tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-52408963192943337802024-03-13T21:50:36.143-05:00Tangled NoodleIn Search of the Why of ChowTangled Noodlehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17543997083087131116noreply@blogger.comBlogger143125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5240896319294333780.post-35962136286922256672013-06-05T08:21:00.001-05:002013-06-05T08:21:14.845-05:00From Bayan to Bayou: A Filipino-Louisianan Connection
Creamy Cajun Shrimp Enchilada
[Disclosure: I received the following product samples free of charge. I was not required to write a post and was not compensated in any way in exchange for this post.]
It's unlikely that Pinoy entrepreneur Stan Laeno intended to become a conduit between this inquisitive blogger and an obscure bit of Filipino-American history when he created a special Tangled Noodlehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17543997083087131116noreply@blogger.com6tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5240896319294333780.post-785623727564719952013-03-28T11:50:00.000-05:002013-04-26T10:02:44.116-05:00Nifty by Nature: Food Packaging in the Philippines
Deforestation or urban landfill?
I always hear this lesser-of-two-evils subtext when asked at the checkout line if I prefer paper or plastic bags to carry home my groceries. And yet, it's not even a whisper when I admire a pretty package of pastries, knowing that the box will soon be crumpled in the bin, or accept my restaurant leftovers in yet another plastic container to add to the dozensTangled Noodlehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17543997083087131116noreply@blogger.com6tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5240896319294333780.post-32214142735443432712012-11-21T05:00:00.000-06:002012-11-21T05:05:04.502-06:00Off the Turkey Path: Panch Phoran Roasted Chicken
I spotted frozen Butterball turkeys at our supermarket and only the fact that my oven is just a glorified toaster kept me from hauling one home for Thanksgiving. Instead, as Mr. Noodle and I give thanks on this holiday for the many blessings in our lives, we'll recall with fond nostalgia the many enormous roasted poultry of bygone feasts.
Remembrances of Turkeys Past
Wild Turkey
Tangled Noodlehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17543997083087131116noreply@blogger.com7tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5240896319294333780.post-63871055275890264232012-11-01T08:30:00.000-05:002012-11-01T19:21:22.558-05:00The Invalid's Breakfast: Ginger-Scented Brown Rice Porridge
How easy is it to make oatmeal?
If you can boil water, you can make it. Heck, if you can tear open a pouch, pour the contents into a bowl, mix it with water and pop it into a microwave oven, you'll quickly have some creamy cooked oats. The only thing difficult about making oatmeal is imagining how someone could possibly make a hash of it. Until someone does.
Please, Sir, I [Don't] Want Tangled Noodlehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17543997083087131116noreply@blogger.com9tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5240896319294333780.post-8693925544190065402012-09-14T09:25:00.000-05:002012-09-29T10:24:11.798-05:00'Tis the Season: Christmas in September and a Casserole
It was still only a skeleton of metal hoops and poles, but the cone shape was unmistakable. The mall Christmas tree was going up... in September.
This will be our fourth Yuletide in the Philippines, but Mr. Noodle and I are still surprised when festive decorations start popping up so early in the year like mushrooms after a spring rain. It's not far off the mark: Christmas and its Tangled Noodlehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17543997083087131116noreply@blogger.com3tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5240896319294333780.post-58136856925314827612012-08-29T10:35:00.000-05:002012-08-30T01:02:13.395-05:00Off the Shelf: Hometown Appetites
Clementine Paddleford is not a name you'll often hear and that's a crying shame.
The woman to whom this singular moniker belonged did as much for food journalism as M.F.K. Fisher, James Beard, Craig Claiborne and Elizabeth Craig, and yet she remains in relative obscurity compared to her famous contemporaries, despite being declared the 'Best-Known Food Editor' by Time magazine in 1953 and Tangled Noodlehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17543997083087131116noreply@blogger.com3tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5240896319294333780.post-87567622036853974232012-07-26T02:53:00.000-05:002012-08-24T23:21:53.825-05:00Unstuck: Template and Palate Revived
Bang Bang Chicken
I finally managed to pull myself out of a rut.
