Deja Brew

For over a week now, I have been trying the recipes in Delia Hammock’s Lose 10 Pounds in a Month Diet featured in Good Housekeeping. The name of the diet plan prompts one to ask, ‘So, have you lost any pounds yet?’ And that will be beside the point.

The recipes in Ms. Hammock’s diet plan are healthy, quick, easy to prepare and so far, have yet to disappoint my palate. I thought it would be a good idea to share these recipes with everyone.

The first recipe is called Savory Asian Patty. Mix 1 pound ground turkey breast with 8 canned water chestnuts, diced; 2 garlic cloves, minced; 4 green onions, thinly sliced; 1/2 cup unsweetened applesauce; 4 teaspoons soy sauce. Shape mixture into 4 patties. Freeze 3 for later use. In nonstick skillet coated with cooking spray, cook patty over medium heat until thoroughly cooked throughout.

On a personal note, I find that the patty needs more binding ingredients cause the turkey meat and water chestnuts don’t really hold well together. I tried adding just an egg cause I wanted to do away with the carb content in the flour but although the patty would form nicely, it will take extra special care to fry it without breaking it up. So in the end, I added 2 tbsp. flour which was enough to make the patty firm and crispy on the outside while the inside is kept soft and moist.

The patties were served with sides of steamed broccoli florets and rice. The rice preparation that Ms. Hammock suggested has become a favorite of mine and my husband’s and we now have it with almost anything that calls for a side dish. Toss 3/4 cup rice with 1 tsp. soy sauce, 1 tsp. rice wine vinegar and 1/2 tsp. sesame oil. It’s rice with a twist and it goes well with almost anything! For the broccoli florets, I provided some light ranch dressing as dipping sauce.

The second recipe is called Spicy Chicken Ole. On a 12-inch-long sheet of heavy-duty aluminum foil, center a 5-ounce skinless, boneless chicken breast. Top with 3/4 cup canned corn with peppers, 1/4 cup salsa, and 1 tablespoon fresh cilantro (optional). Fold foil into a packet. Bake on cookie sheet at 450 degrees F about 18 minutes.

This is served with Avocado Salad. On lettuce leaves, arrange 1 tangerine, peeled and divided into segments; 1/4 ripe avocado, thinly sliced; 1 slice red onion. Sprinkle with 1 teaspoon lemon juice and 1/2 teaspoon olive oil.

This chicken recipe has become my personal favorite so much that within 2 days of trying it, I have shared it with no less than 10 people. It’s quick and easy, with only a minimal number of ingredients, it’s healthy… what’s not to like? On a personal note, I would suggest putting the cookie sheet on the first tier of the oven closest to the heat to reduce cooking time by 20%. I prepared 3 servings of this chicken with the cookie sheet on the second tier and I had to bake another 9 minutes to cook it thoroughly. Although the recipe says the cilantro is optional, I think it should be a must. There’s a pungency in the cilantro that gives the dish an extra kick and it makes a whole lot of difference. As for the salsa, it’s all a matter of personal preference. I used the mild salsa but I think the recipe allows for you to go as hot as you can manage.

The avocado salad is a perfect counterpoint to the chicken. Where the chicken is spicy, the salad is citrusy. It will be nice if you can find a tangerine that’s more on the sweet side. As for the olive oil, I used the citrus-flavored olive oil to further augment the citrusy flavor.

The third recipe is Savory Stir Fry. In a nonstick skillet coated with cooking spray, lightly brown 3 ounces beef strips over medium-high heat. Add 1 1/2 cups frozen stir-fry vegetables and 1 tablespoon bottled stir-fry sauce. Cover and cook over low heat until the vegetables are tender-crisp. Drizzle with 1/2 teaspoon Asian sesame oil.

First off, this meal is served over rice as topping. And remember what I told you about the rice preparation I learned with the first recipe, where I tossed it with some soy sauce, rice wine vinegar and sesame oil? This veggie recipe goes so well with it too!

So anyway, there’s a couple of changes I made. For instance, the recipe calls for 3 ounces of beef strips. Well I don’t eat red meat anymore so I switched chicken breast for the beef. I know it would have given off a different flavor had I used beef but well, the whole point of the meal is that it’s healthy, right? Also, the ‘frozen stir-fry vegetables’ didn’t sit quite well with me. I only have to see ‘frozen’ and I’m already tasting the salt in it. Remember, anything that’s preserved for longer than it’s supposed to last has got to be sodden with sodium. There are stir-fry veggies prepared for fresh use and with expiration dates I can live with. That’s what I used.

So there you have it, 3 dinner recipes that are quick, easy, healthy and absolutely no-fuss.

Bon appetit!

