I try to find new recipes to try out on my weekends. I’m thrilled with the huge kitchen space in our Vacaville home. There’s plenty of room to spread out my herbs, veggies, meat and cutting areas. Sometimes I have my PowerBook open to a tasty online recipe. When I’m prepping meals, sometimes I stare out at the backyard and watch my Daisy defend the house against blue jays, squirrels and pedestrians.
After almost a decade of cooking, I still feel like a novice in the kitchen. I think that’s cool because I’ll always find something new and challenging to tickle my taste buds. My love of culinary adventures goes back to my family. I’m happy we had a chance to return to some good home cooking for the P-Day Weekend.
I loved my dad’s home cooking: fish, laarb, fried rice and more. He’s the first one to teach me how to cook. During my 2nd year at Cal, he showed me how to make chicken adobo in the our tiny dorm kitchen. Little by little, I got more daring in the kitchen. Sometimes I had misses when it came to my cooking. Other times, one bite showed me that it was all worth the time and prep invested in the dish.
Lately, I’ve been going back to my food roots and exploring rice dishes. I’ve figured out the Spanish paella and the Italian risotto. Now I’m trying to master the art of fried rice. It’s one of the most basic Filipino meals and I’m tripping over the combination of soy sauce, patis and salt. I also found some inspiration for fried rice in our Christmas present from my cousin and her hubby: Seduction of Rice.
I’m also in an egg phase. In our kitchen, I’ve rekindled my love for all savory parings of eggs. Like scrambling eggs with peanut oil for my Mom’s fried rice dish. Or frying an egg in olive oil and pairing it with slices of a prosicutto for a hearty breakfast sandwich. I’m digging the yellow yolk flavor spilling over toasted bread and white rice. Good times.