No-Knead Pizza Dough

My family loves eating anything Italian. Pizza and pasta are always on the list of request it maybe during an occasion or just ordinary days. I am not fond of pizza since then, in fact I am picky when it comes to this food. It's because I always think pizza is so greasy it makes me feel bloated even just by eating one slice. Well, that's what I have eaten in fast food restaurant here in the Philippines. In addition to that, it is expensive! This lead me to try making a homemade pizza. However, kneading the dough is really a exhausting job, also time consuming; that is if you don't have a mixer at home which I didn't before. 

For the past few times we had pizza at home, we opted in buying the dough since I was not so industrious enough to make a homemade pizza dough. But with all my effort in looking for an easy way to do it, I found out that it is possible to not knead the dough. I was skeptic about it but then I told myself, it's worth trying. The procedure I followed was simple. Mix the dry ingredients together, then the wet ingredients, after that,, pour the mixed wet ingredients to the mixed dry ingredients. Mix it well with a wooden spoon until well incorporated. Cover with a plastic wrap and let it rest for 18 hours. I did this the day before prior to the pizza making. 

The next day, I could smell the yeast and it was so satisfying. The mixture had risen, almost triple the size. I was so excited to try baking it. 

The Hunt for Authentic Lomi

I always believe in the concept "In order to understand one's culture, you have to learn their language and taste their food". Since I started traveling around the Philippines, I always try my best to eat what symbolizes the culture of the place. 

Marrying a Batangueno is challenging. Their culture is totally different from mine. The first time my husband brought me to his hometown, I was shocked by the way they talk. They always have a high-pitch tone in which for me, it is already a sign of misunderstanding or a fight. The worst thing, I met the elderly people in the neighborhood! Talk about high-pitch voice ey? haha! But I learned to understand it even with just one night of staying. 

My husband's cousins bragged about their famous lomi, one kind of noodle soup in the Philippines. Yes, from north to south, I think we have our own noodle recipe. Writing this makes me crave our own noodle soup in the north. I am not a picky eater so I was game in trying their lomi. The first time I tasted it, I loved it but according to them, that's not an authentic one. I can still remember how they were teaching me in preparing the sauce! hahaha! 

Cooking: Pizza Ghetti

It's been a long time since I cooked something special for the family. I got busy the whole hot season with family outings and of course swimming at the nearby resort. We have gone there a few times compared to last year but still it's tiring after the swimming session. Besides, the kitchen seems like one step to hell during the hot season. I can stand staying there for a longer time. 

With all my intensive workouts recently, I feel like I deserve to eat something with lots of calories so when I saw a video of a girl eating pizza ghetti, I decided to try it. I didn't get the recipe anymore. I cooked the spaghetti the way I cook it. After that I put some on a baking pan like a pizza dough then added the pizza toppings of our choice. Since I am a cheese lover, hence the recipe has lots of cheese, unfortunately, mozzarella is not available in all supermarkets nearby hence we bought quick melt cheese. I baked it for 20 minutes under 200 degree C, good enough for the toppings to be cooked and for the cheese to melt.

First Cooking Request

There are so many holidays and weekends lately that my in-laws went home from their boarding house. It has been my tradition to cook something for them every time they do. One reason is, having them in the kitchen with me while I'm cooking is my perfect way of bonding with them. 

We have so many left over pasta from the New Year celebration so I decided to cook baked macaroni. I don't have sweet tooth so I decided to go Italian style. They say cheese is the secret of cooking a delicious baked macaroni so even if parmesan and mozzarella cheese are ridiculously expensive, I chose to buy them. Mother in -law doesn't eat pork so I chose beef for the sauce. 

After a few minutes of baking, we can smell the enticing aroma of the cheese. We all wasn't able to wait to taste it. Once taken out from the oven, everyone at home went in the kitchen to have a taste of it. It was Italian style, but even so, it was eaten in no time. hahaha!

Cooking: Nabe (Japanese hot pot)

The weather is getting cooler where I live and this makes me think in cooking foods that are best for this season. I have been wanting to cook nabe, Japanese hot pot but since it is difficult for me to find ingredients, I have always set it aside. However, last weekend, I got the courage of cooking it using alternative ingredients but before giving up on the original ingredients, my two sister in-laws and I spent more than four hours at the supermarket looking for them. I was hoping the universe will suddenly drop all the ingredients I need! hahaha! Unfortunately, the universe was a little selfish that day! 

The ingredients I used are:

• Beef - sukiyaki cut. I won't have the patience in cutting a regular cut beef into thin ones so I just closed my eyes and bought this even it was expensive. 
•  Beef broth - Knorr beef cubes is the best and easiest one to find. Don't judge me but I tried my best to find dashi but I couldn't. 
• Soy sauce - I also tried looking for a Japanese soy sauce but there's none so I used Kikkoman soy sauce (I so loved the smell and the taste!)

• Tofu - I love tofu, whatever the recipe is. Of course, I picked the Japanese tofu. It's so soft, you don't have to chew it when eating. I think you know what I mean!
• Chinese cabbage
• Carrots
• Onion leeks 
• Onions - When I cook, I want onions to be present in all my recipes! Many of my friends always say, they are confused weather I am a Filipino or Indian or Korean and so on...LOL! I wish I can bring my own onions when I eat out. 
• Noodles - After mini mini mowing at the international section as to which noodles I will use, I decided to pick this one. 

