Siomai Dumplings

I've been craving for dumplings. So, as I requested, me and Mom cooked steamed siomai dumplings yesterday.

Here are the Ingredients:

1 kg ground pork
3/4 cup chopped carrots
2 tbsp or 4 cloves minced garlic
2 medium/1 large minced onion(s)
spring onions
1 egg
1 teaspoon freshly ground pepper
1 teaspoon salt
seasonings
siomai wrapper

Instructions:

1. Combine all the ingredients for the filling in a bowl.

2. Wrap about 1 tsp of meat in each wrapper until nothing is left unfilled.

4. Boil water and brush steamer with oil and when the water gets to boil, arrange the siomai in the steamer and let stand for 15-20 minutes, longer for larger pieces.

For the Chilli Sauce:

Chillies (Siling Labuyo)
3 tablespoons cooking oil
2 cloves garlic, peeled and minced

***Sautee garlic and chopped chillies

Voila!!!!


I prefer fried siomai with soy sauce, calamansi and chilli sauce.

Wordless Wednesday - Obsessions while working overnight

Graham Cake with Mango

My all time favorite dessert is this Graham cake with Mango. I always make this when I'm home because this is a good substitute for ice cream and cake. This is so easy to prepare and all the ingredients are all available in stores.

Here is the recipe:

Ingredients:

2 packs of graham crackers.(reserve 3 crackers and crush it in a bowl with a glass)
4 large mangoes, seeds and skin removed.
1 can condensed milk
2 packs all purpose cream.

Procedures:
 
1. Place a layer of graham crackers at the bottom of your container (preferably plasticware with cover).
2. Mix the condensed milk and cream together and add a layer on top of the graham crackers.
3. Place your sliced mangoes on top, make sure that the cream covers all of the graham.
4. Repeat procedure until the container is full. Top with crushed grahams.
5. Serve cold.

Last Christmas was a special one for me. After 6 years, I was able to spent the holidays here in my hometown with my family. From Manila to my hometown was an annoying and uncomfortable trip. I was restless for the whole 16 hour cutting trip. I arrived home on the 21th of December and we immediately plan for our noche buena and medya noche.

We prepared a simple and easy to prepare food for the holidays. Wine and macaroni salad is always on our list. We don't cooked spaghetti, we had sotanghon noodles instead.

My parents avoid lots of foods especially those that are high in cholesterol. My Mom is really good in baking. I requested for a rice cake but she decided to bake this marble chiffon cake. It is so good!

           I think noche buena won't be complete without a ham on the table together with a red wine.

Odd Sunday

I woke up with a beautiful mood! The sun is shining, means its going to be a beautiful day. Although the rain threatens, I think today will a good day. I just noticed something odd, the whole neighborhood is so quiet and no sound of cars passing by. Then I remember it is Paquao's fight today. So everybody will be at home!



As for me, its perfect to watch the fight while eating ice cream... Yummy! I have here some strawberry ice cream.

Happy weekend!

What is the right Food Photography Settings?

I bought my camera every time I go somewhere. Since I spent eating dinner outside, I had time exploring my DSLR samera, using different manual settings. I have two food photos here and I'm confused what is the right food photography settings.


Nikon D5000
VR 18-55mm F/3.5-5.6G
32mm - ISO 800
1/8s - F/11
OEV - Preset, 0.0
This is my first photo, grilled Tuna with rice and a side dish. I think its nice, but one thing I don't like is the yellowish background color. I attended lots of dinner party few months before, and I always end up having yellowish photos like this one. I don't like it and I felt bad I can't publish all those photos on the Internet.


Nikon D5000
VR 18-55mm F/3.5-5.6G
32mm - ISO 1000
1/25s - F/11
OEV - Preset, 0.0
This is my second photo, grilled chicken. I think this one is okay. I managed to set a higher ISO number and it works! I think this one is right.

Next time, I am going to show you photos with different Exposure Compensation settings. Feel free to give me some comments and advice to improve my photography. Thanks so much!