Wednesday Nugget: On Time and Silence

My summer vacation began two days ago but the past two days saw me at a frenzied rush, organizing a small themed party for a six-year-old.

Today, my vacation officially starts.  And by vacation I mean luxuriating in the things that make me happy.  Today, I shall bask in silence and the thought of the many creative things I can do given all the time I have right now.

Have a lovely midweek, lovelies.

Wednesday Nugget: The Thing with Being Busy...

...is that it should never be made as an excuse.

Have a lovely midweek, lovelies. :)

The One About Balik Bukid 5

How did having fun and being entertained drastically move from plain, holistic, and organic (like tumbang preso using slippers and an empty sardines can and making bubbles using gumamela flowers) to lazy, one-dimensional, patience-reducing technology such as Playstations and smartphone app games?  Toys of today are colourful, yes, but made of plastic.  I love fabric and wooden toys.  They are, yes, organic and natural.  In all my years of teaching preschool, people have made the assumption that I probably owned a lot of toys.  But because of the way toys today are made, I sadly admit I do not.  Plastic just does not do it for me.  That is why I make my own teaching materials as much as I can help it.  Anyway, just last week, during play time, I watched my students engage in a delightful game of Chinese garter.  My co-teacher and I watched with delight and listened as they chanted “10, 20, 30, 40...” and wondered how they learned to play the game.  Wouldn’t it be nice if kids today took a break from their game consoles and engaged in real play?

That is why Balik Bukid could not have happened at a better time.  When one is used to the city rush, there is nothing like going back to the basics and breathing fresh air, wearing a hat not because it’s fashionable but for protection, feeding rabbits, playing in tire swings, rowing a boat in small lake, patting a pony and riding a horse, playing mud races, laying a blanket on the ground and having a picnic, and eating organically grown produce.  Pure holistic fun.

I wrote about my first Balik Bukid here.  Two years and four Balik Bukid Fairs later, my mom, dad, and I, along with my cousins and newest niece, trooped back to the farm to witness it all over again on its fifth run! 

Balik Bukid is located at Sta. Elena Golf and Country Estate in Laguna.  It’s so close to Manila and yet it feels like a world away.  Shopping and dining options abound along with get-down-and-dirty entertainment options such as a mud race, horse and carabao rides, sprinkler playgrounds, obstacle courses, arts and crafts, and a Waldorf play pen.  My mom and I breathed in fresh air despite the sweltering heat as we strolled around the farm which was peppered with inspirational quotes painted on wooden tablets.

Watching the play pen for kids was heartwarming.  My late baby brother was a Waldorf student. 

That doll's hammock!

Check out the lovely birdcage chandelier in the Pavilion.

Outdoor eating area

A lot of the items sold in the bazaar were homegrown products, handmade lovelies, and organic items.  Lovely children’s dresses and women’s apparels, bags, home sprays and bug sprays, wooden serving platters, shoes, leather goods, and – my favourite – handmade toys!  I was so excited and enamored by them that I forgot to take pictures.  What I did take home with me, though, was two tubs of Happy Bubbles and a bubblemaker fashioned from two sticks and cheesecloth to make giant bubbles with!  Can’t wait to let my students play with them during outdoor play!  Real play, y’all!

One will never feel guilty about devouring the food offered in the fair because they were all healthy and organic.  My mom and I shared a brick-oven Margerita pizza and fresh apple juice.  I also took home a box of Bocaditos from Baked by Anita.  The Wild Mushroom with Gruyere &Truffle Oil and Spinach with Goat Cheese & Pine Nuts varieties were wonderful company when I had dinner that night.

 

How fun was all that?  I was born and bred in the city but my husband, my family, and my friends know that I will always be a provincial lass at heart.  I like the conveniences city life provides but it can never give the joy farm living gives.  And even though Balik Bukid happens only twice a year, it’s nice to know that there is such a pleasant and peaceful haven to go to to make my provincial heart sing.

P.S.  If you want to see more Balik Bukid pics from other people, check out Instagram using #balikbukid.  I swear, I’m missing it all the more because of other people’s happy pictures!

The One About the Chinese Cooking Class

Hon-some and I love Chinese cuisine.  On days that permit us to do so, we love waking up early in the morning and driving to Binondo to have breakfast.  There, we would have more than our fill of authentic Chinese fare. In fact, our trips to Hong Kong almost always highlight the food, not the scenery nor the crazy shopping.

Sadly, Chinese cooking is my Achilles' heel.  Even after many attempts, I never get it authentically right.  Sure, my Yang Chow fried rice is good enough...but it’s not authentic.  For some reason, online recipes I have found have yielded lackluster results.

Fortunately, 25 Mushrooms Kitchen came to the rescue!  25 Mushrooms Kitchen initially offered their cooking classes to household helpers to improve their cooking repertoire, much to the happiness of the employers who have graciously enrolled them in a class or two...or more.  Happily, they also accommodate non-household helpers like newlyweds or anyone who’s itching to perfect a particular recipe or cuisine.  Their lineup of classes have always piqued my cooking diva interest but when they opened a Chinese Dimsum and Dumpling class, I knew I had to enroll.  Right.  Away.

