A Quick Trip To Farmer's Market

I was in dire need of Preserved Mustard so I can perfect my cua pao. I called Beth, my hard-to-find ingredients vendor in Farmer's. I reserved one kilo yesterday and picked it up today.

Yay! I hope this time I could get the taste I am looking for.

For all my Asian ingredients like kaffir lime leaves, fresh curry leaves, galangal, Ling Nam Molo wrappers and more, I always get it at Beth and Lolita stall, Farmer's Market.

My favorite meat vendor in Farmer's is Gil.

Tita Des Tantoco recommended him to me. I get my delicious beef tapa from his stall, Teresa's.

I love going to the Market! If I could go everyday, I would.

 

 

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Crabs with Tausi

My friends and I had lunch at my house today. We had Crabs with Tausi Sauce!

Our new favorite! We prefer it to chili crabs. Corry was our generous sponsor for the crabs. I bought it at Seaside Market and had it cooked there.

Jing and I contributed the Suahe boiled in Sprite.

Mayette cooked her Baby Pusit in Garlic.

Tita Cena brought Inutak from Rockwell.

Mona was in charge of the drinks and ice!

We all love to eat.... That is our common denominator. We are already planning our next eating session next month. I cannot wait!!!!!

Thank you, Lord for friends who are as passionate as me when it comes to eating!!!!!

 

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Lotus Biscoff Spread

Finally! I was able to taste the Lotus Biscoff Spread.

Now I can compare the two brands, Trader Joe's and Biscoff.

Mona was generous enough and brought her Biscoff Spead to the house.

Biscoff is creamier than TJ's Cookie butter. Spreadable and a bit sweeter too.

My friends prefer the Biscoff to Cookie Butter mainly because it tastes better and smoother in texture.

The nice thing about these cookie spreads is that they are lower in fat compared to peanut butter.

Even if I am not "wheat-free" these days, I am still trying to control my wheat intake.

Mind boggling.... I had two cua paos yesterday and I had a KFC Zinger,

my very first sandwich in 8 months and my FBS was low and normal at 102.

 

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Cua Pao (Gua Bao) Obsession

I never realized until today that cua pao or gua bao originated from Taiwan. It is a popular street food.

I do not know why I suddenly had a Cua Pao Obession.

Maybe because a few weeks ago, I tried the cua pao of Chocful of Nuts in Shoppesville, Greenhills. Since then, I have been on a quest for the cua pao of my childhood.

I do not know if you still remember the small Chinese stall at one of the entrances of Makati Supermarket when it was still in Makati Commercial Center? I loved their cua pao. It was very simple in taste but I could not forget it. I know it had a slice of pork belly, preserved mustard leaves and crushed peanuts inside the mantou. They prepared it right before my eyes upon order.

I researched online and asked a lot of people where to eat good cua pao.

Last Friday, I went to the Travel Expo at the SMX Convention Center. I saw the Polland stall in the food area and tried their Liempo Cua Pao.

I also went to Meylin, a lot of people said they have the best cua pao with Pata.

Then last Saturday, I went to Spring by Ha Yuan on Benavidez St., Legazpi Village. It was recommended by Sansan.

Tita Linda said, Emer's at the basement of Makati Cinema was another must-try cua pao. I also read about it in some blogs.

On the same day, I also ordered the cua pao of Hen Lin.

There was nothing wrong with all the cua paos I ate. They even tasted good.

The problem was, they were not what I was looking for.

In my obsession and desperation, I made my own at home!

First, I cooked Braised Pork Belly.

I wanted to buy the preserved mustard leaves in Farmer's but Mayette said, the stall I directed her to ran out of stock. Sansan said just to add salt and let it sit in the fridge for a few days but I could not wait that long. I added salt to the fresh mustard leaves and let it sit for a while to draw out the moisture then blanched it before dinner.

I bought a small pack of peanuts and ground it with my coffee grinder. I added white sugar but in hindsight, I should not have done that.

Sansan said the mantou bread at David's Teahouse is very good, but I was feeling sick all day long. I could hardly get up after breakfast because of my head congestion, I even felt dizzy. I was really so excited to make cua pao that I pumped myself with a lot of medications just so I could buy what I need for my experiment. I did not have a choice, I had to take steroids which is bad for me because it will raise my sugar but I could not breathe anymore. So, after a round of Decilon, Allerta, Neozep and Ava Mist, I was able to get up.

