My Published Articles for ViewsHound: October 2020

Saturday, October 31, 2020

Have You Heard of Cooking Sous-vide?

Cooking via Sous-vide-Photo Credit-Wikipedia

I was communicating with a European friend now residing in the Philippines about the best way to cook exotic and expensive meat like ostrich steaks the other day. I told him I am not comfortable in cooking expensive and exotic meat like ostrich steaks or lamb chops for I might ruin the cooking either under or over cooking.

He suggested I try cooking Sous-vide. This was my first time to hear of the word Sous-vide. The technique of cooking in a vacuum-sealed bags in a water bath had been done by Macrine (RIP) in her younger years. I just did not know what the name of the process or technique was at that time.

Sous Vide is a French cooking technique, which translates to “under vacuum." In this technique food is vacuum-sealed in a cooking pouch and heated up at a precise temperature in a water oven. Instead of relying on perfect timing, sous vide relies on precise temperature control. You simply set the machine and can expect the technique to deliver consistent, perfect results. Foods cooked sous vide develop flavors and textures that simply cannot be duplicated using any other traditional cooking method. Here are the advantages of cooking sous-vide.

Enhanced flavours.
Healthier result.
Better textures and tenderness.
Never overcooked.
Perfect every time.

Sous vide water bath cooker could vary from $9.99 to $ 4,000 + depending on brand

The $9.99 water bath cooker from Amazon

The most expensive sous vide water bath cooker commercially available listed for $4,200.99

Here are three links about Sous-vide cooking.

https://sousvidesupreme.com/pages/10-great-reasons-to-get-a-sousvide-supreme

https://anovaculinary.com/what-is-sous-vide/

https://www.seriouseats.com/2010/04/cook-your-meat-in-a-beer-cooler-the-worlds-best-sous-vide-hack.html?fbclid=IwAR1WcsHJTszppMFf1b3D0Q_7VUMKtkvywWtgCKmwnPsd4lgo_s7vVvNuBig

Meanwhile, enjoy this photo of coconut lobster from Marinduque, Philippines

Live Coconut Lobsters ( Crabs) from Marinduque, Philippines

Thursday, October 29, 2020

Cooking Filipino Dishes Using an Instant Pot/Pressure Cooker

Our old (1980's) Presto Pressure Cooker versus Ditas modern Instant Pot

In the late 1980's Macrine (RIP-my late spouse)) had been using a Presto Pressure Cooking for Lengua( Beef Tongue) Estofado and Pigs Knuckles for her Kare-kare and other Pinoy dishes until 2013 when she was diagnosed with Parkinson. Since then I was the cook in the House but I did not use our old pressure cooker because I was scared it will blow up on me and I hate the noise of the cooker. However the other day, Ditas my youngest daughter showed me her Instant Pot and my fear of cooking using a pressure cooker had vanished.

The other day, Ditas cooked kare-kare (pig knuckles)using her modern Instant Pot. The pigs feet was soft and tender for only 30 minutes versus cooking in a regular oven top which will require from 2 to 3 hours.

Two months ago, I joined a FB Filipino cooking group and I ask the following question.

What Pinoy Dishes have you cooked using the Instant Pot/Pressure Cooker?

I had 133 comments as of today. I am posting a few of the comments below:

Manny Tamayo

Pinapaitan

Arlyn Reataza

Nilaga

Ashley Clements

Arroz caldo, adobo, sinigang

Myrna Magdangal Ranada

Bulalo

Lynne Viloria Gutierrez

I prefer to use simmer when cooking bulalo, nilaga stew chicken to get the real flavor!!

Emily Pudol Parinas Williams

Sinigang

Joe Aurora Tizon Sobrino

Nilagang mani

Roselyn Angao

sinigang, adobo, afritada, calderitA and menudo

Tess Garcia

Oxtail for kare kare

Kristine Guevarra

Chicken feet

Kristine Guevarra

Bistek, bulalo, kare kare, adobo.

Enriqueta Wilbanks

Humba with banana flower.

Michelle Mirabel-Mendoza

Mechado, adobo and kare kare

Josephine Horii

Nilaga crispy pata and kaldereta

Jocelyn R. Greene

Lechon belly

Nito B. Tan

Paa ng baka

Noel Gavia

https://www.amazon.ca/Filipino-Instant-Pot.../dp/1734124105

The Filipino Instant Pot Cookbook: Classic and Modern Filipino Recipes for Your Electric Pressure Cooker

The Filipino Instant Pot Cookbook: Classic and Modern Filipino Recipes for Your Electric Pressure Cooker

Princisita Molina

Use pressure cooker to all meat before finalize the recipe.

