Recent Grinds - Home Cooking:
Growing up my mom didn’t really cook much as she was working hard all the time to make sure we had the opportunities we needed to go far in life. My Grandma, however, cooked often, and, now that we live back in her house, I’ve been trying to cook more and more. I’d really love to cook more local food, as the last 6 years (in Portland) have proven difficult to find adequate ingredients to do so. With Don Quixote & Foodland down the street, we finally have access to an immense amount of ingredients. So far I’ve just dabbled with local cooking- but my hope is to continue to study the stacks of local cook books we have in her kitchen, and cook cook cook!
Pork Lumpia (top): from next door neighbors- my parents have had a few bags of it in their freezer for a month or so, so we decided to cook some the other night. Lots of vegetable oil to cook them, but they were perfect! Mom made some homemade Lumpia sauce (vinegar based) and we paired with some sweet chili sauce. When we run out, I might have to kindly ask for their recipe!
Somen Salad (middle): always a favorite because of how simple it is to make. Cook somen noodles, put on ice or in fridge, cut up any toppings you desire. We typically go with lettuce, cucumber, kamaboko (fish cake), green onion, and char siu. Mom put together a dressing from a local cook book (vinegar based)- perfect. Local dressing is way better than the store bought dipping-type sauce! Perfect to eat on a hot day- cold & light.
Banana & Apple Banana Bread (bottom): Our bananas seem to almost instantly get soft here (something we’re getting used to in this humidity and heat) so we didn’t get to eat all of the bananas we bought before they were almost too soft. We paired the regular bananas we had with a few Apple Bananas to make this bread. Added walnuts (for crunch) and voila! Turned out great! Next time I want to use all Apple Bananas to see if you can even tell the difference.