Avocado Cream Cheese Dip

The taste of avocado takes me back to my childhood. My mom used to make avocado ice candies, which is just basically like popsicle minus the stick. It is stuffed inside a long plastic bag and then frozen. It used to be the only recipe of avocado I know until I started to become familiar with cooking and other food preparations. Now I added 3 more in my recipe list - avocado smoothie, guacamole, and this avocado cream cheese dip that I recently discovered (no kidding).

I was thinking of a good garnish for my tomato tartare and thought that avocado's good match. And so I browsed for avocado flavoured sauces and dips and this recipe from Honey Never Spoils caught my attention. It's fairly easy to prepare, plus I have ingredients right in my fridge, so I don't have to worry about going back to the grocery.

I am happy to say, that although it miserably failed to match the taste of my tomato tartare, the taste by itself is divine! I immediately loved it. I can picture it perfectly matching the taste of my vegetarian burger to substitute guacamole. It can also be used as a dip for toasted bread sticks, or even nachos/chips. This is my new favorite!

I tweaked the recipe a little bit according to my consistency and texture liking.

Ingredients:
- 1 small ripe avocado
- 50g softened cream cheese
- 1 tbsp lemon juice
- 1 small onion, sliced in 4 parts
- 1/8 cup of water
- 1 tbsp Sriracha sauce (or tabasco hot sauce)
- salt and pepper to taste
(Skip the water if you want a paste-like consistency, and add more cream cheese)


1. Slice the avocado from top. As soon as you feel the seed, slice around it. Then give it a twist to separate. Now you can easily pull out the huge seed.

2. Scoop out the avocado flesh and dunk it in your food processor.

3. Add the onion, softened cream cheese, lemon juice and water in the food processor and blend away. Add more water if it's too thick for you.

4. Add the sriracha sauce and blend again. Feel free to add more sriracha if you prefer more spicy.

5. Once well blended and creamy, transfer it to a bowl and add a dash of salt and pepper to taste.

I used only 50g of cream cheese because I love that delicate avocado flavor and I don't want to overpower it. I added water because I don't like it too thick and paste like since I intend to also use it as a creamy spread. But if you wish to make it thicker like a normal cheese based dips, by all means, add more cheese and skip the water. Just make sure you won't overpower the avocado taste.

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Homestyle Tomato Tartare

Since I know that I will never have the guts to eat beef tartare (I'm not a fan of raw meat), I thought of making tomato tartare that I once saw on TV. It's refreshing for first course. It does look special too for something that's quite simple to prepare. In this recipe, I only made a small portion since I'm the only one to eat. Double the recipe to serve 2.

Ingredients:
- 3 big, ripe, juicy, fleshy tomatoes, peeled and deseeded
- 1 tbsp. of minced chives
- 1 small minced scallion (or a small red onion)
- 1 tsp. finely chopped tarragon
- 1/2 tbsp. lemon juice
- 2 tbsp. extra virgin olive oil
- salt and pepper to taste
- a small can with both ends removed for molding

Peeling fresh tomatoes:

a. Remove the stalk.
b. slice a cross on top.
c. Blanch in boiling water for 30-40 seconds (be careful! Do not overcook) until it blisters.
d. Shock it in ice water.
e. Peel away!

1. Slice the tomatoes in 4 parts and remove the seeds. Finely chop the tomatoes. Let it sit in a colander or strainer for about an hour to drain out the excess water.

2. Transfer the tomatoes in a mixing bowl and toss in the rest of the ingredients.

3. Add salt and pepper according to you liking. Chill in the fridge for about 30 minutes.

4. Place the mold on top of your serving plate and stuff it with the tomato mixture. Pack it tightly. Then remove the mold.

I didn't realize that molding is challenging. I suppose my tomatoes weren't drained enough that the excess water kept it loose. It kept on collapsing. I even tried to use an ice cream scoop because I thought i could never keep it together using my can mold. Eventually, the tomatoes drained more water and there, I got to keep it together :).

Taragon and chives. Be careful in the amount of taragon, the taste is easily over powering.

My attempt to plate the dish. I'm not too happy with it :P

I think I got carried away once I started eating. I get this icky feeling every time I take a bite, thinking it was meat but then realizing it's just tomatoes :P. I'm so weird.

I served it with toasted bread sticks, but it's best served with slices of baguette.The greenish thing there is avocado cream cheese which I still yet to share.

Smakelijk eeten!

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A Road Trip On Black Saturday

My friends and I hit the road down south to continue our sort of yearly tradition to do "Way Of The Cross" every Lent. It's just a tradition that we invented for ourselves, where we go to a special Catholic church every year, and recite a booklet of prayers for each 13 stations of the cross. It's also sort of another excuse to be able to catch up and see each other at least once a year.

Usually, Way Of The Cross and Visita Iglesia* are done on Maundy Thursday. Lent is a national holiday in the Philippines, but since my friends and I are all employed by american companies, we didn't get these days off and have to do it on Black Saturday.

