Sep 02 2010

Taste Buds: Homemade Marinara Sauce/Spaghetti alla Bolognese

Published by Ms B under Food

Okay, I know this is simple for a lot of people. But believe me, making a sauce from scratch rather than buying a jar is a huge accomplishment for me. Incidentally, a lady who makes tamales gave us loads of tomatoes. Like a sign from the cooking gods, my CuisinArt newsletter featured my blender, with a recipe for homemade marinara sauce. The recipe only called for four ingredients: tomatoes, garlic, salt, and basil. My mind lit up as I thought, hmmm, I may be on to something here!

I had peeled the tomatoes and blended them with my lovely CuisinArt blender. I prepared large amounts of garlic and basil because I truly wanted strong flavor with strong aroma. I gave myself a pat on the back when I thought of adding mushrooms – what is probably basic for you is a leap of faith for me. After sautéing the solids, I added the blended tomatoes. I first thought that the mixture will instantly have the flavor of those Bertolli sauces. Of course I forgot, salt. I seasoned my sauce with salt and pepper, and pretty much my life, to taste and believe me, it was, as Angelo from Top Chef DC would say, “as if I made love with” the sauce.

My homemade marinara provided me a good base for a Bolognese sauce, into which I just added sautéed ground beef with even more basil. And voila, my very own spaghetti alla Bolognese. To Chef’s surprise, I actually created the second best spaghetti alla Bolognese that he has ever tasted in his life. The first apparently is from a restaurant in San Diego called La Estrada. Of course, we have never been to Italy but I am glad that this can compete with an Italian classic.

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Aug 29 2010

Music and Lyrics: Closing Time – Semisonic

Published by Ms B under Music

I’m part of the MTV generation, the generation who watched an MTV that showed music videos instead of reality shows. Circa 1998, I believe, was when this song came out, and of course I learned about it from MTV. Truth be told this is the only Semisonic song I know. At first I thought it was just about leaving in general. It was only recently that I learned that the song was really about being born – or actually the end of pregnancy. For me, it is the use of the Seneca quote that really characterizes the song: “Every new beginning comes from some other beginning’s end.”

Closing time
Open all the doors and let you out into the world
Closing time
Turn all of the lights on over every boy and every girl

Closing time
One last call for alcohol so finish your whiskey or beer
Closing time
You don’t have to go home but you can’t stay here

I know who I want to take me home
I know who I want to take me home
I know who I want to take me home
Take me home

Closing time
Time for you to go out to the places you will be from
Closing time
This room won’t be open till your brothers or your sisters come

So gather up your jackets, move it to the exits
I hope you have found a friend
Closing time
Every new beginning comes from some other beginning’s end, yeah

I know who I want to take me home
I know who I want to take me home
I know who I want to take me home
Take me home

Closing time
Time for you to go out to the places you will be from

I know who I want to take me home
I know who I want to take me home
I know who I want to take me home
Take me home

I know who I want to take me home
I know who I want to take me home
I know who I want to take me home
Take me home

Closing time
Every new beginning comes from some other beginning’s end

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Aug 26 2010

Taste Buds: Vigan Longganisa

Published by Ms C under Food

Nope. It’s not Kam. It’s just Ms C. Don’t hold your breaths. I’m not here to present a kitchen masterpiece I think I’ve mentioned more than once that I don’t cook. I have been trying stuff out, but until I perfect them, I won’t be posting any of my experiments.

I’ve been thinking about my grandparents (better known as Mom and Dad) too much lately that I found myself reminiscing more often than ever about my lovely summers in Ilocos. Their home is not exactly in Vigan, but close enough (a town apart, actually). I remember all the sweets that Mom used to give me; the walks to the little cottage with the super mini-vineyard and to the beach with Dad; and then, there’s the food – bagnet, empanada, bibingka, tinubong, longganisa and more!

Oh, what I would give to have Vigan longganisa right now!

photo credit: Philippine Travel Journal | Ivan About Town

My aunt, who basically grew up here says she’s heard a lot of positive “reviews” on Vigan longganisa, but they are mostly from Ilocanos. So, to avoid being branded as biased, here’s an article of [almost] the same title by THE Marketman, himself, published in his website.

