Menu for the Week 003: Lechon Kawal with Mang Tomas Lechon Sauce

Yesterday, Sunday, I made Lechon Kawali (Pan-Roasted Pork) with Mang Tomas Lechon Sauce for our lunch.

A couple of weeks back we went food shopping at one of the Asian groceries that we used to go to in Little Ferry, NJ, called the HMart (which stands for Hanahreum = Han-Ah-Reum). They sell a lot of Asian goodies ranging from Chinese, Japanese, Filipino and a lot Korean goodies, etc.

(Note: Image was taken from HMart's website)

Their produce section is unbelievable they have a wide selection of vegetables and fruits specifically of Asian vegetables that you hardly see in regular groceries like Shop Rite or Stop N' Shop. They are also very affordable and you don't necessarily have to buy them in bulk which is one of the few things that I find annoying at some of the regular groceries.  Regular groceries usually sell produce in bulk and on sale and some of them are really not good anymore and sometimes its just too much to get for both Mr. L and I. Being that I am Filipino I prefer buying things "tingi-tingi" or "bit by bit" or in smaller quantities to make sure that everything that I prepare is fresh and doesn't go bad right away because I hate wasting food. Although buying in bulk is cheaper and is a norm for Americans, I prefer buying produce in smaller quantities only because I'm only preparing food for Mr. L and myself. Now buying in bulk for meat that are on sale is another story and I'm all for that lol.

(Note: Filipinos are known for buying items in "tingi-tingi" translation "bit by bit" or  "smaller quantities" like buying shampoo, conditioner and toothpaste, etc. in sachet form to make it more affordable and convenient for the less fortunate to get their basic necessities. So selling items in sachet form is really big in terms of marketing goods in the Philippines.)

Also, HMart has a lot of seafood selection like crabs and shrimps (take note that the shrimps shells and heads are still intact lol), etc. They also have a lot of Korean meat for Korean barbecues. They sell a lot of stuff but you just have to be vigilant to identify which meats are cheaper here vs. regular groceries but more often than not meat and seafood are definitely cheaper at HMart vs. regular groceries.

And so I saw some pork liempo, which I was going to use as a sahog for the pancit that I prepared on my birthday but they didn't sell them in a really really smaller quantity (lol) so I decided that I'll use most of them to make Lechon Kawali. The liempo though was thinly sliced so it kind of looked like thick bacon strips but it's all good because I think I got the whole thing for $5 which is very good.

So I decided to simmer the pork in a pot with water, salt and pepper and I added some garlic too because we have a lot of garlic and I wanted to use some of it before they go bad. After simmering it, I laid it on a cookie sheet wrapped with foil so I can bake it. One of my friends and college classmate, Sue Anne, recommeded that I bake my lechon kawali which I did. It's so much easier to do it that way.

After they were done baking, I chopped them off in pieces. Here's the result:


Mr. L and I enjoyed it with white rice, some veggies and Mang Tomas Lechon Sauce (which is a must condiment for every Filipino household it goes well with everything: chicken, beef and pork, etc). It tastes so good yet it so bad for your health lol. This was definitely a perfect Sunday lunch.

Weekend Brunch 004

Today, Saturday, I'm having a bowl of oatmeal and a cup of Batangas freshly brewed coffee with half and half. I wanted something warm and filling and not too overpowering for my brunch since I have to work from 12 noon to 6 pm today.


















Note: Batangas is a province in the Philippines known for it's coffee. When my mom's girlfriends Donna and Frenchie (see blog:http://pinaylombardi.blogspot.com/2009/09/donna-and-frenchie.html ) visited us this year, I asked my mom to ask them to bring Batangas coffee for us so Mr. L could taste it. It really is very similar to double D's (Dunkin Donuts) coffee. Mr. L likes it :)

Menu for the Week 002

It was my birthday this week so I made a lot of food. It's been a little bit hectic for me but it's all good it's better to be busy than to do nothing at all and watch the days go by...
Here's our menu for the week:
Steamed Shrimps:


Adobong Alimango (Stewed Crabs):


It's my birthday week so I made a few dishes that are my favorites and reminded me of dishes that my mom prepared at home. So I steamed some shrimps and prepared Adobong Alimango. It's been ages since I had these dishes. Mr. L doesn't eat either of these dishes so I only got a few shrimps and crabs since I know that these dishes will all be for my personal consumption. Anyway, yay! The crabs weren't as big though as the ones that are sold in Manila. They were really tiny but oh so good. This was my first time to prepare both dishes. Oh my what a treat! Truly worth it. When Mr. L went away for a night this week for a business trip I even ate my shrimps with bagoong but I made sure that I opened all the windows and left the vent in the kitchen open and lit a lot of scented candles to make sure I didn't stink up our house and to ensure that I don't hear any complaints from our neighbors lol. At syempre nagkamay ako (I ate with my bare hands)! Mr. L was laughing on my birthday night as I was devouring my shrimps and crabs! It was almost like he was watching a savage eat lol!

I also prepared pork ribs since the ribs were on sale a couple of weeks back at Shop Rite (2 racks of ribs for $10). So I halved it and made these...
Korean Barbecued Spare Ribs:

This has been our favorite. I usually make this when we have ribs.
Spare Ribs with Black Beans:

This was our first time to try this recipe. I think we were suppose to use Chinese Salted Black Beans for this but we couldn't find one so we decided to use regular black beans. It still tasted good though. It would've probably tasted better if we had used those Chinese Salted Black Beans.

