with Fr. Muldowney, DRE Michelle O’Brien and Rev. McGarry

Here you go, bro. I don’t think it turned out as creamy as you’d want it, you can always just use a can of “cream of mushroom soup”.

Slice some sirloin tapa style (really thinly, across the grain – easiest to do if the meat is partially frozen)
Marinate if you like in a bit of soy sauce, some cornstarch, a little shaohxing if you have it, and garlic mashed into a paste with some salt
Mince some garlic! I used about 1/4 cup but knowing you you’ll probably use more
Mix up some soy sauce to taste (I used about 3 tablespoons)-water or beef stock-cornstarch (about 1 1/2 teaspoons per 1 cup of stock) in a little bowl
3 tablespoons heavy whipping cream, or 1/2 cup canned cream of mushroom soup
A squeeze of lemon juice, 1/2 teaspoon sugar, 1/2 teaspoon freshly ground black pepper or to taste, and/or 2 tablespoons chopped scallions(all optional)
Quick-cooking veggies like chopped up broccoli (optional)

When you’re ready to cook, fire up your skillet or wok over high heat. Add 1 tablespoon canola oil. Add the beef slices and toss, toss, toss or stir, stir, stir until they brown, about 5 minutes. Remove the beef from the skillet. Wipe your skillet clean if you wish, with paper towels. Return to heat — medium this time –and add 2 tablespoons canola oil. Add minced garlic, stir-stir-stir again, 3-5 minutes or JUST UNTIL the garlic starts to turn golden. (Watch it! This is not the time to surf, dear.) Return beef to skillet, add sauce, and stir-stir-stir until slightly thickened. [You decide if you want more sauce or not, you can always add more of that beef stock mixture. My kids always want plenty of sauce for their rice, so about a cup of sauce works for us.] Now add your cream, or cream of mushroom soup, to the skillet. I used 3 tablespoons cream (can’t have a lot of dairy here), but you can use as much mushroom soup as you want. Add the optional flavorings — lemon juice, freshly ground black pepper, sugar, scallions (or leave the scallions for the end as a fresh topping). I know you’re not a veggie person but you can also try adding quick cooking veggies at the end like broccoli. Or take your steak out of the skillet leaving some of the sauce and cook your veggies there, covered over medium heat, for 5 minutes. Mix everything again at the end before serving. It’s an easy way to add veggies to your diet without having to cook another dish. That’s what I did last night — heheh, the kids ate the broccoli without complaint.

Cook’s Notes:

I used to think this was exclusive to our cuisine, a derivation of the original bistek, but I’ve since found garlic steak in Chinese, Japanese and American cuisines. And knowing that a lot of people love the stinking rose, I wouldn’t be surprised if other cuisines have their version of this too.

• The Chinese recipe called for shaohxing, less tender cuts of beef (meaning cheaper too!) and LONG, LONG SIMMERING, about 2 hours — worth it though, as it was melt-in-your-mouth-tender.
• The Japanese one is very similar to this one except for the sauce (they hardly have any) and they top theirs with fresh scallions.
• The American version uses balsamic vinegar cooked to a syrup (yum!) then soy sauce, water and garlic is added and cooked again. I guess it’s not really American if you think about it but it was in an American magazine, and no attribution was given.

The Rice Bible by Christian Teubner et al.

First impressions: Very thorough, very comprehensive, very pro-genetic engineering. What he says about finding and developing “Rice 2000″ (slated for around 2008) makes some sense, especially for the neediest countries, but I’m rather disappointed he didn’t go into the possible cons of genetically engineered rice. Sure, he makes a good case for disease-resistant, pest-resistant, perennial rice seed — but I would have been more interested in what he had to say about gene-mapping and hi-tech hybrids if he/they had at least mentioned why organic practices — vermicomposting, companion planting, use of predator pests — would be undesirable or less efficient in rice-producing countries. A discussion as to why arguments about pest and disease adaptation should be ignored would have been welcome as well. At least give us the facts so we can come to a better informed conclusion.

I am glad he does cover brown rice and its nutritional benefits, although I was hoping he’d make a firmer suggestion that more people consume brown rice, as that would certainly cut down on production costs and time.

Pleasantly surprised to learn that parboiled rice is almost on the same level nutritionally as brown rice. Excellent discussion and graphics on this topic. I’ve never given parboiled rice more than a cursory glance at the shopping aisle before, dismissing it as “rice for those who don’t know any better”. I was obviously wrong. Need to do more research on this.

New dilemma: How much of this do I include in the cookbook? *I* think it’s highly relevant even for the average consumer, but would people really want this information in a Filipino cookbook? Hmmmn.

Chinese Cabbage
Seeds of Change 2003. wintersowed 2005.

seeds from exchange fall 2004. wintersowed 2005.

seeds from JLHudson(?) 2004. wintersowed 2005.

received from plant exchange, september 2004.

I got 4 free roseplants from Freecycle. 2 seem to be thriving, with shoots coming out the bottom. No idea what I’m supposed to do with the larger twigs. Maybe I’ll prune them later if no green appears. Don’t know what color these are going to be — exciting! Mystery roses. Planted October 2004.

from Brent and Becky’s Bulbs, planted November 2004.

from Brent and Becky’s Bulbs, planted November 2004.

garlic bulbs from The Garlic Store, “Hardneck Sampler”, planted November 2004.

2nd shot 5/26/05

1st shot 4/29/05

Chinese Cabbage
seeds from Fedco 2004, wintersowed 2005

from seed exchange, wintersowed 2005

from seed exchange 2004, wintersowed 2005

a.k.a. daffodil, from Brent and Becky’s Bulbs, planted Nov 2004.