Home-cooking Goodness

ethereal beauty queen..Sushmita Sen

In 1994, the question asked of the then-Miss Universe Indian Sushmita Sen, was “What is the essence of being a woman?” of which she answered with panache and made her win the crown.  Honestly, I can’t remember her exact response. I think it has something to do with being a mother, nurturing children and procreation. Forgive my poor memory but it’s the core that I’m driving at: MOM…close to being a kitchen whiz, a home angel, a very purposeful femme.

cheesy garlicky baked mussels or tahong

Bacon mushroom country pasta

Dulce de leche = just spooned off the
Milkmaid can

Most ladies like I do come to an age of settling and loving everything domicile. Career woman or not, it’s a feminine instinct to tinker in the kitchen and desire to concoct something for the family. I for one am not a great cook but I could whip up a dish and miraculously be relished by my “diners”. Occasionally, I would dominate the kitchen, give manoy [our home cook] a rest and put my magical hand to work.

My own take of Beef stroganoff

Surely, my friendship with the executive and pastry chef owner-couple of Apicius Culinary School in Albay is a divine providence. I was becoming a chef-wannabe years before I met tita Connie and tito Dick Condeno. Though cooking is just a burst of my moods, it is therapeutic for me, an outlet of my creative tendencies and a stress-buster despite the tedious clean-up after; makes me feel like I’m a kitchen-goddess. Perhaps, God put tita Connie and I together.

delightful pastry jewels that are Macarons

One thing that’s constant though: I love talking and journaling about cuisines. Its colossal kinds, depiction, history, health benefits and all…be those the main meals or dessert…soups, salads, beverages, pastries, pasta, rice or viand.

the colors befit the flavors, like mint green for Pistachios,
beige for caramel, brown for chocolate, pink for
strawberry, yellow for lemon, etc.

BabyClydeLove buys me these often

Cream dory fillets with Sofrito

Pesto pasta with ground garlic pili nuts
and Parmesan

Going back to foodstuff moods, I have cooked a lot that made me proud I am BabyClydelove’s wife and our three vivacious children’s mom. After I finished a short French cooking course at Icars [Apicius wasn’t in existence yet], I made Pot a Feu and Coq Au Vin; those slow cooking chicken/meat goodness in tomato based sauces and herbs and spices and red wine. French cooking deserves the top tier in world cuisine; not because it tastes amazing and name-forgetting-good but because it is so laborious that surviving the process is a great feat. One ought to have a trophy finishing a dish.

Pinoys have a hard time accepting the French palate. It tastes so red-winey, strong, and pungent. And I’m undeniably Pinoy; but if pastries are what we’re talking about, no doubt this description fits best: uberyummydelicious! French Macarons…goodness! Just taste it and speak for yourself. I got my first taste at Bizu Patisserie in Greenhills.

From http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Macaron, “macarons are sweet meringue-based confectioneries made with egg whites, icing sugar, granulated sugar, almond powder or ground almond; and to suit a flavor, food colouring. The macaron is commonly filled with ganache, a buttercream or jam filling sandwiched between two cookies. Its name is derived from the Italian word maccarone ormaccherone. The confectionery is characterized by its smooth, squared top, ruffled circumference (referred to as the "foot"), and flat base. It is mildly moist and easily melts in the mouth.^”

Now from my words, macarons are perfect with herb teas: green tea, ginger, lemon grass…any tea for it has a clean fresh aftertaste! It washes off the sugar load in the tongue. I’m talking a lone dessert here; wait till I write more on main meals.

Let’s leave French. Like moods are meant to be, my craze for it is flitting. Good thing I have the steady supply of Yummy magazines from Summit Media to back me up. Now that’s one publication I would call a fairy godmother should it take a form. A magazine that’s chockfull of credible doable recipes and my constant love: food articles. It perks me up! I’m no chef; just a self-proclaimed gourmand but I got all my cooking references from Yummy.

that laborious Coq Au Vin

I got to tweak the recipes all the time but Yummy is the main basis. What else have I cooked aside from Coq Au Vin? 

In a mix, there were:

1.    Cashew crusted fish [cream dory] with herbs = paired with light soy gravy

2.   Pesto pasta with ground garlic pili nuts and Parmesan

3.   Bacon mushroom country pasta

4.   My own take of Beef stroganoff = love the Beschamel!

5.   Dulce de leche = just spooned off the Milkmaid can

6.   Cream dory fillets with Sofrito =  those sautéed diced tomatoes and onions

7.   Burned banana bread = blame it on my oven-absence for I used the toaster

8.   Cheesy garlicky baked mussels/tahong

9.   Good Shepherd-like Halayang Ube = so like the nuns’ brand!

10.                The all-time Mango Float = almost weekly

11. Sago-Peach-Mango balls

12.                Precious many more I can’t remember for now

All I could remember is that I elicited praises from satisfied taste buds and tummies, except for the occasional too salty or too bland taste and the blackened cake. Hey, it happens to cooks. Nobody’s perfect. Laugh!