Crispy Pata Recipe

It's 3Pm in the afternoon and food is still clinging on my mind. there's 1 recipe that my late grandfather use to cook during fiesta. His ever famous Crispy Pata!!!

Preparation & drying: 4 hours to 1 day

Estimated cooking time: 20 minutes

Crispy Pata Ingredients:

·    1 Pata (front or hind leg of a pig including the knuckles)

·    1 bottle of soda (7Up or sprite)

·    1 tablespoon of salt

·    2 tablespoons patis (fish sauce)

·    1/2 tablespoon baking soda

·    1 tablespoon of monosodium glutamate (MSG)

·    4 tablespoons of flour

·    Enough oil for deep frying

·    Enough water for boiling

Crispy Pata cooking instructions:

·    Clean the pork pata by removing all hairs and by scraping the skin with a knife. Wash thoroughly.

·    Make four to five inch cuts on the sides of the pata.

·    On a deep stock pot, place the pata in water with soda and salt. Bring to a boil and simmer for 20 minutes. Then add the baking soda and continue to simmer for another 10 minutes.

·    Remove the pata from the pot and hang and allow to drip dry for 24 hours. An alternative to this is to thoroughly drain the pork pata and refrigerate for a few hours.

·    After the above process, rub patis on the pata and sprinkle flour liberally.

·    In a deep frying pot, heat cooking oil and deep fry the pork pata until golden brown.

Crispy Pata Dip Sauce: 

Mix 3/4 cup of vinegar, 1/4 cup soy sauce, 2 cloves of crushed garlic, 1 head of diced onion and 1 hot pepper. Salt and pepper to taste.

Baked Tahong Recipe

I’m not really a fan of mussels but this recipe truly delights me. It’s sooo good. Im almost full as for my appetizer. Seriously!

Here’s the ingredients for the baked tahong:

Baked Tahong: Baked mussels

• 1 kilo fresh large tahong (mussels)
• 1/2 cup butter or margarine
• 5 cloves garlic, minced
• 1/2 cup grated cheese (Quick Melt type)
• 1/2 cup bread crumbs

Baked Tahong Cooking Instructions:

· Place tahong(mussels) on a pan (no water), cover and cook over moderate heat.

· When shells open up, drain.

· Remove top shell.

· Melt butter, add minced garlic.

· Stir for 3 minutes.

· Brush each tahong meat with butter-garlic mixture, top with grated cheese and cover with bread crumbs.

· Arrange tahong (mussels) on a baking sheet.

· Bake in pre-heated oven with a low heat (250F).

· Bake for 10 – 15 minutes

Viola!! Dig in!!!

Adele: artist of the soul

Seriously? who wouldn't be touch by her songs... her lyrics just touches my soul. Gosh! it stick to my guts. Her 21 album is simply remarkable! and my all time favorite song is "Someone Like you".

here's something about Adele...

Adele Laurie Blue Adkins (born 5 May 1988), known professionally as Adele, is an English singer-songwriter. She was the first recipient of the Brit Awards Critics' Choice and was named the number-one predicted breakthrough act of 2008 in an annual BBC poll of music critics, Sound of 2008. Since her debut album 19, Adele has received much recognition both commercially and critically. The album debuted at number one, and has been certified 4x platinum in the UK. Her career in the US was boosted by a viewer record–breaking Saturday Night Live episode in late 2008. At the 2009 Grammy Awards, Adele won the awards for Best New Artist and Best Female Pop Vocal Performance.

Adele released her second album 21 on 24 January 2011 in the UK, and 22 February in the US. The album was well received critically and catapulted Adele to record breaking success, selling 208,000 copies in its first week in the UK and debuting at number one on the UK Albums Chart, a position it managed to hold for sixteen weeks. In the United Kingdom, 21 has been certified ten times platinum for shipment of 3.0 million units. The album debuted at number one on the Billboard 200 in the US, selling 352,000 copies in its first week. The album has charted at number one in 17 countries, including several charts across Europe, Australia and the United States.

After being performed at the 2011 BRIT Awards, the album track "Someone Like You" reached number one in the United Kingdom, while the album also remained at number one. "Someone Like You" held the number one position for four consecutive weeks.The song has also spent 2 weeks at number one in New Zealand 5 weeks at number one in Australia and following her performance at the 2011 MTV Video Music Awards it became Adele's second number one single on the Billboard Hot 100 in the US.

The Official Charts Company announced that Adele is the first living artist to achieve the feat of two top five hits in both the UK Official Singles Chart and the Official Albums Chart simultaneously since The Beatles in 1964. 21 has spent eleven consecutive weeks at number one in the UK, the longest ever by a female solo artist on the UK Albums Chart, surpassing Madonna's nine weeks at number one in 1990 with her greatest hits compilation The Immaculate Collection. Those records adding the one of "first album in U.K. chart history to sell 3 million copies in one calendar year", permitted her to appear in the 2012 Guinness Book Of World Records. In the US the album has spent a total of twelve weeks at the top of the Billboard 200 to date, the most weeks at number one since 2000. The album has also broken the record for the most UK digital downloads. As of May 2011 the singer was worth £6 million, tying her with Lily Allen and Duffy for 9th place on the list of the richest British and Irish music stars under age 30.

