Chicken Afritada

This is another favorite Filipino dish.  My daughter Charisse likes chicken dishes and this is one of her favorites.  When done cooking, this dish is good a bit oily but after trimming all the chicken thighs fat, I am left with just the sauce, so I had to drizzle the finished product with a bit of extra virgin olive oil.

Ingredients:

1 whole chicken, chopped or 1.5 kgs chicken thighs, all fats trimmed

6 cloves garlic, minced

1 big onion, chopped

4-6 large ripe tomatoes, chopped

1 red or green bell pepper, chopped

1-2 carrots, peeled and chopped

2-4 large potatoes, peeled and chopped

3 tbsp corn oil for sauteing

3 tbsp extra virgin olive oil

5 tbsp. fish sauce

salt

pepper

1/2 cup water

Cooking Instructions:

1.  In a big frying pan, put corn oil and brown chicken on both sides in medium to high heat.  Set aside chicken when done.

2.  In the same frying pan, saute garlic until golden brown, onion and half the bell pepper and tomatoes.

3.  Put browned chicken pieces back to the pan, add fish sauce and mix everything together.

4.  Add water and bring to boil then put the heat to low and cover the pan.  Simmer for 15 minutes.

5.  Stir or reverse the chicken pieces.

6.  Create space in the center of the pan to accommodate potatoes and carrots.  Season with salt and pepper.  Add water as needed, bring to boil, cover the pan, put heat to low and simmer for 15 minutes.

7.  Season again with salt and pepper to suit your taste, top with bell pepper, stir it in, drizzle with evoo.

8.  Service with steamed rice or eat the chicken with the potatoes and carrots as the side dishes. 

Peanut Butter Cookies

After a lot of google search for the perfect PB cookies, I finally decided to use the recipe from www.yumyum.com.  Picture above is the result of my very first try at baking cookies.  Recipe below is cut and paste from their website.

Ingredients:

1/2 c	Brown Sugar
1/2 c	Granulated Sugar
1/2 c	Butter
1	Egg
1 c	Peanut Butter
1/2 ts	Salt
1/2 ts	Baking Soda
1/2 c	All-Purpose Flour
1/2 ts	Vanilla

---

Preheat oven to 375F.
Sift the granulated and brown sugars together.
Beat the butter until soft.
Add the sifted sugars gradually to the butter until creamy.
Beat in the egg, peanut butter, salt and baking soda.
Sift the flour before measuring; then add the flour to the batter along with the vanilla.
Roll the dough into small balls.
Place them on a greased cookie sheet.
Press them flat with a fork.
Bake for 15 minutes.

Verdict:  It was just average, nothing special about this recipe. 

Pork Sinigang or Pork in Tamarind Broth

In Surrey, BC, we have an Asian market called T & T Supermarket.  They carry products from the Philippines like Skyflakes, some canned sardines, some brands of chips, some brands of instant noodles, Marca Pina soy sauce and fish sauce and I'm sure a lot more I don't know about.  They carry stuff some big Canadian supermarkets do not sell.  In Asia, we don't waste any pig part and this pork neck bones is an example and true to being an Asian supermarket, T & T sells this pig part.  In my family, this is the best for pork sinigang or pork in tamarind broth.  I bought 5 lbs of pork bones and cooked a huge pot of sinigang. 

Ingredients:

1 kg. pork bones or pork side ribs, cubed

1 large onion, cut in half

1 large ripe tomatoes, cubed

1 lb or more bokchoy, washed

1 lb green beans, washed and ends removed

1 lb radish, peeled, sliced

1 lb white taro root crop (gabi)

1 big Knorr sinigang mix

salt

Cooking Instructions:

1.  Wash pork, put in a huge pot, add 2 liters of water or more than enough water to cover pork, put to high heat, bring to boil, remove scum immediately after it starts to boil until boiling water is clean from scum.

2.  Add onion and tomatoes, cover and put heat to lowest setting, just to allow a slow simmer.

3.  Add 1 tsp salt and simmer for 45 minutes if pork side ribs is used or 1 hour if cooking neck bones

4.  Add vegetables except bokchoy, cook in medium heat for 5 minutes, covered

5.  Add Knorr Sinigang mix, first using only half, then add more if so desired until desired sourness

6.  Add bokchoy and cook for 1 minute

7.  Serve very hot with steamed rice

RVing in Europe - Antwerp, Belgium

June 30, 2007
From Brussels, it was 45 kms drive to Antwerp, another major city in Belgium.  We needed to go to a campsite to discharge gray water (we didn't have black) and replenish on fresh water.