Mary Anne Stevens

Menudo, arroz caldo

Mark Quijano

Adobo, afritada, nilaga

Kare kare

Beef pares

Kare Kare

Kaldereta

Nilaga…

Constancia Cabasa

Piglets oxtail soup

Lorna Barriga Mapue

Caldereta

Arden Heraldo

Karekare,kaldereta,mechado, nilagang baka, goto.

Nina Roper Yearwood

Sinigang!

Joel Agpawa Hendrix

None

Mitchie Ahohada

Pork leg and baked beans

Lester Z. Machacon

bulalo

James Martinez

Kare kare.

Faye Virtucio Espocia

Kare kare, calderetang kambing, sinigang, tinola and kanin!!!!

Amelia Dumalaog Miranda

Any meat that takes time to boil and soften

Pauline T Santos

Mechado

Estee Naval Dizon

paella, put rice seafood stock and at 1 teaspoon saffron and put chicken , shrimp , sausages

Becca Sagun Ugali

Papaitan,karekare,nilaga

Catherine Cuevas Sablad

Kare kare, sinigang, nilaga, mechado

Flo Vander Wiede

Karekare, bulalo

Gerlynmae Añover-Baello

Eto luto ni mister https://youtu.be/sbvwBd62jSY

Sinigang na Beef Pata with a Twist. Easy and delicious.

Camille Harvey

Leche flan

Margie Salvador Bonifacio Pratt

Other than bulalo at kare Kare. Adobo, rice minsan spaghetti

Lola Vogler

I never use pressure cooker in My entire life

Belinda Agustin Macatangay

Kare kare...for the oxtail and tendons

ArtandMonica Lai

Adobo

Rucel Pletado

Chicken adobo

Julie Espiritu

Beef stew Adobo chicken/pork, Menudo.

Meanwhile enjoy this video -Cooking Lengua Estofado- one of my favorite Filipino Dish and a coconut lobster from Chateau Du Mer, Boac, Marindque, Philippines

Tuesday, October 27, 2020

Celebration of Life: Macrine J. Katague via her Favorite Music (Filipino)-Part 5

This is a continuation of the series, Celebration of Life: Macrine J. Katague via her favorite music, Part 5 of 14. This part are three of her favorite Filipino songs.

Kahit Maputi Na ang Buhok Ko (Even if My Hair Had Gone White) (Tagalog). See English translation:

https://www.musixmatch.com/lyrics/Rey-Valera/Kahit-Maputi-Na-Ang-Buhok-Ko/translation/english

Matud Nila-They Say (Said)( Cebuano-Visayan)

They said I was not fit
Matud nila ako dili angay

To be rich in your love,
Nga magmamanggad sa imong gugma,

They say you will not be happy,
Matud nila ikaw dili malipay,

I have no comparison with you,
Kai wa ako'y bahanding nga kanimo igasa,

Charity is a commitment
Gugmang putli mao day pasalig

It is worth more than gold
Maoy bahanding labaw sa bulawan

They said it was just a coincidence
Matud nila kaanugon lamang

In your love and favor,
Sa imong gugma ug parayeg,

This feeling will not go away
Dili maluba kining pagbati

For whatever reason
Bisan sa unsa nga katarungan

For what else is this life worth?
Kay unsa pay bili ning kinabuhi

If in love you are deprived
Kon sa gugma mo hinikawan

Tell me you will not believe
Ingna ko nga dili ka motuo

Of the insults I received
Sa mga pagtamay kong naangkon

Tell me you will not be fooled
Ingna ko nga dili mo kawangon

I dream of a commitment to your love
Damgo ko'g pasalig sa gugma mo

At Times (Usahay)

[I]

At times,

I dream

that you and I have fallen in love

And why do I yearn for you?

Yearn (for you) for always in my solitude?

[II]

At times,

my heart

regrets *having ever been born* on this earth,

Because you have just *toyed with*

my love that is genuine,

(this love) of my dream,

within this heart

(that) I feel

[III]

At times,

(It) confounds me

why our life has anguish

And if only it could be all of revelry instead,

of unadulterated joviality

on this earth

A choral presentation of Usahay by the Philippines Madrigal Singers

Meanwhile, enjoy these other Philippine Folk songs that both Macrine and I also loved.

