Cooking Wonders
Adobo Obento
January 28, 2009
So after a trial of doing obento
We had a bag of chicken in the fridge and so I decided to make chicken adobo. As every Filipino knows, the ways to cook adobo
This particular chicken adobo is my version. Since I really wanted to make it look so appetizing (not that it isn’t as it is, ha ha ha), I needed to put in some garnishes to bring out some color. I still have a lot of lettuce leftover from the previous meal and I figured it would look pleasing to have them as garnishment for Jun’s lunch box. I also placed some cut carrots in between the chicken adobo for a contrast in color.
For dessert, I cut him a lot of fruits with my now favorite cookie cutters
And for an additional personal touch, I posted a small note on his lunch box just to lighten up his meal. I love creating obentos!
Adobo Obento
Fruit Salad Box
Obento, Onigiri, Oh Wonderful!
January 24, 2009
I have longed to do obentos
So again, the obento topic came up, and this time around, I know I really have to do some.
An obento (or sometimes called “bento”) is a boxed meal that can be taken anywhere. Like a lunch box, or “baon” in Pilipino. It can be homemade or store-bought or ordered from restaurants. There are some rules as to how to create obentos but the basic ones would be:
- The food should be easy to eat.
- The presentation of the food must be pleasing to the eye.
- The colors must be coordinated.
Obentos were made by moms for their school kids. It takes them a lot of time and creativity to create these lunch boxes that their kids will enjoy. Thus, an obento signifies a mother’s love to her kids. Now that obentos are not just for kids but for adults also, I think this symbolism still holds true for the preparer and the receiver of the obento.
So it goes that I’ve decided that I’ll be preparing obentos for my hubbie. I had to scour the internet and our local asian stores for some of the ingredients I’ve used. I did some research on how to create them and even visited craft stores to buy cookie cutters for cutting the fruits and vegetables. I even went to Walmart and Target to look for what could pass as good obento boxes that could be microwaved.
So after days of what seemed like a treasure hunt, I had to do a trial before I made an actual bento for hubbie. Thus, one Saturday night, I made some onigiris and a fruit salad for him. I also cooked some chicken teriyaki to complete the presentation. Here is what I came up with:
Test Obento Fruit Salad
Test Onigiri and Chicken Teriyaki
My fruit salad consists of pineapple slices, cherries, kiwis and cantaloupes all cut with a cookie cutter.
My rolled balls of rice, called onigiri in Japan, are seasoned with furikake (rice seasoning) 
So what was hubbie’s reaction to all these? He had a big smile on his face the whole time we were eating and couldn’t stop saying “soooo good… sooo good.”
Hmmmm, that was enough for me 
Posted in Cooking Wonders | 
Tags: Bento, Cooking, Furikake, Kewpie Mayonnaise, Obento, Onigiri | 
8 Comments »
Blogger Templates, Part 1
May 10, 2008
I had been missing from the website design scene for a long time now and it was quite a struggle to come back and do Blogger templates. I scratched about a couple of designs since they all didn’t feel right. Since I’ve moved to WordPress, I haven’t really been aware of the many changes Blogger has done with they way they do templates and so I had to relearn those tricks. But like riding a bicycle, you don’t really forget everything alltogether.
I’m going back to what this website was originally supposed to offer – website designs.
This is the first one:
13 Months of Sunshine is also a fluid 2-column, white background template. It’s also Firefox and IE-friendly.
- You can view the live demo here
Highlight the XML code in the box, copy and replace your current XML template code.
***********************************************
Template Name: 13 Months of Sunshine
Designer: Manilena Dot Com
http://www.manilena.com
***********************************************
*/
* { margin: 0px; padding: 0px;}
body {
background: #ffffff; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; font: x-small Georgia, Serif;
color: #000000; font-size/* */:/**/small; font-size: /**/small;
}
a img {
border-width:0;
}
#container a:link {
color:#3c7ad1; text-decoration:none;
}
#container a:visited {
color:#3c7ad1; text-decoration:none;
}
#container a:hover {
color:#004685; text-decoration:dotted;
}
#container a img {
margin:3px; padding: 2px;
}
/* Whole Page Settings */
#container {
background: url("http://img230.imageshack.us/img230/1888/13monthstitlezy5.jpg")
no-repeat top left; width: 98%; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; text-align:left;
}
#post-part {
margin: 10px; word-wrap: break-word; overflow: hidden;
}
#entry-part {
margin:0; padding:0;
}
#sidebar-container {
