Pork adobo never tasted this good…

A huge part of my eating life in Dubai is about discovery, especially cuisines that I have never in my wildest dreams imagined eating: Iranian, Indian – North, South, and West (not sure if I’ve even had Eastern Indian food), Jordanian, Egyptian, Pakistani, Emirati, Iraqi, Irish, English, Yemeni, and Lebanese. But in the past weeks, my food adventuring around the world through the multi-cultural Dubai population has slowed down to an almost stand still. It’s only lately that I’ve been really, really craving for the tastes of the familiar, the tastes of home.

One particular dish that I’ve been dreaming about the past weeks is the pork adobo. It’s been quite some time since I’ve last cooked and savored this Paterno family favorite.

Today, I indulged myself by cooking pork adobo with a few interesting twists…as I’ve cooked it in the oven versus on the stove :-) Am I loving my oven too much?

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Hoegaarden (Beer) Beef Stew

There is nothing like kicking back your feet and celebrating little housewife wins in the wee kitchen with a few bottle of beer. Yes, I celebrated my freedom from headache and fever with two bottles of Hoegaarden in a stew, a hearty macho one-pot wonder that any beginner cook (like me!) could easily replicate.

So if you have some extra beer to spare, this would be a nice home cooked way to share the love…

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Introducing: The Burganisa!

If you’ve been reading my posts, I really, really love my Filipino breakfast. I still miss my beef tapa (cured beef), but I’ve moved on to other Filipino breakfast cravings. This time it’s the longganisa, the Filipino sausage.

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Recreating the Paterno arroz ala cubana

Now this is HOME.

I miss home a lot, especially the food that my mama (or helper, Ate Joan, who knows all the family recipes by heart) prepares for us. Now that I am “on my own” with no mama or helper to cook our food, I have no choice, but to try and recreate some of those dishes from here.

Again, because I am a beginner level cook, I will start with the easiest dishes of the lot. Today, I cooked one of my most favorite comfort food of all time (part of my Project 30) is our family’s version of arroz ala cobana…

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Project 30: Simple joys from a one pot wonder

My very first Chicken Pork Adobo dish by beginner cook me

I’ve always thought of myself as a very simple, low maintenance gal. Honestly, all I need to live the ultimate good life is my family, true friends, scrumptious food, travel, good books, a few notebooks, pens, my laptop and a good stable Internet connection. That’s it. No need for a walk-in closet filled with designer clothes, shoes and bags. No need for a car because I prefer and enjoy commuting a LOT. Commuting is a great way to see the world and real people. No need for the latest mobile phone models (A Blackberry, which I already own, so I can BBM with my friends from all over the world is more than enough). I believe that life should be simple because people really don’t need much to live a good life.

With food, I also believe that the simple things are the yummiest. Okay, I think I am saying this because I am a struggling beginner cook and can’t prepare anything complex in our wee kitchen. Obviously, my culinary skills are still quite limited. So I think I am still quite blessed to be Filipino, even if I curse it at times, because Filipinos are experts with one-pot-wonders.

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