Sunday, October 25, 2020

Food for Thought for Today: Tortoise, Stillness and Patience

I was reading a FB comment of a relative the other day. It reminded me of my two collection of turtles ( a ceramic and wood) that I am posting today.

This is my Turtle Nite Light-Guiding Me in the Darkness of the Night

Do you know the differences between turtles and Tortoises?

Tortoises ARE Turtles

All the animals alive today that protect themselves with a shell — basically just a modified rib cage — are in the order Testudines. Collectively, we call this group of animals "turtles," but individually, we might call them different things based on where they live and some morphological and physiological traits.

"They say that not all turtles are tortoises, but all tortoises are turtles," says Smith. "The turtles are organisms with a shell, which might be in water or might be on land. A tortoise is a type of turtle."

In general, both turtles and tortoises (as well as other reptiles) lay their eggs on land — it's what makes them different from amphibians, which need water for egg-laying and at least part of their life cycle.

Because tortoises are turtles, it's difficult to lay down hard and fast rules about what makes something tortoise-ish rather than turtle-ish. But in general, tortoises are always found on land, whereas turtles can be found in aquatic or marine habitats as well as land.

( https://animals.howstuffworks.com/reptiles/tortoise-turtle-difference.htm )

Quote from a FB friend: TORTOISE AND STILLNESS. For years I had been drawn to turtles and what they teach me. The more simple lesson being.. "Though it make take years to manifest... the answer will come!" Patience". Of course, I still struggle and, admittedly, in many other times, esp. during "chaos" in mind and spirit , but at least in my Quiet Time each early morning for decades now, I have had turtles surrounding me, reminding me! And I believe it..the ANSWER will come!

My wooden turtle dwarfed by my wooden horse wood carving from the Philippines. Meanwhile, enjoy this photo:

My crystal collection of animals: horse, 2 turtle doves, swan, dolphin and elephant

Also, enjoy this video -one of Macrine's Favorite Music

Somewhere in Time/Rhapsody on a Theme of Paganini-Rachmaninoff

Guest Article from Susan Creamer Joy

In The Silence, by Susan Creamer Joy.

Today's guest article is from Susan Creamer Joy. Susan is one of my favorite authors in the ViewsHound community. Susan writes, draws, paints and cobbles together art from found objects making a variety of creations from jewelry to religious shrines. She frequently sports burns on her fingers from her soldering iron, paint on her palms and ink under her fingernails, but her hair is usually combed. When she is not losing time in the creative vortex of her studio, she is likely to be putting her knowledge of metaphysics and esoteric principles including Tarot, numerology, astrology and graphology to good use in consultations. Her children are grown, her husband still works and her four dogs believe she needs serious help. The title of her article is "A Matter Of Love And Death". Thank you Susan.

By the time they reached my bedroom door, I was already sitting up – my stomach ratcheted in the tense grip of an unnamed anxiety; my pillow, unburdened of my drowsy head.

To this day I cannot explain how I heard them coming up those stairs in their bare feet or how I knew that my father struggled to hold his composure as my mother unnaturally clutched at the folds of her dressing gown and followed him through the dark just a little too closely.

As the wooden groan of those old stairs tore into my bones that morning like a hacksaw, all I could see between the predawn shadows was the letter I’d written just hours earlier to my boyfriend, Chris, propped against the lamp on my desk across the room awaiting an envelope.

I had not slept well. It was late November and there had been so many changes since the middle of August when he left for the Air Force in Texas to begin basic training and I began my third new school in as many years.

The conspiracy between fate and the last surge of the Vietnam draft had broken apart the every-waking-minutes of our two-year union with unceremonious indifference. All that night my sleep had been infested by difficult dreams and by the illogical fear that truth and reality were merging into a darkness only a martyr could grasp; and at sixteen, martyrdom seemed reasonable only for the nuns among the poor in Bangladesh

I tried to remind myself that he would be home on leave for Thanksgiving in another few days. It was the only tether to calm I could find, but reviewing the facts offered little relief from my baseless fears.

Chris had been girding his pacifist sensibilities preparing to fight in an unpopular war that had not yet slaughtered its last innocent. I was hovering just over the line of inclusion at an exclusive girl’s school – missing him – and finding myself at odds with these young women and their attachment to propriety and with the prep-school veneer that blinded them to the fact that they were no better than anyone else.

