Tag: Food

Summer Travels

What a summer it has been! I have so much to tell you, so I’ll start with the biggest thing: I went to Manila! I work with a company that has offices in several places in the world, and most of my department happens to be in Manila in the Philippines. Over the last year and a half that I’ve worked in this department I’ve been emailing, messaging, and calling my team, but there is nothing quite like meeting someone in person. I feel so lucky to have been able to travel for work. I never thought I would be a jet-setting world traveler, but I suppose I’ve had a taste of that now.

My trip was 2 weeks long in the beginning of June. I packed 2 knitting projects and some spinning for good measure, but I barely touched my projects at all while I was away. Let’s dive right in with all the pictures!

The flight from the US to Manila is no joke. I had 3 flights, the longest of which was 14 hours. The total travel time including layovers was about 24 hours, so by the time I landed I was beyond exhausted. But my day wasn’t over yet. I knew if I went to sleep immediately my internal clock would be messed up all week, so I pulled myself together and went into the office long enough to say hi to everyone.

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The next few days were a blur of work and meeting new people. I ate a lot of good food every single day. If you are ever hungry in Manila, that is totally your fault because the food there is awesome!! Or as they say in Tagalog, “Masarap!”

The Philippines is on the other side of the world from the US, so our night is their day. In order to work smoothly with the US offices, the Manila office is most active at night. Working night shift long term would be a big change, but it was quite convenient not to have to change my day to day schedule. Over the weekend we had a team building activity planned during the day, so we had to switch over to day shift. This was difficult, to say the least, but it enabled me to go out and see a little of Manila.

We went all over: The Manila Hotel where the President of the Philippines holds special events, the oldest church in Manila, the National musums… And friends, I found YARN!

We got food (of course), and rode a Calesa, which is a kind of horse-drawn buggy.

The next day was our team building. We learned a lot and had a lot of fun. Pro tip: Filipinos love Karaoke, so if you’re traveling over there brush up on your singing!

The next day (Monday, if you’re keeping track) was time to transition back to night shift. But, this was my best option to go shopping while I was in Manila. A few of my friends took me to the mall to buy ALL THE THINGS.

I tried something called Kwek-kwek, which is hard-boiled quail eggs that are then battered and fried. Delicious, and very fatty.

The 2nd week was similar to the first, and before I knew it the time had come to leave for the airport. But wait, the team couldn’t let me live without a party!

I had such a wonderful time getting to meet my team and form personal friendships with them. I can’t wait to go back and see my friends again!

Best Cheddar Biscuits

This blog post is brought to  you courtesy of my excellent husband who just made me the best cheddar biscuits I’ve ever had.

Ingredients: 

  • 2 c. Self-Rising flour
  • 1/3 c. + 2 Tbsp. cold butter
  • 5 oz. shredded extra-sharp cheddar cheese
  • 1 c. whole milk buttermilk
  • dash salt

Directions:

Preheat oven 400 degrees or 375 degrees for a convection oven (convection is preferred).

In a mixing bowl, cut 1/3 c. butter into flour until mixture resembles coarse crumbs. Mix in cheese, then stir in buttermilk just until combined (you may need a little extra buttermilk if the dough seems dry). Be careful not to overmix!

Scoop large spoonfuls of dough onto a baking sheet and bake for 10 minutes. The biscuits will not be brown yet.

While the biscuits are baking, melt 2 Tbsp. butter and add a dash of salt.

After the initial 10 minutes of baking, take the biscuits out of the oven, and brush the melted butter over the tops. Return biscuits to the oven, and broil until the tops are golden brown.

Remove from the oven and immediately transfer to a cooling rack.

Enjoy your biscuits while they last. They’ll be gone soon!

homemade cheddar biscuits

 

Chicken Pot Pie Recipe

One of my favourite meals growing up was my mom’s Chicken Pot Pie. I still love it, and I figure everyone has to eat, so here’s the recipe. I hope you enjoy it as much as I do.