I won't bore you to death with religion but here's some photos of interest.

This is the front of Nagcarlan Underground Cemetery, a historical landmark in the Philippines. The cemetery lies beneath the church inside this gate.

It was said to be built by Franciscan monks in 1845. It served as a hide out and a meeting place for Filipino revolutionaries  against Spain in 1896.

Unfortunately, the cemetery was closed when we visited. So all we could do is to take photos from the outside,  not minding the scorching heat of the sun :).

We went to the beautiful church of Pagsanjan to fulfill our mission.

Covering religious statues and the cross with purple cloth on holy week is a Catholic tradition , which is said to help people concentrate and reflect more on the sufferings and sacrifice of Jesus.

We concluded our trip with a nice hearty lunch at Calle Arco in Pagsanjan. Calle Arco is just a big house transformed in to a  restaurant. The house is very traditional of provincial sort. It's an instant Filipino appeal. It makes you feel you are in your grandma's house.

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Lemon Asparagus, A Barrowed Recipe

Asparagus and I, we have a love affair. But like any other love affairs, it gets tiring at some point. Frying and steaming doesn't excite me anymore. But thanks to Two-Tarts, the affair's been ignited once more with this lovely and uber-easy asparagus preparation. Yumminess guaranteed!

Ingredients :
- thin asparagus
- 1 medium sized lemon
- salt and pepper
- olive oil
- slices of orange (optional)


1. Thinly slice the lemon, make about 6-8 slices. You can add about 3 slices of oranges too just for added flavor. Arrange it in a baking pan.
2. Wash the asparagus thoroughly and drizzle it with olive oil and coat it evenly.
3. Arrange the asparagus on top of the lemon and sprinkle with salt and pepper.
4. Then off to the oven and let it sit there for a few minutes on high heat, until roasted.

The flavor of lemon (and oranges) seeps in the asparagus as it broils.

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The Green Monster Drink

In the hopes to free my belly from gathering fats, I've been thinking of how I can lessen my carbo intake. It all started with my beach bod dreams. I dream of having nice toned arms and legs, with a fat-free, well-defined tummy. So many summers has passed, and summer's yet here again - and here I am, still dreaming :P.

Realistically speaking, I'm not aiming for fat-free tummy, it's just close to impossible specially that my only regular work out is to mop the floor, wash dishes and scrub the bathroom. Nevertheless, it doesn't hurt to give it a try for as long as I'm not starving myself. To start my carbo cut down, I said I'm not going to eat carbo loaded breakfast... except when I want to take nice breakfast photos of my own cooking :P.

Today, I tried the Green Monster drink. I got this idea from a presentation I was testing a few weeks ago and got curious what it would taste like.

The Green Monster!

Ingredients:
- 2 handful of fresh spinach leaves, plucked and washed thoroughly
- 1 medium size banana, sliced
- 1 medium size apple, chopped
- 1 peeled orange
- 20-30 pcs. seedless green grapes (or whatever you can get)
- 1 cup water
- some ice cubes (optional)
- 1 Tbsp honey (optional)

1. Dunk everything in your blender.
(my blender apparently is not powerful so I had to dunk it gradually).

Add more water if you think it's too thick. If you think it's not sweet enough, add some honey.

I have never blended spinach in a drink before so it felt weird to me by just looking at it, and was a bit scared to taste it. But I'm happy it turned out to be yummy! I finished the glass and kept the rest in the fridge later when I feel hungry :P.

My cat however, thinks otherwise... (click to get the story).

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Rose Flavoured Jelly with Black Currants and Strawberries

OK just an FYI - the normal gelatin (Jell-O for example) we know and we grew up with is NOT vegetarian. Pardon my ignorance but I thought it was :P. So I'm telling now and don't be a victim like me :P.

I used to make gelatin sweetened and mixed with milk, then pour it on pineapple chunks or fruit cocktail and chill. Today, I thought it would be nice to make it a little bit more elegant and romantic. I checked my fridge and I still have black currants and strawberries from the Saturday Market so I figured it would be a nice touch rather than using canned fruits.

Ingredients:
- powdered gelatin (for vegetarian, use Agar-Agar)
- sugar
- rose water flavour
- black currants
- strawberries

1. Prepare the gelatin according to the instruction in the box. Normally, it's just dissolved in hot water.
2. Add sugar according to your taste. Add about 3 drops of rose water flavour.
(Note : You can use any flavour you wish like vanilla, pandan or almond, just make sure it matches whatever you dunk in the gelatin.)
3. Get a good looking glass and pour the gelatin mixture.

4. Here's the tricky part:

a. You can either dunk your stuff all together, or
b. You can wait a bit longer, let the gelatin slowly set as it cools down, and then carefully dip the fruits, pushing them to the bottom, suspended at the middle, or wherever you want them when the gelatin is partly set. I do this because when i dunk everything together, the fruits either floats or settle at the bottom. But be careful not to wait to long because the gelatin might firm up and you can no longer push down stuff without breaking the form.

