I know I haven't blogged as much recipes as I have in the past, but that's only because I barely used my kitchen in the past month! Things have been crazy since November and I barely had time to edit photos let alone make a story out of them. I didn't want to just publish anything for the sake of being able to post. Of course I still want to have quality blog posts which is why I decided to wait it out until my holiday vacation to work on my pending posts. 

For today's recipe, I'll be sharing a go-to recipe I've grown to love during my busy days. Since being in a relationship again, I've had to allot some of my time with the boyfriend (duh!). This basically means going to Tagaytay and lazily spending the weekends watching movies and drinking wine. I feel soooo mature just typing that. Also cultured at that since the boyfriend taught me how to eat cheese and which wine to pair it with, LOL. Or the rare chance that we get to spend together at home, we spend sleeping and eating takeaway food. I'll be sharing two easy versions of this favorite meal; one savory and one sweet version. Let's begin!

Ingredients

Do you every get those lazy nights where you have a to-do list but you end up doing nothing? Yeah, I've been getting a lot of those nights. I don't why I've been feeling too exhausted lately, but when I get home, I just wash my face and watch my series until I fall asleep. I end up not eating anything for dinner nor doing anything else. I also collapsed thrice during my class two weeks ago. I have yet to have my check up. Hoping and praying this isn't anything serious!

Okay, going back to the recipe, I've been obsessed with Cream Dory! It's easy to cook and the meat is so tender. I just put on anything I want and voila, I have a meal ready. It's the perfect ingredient for working professionals because it only takes a few minutes to prepare and cook. With this recipe, I was aiming for the taste to be somewhat like Inihaw na Bangus which is why I added onions and tomatoes. 

Ingredients

Cream Dory

Onions

Tomatoes

Salt

Pepper

Basil

Olive Oil

Procedure

1. Wash your cream dory thoroughly and season with salt, pepper and basil. 

2. Cover your baking tray with foil and grease with olive oil. 

3. Position your cream dory across the baking tray and put tomatoes and onions on top. 

4. Set your oven to 175C and bake for 20mins. This may take longer, depending on the thickness of the fish. 

I love how the evolution of technology makes it easy for chef wannabe's like me to create something from scratch for dinner or baon whenever my Mom is too busy playing Candy Crush and can't be bothered to send her recipes. I've mentioned in my last recipe post how awesome and helpful short video recipes on Facebook can be. Not only do they give me dinner or breakfast ideas, they also teach me how!

One of the recipes I've been eyeing for a long time is How to cook a Steak with Gordon Ramsay; He is only my most favorite chef ever. It seemed very enticing to cook because you'll be done in about 5 minutes. The only problem is, you can't mess up. Well, you can, but there's only a little margin for error. Steak portions aren't necessarily cheap, you know. I didn't religiously follow Gordon's recipe because I was so scared of screwing up so I went with a store-bough seasoning. Ugh, I know you're cringing but I don't really care 'cause I cooked it already, hehe. 

I'm a huge fan of those short recipe videos on Facebook that don't require you to go to a freaking Youtube page to watch the video. You just press play and voila, you get access to awesome, quick and easy recipes. Sometimes I find myself watching one video and telling myself I'd sleep after that short clip. Fast-forward to 3 hours later, I'm still watching those damn short videos! My Facebook account is filled with saved recipes and I don't know which one to prioritize because they're just all too good, sigh. 

Luckily, I was able to get started with one of the easiest recipes I've been dying to try. I try to avoid snacks while watching movies because you consume more than what you need. Even if you're already full, you end up eating all that popcorn just because the movie isn't done yet. Or, is it just me? Either way, I was trying to avoid that until this video. I mean, it's so easy to make. What could go wrong aside from that additional 5lbs on your weight? 5lbs isn't that bad, so I decided to give it a try!

I've been dying to cook ribs since I got my mini oven. I know I've raved about that mean machine of a kitchen appliance since I got it and I don't think I'll be stopping anytime soon. There's just so much to discover in the wonderful world of baking. I haven't even gone to pastries yet! As of the moment, I've only explored veggies and chicken. I've abused the art of baking my vegetables to death because it's highly convenient if you're always on the go. I prepare my veggies during the weekend and pop them in the oven when I don't have a lot of time to spend on cooking. 

I've tried baking pork in the form of Bacon-wrapped Enoki mushrooms. Because, why the hell not? Nothing ever goes wrong with bacon--well, except this. My experiments usually dwell within the confines of Chicken to vegetables. I'm a bit scared when it comes to dealing with Pork because a lot of things can go wrong. And it's not cheap too. 

At 20-something, I know I should start taking care of my body. When medical professionals told me my metabolism would start slowing down at this age, I didn't know they weren't kidding. I started to feel ~old~ about 6 months ago, when I got out of the hospital. I was admitted for over a week due to a problem with my Liver and Gastritis. My health drastically went downhill from there. I wasn't allowed to eat solid food for a while, I was prohibited from eating spicy and sour food, I couldn't drink alcohol and I was advised not to smoke. I was also REQUIRED to drink a lot of water. This was the hardest for me. I don't like water, that may come as a surprise to some, but I really loathe water. I mean, it's boring, it's tasteless and I bloat easily. I also have a tendency to pee every now and then because I don't know, tiny bladder perhaps? But whatever, it's very inconvenient! But we all know it's good for us so kids and whoever is reading this, 8-10 glasses or more per day!

With that, I've been trying to re-invent how I cook my food. One time, I was craving for Lechon Kawali but then remembered how painful the whole cooking process is and all the fat and oil that comes along with deep frying. I was wondering if it's possible to ~bake~ the pork since I've been addicted to oven-baked everything since I got a mini oven! I know this defeats the purpose of naming it Lechon Kawali but who cares?! It's as yummy so fuck off!