Ingredients: 

2 premade pie crusts

1/3 c. butter

1/2 onion, diced

1/3 c. flour

salt and pepper to taste

1 1/2 c. chicken broth

1-2 Tbsp cooking sherry

2/3 c. milk

2 chicken breasts

2 carrots

3-4 medium potatoes

Handful of green beans

Handful of peas

 

Directions:

Preheat Oven to 425*F

Cut chicken up into 1″ pieces. Boil in water until done (if you want some extra flavor you can add cooking sherry and chicken broth to the water).

In a large skillet melt butter, add onion, salt, and pepper, and cook until onion is tender and translucent. Mix flour in and cook for a minute or two. Add milk, broth, and cooking sherry; whisk to combine and prevent lumps from forming. Stir in vegetables and cook until gravy is thick. Stir in chicken.

Line a 9″ pie pan with one crust. Add gravy mixture to the pan, top with the remaining crust, seal edges, and flute. Cut slits in several places in the top crust.

Bake 425*F for 30-40 minutes or until crust is golden brown. Let stand 5 minutes before serving.

Finding Joy in Cooking

I am an intermediate cook. I can make food that isn’t awful. But at the same time I rarely make food that is wonderful. A few weeks ago I finally reached my breaking point. I was tired of making food that just didn’t turn out the way I hoped it would. I wanted tried and true recipes that would tell me what to do and how to do it so I could turn out culinary masterpieces. Or at least something that would leave me with fewer meals that turned out…awful. Enter the Joy of Cooking, the book that is changing my life.

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The first thing I noticed about the book is that it is thick. The pages are crammed with recipes as diverse as Beef Wellington, Lentil Stew, and Scotch Eggs. It clearly delineates the steps to make meals. It talks about menu planning and the best way to prep ingredients. If you are a beginning cook, you can learn from this book how to make just about anything. If you are an experienced cook, this book will suggest new recipes to help you break out of your routine.

Basically, buy this book. Make food. Be happy.

dinner
Chicken Piccata, Spaetzle sauteed in butter, Roasted scored Zucchini

Chili Mac Recipe

I love Mexican-ish food. Having grown up in the Southwest, Mexican, and all its variations, is comfort food for me. I hope you enjoy this recipe as much as I do.

Ingredients:

1 lb ground beef

1/2 onion

1 bell pepper

1 can black beans 

1/2 box noodles

Spices to taste

Cheddar cheese to sprinkle on top

 

Method:

Brown beef in a large pan. Chop onion and pepper, add to the pot when the beef is nearly done. Add black beans and season to taste (I used onion, garlic, pepper, and fajita seasoning). Cover pot and allow to cook over medium-low heat until onions and peppers are soft.

In a separate pot boil water. Add noodles and cook until al dente. Drain, and add to the beef mixture, stirring to combine.

Serve with cheese sprinkled on top.

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Yum!

An Improvised Lunch: a Recipe

Don’t get up until 10 AM; once awake do nothing profitable, eat no breakfast.

Experience hunger pains and/or faintness; decide food is necessary.

Preheat oven 375; arrange premade biscuits on baking sheet.

Bake biscuits while doing dishes; gasp in horror half-way through the dishes when you remember the biscuits and throw open the oven door to make sure they are not burned to a crisp.

Finish the dishes.

Preheat oven 200; slice cheese and arrange on a biscuit.

Knit 1-2 rows on current project while warming biscuit.

Rescue melted cheesy biscuit from the oven; devour.

Consume left-over Flan from last night’s attempted dinner party.

Hope the afternoon will be better than the morning.

Yum!!

Food. I love it!! It’s so funny to see the different ways people prefer their food. If you watch long enough, you’re sure to find some quirky idiosyncracy about each person’s diet. Take, for example, an elderly man of my acquaintance: he knew he would marry the woman who became his wife on their first date when they both ate their hamburgers up-side-down!

But the thing that is perhaps funniest to me, is the peculiar likes and dislikes people cherish about their food. I absolutely love olives. But I have friends who hate and loath them. Today I went to lunch at a fast food restaurant. And they put mustard and pickles on my sandwich. Now I ask you, how in the world could someone ever enjoy something that smells as vile as mustard or pickles? Let alone together!! But when I shared my opinion my friends laughed and opposed it, stating their own views to the contrary. What can I say? It’s a funny ol’ world!