Minced Meat with Lettuce

Description:
We have plenty of hoisin sauce in the fridge so aside from having Eng Bee Tin raddish cake for breakfast, I made this "Hieng Dieng Chui Ma" for dinner. It was superb! This is a lighter version, made from ground chicken. Less oily, more fun!

Ingredients:
300g ground chicken
1 medium carrot, grated
3 Tbsp. minced water chestnuts (around 6 pcs.)
3 Tbsp. minced shiitake mushrooms (around 3 pcs, dried shiitake, soaked then minced)
1 Tbsp. rice wine
1 Tbsp. light soy sauce
1 Tbsp. cornstarch
Vegetable oil
2 Tbsp. sliced onion leeks
2 Tbsp. minced ginger
4 Tbsp. oyster sauce
Sesame oil
Salt and pepper

Iceberg lettuce
Wansuy
Hoisin sauce

Directions:
For the minced meat:
In a bowl, combine chicken, carrots, water chestnuts and shiitake mushrooms. Set aside.
In a smaller bowl, combine rice wine, soy sauce and cornstarch; mix well. Add this to the meat mixture.
In a large saute pan, add vegetable oil. Saute leeks and ginger. Add marinated meat and cook while breaking up the ground chicken that may have clumped together. Add oyster sauce and season with salt and pepper. Off heat, add drops of sesame oil.

Serve with lettuce cups, wansuy and hoisin sauce.

Tip on making the lettuce cups:
Using a knife, remove the bottom of the lettuce. Place the lettuce, cut side up, under running water from the faucet to loosen up the leaves. Remove one cup at a time.

It really gets harder!

Here is another round of mind-boggling questions from Trixie that she asked me just these TWO days...

Yesterday, out of the blue, Trixie asked me these questions about God.  "Who made God?"  "Will Jesus die?"  "Did Jesus make God?" 

While watching Little Einsteins, she asked me, "What is outer space?"

Over dinner, Brandon received a fax call.  Thus began her questions... "Mama, what is a fax?"  "What does it look like?"  "What is it saying?"  It took almost the entire dinner for me to exhaustively answer her questions on how the fax message gets through the phone! 

Romulo Cafe

Rating:	★★★★★
Category:	Restaurants
Cuisine:	Other
Location:	Scout Tuazon, corner Dr. Lazcano

We just discovered a fabulous Filipino restaurant in the Scout area and we're so raving about it. Everything ordered from our last two visits have been good, but we especially enjoyed the Boneless Crispy Pata, Flying Tilapia with Three Sauces, Ginataang Sigarilyas, Baby Pusit in Olive oil and Tuna Sisig. We love love the food and we love love the interior of the restaurant. This is truly a gem in QC.

Me and my boy

These are my latest photos with Brenzie. He is now 15 months old and so charming. He is wearing is daily "SSS" outfit- Sando, Shorts, Slippers :)

Ma-po Tofu

Description:
My version of Ma-po Tofu is sweet and mild spicy, which is very Brenzie-friendly.

Ingredients:
3 cloves garlic, minced
Half onion, minced
1/8 tsp. chili flakes (Add more if you want it hot.)
150 g lean ground pork
1 can Gulong Minced meat in Bean Paste
1/2 cup tomato sauce
4 Tbsp. sweet chili sauce (I used UFC)
1 cup firm tofu, cubed

Directions:
Saute onions and garlic until tender. Add the chili flakes. Add ground pork and cook until it changes color. Add Gulong. Using the empty can, add a little water. Add the tomato sauce and sweet chili sauce. Cook until boiling. Lastly, add the tofu and make a quick stir. Serve with rice.

Spinach and Seafood Soup

Description:
This is a popular soup in Chinese restaurants and it's a liberating feeling to finally be able to do it at home. I got pointers on how to make this soup from my baker friend Johanna. This is very comforting and really healthy.

Ingredients:
2 cups fresh spinach leaves
3 cloves garlic, minced
250 g suahe, shelled and chopped finely
2.5 cups chicken stock, heated
1 cup firm tofu, cubed (Trix did this for me.)
2 Tbsp. cornstarch mixed in 4 Tbsp. cold water (cornstarch slurry)
2 eggs, beaten (Courtesy of Trix again)
Salt and pepper to taste



Directions:
In a pot with boiling water, blanch the spinach leaves until wilted. Strain out the spinach and place in blender. Add a little water from the pot and puree the spinach. Set aside.
In another soup pot, saute the garlic until aromatic. Add minced shrimps and cook until pink. Pour in hot chicken stock. Add the pureed spinach and tofu. Cook until boiling.
Add cornstarch slurry and combine until of semi-thick consistency. Lastly, add beaten eggs while stirring. Season with salt and pepper. Turn off heat and serve.

Maple Bacon Muffins

Description:
These muffins smelled heavenly while baking and they're so soft and flavorful, warm or not. I just couldn't get enough of it. I got the recipe from tasteofhome.com and next time, I will tweak the recipe to make more variations of this wonderful muffin.

Ingredients:
2 cups all-purpose flour
8 bacon strips, cooked and crumbled
(I used 5 strips Applegate Farms Turkey Bacon)
3 teaspoons baking powder
1/4 teaspoon salt
1 egg
1/2 cup milk
1/2 cup vegetable oil
2/3 cup maple syrup

Directions:
Combine the flour, bacon, baking powder and salt. In a separate bowl, whisk together egg, milk, oil and maple syrup.
Make a well in the center of the dry ingredients, then pour in the liquid ingredients. Mix to moisten; do not overmix.
Using a scooper, fill paper-lined standard muffin pans, about 3/4 full.
Bake at 400F for about 20-25 minutes, or until toothpick inserted in center comes out clean.

Our own belen

I've always wanted to have a "belen" to remind us the reason for the season so now that we officially have our own place, I am so glad to have this, finally!  Trixie noticed it the day after I set it up, and of course, it did not escape her curiosity.  Her first question was, "What are the names of the three kings?"  And then this, "Mama, are they saying 'Surprise!!!'?"