Whenever I'm in a rut and can't be bothered to even cook my own meal, I always resort to canned stuff x something healthy in my pantry. Which is pretty much how last week looked like. I experienced terrible migraines after work. don't know what or who to blame, work or this horrible alternating weather. One minute it feels like you're on a sizzling plate ready to be served to hungry giants, the next minute it's raining horses and elephants. I would usually have all the energy in the world to make myself a good home-cooked supper, but not the past few days. The heat has been terrible and I just want to lay in bed and not move an inch because of the weather, and mind you, I have my air-conditioner on full blast, ugh? Despite the weather, I'm still thankful because I don't have to endure it while waiting for a ride home. I've been reading some really terrible tweets and posts about how insane it is to ride the MRT nowadays. Thank God I don't have to experience that. 

Sorry about the rants, going back. After binging on fastfood and beach food for the past months, I finally had the initiative to reunite with my kitchen again. I haven't been religiously doing the groceries but I have a few items in my pantry. For starters, I know that I have a ton of canned goods because those shit take a while to expire hence the hoarding. I have the basics, onions, garlic and tomatoes, and whole cupboard of McCormick spices that I don't really need but I bought them anyway because they look pretty. With that, let's see what I came up with!

If there's another kind of food I love more than Filipino food, it's Japanese! I love sushi, teriyaki, katsudon, name it and most probably, I love it. And any Japanese meal would be incomplete (at least for me) without Miso soup! It can be the cheapest thing on the menu and it can also be a bit pricey, depends on the restaurant really. Since I love it, I wanted to know how to make it. 

Before I proceed with the recipe, can I just rant about the weather? Earlier, there was a thunderstorm and I had to cancel a very important meeting. After an hour, the heat started to intensify making the weather ultimately humid. UGHHH! Buuuut, this recipe is perfect if you get one of those perfect and cold rainy morning, without the weather getting bipolar. Let's start! 

I'm not sure if it's professional to let it out and say, I'm not happy with my job. I'm okay with it, yes. But only because it pays the rent, takes care of the bills, takes me to places I haven't been to and gives me just enough to still help out my parents and my siblings who are still in school. I've been a little depressed at how I'm unable to figure things out. When I was younger, I always thought that when I approach 25, I'd already have a car and maybe a small condo unit, and you know, just live by as if life were that easy. Apparently, it's not. 

I am approaching 25, and what have I accomplished so far? I have managed to give money to my siblings whenever they need it. Treat my parents every now and then, help out with the expenses at home and that's it. I don't have any investment, and aside from my gadgets, I don't own anything at all. I'd like to say I have lived a frugal life for the past 5 years. I haven't shopped as much as I used to in college, if I have any guilty indulgence, that would be food--which is a necessity. But where did I go wrong? How come my ideal life isn't even close to my reality? It's really disheartening to look at what 5 years of work has done to me. I've been feeling this way for several months now and I can't seem to shrug this feeling away. Cooking is the only thing that keeps my mind off things.

Aaaaand, since this post is becoming lengthy and melodramatic, I'll stop. 

Woke up early today because the boyfriend kept on trying to ruin my sleep. We both have fucked up body clocks and unfortunately, they weren't in sync yesterday. Hence all the bullying while I was sleeping and he was wide awake. Couldn't go back to sleep so I made breakfast! We had Enoki mushrooms wrapped in bacon, scrambled eggs with basil, onions and tomatoes, broccoli salad and coconut juice!

Work this week was extra toxic and extremely difficult. Two months before my birthday and this lingering feeling of unhappiness haunts me every time. I know, I know. You'll tell me this happens every year, months before my birthday. I know that, too! But I can't seem to get rid of this annoying and unpleasant feeling. I just had a haircut, hoping I'm one step closer to finally letting go--of that dreaded feeling, amongst other things. 

Is it just me or the cold not-so-summer nights are finally over? If so, I'm hating this weather. Can't we have the easy breezy weather until March? No? Okay. Anyway, we've been feeling the heat since the weekend (jackets and boots no more!), the boyfriend and I were binging on salad for like a whole week. It's easy to prepare and it's very light, perfect for the tropical weather. 

I already have several salad recipes on queue but let me share this first because it's the easiest! You just put all of the ingredients together and voila, you have a decent meal. 

I've been down with the flu for over 2 weeks now and I'm not even close to recovery. Huhuhuhu My salad life, which is supposed to be fun, is taking a back seat because my body keeps looking for rice. Or food portions in humongous sizes, and a salad just won't do. Sigh. I had a meeting at work earlier and it was so embarrassing because I kept on coughing while explaining my deck, and it was also painful. It's also affecting my workout! I haven't been doing Zumba because of this terrible feeling. I just want to curl up in bed until I get well. Huhuhu

So anyway, I just want to share a recipe I did a couple of weeks ago. I've seen a lot of sardines recipes online but most of them were oil-based. I love sardines in tomato sauce so I thought, why not use it instead.

Can I just breathe and finally say, yay because it's the freakin' weekend! And after a day, it'll be Monday again--woohoo work! NOT! Work was really toxic this week. Thinking about the food that I'll whip up the next day kept me motivated from Monday until Friday. Oh, I also have my monthly visitor! Isn't that just great? UGHHHH. Bad vibes aside, I was feeling hungry the other day and couldn't be bothered to look at recipes online, so I tossed some left over vegetables and came up with a pretty satisfying salad! It may have been a bad week, but I had my moments too!