Tag Archives: kitchen

Home Cooking Made Even Better

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Home cooking is now easier with all the high-tech kitchen appliances and cooking equipment available in the market. Whether you know how to cook or not, prepping a dish has never been this easy, quick, and fun made possible by these innovations designed to make anyone’s cooking experience more enjoyable.

One of my particular favorites is the Turbo Broiler. You can whip up any recipe you like may it be roasted chicken or choco brownie using this kitchen appliance. Yes, that’s basically from viands to desserts.

How different is it from traditional ovens? I think they are the same as far as functionalities are concerned. But, Turbo Broilers are easier to clean and if you live in a condo, it’s a definite must-have because they don’t occupy too much space when using or storing it.

Actually, the truth of the matter is that I am posting this because I miss eating uga/tuyo/dried fish because I can’t cook it here in the condo. lol It’s my second favorite food next to LIGO sardines. Yum!

I love cooking for my loved ones. I just don’t want them to blame me when they gain weight. 😅 And I must say, all thanks to my family for being the best cooking mentors. They are not easy to please though when it comes to home cooked food.

My parents, most especially, require a particular cut, variety, and texture when selecting and preparing ingredients. My Dad also prefers bland meals, while Mom’s on the salty side. So you can imagine how challenging it was before for me to come up with one dish that will satisfy both of them. lol

But, without a challenge, we won’t become excellent in what we do. And with practice, patience, and passion, I must say that somehow I finally met their expectations. However, there are some dishes that I still can’t get quite right according to their preferences.

My own version of Pancit Bato.

Do check out some of my home cooked meals in the video below, and don’t hesitate to comment or message me if you want to know the recipe for a particular dish. I’ll be more than glad to send it over to you. ❤️

This is best watched in full-screen mode on YouTube. 🙂

P.S. My favorite website for Pinoy food recipes is Panlasang Pinoy. Though I tweak some of the recipes a bit to suit my palate. 👍👍

“Therefore I tell you, do not worry about your life, what you will eat or drink; or about your body, what you will wear. Is not life more than food, and the body more than clothes? 

Look at the birds of the air; they do not sow or reap or store away in barns, and yet your heavenly Father feeds them. Are you not much more valuable than they? Can any one of you by worrying add a single hour to your life?

And why do you worry about clothes? See how the flowers of the field grow. They do not labor or spin. Yet I tell you that not even Solomon in all his splendor was dressed like one of these. 

If that is how God clothes the grass of the field, which is here today and tomorrow is thrown into the fire, will He not much more clothe you—you of little faith? 

So do not worry, saying, ‘What shall we eat?’ or ‘What shall we drink?’ or ‘What shall we wear?’ For the pagans run after all these things, and your heavenly Father knows that you need them. 

But seek first His kingdom and His righteousness, and all these things will be given to you as well. Therefore do not worry about tomorrow, for tomorrow will worry about itself. Each day has enough trouble of its own.” – Matthew 6:25-34

Roasted Chicken A la Bicolana

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I was supposed to write this article last December but the holiday rush, preparation and celebration with the family kept me from doing so.

This article though came in timely as my previous articles for this month were all about gifts (not your usual gift in a box with a ribbon) and the value of serving others through your gifts. I actually didn’t expect that last Sunday’s lecture will also be about that. Ah yes, it always is a wonder how things can be intertwined all because of God’s mysterious ways. 🙂

What is serving and how can we serve in a biblical sense?

“For even the Son of Man did not come to be served, but to serve, and to give His life as a ransom for many.” – Mark 10:45

“…and whoever wants to be first must be your slave—just as the Son of Man did not come to be served, but to serve, and to give His life as a ransom for many.” – Matthew 20:27-28

And the King will say, ‘I tell you the truth, when you did it to one of the least of these my brothers and sisters, you were doing it to me!’ – Matthew 25:40

I believe one way of honoring God and showing our thanks to Him is by sharing that love to others too. Let’s just say that you felt how much God loves you and it is just too wonderful to keep it to yourself that’s why you wanted to let others know and feel that kind of love as well.

In doing so, they might wonder what is it that’s been fueling your actions and though they might not understand it at first, this can be your perfect response – out of love.

“We love because He first loved us.” – 1 John 4:19

In the aspect of serving, we do find ourselves doing that knowingly or unknowingly with our families first and foremost. So last Christmas, I thought about preparing this roasted chicken recipe which was the first in the family’s Christmas celebration tradition.

Do take note though that I am no chef. lol 😀

I was just inspired and taught by my 3 older sisters who are very good in the kitchen and have such superb cooking skills they can invent their own recipe. Yup, no kidding. They really are that good.

Being the youngest, I grew up being the dishwasher. Haha Yes, you won’t believe it but my brother and I take turns in washing the dishes when we were younger. We are the two youngest members in the family, by the way.

On a side note, I just love being in a big family. You might not get to see or talk to all of them at the same time, yet you’ll still have one sibling to bug about every week aside from your parents. 😀

Anyway, as for my roasted chicken recipe, let’s just say I combined all the roasted chicken recipes I could find over the internet and came up with a “hybrid” roasted chicken. 😉

Roasted Chicken

Roasted Chicken A la Bicolana

Here’s the recipe:

Ingredients:

1 whole chicken

1 bunch of lemongrass

1 cup butter

½ cup tomato ketchup

1 cup soy sauce

2 teaspoons Worcestershire sauce

3 tablespoons sugar

2 tablespoons salt

5 cloves whole garlic

2 teaspoons slightly crushed black pepper

4 onions cut into 4 parts

Procedure:

  1. Combine all the ingredients except for butter.
  2. Place the onions, garlic and lemongrass inside the chicken and marinate overnight.
  3. Prepare the butter and remaining marinade for basting.
  4. Preheat your oven to 400 degrees Farenheit and cook for about 1 hour or until the chicken is tender.
  5. Top it with garnishing, serve and enjoy!

