That is the question…

As I sip my cold ‘fierce berry’ flavored Gatorade, just trying to keep myself cool and to slowly replace the ‘electrolytes’ that my body lost because of this dreaded heat and humidity…I just have to stop and write something for my blog.

For the past couple of days, I’ve been slaving myself to a hot ‘microwave’ oven. Which by the way, is a joke of Kit and I. I love cooking so don’t get me wrong, it’s just that this hot and humid weather we have right now is ’slowing’ me down — really, don’t wanna stay in the kitchen for a long time. The solution? TV Dinners! LOL. Those high sodium, over caloried dinner-in-a-box could sometimes be a good idea…but not all the time.

So, it’s that time of the week again that I need to do my ‘wifely’ duties…Doing the grocery list! I’m not complaining ok, its just that its hard for me sometimes. Its a complicated process using calculations and tons of research for easy recipes. LOL. I might be over exaggerating here. But cooking is a serious thing for me (for most of the time). Budgeting and planning a healthy meal (at least) are one of the things that I must consider, so I have to be precise but not ‘really’ perfect.

But a wife’s got to do what a wife’s got to do, so on to today’s agenda. LOL.

I’ve finished eating of what’s left over from the other night…empanadas. I remember, when Kit first saw it from the oven, “Oh hun, are we having portuguese man-of-war?hehe”. Well, they looked like it, you won’t see the resemblance from this picture coz I’ve eaten almost the rest of it, hehe. When we were at the frozen food section of the grocery, I found these ready-made empanada discs(dough) and thought that it’ll make my cooking easier. Well, it did…for some part…It took me over 2 hours just to thaw it on room temperature (the label said only 1 hour). After that, it was just a breeze.

Here’s the real portuguese man-of-war, hope you’ll see the similarities, so you’ll know what I mean, hehe. My empanadas turned out to be alright. But it’ll be better if I just made the dough by myself, the ready-made dough turned out hard…it was crusty. I think it would be different if I deep fried it(in my case, I cooked it in the oven…i wanna shy away with the fat,hehe). The over all outcome of my empanadas turned out to be “alright”…it was my first “try”, so it was ok. Then the next day, I had this crazy idea of using a ready made croissant dough for my second attempt of making flaky empanadas. For the filling I used chicken, cooked with veggies, some white sauce and lots of cheese. The outcome turned out to be better…so i was very happy. We didn’t have left overs that night hehe…Hmm, oh yes we did,just one, but Kit took it to work the next morning :-)

I love experimenting on my cooking, so the next time i’ll make empanadas, I wanna try filo dough, hehe. I’m scared of making the dough myself, so I always use the ready-made stuff. It won’t turned out to be an authentic empanada, but who cares,hehe…But then again, if i’m confident enough with flour and all that kneading…I might give it a try…silly me.

(PHOTOS: my left-over empanada and a picture of a portuguese man-of-war)

The temperature is starting to drop (again)…that’s bad,coz it’s cold and I hate cold weather. And according to the weatherman, we might have snow flurries and rain the coming days (again??!?), yuck!…I can’t wait for spring to come.It’s cloudy outside, and cold wind creeping through…i need to get into my “comfort zone”…drink hot coffee! hehe…I don’t know about you guys, but coffee makes my day.

(PHOTO: coffee from Old Louisville’s Coffee House, “Keep Louisville Weird” sign from Courier Journal)

The month of March here in Louisville has lots of unpredictable weather conditions…Just like last sunday, the weather was nice, it was sunny and breezy, a nice day for afternoon walks…Then comes a rotten day, monday, lots of rain and wintery mix, glad I managed to go out and had a haircut( I badly needed one)…Talking about the fine weather on Sunday, it was perfect! I went out for a walk, coz the conditions outside were just so inviting, sunny and breezy, and the streets were quiet. I saw people walking their dogs, joggers and some town visitors (admiring the old victorian houses that we have here in the neighborhood). I stopped by for a coffee in this quaint little coffee shop that’s called “Old Louisville’s Coffee House”, and I couldn’t help but to reminisce…and compared it with my all time favorite cafe, “Cafe Breton”…

