I Cooked Pinoy Barbecue Because I Spent My Lunch Money on Baby Yoda

Baby Yoda used his jedi powers on me last week. I made an unplanned purchase. I do have "celebration budget" which I set aside for wants, but I had already spent my celebration budget on something this month so this purchase had to be charged to my "lunch money". 

To earn back my spontaneous purchase I decided to cook as much as I could for the rest of the week. I'm also feeling much better now so I told myself I had to get moving. I finally found a grill pan I could use on our induction stove. I bought it via Lazada and finally put it to good use last weekend. 

It's been years since we last grilled anything. We had an electric griller in Manila, but it was so hard to clean we just gave up using it. I miss eating Pinoy barbecue so I was set on making some even it meant having a hard time cleaning the grill pan. 

Grill pan bought via Lazada.

On Saturday I marinated the meat using my Datu Puti barbecue marinade. I just added a bit of salt, the marinade and garlic. Covered it and left it in the fridge of marinate overnight. Sunday came and I set to work to grill the meat. Ended up cooking a lot! It turned out well and I think I've paid my dues to Baby Yoda haha. 

The finished product - Pinoy barbecue! It'll take us a few days to finish hehe.

And grill? Oh my it had a lot of residue that couldn't be removed with a sponge. I did some research and found out you can use baking soda and salt with hot water to help soften the residue. I did that and used a brush to  remove the residue. It came off easily! I'm so excited because this means I could try grilling other dishes! 

Do you have any suggestions for me to grill?

CB//195 #StuckAtHomeDay/225 #WFH132 #StayHome #BeKind

Filipino Food Cravings

It feels like I've been away from home for about a year already, but it's just been about a month. I've been living in Singapore for about 9 months now, but I always start itching to go home just after a few days of being away. And I become badly homesick in about ten days. Good thing I've been so busy at work and it ain't so bad after awhile.

Aside from my loved ones, the gastronomic delights we have at home makes me want to take the first ride available back to the Philippines.

Longganisa - is our local sausage. Mind you though there are many different types found all over the country.  The photo below doesn't do justice to it (I cooked that at home), but everyday I think about the different types of longganisa we have back home -- Pampanga, Lucban, Vigan. And for the desperate like me, Jollibee's breakfast longganisa hits the spot too.

Crispy Pata - I kid not whenever I tell friends from other countries that we have a lot of cardiac delights in the Philippines. These are dishes that are usually pork-centric and high in cholesterol. And here's the perfect example of a cardiac delight - the crispy pata. Best eaten with special soy sauce + vinegar dip.

Sisig - oh my and this photo I took in Bataan a few years back. Traditional sisig is made out of ******* (best not to disclose) but it's sooo yummy. In restaurants in the city though they usually either use pork or chicken with chicharon. A lot of people eat sisig as pulutan (best with San Miguel Beer!), but I actually prefer to eat it with rice. Sisig also comes in many different types. I love the one in Davao because it has mayonnaise.

Manggang Hilaw with Bagoong - green mango with shrimp paste. I love eating green mango with bagoong and usually have ensalada whenever I eat in Filipino restos. Best matched with grilled food.

Plain `ol Barbecue - I can easily finish three sticks of barbecue in less than 5 minutes (considering I'm such a slow eater!). I don't think I'll ever tire of eating barbecue. And I miss eating isaw too.

And that's all about I can write about now because my tummy's grumbling in protest over seeing all these yummy food that's best eaten when I'm home.

The Sowsi Way of Eating Barbecue

Is there even such a thing?

I guess the proper way of eating barbecue is by taking the meat off the stick using a fork. My mom taught me the art of using a fork to:

(1) eat a banana (the human way she says);

(2) peel off the shell of a shrimp ; and

(3) take off the meat from the barbecue stick.

But I think the best way to eat barbecue is to chomp on it the barbarian way. Gooey sauce on the cheek and all, that's still the yummiest way to finish off a stick (and don't forget the cardio delight at the end).

My favorite barbecue places include:

(1) our backyard - Dad's special recipe
(2) Tita Olive's barbecue at Villa Merced Resort, Camangui, Pasacao, Camarines Sur, Bicol (she's my Tita!)

(3) Manang's special barbecue at the eskinita in Sun Valley Drive (and it's cheap too!)
(4) Aling Nene's - I just sometimes find it a bit too big though
(5) Cafe Nemoto, Better Living, Paranaque; a new find with pals

Thanks to Jayvee and

Sasha for the photo.