Bukayo

We were at my sister's house for lunch that day. It was quite the reunion; Jo-Lo's cousins were there to play with. Not that they're the same age as he is, in fact he's the youngest of the lot by 5 years.

Good thing his nephew and niece were around. It's a closer age gap.  Quite amusing though to see uncle and nephew playing around!  The sound of laughter was wafting through the windows; we decided to have a look.

Jo-Lo was enjoying a packet of bukayo with his nephew. I could not help but smile. That sweet treat of my childhood is now being enjoyed by my son. It's pure sugary goodness though so I'm not sure if there's a health benefit in there.  But Jo-Lo does not particularly like eating sweets and to find him enjoying this was quite a revelation.  There's definitely a giddy Pinoy kid in him regardless of his accent.

How to poach an egg version 2

I just remembered that we have this contraption hiding in our cupboard which I imagined we can use for poaching eggs, and even for cooking rice cakes.  I did not really know what this is called, so I Googled photos for "egg poachers".  Well, what do you know, I was right!

The egg poacher makes poaching a bit easier because you do not have to mind the water; you can just have it boil merrily along.  And then there's the bit where the eggs are in their own containers, so you do not have to worry about the egg whites scattering about the water and not getting all of it.

I was too lazy to know the exact way to cook the eggs using this device, though, but I think it's quite foolproof enough.  My experiment turned out fine so I'm sharing this with you.

How to poach an egg

I had a bit of a hit and miss with this one.  I've never poached eggs before, but I've read about it, and I've seen it on TV.  Plus it's the better way of serving egg versus the cooking oil-laden sunny side-up variety.  So I decided to have a go at it one weekend morning.  I cooked two nicely poached eggs and a bad one, the reason and result of which you'll see at the end of this post.

Fast Food Fix

While vacationing in the Philippines, a number of tasks in my to-do-list were to visit my favourite fast food haunts. Working in the IT industry in Makati meant long working hours which did not allow much time for cooking at home. And so fast food restaurants were our best friends.

Mang Inasal in Baguio City

While at Baguio Center Mall in our vacation at Baguio City, Philippines last January, we were pleasantly surprised to find Mang Inasal occupying a rather substantial amount of space of the Food Centre of Abanao Square. "Inasal" is essentially a method of marinating and barbecuing chicken and originates from the Vizayas region of the country. The marinade and basting sauce gives the chicken a distinct and delectable taste. I swear, I could not stop eating until all that's left is bones on my plate. There are now quite a number of shops offering this in their menu, with people picking their favourites. As for me, I am not as choosy for my chicken inasal!

Chicken and Veggies Spring Roll

I love love love this spring roll.  Originally, we just used to make the 'traditional' pork spring roll (which I love too!) and then my wife surprised me with this over dinner.  I absolutely love it.  I prodded her to make a new batch, and we're sharing the recipe for you to enjoy too!

Chocolate fish

"So... have you had a chocolate fish yet?"

This was the question that startled me some two years ago. I was volunteering in a not-for-profit organisation at that time and I was having morning tea with the team. Uh oh, I said to myself. This must be the time when the locals would challenge me to something out of the ordinary, like us Pinoys asking our foreign friends to try out balut!