Food Archives | Page 41 of 68

Food Preparations in Bulk

7 August 2011 Ibyang Sanchez 13 Comments Category: Food, The Married Life, Tips

I usually have a once-a-month major grocery shopping and on a fortnightly basis for replenshing raw produce . Our usual stops would be at the nearby Woolworths (an Australian supermarket) and at the Asian market.

The Asian market is complete with raw produce, from vegetables, seafood and meat, and dry products exported from Asian countries. If you follow me via twitter and instagram (follow @ibyang in instagram if you want), you may have probably seen photographs of Filipino food that my Husband and I sometimes indulge in. It is in this Asian market that we get our Filipino food fix.

When I shop for raw produce at the Asian market, I buy in bulk so I can prepare, marinate and store them in bulk too. This is part of organizing and preparing the food that I will cook for the household in the coming weeks. I store the raw produce we bought in plastic containers and label them so it’s easier for me to figure out what to cook on a daily or weekly basis.

I buy a big slab of beef (1-2 kilos) and cut it to different cuts: cubes, strips, for steak. My choice of beef varies so we try different parts from time to time. So far, I’ve tried silverside, topside, rump and scotch fillet. It’s usual that markets already cut the beef for you but I don’t really mind cutting the beef myself. With a 1-2 kilo slab of beef, I get to maximize the meat we bought. I make my own marinades for Bulgogi and Steaks.

I also do a bit of cutting of chicken for my food preps, too. My usual chicken marinades are Garlic Salt, Soy Sauce and Lemon and BBQ.

For Seafood, I ask the market to clean the fishes for me but before storing them, I still clean them the second time around. I also take out the fish scales also. For squids, I clean them myself. I usually lather some salt or garlic salt to the fishes before I store them inside the freezer.

On weekends, I’m most busy in the kitchen as it is during this time that I make time to do some bulk preparations.

One of the things that my friends in Manila asked me when I was there in April was “Do you really cook the food we see in your blog?” And the answer to that has always been, “Unless stated that I bought it, yes!”. When I was single and lived in the Philippines, I never really talked about cooking much so it was a bit of a surprise for even my closest friends to see photos of food in my blog and in facebook. But the truth is, I’ve always had a love for food and I’ve always loved eating. Only it has been magnified now with the gift of technology and social networking.

Not only do I love to eat food, I also truly love preparing and cooking food. It’s tedious and may be time consuming to some but I find comfort and grateful that I know that what I put on the table for our family is something healthy and created with love.

Restaurant: Jackie’s Kitchen at Coex Mall (Seoul, Korea)

1 August 2011 Ibyang Sanchez 2 Comments Category: Food, I Love Seoul, Restaurants, Travel

My stories of Seoul are far from over. I have this dream of finishing all I wanted to write about Seoul in one sitting but that dream hasn’t (and probably won’t) materialized yet. So bear with me and believe me when I say, I’m working on finishing writing about our Seoul and Philippine vacation.

After spending time at the Kimchi Field Museum, we decided to have a bit of a walk in and out of Coex Mall.

Coex Mall is the largest underground mall in Asia. Inside, you’ll find lots of restaurants, and boutiques. They have an area called Megabox which consists of 16 theatres. They also have an Aquarium which is divided into four themes.

The Husband and I went out and took photos of the mall’s surrounding.

Cherry Blossom trees surrounded the area.

On our second day in Seoul, the sun was shining brightly and it felt great to be outside.

Felt the pangs of hunger and decided to go back in and have lunch at Jackie’s Kitchen.

Jackie’s Kitchen is owned by the famous Jackie Chan. The restaurant looks simple and casual, seemed like a place where young professionals have lunch during the day. Since this is Jackie Chan’s restaurant, the usual Chinese dishes are the main attraction.

We ordered the usual suspects. We start with a plate of Fried Rice abundant with lots of vegetables, prawns and meat.

The Husband and I shared an order of Pork Dimsum and Spring Rolls. The Dimsum was moist and juicy. The Spring Rolls crunchy and filling.

We learned that other than their dimsum, their noodles are a specialty too. Since we are in Seoul, we opted to try their Black Bean Noodles and it was good. The noodles were perfectly cooked and the sauce was flavourful.

The food was reasonably priced. For the four dishes, I think we only paid 26,000won. We were also lucky that the one who served us was friendly and spoke fluent English.

Jackie’s Kitchen
Inside Coex Mall
159 Samseong-dong
Gangnam-gu, Seoul

Things I Love: Meiji Chocolates

31 July 2011 Ibyang Sanchez 8 Comments Category: Food, Things I Love

Living in Australia would usually mean that some chocolates from around the world may not be locally available here. Our friends from Manila gets shocked when we tell them that we don’t really get to eat some chocolates that we used to have in the Philippines.

