SEAFOOD!!!!!

March 9, 2006

I long for inihaw but in Singapore we cannot do barbequing inside the flat, isusumbong ka ng kapitbahay mo. So each housing block has specific barbeque pits, doon ka lang pwedeng mag ihaw.

This is the barbeque pit, specially assigned for Muslim party-goers by the government. For us, it is funny to see "a religious barbeque pit".

Below are two recipes which are superdelicious. try it: 

Seafood Kinilaw

350 g fresh white fish fillet (lapu-lapu)
150 g blanched shrimps, squid or baby octopus
½ red onion, thinly sliced
½ cucumber, peeled and cut into thin round slices
3 small tomatoes, yellow or red, halved
1 ½ tbsp ginger, chopped fine
2 tbsp scallions

Sauce:

1 tbsp calamansi
¼ c spiced native vinegar
1/8 c coconut milk
Salt and pepper, to taste

Cut seafood to bite-size pieces and mix with vegetables. Add sauce ingredients and mix well.
Let sit at least 15 minutes before serving. Do not pre-marinate the fish, it will destroy the flavor.
Garnish with chopped pork chicharon

Inihaw na Pusit

1 kg squid, lumot, cleaned
Marinade:
½ c soy sauce
¼ c brown sugar
½ c native vinegar
3 cloves minced garlic
¼ tsp crushed peppercorns
2-3 pcs siling labuyo, sliced
¼ c cooking oil (for basting)
Combine in a saucepan, bring to a boil. Cool.
Pour half the mixture to marinate squid. Reserve the rest for basting and as dipping sauce.
To the basting sauce, add ¼ c cooking oil. Grill for seven minutes, basting with sauce.
Serve with reserve sauce for dipping

OH MY GOD!!!

Oh My God , my kids are at it again, their grades are low again. No matter what i do I cant really see why they have very poor memory and very little interest in studying. When I was a child  my memory was very good, I can memorise anything within seconds. I have terribly good concentration power.

I guess I should not compare them to my previous achievements as a child. But I always remind them that underperforming would mean that they would probably be basureros(garbageman), paupers or beggars in the future.

So last night ,I asked them for the nth time to write a sorry and a resolution letter for me to appease my anger for their low grades in school. Nygel came up with a very realistic and very safe resolution–he would just improve a little bit on his dismal grades. I told him I need him to write out what they want me to do if they totally fail me again. My youngest son was taking a long time to write down his resolution but when he came up to me what he wrote was what I had expected.He wrote :

My target: Maths-100/100,English 100/100, Science 90/100, Chinese 50/100

What you will do to us if we dont pass: You will get angry and beat us, you will not allow us to play computer,TV and go out with our friends, you will not buy presents for my birthday and you will let us sleep in the laundry room.

Niles compared to Nygel absorbed everything that I said while Nygel is the usually "segurista" and "safe" person .He would rather play it safe than promise something that he cannot do. Of course I dont expect them to get 100/100 but giving me this target, Niles probably wanted to try his best while Nygel will just try a little bit better than what he had accomplished. Sometimes I wonder –I thought intelligent parents produce inteliigent children.Maybe I havent done so much,maybe I let them play to much computer or watch too much TV or maybe because I gave birth to them at an older age, "latak" na lang ang natira. 

OK– we have decided as a family, we will try again but this time no TV, no computer and only studying. I hope my boys will keep up their side of the bargain.Let us see what happens in June.