Baked Mac

Baked Macaroni

I love baked mac simply because I love minced beef and pasta. This dish is the perfect combination. If you have cooked minced beef with tomato sauce for spaghetti, then you can easily do this. The additional step of baking with a cheese-based topping makes this a favourite. We brought this to a party and it was a hit! We still have quite a lot of pasta shells so we used that instead, but the traditional pasta used is - obviously - elbow macaroni.

Halo-halo heaven

Today is the last day of our Christmas break, but there's really no time to mull over the end of the happy days, so to speak, because the sun is out shining brightly, and there's still time for one last get-together.  And this one's quite special as we planned for a Halo-halo afternoon!

Halo-halo is a summer treat back in the Philippines.  Its literal translation is 'mix-mix', which is essentially what you do after adding all the ingredients in a cup, then topped with crushed ice, followed by leche flan and/or ice cream and/or ube.  The dry season is welcomed with makeshift stalls on the roadside selling this popular delicacy to help stave off the heat.  Halo-halo is in fact a staple of many a happy childhood memory, along with trips to the provinces and the beach.

Ginataang Kamoteng Kahoy (Cassava in Coconut Milk)

Ginataang Kamoteng Kahoy (Cassava in Coconut Milk)

My wife called it Balinghoy, I just knew it as either Cassava or Kamoteng Kahoy. We purchase this tuber fresh from the market back in my hometown of Baguio. We would remove the rough, outer bark before cooking it. You need to be careful with the raw product as it has toxins, so it needs to be thoroughly cooked before consumption. We do not have fresh cassava here in New Zealand, but we do have the frozen variety, available from the Asian store. It has already been pre-cooked so the first stage of cooking is shortened.