Fishes and other sea foods are expensive in our town because I have heard most of the fishes caught are brought to Manila. It was only seldom that a kilo of fish cost less than a dollar, they mostly cost over $4.

The other day, while we are in the wet market we found out that the small fishes only cost Php20.00 per kilo which is less than a dollar, it seldom happened so we bought 2 kilos right away, our cats will have a feast on these fishes.

When we reached home, I cleaned them one by one by removing the intestines and gills, they are pretty big than normal. Normally when they are a bit smaller, we have to take out the whole head because it has bitter taste. It took me a long time to finish cleaning them, it was quite tiring standing for a long time eh. We ended up frying small portion with frying mix and the rest were cooked in vinegar with water for our cats

Avocado was in seasoned in the Philippines so there are plenty of avocados in our local market, prices range from P15.00 – P30.00 per kilo. A kilo consists of 3-5 avocados it depends on the size and variety.

When I was young I remember not liking avocado that much maybe because my taste bud was different that time or I was already used eating them since there is two avocado trees in our backyard, and when they are too ripe in top of a tree or a typhoon they just fell in the ground.

The avocado tree was long gone, they were cut down when the church nearby was expanded, so now we want to eat avocado we have to buy in the local market which we did a few days ago. I plainly ate it with brown sugar while my sister ate her avocado refrigerated mixed with powder milk and sugar.

It is already summer months in Philippines and barbecue and such are becoming popular in the streets. It was been a week ago since a neighbour sells barbecue, it was hit among everybody. We bought few sticks the other day since we are craving for something savoury.

We had neck and head barbecue, it cost P10.00 per stick. She also has some other stuff like chicken feet, pork belly, hot dogs and etc. But when I showed my husband a pic of what we have bought and eaten, he said it was the food they feed to dogs and cats (lol). It must be to Western countries but to Asia they are the type of foods that are gastronomically delicious to empty stomach.

Barbecues sold in the stick are most like by Filipinos when they are drinking with friends, or eating them in the streets.

One of the food I enjoyed in Turkey is their sweet treats Turkish delight, a family of confections based on a gel of starch and sugar which are often packaged and eaten in small cubes dusted with icing sugar, copra, or powdered cream of tartar, to prevent clinging.

I enjoyed the most eating the turkish delight that are soft and dust with sugar, when I bought this second package I thought it was the same variety of what I have just eaten a few days ago but I was wrong, this one is a bit hard and chewy.

Last night my husband asked me to get him a pepperoni pizza but when I went to Pizza school they are already closing so I went to 59 Pizza which is about 5-10 minutes away but the latter was already closed. It seems both pizza place closed early because of the Lunar New Year which is celebrated in Korea.

Going home I passed by the new shops around the street and I have seen that GS25 sells New York Hot Dog, so I went inside to give it a try and to look for pizza as well. I took picture of the banner so I can show it to the sales clerk but it still took long time before she could understand that I want to order each kind.  I have waited for my order but I was surprised to received the hot dogs without a wrapper just  a piece of cartoon to hold them. The hot dogs comes with free can of Pepsi and when it was handed to me I let the sales clerk to put it on my cross bag as my hands are holding the hot dogs.

When I reached home I can’t open the door so I called for my husband and he was disappointed that I was not able to buy pepperoni pizza and he didn’t like the hot dog as well. So I went to GS25 where we usually buy snacks to look for pizza, and gladly I was able to find pizza for him.

A few days ago I went to the nearby convenience store to buy for electrical tape, but  before I went to the counter to pay, I look around the aisles for items that I can afford to buy.  I found few but the instant Bibimbap caught my attention, this Korean food can only be found in Korean restaurant, but today if you are craving for Bibimbap you can eat it anytime and anywhere as long as you see them in any convenience store around you.

