Zucchini and Avocado Bruschetta

by Erwan

The word “simple” evokes a sort of magical aura to me. Ironically enough, when I hear simple, I start to think of the most elaborate feeling of comfort and stripped, uncluttered bliss. The image of white makes an appearance, the sound of a Zero 7 track, the smell of freshly cut grass and the feel of clean crisp soft sheets underneath me. All this imagery by one term.

They say the best things in life are the simpler moments and fleeting emotions, here are some of mine:
– Seeing an old friend and still having the same rapport.
- Swimming naked.
- Receiving a letter by a loved one through snail mail, a couple of weeks late.
- Getting a postcard.
- When the right song plays at exactly the right moment.
- Finding money I misplaced and forgot about.

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Tagged as: avocado, bruschetta, cooking, different, recipe, simple, zucchini

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Chicken Pandan with Squash Stew

by Erwan

Squash is one of those ingredients that you wouldn’t  automatically associate with asian cooking. You don’t see it in many dishes, yet it is grown widely and used here and there. In the Philippines one of these dishes is the Pinakbet, a vegetable stew with lots (i mean lots) of different vegetables, all muddled together. I really enjoy Pinakbet, my problem with it is that its too ambitious, it has a good number of vegetables fighting for the shinning spot, only to be overpowered by shrimp paste ( a staple in these parts). Remember on one of my previous post, i talked about how certain dishes get lost in translation, this is one of those, we can’t expect this cuisine to translate well, if it doesnt have any true definition (by definition, i mean defining flavour), so why not take some traditional dishes, revisit them, strip them down to bare essentials, and make a tasty alternative? This is what i did here, because i want to show people that even if its not done in the “proper” way, it can still be good, and still represent our nation’s flavour. Squash and Shrimp Paste, a little surprise, lots of love.

This recipe stemmed from a one minute conversation i was having with my pal when we were talking about our favourite vegetable dishes, he said: “i love pinakbet, but okra and bitter gourd (ampalaya) suck”. Well my friend, here is something you’ll love, without the “sucky” parts (i for one love okra and bitter gourd).

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Tagged as: chicken, cooking, pandan, Philippines, reccipe, squash

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Got Supplements? #1 : Intro + Joint Support

by Erwan

I luckily grew up in a household that believed in supplements before they became the rage of the decade, my mom has an incline towards natural remedies instead of relying directly on medication, so I was exposed to the beneficial effects of natural nutrient/vitamins and nutrition support.

I believe in all natural supplementation that helps us maintain a healthy lifestyle and supports any hard efforts we encounter every day. If you are someone that is able to eat a huge variety of fresh vegetables, fruit and animal proteins every day, that’s great, you probably don’t need supplements, but the truth is as the world goes towards a hastened pace, we have less and less time to eat at home, prepare our meals, and get all the nutrients we need from our food, because we eat out or we don’t have time.

Secondly, if you are a very active person, your body is probably not getting the adequate support to replace what you are losing during those long hard workouts or it’s not getting protection against certain injuries/sicknesses you may encounter while training.

I started training for Triathlons in January; it was quite late to jump on the band wagon as I planned to race in May, June and August, and so I rushed my entry into the sport a little. On my 3rd week as a runner, I decided to join a 21km run race with some of my more experienced runner friends, I paced with them and eventually decided to break away and push myself a little more, I got a good time for a first half marry, but I paid for it 1 day later (a day after buying my bike). When I started my recovery run, I realised I was limping, I strung out my IT band completely. For 1 month a half I stayed off my legs, only doing upper body gym work, lots of painful therapy and rest. I started training again, and every now and then I still had problems but with work and therapy we managed it. I still had to learn how to bike though!!!!

That injury has been on my mind endlessly because I know, if it comes back and I have to rest again, I will have to push back all my races. I recently competed in my first standard distance triathlon, and guess what? No injuries :)
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Tagged as: joint, supplements, support, training, triathlons, vitamins, what to take

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Skill Shop #2 : Home Made Granola

by Erwan

I have serious beef with sugar.

Sugar is what made me fat, sugar makes me moody, sugar is everywhere like a sneaky little ninja (in white). If you take the time to read the labels of the products you buy at the supermarket, you’ll find that sugar is a main ingredient in most of them. Fine, from time to time, indulge. For example my homemade sugar has lots of sugar. But for 6 days a week, remember:

What’s an acceptable value? never buy anything with more than 5 grams of sugar/serving portion.

What are acceptable replacements: Well agave, natural honey, real maple syrup (dont be fooled by the cleverly marketed maple falvoured syrup – see what i did there?), molasses; but there is no clear winner, you see the only difference between these syrups and sugar is that they are less processed. So as a rule of thumb, use the syrups, but only use a tablespoon.