I ordered the mantou bread at Mongkok, 2 pcs./order. I just steamed the bread for 10 minutes.

I chopped the blanched mustard leaves then squeezed out the water before putting it on the bread.

Added a slice of Braised Pork Belly....

Sprinkled with the peanut/sugar mixture

and drizzled with the thickened sauce.

It was OK..... But I feel it would taste better with the preserved mustard and perhaps just crushed nuts without sugar.

I am very near my goal. If they still do not have the preserved mustard at Farmer's, then I will have to take a short trip to Chinatown in Binondo!

Wish me luck on my next Cua Pao Experiment!

P.S. I am off the wheat-free lifestyle until I am done with my obsession.

 

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PD's Favorite Menu

When PD invites friends over, she has a favorite menu.

Lechon Kawali

Baked Mussels

Chicken and Pork Puchero with.....

Vegetables

Eggplant sauce.

They were all very easy for me to cook and Hermie helped me prepare the food days in advance.

PD invited her friends for Valentine's Lunch.

Aurora and Sam....

Helen, sister of Aurora.

I am so glad they enjoyed the food! It really made me very happy.

Hahahaha ha! For someone who is single and unattached, I sure have been celebrating Valentine's several times over!

Happy Valentine's Day Everybody!

 

 

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Valentine's "Date"

"Jing, can I ask you out on a date?" She said sure! Hehehehe and then she told her husband someone asked her out on a date.

Ever since Tita Des told me about the Crabs with Tausi at Seaside Market, I could not get it out of my head so I thought of an "excuse" to celebrate! Valentine's Day is coming soon! We were planning to go on the 14th but my Ate said it is going to be traffic all over the city. Instead, we went to seaside yesterday with Mona. The more the merrier!

We bought our crabs at Medy's. We looked for Susan and told her Tita Des recommended her stall to us. The restaurant which cooked our crabs was GSquared upstairs.

The crabs with Tausi was really soooooo good! Finger licking' good!

We ate for almost 2 hours because it takes me forever to eat crabs. The meat of the crab was so firm! It was like the the meat of the guyabano fruit. My favorite kind of crab now is the male variety. I do not like the female anymore.

We also ate Shrimp Tempura.

I am going to make my own sauce next time.

The three of us are still dreaming about the crabs until now! So.... This is what I did....

I talked to Corry and said, "Corry, you have to try the crabs with Tausi! But I do not think you would want to eat there. Ask me anytime to buy for you!"

Of course, Corry said yes! Yay! We have another seafood lunch on Monday! I will order the crabs for Corry, Jing and I will buy suahe and cook it in my house. Mayette said she will bring Adobong pusit if she can attend and Mona is in charge of the drinks.

I am just counting the days till Monday!

 

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Trader Joe's Speculoos Cookie Butter

Everybody is talking about Trader Joe's Speculoos Cookie Butter.

Just last night at our get together, it was one hot topic. You can order from Cookie Butter Manila's Facebook page but the bottle of Cookie Butter in my house came from Mona. She had it sent because my friends and I were wondering what everybody is talking about.

Mona said, I should share it with Jing and Mayette.

So..... How does it taste? That is what most people would like to know.

I had a teaspoonful, I am not allowed to indulge because it contains wheat. It made me think.... "It tastes so familiar! I just could not put my finger on it."

I was thinking and thinking....suddenly, it dawned on me, the familiar flavor or taste is that of those cookies you buy in bulk at La Pacita or La Perla or Fibisco!

But the color and consistency is that of the peanut butter.

I checked the label and the ingredients are mostly oil: palm oil, canola oil, coconut oil and rapeseed oil.

If I am going to experiment....... I would probably use Fibisco Butter Cookies or Butter Crunch.

Will grind it in a food processor or blender. Then add brown sugar, cinnamon, nutmeg and a whole lot of oil until it becomes pasty.

Look! I have two bottles!

I did not realize Sophia has a bottle of cookie butter just sitting in her fridge.

Tip: it says on the label: DO NOT REFRIGERATE.

It is worth a try, just so you know what everybody is talking about!

 

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