width: 350px; float: left; padding: 0px; word-wrap: break-word;
overflow: hidden;
}
#sidebar {
font-family: Tahoma; background: #ffffff; width: 285px;
font-size: 11px; margin: 0px; padding: 10px 20px;
}
/* Header Settings */
#header {
width: 770px; height: 385px; margin: 0px;
padding: 0px; text-align: center;
}
.Header h1 {
width: 350px; margin:0px 0px 0px 385px;
text-align: center; padding: 65px 0 0 0px;
color:#fc5106; line-height: 1.0em;; font-size: 50px;
font-weight: bold; font-family: Curlz MT, Cursive, Fantasy;
}
.Header h1 a:link, .Header h1 a:visited {
color:#fb3200; text-decoration:none;
}
.Header h1 a:hover {
color:#ffc300;
}
.Header .description {
width: 300px; margin:0px 0px 0px 435px; padding: 2px 0px;
font-size: 15px; color: #fc5106; font-weight: bold;
}
h2 {
margin:1.5em 0 .75em; line-height: 1.4em;
}
/* Entries */
h2.date-header {
background: url('http://img123.imageshack.us/img123/8826/13monthsdatemf1.gif') no-repeat top left;
padding: 12px 0px 0px 38px; font-weight: bold; font-family: Arial;
text-transform: uppercase; margin: 0px; height: 36px; font-size: 11px;
text-align: left; color: #000000;
}
.post {
margin:.5em 0 1.5em;
}
.post h3 {
background: #122456; border-bottom: 1px solid #70664f; margin: 0px;
padding: 8px; font-family: Georgia; font-size: 20px; font-weight: normal;
color:#ffffff;
}
.post h3 a, .post h3 strong {
display:block; font-weight:bold; text-decoration:none; color:#ffffff;
}
.post-body {
font-family: Tahoma; padding-top:12px; font-size: 11px; text-align: justify;
}
.post p {
margin:0 0 .75em;line-height:1.6em;
}
.post-footer {
background: #8bb0ff; color:#ffffff; margin:5px 0px 5px 0px;
line-height: 13px; border-bottom: 1px solid #326101; padding: 2px 9px;
}
.comment-link {
margin-left:.4em;
}
.post-footer .post-timestamp,
post-footer .post-author {
color:#ffffff;
}
.comment-link strong {
font-size:130%;
}
.comment-link {
margin-left:.4em;
}
.post img {
padding:4px; border: 2px dotted #96b8ff;
}
/* Comments */
#comments {
padding: 8px; background: #e9f69e;
}
#comments h4 {
margin:1em 0; font-weight: bold; line-height: 1.6em; text-transform:uppercase;
letter-spacing:.2em; color: #446e02; font: bold 78% Georgia Serif;
}
#comments h4 strong {
font-size:130%;
}
#comments-block {
margin:1em 0 1.5em;line-height:1.4em; padding: 3px;
border-top: 1px solid #fff;
}
#comments-block dt {
margin:6px 0px;
}
#comments-block dd {
margin:.25em 20px 0;
}
#comments-block dd.comment-timestamp {
margin:-.25em 20px 1.5em; line-height: 1.4em;
text-transform:uppercase; letter-spacing:.1em;
}
#comments-block dd p {
margin:0 0 .75em;
}
.deleted-comment {
font-style:italic; color:gray;
}
.feed-links {
background: url('http://img131.imageshack.us/img131/390/13monthsfootjv9.gif') no-repeat top left;
height: 35px; font-family: Georgia; font-size: 12px;
padding: 10px 0px 0px 35px; text-align: left;
margin: 5px 0px;
}
#blog-pager-newer-link {
float: left;
}
#blog-pager-older-link {
float: right;
}
#blog-pager {
background: #f1f5ff; padding: 6px; text-align: center;
}
.comment-footer {
font: 78%/1.4em Georgia , Serif;
}
/* Sidebar Settings */
.sidebar h2 {
color:#4782dc; font-size: 11px; padding: 0px;
font-family: Georgia; margin: 0px;
border-bottom: 1px solid #70664f;
}
.sidebar .widget, .entry-part .widget {
color:#666; font-size: 11px; margin: 0px;
padding: 10px 20px;
}
.entry-part .Blog {
padding: 0px 20px; margin: 0px;
}
.sidebar ul {
font-size: 11px; list-style:none;
margin: 2px 3px; padding: 0px;
}
.sidebar li {
margin:2px 3px; padding: 4px 0px;
font-size: 11px; border-bottom: 1px solid #dbd6c8;
}
.sidebar p {
color:#666; line-height:1.5em;
}
/* About */
.profile-datablock {
margin:.5em 0 .5em;
}
.profile-data {
margin:0; font-weight: bold; line-height: 1.6em;
text-transform:uppercase; letter-spacing:.1em;
}
.profile-img {
float: right; margin: 0px 6px;
padding: 2px; border: 2px dotted #fff199;
}
.profile-textblock {
margin:.5em 0 .5em;
}
.profile-link {
font:78%/1.4em Georgia,Serif; text-transform:uppercase;
letter-spacing:.1em;
}
/* Footer */
#footer-wrapper {
background: #122456; width:100%;
color: #ffffff; font-size: 10px;
margin:0px; padding:20px 0px;
text-align: center; clear: both;
}
#footer-wrapper p {
margin: 5px 25px;
}
#footer-wrapper p a:link, #footer-wrapper p a:visited {
color: #ffffff;
}
]]>
Posted in Cooking Wonders, Website Design - Two-Column, Website Design - White, Website Designs | Tags: Blogger Templates | 6 Comments »
Some Good Food for Diabetics
May 3, 2008
Like what I mentioned during my previous entry, I was soooo excited to try out the recipes on my new cookbook by Betty Crocker. So last Saturday, with the book in front of me, I planned out the dishes that I was going to prepare based on the Carb Choice scheme. I planned on cooking some pork, some chicken, and a dessert. I also bought ingredients for some other recipes that were in the book for next weekends’ cooking.
