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Living in the tropics, you get the usual monsoon rains, but last month the Philippines have been battered by 3 raging storms Ketsana, Parma, and Lupit (in the Philippines their names are Bagyong Ondoy, Bagyong Pepeng and Bagyong Ramil respectively). The Philippines especially the people in the island of Luzon is still reeling from these storms. Everyone is trying their best to get back on their feet again, and help each other.

This is a video of how the first storm hit our place, at 3:26 of this video, you will see the damage done near our place in Pasig. We live real close to Marikina City and our place was waist to chest deep in flood water.

We maybe badly hit by the storm, but everything seems so much better with some hot soup or “sopas” as we call it here. Working on what few ingredients I have in my pantry, I made this milky soup that my aunt and cousin from Montalban (who were neck-deep in flood when Ketsana arrived) shared together, as we exchanged stories of what happened when the flood rose. This is a one-pot soup I learned to make while watching my mom in the kitchen.

Simple Sopas

250 g. Macaroni Noodles

2 tbsp butter

2 medium-sized Onions, minced

2 cloves garlic, minced

125 g ground pork

1 cup leftover chicken, shredded

1 cup vienna sausages, sliced

1/2 cup milk

1 liter of water

2 pcs. chicken bouillon cube

1 tablespoon habanero sauce (optional)

salt and pepper to taste

Procedure:

1. In a big casserole, saute onions and garlic in butter. Add the ground pork and allow the meat to brown a little. (I usually add in a dash of pepper here because I love how it smells)

2. When the meat is all done, add in the vienna sausage and chicken, and stir a little. Turn down the heat and try to remove some fat rendered by the ground pork. Add in the milk and stir. Then add in the water. Give a little stir, and then turn the heat up. We need this to start boiling so we could add in the macaroni noodles. (Sometimes I cook the noodles ahead of time, and set them aside so I can add them later, but I had only had this one pot to use and the relatives were coming so I had to do this quick)

3. When the soup is boiling, add the macaroni noodles and stir occasionally to prevent them from sticking to the bottom of the pot. Add the chicken bouillon cubes. and habanero sauce (optional) Let it boil for 5 minutes then turn the heat down and cover the casserole. You can add in more water if you want. Season with salt or pepper.

4. When the noodles are cooked, you can start serving.

This would be even better if you could add in some carrots, celery, and red & green bell peppers. But we had none at that time, so we had to make do of what we have.

Eating this soup, and talking about what happened was really comforting. The warmth in my muddied kitchen, the conversation and smell of the soup in the air, and knowing your tummy is all warm and full really makes you feel that everything will be okay. We braved the pouring rain to go to mass later that evening. I prayed to give thanks, to pray for those who suffered like us, and also prayed for strength that our country can overcome all these trials.

There are different ways you can make soup. And here are some of them courtesy of Foodista.

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Many Filipinos still need help right now. Please if you can, send a little love to all these displaced families. You can send the donations to Worldvision foundation. Manuel L. Quezon III is a celebrity advocate for Worldvision. I trust him esp. since he is related to my former boss Sir Nolo Quezon-Avancena. Let me just quote what he said about Worldvision Foundation:

I can vouch in behalf of Worldvision that donations that are made listed for the Relief Operation Fund will go to the typhoon victims. Please remember too include this note in your donation.  All monetary donations must be accounted for in order for it to be used immediately and for the purpose it was made.  Unaccounted donations will float in the account unused for 6 months so please indicate all cash donations for the Relief Operation Fund.

DONATIONS TO WORLDVISION DEVELOPMENT FOUNDATION INC.

Donations in kind are welcome & can be sent directly (door-to-door) to their Quezon City Headquarters in

WORLDVISION DEVELOPMENT FOUNDATION
c/o David Liban
389 Quezon Avenue corner West 6th Street,
Diliman, Quezon City Philippines

Please send an email to wv_phil@wvi.org or call +632 3727777 to inform them about this donation including all the details of the shipment and you will receive a letter of acceptance will be given as well as proper coordination.

Worldvision will make an inventory of the donations and coordinate directly with the DSWD for declaration as well with the local government units (LGU) for distribution.

Those abroad who wish to send in monetary donations to this organization are also encouraged in order to avoid the hassle of shipping.  This is a Christian, private and credible organization that uses up only 6-8% of annual financial contributions for administration expense while the rest goes to beneficiaries.

