Food: Tricks - Of raw and hard-boiled eggs

- In order to peel hard-boiled eggs easier, add some salt to the boiling water while cooking the eggs.

- Prevent the white of the egg from seeping out from the shell during cooking by adding a teaspoon of salt or few drops of lemon juice or vinegar to the boiling water.

- To determine whether the egg is cooked/hard-boiled or not, you may spin it on its end. The cooked/hard-boiled egg will spin firmly while the fresh/uncooked egg wiggles following the force of the liquid materials within it.

-  To test the egg for freshness, put the egg in a container of cold water. The fresher the egg the faster it will get to the bottom. If it floats on the water, it suggests that the egg is destroyed or rotten.

Food: Meat - Chicken Feet Adobo (Adidas)

Chicken feet adobo is one of the delicacies of the Filipinos. It earned its popularity through the fact that it is truly palatable and sticky delicious.

Ingredients:

• 1 kl peeled chicken feet
• 50 ml soy sauce
• 1 teaspoon of ground black pepper
• 3 onions

Materials:

• chopping board
• knife
• cooking container
• ladle

Procedure:

1. Wash the chicken feet thoroughly.
2. Put the chicken feet into the cooking container and then pour over the soy sauce.
3. Slice crosswise the onions, into thin onion rings, and then toss them into the cooking container.
4. Sprinkle the black pepper powder over and mix them all well.
5. Start cooking for about 30 to 45 minutes. Once in a while the food being cooked must be stirred.
6. After 30 minutes, when the adobo is already tender, it is already cooked ready for serving. It is really better when overcooked though.

It can be taken as wine dish, snack, or eaten with rice during meal.

Food: Salad - Chicken ata-ata | Chicken breast salad

Ata means raw and fresh. This dish use the fresh meat (breast meat or pitso) of chicken for salad.

Ingredients:

- 1 Chicken breast (Use uncooked fresh pinikpikan chicken, do not use frozen dressed chicken, pinikpikan chicken is a chicken that is dressed with fire)

- 3 tablespoons of diced Ginger
- 3 tablespoons of diced Onion
- ground Black pepper
- Vinegar
- Calamansi or Lemon juice
- Salt
- Other spices (optional)
- Additional foods (optional, we will use Cucumber and Long Green Pepper in this preparation)

Pinikpikan chicken

Sliced chicken (pinikpikan) breast

Calamansi juice and Long Green Pepper

Calamansi fruits

Diced Ginger and Onion

Materials:

- Bowl to contain the food
- Chopping board
- Knife

Procedure:

1. Slice the chicken breast into 1 inch by 1 cm sizes.
2. Use the bowl to soak the sliced meat in a vinegar for 40 minutes to 1 hour.
3. Drain the vinegar from the bowl.
4. Add all the other ingredients to the bowl of meat and mix well.
5. After mixing well, the food is ready to be served.

Chicken ata-ata salad with Cucumber and Long Green Pepper

It can be eaten alone for snack as wine chaser, or with rice during mealtime.

Gardening: Produce more tomato or pepper fruits using epsom salt (magnesium sulfate)

- When the first bloom of tomato or pepper appears, blend 1 tablespoon of epsom salt to a gallon of water.- Spray the mixture on plants.
- After 10 days, spray another mixture on the same plants.



- Do it again and again after 10 days until the plants bear more flowers.
- The magnesium content of epsom salt boosted the production of more flowers and fruits.

Organic Food: Salad - Arosep Salad (Arosep or Ar-arosep is Ilokano term for Sea Grapes/Green Caviar)

Arosep is a juicy green seaweed with sour taste. It is perfect to be consumed during sunny day or hot/warm season no wonder why it is one of the favorite foods in the tropical islands during summer time.

After buying it from the market, it is advisable to consume it immediately because it continues to lose water content when stocked for more hours.