There is nothing in the world like a longganisa burp. Heehee. I kid you not. Not even the most expensive mouthwash can prevent those frequent, pungent mouth toots filled with the potent mix of garlic, vinegar and spices that almost any pinoy could identify in an instant, even in a darkened room and/or if s/he were blindfolded! And for some reason, the mouth toots continue for most of the day! Worse, if you are on a road trip and are confined to a small car after eating longganisa for breakfast, it will be a long trip indeed, regardless of destination. And forget a mixture of Diet Coke and longganisa, we are talking nuclear emissions of the most offensive kind! Yesterday at the market I spied some pretty interesting longganisa at a vendor beside my suki tinapa dealer. What caught my eye is the fact that she had at least 70+ kilos of longganisa under her bilao…anyone who brings that much sausage to a day market is confident about sales!
The small pudgy longganisa were from Vigan and although they had a yellowish tinge from achuete or food coloring, I decided to try them out since my tinapa vendor enthusiastically vouched for the quality and the vendor said she easily sold 100 kilos of the stuff on a Saturday… back home, I took the longganisa out of the plastic bag and counted 44 pieces to a kilo which cost PHP190… thus each little link was about PHP4.30 or USD 8 cents each. We fried up a few longganisa and had them with spicy chilli vinegar and lots of steamed rice…yum, they were good indeed. To fry, I actually place them in a frying pan with some water and turn the heat up high. The boiling water cooks the sausages and evaporates at which point the fats in the longganisa are rendered and the skin is burnished and caramelized. I add no other oil to the pan. If you want to have certain cholesterol issues, quickly stir fry your steamed rice in the pan drippings. Have this all with some fried egg as well… some things just can’t be improved on… a breakfast of longganisa, rice, egg and vinegar!

There you have it! Nope. He’s not Ilocano!

Oh, and I encourage all of you who love food to go visit his website! Be warned, though, you’ll be drooling excessively!

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Aug 25 2010

Le Critique: Book Review: Wicked, The Life and Times of the Wicked Witch of the West

Published by Ms B under Art,Life,Pop Culture

SPOILER ALERT: I am somewhat describing the plot and will have constant references to different parts of the book. :)

The last revisionist novel that I read was Anne Rice’s Sleeping Beauty series, which of course is not the Sleeping Beauty of Disney charm. I read those novels a million years ago in high school and I haven’t really read any revisionist look other than occasional fan fictions of various pop culture stories.

I would say, Gregory Maguire’s parallel novel to our familiar The Wonderful Wizard of Oz provides an adult perspective to Dorothy’s story. Yes, the book itself was somewhat hard to read. I have had at least 5 people who have told me they quit the book, and these are people who don’t normally quit novels. The novel is heavy in the storyline, heavy in the points it wants to make, with one disturbing scene – think puppet sex. Anyway, for me, the fact that all these were happening before (and while) Dorothy paraded on the Yellow Brick Road was interesting to me. This novel is definitely a lot heavier than the musical Wicked, which was of course based on the novel. Nope, the musical was indeed was another revision to this revision because the musical was actually relatively happy compared to the novel. I love the musical, I have seen it a couple of times. Some friends said to me because the musical was different from the novel, that disinterested them. For me, it was the opposite. For me, I thought of the novel as “what really happened.”

There are five parts to the book, which essentially are the five stages of the life of the Wicked Witch of the West, Elphaba. In part one, Munchkinlanders, we learn about Elphaba’s beginnings, her dysfunctional family, and of course, that she is different – she is green. Her father, Frex, is a unionist minister; her mother, Melena, was of higher social standing as she was the granddaughter of the Eminent Thropp of Munchkinland. Melena had affairs with strangers as Frex traveled for his ministry. One affair was with a stranger who gave her the Miracle Elixir potion in a green bottle, bringing forth a green Elphaba. Another affair was with Turtle Heart, a glassblower from the Quadling country. Elphaba has a sister, Nessarose, whose paternity is uncertain between Frex and Turtle Heart. Nessa, who of course becomes the Wicked Witch of the East, and owner of those famous ruby shoes that was given to Dorothy, was actually disabled – she had no arms, thus completely dependent. They had Nanny to help her out.

