It does not only make dishes, soups and salads tastier, celery is also a good source of vitamins and minerals. It also contains active compounds known for cancer prevention and lowering bad cholesterol. Some might not like putting celery in their dishes but experienced cooks know how to mix it well with their recipes so that they come out tastier when this nutritious herb is included. For instance, my Aunt cooks yummy pork stew with cubes of carrots and bits of celery in it.
Read the rest of this entry »

What’s for breakfast? I had this question to my friends before and received a mix of responses – rice with viand, bread and butter, fruits, etc. Others don’t eat breakfast at all which, I tell you, is not a healthy way to lose weight. One of them answered oatmeal and coffee. Quite a combination, don’t you think so?
Read the rest of this entry »

I bet those who love desserts would drool over the title. Well, that’s hubby’s new specialty, aside from the usual gingerbread which he can bake with eyes closed. Lol. Yep, hubby is not only a certified geek who’s very much into computers, gadgets, HDTV’s, and the latest techie stuff, he’s also into making yummy dessert. This is the tiramisu he baked for our New Year’s Eve dinner.

Want some slice?

Yay! What a treat!

I got those from the Thai Store in Prague that sells Asian food. It’s sad to see that their stocks are limited and dwindling. My friends are wondering why this is so when they should be stocking up plenty coz their Filipino market is already growing bigger. Huhuhuhu… they always don’t have supply of instant pancit canton, spring roll wrappers, and other favorite chips we Pinoys love to eat. Big sigh! But still I was fortunate that they have the glutinous rice this time coz I’ve been wanting to cook and eat Arroz ala Valenciana. And they also have Jasmine rice.  But they only two packs of 4.5 kilos. All this food binging can be blamed on my pregnancy. hehe Being pregnant is all about taking care of the baby and myself, and food is a major part of it. I’ll get back to worrying about losing weight, fat burners, and dieting once the baby is out. For now, let me enjoy eating!

My little Caity loves eating apple, in fact she loves to eat most fruits. We’re happy with that because I know many parents are having problems with their kids being picky eaters. Apples actually have health-rich properties that we can benefit from. Lately she’s has become a little rabbit, munching on carrots too.

There’s a simple and quick healthy recipe I learned from my mother-in-law combining both apples and carrots that’s really delicious. Caity first tasted it (and liked it) when she was still a year old and since then I haven’t been able to make this salad again.

So this morning after she finished eating an apple, I made this health-rich treat for her. Here’s how to make it:

Combine 1 piece of grated apple and 1 piece of grated carrot in a bowl. Squeeze a little lemon over it, add half a teaspoon of sugar and that’s it. It’s best eaten when chilled. I used apple and carrot straight from the ref, so after mixing all the ingredients, it was ready for eating. Read the rest of this entry »

You can find Czech chocolates in the pile.

I was going over the contents of our ref earlier when I noticed several half-opened and unopened bars and packs of chocolates. I like chocolates but don’t eat much in one sitting. A little bite of this sweet treat is enough for me. I know there are some people who can devour big portions of chocolates in few minutes like M, while others find chocolates so irresistible that they even need appetite suppresants to fight off their cravings. If it’s really true that chocolates can make one fat, then at least I don’t have to worry about that. =)

How about you?

I thought after all food-binging of the Christmas holidays I’ll finally be able to get back on restraining my eating habits this new year. But with only a few weeks remaining of my Philippine vacation, I know I’ll be stuffing myself with the foods I miss before I fly back to Europe where I will be deprived of these kinds of food again.

Who can resist this?

BananaQ sprinkled with sesame seeds!  Little C liked this a lot!

We specially requested Juv to cook it for our afternoon snacks.

It’s cooked from saba banana:

Puto kutsinta

Puto

My cravings for Filipino native delicacies were satiated last Saturday when mom held her yearly Christmas gift-giving with the indigent mothers near our place. She served them puto, puto kutsinta, pichi-pichi and bicho-bicho (and fruit juice to go with it). Yummm! Then she gave out gift bags which contained rice, canned goods and noodles. She also had a raffle of prizes to add to the fun. It wasn’t much but it sure made the mothers happy including mom. What matters most is the willingness of the heart to share. It was her way of sharing God’s bountiful blessings to our family. God bless her!

Bicho-bicho

Pichi-pichi

Cute names they’ve got!

Lumpia, pancit palabok, sisig, abodong manok & baboy, lechon ala angie, adobong pusit, sinigang, brownies, biko, chocolate cake…  hayyy, looking at the picture and mentioning the food here makes me crave for more of those delicious food!  Fortunately, there’s another one coming this Thursday and hopefully I’ll get to join the feast again.

Anyway, those mentioned above were the food we had last Friday at my friends’ joint party celebration. Aside from the abundance of food, a typical Filipino party wouldn’t be complete without music, tadan! Karaoke or videoke will always be present unless someone forgets it but usually food and singing always go hand in hand.  Ask any Filipino you know. So yes, there was a lot of singing at the party.

It was exceptionally cold today that it drove me to wear socks. But that didn’t help. I could feel the cold creeping inside my skin! Yikes! This is a great time to eat something spicy and hot! What could it be?

Tom Yum was the first food I thought of. I still have few packs of Tom Yum paste my brother sent us and I also have frozen mushrooms from my mother-in-law. What I lack are the seafood, lemon grass and other spices to make a mean Tom Yum soup. When I voiced out my craving for spicy food at M, he was quick to search in the internet where we can find Tom Yum in Prague. It wasn’t only the spicy soup we found, but a lot of other Thai food as well that I’ve wanted to eat!

An hour and a half after our conversation, M arrived home carrying a brown bag with the food I ordered – tom yum kai and phad thai kai. I was battling between phad thai and nam tok mu but in the end I chose the former as I won’t have to cook rice. Heheh I was really feeling lazy!

The tom yum kai. Doesn’t look appealing at all!

The verdict: the soup wasn’t as yummy as what we usually make with mixed seafood. It has a strong taste of coriander but lacks the taste of lemon grass.

The phad thai kai.

The phad thai was so-so. I didn’t taste the peanuts and the bean sprouts were close to nil. But it was yummy, it just didn’t taste what phad thai should be. Even so, I devoured it with gusto.

If you’re curious where M bought the Thai food, it’s from:

Modrý zub,
Jindřišská 5, Praha 1