Domestic Goddess

I believe what the package says is Cho Un Mas. I have no idea what the heck that means and haven't seen that anywhere here in Korea. BTW, great blog and such brilliantly colored pictures.

Yay! Peter's back (the Green one not the Eater one, but don't get me wrong, I love reading PtE posts too). Oh boy, this is going to be fun!

HBK - Here is my mom's recipe for you. Sinaing na tulingan 1 lb tulingan (skipjack tuna) 2 tablespoons rock salt 50 grams pork skin with some fat on, sliced into strips 1/4 teaspoon freshly ground pepper 1/4 cup tamarind juice or better belimbi juice (or sinigang belimbi mix) 3 cloves garlic 1 medium onion, sliced 1 thumbsize ginger, crushed 2 pieces green chili pepper (korean kind, the ones that are not spicy) 4 cups water 1. Remove gills and all internal organs of the fish. Slit both sides of the fish and press against the sides with palms of the hands to flatten the fish and soften its flesh. Wash thoroughly under running water, till water runs clear. Rub fish with salt in and out. 2 In a saucepan, arrange the pork fat at the bottom. Put the fish on top side by side. Add the rest of the ingredients. Bring to a boil, lower the heat and simmer for about 1/2 hour till the pork fat has gone soft and mushy and sauce is almost 1/3 left. Serve with steamed rice. Importance of the Pork fat: You would need pork fat with skin on to layer the bottom of the pan. It adds to the flavor of the dish and adds that distinctive taste to the sauce (which is so addictive on rice). Dipping sauce for this dish is fish sauce mixed with calamansi juice. For the pork broth - my butcher gave me a bag of bones with marrow in them. I roasted the bones, ate the marrow and froze them until I took them out to make pork stock. I found a couple of roasted beef bones too (from a previous Osso Buco meal) and threw that in the pot as well. The stock that came out was milky and so tasty good. I have been enjoying it as ramen broth with noodles and have added it to my Corned Beef and Cabbage soup. Sooo good.

yunnermeier - I would suggest you buy the bananas, let them age on the kitchen counter and then when they're dark brown, put them in the fridge for 1 day. The next day defrost and peel and use in your recipe. To get the banana bread really moist, try doubling the amount of bananas in your recipe and if you can get banana milk, use that instead of regular milk.

Regardless of how you feel Hummingbirdkiss, happy birthday to you! I have managed to use up half a head of cabbage and a can of corned beef for Corned Beef Cabbage Soup. Then I used up some eggs, squid, leek and rice noodles to make Pancit Palabok (Filipino Noodles in Seafood Sauce). Have also taken down a bag of pork and beef bones to make stock. I threw in scraps of veggies (celery, onion, leeks) and boy it was a great tasting stock. Tomorrow I plan to make Sinaing na Tulingan (Skipjack Stew) with two Skipjacks, ginger, belimbi powder mix and pork skin and fat. This is a wonderful thread. I have emptied one cupboard already and the veggie bin in fridge is half empty.

Steven, after you make a stop at slkinsey's in NY, you can head immediately to my house in Korea. Damn, those look GOOOD!

Hummingbirdkiss - you don't have to deepfry them, you can do the same thing in the oven. Make like a sweet spring roll with the berries, cream cheese and just put a single layer on a cookie sheet and bake. When one side is browned, turn over to finish the other side. Yes, layering them (the wrapper) like pasty will make them soggy.

In the Philippines, when we say meat, we say "carne" in Tagalog. Carne also means beef. So the default meat word in my country is beef. Pork is called "carneng baboy" or just baboy. Which is also the word for pig (the animal) or pig (glutton the human).

I, too, would like to know the answer since I've been itching to buy the $15 tiny jar in our local supermarket. What can I do with it? Is it worth it???

Sorry dockhl, I just saw these on the TV. The internet/celphone connected stove were advertised two years ago, while the smart fridge have recently been advertised for about 6 months now. The luxury apartments that promote all these advertising is called Jai Apartments. It used to gall my son, whose nickname is Jai, because the ads would end... "I love..JAI."

Thank you for a wonderful glimpse of your family life, your beautiful home and sunny Ashkelon, Israel. It felt like I was there celebrating with you and your family and going through the markets. Thank you, maraming salamat, thank you!

Me, I have to go through the following.... In the freezer: 1 small pot of frozen chicken congee or jook 1 container of chili con carne fixin's for osso buco 3 medium-sized tulingan (Skipjack Tuna) 6 smoked fish (tinapa or mackarel scad) 8 patties of frozen handmade beef hamburger patties 1 cup of flaked cooked chicken meat 3 containers of uncooked pork fat 1 lb. of pork meat (whole, uncooked) 1 small bag of chicken necks and backbone for making chicken stock ***It doesn't help that hubby cooked a huge pot of his vegetable beef soup which is not taking up almost half the freezer space with half a dozen containers. In the fridge itself, there are: 1/2 serving of Pancit Canton 2 lbs of ground beef for hubby's taco meat 1 serving of okra half a head of cabbage 1 huge mushroom 3 leek stalks 4 white onions 2 cups of cherry tomatoes 5 pcs of bell pepper 6 huge korean pears Sigh, I too, pledge not to buy anything except for bread and drinks, until we have gone through most of our stash.

