I'm in the news!

We happened to find out that the month-long Megayon festival was going on in town.  We decided to check it out. It just so happened that the main event of the night was the sili (chili pepper) eating competition.  The goal of the competition is to eat 250 g of extra-spicy Bicol Express and 250 g of laing.  No water is allowed.  First to finish wins.

They had 10 guys compete, followed by 10 girls. Last, they had a wildcard round, with two local volunteers vs two foreigner volunteers.  I was the only one to raise my hand as a foreigner... So I got to compete!

The food was definitely spicy (and also very tasty)...  but I think that ghost pepper salsa I've been eating at home prepared me for it.  I didn't do too bad.  Of the 4 people competing with me, I finished second.  And since I came in first for foreigners I even won a 1000 Peso prize!  Here's a clip from a local morning show

These guys are the actual winners (the guy ate all his food in 1:04.  Not sure what my time was... But at least 2 or 3 minutes)

Laura was curious to try the Bicol express, so we ordered some the next night (this one was fish rather than the tradional pork).  I think this one was less spicy than the one I had for the competition.

A fun (and hot) few days here.  We'll post more when we can.

View of Mount Mayon, over the harbor

Where are we going?

Click the image to see an interactive map

Phillippines

Donsol - swimming with the whale sharks

Banaue - seeing the world famous rice terraces

Coron - doing some Scuba Diving (known for many WWII wrecks)
Islands - multi-day crossing from Coron to El Nido by boat with Tao Philippines

El Nido - swimming in the beautiful water and limestone cliffs

Sabang - exploring the Underground River

Malaysia

Kota Kinabalu - seeing (hopefully) the very rare Rafflesia flower, the largest flower on earth!

Mount Kinabalu - climbing to the summit 13,435' (4,095 m).

Kinabatangan River - living in the jungle, hopefully seeing some monkeys and pygmy elephants!
Kota Kinabalu - diving in the the Tunku Abdul Rahman National Park

Indonesia
Ubud, Bali - experiencing the balinese culture, temples, etc
Amed, Bali - scuba diving, volcano climbing, temples
Komodo - visiting the land of Komodo dragons.  Living on Kanawa Island.
Yogyakarta - exploring the temples of Borobudur and Prambanan

Singapore
Singapore - eating all the hawker food

Thailand

Bangkok - visiting the sites, exploring the city and surrounding areas.

Cambodia
Sihanoukville - scuba diving on a liveaboard
Koh Rong - staying on a lonely beach
Siem Reap - visiting Ankor Wat and the surrounding temples

Hong Kong
Hong Kong - visiting the city before heading back home!

I think I'm most looking forward to our trip between Coron and El Nido with Tao.  Laura's most eager to meet a Komodo dragon.

Only a few more days before we leave!

Mapo Tofu and Beef and Broccoli

Last year we decided to try and perfect a recipe each so that we'd have an easy go to dinner when we needed one. We decided on Mapo Tofu and Beef and Broccoli. We each researched some recipes and drew from our experience eating the dishes. We made it every few weeks for a couple months in order to try out new ideas and get it pretty set in our memories. The two recipes are a nice compliment to each other, and they take about the same amount of time to make, so with each of us making one it works out well. It's a bit hard to take pictures while its all happening so fast, but I think there's enough to get the idea.

Note: All our measurements are very loose, but I tried to guesstimate to give a starting point. If you don't have some of the stuff, thats okay, feel free to add, subtract, replace etc.

MaPo Topu
1 lb container Tofu
2-3 tbsp black bean in garlic sauce
2 tbsp soy sauce
1-2 tbsp grated ginger
1 tsp sesame oil
2 tbsp sambal oelek (spicy)
2 cloves garlic minced
1/4 cup chicken broth
1 tbsp corn starch
optional 1/4 lb ground pork

Beef and Broccoli
1/2 lb flank steak cut thinly
2 bunches of fresh broccoli
1 tbsp soy sauce
1 tbsp black bean in garlic sauce
2 tbsp sambal oelek (spicy)
2-3 tbsp grated ginger
2 cloves garlic
1 tbsp hoisin sauce
1 tbsp oyster sauce
1 tsp sesame oil