I intend to make this a yearly tradition – out of love for God, love for family and joy in serving others. 🙂

P.S.

Oh and one mistake from the roasted chicken recipe – don’t prepare 1 roasted chicken ONLY especially when there are about 8 persons hoping to try it. lol 

I was expecting it to be served as an additional dish along with other meals but it became the main course – ooopps, my mistake. So yes, Mom wasn’t able to try it as she ate late and sadly, no roasted chicken leftover. I have this year to make up for it though. 😀

One thing more, the turbo broiler is a kitchen winner for me, nothing beats. ❤

Turbo Broiler

Turbo Broiler Moment

 

2nd Year Anniversary Special: Going Classic on Meat via a VINTAGE Meat Grinder

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I am no sweetie pie. 

I may look like one but definitely not like one. In fact I am a “beautiful monster” as Rihanna would put it. lol Kidding of course. 😉 I am just not your ordinary sweet girl for I am very strong willed to the point of being stubborn and hard headed and someone who is always on the go. But by God’s grace, I am now learning slowly but surely how to listen, how to wait, how to be gentle and how to submit. I am a good follower especially if you are a good leader. 🙂

This post is not about me per se but about something that I was so interested to try ever since I was kid but only had the opportunity to do it now that I am in my late 20s – grinding pork’s meat in our vintage meat grinder.

Tin Ginete

Universal Vintage Meat Grinder

3 questions:

1. Why the need to try it?

2. Why now?

3. What’s the correlation between a meat grinder and a sweetie pie? (I know this one sounds funny.) 😉

First, ever since I was a kid, I got fascinated by how it works every time Daddy would ask me to help him scrape the ground pork off the opening of the grinder where it goes out. I would usually watch how the process goes from putting the raw pork cubes inside the feeder, the one with the big opening, as you slowly turn the handle clockwise then to the slicing, cutting and grinding part when it reaches the disk until the last part where the ground meat comes out . As you continue to turn the handle, pork cubes will slowly be sucked underneath and you’ll hear a gritting sound. A sound that I find interestingly amusing. And I don’t know why. 🙂

Tin Ginete

Universal Vintage Meat Grinder

I love anything vintage not because it’s classical but because of the story behind each of them. Mom told me that one of our great grandpas used to own it before handing it over to them. I also did my research and found out that the meat grinder is one of the inventions of German Baron Karl Drais during the mid 1880s who also invented the Laufmaschine or what we commonly now know as the bicycle (encyclopedia.com). Isn’t it amazing to still use stuff that is way, way older than you. I feel like calling it “grandpa meat grinder.”   😉

Seriously, the mechanism of the meat grinder is very simple. And neither it is that complicated to operate. All you need is a wooden plank where you can rest it on and there is a screw underneath to tighten and secure it in place. It is easy to clean as well and very portable as it can fit even on a shoe box. Except that it is a bit heavy, around 8.5 pounds since it is made of cast iron.

So if you intend on using one at home, you have to prepare your arms for some muscle workout when you turn the lever because you’ll have to pull a little harder when it gets to that part of the pork meat that’s a bit tough. Just a tip though, cover the feeder with your left hand because oftentimes pork cubes tend to fall out as they go up and down during the grinding.

Second, I got to try it just now as it requires extreme muscle strength to be able to finish the process altogether. Daddy won’t still allow me if I didn’t insist. He thought I am far too weak to finish the task. But I was up for the challenge anyway, so there went adrenaline rush. *game face on*

The handle of our meat grinder is supposed to be covered with wood but I guess it got broken a long time ago. So there’s the tendency for your grip to slip off from the handle at the middle of the grinding process as more grease are coming out from the ground meat.

And lastly, what’s between a sweetie pie and a meat grinder? 🙂

Well, it is a kitchen equipment best used by Dads or any male. I am no sexist but if you are frail, trying this out might be a bad idea. You’ve got to toughen up for you to finish an entire bowl of pork cubes. It was my passion for learning and experiencing new things that urged me to try grinding the meat myself with the help of my sister (she scrapes the ground pork for me). And another thing, we have a scarcity of males in the household. lol My Dad and my brother are the only men at home they wouldn’t be able to do all the tasks that require great strength all by themselves, thus, this is where my sisters and I come to the rescue.

Tin Ginete

My sister (left) and I (right) doing our arm muscle workout. 😉

This was one simple experience that I have pretty much enjoyed I just can’t wait to go home and try it again. Besides, it is a fun way of working out too. So no, I don’t just sit pretty and be a sweetie pie. 😉

This article may seem a bit odd from topic to beginning to plot and ending but this is actually a tribute to something classic in celebration of my 2nd anniversary here on WordPress as a blogger. Thank you so much to all my followers and readers who have shared their wonderful adventures, ideas and experiences as well making my 2-year experience in the WordPress community worthwhile.

And definitely last but not the least, thank you to you my Father God for the gift of sharing. 🙂

Tin Ginete

Happy 2nd Anniversary!

Tin Ginete

Happy 2nd Anniversary!

 

 

Cheers to more blogging experiences with you my fellow WordPress writers!

Lots of love,

Tin 🙂