Lior - I did the same thing with hibiscus flowers (called gumamela in Tagalog, the native language in the Philippines). We would take the thingie in the middle (pistil? stamen? geesh my biology teacher would lash me) and we'd suck the nectar from the flower. We also use to pound the petals into mush and mix a little water with it. Then we would decant this to use as a bubble solution for blowing bubbles. Never thought about attaching the green part to our noses though.

Tonight's dinner was a hearty bowl of Pancit Canton, a traditional Filipino food usually as a snack. Yes, it is of Chinese origins and I fondly remember when my Dad would come home late at night after overtime, bearing a paperbag package of the local restaurant Pancit Canton. The Pancit noodles would be wrapped in banana leaves and the latter would impart a very fragrant scent to the noodles plus the calamansi wedges that is scattered around the noodles. The perfect accompaniment to this would be freshly baked Pan de Sal (Bread of Salt).

I was feeling homesick so I fixed Fried Bangus (Milkfish) with soysauce-calamansi juice dip. I also panfried some homemade gyoza which we also dipped in the soysauce-calamansi mix. I haven't ladled the rice yet since it was still finishing up on the stove after I fluffed it up and turned off the heat.

Peter - they have those refrigerators here in Korea. Everything is scanned and listed inside the fridge. There is an LCD monitor on one of the doors and it can list all the items inside the fridge, the date it was purchased or made and even promts the user if the milk is running low or if you're out of sodas. You can also watch TV on the LCD screen, access your email, check your calendar/memo/things to do today or call up a recipe. It also prompts you with all the your appointments for the day (integrated from your computer's calendar). The PLUS thing is that you can email/call your fridge on your celphone to automatically defrost the steak that you have placed in the defrosting facility. Yes, the fridge is online, which means you can access your fridge contents to find out what you need to add to your grocery cart. Oh they have gas ranges that are hooked on the internet, too. Set a pot of water on the gas range and you can call on your celphone or email your stove to automatically turn on and start boiling that huge pot of water while you're in your car stuck in traffic. I've seen these products already advertised here in Korea for the posh, luxury apartments in Seoul.

Kim - can I come over for dinner? Suddenly my Subway sandwich pales in comparison looking at your delicious foodie pics.

Hubby will not eat an egg with runny yolk nor a hard-boiled egg. Fried eggs are fine as long as the yolk is really cooked, Oh, he doesnt' eat any kind of seafood at all. And he married a tropical girl who lived by the seas from a long line of a family of fishermen. Eldest son would not eat strawberries or mangoes. Or any kind of food or drink that has those flavors. Youngest son would not readily eat any kind of cooked egg but will eat egg mixed in with other kinds of food. Me? I'd eat anything except live baby octopus and raw marinated crabs (I can hear Sheena giggling).

Boy look at all that food! I sure wish I was one of those volunteers, Dejah. I just wanna get a plate and reach into my computer screen and get a portion of everything.

Ling - the green fruit with the spiky exterior might be sweetsop or what we call "Atis" in the Philippines. And the red bell-shaped fruit is called makopa in Filipino or known as the Java Apple. I'm glad you got a taste of it, we I was elementary school we had a huge tree growing in our backyard and we just jiggled the tree and dozens of these juicy bell fruit would rain down upon us. You would have to look closely before bit into one as black ants love to cluster all around the fruit base. I still remember the bitter acrid taste of a black ant. Ugh!

Lior - have been lurking for awhile and I must have to say ... please send ALL imperfect chocolates my way. Your chocolates are awesome! I could just imagine popping one in my mouth and letting it melt slowly on my tongue. MMmmMMmm

...Loves Milo..... ← You said it... there's a certain way to enjoy Milo powder straight from the jar. Pour into a little teacup or bowl. Take a tiny teaspoon and dip and add a spoonful to your tongue. Close mouth and relish the flavor. Take teaspoon again and dip into said teacup. Repeat over dozens of times. Take note not to exhale or to laugh out loud (as this will release brown powder all over your clothes and keyboard). Soon you will find out that Milo powder will cling to the teaspoon at every dip, making the it larger and lerger in size. When you managed to scrape off all the Milo powder from the teacup to your mouth, take that teaspoon with all that lovely Milo crust around it and put inside your mouth. Close eyes and savor all all the last chocolate goodness. Take out teaspoon and sigh.

My hubby makes stromboli with a french baguette. He slices the baguette into two, slathers one slice with pizza sauce then topped with pepperoni slices and mozarella cheese. The them puts the other half of the sandwich on top and slathers the whole sandwich with melted butter then wrap the whole thing up with aluminum wrap. The whole thing goes into the oven and toasted until the cheese melts. The baguette is then cut at angle to serve as sandwiches for two.

Okay, hormones have triggered the eating machine in me. It started in the afternoon with: a bowl of spicy-salty Gukbab (Beef blood soup over rice) a small portion of pork roast with gravy (and one slice of brea) 1 packet of peanuts 2 packets of crunchy galic-flavored fried corn (Boy Bawang) 1 teacup of Milo Chocolate malt powder (spooned directly into my mouth) and now am contemplating a Chorizo Sandwich.. slinks away in shame....

Ha ha ha, that sounds like an old Filipino joke... A man wonders why his order of fried fish hasn't been served yet. The waitress told him that the cook was still trying to catch the fish (at the pier with a fishing pole).