Mapo Tofu: 
Drain and cube the tofu. Add the corn starch to the chicken broth in a small bowl. For the chicken broth I just use the powder and mix it with water in the ratio the package says. Mix it up well and set aside. Add all of the rest of the sauce ingredients to the tofu and stir together (see photo above). If you using the ground pork - I only do if we happen to have some - cook in pan until its done and then pour the soy sauce on it. Then add the tofu to the pan (with the pork if using) cook until it warms all the way through 3-5 minutes probably. Then add the broth and cornstarch mixture. Boil until the sauce gets nice and thick.

Beef and Broccoli:
Cut the beef thinly. It's easier to do if it is a tiny bit frozen. Sometimes when we get a big piece from the store, we'll pre-slice it and freeze it in the right portions, which makes it easier later. Add all of the sauce mixture to the beef and let it sit for a minute while you deal with the broccoli. Cut up the broccoli - we like to have more broccoli than beef. Cut it into bit size pieces and then cook it for a few minutes in a non stick pan with some water to steam it a bit. We usually do this for about 5 minutes so that there's still some crunch in the broccoli. I don't have a picture of this part. Remove the broccoli and set aside for a minute.  Next cook the beef in the same pan you cooked the broccoli in. (see photo above) 

Once the beef is cooked through, add the broccoli back in and stir it around for a minute or so to soak up the extra sauce. 

We tend to make jasmine rice with it, and by starting it at the beginning, it usually works out that everything is done about the same time. It makes a very tasty and rounded dinner, that only takes about 20 minutes, which is great for work nights. Let us know if you give it a try, we'd love to hear what you do differently and what you think of it! 

Fish Box #1A: Sablefish

The fish of the fortnight was Sablefish! It came with this note about where the fish came from which was interesting: "Sablefish is also known as Black Cod and is brought to us by local fisherman, Don Pemberton, of the F/V Stacy Joanne. To learn more about Don, you can read his bio on the Faces of California Fishing site here." They also recommended a Miso recipe in case you were stuck and not sure what to do with it, but Jerome and I had other ideas. There was enough fish for two meals, so we decided to try two totally different methods and flavours. Jerome took the lead on the first recipe going for an asian style preparation. 

This is how we received the fish, nicely packaged and labelled and brought home in our little cooler. 

It was really beautiful fish. The bones were still in and the skin on, but we left them to remove when we were eating them. The fillets were cut really nicely, and in pretty even portions so we didn't have to worry about them cooking unevenly. We rinsed and patted the fish dry. 

 

Being the sous-chef, I was instructed to julien the green onions and a whole bunch of ginger. As well as being in charge of cooking the green beans. 

Meanwhile, Jerome was making a marinade from soy sauce, hoisin, black bean paste, sesame oil and green chilies. As well as a homemade 5 spice powder (cinnamon, cloves, star anise, sichuan pepper and fennel).

We poured the marinade over the fish, topping it with the ginger. Just before this we had to plan ahead an figure out how to build our own steamer since we don't have one. We marinated the fish on the plate that would be used for steaming for about 15 minutes. 

Here is our custom steamer. We took our large saucepan, and placed two chopsticks in it. Then we filled it with enough water to not quite cover the chopsticks and brought it to a boil. Once it was ready we placed the  conveniently sized plate on the chopsticks and voila!

We steamed it for about 5-8 minutes until it flaked beautifully when we poked it. 

The final step which Jerome had seen in a youtube video which I can't find was to top it off with green onions then heat up some oil until very hot, and drizzle a tiny bit of the oil on top of everything. It makes this crazy sizzling noise which apparently is the key and it sort of flash cooks the onions where it hits and finishes everything off. 

We were both really impressed and happy with how it turned out. We were apprehensive at first never having cooked this type of fish, and not wanting to ruin it, but  not to worry, it was stellar! The flavours, though strong, didn't overpower the fish, and it was so flaky and moist. 

Stay tuned for part B where I try my hand at baked lemon butter sablefish!