Hunger can really juice out a person’s creativity.
I threw a small nachos party some weeks ago. Just around a kilogram of ground beef, one pack of McCormick’s Taco Mix, two packs of nachos (instead of taco shells), chopped onion, grated cheese and shredded lettuce are more than enough to feed five friends who post-celebrated with me for my little house blessing. I also concocted a tuna spaghetti - two large cans of Century Tuna in vegetable oil (one regular and one hot & spicy), sautéed together with chopped white onions and garlic, added with all-purpose cream and small Jolly Cream of Mushroom. After the short chika and festive eating, everybody went home while a lot of food was left. The spaghetti was allocated for my officemates breakfast while the taco beef remained in the ref.
One thing (I cannot say whether it’s good or not) about living alone in a small house is that you really have to have the mood or enough motivation to cook in order to do cook. I cook when there are friends coming over or when I have the energy to cook my food to either help me save a little or to make me feel good for being able to pamper myself. Otherwise, I just eat out or sleep early so that my stomach won't realize that it hadn't taken dinner.
There is this one particular night which I found myself really really hungry because I was so tired from the office. And I need to have a heavy dinner. There is no rice in the ref, just a lot of wilting vegetables in the crisper. I prayed for a ready rice meal (I no longer have the energy to do a like-water-for-chocolate cooking). And viola, the answer is right in from of my eyes! In the second layer of the ref lies the Tupperware which contain the leftover taco beef. And so, the creative juices just started seeping out (I don’t know if that is an effect of my being an R&D Specialist in a food company or that is just induced by the gastric juices being secreted in hundreds of milliliters in my stomach already).
I managed to concoct my very own taco pinakbet (may be also coined as tacobet… hmm, with the very smelly association). It is easy to make a tacobet. You just need the following:
Chopped garlic and onion
Some wilted okra, eggplant, and ampalaya (cut pinakbet-style)
One egg
Leftover taco beef
I sautéed the chopped garlic and onion, added the okra, eggplant, and ampalaya, and then mixed the taco beef until it was heated enough to be palatable. Then just right before taking off from the fire, an egg is beaten and added to the about-to-be-finished tacobet. It was an explosive mix of flavors…. (okay, I was exaggerating! I was hungry, how can I help it?).
So, my dinner consisted of the tacobet plus the nachos galore that was left from the party. (One tip to really preserve leaf vegetables especially lettuce – wash them one by one, dry them completely, wrap in paper or tissue and keep in crisper. It will last for days as long as they do not get wet.) It was such a feast.
Well, that was weeks ago. Tonight, I found myself hungry again and without the energy to cook after some sale shopping (yippee!!!). So I made a dinner from what’s available – strawberry tomato luncheon meat sandwich.
When it comes to cooking or preparing food, your creativity will really ooze out on its own. Well, most likely and especially when you are really hungry. Feast on! J
I threw a small nachos party some weeks ago. Just around a kilogram of ground beef, one pack of McCormick’s Taco Mix, two packs of nachos (instead of taco shells), chopped onion, grated cheese and shredded lettuce are more than enough to feed five friends who post-celebrated with me for my little house blessing. I also concocted a tuna spaghetti - two large cans of Century Tuna in vegetable oil (one regular and one hot & spicy), sautéed together with chopped white onions and garlic, added with all-purpose cream and small Jolly Cream of Mushroom. After the short chika and festive eating, everybody went home while a lot of food was left. The spaghetti was allocated for my officemates breakfast while the taco beef remained in the ref.
One thing (I cannot say whether it’s good or not) about living alone in a small house is that you really have to have the mood or enough motivation to cook in order to do cook. I cook when there are friends coming over or when I have the energy to cook my food to either help me save a little or to make me feel good for being able to pamper myself. Otherwise, I just eat out or sleep early so that my stomach won't realize that it hadn't taken dinner.
There is this one particular night which I found myself really really hungry because I was so tired from the office. And I need to have a heavy dinner. There is no rice in the ref, just a lot of wilting vegetables in the crisper. I prayed for a ready rice meal (I no longer have the energy to do a like-water-for-chocolate cooking). And viola, the answer is right in from of my eyes! In the second layer of the ref lies the Tupperware which contain the leftover taco beef. And so, the creative juices just started seeping out (I don’t know if that is an effect of my being an R&D Specialist in a food company or that is just induced by the gastric juices being secreted in hundreds of milliliters in my stomach already).
I managed to concoct my very own taco pinakbet (may be also coined as tacobet… hmm, with the very smelly association). It is easy to make a tacobet. You just need the following:
Chopped garlic and onion
Some wilted okra, eggplant, and ampalaya (cut pinakbet-style)
One egg
Leftover taco beef
I sautéed the chopped garlic and onion, added the okra, eggplant, and ampalaya, and then mixed the taco beef until it was heated enough to be palatable. Then just right before taking off from the fire, an egg is beaten and added to the about-to-be-finished tacobet. It was an explosive mix of flavors…. (okay, I was exaggerating! I was hungry, how can I help it?).
So, my dinner consisted of the tacobet plus the nachos galore that was left from the party. (One tip to really preserve leaf vegetables especially lettuce – wash them one by one, dry them completely, wrap in paper or tissue and keep in crisper. It will last for days as long as they do not get wet.) It was such a feast.
Well, that was weeks ago. Tonight, I found myself hungry again and without the energy to cook after some sale shopping (yippee!!!). So I made a dinner from what’s available – strawberry tomato luncheon meat sandwich.
When it comes to cooking or preparing food, your creativity will really ooze out on its own. Well, most likely and especially when you are really hungry. Feast on! J
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