Ingredients:

- 1/4 kilo of arosep seaweed
- 1 medium size onion
- 1 medium size tomato
- 2 medium size leeks
- 3/4 teaspoon of salt
- 2 calamansi or 1 medium lemon
- 2 tablespoons of fish sauce (optional)

Arosep, Green Caviar, Sea Grapes

Materials:

- 1 bowl to contain the seaweed and other ingredients
- kitchen knife and chopping board
- mixing spoon

Procedure:

1. Wash the seaweed.
2. Dice onion, tomato and leeks and then put them into the bowl.

3. Sprinkle the salt, pour the fish sauce, and squeeze out the juice of the calamansi over the seaweed salad.
4. Mix all the ingredients inside the bowl and serve in two.

Consume with rice during meal time.

Arosep Salad

Food: Soup - Green Beans & Meat Loaf Soup

Ingredients:

10 pieces of standard-sized green beans (Sliced into half-inch pieces)
1 small can of meat loaf (alt. sausage) (Sliced into half-inch cubes)
5 standard-sized leeks (Sliced into half-inch pieces)
10 cloves of crushed garlic
1 tablespoon of pounded or diced ginger
1 tablespoon of vegetable oil
1 liter of water
culinary herbs (optional)
other soup seasonings







Materials:

Cooking container
Knife
Chopping board
4 soup bowls
Ladle

Procedure:

1. Cut green beans into half-inch pieces and cook in a liter of water.



2. When cooked, add all other ingredients except the leeks.
3. Let it simmer for 5 minutes.
4. Add the leeks and mix.
5. Serve in four bowls.



It can be eaten alone or with rice during meal time.

Traditional Food: Pancit Bihon (QHMix Recipe)

Pancit Bihon is one of the traditional dishes that Filipino gatherings, occasions, celebrations, parties, events, etc. must be present on the feast tables. But with so many approaches and different ingredients used by the different cook themselves, I will present the QHMix way of cooking Pancit Bihon for the snack of about 100 persons.

Ingredients:
- 1/2 bale Pancit Bihon
- 2 kl Baguio (Green) Beans
- 1 kl Carrots
- 1/2 kl Celery
- 1 liter Soy Sauce
- 1 1/2 kl Pork (or Chicken Meat)
- 2 liters Chicken Soup (use Pinikpikan broth if you are also cooking Pinikpikan). Alternative: Pork Soup or any meat soup.
- Vegetable Oil

Materials:
- 1 large cooking ware (preferably "Silyasi") to contain Pancit Bihon
- 1 big container enough to contain the 1/2 bale of Pancit Bihon
- another 1 big container for all the fried vegetable and meat ingredients
- 1 small container for the chopped Celery
- 4 containers for each of the ingredients and the soup/broth
- 1 outside burner or cooking tripod to set the "Silyasi".
- 1 big ladle
- 1 knife
- 1 chopping board

Liters of pinikpikan broth can be taken out for the pancit bihon recipe and
then just add water again to the pinikpikan as replacement.

Procedure:
1. Break each Pancit Bihon brick into quarters and soak with water inside the big container #1 to make them soft.

2. Chop the meat into 1 cm x 1 cm x 1 inch rough cuts. Fry them with vegetable oil, then toss them into the big container #2.

3. Peel carrots and julienne them. Fry and add into the big container #2.

4. Slice the Green Beans into 1-inch cuts. Fry them and put into the big container #2.

5. Mix all the ingredients inside the big container #2.

6. Cut crosswise the Celery from stems to the leaves with 1 cm slices and put them into a separate container.

7. Prepare to cook: light the burner into medium only. Then place the "Silyasi" on it to be heated for few minutes. Then, pour the Chicken Soup (meat soup) into the "Silyasi" followed by the Soy Sauce.

8. Drain the container #1 and take out the Pancit Bihon, add them into the "Silyasi" and mix using the big ladle. Mix, mix and mix until you notice the coloration of the Pancit Bihon.

9. If you want to make the noddles look darker, you may add more Soy Sauce and then mix again. But adding more Soy Sauce may also increase the salty taste of the Pancit Bihon.

10. As the noodles were already cooked, pour into the "Silyasi" the mixed ingredients from the container #2.

10. Then, just urn off the burner. Sprinkle the chopped Celery over the food, and once again, mix them all again until properly mixed.

Serve it to 100 persons during snack time with sandwiches and juice drinks.