Cereals, granolas, “healthy” “low fat” grain breakfast foods, instant oats, all contain heaps of sugar (great you are low fat, but why is your butt getting bigger?) so why not make them at home?

Here is my simple recipe for a home made granola which is much healthier for you than your store bought brands. My sweetness comes from some dried cranberries, fruits, coconut sugar, and just a tad bit of honey at the end.

My measurements: 2tbsp of coco sugar, 2 cups old fashioned rolled oats, 1 cup of mixed chopped nuts salted, 1 tbsp of canola oil, 1 large banana and 2/3 cup of natural fresh apple juice (blended). Mix all together and bake on a sheet pan at 350 fareheit for 45 mintutes. Add 1/2 handful of cranberries at the end and let cool completely.

serve with a chopped banana and a tad bit of honey, if you want, and some unsweetened almond, coconut or regular milk.

Tagged as: cooking, easy, food, granola, healthy, homemade, recipe

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Baked Red Snapper with spring vegetables in a coco lemongrass sauce

by Erwan

It always surprises me as I step into a restaurant and they seem to have such limited seafood sections; some are limited in the sheer number of dishes they present, others by the variety, and mostly have uninspiring ways of cooking the produce.

It’s funny, when I have an eager persistent hankering for seafood I automatically start migrating towards Chinese, Vietnamese or Thai Cuisine (oh! And why aren’t there any Malaysian or Indonesian restaurants around the world more! Its great cuisine! I’ll save this rant for another post…).

But we have some amazing Filipino recipes for Fish and I want to start sharing more and more the intricacies and delicate characteristics of our local food that is more often than none overshadowed by heavy handed oily dishes, we all love to pig out on, because they emanate a sense of comfort or security but that we shouldn’t be basing ourselves on solely.

You don’t see American Chefs boisterously up selling their pancakes as their National Star Dish. So why do we do this with Diniguan for example (seriously I LOVE OFFAL and discarded animal parts, but this dish is nothing interesting, why should we be proud of it?).

We have so much more to offer.

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Tagged as: baked, coconut, cooking, filipino, food, helathy, lmeongrass, recipe, red, snapper

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Skill Shop #1 : Prefect Creamy Scrambled Eggs

by Erwan

Welcome to the new Series i like to call SKILL SHOP. Here i’ll cover through short videos, basic skills that will make you look like a rockstar in the kitchen. Nothing to elaborate, always simple, easy, useful and necessary skills people think are a usually a given, but once confronted, realise, damn, i should of learned how to do that. Now people will see *gleam of hope in my brown eyes*: “damn, i should of watched that The Fat Kid Inside video”.

So SKILL SHOP #1? Eggs of course. Scrambled Eggs to be exact. How do they get so creamy and unctuous, but each time your try it, they are either too dry, too raw, or have weird consistencies (long flaps, small shards, gu…). Well here you go: *tatttaaaaaaaa*

I know, i know, eggs again, well its the easiest thing to cook, but the most horrible thing to eat when done wrong, so start getting it right, most restaurants in know, don’t.

Mind Blown (no not really)

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Tagged as: cooking, creamy, eggs, perfect, recipe, scrambled, technique, video

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The Fat Kid Inside Advice #1

April 25, 2012 Words Words Words

Summer Tricks and Indulgences It is impressively hot these days; one can barely step out of a building for a couple of minutes without getting damped and quickly ending up drenched. When temperatures reach this certain plateau where crunching up a finger becomes impossibly uncomfortable, I turn to food and drinks for comfort. You see, [...]

SIMPLE FLANK STEAK AND POMELO SALAD

Thumbnail image for SIMPLE FLANK STEAK AND POMELO SALAD April 24, 2012 Appetizers

IT IS HOT! Seriously, we’ve been nearing temperatures close to 38 degrees i’m sure. But, who are we to complain, weather in Europe and North America seemed to be going haywire last week as it dipped past seasonal norms, so i’ll take the heat over temperamental cold anyway. We are dead smack in the middle [...]

Follow me on Bloglovin’ – i’m always late to the party

April 20, 2012 Words Words Words

I always want to try and make it easier for people to find my site online, so please help out and follow me on Bloglovin’ . It’s a great tool for people (like me) who enjoy reading tons of blogs; follow your favourites and they all pop up in one page, which is great, so [...]

Whole Wheat Rigati with a Quick Basil Walnut Mushroom sauce and Stripped Chicken

Thumbnail image for Whole Wheat Rigati with a Quick Basil Walnut Mushroom sauce and Stripped Chicken April 14, 2012 Mains

I’ve never really been a big fan of pasta, ever since I was kid actually, I wouldn’t take much pleasure in a big bowl of noodles with sauce, it just lacked a little luster or just seemed dull to me. Another reason why I never really jumped on the band wagon was because, in the Philippines, [...]

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