Many of you are aware that for quite a long time now, I have been a more hands-on mum, and at the same time a house person. I love staying at home and cooking food for my kids and my love, Chris. Good thing they love what I cook always! I also couldn’t believe how I have become to be a better chef. If I have to recall, the only thing I knew was to fry anything and consider it as a meal. I am not a pro, but I think the way I assess, I am producing pretty decent dishes that everyone loves to eat. Secret tip is, I always add some creativity everytime I cook, and of course tons of dash of love to whatever I am cooking. Other than being creative, I love sharing life stories to people that I feel connected to. I believe that through our exchange of stories, we all are acquiring a lot of wisdom and inspirations that we can all use as guides or inspiration as we face this journey called life.
Reason for my blog today (15th October 2020, while I was writing) is that I want to share to you all the journey4us’ participation in an event called “Alitaptap ng Pag-Asa Cooking Vlog Cum”. I am considering this event as one of the highlights on my timeline. Let me tell you how it all started.
It was an ordinary day when a colleague approached me to join this event. Thank you Jay, and keep up the good work. Keep spreading optimism and modeling passion and dedication to whatever you do. It does make a difference. Going back, I know for a fact that I am always busy and definitely was thinking that I will never have extra time for it. However, going through the event’s mechanics, I was pretty ecstatic to collaborate and be a part of achieving the goals of the show or of the organizers committee, the Teachers Learning Action Guide in Cambodia, and the Sentro Rizal. This is what was stated on their agenda:
When I read this, only one thing came into my mind. I would love to showcase Bacolod’s vegetable soup called, “laswa”, and the “torta puso ng saging”. “Laswa”, basically a mixed of all different vegetables with shrimps or dried fish, and “torta puso ng saging” is “ banana tree’s flower patty (purely vegetarian)” literally are two of the many best Bacolod’s dishes. People asked me why I chose to present this meal above all others. Well, if you haven’t watched my video yet, I will tell you here right now.
Growing up in a very simple and average family, we were used to enjoying simple things in life that give us happiness. Simple clothes, simple toys when we were children, and even simple dishes since before. “Laswa” and “torta puso ng saging” have been the meal that we used to enjoy and love as a family. Like I mean, the whole clan. Not only that this meal reminds me of how my childhood used to be, this also reminds me of my grandmother, who passed away and that I didn’t get a chance to see before it. She cooks “laswa” the best. Simple, healthy and tasty. If I have to recall, there were times ofcourse that I used to complain about having the same food to eat almost everyday. Only now that I realized how this meal will be so meaningful and memorable, not just for me but for my whole family.
Being an OFW and being away from home is definitely a thing not everyone can handle. Other than you will be encountering the feeling of misery everytime you long or miss your family, eating some food that bring you comfort is also a challenge. A desire you can’t easily do. Having been away from the Philippines for thirteen years now, and being a full-time employee, eating “laswa” and “torta puso ng saging” has always been what I am imagining to eat most of the time; and since I am an extremely occupied person, having time to prepare this meal is almost impossible. I wouldn’t say thank you to the pandemic, because duh, NO! However, we all are very aware that the covid19 quarantine policy has resulted in something great as well. That is, we all had much time to spend with family, and that means we all had time to plan and cook meals that we want to savor with our loved ones. Have you felt and thought the same? I bet yes.
Staying at home with family for almost six months was absolutely wonderful. I did cook a lot of “laswa” and “torta puso ng saging” during those months. I was extremely satisfied and impressed to my self. I mean, they look simple yet the techniques involved are just way too much hahahah. If you want to learn how to prepare these foods, please watch this video.
And don’t forget to show your appreciation ad support by clicking the like or heart reaction. 🙂
It’s so dramatic to say that having these food made me feel at home again. Yeah, I am mellow dramatic at times. Haha. Having this perfect combo meal, at the same time gave me a chance to recall the beauty of our life back in the Philippines. Seeing this meal on our table in Phnom Penh Cambodia, always gives me mixed emotions. Happiness; realizing how my life has become better; sadness; thinking about a lot of significant events I missed with my family in the Philippines, and hope. Yes, this meal always remind me of how much hope I have been having in my life and how hope has been my constant companion. Thanks ‘hope’, you are fabulous!
Growing up, we ( I say we, together with my siblings) were advised to always hope for the best and work hard for whatever we want to achieve in life. “You need to stay focused, work hard, and keep hoping for the best things to happen in your life”, as my elders used to tell us all. Only until now I figured how everything we used to have before influenced how we all have become today. Our used to be simple lifestyle back in the Philippines, and our idea about happiness, have remained the same.
Now that I have my own family, and having kids who haven’t experienced the fun and adventure of growing up in the Philippines, I can only tell the stories about it, just so for them to have a little idea of my culture and tradition. Having this moment with my kids is always better every time we are having meals, enjoying “laswa and puso ng saging”. Ofcoure my love Chris got no choice but to also listen to my stories. Hahaha, thanks love. About how my love Chris reacts to “laswa and puso ng saging”, that could be in a different blog entry. Hahaha
So far that’s it for now, I just want to share this cooking cum vlog journey that I am in right now, and because of that, I am sharing to you the link to my official entry, and ofcourse, I am happy that I have participated in this event, and winning something out of this would definitely just be an extra bonus! So come’n, join my kitchen journey, hit that like button, and maybe share it with your friends and learn how to cook “laswa and puso ng saging”.
Salamat po, Mabuhay tayong mga OFW, tayong mga Filipino!
Here’s the recipe for Laswa:
Prepare your ingredients:
- kalabasa, talong, okra, shrimps, sitaw, dahon nag maluggay
- Cut these vegetables to our prefered sizes and shapes. Ideally your okra should be cut into halves so you can achieve that “slimey” yummy taste.
Procedure:
- Boil a litre of water
- Add the hardest vegetables first like kalabasa and sitaw plus your shrimps ( I add this sometimes the last depending on how you would like your shrimps to be. After all they cook fast.)
- Add some seasoning like knorr cubes or powder
- Others add bagoong, so please feel free. The magic in this soup I think is the “slimeyness” (slimey bah) of the okra. Hahaha
With the amount of each vegetables, it all varies to you. Have fun and be creative.
Here’s the recipe for Puso ng Saging Patty:
1 pc puso ng saging, 1 carrot, 1 onion, starch(1/2 cup diluted in water), 3 eggs, salt and pepper, soy sauce, and thyme (optional) you can be creative with this. Whatever you feel like actually.
Prepare your ingredients:
Everything should be thinly cut into small sizes. You can use grater for carrots and onions if you like to. Again, depends on whatever kind of texture you want to achieve.
The cooking process:
Boil the “puso ng saging” for like 20 minutes with added salt.
Cut it into small pieces ( use food processor if you have but don’t make it to fine, we love to have that texture)
Squeeze it out using cloth, making sure it doesn’t have that unpleasant taste ( or the pakla taste).
Once done, add all other ingredients together in a big bowl.
Mix until you think its perfectly compacted.
Get that pan ready to fry these patties.
Shapen the patty you like, wide round, tiny bite size for kids.
Frying will take almost 6 minutes, 3 minutes both sides. Again others prefer dark brown color and others prefer the other way around. See how beautiful cooking and eating is.
You are ready to eat and experience the best of Bacolod. Eat this meal with an orange powder juice like “tang”, for you to be able to feel at home!
Enjoy everyone and once again, thank you! Leave comments if you have questions.