So right away I went!  About seven recipes were taught via demonstrations and – if you volunteer – hands-on experience.  The instructors were very generous in sharing what they knew about dimsum and dumplings – precise ingredients and where to get them, exact measurements, recommended brands of specific ingredients that yield the best dimsum.

In one day, I had my fill of the following Chinese fare...

Hakaw

Lo Ma Gai or Machang (sans the wrapping)

Radish Cake

Shrimp Chong Fan

Beancurd Roll

Seafood Cabbage Roll

At one point, I got tired from taking pictures and just wanted to munch away but we also made buchi and steamed spareribs.

I super enjoyed my cooking class and felt that the P1,100 that I invested for learning that day was well-spent!  Will write a blog post again once I make that trek to the Chinese grocery and churn out lovely dimsum beauties of my own!

The One About the Felt Sandwich

“Man does not live by bread alone…”

 He also needs a delicious panoply of sandwich implements…

A slice of Swiss cheese

A thriving leaf of lettuce

Juicy slices of a bright red tomato

And a savory serving of bologna (or ham or bacon or cold cuts…)

Happy crafting!

The One That's Almost Southern

Southern fried chicken, to me, has always appeared to be the best fried chicken there is.  It is moist and juicy on the inside and the crispy coating is a sinful delight I am more than willing to commit.  I have made two or three attempts in the past to recreate this rather iconic American dish but have failed miserably.  Either the chicken was dry on the inside or the coating was too sticky because of too much flour.

Recently, I decided to give it one more try.  Armed with a recipe I found online, I made a few tweaks and, lo and behold!!!  An almost perfect Southern fried chicken!

Here’s the recipe:

1.  In a bowl, mix buttermilk (make your own:  about a cup of milk and a tablespoon of vinegar), cayenne pepper, paprika, garlic powder, onion powder, salt, and white pepper.  

2.  Place the chicken pieces in the marinade and allow flavors to seep in the chicken overnight.

3.  Next, mix flour, cayenne pepper, paprika, garlic powder, salt and black pepper in a shallow bowl.  At this point, you can leave the seasoned flour as is or try adding dried herbs of your choice.  Take note that the flavor will alter depending on the dried herbs you have chosen to add.  Also, I don't measure when I cook.  I eyeball everything but about a teaspoon of each of the spices and herbs will do.

4.  Coat the chicken with the seasoned flour.  You can do double coats (coat with flour, dip in buttermilk again, and then coat with flour for the second time).  I did double coats and then, I tweaked the recipe by coating the chicken in breadcrumbs.  It resulted to a crispier chicken.

5.  Fry the chicken in batches.

I say that it’s almost perfect Southern fried chicken because I only used a few herbs and spices.  Now if I can just figure the other ones that wonderfully complement chicken (or the rest of KFC’s 11 secret herbs and spices!), that would spell out success in this feathery quest for the Holy Grail of fried chicken!

But as it is, it is already more than good.  It’s unbelievably savory and has an incredible kick in every morsel of chicken.  Marinating it in flavoured buttermilk gives it the moist and juicy meat.  I paired it with buttered veggies, mashed potatoes with homemade gravy, and a Southern accent for good measure. :)

The One About the Chocolate Cheesecake Brownies

The most recent holiday had me missing baking.  I am not claiming I am good at it but the few attempts I have made have churned out ooey gooey baked lovelies.  This batch of chocolate cheesecake brownies is no exception.  The sweet goodness of chocolates swirled with the tanginess of rich cheesecake makes for an incredible tandem for a party in anyone’s mouth.

Here's what you'll need:

An 8x8 baking pan

150g butter, chopped

300g dark chocolate, chopped

3 eggs

1 cup caster sugar and another 2/3 cup caster sugar for the cheesecake batter

1 1/2 cups all-purpose flour

250g cream cheese, room temperature

1/4 cup cocoa powder

1/4 teaspoon baking powder

1 teaspoon vanilla extract

a pinch of salt

Here's how to whip up a lovely batch:

1.  Preheat oven to 350 degrees Fahrenheit.

2.  Grease the baking pan and line it with parchment paper.

3.  Heat butter and dark chocolate in a saucepan or microwave until melted and well-mixed.

4.  Pour butter and chocolate mixture into a big bowl.  Whisk in sugar, 2 eggs, vanilla extract, and salt.

5.  In another bowl, sift together flour (I used half all-purpose flour and half cake flour;  the result was super moist brownies) and cocoa powder.

6.  Slowly add the flour mixture by batches to the chocolate mixture. When everything has been mixed, pour batter into the baking pan.

7.  To make the cheesecake batter, in a food processor or blender, mix the cream cheese, 2/3 cup sugar, and the remaining egg.

8.  Pour the cheesecake batter over the chocolate batter in the baking pan.  Using a chopstick, make swirls to mix the two batters.

9.  Bake in the oven for 40-45 minutes or until a fork/skewer comes out clean when inserted.  Set aside to cool and cut into squares.

Whipping up a batch of these babies is the perfect pick-me-upper for those less-than-eventful days.  They go so well with coffee or tea.  Or with your husband by your side, happily devouring his share. :)

Try it.  You’ll love it.