about me

i am not a chef. this is the first thing i need to get across to whoever – accidentally or intentionally – reads or follows this blog.  i never took any course in culinary arts, fine arts, or theater arts, so you (probably) can identify with me. 

i am not a gourmet either.  whatever that is.  ok, i think i know what a gourmet is, just don’t ask me.  i remember when i was in school, in the good ole days of yore, i would slouch in my desk and hide behind the head of the person sitting in front of me, so that i would get out of sight of my teacher who was about to ask a question whose answer i didn’t know.  ahm, i didn’t know the answer to much of what my teachers would ask in class, except probably if it was in math.  math i was good at.  but, yah, just don’t ask me.  ahm, of course, these days all you hafta do is google-it any thing under the sun that you don’t know about, and then open your mouth and “say aah”. 

my friends

no, i just love to cook for myself, my wife and my kids, (yah, my friends too, who happen to drop by uninvited, self-invited or otherwise) and i needed to make a catalog of the various dishes i have prepared over the past few months.  it goes without saying, (yah, so dumb of me for still having to say it!) your memory is good, but the internet is better, coz... what you post in the internet, stays in the internet!  now, concerning the freedom of information bill, nah... joke!

although it is evident (i do not deny it) that i take pains to try to dress-up the dishes like chefs do, ahm, it is for the simple reason that i want them to look better for the picture taking, or like when people go to church or to a party, they dress up so they will look better, and their friends will praise them for looking so nice and lovely, and don’t they feel good about it?!  yah, that’s why they stay sooooo long in front of the mirror, or go to and fro, hither and thither, it’s a personal investment, which, yah, really pays off great dividends in the praises of friends and the glances of strangers. 

ok, here’s a tip.  don’t buy a mirror that makes you look wider.  buy a mirror that makes you look slimmer.

i’ve had no professional training in food arrangements or photography so the dishes don’t look as shiny and attractive as in food magazines, blogs or as when TV chefs do the arrangements.  

sometimes, i rush taking the photos for the simple reason that i am already too hungry to get a good shot.  besides that, i still need to hone my skills in using the various options in our point-and-shoot digicam, to get better quality shots; and in making-up the dishes to make them more visually attractive and appealing.

ahm, as you can see, the dishes i prepare are not high-end; most of the fresh ingredients i use come from the local public market and the others are readily available in the neighborhood supermarket.  a friend told me once that local and organic is best because it has a lower carbon footprint.  how about that, eh?  well, i go local and (if possible) organic merely for practical purposes, since they are more readily available to me.  ahm, from what i know the fresh vegetables they sell here in the public market in bulacan comes all the way either from pangasinan, nueva viscaya, or baguio.  only kangkong (water spinach,) pechay and malunggay (horseradish) are probably locally grown.  in fact, i just pick-off malunggay leaves from a tree at a vacant lot near our home.

ahm, in general, i would like to think of myself as an artisan.  i put my signature on the dishes i prepare.  yah, not with pen and ink, but with my own style or approach, my personal touch.  i think every artisan does that.

the tofu burger

so when i try out a recipe i like, i follow the instructions at first, then the next time i tweak it with my own personal touch, like when i added paprika (as suggested by a friend) on the tofu burger recipe i downloaded, and used 100 grams raw seitan instead of 2 eggs (to make it vegan,) and instead of dumping all the ingredients in the food processor, i went the old-fashioned way, mashing, pounding, and chopping the ingredients to suit my style.  i will be doing the same with jim’s veggie chili.

most of the recipes in this blog are vegan or vegetarian because i started writing this blog when i became a vegetarian, a month or so ago.  and because i am being hounded by well-meaning friends for recipes of the photos i post on my facebook account.