The climate at work… my climate at work… is getting progressively tumultuous and I am not even sure I have hit rock bottom. I would have preferred to know that I have hit rock bottom because then I know there would be no way to go for me thereafter but up. As it goes, I know I am not there yet, and these days are pure agony. At any rate, I can’t talk about the details in the internet, of course. Suffice it to say that if I ever pictured myself staying on in this job for years on end, that picture is slowly becoming dim and getting more so.

It wasn’t an easy start for me. A manager who interviewed me on one of my many job hunts summarized it quite adequately in saying that I was in a worse position than that of a new graduate’s. Where we might both lack the experience, the new grad’s body of nursing knowledge would be more relevant than mine by 15 years. Of course it was true, and yet I could not accept it. So much was at stake at that time, not the least of which was life and death. So I fought against what seemed to be my fate and won. Somebody gave me a break.

That was 4 years ago and I am still on the same job. By now, with the regular course of events, it should come easy for me with familiarity and practice. Unfortunately, it doesn’t. I don’t know. I have had a lot of help. I should give credit to that and acknowledge it. Still, whatever I am able to do now does not give me enough comfort that I can do it joyfully, truth be told. And you know what they always say about not being happy with what you do…

I’ve held on because of the dictates of economics. There are people besides myself that are being helped a lot by what I do here and these are people I love to bits… people I will die for. But all of that is changing now, fortunately. Sons and daughters are growing up and finishing school and making way for themselves and helping out in turn. Siblings are getting themselves better equipped and will eventually be able to consider better options. After an initial period of having to taste and experience absolutely everything new, my husband and I have settled to a life of mild frugality such that having to do without does not translate to deprivation anymore. It’s now just the practice of being plain smart.

On the question of whether we’re going to sink or swim if I should choose to take a vote for happiness and over-all well-being, I know now that if we all pull our resources together, we have better buoyancy today than we ever had in the past. It will most probably be difficult at first, but I also believe that it takes a whole lot of trying before anybody is reduced to giving up, and sometimes not even. Sometimes it takes a whole lot of courage to walk away. When the time comes, I wonder if I will be brave enough.

Papa Jay and I were having lunch yesterday at our favorite Vietnamese place and I was pouring my heart out to him about work. He said, after my car is paid up and it will be in 6 months, and I feel that I would really, really want to leave still, it’s alright. He’ll pick up the tab until I find something that will make me happier.

I asked him, ‘But what about the mortgage?’

He said, ‘It’s just a house. If we’re not happy, it’s not a home. I want a home.’

I’ve been such a foodie lately. On my DVR are back episodes of Barefoot Contessa, Iron Chef America and Hell’s Kitchen. Mealtimes at home would be accompanied by the TV, of course, and if nothing else is on our DVR, our default station would be The Food Channel. We even made a pact with our neighbors, Vivien and Cris, to scout for new restaurants and try at least one a month. Since December, we’ve discovered/tried Asian Tapas, Capital Seafood Restaurant, Furiwa Chinese Restaurant, 85 Degrees Bakery and the latest, The Marrakesh in Costa Mesa.

Lately, we have also been entertaining more, and because of this, I have been cooking more. Unfortunately, cooking and eating for me are definitely in direct proportion to each other. Ergo, the more I cook, the more I eat. And my endocrinologist is not very happy about that. He wants me to lose the fast carbs. He wants me to lose the red meat. He wants me to lose the weight.

I am not a difficult patient. I’m a nurse, for pete’s sake! Still, I need to work in my kitchen every now and then. And that shouldn’t be a problem, so long as I whip up all the healthy stuff. We’re talking vegetables. We’re talking soups and salads. We’re talking poultry and fish. My cookbook collection is a growing library. And much as I tried to exercise control on my diet, I am still growing alongside it. I do need help in all shape, size and orientation.

My good friend, Ree, to the rescue. A couple of weeks ago, he sent me a link to a diet plan featured in Good Housekeeping that’s slated to help one lose 10 lbs. a month. The menu covers daily 3-meal plans for a whole week and even includes healthy suggestions for sweet, spicy and savory cravings. He swears by it and says he has been, indeed, losing the weight.

So last night I decided to give it a try. I chose 2 dishes, a salad and a fish, which looked simple enough. It was like divine intervention as I was looking at the fish recipe when I found every single spice stocked up in my pantry and for the salad, with every alternative vinegar dressing aging in my refrigerator. I only had a few items to pick up at our local grocers, put everything together within an easy 30 minutes and voila!… it was spinach and salmon night!