Actually, it was two ruts, when the first instance occurred with such force that it created momentum for a second.
It began nearly 5 months ago with a dégustation at Sichuan Cuisine Da Ping Huo, one of the better known of Hong Kong's 'private kitchens' - amorphous limited-seating restaurants in all but name and official Tangled Noodlehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17543997083087131116noreply@blogger.com7tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5240896319294333780.post-4342241776475260862012-07-23T00:05:00.000-05:002012-07-23T00:19:57.134-05:00Return of the Blog
White Chocolate Cashew Cookies
Hello?
[Sweeps away cobwebs and thick layer of dust.]
Anyone still here?
[Pauses, listening for a reply.]
So sorry for taking off like that...
[Wobbles from percussive echo of sheer emptiness.]
It's just that I've been a bit busy, writing for magazines and stuff. Woo-hoo...
[Crickets...]
So, now I'm back and planning to post new content very Tangled Noodlehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17543997083087131116noreply@blogger.com13tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5240896319294333780.post-6707709355675633982012-04-26T06:30:00.000-05:002012-04-28T04:25:12.021-05:00House Specialty: Chicken Ovary Adobo
Adobong Bahay Itlog ng Manok
Cow's tongue and beef tripe? Yes and yes.
Pig's face, intestines and blood? Mm-hmm, uh-huh and yup.
Chicken feet, gizzards and ovaries? Check, check and triple che-- say what?
I am not put off by offal. In fact, some of my favorite meals are made of 'nasty bits': I love lengua (tongue) in tacos and estofado (Sp. 'stew'), while tripe is tops in callos a la Tangled Noodlehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17543997083087131116noreply@blogger.com17tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5240896319294333780.post-17314035969837068682012-04-03T10:43:00.002-05:002012-04-03T10:43:52.823-05:00Lamb, Lentils and Moriones: Easter in Marinduque
Braised Lamb Shank with Lentils
It's no Easter Parade.
At the stroke of midnight, Mr. Noodle and I will join the annual paschal exodus from Metro Manila to the outlying provinces, beginning with 2-hour drive to the port Lucena in Quezon province. From there, we'll board a ferry, colloquially known as a RoRo (as in, 'roll on, roll off') for a relatively short cruise to the island province of Tangled Noodlehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17543997083087131116noreply@blogger.com6tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5240896319294333780.post-71057026324685396852012-03-08T10:25:00.000-06:002012-03-08T10:25:15.420-06:00What Would Batman Eat?
Dark Chocolate Soufflé
This was a challenge unlike any I have faced as a food blogger.
To celebrate the Manila visit of David Finch, writer and artist of DC Comics' Batman: The Dark Knight series, bookstore chain Fully Booked threw down the gauntlet and asked local bloggers to write about their connection to the iconic illustrated hero. Though more familiar with the television and film Tangled Noodlehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17543997083087131116noreply@blogger.com12tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5240896319294333780.post-74827122196551978012012-03-03T04:00:00.000-06:002012-03-03T04:57:58.767-06:00Will Work with Food: The Business of Feeding Filipinos
French-toasted Monay with Ube Sorbetes
Food is serious business here in the Philippines.
In a country where the official minimum daily wage rate in the National Capital Region (NCR, aka Metro Manila) is 426 pesos - or roughly 10 US dollars - and even lower in the provinces, Filipinos from all walks of life look for other opportunities to earn additional income. For many, food is the key to Tangled Noodlehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17543997083087131116noreply@blogger.com6tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5240896319294333780.post-34454204533160202862012-01-29T23:40:00.000-06:002012-01-29T23:40:02.214-06:00The Full Montadito: Topped Up Tapas
Tres Montaditos de Tangled
"Man does not live on bread alone." (Deuteronomy 8:3)
You can't argue with the Old Testament, which is why this woman knows well enough to pile on other good stuff, too.
