Making maki

I love Japanese food. The mere presentation is feast for the eyes. I love mixing my soy sauce with a generous amount of wasabi, and I hold the calamansi. I also have a small dish of pure soy sauce for maki with pink salmon in it; I don't want to kill the taste of the delectable fish with the overpowering sour taste of the calamansi and the spicy wasabi. Plus, the novelty of using chopsticks never wear off.

We were invited in Glen and Cory's home for Christmas eve, and I was delighted when I learned that we will be preparing maki! Something I have never done before. I learned that making it is quite fun and easy. Plus, their kids love it!


My wife and I are planning to make some this New Year's eve, and add in a bit of variety to the maki. But for the meantime, here is the variation we made at Glen's house.

New Zealand's Pavlova

I once asked my colleagues at the volunteer organisation I work with what sort of food are distinctly New Zealand; I wanted to check out the gastronomic possibilities here in Aotearoa.

The Pavlova came into the picture. Made primarily of egg whites, it looks very much like a meringue cake. I have seen these sold in food shops but did not realize that this is just the base; it needs toppings to make it more aesthetically appetizing and delectable.

Merry Christmas, from my family to yours

Food Experiment: flowers for dinner?

I dropped by a friend's house in Churton Park here in Wellington some time back and when I was already about to go home, he proudly showed his veggie garden which was growing rather well. Pechay, lettuce, broccoli, potatoes... all were in the green of health, so to speak.

He then proceeded to give me some of his pechay, which is usually harvested before they go full blast with their flowering but he did not need pechay for some time that they have decided to bloom in their summery finest.

How to extend the life of your kiddie plates

Here's something that can be helpful in the kitchen especially if you're dealing with a recipe with lots of ingredients in it. If you have those kiddie plates with sections on them that you no longer use, why not make it the organizer of your chopped goodies?

Another idea is to use it to put various sauces and dips in for parties. This is a great way to prolong the life of plates that would no longer be used otherwise.

Have a great weekend ahead!
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Filipino Spaghetti

I have been having sweet spaghetti for as long as I can remember. I'm not sure how it turned out that we cook spaghetti the way we do, but its sweet sauce always conjure sweet memories of celebrations. Just looking at the photo below makes me want to get a second helping right now! The recipe below is for 3-4 people, so I guess two of those people is me! :-)

Kinamatisang isda

My wife has been cooking kinamatisang isda for many of our meals recently, and I can't get enough of it. The soup base is yummy and has just the right taste of tomato in it for a bit or sour flavor, coupled with the mild "bite" the ginger and pepper lends to the dish. The tomato flesh becomes soft in the process; I just like including it with the fish. Tina is happy to share this recipe with you.

You may notice that there is not a lot of quantities involved for the ingredients; that's because she's just cooking for me, herself, and Jo-Lo. Feel free to add more tomatoes. We use fish fillet because fillets are what's readily available in the supermarket here in New Zealand. But she says fish such as galunggong and sapsap will do nicely. You just need to watch out for the fishbones...