Super side salad

Have I mentioned that we have lettuce growing in the garden? We have more of it now than we can hope to consume. So when we learned that we had visitors coming over for dinner, I thought I'd better make use of these greens for a side salad.

What I had in mind was only something that we can munch on while the main course was still cooking, so I grabbed whatever was available and came up with this salad. And when I offered our guests the green stuff and passed some saucers around, I thought they'd simply finish a small portion out of respect and wait for the rest of the meal. Was I ever surprised! They immensely enjoyed the salad, and even helped themselves to second and third servings! Either they are very gracious guests, or they definitely loved my salad. My wife also had seconds though, so I'm guessing I did well.

French Toast

I've done French Toast many years ago, but somehow I did not get it right and though it was a real easy recipe to do, I never tried it again. Until yesterday.

We were having a lazy afternoon and I thought I'd give it another go for our snack. And boy was it yummy! Now I think I know where I got it wrong before. I made the bread stay too long on the egg-milk mixture so I really had a difficult time cooking it, and came up with soggy bread. The trick then is to lay the piece of bread on the mixture and let it stay only for a second or two, then flip the bread to its other side for another second or two, then transfer to the pan. Bread is like sponge. It will soak up as much as it can so do not let that happen.

Healthy Food Guide

Who said that eating healthy means bland taste and greens all over? With the Healthy Food Guide, eating healthy and being healthy is one culinary adventure.

What I like most about this food site is in the way they have categorized content. You can choose by health information (dairy-free, gluten-free,high calcium, high fibre, high iron, low fat, low kilojoule, low sodium, vegetarian), main ingredient (choose from a wide array of meat and veggies!), meals and occasions (dare I list the choices? baking, barbecue, breakfast, casseroles/stews, Christmas, curries/Asian-style, desserts, dressings, drinks, homemade takeaways, mains, marinades/rubs, one-dish meals, pasta/rice/noodle dishes, pies/tarts/flans/fritatas, preserves, roasts, salads, sauces, side dishes, snacks/light meals, soups, starters/dips, stir-fries), seasons (spring, summer, autumn, winter), recipe by (with a list of experts), recipe types (5pm panic!, back to basics / step by step, freezes well, how to cook, kids can cook, low cost, makeovers, meals for one, no/minimal cooking, reader recipes, ready in 20 minutes, sponsored recipes).

I miss Wendy's iced tea!

Ice cream on bread

We have taken to eating ice cream every now and then because it is such a relatively inexpensive delight here. But instead of serving it by itself, we have been getting creative with how it is presented. On a piece of loaf which you can fold over the ice cream, a piece of cookie, a banana split whose photo was not taken before it was devoured.


Q: How do you make a banana split?
A: You say, "scram, banana!"

Technorati tags: food trip

Crab binagoongan

I love having crab that's cooked with the basic stir-fry garlic and onion, then covered to steam up in its own juice. Consume as is, or have a really sour vinegar with crushed garlic dip and it's one unforgettable hands-on meal!


One night, my wife prepared crab with shrimp paste, and I loved it too! Now I found two ways to enjoy crab, and both are very easy to do.

Vegetable tempura

Both vegetable and shrimp tempura are favorites with their lightly fried, crunchy batter and perfect dipping sauce making lunch or dinner a delightful meal. We tried to make vegetable tempura at home one time, and were delighted to find it so easy to make! The dipping sauce, however, is something that's more difficult to replicate and so we have an alternative: mayonnaise-wasabi sauce. Surprisingly, the sauce itself was yummy! I can imagine using this sauce on other stuff, like salads and burgers for that unique, tangy flavour!

How to make salted eggs

We were in the supermarket one time when my wife bought a big plastic bag of salt. Confused, I informed her that we still have salt, and shouldn't we be getting the iodized version? Nope, she said. She was making salted eggs. Then we headed off for the eggs section.

Making salted eggs is quite simple, as I learned later on. It's the waiting that... well, takes time. My wife's magic number for keeping the eggs submerged in the salty solution is 27 days.