A Table for One

For six long years, I have been away from my family to work in a nearby place. Living alone taught me a lot of things: laundry, taking care of my stuff, washing dishes and several others that I must do or else I'd be living in a place called Garbage Home.

Among all the domesticating works I do, there's one thing that I love so much: COOKING.

I can say that I have unlocked the secrets in good cooking, and I learned that there's one more fun thing I discovered... mastering the art of cooking for one.

Usual menus include Filipino dishes like Sinigang for one, Adobo for one, Caldereta for one, Kare-Kare for one and many more other dishes. I also do any dish that I like as long as it doesn't require baking.

Well, if you live alone, and you have no one to share the meals with, you might as well cook the same way that I do. It needs skills though. I do not want to make it sound complicated, but I'm telling you, its not that easy.

Dinner from the other night. Pan grilled stuffed squid in Oyster sauce
served with singkamas (white turnip) on the side, for one. Yes sir, no rice.

So, what's the hard part about cooking for one? Well, to start with, you need to get yourself a big fridge. What's with the big fridge? Its where you keep the remaining ingredients when you cook for one. You can't buy a piece of fish, a chop or several slices of meat because things you see in the market or in the grocery are sold by kilos. Lucky if you can have them by half-kilos, or you have other plans using the same ingredient. Otherwise, you'll have to keep them in the cold storage.

Second, selecting dry ingredients that comes in small packages is a pain in the arse problem too. It's the same as buying stuff that needs the cold storage. You can't leave a small box of flour open for a long period of time, nor use an entire can of preserved fruit for a dish for one.

Finally, if at first you won't succeed... You'll have your official 'Adobo day' or whatever dish you just made. You'll think you cooked enough for one, but will end eating a dish for three. Save them, you can always have them later :P

Beep bop baloobap yes to Bibimbap

The Bibimbap Experience

Last Sunday was awesome, went out to meet friends who I haven't seen for a long time. It was a bit late, and we need to eat so we tried a Korean restaurant called Bulgogi Brothers. I know that Korean foods are usually spicy, and I kind of hate that. I don't like spicy foods. But in this case, I came to enjoy the food even if its slightly spicy.

Tried bibimbap for the first time. It was yummy, but really spicy.

Bibimbap. Freshly served. Haven't mixed it though

Bibimbap is basically a bowl of 'mixed rice'. Its a combination of white cooked rice topped with pre-cooked veggies and your choice of meat [seafood, beef or chicken... I chose beef because I have food allergies and I can't eat too much seafood]. The ingredients are mixed thoroughly before eating.

Mixed bibimbap! YAAAY!

What makes bibimbap and other Korean dishes popular is the chili paste they use in every dish. Aside from bibimbap, we also ordered Bulgogi [its a thinly sliced marinated grilled meat] which they will cook using a built-in induction cooker on the table.

Might try creating a version of bibimbap soon. I just hope its going to be as delicious as the first bibimbap that we ate.

How I see the bibimbap experience?
It was fun. Spicy. Yummy. A bit of pricey but its worth the experience I had.

What happened to my 'binalot'?

I am an avid fan of food.
Yes, I do eat a lot and I love trying out every food stuff that I have not heard of. It was fun at first, until I realize that it should come to a stop. Nonetheless, after joining the parade for the Sorteo Festival in Carmona, Cavite, we decided to stop by to have our breakfast [its 9:00 am] in a nearby 'binalot' eatery.

For those folks who doesn't know what binalot is, its cooked rice with various toppings on it wrapped in banana leaves. The picture below will somehow give you an idea of what it is. The binalot I had is my favorite 'chicken and pork adobo binalot'.

Wrapped in heated banana leaves, this chicken and pork binalot satisfied my craving.
And oh, the pastillas is awesome too!

How I see the 'chicken and pork' binalot?
It is still yummy, but it has lesser content than the same stuff I used to buy four years ago. The store makes use of chicken egg, and not duck eggs anymore. Up until now, I still wonder why salt is added under the first layer of banana leaves. Anything else, its still good.

What happened to my binalot? After a few minutes its just banana leaves [and the salt under it]