Dinengdeng + Sisig = happiness!

The salmon was steaming away merrily on the stove a couple of nights ago when we received a call from friends.

"Pupunta kami dyan! Dyan kami kakain!"
(We're coming over, and we're having dinner there!)
Oh sure!, I exclaimed. But we were having salmon, and it was cooking in the same way we served it to them some dinners ago. Is that fine?

"Ok lang! May dala kaming ulam! Dinengdeng!"
(It's ok! We're also bringing viand! Dinengdeng!)
Isn't it great to have friends over who bring their meals over? :-)

And half an hour later, they arrived, bringing with them a pot full of aromatic dinengdeng as well as a small plate of sisig!

"O ayan, para hindi mo makalimutan ang Pilipinas!"
(Here, so you won't forget the Philippines!)

I felt sentimental as I stared at the vegetable goodness, laden with crabs and grilled milkfish! I hope they didn't think I was so touched that I had to take a photo, though. I forgot to explain it's for the blog.


And so we had a rather enjoyable dinner as we chatted about life in general while the kids made a general mess of the toys and laughed about.



We were not able to touch the sisig, so the following morning it was transformed to fried rice sisig! Happy days.

Technorati tags: food trip

Beef broccoli

Different aromas waft from the kitchen while cooking beef broccoli. First, there's the garlic and onion, then the beef, and finally the sweet broccoli. Truly enticing. Best of all, it's easy to cook. I also love my broccoli crunchy and half-cooked in this dish.

This version is rather different, in that we are using minced instead of sliced beef. This is so because minced beef is the only thing readily available :-). But it also worked rather nicely.

How to use a Coffee Press

I have seen this strange contraption in Starbucks shops back in the Philippines: transparent, glass containers with metal support and a sort of plunger attached to a metal rod. I did not know what it was, and kept to the mugs and tumblers instead.

However, the coffee press (also called a French Press) seems to be a standard device in the New Zealand kitchen as a vast majority loves to drink coffee. We still have instant coffee at home as a quick fix, but we have recently bought our very own coffee press and found it really easy to use. Plus, the resulting coffee is (predictably) superior than instant coffee! True, there can be a bit of gunk (ground coffee that managed to get through the filter) at the bottom of the cup - especially the last serving - but I do not mind it. You can, of course, refrain from doing a bottoms-up.

We were able to purchase a coffee press that looks like a coffee pot! Neat, huh?

A partner to the coffee press is a coffee grinder. Connoiseurs will highly recommend grinding your own coffee, but if you are reading this post, it is likely that you are just as new to the coffee press as I am and will want to keep it as simple as possible for starters. So for your coffee beans, you can have it ground by your favorite coffee shop and transfer it to an airtight container at home. Make sure the beans are coarse-ground. They usually ask what type of filter you use (for the coffeemaker); advise the barista that it's for the coffee press and they will grind it accordingly.

Another way to get your ground coffee is by purchasing from your favorite supermarket. There are lots of ground coffee available in different flavours. Make sure that the label says it's for "plunger", which refers to the coffee press.


Now on to using the coffee press.

Breakfast at the sun room

I decided one morning that instead of having breakfast at the dining area which can be a bit cold in the mornings, why not have it while basking in the early morning sun? And so we had breakfast at the sun room. It was nice and quiet. Until Jo-Lo started watching his morning cartoons, that is :-).

Lemon-butter sauce

Our basil now has a companion - baby spring onions! I have recently bought a pot of baby spring onions from Countdown and planted it on a bigger container. It's quite a robust grower. After only a couple of days I have seen new growth. Spring onions is great for salads, sauces, and cooked dishes. Having it by the kitchen counter is really great because you can simply pick off a couple of stalks, chop it up, and add to your dish.


The sleeve came with a description and some recipe ideas for spring onions. With it is a very simple butter sauce that can be used for pan-fried fish fillets. We were having breaded fish fillet for dinner so we thought we'd try it out!

Hot cross buns

I received a call from my colleague one afternoon inviting me to drop by their office for some hot cross buns. Oooh, free food! So I popped over to their desk and was promptly handed over a warm bun with a white cross on top. A hot cross bun... interesting. And yummy too!

Upon returning to my desk, I decided to Google this unique bread. I learned some very interesting facts about it.

Steamed salmon

Actually, my wife did not know what to call this dish. But we were having friends over and so she prepared this for dinner. Our friend remarked, "how did you cook this steamed salmon?" Ummm... we steamed it? hahaha!

So steamed salmon it is. This dish is so easy to make and yet the end result is simply wonderful! Great with piping hot rice.

Garlic bread

Now here's something that's reeeeaaaalllly easy to do and yet it's so yummy it's sure to become a hit with whoever you serve it to. Make your very own garlic toast! Perfect companion to your pasta dish. And you can use any type of plain bread available in your house.

Chinese starters

Early this week, my colleague who's Chinese gave me half a dozen of meat buns which were actually siopao! When I declared it's siopao, he heartily agreed that it is indeed siopao and that many Filipinos like having it too, so it was no surprise for him that I was delighted to bring home some.


Having the siopao reminded me that I still had some photos from past eats in the Philippines sitting in my hard disk that I have not yet published here. I found a couple, and wanted to share some of the side dishes I like. It was featured in Fear Factor, with the contestants grossing out over this egg dish. It's the century egg, something that I truly loved the first time I had it, and love it still. In fact, my officemates would automatically order century eggs when we're in a Chinese restaurant.