Junblog

February 27, 2013

How to Make Daing na Bangus

My deft fingers combed through its spiny flesh, picking its bones with a skill I learned when I was little, with a precision I painstakingly mastered through the years. The smell of vinegar, crushed garlic, and cracked black peppercorns thrilled me. I know, it sounds like a tired cliché but it brings back so many…

February 20, 2013

W is for Wansoy and How to Make Chicken Mami

Sprigs of wansoy [wahn-soi]. Slivers of green onions. Garlic crushed and browned. Eggs hard boiled and halved. I arranged the garnishes neatly on the kitchen counter, next to the bowls of egg noodles. The garnishes replaced the mise en place I prepared the day before: a large yellow onion quartered, carrots, celery, and a leek cut…

February 13, 2013

How to Make Pork Asado Siopao (Steamed Pork Buns)

My dad was far from romantic. I can count with the fingers of my hand the number of times I remember him showing affection to my mom in front of me and my sisters. My mom would tell stories about how he wooed her back in the day with occasional carry-outs of mami [mah-mee] noodles…

January 30, 2013

How to Make Gambas Al Ajillo (Garlic Shrimp)

This may sound foolish but it is true. I am very fond of shrimp tails. I eat shrimp from its head down to its tail. I leave nothing untouched, nothing unappreciated. I cook shrimp almost always with shells on — deveined and cleaned, of course. With a pair of kitchen shears, I cut through the…

January 23, 2013

How to Make Taho (Silken Tofu with Sago Pearls and Brown Sugar Syrup)

Oh, whisk me away from this winter, please! I was cold. I was miserably cold. I was bundled up in layers but I was still cold. There was frost on our rooftop. There was frost on the ground, on the grass where the girls graze. There was even ice in our pond in our front yard.…

January 16, 2013

How to Make Oven-Roasted Kalua Pork

At last, the sky cleared up. The rain trickled to a stop and a bow beamed from end to end over Waimea Canyon. We pulled over somewhere along Highway 550 to savor the scene. Fog continued to roll down the red, jagged slopes of the Na Pali mountains while the sea to the south surged…

January 9, 2013

How to Make Ginataang Bilo-Bilo (Sticky Rice Dumplings in Coconut Milk)

“It must be borne in mind that the tragedy in life doesn’t lie in not reaching your goal. The tragedy lies in having no goal to reach.” — Benjamin E. Mays I knew it wasn’t going to be easy. My legs burned as I dragged them out in the cold. All I could think about…

December 28, 2012

Happy 2013 from Jun-blog!

Another year ends, another one begins. Another bowl of round fruits graces our dinner table. For good fortune, my mom always says. Twelve all in all. One round fruit for each month of the New Year. 2012 has been a remarkable year for Jun-blog and for us — four handsome hens and our very first…

December 19, 2012

How to Make Bibingkang Espesyal

What makes it special? Is it the extra butter you brushed on top? Or the duck egg you brined yourself? Is it the cheese bubbling under the broiler? Or the fragrant banana leaves cradling it? Is it the memories that it brings back? Memories of sisters and cousins, of ninangs and inaanaks, of old friends…

December 12, 2012

How to Roast Chestnuts and How to Make Chocolate and Chestnut Cake

I used to write family and friends Christmas cards. (Remember those?) I used to keep a book of stamps handy at my desk and a list of addresses of family back home. Of old friends I’ve kept and of new ones I’ve made. I used to spend afternoons in a coffee shop, writing personal I-am-well-and-how-are-yous,…

December 5, 2012

How to Make Chicken Sotanghon Soup

The day had dipped into a chill after the storm passed. There was no other place I’d rather be than in my kitchen with a pot of my mom’s chicken sotanghon soup simmering on the stove. With Dennis immersed in his book in the couch. With Stanford curled up on the floor next to him.…

November 28, 2012

How to Make Lengua de Gato

When I was in grade school, I wanted to be a teacher when I grew up. I was lucky I had teachers who inspired me and whom I looked up to. I thought it would be noble to help shape young minds the way they had helped shape mine. And I thought I would get…

November 21, 2012

How to Make Egg Pie (Filipino-Style Custard Pie)

I have a soft spot for Rose, our one and only Buff Orpington. If chickens had personalities, Rosie is the timid type. She’s a textbook introvert just like me. Quiet and reserved. Always careful, always curious. Rosie is the sweetest among the girls but she isn’t quite as sharp as a tack. When we let…

November 14, 2012

How to Make Spiced Pumpkin Cheesecake

When I’m worried and I can’t sleep I count my blessings instead of sheep And so the Irving Berlin ballad goes. Crosby crooning with Clooney in the Hollywood Christmas classic. The sentimental song has been on my mind lately, ever since the whirlwind of buying our first home started. In a little over a week,…

November 7, 2012

Rice and Salt

“Ma, the house is ours!” I cried as soon as my mom picked up the phone. It was our weekly how-are-you-what’s-going-on phone call on my drive home from work two Fridays ago. “Dennis got the keys to the house this morning,” I said. “It’s officially ours.” “Congratulations!” My mom said proudly. “I am so happy for both of you.” “I haven’t been sleeping lately,” I said. “Everything is happening so fast.” Truth is I am a pendulum nowadays, swinging frantically between excitement and terror. I am consumed by a million worries. We have crunched the numbers over and over and buying the house just makes real sense but I, the…

October 24, 2012

V is for Visayas and How to Make Humba (Visayan-Style Pork Adobo)

Vinegar, garlic, bay leaves, salt, and black peppercorns. This is how I cook adobo. I marinate pork, chicken, or a combination of the two in vinegar and spices and let the flavors steep overnight. Then I slowly cook the meat in the same vinegar marinade until the meat is tender and I bring the cooking…