Cafe Laguna

For a great food and great friends to hang food.... try Cafe Laguna!

i've heard of this cozy restaurant a long time ago when i was still living in Cebu.

here's what i learn about the restaurant..

Café Laguna began as a labour of love for the Urbina Family. Coming from a long line of fine cooks, Lita Urbina decided to share her culinary talents with everyone. With the help and encouragement of her family, she started Café Laguna and served Filipino food with distinctive taste incomparable to this day. Food that not only was good but which brought memories of home cooked meals shared with friends and family.

Now, Café Laguna is a landmark for wholesome and delicious Filipino cuisine. From humble beginnings, the expertise of Lita Urbina and her staff have touched the lives of so many Cebuanos through the restaurant and catering service. Proving, once and for all, that the best way to anyone’s heart is through delicious cooking.

so to all davaoenos out there.. check it out! and oohh by the way... there krispy pata and baked Tahong is a must try!!!

happy eating!!

beef stroganoff

i find this dish soo good! for the pasta lover like me you should try this!!!

Beef Stroganoff

200 g. of spaghetti or fettucine
350 g. of parboiled beef brisket cut into 1/2″ x 1/2″ x 3″ strips
1 c. of cream
2 tbsps. of lemon (or kalamansi) juice
2 shallots (sibuyas tagalog), peeled and thinly sliced
2 pimientoes, cored, seeds removed and chopped coarsely
1-1/2 c. of thickly sliced fresh button mushrooms
1/2 c. of butter
salt and pepper
parsley for garnish

Cooking procedure :

Cook the spaghetti according to package directions. Drain. Transfer to a large bowl. Add 1/4 c. of butter and about 2 teaspoonfuls of chopped parsley. Toss until the butter melts, every noodle coated with butter and the parsley evenly distributed. Set aside and keep warm.

While the pasta cooks, make the sour cream. Pour the cream in a ceramic or glass bowl. Pour in two tablespoonfuls of lemon juice. Let stand without stirring the cream or moving the bowl for about 15 minutes or until curdled.

Melt the remaining butter in a saucepan. When hot, add the shallots and pimientoes, and cook over medium-low heat until soft. Turn up the heat to medium and add the mushrooms. Cook for about a minute and a half. Turn up the heat to medium-high and add the beef strips to the pan. Toss well. Season with salt and pepper. Turn down the heat to medium. Pour in the sour cream. Toss and simmer, covered, for five minutes.

Add the pasta to the beef mixture and toss well. Serve with bread and butter on the side.

Spagetti Recipe

Eden’s Spaghetti ™

· 1 kg. spaghetti noodles

· 1/2 kg. ground beef / pork

· 1/4 kg. hotdogs, diagonally sliced

· 1 kg. Del Monte Sweet Style Spag sauce

· 2 packs (small) Del Monte Italian spag sauce

· 2 packs (small) Hunts Parmesan cheese spag sauce

· 1 can Holiday meat spag sauce

· 1 can condensed milk

· 2 onions, chopped

· 1 head garlic (or less w/c ever preferred), minced

· 4 tablespoons of cooking oil

· pepper to taste

· Season with McCormick Italian Seasoning (optional)

· 1 pack Eden grated cheese

Spaghetti Cooking Instructions:

· Cook spaghetti noodles according to package instructions.

· In a sauce pan or wok, sauté garlic and onions in cooking oil.

· Add ground beef/pork, pepper, Magic Sarap, let simmer for 10 minutes or until brown.

· Then add hotdogs. Stir for a while....

· Add spag sauce, spag meat sauce, pepper to taste then let simmer for another 10 minutes. Stir occasionally

· Add 1 can condensed milk. Continue to simmer for an additional 5 minutes or less. Stir occasionally

· Serve with the cooked spaghetti noodles and grated cheese on top.

Enjoy!!!! ♥☻

dramatic weight loss....

i know everyone wants to be sexy but its so hard to achieve.... seriously!!!

but i got inspiration from Kristie Alley and also from the biggest losers contestant.

Rock that body, Kirstie! When Kirstie Alley cleared the 100 lb. weight-loss hurdle this summer, it was time for a big, fat celebration. "When I hit that mark, I went, 'That's it!' " Alley tells PEOPLE during her stay in a villa outside Florence, Italy. "I have more energy than I've ever had in my whole life." While Alley's weight has famously fluctuated in recent years, the actress, now 60, hit a wall two years ago.

"My body had gotten really weak," says Alley, whose weight at that time hovered around 230 lbs. "There was nothing positive about being fat." By dancing daily after her dazzling appearance on Dancing with the Stars, where she finished second, changing to an organic diet and following Organic Liaison, her own weight-loss program, she's turned her life around. "I feel back to normal," says Alley, now a proud size 6. "I have my game again." And she's ready for her next challenge: "What I'm looking for is to be madly, deeply in love," says Alley, who will also star in the upcoming ABC pilot, The Manzanis. "For the first time in my life, I know exactly what I want in a man," she says. "I want someone who has my back, who is courageous and brave."

so start now and feel the change!