I ran out of fish for lunch today and decided to just put all the leftovers together.

I realized after eating my lunch that it’s not going to be so pretty in the bathroom later. Beets and asparagus, yummy in the tummy but not so sure about the after effects.

I just had to mention that.

As I was venting to my brother he says to me,  “At least you can make halo halo fresh from Heaven.”  I don’t have to shave the ice.  Haha!  Shaved ice from Heaven is a good way to look at it.

Love

Nick and I don’t usually celebrate Valentine’s day with fancy gifts or eating  at fancy restaurants.  Sometimes we do go to a fancy place but not that often.  It usually depends on how we’re feeling that day.

I know that a lot of people despise Valentine’s day especially if they’re single.  They rant about how couples are too mushy and annoyingly flaunting their love to single people.  Like saying, “Eat that! I’m married and you’re not.”  No it’s not like that.

What they don’t understand is that it’s a great excuse for married couples to have a reason to go out on a date.  Especially if you have kids.  I know we should go on dates despite whatever day it is.  But it’s still a good excuse just to be out with your spouse.

It helps build and strengthen the marriage.  I’m not saying that couples should just go out and leave the kids at home.  Families can celebrate Valentine’s together as well.  It helps the kids show their love for their siblings.

I remember when I was single, I truly enjoyed Valentine’s day.  I enjoyed seeing other couples because it gave me hope of how wonderful it would be when I can finally spend it with the man that I will love forever and ever.

Samurai Noodle

When Nick was asking me what I wanted to do on Valentine’s day I told him that I don’t really care what we did, as long as I had Filipino food that night.

Well that didn’t exactly happen.  On our way to the Filipino restaurant I changed my mind and said,  “I want ramen!!!” Nick quickly made a U-turn and we were on our way to my favorite place in Seattle.  Samurai Noodle.

Soy & Pork Broth Ramen

Ramen is comfort food for me. And Samurai Noodle is the only place I go to in Seattle for that. Nick being the loving husband that he is, took me to Samurai Noodle because I was craving for it so bad. I was the happiest girl in the world! I mean come on, look at how delicious looking that ramen is. How can one resist that?

Soooo Happy!

He loves the soup!

Slurp!!!

I thank my husband for a great Valentine’s date. Simple yet my heart was filled with love.

*that was a very mushy post

As I was paying for the deal, I found out that I had credits for referring a friend to that deal website. So lo and behold, instead of paying for a $10 lunch that’s worth $25, I paid nada.

Oh yeah!

I told my co-worker, “You and I are going to have lunch tomorrow.”

And so we went.

We went to 5 Point Cafe.  It was sunny and beautiful outside last Tuesday and it was worth the walk of a couple of blocks to get to the cafe.

I was brought back to my childhood when I ordered the hamburger steak.  I used to order it all the time at this place called “Pancake House” in Manila.  Yeah, that Pancake House serves the best hamburger steaks.   So when I saw the hamburger steak on the menu, I had to order it for nostalgia’s sake.

It’s the kind of place that I would go back to on a Saturday or Sunday brunch with the husband or friends. The place, with servers covered in tattoos, gave me a really cozy feeling. I felt like I was at a friend’s house with their grandmother cooking in the back and the cousin was serving our food.

Good times.

Oh I mentioned “sort of” a free lunch since the bill went up to $28 including tax plus tip. So out of my pocket I only paid $6 for a really good lunch with coffee. It was worth it. I mean $6 is worth a teriyaki chicken with rice. haha!

I can’t wait for Christmas vacation and for the actual celebration of Christ’s birthday. Ahhh I get to relax for a little bit.

I noticed that my blog is turning into a food blog. I am wondering if I should have a separate blog for the food and for life. I don’t know. Just throwing the idea out there.

For now, I’ll try and catch up on my posts with December events and what I have been cooking.

So the other day, I remembered I had left over shrimp in the fridge. Again, I wanted something quick and easy. So I ended up with Shrimp Fried Rice. This is the Chinese part of me that comes out once in a while. For those of you that don’t know, my great grandfather on my dad’s side is Chinese. I remember, every time it was my grandmother’s birthday, we’d always go to a Chinese restaurant. On some of her birthdays the cook at my grandma’s house will make something Chinese. I especially love their steamed fish with scallions. Oh wow. Heaven!

Fried rice is a staple in the house I grew up in. My eldest brother and I, when we wanted some midnight snack, we always made fried rice. He’d always find some left over meat and add it to our rice and it was such a comfort food that up to now, I still make the same kind of fried rice that we used to make growing up. I guess we learned how to cook because if we didn’t, there will be no midnight snack to eat.

For this recipe, I went to Steamy Kitchen for the basics. I skipped the corn starch and forgot the sesame oil. haha! But it still turned out good. In our home, there’s always left over rice. If there wasn’t, then it’s definitely the end of the world for me. I started with the garlic on this one, I know it doesn’t say anything about garlic in the recipe but hey, I’m Filipino, I can’t skip the garlic in fried rice.

Unfortunately, Nick didn’t get to have some because he was out somewhere. So I had the leftovers for lunch the next day.

Don’t you just love going to work knowing you have some good food that you’re going to eat for lunch?

Nick and I were buying some groceries at Safeway when I saw a package of smoked ham hocks sitting in the shelf. The first thought that came to mind was my dad’s sopas so I just had to get some some carrots and celery, and I was ready to make it.