As you can see, I just used a few ingredients. I was hoping to buy shitake mushroom but it is damn expensive!  Also, I wanted to have sake, a Japanese rice wine which I think is perfect for this recipe but as I said earlier, the universe was a little selfish that time. I then bought red wine!

Right after we came home from the supermarket, I asked the people at home to do the washing, peeling and chopping. They were all excited so it was done in no time.

First Baking Attempt

Cooking is like painting or writing a song. Just as there are only so many notes or colors, there are only so many flavors - it's how you combine them that you apart. - Wolfgang Puck

I love the kitchen as I always say. I didn't get a formal education when it comes to cooking, I just love imagining the way my food is prepared when I eat out. And I think I am getting money-wiser nowadays, my brain goes on calculating everything whenever I find myself eating out. Maybe because I have proven that I can save more money when I do the cooking at home. 

I hate sweets but most of my love ones and the people around me love it. They can eat a jar of chocolates when put in front of them. Cake is something they will wake up to even in the middle of the night. I remember my friends finishing whole slices of too sweet cake at Starbucks while I just had a bite. 

Tempura Obsession

The rainy days make me stay in place and think of food all the time. Even though I try to work on weekends my mind still wants to cook something so I always make sure that there's something in the refrigerator whenever my cooking addiction attacks. 

It's been a long time since I tried cooking shrimp tempura. That was a total failure. haha! I guess I was just so confident that I could turn it out right just by imagining how it was cooked. The result, delicious but it looked terrible! Huh! 

Failed tempura :D

Who Wants Kebab?

Cooking is something I do when I feel sad, angry, or happy.

With that, I went back to cooking after I got sick for a few weeks. My palate craved for something after eating bland foods and taking doses of medicines. My entire bed rest was dedicated to reading, watching movies and digging the internet for some recipes I may want to cook someday. 

I haven't used my broiler for a long time since after I invaded someone's kitchen. I can't even remember when was that. I thought pineapple pork kebab might do well in there.  I have been watching Cooking with Jack Show but I haven't tried cooking his recipes, so I thought this one is easy enough to do, besides it can be a family bonding. LOL! You can look for the recipe from the video.

Not everyone in the family eats pork so I decided to use beef, chicken and pork. Lot's of choices, ey? I am generous I guess. hahaha! Since I hate shopping, I asked someone to do the shopping for me but of course there's always a mistake but it doesn't matter, it makes me more resourceful.

While the broiler is busy doing its job, our noses are already full of the yummy smell of the food. I couldn't wait to taste it!

What's Baking?

"Part of the secret of success in life is to eat what you like..." - Mark Twain 

Since I was a kid, I prefer cooking than eating out but of course, when I was a kid, there are only two recipes I can make because I was born poor, salt plus rice equals salted rice and salt plus vegetable oil plus rice equals salted oily rice.  LOL! I chose to live than die of hunger. And I am glad that those paid off. 

The past few weeks, I have spent most of my free time (as if I have a lot) reading recipes online and also thinking what's inside the refrigerator and trying to cook in my mind. Believe me, I can smell them. hahaha! 

Luckily, I had a 2-hour break today and I thought of preparing baked mussels for dinner. I dropped by the supermarket this morning after going to the bank so I have all the ingredients I need. There are many different versions of it online but I tried to alter it. I can't call it as mine because there might have been someone who did it as well. I always like my food to be aromatic because it makes people at home stay in the kitchen with me. Aside from the usual, butter, garlic and cheese, I added chili powder and rosemary. What's the taste? Awesome of course! I love spicy foods that much so my in-laws can't complain. It's yum so they eat it anyway, they just have to prepare lots of water beside them. hahahaha! 

First batch

The spicy ones

More baked foods to come.

My favorites

While waiting for my student, I thought of all the things that I really like to eat and drink. So I thought of writing it down here. So I will list down my favorites here:

1. Favorite Filipino Dish: Shrimp in sour soup (siningang na hipon)

I can't help to finish one bowl of sinigang na hipon in one meal. If I eat with someone who doesn't like  vegetables, thank you! The vegetables will be all mine. :))

2. Favorite Dessert: Green mango with shrimp paste (bagoong)

I will have a perfect meal if I will be having this for dessert. I usually have a cup of coffee at eating this. My husband always says I am weird. 

3. Favorite drink: Iced tea and coffee

I feel refreshed when I drink a glass of iced tea every time we eat out. 

My day isn't complete without a cup of coffee.

4. Favorite snack: Corn 

My vacant time is complete if corn is served for a snack while lying down on a couch. ;)

Now, I am getting hungry again...;))

Delicious Chicken

My week has been a lazy week but I am happy that I still managed to cook. :) Me and my husband were tired of the same recipe everyday so I tried to cook something different. I was able to find a recipe from the net that I can try to cook. So I asked my husband to buy me the ingredients I will need in cooking. Here's the outcome:



Yangnyeom tongdak with water melon



I decorated it with watermelon. Grapes would be better for decoration but it isn't available so I came up with the watermelon toppings.



양념통닭 (In Hangul) My husband can't wait to taste it so the fork is ready.

This recipe is awesome! For people who are not into eating spicy foods you can reduce the amount of chili paste and add more of the ketchup. :)