gaga over frittata - round 2!

I made frittata again today, this time with different stuff. I used mixed vegetables (corn, carrots & peas) and beef steak with the usual mozzarella. This post is mostly for foodporn purposes, i.e. watch out for loads of unedited pictures!! Teehee!

Ready to start cookin'! Can u see all the colorful stuff I've added??


A closer view.. Looks like a very creamy soup eh? Mmmm!
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. after 10min -->
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It became fluffy! Looks so yummy! I think it's the melted mozzarella rising.


A closer view.. Parang puto cheese ni mama! Only with veggies instead of cheese.
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. after another 10min -->
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It's all done! Perfectly baked and browned! This is my bro's portion and --


-- this is mine! My lovely breakfast for today with cup frittatas =)


A closer view.. Is it blurry? Sorry, I'm just using our Jurassic 1.2mp digicam eh!
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. and the last, but not the least -->
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The UBE HALAYA! Or ube jam, if that's what you prefer. It's from the Good Sheperd nuns in Baguio City. It's absolutely heavenly that it'll have it's own post soon. Watch for it! =)

healthy FOODbits

I am an avid reader of everything! From classic obscure stuff (mimsy were the borgroves!) to popular fiction (Harry Potter!!!), from medical books to cookbooks and architecture manuals, from sexy Cosmolitan and FHM to mainstream Reader’s Digest and Time Magazine. Comics, food labels, graphic novels-- name it and I most likely have read it; barring perhaps old poems that are not about love, hehe! Seriously, since the start of the year, I have read across a lot of stuff which have influenced my life for the past 6 months. Medical updates and healthy living tidbits are the most common ones I applied on my life. Others are about love and how to deal effectively with other people. In this, the 10-year anniv mag of Cosmo is a must-have!!! I have learned so much from their thickest issue ever! =) Anyway since this is a food blog, what I’d share is of course related to food. Most of these were new to me so I’d guess they might be new to you too. Read on and be enlightened!

We have been taught from the beginning that canned goods are bad for us due to a lot of preservatives. But did you know that canned stuff can be good for you? According to the British Nutrition Foundation, the following canned goods can boost your diet with essential nutrients--

1. Canned apricots and gooseberries provide more vitamin C than their fresh counterparts.
2. Tinned and canned tomatoes are composed of tomatoes that have been cooked in small amounts of oil and fat, and our body absorbs the lycopene better this way. Lycopene is an antioxidant found in tomatoes.
3. Canned chickpeas in water – just 5 tablespoons of this will provide 6 grams of your recommended daily fibre intake of 18 grams. That’s already 1/3! Nice! However I haven’t found this in the supermarkets here in Davao. Tsk! The pix at right shows canned chickpeas. Make sure you wash the peas thoroughly before eating or cooking.

Filipinos are fond of eating rice and it is rare to see bread in the dining table except during breakfast (which is incomplete without pandesal!). But more and more Filipinos are shifting to bread thinking it is healthier. But not all bread is created equal. If you are seeking for a healthy loaf, check the label of the bread for: (Source: British Dietetic Association)

1. The word “whole” before the first mention of grain of flour in the ingredient list. Our family usually buys the “whole wheat” variety which adds a lot of fiber to our diet and texture for cooking purposes. Click the pix for more info.
2. Two grams of fiber per slice – fiber is the magic word if you wanna go healthy.
3. Added seeds and nuts – even though the fat and calorie content will increase, seeds and nuts provide phytochemicals (and proteins to keep you fuller!) which help fight disease.

Our grandmothers are known to use “vetsin” in most of their dishes. They swear it makes the food tastier, and this is backed by a Japansese claim that the vetsin taste is the 5th basic one and is called “umame”. But then it is the Japanese company Ajinomoto that made vetsin use ubiquitious so I can’t really trust the Japanese on the umame claim, can I? Hehe! Vetsin is more popularly known as MSG (monosodium glutamate) to the younger generations who grew up influenced by media that MSG = cancer. They seem loathe to use vetsin in cooking but you see them happily munching on junkfoods which is full of MSG and other preservatives. Others proudly claim they only buy food labeled “no MSG”. Unfortunately for them, foods stating “no MSG” may contain another flavour enhancer known as the “new MSG” – disodium 5’-ribonucleotides 635. When I first read about this, I was shocked as I’m one of the people who avoid MSG as much as I can. I’m not eating the old-MSG but was I was pigging out on the new-MSG?? Oh God, the thought of it! Ignorance is truly a bliss! Now I’m wondering what could this new-MSG cause in the long-term. Cancer?? Spare me! As a consequence, I’m reading food labels a lot more closely than ever before. No MSG? Still not safe! READ MORE CLOSELY. And google stuff you find suspicious. Let the new era of food-enhancer paranoia begin!

gaga over frittata!

