Pansit with a side of the NBA Playoffs

This is our favorite. So easy to cook and so tasty to look at. Pansit
with a side of calamansi slices for an outdoor BBQ party, or when you
have friends over to watch the NBA Playoffs. What else can I say but
GO Miami Heat GO! Rondo put up a valiant effort in yesterday's game
but our boys LeBron/Wade are too much to handle. You missed that game?
Just like this pansit, record it or take a photo of it for a replay of
all that goodness.

Ube Halaya (Yam Cake Dessert)

This purple yam cake is my daughter's favourite and she keeps asking for it even when we tell her it's already ubos (all gone). It dissapeared so quickly that I don't have a photo of the finished Ube Halaya (nevermind, found a photo). The main ingredient is condensed milk and sticky, moist purple yam. Hmmm, yum. A great dessert for any occasion.

Perfect Puto for a Nepalese and Indonesian Dinner Party

"Sarap ng puto, pinoy na pinoy" says new Filipino-Canadian immigrant
Joseph, about the puto we (royal "we") prepared for an 8-year old's
birthday party. In English this roughly translates to "Very tasty
puto, very traditional Filipino dish". Puto is a kind of steamed rice
cake in the Philippine cuisine and makes for a great dessert. When
combined with red wine while someone plays guitar music, it is
definitely a great addition to a Nepalese and Indonesian dinner.

A Very Good Friday This Past Easter

The perfect Easter dinner is made up of the following spread:

1) Seafood Pasta, mostly mussels;
2) Barbequed beef on a stick;
3) Roast beef with potato halves;
4) Caesar salad topped with strawberries.

Can't wait for next Easter.

More Than Meets The Eye

For Ethan's 6th birthday, my sister designed the birthday cake to look like a blue Optimus Prime from Transformers the movie. I'm impressed because it does look like him too.

She also baked this skateboard cake complete with miniaturized skateboards with mini wheels on them. Sweet. I took one of the pieces to make sure I had a souvenier but of course it's now been misplaced somewhere.

Appreciation For Lunchbox Meals

I just thought I'd take a note for the record how awesome it is to be
married to a caring, beautiful cook. This morning, I woke up to the
smell of fried string beans and garlic-fried medium-sized shrimps for
my "baon" or brown bag lunchbox. She woke up before 7am in the
morning, every morning, to do this. You must know just how awesome
that feels. There is much love and care and thought put into the
preparation of my baon (or lunch-box) that I just had to share. She's
very quick at it too. It stresses me out on weekends having to come up
with meals that the kids will eat so I know this isn't easy.

Just wanted to say 'Thank You'.

If you are interested in some lunchbox ideas, please comment here.

"Glory Meat" Butcher Shop

I'm parked in front of this detached storage unit at a Korean butcher
shop named "Glory Meat" on the corner of 104th Ave and 144th Street.
Just thought the sign is a bit funny but that's because I'm so
immature and find a lot of things to pick on when I'm waiting in the
car.

This is one of our favorite butcher shops because of the variety and
also because the produce here is very cheap. It's right across Hen
Long Market so the competition is great for us consumers. We get goat
meat here for Kaldereta and beef bones for Bulalo stew. They also sell
vegetables here by the way.

(Glory Meat Shop, 14390 104 Ave, Surrey, BC | 604.582.6211)