Eve's Handiwork

Pan De Sal is part of traditional Filipino Breakfast.  It is usually eaten in the early part of the morning with coffee or very dark hot chocolate drink.  Most Filipinos dunk their Pan de sal bread  in coffee or hot chocolate drink before biting a mouthful.  I still catch myself doing either.   Pan de sal may be consumed for breakfast with coffee alone or other breakfast food such as fried rice, scrambled eggs, fried vinegar cured baby milkfish and fresh fruits.

It is best to eat Pan de sal bread in very early morning around 4 am. to 5 am. because it is still fresh and warm and just taken out of the oven of local bakers.  I used to get up very early in the morning to buy this bread from the little kid peddling this bread at dawn to town folks.  In my mind, I can still hear the little boy crying in a loud tenor voice,  T- – -I- – -N- – -A- – -P- – -A- – -Y!!!  Tinapay is a Tagalog or Pilipino word for bread.

I am sad to learn that this type of peddling is no longer practiced in the Philippines.  I’m not sure if it is now considered an illegal activity.  I have learned from friends when I visited the Philippines that even side walk peddlers have to apply for business license, no matter how small the quantity of the goods being sold.  I should not be surprised as it is a fact of life that nothing stays the same.

Every time I eat Pan de sal I’ll always remember  that sweet yeasty aroma and that little boy who peddled this bread at wee hour of the morning  who did other household chores, I presume, before going to school.

I found this simple Pan De Sal recipe on this site.  What I like about this recipe is that it does not call for milk or eggs.  Please click here

Love at first taste!  I feel in love with this soup during my first encounter with it!  A friend and I decided to have some soup for launch at our local  little dining place called  The Soup Kitchen.  here’s the link for their website.  We both ordered this soup and while we were enjoying and savoring the flavor, which is a bit sweet, a bit tangy and just a little bit salty, we were trying to figure out the ingredients that made up the soup.  We both guessed that there must be beets and tomatoes.  We were right, because I found this wonderful recipe on Pinterest and here is the link for the recipe:  Please click here 

What is good about the above link for the recipe is that it showed photos on how she cut up the vegetables, especially the beets.  I have never prepared beets before for cooking so it was good that she showed how to cut it up for the soup.

Below is my method on how I cooked the soup.  I’ve read online that the beets take a while to cook anywhere from 30 to 45 minutes of course it will depend also on how thick or thin the beets are cut up.  I prepared (cut up) all the vegetables required in the recipe.  Then I sauteed the onion in 1 tbsp oil in medium heat (range setting at 5).  When the onion is blanched,  I add the following vegetables in the sequence given below, (the one that will take longer to cook, I add first and then the one that will cook fast, I added last):  1) Potatoes, mix and stir infrequently for about 9 mins.  2) Beets,   mix and stir about 7.5 mins.  If the kettle is too dry, add 1 and half cup water, (I add water this time   because beets have high sugar content and the water will prevent sugar from burning if the kettle is dry.)   3) Red Cabbage; mix and stir about 4 mins. 4) Green Cabbage and fresh tomatoes, carrots (if carrots are thinly sliced add it here but if they are cut up as big as the potatoes then add them with the Red Cabbage.  Stir once then, 5) add salt to taste, pepper, rest of herbs and spices. I like to add basil and bay leaf because it helps with the unsavory smell of cabbage.  Add tomato paste also at this time and also the lemon juice.  Mix and stir intermittently and Add more water if you like more liquid in your soup.  Cook until all the vegetables are tender.  Serve warm.

Note:  The color of this soup that I made is darker than the soup on the given link because I added the Red Cabbage, which made my soup dark red but I still love it!   Also the color will depend on how much beets are added to the soup.

 

via Craft Project For January

There had been a cold spell this month of January and  a friend showed me a shaggy scarf that she made!  I was captivated by it, so I immediately went to the craft store to find the yarn she used and here are the finished project!  I made a hat and a matching scarf.