Rhian's Kitch: Heirloom Traditions

               During my free time or when I need a quick break from any routine task or activity I breath and relax by  entertaining ideas and creating plans. I usually document things, create and upgrade. I also use it as a form of activity in teaching Rhian some of the basic and practical things in life.

This is how the concept of "Rhian's Kitch" came into life. It is a module for Rhian to learn the basics of cooking. When I was just about her age, my Tita's thought me the basic process of cooking rice, vegetables and festive meat recipes. Google is not yet around at that time, so all kitchen secrets and stories were passed on with the process. It was my passion for food that made me enhance and enjoy the kitchen duties at that time.

Nowadays, with just one click you can simply extract the needed information in order to whip up the dish that you want. Learning it in real life is still an advantage. In cooking a certain dish you need to experience the process, the hands on experience will show how each ingredient should be cooked in order to achieve the authentic state of the dish.

Creating two of the listed dishes in Rhian's Kitch was sparked when Rhian's Manay Banggi from my husband's side visited the Philippines for the 2015 Christmas Holidays. As a part of managing time effectively, every time we do some cooking for parties, we also use it to document and test the consistency of our recipes.

At dawn my husband is bound to go to the airport to fetch Manay -- to help hubby make Manay Banggi happier, we decided to cook some traditional Filipino dishes.

Pinakbet/Pakbet

This recipe was thought by my Aunt Ely and was mastered by my mum after her retirement. It is already modified in such a way that the some of the meat/sahog were fried just like Bagnet. As an alternative, Bagnet can also be used in order to enhance the taste.

Usually the popular process of cooking Pinakbet is to saute the garlic, onions, tomatoes and meat before adding the vegetables (Tagalog style). Another method is to add all the ingredient in a palayok with bagoong isda and then it is cooked until the vegetables are wilted (Ilocano style).

My Aunt Ely cooked Pinakbet the Ilocano way. She creates the broth then she adds in the vegetables until cooked. 

The secret of Aunt Ely's Pinakbet is the process of cooking the broth and the ingredients that she uses. She adds ginger to the broth. 

For the Rhian's Kitch Pinakbet. It is a combination of the Ilocano and Tagalog style of cooking Pinakbet. We create the broth, then, we set it aside. After that, the vegetables were sauted with the wilted ingredients of the broth. The bagoong isda is used to season the broth while the bagoong alamang is sauted with the vegetables. As a final touch, fried Garlic Liempo or Bagnet is added to the dish.

Pinangat/Paksiw

For Pinangat/Paksiw, the ingredients are simple: fish, ginger, garlic, vinegar and green chiles.

The secret is on the vinegar used for the dish

To make it more special deboned milkfish belly can be used.

  

These are just two of the heirloom recipes from Rhian's Kitch. Most of the recipes listed are from the North. However, new recipes from other parts of the country are also being developed and documented. One of those is hubby's version of Adobo. It was good and tasty, but I would like to enhance it by combining it with another recipe which is Bicol Express. We will be calling it the Adobong Bicol Express. :)

Ocean Adventure: Rhian and Pap's School Field Trip

School field trips are already a part of our yearly itinerary. As parents, we have learned to embrace such precious moments in order to show our support and love for our daughter's academic tasks. Aside from that it also a way for us to mingle with her peers at school.

For Rhian's First Grade field trip they went to Ocean Adventure in Subic Bay, Zambales. For this trip, my husband is the best choice as Rhian's companion. Since, I am for a fact clumsy and slow in terms of reactive action in case of emergency situations, I am not confident to accompany her for this trip. However, before the trip I have talked to Raffy regarding patience and understanding in terms of handling Rhian's "kaartehan" during the trip. :)

In preparation, I cooked some liempo for their "baon". It is always a must to have cooked rice and Rhian's favorite “ulam” for any out of town trip. She always gets hungry during the unconventional time of the day. Also, since Rhian is a small girl relative to her age, we always make an effort to feed her and be ready with some munchies every time she gets hungry.

Aside from the food and other travel essentials,  Raffy, my husband was loaded with tons of reminders in handling Rhian. Raffy was also advised on how to negotiate with Rhian in terms of buying toys and souvenirs. My daughter always have a way of showing a sad face and making convincing statement in order to get what she wants from me and Raffy. As her parents for more than 6 years now, we already mastered the art of negotiating and enlightening her in terms of her childlike wants and in teaching her the values behind every decision.

It was the dawn of 27th January 2016 when I woke Rhian and Raffy to prepare for the trip. Days before, I already packed the things that they need and without any difficulty both of them woke up early and prepared for the field trip -- and so the journey begins. 

After a two hour trip from Manila, they arrived at Ocean Adventure. Their first stop is Encounter Cove.

For Rhian to remember the things to learn at Ocean Adventure, my husband took some photos of the pictures about marine animals.

Also the scenic view of the cove is also worth remembering, so he took a lot of those pictures.

Finally, he took a picture of the dolphins, one of the main attractions in Ocean Park. Swimming and up close encounter with dolphins is one of the activities offered by Ocean Park. That activity however, is usually availed by small groups, for large groups like field trips they go for the shows and environmental lessons offered by the park. 

Aside from marine animals they also have some shows about endangered species in the wild. According to my husband, Rhian with her classmates and peers are able to touch the scales of a python.  Here are some of the pictures that hubby have taken during the Walk on the Wild Side show.

  Among the shows in the park their favorite is the Sea Lion Marine Patrol Show. As I watched the video from their trip, I heard tons of giggles for each funny act.

They are also able to tour the park and viewed some marine fishes and creatures in the Ocean Adventure Aquarium.

After the tour they went to shop at Duty Free Philippines. Of course, my daughter and my husband bought some chocolates. They both share the likes for sweet stuff. Aside from that, my daughter was able to convince my husband to buy her some “shark” souvenirs, since she cannot eat ice cream at that time.  Also, since my daughter got fascinated with the balancing eagle she also lured her Papsi to buy her that stuff and an ocean adventure key chain for her bag.

When she got home, she became creative in using the souvenir that she bought; she now uses the "shark" like souvenir to open the faucet and the bathroom light. She also said she can also use it to pick up some stuff that fell under her bed. :)

At the end of the day, as I reviewed the pictures and videos of Rhian and Raffy's school field trip, I saw smiles and heard a lot of giggles (most of it is composed of Rafael's laugh). I am thankful that God had made that day safe and happy for the two people that I dearly love. :)  

:)