanity intact for a long time.

3. Seeing my family travel. One approved visa after another. Thank you!

2. Living through a tough year with flying colors. I survived ’08 alive! (We’ll round off December 2008 into 2009 already)

1. I’ll reserve ONE gratitude. Let me think about it. Hmmm… this last one I feel a little too embarrassed to write here. So, I’ll write it on a piece of paper and send it to you via chimney ashes ala Mary Poppins. This will be our secret…


Thank you, thank you.


Now- for the things I want:

10. A really good Japanese knife.


9. More opportunities for travel (it connotes as well, more $$$$ in my purse)
8. The wardrobe of Marie- Antoinette (modern version)
7. More luck for the new restaurant, great reviews and of course many customers.
6. I want to be very healthy in the Year of the Ox.
5. More blessings for the family (i.e., safety, good health, love, the works, Santa!)
4. I wish that my Boss will lessen this habit of calling me when it’s my day off. Can you tell him? I’ll give you his number via chimney… (ah, via ashes- I don’t have chimney, by the way). Or rather, can you give him a "How-to-Take-It-Easy" Book? He tends to worry too much.


(I really see myself living in a castle someday...)

3. A castle. Yes, Santa, you know how much I wanted to live in a castle, don’t you?
2. The discipline to study four foreign languages (Spanish, French, Japanese and German- yes I am that highfalutin’ ambitious) this year and by 2010 I should speak with more fluency.
1. This ONE too. I’ll reserve. Ssshhh…


One more thing, Santa, everybody probably has a wishlist and includes there "peace on earth" and "No more hunger" and "No more war"....and probably my lousy checklist is all for me, me, me! Yessir! But if I'll be good for another one more year, and cook nice dinners for another one whole year and write more blogs for another one whole year, then dear Santa, should there still be a need for me to wish more "Peace On Earth?"


Thank you for reading my blog. Be careful. I worry about you sometimes you know...hehehe. It's very hot here in my country you might want to take off that red coat... ;)


Love,

Foodhuntress



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Santa Photo borrowed here http://www.adpunch.org/


Knife photo, thanks to this link http://www.premiumknives.com/

How to Make Japanese Pancakes

You can put any filling you like, i.e, cheese, bean paste, yam...etc. Try this at home!

The harder you try...

One day after some heated argument...

Foodhuntress: (Impatiently) Why do we have to try so hard?
Tribe Chief: Rather try hard than be mediocre.

Case closed.

The Glorious Nuts, Beans and Pulses

When I was a child and my mother dragged me to market every Saturday morning, my favorite part besides the market breakfast is that nuts and beans section. I had this habit of burying my hands up to the elbows into the nuts (or sometimes rice) and feel that unforgettable grainy sensation. The nuts are cool to the touch,as though they were breathing. I just like it- as much as I liked beans and all sorts of nuts and pulses in most any way they are cooked. (Thank you God for not giving me any gout).

So here at the market, there are many kinds of nuts. Peanuts are sold with shell, without shell but with skin on, and naked peanuts.



Dried white beans, tapioca pearls (pre- bloom)...

Green peas, pop corn...

Red beans...

Chickpeas. I love chickpeas...

Green mung beans.

Special mention to green mung beans:These dried mung beans are toasted, then cooked with rice and coconut milk and a little sugar. Reminiscent of many summer afternoons where mungbeans were harvested and dried right at our backyard, I wouldn't trade this for any fancy dessert.