My intuition knows no bounds

Mood: curious  Music: Soul Sound - Sugababes  Reading: Morning is a Long Time Coming

Day 01 -> Your favourite song
Day 02 -> Your favourite movie
Day 03 -> Your favourite television program
Day 04 -> Your favourite book
Day 05 -> Your favourite quote
Day 06 -> Whatever tickles your fancy
Day 07 -> A photo that makes you happy
Day 08 -> A photo that makes you angry/sad
Day 09 -> A photo you took
Day 10 -> A photo of you taken over ten years ago
Day 11 -> A photo of you taken recently
Day 12 -> Whatever tickles your fancy
Day 13 -> A fictional book
Day 14 -> A non-fictional book
Day 15 -> A fanfic
Day 16 -> A song that makes you cry (or nearly)
Day 17 -> An art piece (painting, drawing, sculpture, etc.)
Day 18 -> Whatever tickles your fancy
Day 19 -> A talent of yours
Day 20 -> A hobby of yours
Day 21 -> A recipe

Today is a No Go

No seriously, I don’t have any recipes. I’m not a big fan or follower of recipes in general. Only because everything I like to cook, I can cook by heart. Sinigang, adobo, spaghetti, steak, picadillo. I’m a woman of limited skills, what can I say? But these are my comfort foods.

My mom didn’t really have recipes either. Everything she taught me, she taught by physically walking me through it. We’re not big on trying new flavors either. We stick with what we know when it comes to cooking, because there are so many picky eaters in my family. If we introduce anything new or strange, people are liable to eat something else, or not eat at all.

Anyways, when she told me to add soy sauce and vinegar together for adobo, it was by taste to get the right balance of sour and salty, not formal measurement. Then when the pork or beef starts boiling, it mixes the salty and sour together just right.

When I learned how to make sinigang, it was by look. Cube the meat, add just enough water to cover. You add the sinigang powder packet, bring it to a boil, add the vegetables (we make it with okra and spinach in my house), and simmer for an hour or so. You’ll know it’s cooked when it’s cooked.

You can’t fuck up spaghetti or steak, lol. But I do add sugar to my spaghetti sauce. Secret Pinoy weapon.

Picadillo is the easiest thing in the world to make: ground beef and cubed potatoes, with maybe salt and pepper to taste. Then drown it in soy sauce and eat it with rice. Well, that’s the way I make it, I know there is another way to do it. You can make it soupy, add raisins (or maybe that’s just my family, lol), onions, etc.

I haven’t perfected making menudo so it’s not part of my pantheon yet, lol. My mom used to sneak liver in it because me and my brother would never eat it otherwise! After awhile we stopped picking it out and just eating it. IDK abt my brother, but as long as there were other flavors (the pork or the beef, whatever meat Mom chose to put in it), it covered up the liver, lol. She also put raisins in her menudo too. It’s an interesting taste, no lie.

I can make afritada too, but like menudo, haven’t perfected it. The last time I made it, it came out pretty good. Just like Mom makes it.

Another dish is ham hocks and beans. OMG. I love pork SFM, especially Filipino style. When Filipino fast food places started opening up around us, Mom would make trips to buy Filipino food for dinner or whatever. She would have to buy a separate krispy pata serving for me because I would inhale it and leave nothing for anybody else. And don’t get me started on lechon. MMMMM……. *drools*

Oh yeah, anyways, ham hocks and beans. See? Lechon gets me distracted!! I guess we get it from our Spanish roots. You slow cook the ham hocks and pinto beans together, and keep adding water. The meat softens, and so do the beans and it combines into this lovely salty frieze. You’ve got one of my family’s favorite dishes right there. I’m Googling it rn, and I guess people cook it crockpots. Not my mom. She slow cooks it on the stove, and puts a Lipton’s onion soup packet in it. I made it once. But it takes about a day to cook ’cause it’s so time-consuming.

The only recipes I follow really are cakes, but that’s because I follow them off the box and you can never screw those up, lol.