Ahhh Cafe Breton, that’s where all the good times happened and still hapenning (for friends back home)…The cafe itself has a reputation for fine coffee, teas and French crepes! It has a unique ambience where, in warm weather, you can eat al fresco, and inside, chat with friends, listening to some jazz or cafe inspired music while sipping your warm cafe mocha. But for us, the “750″ people, it’s not just all about that, it’s a place where all the “750 connection” conversation-classics are centralized, being held with solemn rituals and non-stop-never-ending reminiscing! Solemn rituals include: Asking the ever-courteous waitstaff,(who, maybe know our faces by heart)to take us to the best seat in the house, the second floor near the window (of course)and then ordering “good eats”…the “usuals”: cafe mocha for chelo, tea for edc, some slush or maybe coffee for chie and a capuccino for me…not to forget the crepes: Nutella crepe and Fantastic Pinay (yummo!). After ordering the “eats”, comes the best part…the start of the conversation-classics! I can go on and on about this, but i might start to bore you, coz I know by now you’re wondering, “what the heck is 750 anyway?!”…Sorry guys, it’s a well guarded secret, only a few people are allowed to know it, hehe.

(PHOTO: Cafe Breton, Malate Manila CREDITS: Chie, for the words,”solem ritual” and “conversation classics”…i like that!)

I just have to share this…
I love cooking, cooking is one of my passions. The other night, i didn’t have anything in mind on what to cook for dinner. So I gathered all my recipe books and looked for an easy but “delish” recipe. Being a Filipino, with an American husband,I always find it very difficult but at the same time very “challenging” to find a recipe that will also suit my husband’s taste. We filipinos like it sweeter and saltier, and sometimes spicier. I always have to take into consideration, “stuff” Americans might find too strong for their taste.

Here’s a recipe that I cooked the other night. It’s a tuna version of the sauce from Naples(Italy…I guess that’s where it came from). The original recipe uses anchovies, but I don’t have a can of anchovies that night (and my husband is not really a fan of it)…So I was thinking, tuna might do the trick.

Ingredients:
-1 pound spaghetti( you can also use linguine)
-1/4 cup olive oil(I always make sure that I have olive oil in my pantry,it’s very handy especially when cooking italian dishes…but if you don’t have olive oil, here’s what you can do:in a small sauce pan, pour an amount of your regular cooking oil, add sliced olives, and cook it over a low heat, just to steep it, low heat will help the extraction of the olives’ natural flavors…I did this procedure when i ran out of olive oil, it worked fine, but of course it’s still better to use the real thing, hehe)
-2 cloves garlic, chopped(the more the better, hehe)
-4 anchovy fillets, rinsed and chopped(I used a can of tuna in brine,drained.I think the one with oil is better)
-1 small chile pepper, seeded and chopped(I used red pepper flakes, this is very hot so I suggest to add as you go,to adjust what suits you)
-1 pound fresh tomatoes, peeled, seeded and chopped(I used a portion of canned tomatoes, you can also use a small can of tomato sauce)
-1 tablespoon capers(they are sold in jars, like the olives…found in all supermarkets)
-2/3 cup pitted black olives, sliced(I used pitted green olives,stuffed with red bell peppers)
-1 tablespoon parsley, chopped
-Salt, to taste
-Pepper, to taste

Now, here’s the procedure:
Cook spaghetti in plenty of boiling salted water . Heat olive oil in a pan and add garlic, anchovies and chile; cook for a few minutes. (if you’re using tuna, I suggest, brown the tuna first, because this takes some time…before turning brown, add the garlic and the red pepper flakes, cook for several minutes) Then, add tomatoes, capers and olives and simmer for 10 minutes until the sauce has thickened slightly. Stir in parsley and cook for another minute. Drain spaghetti and put into a warm bowl; pour over the sauce, toss spaghetti in the sauce and serve immediately…The pasta should not be “saucy”, just have enough sauce to coat it, you can add more olive oil if you want and adjust taste with salt and pepper.

(PHOTO: Pasta Puttanesca)