FAMILIAR FLAVORS IN AN UNFAMILIAR PLATE.

I'm not a food critic but I do love me some good food. In fact, when John and I first started going out, it's like we discovered a whole new way to appreciate food. Probably because food just gets better when you're sharing it with someone you love (Ooops! Cheesy! But oh so true!). Being so near our beloved city of Philadelphia, we have great access to a number of neighborhood restaurants from hip and new, to more subdued and unassuming places. With this, let me tell you about our most recent dining experience and I must say, one that truly blew me away-- PELAGO POP UP KITCHEN (This one was done at NOORD)!

I'm gonna seem biased because the chef that whipped up these amazing dishes is family, Chef Lou Boquila (together with his partners, Jillian Encarnacion, Resa Mueller and Neal Santos), but I know good food and all that I've tasted that night were good food. They offered what Philly was missing, Filipino Cuisine, and not your mom's cooking (which I'm sure is great too!) but something totally bold and new. The price was not bad either, $45 for four courses that also included a special cocktail mixed up by one of the partners, Resa Mueller.

            Cocktial                                1st Course                               2nd Course                          3rd Course                             The best course!

I still know a lot of skeptics about the innovation of Filipino food, but really, every culture, every cuisine has something to offer and there's nothing wrong with offering that in a different package. All courses stayed true to the flavors that is present in every Filipino kitchen. It was a complete out-of-the-box experience for someone who was born and who grew up in the Philippines, but I was utterly surprised by how well and how far this cuisine I love could go.

     

And oh, don't forget, what I said earlier, good food becomes great when shared with amazing people! I hope you all get to try these dishes someday!

BOY MEETS GIRL.

When John and I moved in to our new home we just couldn't decide what style we're exactly going for. I wanted to go totally feminine with a hint of vintage and he wanted to go rustic. We went with our instincts with filling up the house and we somehow ended with defined spaces. The living/receiving area of our home was feminine with a hint of vintage, while our tv area ended up with the industrial rustic look. Two totally different looks!

And then our bedroom...a common space. How do we come up with a bedroom that suits both our tastes?......................

Here's what we came up with:

Bed: www.wayfair.com 

Bedside tables: Home Goods

Lamps, Frames and vases, accent pillows: Ross

Bed Linens: Bed, bath and beyond

Walls: Painted with Behr Bright White

The solution was let's pick a side and make that our own! Non-matching side tables was a little scary in the beginning but we just had to go with it, besides, it's already a theme in the house.

Here a few tips to bring together non-matching side tables:

1. Make sure that they are at least the same height. This way, whatever accessories you decide to add can be symmetrical and less busy in your eyes.

2. Compliment your accessories. We both have a picture frame, his silver and industrial, mine's gold and vintage but both are the same size. On his side, I decided to add a hint of freshness with a plant in a copper vase while I have flowers. Defining your space does not mean clashing of two looks.

3. The biggest accessory in anyone's bedside, other than the table of course, is your lamps. I chose to match our lamps to tie up both sides. I also made sure that the texture of it goes with the bed we chose.

SEMI-HOME COOKING

I wish I can say that cooking is one of my major talents, but my skills in it is exactly like my how my skills are in painting...barely there!

 I swear this is not a flamingo! This is a cherry blossom tree! 

What I am good at is semi-home cooking. I have shortcuts for a lot of things, probably because I eat a lot, I know what most things tastes like so I usually can put stuff together that I know will just be good even if it's not quite true to the recipe. Also, I'm just really bad in following instructions, cookbooks are just not very useful to my overactive mind.

If you're like me, fear not! There are a lot of ways you can totally just wing dinners.

Step 1: Set up your table! This is the best way to make your semi-home made food look like you worked hard for it.

Step 2: Use plates that will compliment your food and present your food well. After all, eating begins with your eyes then nose then mouth. Food activates more than 1 of your senses.

This By the way is my very own tempuradon recipe by the way, I will be sharing that recipe to you soon!

Step 3: Share it with great people--family and friends. Food is always good with great company.

Having said this, here's one appetizer that you can make that needs no cooking time at all! My very own version of Tuna Poke'

Ingredients:
- 1 Fillet of raw Tuna (Ahi would be best)
- 4 tablespoons Sesami Oil
- 2 Lemons
- 2 Limes
- 1/4 cup of Soy Sauce
- 1/2 cup Green Onions
- Pepper 
- Crushed red chili flakes

Serves: 8-10 people

Prep:
1. Cut your tuna into cubes.
2. On a separate bowl, add your soy sauce, sesame oil, juices of two limes and two lemons, pepper and crushed red chili flakes.
Note: You can easily just add this to your tuna but I do it separately so that I can taste it before adding it to the tuna and adjust it accordingly.
3. Once you get the balance of all these ingredients, add it yo your tuna and top it with chopped green onions! 

My biggest tip in any food you prepare is to taste it! Making sure that you're food suites your own palette will ensure that your guests will enjoy it too!

Sit Up.

You know that saying "another man's trash is another's treasure?" So true! One of our neighbor's parents' truck (that was a mouthful to say!) always parks their truck near our house. Us, John and I being nosy people would take a peak in there whenever we get a chance, and one enchanted night, we saw what I thought was a beautiful chair that could easily be made even more beautiful with a little sanding and painting. And so the mission to acquire that chair begins! 

Every early morning we'd wait for the couple who owns the truck in the chance to purchase the chair at a bargain price. And after a couple of days stalking, they finally appeared and John took the opportunity to ask to purchase the chair. He was told "whatever amount you want to give is fine," he then checked his wallet and...............EPIC FAIL! We both don't have cash!!! We offered to pay by check and the sweetest and nicest couple decided to just give us this lovely chair: 

I just loved the details in this chair, the wicker backing, the floral carving at the top. I knew I wanted to change this chair up but still keep the old, vintage vibe it already has. Let the process begin!

Step 1: Remove the seat by unscrewing it from the bottom. 

Step 2: Sand, sand, sand! Now John and I are quite lazy and don't really sand all the way down but we at least try to remove the coating of the chair and roughen it up so that paint can be absorbed. For the first sanding process, use a 220 grain sand paper.  

Step 3: Paint! Since I am into vintage, rustic looks I decided to go for an ivory color paint instead of just white, very little difference but you'll for sure notice the difference once you've fully covered the chair. I bought two cans and two layers to fully cover this chair. 

Step 4: The seat. I chose a fabric that was on sale and was a little moderns and since I'm really into grays, went with that color too! I added the studs which was fairly easy to do. Explore your local Michaels for these type of things and just try it. I think it worked out great for this particular project and took this chair up one more notch. 

Step 5: Because I said I wanted to keep the the rustic and vintage look of this chair, I didn't want to look perfect. I wanted it have some of that aged look. By taking a 100grain sand paper, I sanded some of the edges of the chair. Keep in mind that you should sand the sharper edges of the chair and of course some of the details in the chair to make it look like it was meant to be there. 

Here's our Finished Product!