Neither one of us was coping well with the worlds into which we were respectively summoned, and although we both knew that the best hope for any future together depended upon our individual successes apart, it was far from comforting most days.

But in spite of our discomfort, we each did our best; and, of course, there were the letters: Thin, plain-paper sheets with row after row after row of inky blue words penned with the intensity and awkward locutions of a love learned too soon. It had come down to just that little, but without them, I would have had nothing.

Chris was learning to fly. I was learning to drive, and both of us were aching to transport our souls to an earlier time through the hallowed intercourse of memories and dreams. Of course, as with all progress, there was the positive element: We were both clean and drug-free for the first time in years.

Now, without pretense, both healthy cognition and sincere motivation surfaced regularly in my psychology and prompted me to care about myself and to arbitrate against all temptation for a better standing in the world, in school and in my own eyes. I even did my homework.

No longer was I escaping today but, instead, living for my day of escape. Lying still in the dark of my room, I listened to the slow, padded footfall of my parents approaching and looked to the floor and to my history book half hidden beneath the nightstand where I’d tossed it the night before. Even in this early morning dark I could make out the swirls and stars in colored marker and the bubble-formed letters that spelled C H R I S in soft, juvenile curves on the torn book cover I’d fashioned out of a brown paper grocery bag.

I vaguely remembered throwing it there somewhat hastily. I had been doing my homework when a sense of urgency struck and I realized I had not written him as I promised I would and glancing at the clock, I noted it was nine-twenty-three. Why that mattered I had no way of knowing in that strange moment, but within hours, it would be one I would never forget; and although I was becoming drowsy and still needed to finish my work, I felt beyond reason that my letter to him could not wait.

So, I wrote. I would always write. I would always be there. He would always be there.“Suzi."It was my name spoken in the smooth and familiar voice of my mother, although weighted and slow, her head bowed to her chest almost as though she were speaking only to herself.

"Suzi.” She said it again, this time with sharp gravity, like a chisel against stone.

As if on cue, I leaned forward, flanked now by my parents who were sitting on either side of my bed.

I had been waiting for them. I don’t know how. I didn’t know why. The lights in my room remained off, but it seemed that the darkness clung more to them than to me, as though they were holding it there – away from me to give me enough light to see through the next moment. They were crying. My father was crying. My father. “Suzi. We have something very, very bad to tell you." Chris has been in a car accident." And he was killed."

If the world moved forward from that moment, I could not know it. f there were air around me worth breathing, I could not take it in. And if there were another sound beyond the leaden bellow of my own raw grief, I could not hear it.

"Who am I going to talk to? Who am I going to love?” I wailed. Who will love me? In that sodden moment violated by the intrusion of a predawn light that had no business rising, everything I ever believed about happiness, hoped for in life, trusted in or held as my own was annihilated.

After that – there was no after that. After that came months of hollow redundancies that would inform my way of being in the world for years to come. A serial commitment to waking up each morning, remembering he was gone and dedicating the remaining hours to forgetting. To that end I would try anything, drink anything, ingest anything, inject anything. It was a slow and arbitrary suicide by indifference.

Many years later, at 25 years-old and in the midst of a pharmaceutical free-fall leaning dangerously close to terminal, I discovered that I was expecting a child, and after a decade of forgetting, I remembered. I named him Griffin after the legendary winged lion, a symbol of the divine because what he inspired and the miracle that he was, were nothing less. I remembered and I loved again, and I went on to marry and to the gift of two beautiful daughters.

Today my son is struggling not to drown in the same well of drug abuse and apathy that almost swallowed me – his great, divine wings clipped by his own hand; and while it is up to him to restore his place in the sky, I will do my best to help provide an open runway.

In the meantime, I will continue soaring for both of us; bequeathed as I have been, with a determination to fly from a boy whose ragged fate precluded that dream.

Death took one young man from me once upon a dark time. If it has any intention of coming for this one, it will have to go through me. And trust me, it will be in for one hell of a fight.

Note: If you enjoy this article, please let me know.

Saturday, October 31, 2020

Have You Heard of Cooking Sous-vide?

Thursday, October 29, 2020

Cooking Filipino Dishes Using an Instant Pot/Pressure Cooker

Tuesday, October 27, 2020

Celebration of Life: Macrine J. Katague via her Favorite Music (Filipino)-Part 5

Sunday, October 25, 2020

Food for Thought for Today: Tortoise, Stillness and Patience

Tortoises ARE Turtles

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