Since I wouldn’t have time to do some serious cooking during the week due to my work schedule, I have to prepare about 2 – 3 meals all at once for the whole week. So that’s what I did last Saturday. I went to the grocery to get the ingredients I would need plus I also bought some tuna in cans, a fat-free mayo, some pickle relish to make some tuna salad and some chicken salad from our leftover chicken we bought from Sam’s Club yesterday. I promised my mother-in-law that I was going to make her some tuna salad and chicken salad for my husband’s nephew who just started working. (She prepares his lunch. Such a sweetie my MIL is
So there I was, back from the supermarket. I immediately started on the tuna and chicken salads first. Nothing special with those altho I added some slices of sun-dried tomatoes on the chicken salad that I made just to give it some extra zing.
Then I went on and cooked the “Asian Pork and Noodle Soup” and the “Cheesy Chicken Pasta Stew” from the Betty Crocker Cookbook. While I was preparing all the ingredients, slicing all the meat, chopping up the onions and the carrots and what-have-you’s, I was a little bit doubtful if they would turn out good since my impression was, diabetes cooking was going to be bland, to say the least. So, since this is my new lifestyle now, I braced myself for the “disappointment” I might experience.
But was I so surprised! They really, really, really tasted soooooooooooo GOOD! You wouldn’t even think that they were made for diabetic people because they were so flavorful. The Asian Pork and Noodle Soup tasted a bit like the Filipinos’ Tinola (due to the scent and taste of ginger) and the Cheesy Chicken Pasta Stew was to die for!
Unfortunately, due to copyright constraints, I cannot write down the recipe here. But I can probably give you the nutritional information for each of them and I can show you pictures of how they came out.
- 1 serving: 235 calories
- Fiber: 2g
- Sodium: 160mg
- Cholesterol: 70mg
- Protein: 26g
- Carbohydrate: 15g (which translates to 1 Carb Choice!)
- 1 serving: 325 calories
- Fiber: 2g
- Sodium: 440mg
- Fat: 15g (Saturated 8g)
- Protein: 27g
- Cholesterol: 80mg
- Carbohydrate: 21g (1 1/2 Carb Choice)
Posted in Cooking Wonders, Diabetes | Tags: Betty Crocker Diabetes Cooking, Cooking, Diabetes | 1 Comment »
My “Swedish”-y Meatballs
December 16, 2007
I want to think I cook well. In fact, a lot of people have been prodding me and hubbie to put up our own catering business. We’ve toyed with the idea sometimes, imagining that we’d be able to do that instead of working in the “corporate” world. But, as much as we both love cooking and we’re actually a great team together, given the current situations we separately have right now, we just can’t leave our individual works to do so. Maybe when everything is just about me and hubbie, we might be able to do just that.
But for now, here’s another of my quick-think recipes that, half-suprisingly, turned out good. I say just “half” because instinctively, I know you can never go wrong with some cream of mushroom soup at hand
We had a Christmas lunch at work last week and I was supposed to bring spring rolls (lumpiang shanghai). Unfortunately, I postponed doing them “a little” (ok, make that “really“) too late that I didn’t realize we’d ran out of spring roll wrappers. And going to an Oriental store to get some was out of the question.
So I’d do what I usually did – made a quick inventory of what we have in the kitchen and try to wing it from there. I saw that we’ve got 2 cans of beef gravy and a lot of cream of mushrooms (my culinary bestfriend). We also had a sachet of the meatballs sauce that you get from Ikea. So I figured, that only thing missing here is meatballs. So I drove to our local BJ’s store and got a huge bag of pre-cooked swedish meatballs.
And that was it. When I got back home, I prepared the meatballs first by deep-frying them just for a minute or so and set them aside. Then I chopped some onions, sauteed them, put in a can of cream of mushroom, a can of evaporated milk, and the Ikea meatball sauce. Then I added the beef gravy. Let it simmer (don’t let it boil), and had a taste.
I actually amazed myself – it tasted good.
But there wasn’t enough sauce for all the meatballs I cooked so I repeated the procedure – added in another can of cream of mushroom, milk and beef gravy (I only had 1 pack of the Ikea sauce). I added some pepper just to give it some spice. Had another taste of it, and it was perfect!
Since the party wasn’t going to be until the next day, hubbie told me not to mixed them in both until tomorrow. So on the way to work, the meatballs were in our slow cooker and the sauce was in a tupperware container. And when I got to work, I poured in the sauce and set my slow cooker to high for an hour and then switched it to warm.
Did my co-workers like it? Between the actual Christmas lunch and the “left-over lunch” we had the next day (when we continued to eat what we had left), I had to say, I came home empty-handed