Bibimbap is a signature Korean dish. The word literally means “mixed rice”. Bibimbap is served as a bowl of warm white rice topped with namul (sautéed and seasoned vegetables) and gochujang (chili pepper paste). A raw or fried egg and sliced meat (usually beef) are common additions. The ingredients are stirred together thoroughly just before eating. It can be served either cold or hot. (Source Wikipedia)

The instant Bibimbap was sold with free beef noodles, I think it is marketing strategy so more people will buy and try this product. The box contains 3 packages and a spoon, the packages contain puff rice, dry garnishes and sauce. I cook the rice mixed with the dry garnishes within 1 cup of water for 3 minutes and mixed the sauce afterwards and voila my Bibimbap is ready to eat. This item cost 2,800 won per small box.

When I sent balikbayan box at home I included noodles, I saw them on sale in the supermarket and I have thought of buying and when my family received the box I sent home. My sister told me that the noodles was not that spicy and it taste good and flavorful so they asked me to sent more whenever I sent a new box.

Wanting to try it I also bought Jin Ramen noodles for me to try at home, it was not really that spicy like I have thought when you use the exact water of 550ml.

Donuts are considered as one of the comfort food by most individuals, the glazed the chocolate flavor is very appetizing.  They mostly come in different color, size, shape and flavors. When I went to Dunkin Donuts few weeks ago I was overwhelmed seeing different flavors and color in the display case, so I shopped one each design and flavor.

What attracts me the most is the Christmas design donuts (photo above), they are very colorful and attractive. They cost a bit more than the normal design donuts.

We’ve been wanting to eat hot cake since the last 4 years but looking in the hot cake mix in every Korean supermarket we are just left in a corner wishing for the day we can finally buy a hot cake mix. It is not about the price it is about the product description and how to cook it, my husband and I can’t read or speak Hangul.

Well few days ago my friend in Korea who now resides in the US shared the photo of hot cake she just cooked for late night snacks.  I’ve told her about our ordeal and she happily shared her recipes, so when my husband came home from work I opened up of having hot cake on our Friday cheat day, he is a little unwilling because he said it is a different mix but I insisted that I can translate the description written in the package by using virtual Korean keyboard.

So when we shopped for groceries we scanned the hot cake mix for a good deal, Ottogi Hot Cake Mix is the best deal we could get so we bought one package which is 500g and two bottle of Ottogi Cake Syrup.  When we reached home, I carefully copied the procedure at the back using the virtual Korean keyboard and translate it  using Google.  It helps but the translation is not well translated, it is not easy to understand it is such a headache!

Oh well, when I got tired understanding the English translation I opted on searching in the internet and voila in just few key strokes I found what I need about Ottogi Hot Cake Mix.

▶ Product Description

•  Avoid direct sunlight, store in cool place.
• After opening, reseal and store it in the refrigerator.

▶ To Prepare

1. Mix 2 egg with 270cc of milk or water.
2. Pour 500g of hotcake mix and mix well with 1 egg.
3. Fry it in a low heat the dough for 2-3 minutes and turn it upside down and heat it again for 2 minutes.

So when Friday came we followed the instruction above and we are able to make our how hot cake as Friday treat. Having no whisk to mix the ingredients didn’t stop us.

Spaghetti is everyone’s favorite, a dish that has many variants. In the Philippines, spaghetti is sweet and meaty with cheese toppings. So when I first ate spaghetti from Italianni’s I can’t even finish one serving, since then I vowed not to eat on Italianni’s again but when I arrived in Korea there spaghetti is not also the spaghetti my tongue used to know.

So when my husband and I decided to cook spaghetti at home, it doesn’t attract me at all. Spaghetti is my favorite but eating sour  salty taste spaghetti killed my appetite. My husband educates me that’s how spaghetti taste like, savory with tomato sauce and the sweet spaghetti I am talking is  a crap.  As day goes by I have been used to eat spaghetti with a sour salty taste as I named it, I can even eat two servings with black olives in it, so I think I am ready to eat in Italianni’s restaurant again.

Well, when we craved for spaghetti and cooking is impossible we run to 59 Pizza or Pizza school to order spaghetti. The photo above is cheese oven spaghetti from Pizza School, it cost ₩4, 000 while the white cream oven spaghetti cost ₩4, 500.  It is chewy, a little bit salty and meaty goodness.