GPS Georgia found Camp de Molen.  We were allowed to camp only for 1 night, which was a huge relief, the other scenario being - the camp not accomodating us.  We settled on the spot given to us and took a wonderful bath.  In the RV, we take baths using very little water to make our water last as long as it can so we are not forced to go to camping sites to load fresh water.  Free camping is definitely better.  In this camp we paid Euros6.25 for 1 night, the cheapest camp so far.  It turned out to be the cheapest campsite fee ever all over Europe

The following morning, we checked out of the camp determined to eat at a Chinese restaurant in Antwerp Chinatown.  We went to the city after parking our RV at McDonalds parking, walked the streets of Chinatown and had a simple lunch of seafood noodles, chinese barbequed pork and rice all for Euros26.20.  In the evening before going back 'home' we bought one whole roasted chicken for dinner - Euros4.95.

We walked to the busiest, most populated street in the whole of Europe we had ever seen on our whole trip - called Meir Street. Imagine the whole stretch of Meir Street, say 1 km. long, full packed with people.  The number of mostly tourists walking and shopping in this street was unbelievable.  We checked out a number of stores but restrained myself from buying anything I did not need and ended up buying nothing... well, I bought ice cream for Euros 2.  This street was unforgettable, energetic and fun.

We walked farther to see the buildings in the Grote Markt including the Antwerp City Hall and the 16th Century Guildhouses (buildings).

We also went to see the Cathedral of our Lady, the tallest building in Antwerp.

 Finally, we sat at the Grote Markt facing the Statue of Brabo and the Giant's Hand.

RVing in Europe - Brussels, Belgium

June 22, 2007

We left Calais and drove about 200 kms when we decided to stop for the night to free camp at an aire/Autogrill along the highway at about 6pm.  We were quite excited that we were already on the outskirts of Brussels.  It's like goodbye France, hello Belgium.

The aire was across a flatland where cows were grazing.  Smell of cow manure was in the air.

The following morning, we drove to a McDonalds to have coffee.  We later found a boulangerie where we bought some fresh baked goodies.  A short drive more later, we were in Brussels.  We found a city park/parking where it's free to park.  We parked and checked free wifi and voila, were on.  Free parking, free wifi - Europe is great.

This parking is not very far from Basilique du Sacre Coeur de Bruxelles our target destination.   We walked to visit the church, walked the entire length of Elizabeth Park until we reached Simoniz Station.  It was again a very long walk back to our home on wheels.

I caught a bad cold/allergic attack and had to take some meds and had to sleep a lot as a side effect of the cold meds.  Mar brought our RV to a mechanic which he found searching using GPS Georgia to repair the locking mechanism on the front hood.  Mar paid Euros20 for labor and 10 for a replacement part. 

A few days later, after days of rain and days of recuperation, we were finally able to see Brussels' most famous tourist attractions like Grand Place, Palais Royale, Hotel de Ville, Central Station and Atomium.

I noticed that tourists here in Brusells were a lot less compared to famous cities like Rome, Paris and Barcelona.  We felt more relaxed here.

RVing in Europe - Calais, France

June 21, 2007

Driving towards Calais, we witnessed the beauty of rural France, farms very green and planted with crops, the great blue sea on the left side of the road, some animals and lovely French houses.  This part of France was so beautiful, so peaceful and so clean.  I like it here very much.

Mar helped a young girl repair her bike when we saw her on the side of the road trying to do something about her bike.  Coincidentally, they were both wearing red.  The girl was happy who drove home on her just repaired bicycle.

We camped for one night at Camping du Fort Lapin - camp fee was Euros18.82.  We arrived at the camp in the morning and the first thing we did was wash our dirty clothes by hand and because the sun was shining we hang the clothes to dry under the sun.

We drove around the town, went to see the beach and parked in a hotel when we found free wifi in that area.

Before we reached the beautiful farming community above, we found and experienced a street market where we bought some local produce and a pair of dangling red earrings matching a ring I bought in Paris.

Wikipedia:
The city's proximity to England has made it a major port for centuries. It is the principal ferry crossing point between England and France, with the vast majority of Channel crossings being made between Dover and Calais. The French end of the Channel Tunnel is also situated in the vicinity of Calais, in Coquelles some 4 miles (6 km) to the west of the town.