A Real Fruit Salad

I spent New Year with my sister in Phisanulok, Thailand. It was my

first time abroad. I had a wonderful time visiting tourist spots and

trying out new dishes. One of my memorable time was making the

fruit salad for New Year's eve. It was my first time to make the salad

without using canned fruit cocktail!

I mixed persimmon (my first time to eat), some kiwi, dragon

fruits, strawberries, apples, grapes with all purpose cream and

condensed milk. I also added cream cheese (I saw it on tv) and

it turned out great.

As a final touch, I sprinkled granada seeds on top!

Powdered Ube

I always associate Christmas with Haleyang Ube
[ha-leh-yang ooh-beh], a sweetened dessert of purple yam
(Dioscorea alata). We always make it from scratch.
Mashing the boiled ube, adding milk and sugar and stirring,
stirring, stirring over low heat. This could take an hour
so be sure to have a partner in stirring.

Ube is used in most Filipino desserts. Halo halo,
ube ice cream, ube silvanas, hopiang ube and ube cake.

In a recent trip to Bohol with friends, our host family
served us a delicious ube cake. I was not able to get
the cake recipe but I was able to watch the process
of making powdered ube which they supply in stores
around Tagbiliran City.

Ube is steamed, grinded and dried

Ube Cake

Catsup Packets and Shrimps

I was surprised to see the jar of catsup packets in the kitchen.

I didn't know we had accumulated so much. We got these
from take out orders from our favorite fastfoods. Jollibee,
McDonald's, Greenwich, Pizza Hut. I like McDonald's catsup
packets since they serve Heinz, my favorite catsup.

What to do with these packets? We usually use them when
cooking tomato based dishes like afritada and kaldereta.
This time, I used them with shrimps.

The usual way to cook shrimps at home is "halabos" style.
That is, to cook the shrimps in its own juice and stir fry
in oil for a few minutes. Others would put a little sprite
or seven-up to add sweetness. I tweak it a little by adding
catsup and basil.

Shrimps with Basil

                1/2 k shrimps
1 cup basil leaves
6-10 catsup packets
5 cloves garlic, crushed
3 tbsp olive oil
salt and pepper to taste

Clean shrimps but do not removed shells. Saute garlic in oil
and add shrimps. Stir fry until shrimps changes color.
Add catsup  and  little water. Stir for about 2 minutes.
Add basil and stir until it changes color about 10 seconds.
Serve hot.