Breakfast is my favorite meal of the day. I never, ever skip it if possible and I usually eat large amounts during this meal. Early morning is also the time I'm most inspired to cook and invent yummy meals. So if you want a taste of my cooking, better visit me during breakfast time for you will be surprised with my delish creations =)

For the past few days, I've been surfing food blogs and I came upon Lunch in a Box's entry about mini-frittata (yellow stuff in cupcake tin) and I was enamored with it! I longed to cook it and I finally did today, yum! Now, you ask, what's a frittata? Here is a definition from one of Labsie's fave sites, WIKIPEDIA: "It is a type of Italian omelette that frequently features fillings such as meats, cheeses, and vegetables. Like a normal omelette, a frittata is prepared in a skillet. However, whereas a normal omelette is cooked on a stovetop and served folded, a frittata is first partially cooked on a stovetop but then finished under the grill and served open-faced." Hmmm, I really think it's the pinoy version of the ubiquitous scrambled egg with lots of fillings but NOT fried. Right on!

I won't blog on how to make a frittata, just click the link I provided above as it has excellent instructions. I made 3 frittatas, each with different fillings. The pix on the left shows the browning frittatas inside our tough-as-nails turbo boiler oven. The one on top has a heart-shaped pork tocino piece (this is breakfast after all!) which is not seen, the one on left has cheesedog bits and the one on right has beefsteak strips. All 3 had delicious mozzarella cheese, yum! =) Notice they look like cupcakes or macaroons. At one time, they were even bubbling like crazy! Must be the milk and cheese that I included. After cooking (in pan & oven, about 20mins) and cooling, I ate the one with tocino. Super super super yummy! I wanted to eat the other 2 but since my youngest bro had classes today (thus he needs protein), I left it for him and he promptly demolished it. I think he loved it too, hehe =) Here is my finished *first attempt* frittatas. I would certainly make this again! Next time with other fillings and in bigger servings. One cupcake-size is definitely NOT enough!

OKONOMIYAKI

Who loves takoyaki guys? I do! My labsie does, my brothers, my parents, everybody in my world does! =) Now, what does takoyaki have to do with okonomiyaki? If you love the taste of the former, triple it in size + more flavors = okonomiyaki! According to the resto where we first had this dish, it's the japanese version of a pizza. However, I later learned that it's more of a pancake, i.e. what you cook is batter (pancake) and not dough (pizza). If you want more info about this yummy food and how to cook it, check the following sites:
http://markun.cs.shinshu-u.ac.jp/hobby/okonomi/index-e.html
http://visualrecipes.com/recipe-details/recipe_id/120/Okonomiyaki-aka-Japanese-Pizza/
http://greggman.com/japan/okonomiyaki/okonomiyaki.htm

Okonomiyaki means "whatever you like/favorites, grilled in Japanese". After making the basic batter, you put all your favorite foods on top and cook it. Me, I imagine squid rings, shrimps, some fish flakes and japanese mayo. Simply superb! =) We first encountered this delish food last November 2006 in Gaisano Mall. But owing to my super-busy medical life, it is only now that I am able to blog about it, teehee!

Labsie and I were looking for a new place to eat and there it was -- Effort Junko's Japanese Curry with baduy heart-shaped pink and blue neon lights inviting curious us to view their menu. There was, of course, the japanese curry and the typical katsudon and gyudon meals. And by the corner, we see something round named okonomiyaki. We asked the waiter what it was and he said it is japanese pizza, and we would certainly like it. So we ordered it plus our usual rice meals. When it finally came, we were like "Is this it??" coz it's really not much to look at (as you can see in the pix below with 1/4 already eaten, lol). Plus it took sooo long for the order to arrive! We were nearly halfway our rice meals before it came. BUT, when we took our first bite of the okonomiyaki -- heaven!! It was definitely worth the wait =) The different flavors just meshed and the "crust", oohhh, very flavorful! And the price? About P75 which is good for two so very cheap for snacking! So if you're in GMall and is in a patient mood, look for this crazy-named store in the food section of Gmall's 3rd floor (I think.. haven't been to Gmall or any malls for that matter recently, hehe). By the way, Effort Junko also sells 2nd-hand laptops from Japan so check that out too. All in all, the resto is a good place to eat if you're not in a hoity-toity sosyalera mood. Good food, good price and with good company = good time! =)