I also made Chinese Vegetables with Mushrooms and Oyster Sauce:


And of course I made Pancit Canton:

It has always been a Filipino tradition to serve noodles (any kind of noodles like spaghetti or vermicelli) on your birthday to symbolize long life. And you always have to make sure that you don't cut or half the noodles since it characterizes the length of your life. I know it all sounds too funny but I believe it anyway. I have nothing to lose if I don't :)

Weekend Brunch 003

Today. Sunday.

This is what Mr. L and I had for our weekend brunch...

I made Mr. L scrambled eggs and country style sausages. (Mr. L also had whole wheat pandesal and a glass of OJ) 




I had a bowl of Special K with milk (and a cup of tea with honey still not feeling better. My allergies are attacking). I'm trying to finish our last bowl of Special K so we don't waste food lol

Weekend Brunch 002

Yesterday (Saturday), this is what Mr. L and I  had for breakfast...

I made myself a sunny-side up egg with country style sausages



I made scrambled egss for Mr. L to go with his sausages.



My weekend brunch: burnt toasted whole wheat pandesal, sunny-side up egg with country style sausages (with a cup of apple cider tea with honey. I'm starting to get sick with this stinky cold weather. Trying all of my preventative measures lol)


Mr. L's weekend brunch: scrambled eggs, warm whole wheat pandesal and country style sausages
(with a cup of green tea and honey because Mr. L has not been feeling well this weekend)


Having brunch at home is the most inexpensive way to treat yourself when you're craving diner food :)

Menu for the Week 001

Here's our menu for the week. This is what I made this weekend for our meals: dinners and packed lunches.

Hot Italian Sausage and Peppers


White Sauce Pasta with Chicken and Ham


Sausage Pasta


We've made tons of these so hopefully this will last us the whole week if not longer lol. I made these dishes since sausages and chicken breasts were on sale a couple of weeks back at Shop Rite. We've been trying to purchase meats that are on sale and work our menu around those meat. We've also been veering away from popular brands for some of our canned goods and cleaning products and searching generic brands like Shop Rite brands since they are way more cheaper. We've been seriously trying to figure out ways to strech our dollar : ) It's all good : ) Anything to save a buck here and there. With this stinky economy, you really have to nickle and dime your way and we all have to be a frugalista to survive this economy. A dollar goes a long way, honey! Yeah!

Weekend Brunch 001

I know it's been ages since I posted something here...been very busy...but I will still try to post a little something whenever I get the chance...Just to keep everyone posted.

This is what Mr. L and I had for brunch this morning...

pandesal (pandesal = Filipino roll ---hopefully I translated that accurately lol), sunny side up egg (Mr. L had scrambled eggs and I didn't get the chance to take a photo of it) and bacon with a cup of Dunkin Donuts coffee of course.

We usually make bacon for the weekends because we don't really get the chance to make breakfast on weekdays since we are always in a hurry. Bacon are for Sundays and Saturdays. We've been baking our bacon in a cookie sheet because it cooks faster and tastes crispier.

Here's how we do it:
We wrap the cookie sheet with a foil and lay the bacon on the cookie sheet:


Here's how it cooks...so much crispier...and it's also easier to clean the cookie sheet because we use a foil to cover it:


Then we let all of the oil drip in a paper towel...in our false attempt to stay healthy lol


Mr. L has been enjoying his pandesal but we decided to buy whole wheat pandesal this week because we still would like to fit in our clothes you know lol. But the photo that I took above doesn't include whole wheat pandesal that we just bought because we're still trying to finish our pandesal from last week. I'm glad Mr. L enjoys his pandesal. Pandesal is very reminiscent of my childhood. I love eating pandesal especially those that are sold in local bakeries in Manila.

When I was still living with my grandparents in Don Antonio, when I was around 4 years old I think I remember Nanay Ining (our mayordoma = chief housekeeper --- not really sure what the exact English translation is) ("nanay" means "mother"in Filipino) would knead and bake the pandesal bread dough herself. She would usually do this around 3 pm the day before and once they were baked she carefully put them in our bread container for the next day's breakfast. I usually snack on her freshly baked pandesal and spread it with butter. Sometimes my Yaya Cita (yaya = nanny) would make me a treat by making a bread dough with cinnamon and sugar to give an effect of a cinnamon roll which was truly a delicious treat. In our Don Antonio household, I remember eating our pandesals with either butter, sunny side up egg or mayonaise.

Growing up in Malate, my Lola Dy would always ask one of our househelpers to buy pandesal in a nearby bakery. Although, there were a lot of bakeries in Malate, my favorite pandesal bakery was an old-fashioned bakery in the Agoncillo Street corner Remedios Street. I would usually tag along with our housekeeper when she would walk from our building to get to Agoncillo corner Remedios Street.  The image of the bakery is still vivid in my memory and I can still remember how the old owner of the bakery would carefully place the warm pandesals in a brown paper bag. We would walk back home and once we get home our househelper always puts the pandesal in a basket with red gingham napkin. I can still taste how warm and soft that pandesal is.  In my Lola Dy's house, we usually eat pandesal with peanut butter ---the one I remember the most is eating it with Smucker's Goober peanut butter and grape jelly.

Pandesals are one of the basic breakfast staples in a Filipino's home. The warmness and softness of the pandesal brings comfort and provides joyful memories to me and I am glad Mr. L enjoys eating pandesal too. It's almost like I can share a chunk of comfort that I get from eating pandesal with him with every single bite he takes of his pandesal :)