And because I was originally making Chicken Afritada for Nick, I cooked both the Afritada and the Sopas at the same time. Take note, it was 9:30pm when I started cooking. Talk about late cooking in the Hayes household.

In the Philippines, we usually eat sopas for merienda (midday snack). I remember eating it for lunch in high school on those cold rainy days in June. Ah those days. It seemed like it was yesterday when classes would be cancelled midday because of a typhoon and we’re already in school so we have to wait for my dad to pick us up. Where else would we hang out but the cafeteria. The lunch ladies would be ready for the onslaught of orders from the excited kids who want to eat as they wait for their parents to pick them up. But I digress…

Below is the Chicken Afritada I made for Nick. I wasn’t in the mood for it since I felt that I was making it a lot, but since Nick wanted it, I made it for him.

Instead of using elbow macaroni, I used the egg noodles that we had. It was kind of the same. Texture-wise, I think I like the elbow macaroni more. I remember the days of eating soggy macaroni in the sopas. Ahhh heaven.

I know if my dad saw the photo below, he’d be so proud of me. I think my future kiddies would love this. It’d be their favorite and they’d ask me to add extra milk in it. Just as I did when I was young.

My dad would be cooking the sopas. I’d watch the whole process of how he did it and learn from him. Well sometimes he’d walk away to do other things while the sopas is simmering. What I would do is sneak in more milk into the soup to make it extra creamy. I don’t think he ever noticed. He would then say, “Wow this is really good.” He’d be so proud of what he made. And inside I was thinking, “That’s because of me, I put the extra milk in there to make it yummy.”

The one thing about my 9-5 job is that, when I get home, I don’t have extra work stuff to do. Nick does because he has to do homework. I don’t have any excuse for not cooking. Ah, these are the times that I wish I had a helper at home. Some of y’all in Manila better not be complaining about how hard your life is if you have a helper. Puuhleeeez! Ok I’ll save that for another post.

My introduction is getting long. Anyway, I made some Mahi-mahi with capers and onions on a bed of  couscous. Sounds fancy doesn’t it? I made this with just 10 minutes of prep time and 15 minutes of cooking. 25 minutes total is pretty fast if you’re a Filipino because we like our stews and stews take a while to cook.

I was also craving for fish so I just HAD to get me some Mahi-mahi.

I got this recipe from Epicurious. I started with the onions. Carmelized them in butter and olive oil.

And while that was carmelizing, I prepped the fish and placed it in the oven. Remember to preheat your oven.

I cooked the onions until it was carmelized and in the end added more butter as well as the capers and a lemon juice. I took it off the heat and covered it to keep warm.

As I was doing all this, I was also making couscous. I made the instant one from Trader Joe’s.  When the fish was ready, I plated it as so.

It was sooo good! Nick loved it and raved about how it looked so gourmet. Tasted gourmet too. Fancy I tell ya! It was fast, we ate, and then I finally got on the couch. Perfect!

Do you have any quick recipes that’s a winner with the family?

He talked about how good it was, and the clip also showed how to make it. Flipping it over with the help of a plate and then putting it back in the pan to cook the other side. He also mostly talked about how he couldn’t understand why it would be Spain’s national dish, when it only just contains eggs, potatoes and sometimes onions.

I laughed when he took a bite of the tortilla and used his hand instead of the fork to put it in his mouth. One lady out of camera said, “Use the fork you barbarian.” That line, for some reason, reminded me of my grandma.

So I came home after work one night and didn’t feel like going to the grocery store, knowing that we haven’t done our grocery shopping and only had a few items in the fridge. I thought I was going to go hungry until I found eggs, onions, a potato oh and look some mushrooms.

I chopped up the potato, onions and mushrooms. Deep fried the potato and onions in olive oil. Strained it and fried it again with the eggs.

The hard part was flipping the eggs. I didn’t have a flat plate so it took me a while trying to flip it without burning myself. I failed but it still looks pretty good.

My first ever Tortilla de Patatas! It was yummy. Yet I kind of felt like I was going to get  heart attack. I have not deep fried anything in a looong time.

I must say, I too don’t understand why this would be Spain’s national dish. Why not paella?

I’ve noticed that everytime I go to a restaurant, not a lunch joint where you order your food at the counter, the waiters are extra attentive.

Thing is, when I have a meal with a friend, I honestly do not like to be bothered. I just want to order my food, bring it to me, and let me eat. But if a waiter comes and checks on me every 10 minutes, it’s really annoying.

In the Philippines, if you need the waiter for anything, you just raise your hand to get their attention and poof, “Hello Mister Waiter.” They’re fast and they’re at your table right away. Then they’re gone just like that.

Here, even if you’re in the middle of a really really intense conversation, the waiter will not hesitate to come by your table and ask if we want dessert yet. I mean, come on, wait ’til the intense conversation, walk by and wait for a pause and then ask us if we want dessert. Wait, better yet, let me just tell you when we’re ready for dessert. That way you don’t have to walk around our table. Also, please don’t give me more water if you see that I’ve only had a couple of sips of it and it’s still pretty full.

Yes the attentiveness is good for formal dining. But seriously, it annoys me to the bone. At least in Manila, if that does happen, like trying to refill my glass with water, you can see how they respectfully bow their heads like, “I am sooo sooo sorry I am bothering you, I know your conversation is really really good, but you are out of water.” They don’t ask questions, they’re out of sight before you know it.

Am I the only one that gets annoyed with “good” service like this?

Bacon Sandwich

(Via)

Heart attack anyone?