I promise that I’ll be writing about our trip home to the Philippines soon. Meanwhile, Raquel and I decided to try something different. That is, instead of her doing the cooking and me doing the cleanup after meals, I’ll take a stab at doing the cooking chores. And I admit that I’m actually liking this new arrangement. I always wanted to do something constructive and creative which I sort of get when I cooked.

Being a complete beginner, I made mistakes, I found it difficult to estimate the amount of seasoning needed in the dish I’m preparing and I prepare the food real slowly (to Raquel’s consternation). However, I’m very confident that, in time, my proficiency at cooking would improve.

As the new resident cook, I took the opprotunity to cook dishes that I love. To date, I’ve done the following dishes: Picadillo (with additional shredded cabbage), Beef Stroganoff, Chicken and Sundried Tomato Pasta Bake (with the help of a prepackaged pasta sauce), Chicken Longganisa and a batch of fudge cookies (see photo).

Up next this week is Bistek Pilipino (Filipino-style Beef Steak) followed by another variant of the pasta bake. I’ll try something with more vegetables next week though. I didn’t realise that most of the dishes I’ve done (and will do) don’t have much in terms of veggies.