Cooking pinakbet in the US

Pinakbet is a vegetable dish in the philippines. I am not very familiar of the exact region it originated from but just like any pinoy dish it will be prepared differently depending on cook.

To me pinakbet would be defined as a dish with the following ingredients:

Onions, garlic and tomatoes sauteed
Squash
Eggplant
String beans
Ampalaya ( bitter melon/ gourd )
Red sweet peppers

My mom makes use raw shrimp shells and head to be used as the base of the stock for liquid added to the dish. Then almost all the time, she seasons the dish with shrimp paste.

I enjoy having this dish, and i find it very healthy if you add less sodium like minimizing the amount of shrimp paste or salt. But I add ginger and coconut milk each time I cook it, I wanted my own style.

To me there is no real way to cook it, so now that I am in the US I use substitutes to prep this dish. Back in the east coast, I discoved butternut squash to substitute the creaminess of the usual squash. And lately, if string beans are not yet in season I use my favorite snow peas.

I realized that when you try to be creative in your cooking, you will still be able to enjoy old time favorites when you substitute. You'll never know, it might even be more that what you hoped for.

Beauty Related

If I had to choose between being a food or beauty blogger/guru, I would choose food. I am more interested with food than beauty related things. But it doesn't mean that I don't care much for looking good and being more than presentable since I believe in the saying "Look good and feel good".

And that being said, I guess this makes my officially first beauty related post. What did I choose? It's Nail Water Decals! I have been curious since my sister started her nail art hobby.

So what are Nail Water Decals? They are nail designs that you can use to style your nails. You use water to slide off the design ( hence the name ). The process involves usually coloring your nails then cutting (to fit) then applying the desired design ( like the Monogram Louis Vuitton design on the photo ). See a tutorial video here on the how to's. There are a lot of designs you can choose from and the possibilities are endless. You can buy them at Amazon or Ebay but I got mine from a seller on Facebook ( located in the Philippines ) sent by my sister.

I just thought since Spring is officially here I should design my nails differently for unique set of fresh pedis. And would go perfectly with my flips flops or open toed sandals which I can wear for the season is getting warmer ( at least I hope ).

My Spring Stir Fry

Spring is my favorite season, not only because its the most colorful season but because the produce is good too during this time. This is the time strawberries, asparagus and other vegetables are in season and they will be cheap.

And with all these wonderful produce I do take advantage of a good bargain. I like to make wonderful and easy stir fry with the veggies that's abundant in the market. These dishes are so good with meat dishes, I try to make veggie dishes as sides so I encourage healthy eating with DH & DS.

My Stir fry features a cool weather vegetable - Sugar Snap Peas. I just recently discovered that they are so good when eaten raw, but I do like to remove the rib part.

For my recipe ( good for 2-3 persons)
1 tbsp cooking oil
1/4 cup red onions
1/4 cup red bell peppers
2 tbps of leeks
1 cup of mung bean sprouts
1 cup of sugar snap peas
1/4 cup shredded carrots
1 tbsp oyster sauce
1/4 water or just enough to cook veggies
Pepper to taste

Heat oil then saute onions, leeks and peppers. Once fragrant, add the rest of the veggies. Mix everything then after 2-3mins, add the oyster sauce and water. Cover and cook until peas are bright green. Add pepper to taste. Do not overcook. Serve hot, its good as a rice topping.