Cooking Chronicles: 2nd try at Parker's Beef Stew

Last year, I tried one of Barefoot Contessa's recipe (aka Ina Garten), Parker's Beef Stew. It was a simple enough recipe, marinate the beef in wine (1 whole bottle) overnight, brown it in olive oil then saute some veggies (potatoes, carrots and onions). Set aside veggies and beef. Pour marinade in pan where beef was cooked. Add in chicken stock then season with worcestershire sauce, rosemary, salt and pepper. Add beef and veggies to the sauce, simmer in medium heat then continue cooking in the oven for 2 hours. Since I didn't have cookware for that, I improvised by using a crockpot. Cooked it overnight. The result wasn't great, actually it was bad. The sauce smelled great, but it tasted bitter because of too much wine. So needless to say, I was very disappointed. I had high expectations for the dish. The ingredients and my effort all gone to waste. 

Fast track to last week: I had been contemplating on taking up cooking duties at least once a week at home for some time now. I had noticed that the maids and my mom seem to keep on running out of ideas on what to make for lunch/dinner. One sign of it is we keep having the same ulam every week. It's not the same for literally every day of the week. More like, we'd have fried pork chop this week and then fried pork chop again next week. And my mom has complained a few times already: hindi ko na alam anong lulutuin! So last week, I told her, how about I cook a meal once a week? That's at least one day less for them to plan. (Haha) Of course she agreed. 

Because I have always been a little competitive. I was never one to accept defeat easily. And to me, the failed try at Parker's Beef Stew was something that I wouldn't accept. I wanted to have a go at it again. This time, I won't make the same mistakes. I will use sun-dried tomatoes, instead of fresh ones, real chicken stock and not one made from boiling 1 liter of water and adding beef cubes. 

So as I went about prepping my ingredients, I had to substitute. I didn't want to. But I had to. I used dried rosemary instead of fresh and canned mushrooms instead of fresh ones. I figured it would be ok since it's not like those two ingredients make up a large chunk of the flavor. I also tweaked the recipe a little. The biggest tweak was, instead of using 2 1/2 cups of the marinade, I only used 1 cup and then added more chicken stock to make up for the liquid part of the sauce. 

I started last night with marinating the beef. Woke up early this morning to cook the beef and the veggies then left them in the slow cooker all day. I had been anxious to try it all day, partly worried that I might not like the outcome yet again. The moment I got home, the first thing I did was head to the kitchen and take a look at my creation. It looked and smelled great, same as last time. But I knew that those can be deceiving. So I got a spoon and had a taste. It was good. I had people taste it as well. Ok naman was the answer I got from everybody. But OK was not good enough for me. I had to wait patiently for dinner time for the final verdict. Come dinner time, I was on the edge of my seat as I watched them spoon the stew onto their plates. The verdict is in: it was delicious! My dad couldn't help getting more rice (he was trying to cut back) and he kept saying: sarap ah! I couldnt' help but feel proud. My brother also said the same thing. Finally! I have been redeemed! (Haha) 

This victory is certainly a good start for my new-found duty at home. Hopefully it will be the start of many good results, if not all. :D


PS: I forgot to take a picture! Will try to remember to take a picture of my next "challenge". :)

is it a deal or no deal?

unless you've been living in a cave or some remote island with no internet access for the past year or so, you would know that deal sites or groupon sites have been popping everywhere. you can say that i'm a fan and for good reasons. deal sites/groupon sites give you a chance to try new places to eat for usually a cheaper price. a lot of sites have also offered deals for travel. and of course i've also managed to take advantage of a few deals myself. but caveat emptor (buyer beware), do your due diligence. not all sites are created equal. some are scams while some take advantage of unaware buyers. 

some tips before you click buy and finalize payment:

1. a little research won't hurt. try to find out if you're really getting a good deal or you're just being taken for a ride.

2. for travel deals, check the merchant and the schedule. make sure that the travel period  of the deal matches your plans. if possible, call ahead to check if bookings are possible. i've heard a lot of horror stories about deals going sour because of so many reasons. 

3. as i mentioned above, not all sites are created equal. what do i mean? make sure that the site will be able to deliver the goods, so to speak. sometimes, if it's too good to be true, it probably can't be trusted. a lot of sites have come under fire for not being able to deliver. don't be a victim. 

4. read the fine print. always always read the fine print. some of the typical details that people fail to check are block-out dates. most merchants also require reservations. make sure you call ahead to make your reservation. 

now for the good part. so as to not totally discourage you from checking out deal sites, here are some of the deals that i've bought in the past. i'll post the deal and from what site i bought it from.

1. bellaroca - deal grocer; 1 terraza for 4 people (3d2n) for only P 23,600.00

2. sheridan beach resort - deal grocer; 1 deluxe pool view room (3d2n) for 2 for only P10,600.00

3. spiral buffet - cashcashpinoy; P1,392.00 per person

4. xintiandi dimsum all-you-can - deal grocer; P788.00 per person

5. 1 month unlimited classes at planet infinity - ensogo; P699.00

6. 10 classes at gold's gym - metrodeal; P1,000.00 

of course i can't enumerate all the deals i've bought because for one, there's just too many of them and another, i can't remember all of them. (though i have kept all the vouchers, or at least the pdfs for future reference). hopefully this post has helped you in one way or another! happy safe buying! ;)

possibly the best ensaymada ever!

the picture does not look good enough. can i just say? underneath all that cheesy goodness is a fluffy, soft, not-too-sweet pastry that melts in your mouth even with the daintiest bite. 

i've always wanted to try one of these things. i actually also got the small ones. the cute bite-sized ones. and they were as good, believe me! the only reason why it took me a long time before trying was because they were not exactly cheap. the bite-sized ones are priced at 235 pesos if memory serves me right. there were about 8-10 pieces that were only a tad bigger than your munchkin. this huge ensaymada is 80 pesos! but i'm glad i finally tried it. i'd buy one again because it's that good, but not all the time. it is still 80 pesos and i could name a thing or two that i'd rather buy with my 80 pesos. (like milk tea perhaps? :D) haha

so the verdict is, definitely must-try and possibly worth it. but i won't buy it a lot because i'm kinda cheap like that. haha


so for those who want to try it out. these babies are sold in aristocrat. you read it right, the same restaurant with the best chicken barbecue (in my opinion) in town plus matching java sauce.

yum!