Everyman’s Pancit Canton- an introduction to Filipino cooking

Posted in Asian cooking, Cooking Recipes, Filipino Food-love, I love Asian noodles, Pastas & noodles by Clarisse Shaina

One of the things I love the most about living the Philippines is, without a doubt, the Filipino food selection. It ranges from sweet to sour to spicy to salty in a span of cities and provinces. Sometimes when you travel through from one area of the peninsula to the other, the contrast between each province is striking not only in terms of appearance or culture, but with the food as well. You take one dish and each province has a unique way of cooking it that fits their identity. The diversity of each province can literally be sampled through the food, among other things. But there is this one food item that I feel is… universal, I suppose you could say, and that’s the dish I’m using to jump-start my promise to feature more Filipino food on the blog.

It shames me to admit that despite blogging for almost two years now, I haven’t shared a single Filipino recipe. When I came across this amazing blog, I felt a mixture of both guilt and inspiration. Here was a man who made a blog to cure himself of his homesickness, and here I am just neglecting what I could write about with even more clarity than all the things I have been making and sharing on the blog so far. I guess when you have seen and eaten certain things all your life, they become so commonplace that you begin to kind of ignore them. Despite the fact that there are so many things I wish I could change about this country, the one thing I love unabashedly is the food. It’s about time I start showing it.
Continue reading for the recipe

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16Sep2011

The permanent fix to my constant laksa cravings

Posted in Asian cooking, Cooking Recipes, I love Asian noodles, Pastas & noodles by Clarisse Shaina

One of the best things about being Asian, aside from the rich culture, is really the food. And one of the best things about being Asian living in Asia? Eating authentic Asian food on a daily basis. Whether it’s straight from your own home, or from the number of street vendors and corner stores selling Hong-Kong style noodles, Japanese takoyaki and whatnot, there is a glorious abundance of Asian food everywhere. Don’t get me wrong, I am a lover of world cuisine and culture, with a special fascination for things European, but being born and raised the way I have been, Asian cuisine and culture will always have a special place in my heart.

And so will laksa.

But as it turns out, I often end up eating laksa when I’m in an airport. For all the amount of time I spend in airport limbo, I’ve become accustomed to seeking out the better Singaporean restaurants just to have my laksa fix. My last one was in an airport headed home from Vietnam, but wouldn’t it be such a misfortune if I had to wait until I had the time to travel just so I can eat my laksa? Good thing I had the sense to check my go-to Asian-cooking website, and sure enough, the recipe was there just waiting for me.

11Apr2011

A refreshing twist to pasta

Posted in Cooking Recipes, Lemon Obsession, Pastas & noodles by Clarisse Shaina

When life gives you lemons… Make lemon pasta. Ha! Bet you didn’t see that one coming! I literally had too many lemons in the fridge, and after some chastising from my Mum about my penchant for stocking up on more baking ingredients than I need, I decided to step away from the KitchenAide to find another way to use them.

I hope you didn’t think that “Cooking” tab up there was just a prop! I’ve been trying to cook these past few months but it’s been difficult to schedule it. You see, my Mother plans our meals everyday before she goes to work, assigning what our house cook has to prepare for the day. This is why I need to ask permission from her or schedule it into the menu when I want to cook something, as opposed to baking because my Mum pretty much lets me make whatever I want. At some point during her youth, she fell in love with baking as well. In fact my first stand mixer was her old green Oster, which sadly does not have the same interchangeable hooks, whisks and paddles as a KitchenAide has. I do have some sentimental attachment to that old mixer, but our new one just makes life so much easier. I’m getting misty-eyed just reminiscing about it.

But that’s beside the point of this post. Read on for the recipe of this simple but yummy Baked Lemon Pasta.