Bread is inarguably a universal food found in nearly all parts of the world. If not made from grains such as wheat, rye, spelt, oatmeal and corn, then tubers like potato and cassava provide theTangled Noodlehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17543997083087131116noreply@blogger.com12tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5240896319294333780.post-48050155546984186382012-01-02T11:30:00.000-06:002012-01-02T11:30:13.095-06:00'12 by the Dozen: New Year Eggs
Olive Oil-Poached Egg
"Ex ovo omnia" (Everything from an egg)
-- William Harvey (1578-1657)
All I got for Christmas was a dozen eggs.
Well, I did get a bit more than just eggs and nearly all of them were also food or drink-related: a jar of fudgy chocolate crinkle cookies; a llanera (oval mould) of the creamiest, smoothest leche flan; and several bags of Filipino-grown Tangled Noodlehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17543997083087131116noreply@blogger.com14tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5240896319294333780.post-44990646259662061212011-12-10T11:30:00.000-06:002011-12-12T00:47:49.850-06:00Off the Shelf: Okashi by Keiko Ishida
Chocolate Almond Cookies
Creatures of nature do not need a glossy calendar to tell them what time of year it is: Subtle changes in temperature, the positions of sun and moon, and pure animal instinct all serve as natural cues to the changing seasons and signal the start of primal behavior, especially during winter.
Birds fly south. Bears hibernate. Squirrels hoard nuts. Noodles bake.
Tangled Noodlehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17543997083087131116noreply@blogger.com14tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5240896319294333780.post-60352988034097253732011-11-20T02:43:00.001-06:002011-11-21T19:01:07.077-06:00Luntiang Lunes: Filipino Meatless Mondays
Alugbati at Tokwa (Malabar Spinach & Tofu)
Vegetables and I were not always friends.
As a child, I disliked anything that might remotely be considered produce. Of course, this was decades before the recent pizza-as-vegetable brouhaha, which would have been a game-changer, and the subsequent debate about what constitutes a 'vegetable'. Back then, anything that wasn't a hamburger or Tangled Noodlehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17543997083087131116noreply@blogger.com14tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5240896319294333780.post-12559290154098732212011-10-26T04:45:00.000-05:002011-10-26T07:34:22.140-05:00Starstruck: A Michelin Meal in Mongkok
Red Clover in Honeyed Gulaman
Perdue: "Let us make this easier. Suppose you get a reservation. And let us suppose you come down to the restaurant and we honor it. What do you think you might order?'
Harris: "Well, um, I might like to have the duck."
Chef: "He can't have the duck."
Perdue: "You can't have the duck."
Harris: "Why?"&Tangled Noodlehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17543997083087131116noreply@blogger.com19tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5240896319294333780.post-59035224910572584812011-10-17T02:10:00.002-05:002011-10-17T02:10:53.032-05:00Menudo Monday: A Guest Post
Monday Menudo
Monday is rough.
