Pork Afritada

I found some leftover pork shoulder in the freezer and decided to cook this for dinner with some tomato sauce. Did some searching on the net and found a lot of recipes for Pork Menudo and Pork Afritada, the ingredients differed. Eventually, I just picked the one recipe that had the least amount of ingredients from AllFavoriteRecipe.

I started off from that recipe and tweaked a few measurements, this was what I did:

• 1 lb pork, cubed
• 3 cloves garlic, minced
• 1 onion, sliced
• 1 tbsp fish sauce (patis)
• 2 potatoes (Russet), peeled and quartered
• 1/2 cup water
• 1 cup tomato sauce
• 1 green bell pepper, sliced

1. Season the diced pork with salt and pepper and set aside in the refrigerator for 20 minutes.
2. In a saucepan, heat oil and saute pork until no longer pink. If juices come out, spoon them out and throw away.
3. Add the garlic and onion, saute till onions are clear.
4. Season the pork with the fish sauce.
5. Add the potatoes (NOTE: if using Russet potatoes, do not add them at this time as they cook easily and will fall apart before your pork becomes tender).
6. Add the tomato sauce and water
7. Bring to a boil and simmer on low heat for 25 to 30 minutes until pork is soft.
8. Add the bell pepper and let simmer.

This turned out quite good, the only issue we have is that we used Russet potatoes and they cooked too quickly. Will have to add them into the pot a bit later (maybe 10 to 15 minutes later) so they don't get too soft.

Taste wise, this turned out good.

Star Trek

Last night, hubby started playing Star Trek Voyager episodes on TV. I never thought I would ever like any of the Star Trek TV series but we saw episodes one to three last night and I didn't get bored.

Thinking about it, this was the same reaction or feeling that I got when we first started watching the Stargate Atlantis series. It wasn't particularly good but it did look promising and seemed like a good program to follow.

After episode 3 ended last night ? I even sort of felt bitin (lacking) because I still wanted more. I'm feeling I'm going to be spending a lot of time on Spreety TV Online : Watch TV Shows Online Free to try and see if they have other interesting episodes or shows as well.

Fried Tofu

Tofu has always been a favorite in our kitchen but we don't get to try a lot of different dishes, mostly because we do not know how to prepare them and we usually stick with what we know.

Recently, Mom brought a vegetarian cookbook and left it with me because she says that we might make more use of it than she did. True to her words, I went through the book immediately and found a recipe for this simple fried tofu dish.

1. Dice tofu and scald with boiling water for 1 minute (to half-cook the tofu).

2. Drain the tofu on paper towels.

3. Dip the tofu in egg and then coat with flour.

4. Deep fry in hot oil.

For the sauce:

3 tbsp lite soy sauce

2 cloves of garlic, chopped finely

1 tsp sugar

2 tsp sesame oil (did not put this much)

60k

We brought the (old) car in to the dealership for service last weekend, it was only supposed to be an oil change but we realized the night before that it was due for its 60k service.

The service manager told us that it would take a few hours at least for the 60k service, initial estimate was $650. That blows this month's budget, I thought, but we agreed anyway. After all, it wasn't really optional. Thankfully, they had a loaner car available so we didn't have to wait around for a few hours.

Then we remembered some symptoms that hubby had noticed recently:

- first there was that clanging noise, we've had this before and was charged $50 to fix a loose heat shield (we figured that if it were the heat shield again this time, we'll pass)

- and then there was that chirping noice that hubby hears when the airconditioner is turned on

So with that, we left the dealership and went home. Sometime around 2pm, the service manager calls us:

- the clanging noise was due to the heatshield again, they'll fix it but won't charge us again (whew!)

- the chirping noise was due to the belts, they had to be replaced for $190. So that blows next month's budget. Teka, what budget ? *sniff*

We were also told that the car would be ready for pickup by 2:30 and hubby tells them that we'll pick it up between 2:30 to 3p.

At around 2:45p, halfway to the dealership, we get a call from the service manager again. This time, she tells us that the gasket was leaking! She tells us that the tech flushed the coolants and when he was testing, the coolant he put in started bubbling - this pointed to a leaking gasket which they were able to confirm.

Fortunately, the service rep tells us that even though this isn't covered by warranty anymore, they will fix / replace this under goodwill and won't charge us anymore (after all, she did mention that the leak happened after they flushed the fluids anyway). The snag is that fixing a leaky gasket is a huge job and it will take a few more days.

So last Saturday, it rained and poured - out of our wallets, that is.

All this kinda makes me think if keeping a car beyond 5 years is worth it. But then again, after spending this much right now, we better use it for a few more years to get our money's worth.

Also, I'm quite glad that it's just in the shop for regular servicing and not for any other damages - in which case, we'll probably have to bring it to auto body buena park instead of the car dealership's service center which would surely cost us a whole lot more.

Announcement

Make your Stick Figure Family at FreeFlashToys.com

Check out our new baby blog at http://hafamilychronicles.blogspot.com

Back to Reality

So my family has come and gone and I'm left with lots of happy memories - mostly of the little one, Lyle. I can't get enough of him and his sweetness (translation: paglalambing) and even though his non-stop chatter gets tiring at times, hubby and I couldn't help but fall more in love with him.

Now, while I enjoy my last vacation day before I go back to work tomorrow, I'd like to leave you with my favorite conversation w/ Lyle. We were driving to Washington DC and everyone else except for the driver (hubby), Lyle and me were asleep. I look back and saw my sister (Lyle's mom) sleeping w/ her mouth open and I pointed it out to Lyle. He started giggling and asks me what we can do. I suggested throwing potato chips, fries and all sorts of food /drinks into her mouth and he readily agreed (of course, we didn't do anything).

Eventually, I suggested that we throw boogers into her mouth. He looked at me, aghast, and said "A-i, your own sister!" and then promptly put his finger up to his nostril and started picking his nose.

*smile*

Later, when I would retell the story to the others, he would claim that he was feeling uncomfortable with a booger up his nose and that he was trying to get rid of it. He didn't have plans of flicking it into his mom's mouth.

I so love this kid. Maloko talaga, he gets that from me (proud aunt).

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Mom, sis and I didn't talk about our issues anymore. Okay na rin, I wasn't ready for a confrontation nor an autopsy. I'd rather just move on.