The second part, Gillikin, is probably my favorite part of the novel. This describes Elphaba’s life at Shiz University, where she essentially befriends her roommate Galinda, who’s main concern was to climb the social ladder higher than she already has, thus initially avoiding being associated with the peculiar green girl. They befriend other students, including a Munchkinlander Boq, and an Arjiki prince, Fiyero. Soon after, Nessarose also joins the university. In this part are many discussions about good and evil, on what the root of evil was. We also see Animals (sentient animals), one of which is their professor, a Goat named Dr. Dillamond. The second part shows how the Wizard of Oz has started to take action in diminishing the civil rights of Animals. Elphaba becomes Dr. Dillamond’s lab assistant in biological sciences wherein they find causes for the Animal rights movement. Here we see Maguire tackle political issues and social injustices that we encounter today. What I love about this part is how “normal” Elphaba has become, that she had friends, that they had dreams and beliefs, and they were becoming adults. Also, that their beliefs are formed with principles of goodness. We see here how her belief in what is good starts to become her downfall as the part ends with her seeking for the Wizard’s help, but is dismissed. This is when she takes matters in her own hands because we see what the Wizard is really capable of.

In part three, City of Emeralds, Elphaba already lives in Emerald City and is involved in secret Animal rights movements and to also overthrow the Wizard. She’s an adult here now, and actually starts an affair with Fiyero, who was already married with three kids. I actually enjoyed this part because Elphaba is with somebody, and she is happy and in love. With how cliche wickedness has fallen upon Elphaba pretty much the entire novel, the cliche feeling of being in love was pretty much welcomed for me. As Elphaba continues her cause and fails, Fiyero is assumed to be murdered by the Wizard’s army, which brings us to the fourth part, In the Vinkus. Elphaba seeks the forgiveness of Fiyero’s wife, Sarima, who resides with family in Kiamo Ko. Here, Elphaba becomes a witch as she learns about the book of spells, the Grimmerie, a magicked broomstick, combined with her general angst for life already. The fourth and final part, The Murder and Its Afterlife, are the parts that we have seen in the original Wizard of Oz story, that Dorothy comes in, Nessarose dies because Dorothy’s Auntie and Uncle’s house fall on her because of a tornado, that Elphaba sends her a bunch of obstacles, and that Elphaba melts when Dorothy throws a bucket of water on her. This is of course where the big twists are, but for me, with the rest of the book being thoroughly detailed and explained already, these couple of parts seemed hurried. Maybe it was to add mystery, and maybe because the book really dwelled on Elphaba’s life rather than her death. It mentioned that the Wizard came to Oz to find the Grimmerie but not really why. His departure was also quickly described, which to me, with all his true wickedness being apparent, it would have been nice to see his downfall described too. It was generally fine, but I guess to me, it all happened and ended too quick (even if the last parts happened in a span of at least 15 years).

I liked having familiar characters in this revised novel, I think that made it interesting to me. This novel changed my conception of the original story because in the end, this was the story I wanted to believe in. A lot of times we are compelled to side with the underdog, and come on, being green instantly made Elphaba one. Of course in our old Wizard of Oz story, she was just green and wicked. There are good discussions about good and evil in the novel (which was also what I missed in the last part of the book as that wasn’t discussed at length anymore). Basically the question is a line from the musical: Are people born wicked, or is wickedness thrust upon them? I, myself, have not completely decided on this, but there is a great amount of the latter that I witness from people I know whom I consider somewhat wicked (sorry). But then again, I also know people who are just that way.

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Aug 23 2010

Mommy Adventures: Lunches

Published by Ms C under Domestic Bliss,Food,Parenting

It is just the second week and I am already running out of ideas! I have been crawling through the blogs of my mommy friends to grab recipes and all, but they are such pros. I am greatly intimidated. How can a kitchen newbie like me pull off dimsums and such?

Anyway, I have created a menu for the next two weeks. Taking into consideration the time allotted for this break, I decided to send Captain Awesome sandwiches for lunch. We are Filipinos, so we usually have rice in every meal, but he did not protest. I just give him three sandwiches a day to sustain him for the whole day. So far, so good. He empties them up. As a bonus (for me) he prefers his fruits over his not-so-healthy snacks!

I have bookmarked at least 10 websites that contain easy sandwich recipes for school. I am looking forward to trying all of them. The problem is, though, Captain Awesome does not like some of ingredients that many of them require. I must try to hide them somehow so as to not limit my options. It would be a great way for him to appreciate other flavors, too.

What surprised me on these so-called snacks-for-kids websites are the numerous recipes for cupcakes and other desserts. Man! Some people really like their sweets, huh?! I am just so lucky my children are not such fans of them.

I am thinking of making these deviled eggs.

photo credit: Disney FamilyFun

Question: What can I substitute paprika with?

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