5. Chill in the fridge and serve!

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Bitter Gourd In Mashed Tofu and Tomatoes

My husband asked me a few days ago if I knew any vegan recipe using bitter gourd. It wasn't really his favorite but he'd like to share the recipe in reddit because there's a post asking about it.

When I was young, the only use of bitter gourd to me was just for art work. I slice the bottom, dip the tip in water color, and make nice prints on white paper. But as I get older, I developed a relationship with vegetables I would never eat in my childhood. One of which is the bitter gourd or amplaya in Tagalog. It wouldn't be named bitter if it wasn't for its reputation, I suppose. I tell you it's  bitter as hell and I don't think I know any child who likes it, not even much of adults. But I guess you just have to prepare and cook it right to be likeable.

The secret to bitter gourd is to rub it with salt, let it sit for a while, and then rinse. Some people soak it in salt water, but rubbing works for me. This makes the bitterness milder. I love bitter gourd with eggs and tomatoes, but since Mark's requested vegan, I experimented today with mashed tofu. Here it goes.

Ingredients:
- firm tofu, halved
- 2 pcs ripe tomatoes, sliced
- 1 small white onion, chopped
- 2-3 cloves of garlic, finely chopped
- 1 medium sized bitter gourd
- 1 tbsp soy sauce
- salt and pepper to taste
- 1 tsp. white sugar (optional)

1. Cut the bitter gourd in 3 parts, and then lengthwise. Remove the white middle flesh by scraping it with a spoon.
2. Rub it with a good amount of salt and set aside for 15 minutes. This will make the bitter taste milder.
3. Divide the firm tofu in to two. Mash half of it with your hand, but not too much because it's nice when it's a bit chunky. Refrigerate the other half.
4. Rinse the bitter gourd and slice it cross-wise, making like little Cs, but not too thick.
5. Heat oil in a frying pan. Sautee onions until it's soft. Add in the garlic. Sautee til it's golden brown.
6. Toss in the mashed tofu and fry it for about 3 minutes.
7. Toss in the bitter gourd. Mix it altogether until the bitter gourd is soft and cooked. I personally like it al dente.
8. Add tomatoes and continue cooking. I added the tomatoes last because I like it half cooked and still juicy. But you may add tomatoes before the bitter gourd.
9. Add a tablespoon of soy sauce for flavor. Add some salt and pepper according to your taste.
10. Add about a teaspoon of white sugar, but this is perfectly optional. I just like a bitter-sweet twist.

Makes 2 servings. Best served with steamed white rice.

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Support Pet Adoption

For a change, I'd like to share something other than cooking (and hopefully this will excuse me from not posting any recipe for more than a week).

I volunteered in an pet adoption event held by CARA Welfare Philippines last Saturday and covered it in behalf of Mark who's a member and their designated photographer. CARA (Compassion and Responsibility for Animals) is a non-profit, non-government organization ran by dedicated volunteers who aim to educate citizens in regards to responsible pet ownership, animal welfare and rights, promoting spay/neuter/TNR to control animal population. CARA offers low cost spay/neuter program and veterinary services to help low-income households be able to afford medical assistance for their beloved animals. A common misconception about the organization is that it is a shelter. Unfortunately, it isn't. The facility CARA have is a clinic. The rescues are fostered by members, and when they are ready, they are sent up for adoption.

I could write a whole lot about the sad facts about the lives of cats and dogs stray population in this country, why it happens, how people neglect them, how the majority of citizens are apathetic, and how much people feel sorry but never make a move to help be part of the solution. I could go on and on but that's another story.

Looking at the bright side, I'd like to share heart warming photos of people who dedicated their time to get these less fortunate animals find a loving home, and people who went to either adopt and open their homes to them, or donated for this cause. Even when I lose hope on people at times, there's still a tiny bit part of me who believes that there are still a lot of good people among us.

It was nice to see that there were a lot of people who have shown interest in the adoption. They may not all have adopted, but it's a great chance for us to educate people why we do what we do,  responsible pet ownership, and why it is important to consider adoption first rather than buying a pet companion.

Tireless volunteers assist people with questions how to go about adopting a cat from CARA.

Potential Adopters are interviewed and are asked to sign up an adoption sheet. Just like any adoption centers, CARA ensures that the animals will get to a home where they can be supported and cared for, provide appropriate food and medical assistance when necessary. CARA also makes follow up visitation to the adopter's home as part of the adoption policy. 

Here are the adorable rescued dogs that also came in the hopes that they will find a family and forever home . They are very healthy, well behaved, friendly and very loving.  The lovely girl on top is their foster parent who have at least 13 rescued dogs under her care. 

The two little girls were very excited to bring home these two cute cuddly tabbies. (Right) Handsome Antonio the cat was one of my favorites and I'm truly happy for him that he got adopted too by these two young ladies :).

The cats are very grateful to these wonderful families who opened their hearts and homes to them.

It was an eventful Saturday. I was tired but it was worth it. After the event, Gerry, Anton and I went to dinner and then had a full body massage after. Nice eh?

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