One of the chocolate brands that the Husband and I love is Meiji from Japan. There may be a store here in Australia that sell this brand that we don’t know. All we know is that we can’t simply find Meiji Chocolates in supermarkets.

Sometimes a friend or a relative or ours would travel to Japan and bring back some Meiji goodies. One of my aunts gave us this Meiji chocolate blocks and it was smooth, delicious and addicting.

When the Husband and I vacationed in Manila in April, we made sure to hoard several Meiji chocolate bars that we can find.

Until now we are still enjoying the last few bars we have. We are trying to control eating our Meiji chocolates at home to hopefully last us until someone comes to visit us from a country that sells Meiji.

In Seoul, Korea: The Kimchi Field Museum

26 July 2011 Ibyang Sanchez 2 Comments Category: Food, I Love Seoul, Photography, Travel

I never knew that some of my online buddies/tweetmates like Kimchi until I started tweeting and sharing about my Kimchi-making adventures. When I shared the the Kimchi recipe I got from a Korean blogger, a few more have expressed their love for Kimchi. So for my Kimchi-loving blogmates/tweetmates, let me share with you my little adventure with the Husband at the Kimchi Field Museum in Seoul, Korea.

The museum’s mission is to inform the world about one of Korean’s important food staple: Kimchi.

Upon entrance to the museum, an electronic hand sanitizer is on standby for those wanting to clean their hands. I suggest you have your hands cleaned as you’ll later find yourself at the Tasting Room of the museum where you’ll get to sample a few Kimchi condiments.

The first attraction of the Kimchi Museum is this makeshift yard of a Korean home where you’ll see jars of different sizes. These jars are instrumental in the fermentation of stored Kimchi and are usually placed outside Korean homes.

While we were there, a school field trip was being held. The kids were made to sit down and listen to a short lecture. Unfortunately, the Husband and I cannot understand because they only spoke Korean.

We instead had to learn about Kimchi thru reading! Thank goodness, all the readings had English translations.

The museum is divided into three sections. The first section is about the history of Kimchi. n this section, we learned that Kimchi didn’t used to have chili that’s why in earlier days, Kimchi looked like this…

I told the Husband. “This looked like our Nilaga.”

Years after, the Koreans started adding hot chili peppers in Kimchi. Koreans love spicy food and knowing that chili has health benefits, chili peppers became Kimchi’s main ingredient.

We learned that there are about more than 150 kinds of Kimchi and that almost all vegetables can be made into Kimchi.

We also saw different kinds of jars at one part of the museum.

The second section of the Kimchi Museum shows the process of making Kimchi. They presented this by showing small, lifelike dioramas.

Near the dioramas section is a photo area where guests can have a photograph with a mannequin wearing a Hanbok (Korean’s national dress).

Further into the museum, you’ll find a room where Kimchi-making is being held.

Beside it is the Tasting Room where they offered four types of Kimchi condiments for guests to taste.

The Husband and I tried them and it was really spicy and delicious. They have water for those who would like a drink after tasting their Kimchis.

The last section of the museum consists of the Data Room where people can read about Kimchi and it benefits and other traditional Korean food.

The Kimchi Museum is located at the second basement of COEX Mall in Samseong-dong, Gangnam-gu, Seoul. Get on Line 2 of the subway then get off Samseong Station and walk toward Exit 5 or 6. Open from Tuesdays to Sundays, 10:00am to 6:00pm. Entrance fee is only 3,000 won per Adult. Allot 20-30 minutes viewing time.

Restaurant: KOZY Korean Barbeque (Sydney, Australia)

4 July 2011 Ibyang Sanchez 4 Comments Category: Food

With Sydney bringing life to the CBD’s laneways these days, restaurants and bars are opening one after another. I have been lucky one afternoon to pass by Wilmot Street and saw a sign that said “Korean Barbeque“. Told the Husband about it and decided to have our late lunch there on our Friday date in June.

KOZY Korean Barbeque is near Townhall Train Station tucked in between George and Pitt Street. Even if located in a small laneway, you won’t miss the sign of their resto.

The wooden interiors, dim lighting and big TVs showing Korean stars singing & dancing will make you feel like you are in Korea.

A Korean trademark: cutlery and a box of tissue in every table.

Open the box and you’ll find Korean cutlery: chopsticks and spoon for soups and rice.

KOZY offers their lunch special to patrons during weekdays that costs AUD$8.00 per meal. Each meal comes with 3 side dishes and a small bowl of salad.

I ordered their Bibimbap. A bowl of rice topped with vegetables, beef strips and egg.

The vegetables were fresh and lightly seasoned which was more than alright for me as I’d like my dishes to be low in salt. A small bowl of Chili Sauce was served together with the Bibimbap and side dishes. It is the patron’s choice on how much Chili Sauce they would like to add unto their Bibimbap. I wanted my Bibimbap moderately spicy so I only added 2 tablespoons of the Chili Sauce to liven it up.