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After more than two weeks, the novelty of partying and being a hardcore bum is beginning to wear off. To alleviate the summer boredom, I decided to take it upon myself to learn how to cook my favorite dishes. I begun my domestication project yesterday when, out of nowhere, I suddenly had this strong craving for some carbonara. With no cookbook and only my instincts to guide me, I was able to whip up the perfect carbonara sauce. Not too creamy, not too salty, not too bland, and just the right amount of herbs. I was very pleased.

Tonight I attempted to make one of my favorite Filipino dishes–beef sinigang, with a little pork. Sinigang is a sour, tamarind-based soup with meat and a variety of vegetables such as kangkong (the green leafy things in the picture), chopped tomatoes, siling labuyo (a native kind of pepper), and maybe some okra. I like mine very sour and slightly spicy and for some reason, the household help couldn’t quite make the kind of sinigang that I like. My goal tonight was to figure out how to make the perfect beef sinigang from scratch, with absolutely no MSG.

Unfortunately I made my decision to cook sinigang at the last minute, thinking I could just go to the grocery and pick up fresh sampalok (tamarind buds). What I didn’t know was that supermarkets don’t carry sampalok; I’d have to go to the wet market for that. The household help was able to acquire a few buds from a nearby store, but it was far from enough. I resigned myself to an unhealthy meal and tossed in three Knorr tamarind broth cubes.

Again, I didn’t use a recipe and was only guided by my sense of taste and the instructions of the household help. The concoction I ultimately came up with was indeed quite sour; I had more than one serving and my parents seem to have enjoyed it. Still, it wasn’t the kind of sinigang that makes my tastebuds orgasm. I’m a little bit disappointed, but I suppose it takes a couple of tries in order to develop the perfect recipe. Perhaps I’ll try it again in a few weeks.

More on sinigang
Wikipedia entry on sinigang

Taken out of context, I don’t think this restaurant would last a month:

I took this picture yesterday while I was at the Gateway Mall food court with Pat. I haven’t had the chance to check out the food they were selling, but I’m pretty sure they don’t serve people. Literally. ;p Negros is a province in the Visayas region of the Philippines, so I can only assume that they sell delicacies and dishes that are native to the area.

Still, Flavors of Negros has to be the most hilarious restaurant name I have ever come across. I wonder if the owner intended for the name to be so blatantly politically incorrect. But in any case, it’s working. The next time we happen to be at Gateway, I think I’ll persuade Pat to try out various Negros flavors with me.

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