To know more about Worldvision Dev’t Foundation, you may check out their website.

For monetary donations made through bank deposit, instructions are listed on this page.

For online donations to Worldvision, click here for the online form.

I looked at the calendar today and was confused…what the…its July already?

OMG, just 5 more months and it will be Christmas! Five months!!! Christmas in Five Months!

Okay, calm down, half a year has passed, and I still haven’t done anything exciting for myself…*sigh* now I’m depressed. When I’m depressed i think of food…food makes me happy…think happy thoughts…think food!

Now these babies would be perfect for the fourth of July…some good ole barbecue ribs

If there was a salad that I love eating it’s this when I was pregnant with Gabby, I had this for breakfast, lunch, and dinner

It’s not food, but these hot humid nights make me want to drink gallons and gallons of this

These wouldnt hurt too

Nom nom nom…happy thoughts

Do you like potatoes? Me, I LOVE them! Love em deep fried, baked, boiled, mashed, roasted, stuffed…i just love em! My earliest memories of them was when my Mom took me to the market and asked me to fill the lady’s little basket with these wonderful, lumpy, soil-covered potatoes. I thought they were rocks back then, but when my mom washed and peeled them, and I saw their lovely yellow color…I fell in love. I remember digging through our backyard afterwards hoping to find these “rocks”.

As I got older, I tried different ways of making potatoes. But I usually just baked ‘em and add a little salt, butter, and pepper. But there are some recipes that I absolutely love and if you have time, I hope you can try them out too. Here are some of my fave potato recipes from Foodista.

You can never have too much potatoes

Have you heard the latest buzz on Foodista?

My fave wiki on food now has an angel on it’s shoulder…an Amazon angel!

Amazon.com is now one of the angel investors of Foodista.com investing about $550,000 together with other local Seattle investors.

Foodista.com officially launched last December 17, 2008. Just four months old, Foodista has captured the attention of the food blogger community and is even hosting the International Food Blogger Conference this coming May! How cool is that?

Foodista owes it’s growth to the contribution of the food community to it’s site. Most of the information on Foodista is based on contributions from food bloggers, chef’s, culinary students, moms, dad’s, and teenagers who love to cook and love to write about it. I’ve always admired their vision for this site, and I’m glad that things are looking sunny for these guys in Seattle.

I’d love for you to read the full article on TechCrunch by Erick Schonfeld – Foodista Raises $550,000 From Amazon And Other Angels

I’ve never heard of anything like this before. This is so awesome that I just had to share it with you guys.

Most of you probably know that I’m a loyal Foodista fan. My husband can attest that my cooking skills have improved because of the things I’ve learned over at Foodista (and reading the different foodblogs from the Foodista community).

Now about two weeks ago, my friends over at Foodista announced the international food blogger conference, and boy was I excited!

I love attending conferences. I love meeting new people, love the food, the activities, the freebies…it’s a great opportunity for networking and learning. Now a food blogger conference…that is just AMAZING!

The event brings together chef’s, publishers, internet gurus, and celebrity food bloggers! You can find the link to the AGENDA here.

What are you waiting for? This is an event you wouldn’t want to miss.

PS

If you’re buying tickets, just remember the discount code is halibut

The weekend is almost here and I’ve been looking inside our fridge to make a list of things to buy at the market. Lo and behold! I see some leftover ingredients here! A lonely carrot, some celery, a cup of milk, and an odd looking veggie here and there, you run out of ideas sometimes on what to do with them.

This is where  comes in handy!

Just go over at Foodista.com, type in the ingredient you have in the house, click search, and in a few seconds they will show you all the recipes that they have that includes this ingredient!

So, what am I going to do with my leftover carrot and celery?

I’m making a delicious carrot salad with them!

Carrot salad by psd from Flickr

Yummy!

This is just so awesome!

The creative team of Foodista has come up with a way for recipe lovers and contributors to personalize their recipes! Yay! this means that YOU have the choice if the recipe you submitted can be changed or modified by other people.

When you submit or share a recipe, you canselect this entry as a public recipe (where everyone can edit) or personal recipe (where only you can edit). To know more about it, do visit Foodsita here. You can also know more about the projects in store for Foodista through this link