Mirsbin’s Kitchen

Today is the first time I ever celebrated Thanksgiving. Thanksgiving lunch was served at the resto today, I was priviledged to taste the turkey with the cranberry sauce, gravy with sweet yams with caramel glaze. I would always read about it in books and how the Americans would crave for pumpkin pie or sweet potato pie. It is comforting indeed and it probably brings back memories of home cooked meals and celebrations. These might probably be the soul food of the Americans.

As for me sinigang is my comfort food. Sinigang na baboy (pork) to be exact. It’s the sour and salty broth that brings back memories of home. I remember after a two-week trip from Australia, the moment I was at the airport I was already calling our house and was requesting that they prepare Sinigang na Baboy (pork) for lunch.

Sinigang na Baboy (pork) for me signifies Sunday dinners with family or a broth that soothes your nerves while nursing a bad cold or a high fever or a very bad day. My friend Moby, who would also call his parents’ house to ask that Sinigang be prepared when he plans to go home during the weekend. We would also order Sinigang after a bad morning when things didn’t start right at work. We would go to Edongs and order Sinigang na Baboy with rice. Somehow after lunch things would start to pick up.

Making Sinigang differs from each household. Some would use calamansi, tamarind or kamias. Other would be adventurous enough to add bayabas (guava). But there’s the ever dependable Sinigang mix that can be bought in the stores already, you just have to mix it with all the pork and vegetables, it’s just up to you if you want it more sour, salty or spicy.

Lasang Pinoy 4

Lasang Pinoy Round up

I’ve been out of touch since last week, mainly because of my brother’s operation and I also became a personal chef for an American Family with German guests. It was one hell of a week. In the morning I would go to La Vista and start with the family’s breakfast and continue thru lunch. Then try to manage to go home to take a quick nap and go back to prepare dinner. It’s been like this in the past 4 days. Plus to make matters worst, I somehow got a viral infection before all of this was finalized. My sisters were not sure though if I had dengue fever or german measles. Well I’m glad everything is over. One of the greatest fears that I had was not being able to taste the food that I was preparing. For almost a week, I had no appetite. Quite alarming!

Being a personal chef for the family was also an experience. I did manage to try out the plating techniques that I learned at the resto 9501. I also did some of my own recipes for the four day event. One of the things that they liked are the Baked Spanish eggs that I prepared for them for breakfast the other day. I’m sharing this recipe just in case you’re interested.

Baked Spanish Eggs

5 pcs tomatoes
1 red bell pepper
strips of ham, cubed
strips of bacon, cubed
1 pc onion
4 eggs
olive oil
salt
pepper
parmesan cheese

Saute the onions in olive oil, then add the tomatoes and the bell peppers. Once the vegetables are cooked already, add the ham and bacon. Put the ham and bacon mixture in a container for baking (you can use pyrex). Brak the eggs one by one over the mixture. Make sure that the yolks are arranged. Bake until the eggs are set already. Top with grated parmesan cheese

I’ve started training already in an exclusive corporate restaurant. Today I got to make fried shoe string potatoes, plated some dishes, made turon (yes they serve sosy turon) I also grilled 50 pork barbeques for a function in the afternoon.

I was almost sure last year that I would never get to fulfill my dream, but here it is, I’m finally in the kitchen.