Food doctor

Sometime ago, we bought a book entitled "Cake Doctor" by Anne Byrn (Workman Publishing, New York). It contains a collection of 150 luscious cakes and desserts with that made-fresh-from-scratch taste. The twist is that she used mixes and "doctored" them for a new taste and character. If one adopts this technique each cake becomes one’s own. Byrn initially thought mixes were "ho-hum". That was why she decided to do something about them, injecting creativity into the cakes, adding more eggs, butter, chocolates, fruits etc. Try this, you’d be surprised at how your "creations" will turn out.

We’d like to call ourselves a ‘Food Doctor’, something that came about after being irritated at an otherwise reliable meat supplier whose counter staff insisted their sirloin was tender, but the family struggled to cut, chew and swallow the "stubborn" pieces of meat. Likewise, we had to remedy a ready-to-serve tub of Phad Thai when the noodles came out like strips of cardboard.

Anyway, we bought nearly a kilo of sirloin, which we divided into two portions. One we marinated in the traditional soy sauce, calamansi juice and ground pepper and placed in the freezer. The other piece meant for dinner was cut into serving slices, seasoned with salt and pepper and set aside as we prepared the other ingredients. We sauted thinly sliced ginger in oil and added the meat, cooking it to medium doneness to preserve its natural tenderness–or so we thought. But as mentioned before it proved to be the toughest sirloin the family ever had. Of course, nobody had seconds.

The ‘cook doctor’ went to work. We sliced the meat very thin, mixed half a beef cube , half a cup of water and one and a half teaspoons of curry powder in a small casserole and simmered the meat until tender. It turned out to be delicious with that subtle spicy taste.

But we still had the second portion in the freezer. After thawing, we again cut the meat into thin slices. We sauted chopped onions in little oil then added the sirloin, likewise with half a beef cube and half a cup of water to boil under low fire. When the liquid got to sauce consistency, we added sweet peas. Suddenly we had a new dish, received very enthusiastically by everyone

Now the Phad Thai. This was a big disappointment considering we had very good results with previous packs. This time, after heating the noodles became so tough, nobody could eat it. As with the beef, we added one half beef cube with one half cup water and let it boil. After a few minutes, the noodles tenderized and we had a satisfying Phad Thai. Use your creativity and you too can be a "food doctor". Besides, these days when cost of foodstuff sky-rocket so fast, we need to find ways and means not to throw anything away. We have to be very cautious about wastage.

We remember the old Swiss Inn in Paco, which had this specialty Boneless Stuffed Chicken. There are three Swiss Inn restaurants now, the original in Paco, in Makati and lately in Alabang. They don’t serve that particular dish anymore, but what they have in the menu are truly special. If one goes for European fare, visit either of the three outlets. You can start with Cheese Fondue, savor a salad, then share a plate of assorted sausages served with perfectly done sauerkraut. Also, do not miss the fresh corned beef with cabbage and boiled potatoes. Chocolate fondue is the "must" dessert. For quiet meals when you want to hear what your dinner companion is saying, without blaring music or a boisterous crowd, the Alabang outlet is the place to go. It’s done in the minimalist style, white everywhere, spacious with great elbow room between tables.

The most pathetic food outlet we visited lately was Price Smart in Alabang. That day we hoped to get our usual supply of meat and seafood, but the place was half-lit and looked dreary. The seafood section was dry and empty and the meat cuts were three days old (this info we got from a staff). This is bad news for those of us who have had the pleasure of buying what was the best meat supply in town. We wonder where their suppliers now sell their products. We will certainly miss them.

Makati Supermarket recently changed their operating hours. Doors now open at 8:30 a.m. which is ideal for people like us who do their shopping early. For those who fancy sweets, the store has lots of new items, from the latest Oreos to Mrs Field’s Decadent Chocolate Grahams. Indulge, once in a while.

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