Spinach Salad

Top 3 to 4 cups baby spinach leaves with 1 hard-cooked egg, chopped; 2 strips cooked bacon, crumbled; 5 mushrooms, thinly sliced; 1/3 cup croutons; 1/4 cup crumbled feta cheese; 3 slices red onion. Toss ingredients together, then drizzle with a flavored vinegar, such as red wine, balsamic or seasoned rice vinegar.

Chili-Rubbed Spicy Salmon

Coat 5-ounce salmon fillet with a mixture of 1 teaspoon chili powder, 1/2 teaspoon ground cumin, 1/4 teaspoon red pepper, and 1/8 teaspoon salt. Spray with cooking spray. In nonstick skillet over medium heat, cook until opaque, turning once.

True to my no-red meat diet, I replaced the bacon in the salad with turkey bacon, 95% fat free by Jennie-O. The crumbled Feta cheese is also fat-free. And this time, we used the red wine vinegar for the salad and I can’t wait to try it with the balsamic. I must admit though that I am not so hot with the rice wine vinegar. I think it would be too mild to put in a salad. And for eating such a healthy dinner, I rewarded ourselves with a cup of Jello for dessert… peach flavored, sugar free.

It was so filling without the heaviness of a carb-heavy meal. A note of caution on each dish, however. For the salad, don’t make the mistake of thinking it’s a small salad that you can have all by yourself just because there’s such small portions for each ingredient. Put together, I think it can serve 2. Not that it’s too filling but you’ll get worn out from all that munching, I tell you! And for the salmon, do pay attention to how it’s called… it’s chili-rubbed spicy and it’s not kidding either. It is not for the faint of palate. But if you are able to get past the initial shock, and if you cook the salmon just so that it doesn’t dry up, it’s molto squisito!

Bon appetit!

Mec did this for us. Now all the Berks have it in their blogs! Friends are such great treasures to have, don’t you think?

old friends sat on their park bench like bookends,
a newspaper blown through the grass
falls on the round toes of the old shoes of the old friends
old friends, winter companions
the old men lost in their overcoats,
waiting for the sunset
the sounds of the city sifting through trees
settle like dust on the shoulders of the old friends
~Paul Simon

Last weekend was my birthday weekend. Papa and I spent it quietly, soberly at last, after all the wining and dining of the past several weeks. We had a nice Japanese dinner, saw a film afterwards and went to bed.

The following morning, we were up early for our own individual itineraries… Papa to a golf tournament with his old buddy, Mon, and me off shopping… with Mon’s wife, Marlene, a girlfriend from long ago, and one with whom I haven’t spent times like this with in a long, long while.

We used to be together all the time, back in the Philippines. We’d shop like this together, celebrate our husband’s birthdays together, go out of town or just hang out. We even learned to play tennis together… or more accurately, she played and I ambled or stumbled along, whatever the situation called for.

And then things got difficult in our own individual lives and as these things go, we got too busy. And then we moved to Singapore and she and Mon moved to LA. When we moved to Southern California, she had to move back to the Philippines.

But all’s well that ends well. We’re both here now. Life is a little easier. And although we can get really busy with jobs and life, we’re able to have these moments. Old girlfriends… they’re the ones who will know you before you’ve become all polished and cleaned up, they’ve seen your snot, they know you inside and out… and will still call you by name.

I haven’t realized how much I’ve missed being with an old girlfriend… until now.

Marble # 1766

In the summer of 2005, we arrived in Southern California with 13 bags in tow and 13 boxes to follow in the next couple of weeks. Unlike some migrants, we weren’t worried because a month ahead, Ceci has mailed to us the key to her house.
Nicely packed in our rental, Papa maneuvred the dark, wet streets of Orange County (and they say it never rains in Southern California) easily, thankfully, and we found Ceci’s house ready for us and all to ourselves.
The room where we were going to sleep was done in full Ceci regalia… with fresh soft sheets, a rosebud in between the pillows, towels neatly folded by the foot of the bed and with soap and shampoo to boot! I can almost imagine her giving the room a once around, then picking up her bags and setting off to somewhere for a business trip.
The following morning, she called us and said, ‘Mi casa es su casa.’
We managed to find an apartment a week after Ceci came back from her trip. And she was ready even for that… with china, sheets, even a mattress… everything to tide us over until we got down to our bearings.
Come December, she took us home to her parents’ house for Christmas dinner. And come every holiday after that, we were never left in want for a family to celebrate them with.
Last Saturday, we had a wonderful night at the Abildrens’ to celebrate a lot of blessings… Christmas, the new year, Trine’s birthday, my birthday and Ceci. She is moving to a new place in the sun, to a new life, to a new love, to new beginnings.
Whenever I think of her, I believe again that there are angels. She will always be in my heart.
Marble # 1767