It's the morning when we're jolted awake by a blaring alarm rather than gentle sunlight. It's the day when we drag ourselves back to the nitty-gritty of the workweek, trying hard to concentrate while the buzz of a fun weekend lingers teasingly in immediate memory. And it's the night when we realize there's still another four such days to trudge through, until Tangled Noodlehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17543997083087131116noreply@blogger.com12Makati City, Philippines14.554729 121.024445214.523991 120.9849632 14.585467 121.06392720000001tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5240896319294333780.post-9750285938407925692011-08-21T09:45:00.002-05:002011-08-21T10:34:53.625-05:00Of Freudian Tweets and Doughnut Plants
A doughnut plant
Several years ago, I was working at a university library during a hectic midterm week. Faced with long lines of impatient, stressed-out students, I went into full autopilot mode, checking out books, searching the database and generally hustling each patron along with a firm, "These are due on..." before turning back to the queue with a crisp, "May I help the next person?" Tangled Noodlehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17543997083087131116noreply@blogger.com20tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5240896319294333780.post-20208735685442428762011-07-18T11:55:00.001-05:002011-07-18T12:00:47.601-05:00Fragile History and the Art of Pabalat
Candy wrapper art: Pabalat ng Pastillas de Leche
Not long ago, I read with great interest an article about Tukluhan, an obscure festival unique to the village of Santa Cruz in Marinduque Province, which takes place every May 15th on the feast day of San Isidro de Labrador (the Laborer), patron saint of farmers. The central event is a religious procession for which residents decorate fences, Tangled Noodlehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17543997083087131116noreply@blogger.com21tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5240896319294333780.post-28168437968995579512011-07-03T12:05:00.001-05:002011-07-03T19:52:49.444-05:00Starry, Starry Bento: A Twitter Challenge
Tangled Bento
"Twinkle, twinkle, little star,How I wonder what you are."
The answer to this innocent musing depends on one's preference: warmly sentimental or coolly factual.
On the warm and fuzzy side, a star is something we wish upon, thank for our good fortune and observe intently in hopes that our fates are revealed in its movement. Stars represent secret dreams, auspicious destinies and Tangled Noodlehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17543997083087131116noreply@blogger.com26tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5240896319294333780.post-63397804488066862772011-06-08T22:15:00.002-05:002011-08-05T09:49:47.431-05:00Sugar Pills: Pastillas de Leche
Cup of sugar: Pastillas de Leche à la Mila
*Update: Read about the special paper-cutting art of pabalat, decorative candy wrappers for pastillas de leche here.*
"Just a spoonful of sugar makes the medicine go down,In a most delightful way."--From 'A Spoonful of Sugar' in Mary Poppins,Music & lyrics by Robert M. Sherman and Richard M. Sherman
Long before it was enshrined in saccharine song Tangled Noodlehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17543997083087131116noreply@blogger.com30tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5240896319294333780.post-83003669712383075332011-05-31T23:59:00.007-05:002011-06-01T08:47:35.570-05:00There's Always Room for Cake
Banana-Mango Yogurt Cake
Let sleeping dogs lie - or in this case, dormant blogs. Sage bit of advice though it is, I'm about to completely ignore it.
It's been quiet hereabouts for the past six weeks and for no reason other than I've had nothing terribly interesting to offer. When I started this blog, I resolved never to toss out some random scrap of a post for the sake of filling a blank Tangled Noodlehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17543997083087131116noreply@blogger.com29tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5240896319294333780.post-44985017900538443172011-04-17T00:19:00.001-05:002011-04-17T02:30:48.105-05:00An International Incident: Cake Pups
A Pack of Cake Pups
"Serve food and it's a meal; serve cake and it's a party." -- TN
After my most recent posts featuring two rice recipes in a row, a long exposition on milking a giant seed, and an attempt at de-freaking balut, it was high time I offered up some sweet simplicity. An opportunity to do just that came in the form of a standing invitation to the monthly International Incident, Tangled Noodlehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17543997083087131116noreply@blogger.com33tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5240896319294333780.post-87053946119376549822011-04-01T07:35:00.000-05:002011-04-01T07:35:09.432-05:00How to Milk a Coconut: A TaytoRiCo Challenge
Purple Rice, Sweet Potato & Shrimps in Coconut Sauce
You say potato, I say . . . how about adding some rice and coconut?
That was pretty much the gist of the Twitter exchanges between an award-winning Irish Spud (@DailySpud), a video-creating Online Pastry Chef (@jmfield) and this rice-loving Noodle (@TangledNoodle), which gave rise to the Great #TaytoRiCo Challenge of 2011. The task: to Tangled Noodlehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17543997083087131116noreply@blogger.com32