Today & My 1st Adobo Challenge

Dear Me,

I usually rise up from bed late in the morning (lunch time already). But today, I opted to do otherwise. Hubby is feeling a little low due to his mild cold and sore throat. I wanted him to have breakfast so as to provide him nourishment. I thought it might be good to do so (so his condition will not worsen). I wish we have calamansi juice here.


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Since I am a stay-at-home-soon-to-be-mom, I am the house cook. In short, kusinera ang lowlah nyo. =) It's fine with me since I get to prepare the food I want and experiment the dishes I have no idea how to cook. It's fun, actually.

I was rummaging through our freezer to check what was in there. I found frozen chicken thighs. Adobo surely came to mind. I haven't prepared this one before so it was a challenge. I searched online for the recipe and ingredients. I was sort of worried because the ingredients required might not be available. I didn't feel like going out to a nearby sari-sari store just to buy (I'm a recluse when it comes to being seen in the neighborhood).

Anyway, I checked this website. I wrote the ingredients & the procedure in my mini-memo binder and checked if everything was available. It was. I prepped the ingredients while thawing out the frozen chicken.

Ingredients:
1/2 cup vinegar
salt
1-2 bay leaves
3-4 lb chicken
6-10 cloves crushed garlic
1/4 cup soy sauce
1 tsp crushed peppercorns

When everything was set, I followed the following:

Procedure:
1. Cut chicken into 3-4 pieces.

2. Combine chicken, garlic, peppercorns, bay leaves,
vinegar, soy sauce and 1/2 c water in a large pot.

3. Heat until boiling and stir frequently.

4. Turn heat to medium and let simmer for about 30 minutes.
Stir occasionally.

5. Adjust flavor by adding more soy sauce or vinegar.

I was already doing the 4th procedure when I saw Mamu's old and worn-out cookbook. I browsed to check if the recipe was there. Compared to the ingredients from the website, there was one missing that was in the cookbook. BROWN SUGAR! I prefer to have my adobo a little sweet.

Okay. I know it's kinda weird and it's a no-no sometimes to do this: I still added a few tablespoons of brown sugar even though I'm almost done with it. Hehehe. I just extended the simmering for another 5 minutes to make sure that the brown sugar blended well in my 1st ever adobo cook-out.

I only had my father to serve as judge and him being a Kapampangan who loves food and is fond of cooking the best Pinoy dishes, I got his nod of approval. I passed my 1st adobo cooking challenge. =)

He and I had a very engaging lunch (even though we didn't talk much...hehehe). I, in fact, had two (2) plates of rice to prove that I loved what I cooked. Charing! =)


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I received an SMS in my mobile phone from Air21-Fedex. The package I had been waiting for almost ten (10) days would be delivered within the day. Actually, I called them up this morning citing that I wanted it delivered before noon. I didn't want them to have another excuse that it was undeliverable because of incorrect address or being in a critical area (area being flooded due to frequent rains). It only rains during the late afternoons.

It was past two in the afternoon when I got another SMS from the rider. I wanted to pinch his nose. Can you imagine him asking me to fetch the package 2 blocks away from the house? They're supposed to be a door-to-door delivery service. I texted him back telling him to deliver it in the house; that I would be waiting by the gate. May golay!

Anyway, I got it but it was kinda disappointing. The plastic looked so unpresentable that I wondered how the contents fared inside. Goodness! I hastily cut the edge of the plastic with a scissor and took a peep inside. I was aghast to discover that the one of the 2 books inside almost got ripped in half. They're both thick books and one of the book was "hugging" the other. Result: the other book was close to disintegrating in two. The good thing was that the sender had the books plastic-covered. It prevented the book covers from being scratched, torn or folded. Honestly, they looked so new since the previous owner only read it once.

To Nikki, thank you for allowing me to mooch this books from you. I love them. I'm just so eager to read them. I will make sure they won't belong in my BTBR (books to be read) list.