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My last day at my friend's house in Bay Park, we decided to have an early lunch. What to eat...?
more importantly, what to cook? Four great cooks in the house with a refrigerator full of all the weekend's left-overs....hmmm
I decided to make use of what we had....
cooked elbow macaroni
tuna putanesca
focaccia bread
I decided to make some sort of tuna caserole, I added cream and cheese and baked it in the over.
It turned out ok, I thought, could have been better, I should have made cream sauce or even cream of mushroom.
Good Morning,
I spent the weekend with friends who live in Bay Park, an area in SD close to Claremont and a stones throw away from La Jolla. The view from their deck is spectacular, for two nights we stayed out on the deck, drinking wine, eating food and watching the fireworks from Seaworld. The weather was a perfect 75 degrees during the day and a nice 65 degrees at night, what else can you ask for, good food, great friends and a fabulous home where we can enjoy both.
I was among foodies who are wonderful cooks. For dinner yesterday, it was my turn in the kitchen. I decided to make a salad of pea sprouts with seared asparagus and grilled corn with a lemon vinaigrette, topped with cave-aged Gruyere cheese. The steak was cooked medium well and seasoned with a variety of rub including paprika, onion powder, garlic powder, salt & pepper, Cajun spice seared on a pan topped with a little sauce made of hot pepper rings, sesame oil , olive oil, a touch of Worcestershire sauce, orange rind, a little home grown fushimi pepper.
It was light and tasty, i thought.
Until next time...
A few months ago, I was on an Amtrak train from Modesto, CA to LA to visit my cousins in West Covina. As some of you may know that trip takes about 6 hours, four hours on the train to Bakersfield and then two more hours to Pasadena on a bus. Having lived in New York for many years, I knew how to get the best seat on the train, make that the best table on the train, I elbowed my way to get a nice table where no one would share with me so I can use my laptop in peace, facing the direction of where the train is heading, of course, because I get dizzy when I am facing the wrong direction? oh well, that is a story for another post...but I digress...
While on the train I was searching recipes, restaurants, etc, and I came across a food company based in the Philippines, MAGNOLIA COMPANY. I remember that growing up, Magnolia is the brand of my favorite Ice Cream. I read on and realized that they have ventured into many more products including sausages. It then said that there is a recipe contest called MAGNOLIA MY WAY wherein you have to use one of the Magnolia products and incorporate it in a recipe. I make pasta dishes all the time and one of my favorite pasta dishes to make is Putanesca. Later that day when I arrived at my cousins' house, where we do a lot of cooking, I decided to try making pasta putanesca using Magnolia Longganisa (filipino sausage) and it turned out to be great! I emailed my recipe to them.
A few weeks later I received an email informing me that I was chosen as one of the finalists, with a note saying that with that, I also won $100.00 It also mentioned that to be qualified for the grand prize, I would need to send in a video of me making the recipe so that they can upload it on You Tube for people to vote for...Long story short, I could not get anyone to help me with the video so I did it myself, holding the camera with one hand and cooking with the other, trying to remain calm and personable on film and trying to remember what I needed to say. Mind you, I could only do this with one take since I only had enough ingredients to cook this recipe once plus the deadline was the following day. I did my best and I think it turned out alright. Mailed it out and hoped for the best. A few more weeks later, my recipe received the most hits and the highest rating compared to the other finalists, I was informed that I won the grand prize with an additional $500.00. Great outcome from an afternoon on an Amtrak train, right?
I have always been fond of cooking and sharing recipes with friends and families. Traveling, eating in restaurants and trying to recreate dishes I enjoy and putting my own unique twist.
To view the recipe go to http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RYp8PsE3elQ
I am excited to start this blog and to post my recipes, experiences and gastronomic travels with all of you.
Until next time...
