Domestic Goddess

Pickled onions are a specialty in my province in the Philippines. Here's a simple recipe for it. • 1 cup (250 mL) rice or cider vinegar • 3/4 cup (175 mL) granulated sugar • 1/2 cup water • 1/4 cup (60 mL) fish sauce (or 1 tbsp/15 mL salt) • 1 tsp (5 mL) crushed peppercorns Peel onions, wash and dry them. Put them in sterilized jars. In saucepan, bring rice vinegar, granulated sugar, water, fish sauce and pepper to boil, stirring until sugar is dissolved. Pour the misture over the onions and seal the jars. Onions will be ready in about 2 weeks or 1 month.

My hubby just made me go through all 15 pages so he could moan and drool over the butt pictures. Hubby now longs for his smoker that he left in Ky.

Prasantin - the Goldilocks polvoron is a so-so substiture for the real polvoron made by my Mom (with real butter). You're right, it does not compare to homemade polvoron but without a polvoron mold and the recipe, I can't make it here in Korea. Yes, those crunchy corn snack are like corn nuts but with an EXTREME fried garlic taste. My favorite! Chippy is always Chippy but eaters/lovers call it Chippy's. I love the red BBQ-flavored one. Insomniac, what I posted was just once of each kind in my cupboard. We have about 10 pcs. of each kind and you could just imagine how our cupboards are bursting from the seams from all the Filipino snacks. LOL

Sorry to hijack this thread but Nakji, how do you go about ordering mushroom hotpot? Where do you usually go for it? I wanna try it!

Pan, in my language (Filipino/Tagalog), BAWANG means garlic. What difference!

My friend came over from Manila to visit me here in Korea. My family sent me a ton of snacks and here are some of them. From L to R: Goldilocks polvoron, famous Chocnut peanut chocolate candies and the higly addictive Boy Bawang crunchy corn snack. Enough MSG-laden snacks to last us all month...

Read about the legend here... Clickety

Nishla, I would suggest that you visit Hong Kong or Shanghai next. I lived in Hong Kong/Shenzhen for 6 months and I enjoyed every day eating and dining out.

Recipe in your inbox Mike. Hope you like it!

Hubby cooked dinner tonight. A Kentucky boy, he made Fried Chicken and I made the side dishes (mashed taters and buttered corn).

Cooking ramen noodles means cleaning up the fridge and veggie tray for me. Add ons include: 1. Egg (boiled or sometimes swirled into the broth) 2. Napa cabbage or plain cabbage (thinly shredded) 3. Thinly sliced leeks 4. Julienned carrots 5. Thinly sliced leftover meat (pork, chicken or beef) 6. Kameboko 7. beansprouts 8. sliced onions or shallots 9. baby corn 10. mushrooms I could go one and on...

I made Clams in Blackbean Sauce I added some mushrooms and thinly sliced bok choy just to give it some color and texture.

Pie crust and peaches for my homemade Peach Pies. Peaches

I can PM you the recipe if you wan Mike, I make mine skinless since I cannot get pork casings here. My longganisa are vinegary and garlicky.

Something very Filipino... Longanisa with Garlic Fried Rice and Sunny-side up egg (with a sidedishe of chopped tomatoes in a splash of fish sauce)

Whenever we go to a big grocery store here in Kroea like LotteMart of E-Mart, I always pick up a couple of trays of these: Takoyaki balls Takotchi skewers (grilled chicken)

Here's some meals I've made for the past few days... Oyster Po' Boy Sandwiches We were down with a cold and I made Nilagang Baboy (Boiled Pork with Veggies). This is usually made with meaty beef bones (like neck part or the spine or ribs). To serve it, you ladle meat and veggies (potatoes, carrots & potatoes) into soup bowls and eat it with rice. A dipping sauce is usually served on the side - patis (fish sauce) with a squeeze of calamansi juice (or lemon would do).

If the windup carousel is made of plastic, it will melt when you pop popcorn on it. My hubby found this out the hard way.

Mike - my hubby's a Ky boy and simply loves banana pudding. He made me get the recipe from his mom and I have been making it since. I make everything from scratch, especially the vanilla wafers. Here are the recipe and a pic of my banana pudding... Mom’s Banana Pudding Pudding Ingredients: ½ cup flour 2 egg yolks, well-beaten (save the egg whites for later – meringue) 2 ½ cups milk 1 tbsp. Vanilla powder 1tbsp. Butter a pinch of salt 1 cup sugar Meringue topping ingredients: 2 egg whites ¼ tsp. cream of tartar 6 tbsp. Sugar *Vanilla wafer cookies 1. Cook milk, sugar, salt and flour together in a wok or pan. Stir over medium heat until the mixture comes together like gravy. Keep stirring all the time to prevent lumps forming. 2. When the mixture looks like loose gravy add the beaten egg yolks and STIR CONSTANTLY until thickened to pudding consistency. 3. Remove from heat and add the vanilla and the butter and stir some more. Set aside. 4. Bake the vanilla cookies and when done set aside. 5. For the meringue topping, take a mixer and a clean bowl. In the bowl put the egg whites and beat it with the mixer until soft peaks form on the mixture. The egg whites should look white now and slowly add sugar (sprinkling it around the bowl while mixing.) Add the cream of tartar too now. Keep adding sugar while bating the egg whites until stiff peaks form. Set aside when the egg whites look like white icing. 6. Now it is time to layer the dish. First put a layer of vanilla cookies on the bottom of the pan or dish. Then layer pudding, then a layer of sliced bananas and then vanilla cookies again. Keep repeating the process until the dish is full. Top with meringue and brown the meringue in oven (set in 375 F degrees) for about 5-10 minutes. Watch carefully because it doesn’t take long to. *Vanilla Wafer cookies recipe INGREDIENTS · 1/2 cup butter (no substitutes), softened · 1 cup sugar · 1 egg · 1 tablespoon vanilla extract · 1 1/3 cups all-purpose flour · 3/4 teaspoon baking powder · 1/4 teaspoon salt DIRECTIONS In a mixing bowl, cream butter and sugar. Beat in egg and vanilla. Combine dry ingredients; add to creamed mixture and mix well. Drop by teaspoonfuls 2 in. apart onto ungreased baking sheets. Bake at 350 degrees F for 12-15 minutes or until edges are golden brown. Remove to a wire rack to cool.

My favorite 'grazing' foods: Homamade pimiento cheese on toasted bread Instant beef soup noodles Leftover mapo tofu on rice Soft boiled eggs with soldier toasts Prawn crackers dipped in garlic vinegar dip Roasted chestnuts Boiled peanuts I could go on forever...

Nishla - you couldn't imagine the amount of drool all over my keyboard looking at your seafood feast. Tha clams! The crabs! The roe! (faints).... (drags herself up and speaks weakly) Keep 'em coming... keep the delicious pictures coming...

Shay - I am eargerly awaiting your PM. I have about half a kilo of dried chickpeas that is just perfect for that recipe. Maraming salamat (thank you so much) in advance!

Nishla - the hollow stem vegetable is called Kangkong in the Philippines and is great steamed and then topped with sauteed shrimp paste and sesame oil. The apple custard is called Atis in my language and is a family favorite (esp. my Dad). I am really loving your blog since my best friend (an American) is working there now.

Shaya - I was intrigued with your Sambousak Mal Tawa. Can you share the recipe please?

Judith - that picture of the quails lying on that bed of potatoes and fennel makes me wanna dive into it. Have eaten a huge sandwich but now my tummy is growling again.