Earth Day at Kusina Salud

I applaud the efforts of Nina and her family in promoting and living a sustainable lifestyle. And the food is delicious too!

Here is the email I got from Nina which explains all...

HELLO EVERYONE!

Kusina Salud is a family run restaurant which serves modern Filipino cuisine set in the native weekend retreat of Filipiniana textile artist Patis Tesoro. Opened in October 2004, Kusina Salud aims to be a social and cultural safety net which aids in balancing the impact of industrialization on our natural environment. Our modern world is currently experiencing this technology driven phenomenon called globalization, which has both positive and negative long term effects on the present and future habitat of our children and their children.

Kusina Salud's sustainable development efforts include:

1. the housing and care of over 100 birds, some endangered and currently procreating, all DENR registered.

2. the operation of a Sewerage Treatment Plant (STP), an in-house facility which recycles kitchen waste water into gardening water

3. the practice of trash segregation which not only gives our kitchen stewards extra income from the sale of recyclable waste materials, but also ensures the health of our organic garden and nursery, through the nutrients pumped in by our compost pits

4. the staging of art events which promote the appreciation of culture and heritage, while instilling a sense of community, in our target markets

This year, we invite you to experience our first major Earth Day Celebration. Earth Day was started on April 22, 1970 by US Senator Gaylord Nelson to create awareness for the need to preserve our natural environment. On Saturday, April 19, 2008 Kusina Salud presents, "Bird-Man: An Earth Day Celebration".

Bird-Man begins at 3 pm with a talk/open forum by Wild Bird Photographer Romy Ocon, entitled "For the Birds". He will also give a slide-show presentation of the numerous birds he has passionately documented in their natural habitat. This will be followed by the ribbon-cutting of Romy's exhibit in our small gallery. Please visit http://romyocon.blogspot.com for more information.

The second half of our celebration is yet untitled because it is a 15-minute performance art collaborative by multi-awarded poetess Nerisa Guevara, seasoned thespians Nonie and Shamaine Buencamino, inimitable sound designer Malek Lopez, and educator-visual designer Blums Borres. As we speak, we are setting Nerisa's poetry to Malek's music, which will be followed by Nonie and Shamaine's interpretation of the "songs" into movement. Technical Director Mark Lakay and Production Managers Perky Parong & Weng Lopez will provide the necessary support system to ensure the seamlessness of this once in a lifetime performance.

Tickets are PHP 500 each which also includes an all-day vegetarian buffet and a raffle of 13 prizes from artists and entrepreneurs: Master Potters John Pettyjohn and Ugu Bigyan, Brass Sculptor Carlito Ortega, Manila Tourguide Carlos Celdran, Mosaic Artist Denise Celdran, Photographer Isa Lorenzo, Chef Billy King, Accessories Designer Anton Pamintuan, Casa San Pablo, Casa Rap, Earthkeepers, Pilar Antiques and Patis Tesoro.

Proceeds from ticket sales will be shared with the Philippine Bird Photography Forum and the Artists Welfare Project. Please reserve now as limited seating is available.

Kusina Salud is located in San Pablo, Laguna. Please call/text Apple or April at 0921.7726985 or 049.5736155 for ticket reservations.

Please e-mail us at kusinasalud@gmail.com or kusinasalud.yahoo.com for inquiries.

Thank you and we look forward to seeing you on Earthday at Kusina Salud!

Pigging Out on Filipino Food

Two days ago I had lunch in a Filipino restaurant in San Bruno. It was quite good as evidenced by the amount of food we ordered and the amount we had left to take home. We ate as if it was the last time we were ever going to eat Fil food again. Our craving for Fil food led us to drive out of San Francisco and head towards Patio Filipino. The place was almost full, a few tables were left for us to choose from. If I didn't know better I would have thought I stepped into a time warp and was transported back to the Philippines. Everyone was Filipino, from the waiters to the customers and no doubt the chef. Filipino faces and chatter were all around. Feeling right at home we chose a table and proceeded to order. The food was authentic and well executed. Philippine food is influenced by it's Chinese and Spanish ancestry. In this case, the food served at the restaurant was of the Fil-Spanish variety. We ordered all the standard Fil dishes. Bulalo, a beef marrow soup with cabbage; Bangus Sisig, a local fish chopped and seasoned then served in a sizzling plate; Green Mango Salad, chopped green mangoes, onions, tomatoes and seasoned with fish sauce; lastly Binagoongang Baboy, deep fried cubes of pork tossed with fermented shrimp sauce. We ate all of this with Garlic Fried Rice. For dessert we had the Fil-Spanish (as far as I know this dessert doesn't exist in Spain) Brazo de Mercedes, similar to a a cake filled with cream or custard and rolled into log, in this case the cake is a spongy meringue filled with a thick egg custard, each slice is surrounded with a Creme Anglaise and topped with fruits. We walked out and drove home in stupor.

Patio Filipino
1770 El Camino Real
San Bruno, CA 94006
(650)872-9888

Kusina Salud's Valentine's Menu

After reading Kusina Salud's menu for Valentine's I almost wish I were home just so I could have lunch at the restaurant.

Chef Paul is doing it again with his creative menu using local and native ingredients in all his dishes. Just reading it is making me salivate.

In deference to one of our national heroes, Andres Bonifacio, we present our KKK Kamayan Sunday Lunch Buffet on Dec 16, 2007. Experience al fresco dining at our aviary courtyard!

A Nutritious Buffet at Kusina Salud

The Chef for this event is one of my favorites. Chef Paul Poblador was owner of the restaurant Salud in Baguio a few years ago. The food was creative, delicious and perfectly presented. I was very disappointed when they closed down. Good thing they opened a new establishment at Laguna.

Click on the poster for a larger view...

Lasang Pinoy 19: Barrio Fiesta

The theme for this month's Lasang Pinoy is fiesta food, hosted by Sarap Nito!. Sadly and inexplicably, I have never attended a town fiesta. Somehow I have lived life without participating in any of the Philippine's annual town festivities. This might be due to the fact that I was born and bred in the city and spent summers and vacations either at private out of town residences or abroad. I realize I have missed out on one of the culturally significant community based Filipino celebrations. I especially realized this after reading a thorough description and humorously written account of the fiesta by a foreign visitor aptly titled Surviving the Philippine Fiesta.

One thing for sure though, I have eaten every conceivable kind of fiesta food out there. Aside from the annual celebrations commemorating a particular town's patron saint, Fiesta food is also served during any kind of celebration, weddings, birthdays, anniversaries, baptisms or even an outdoor beach party. The one thing that defines a broad sense of the fiesta would be the quintessential fiesta food... lechon, a whole pig roasted on a spit. Because of a traumatic childhood experience, I cannot roast a whole pig for this blog event. But all is not lost, a simpler version of lechon created for the home cook is lechon kawali. My favorite.

This recipe for lechon kawali is from the cookbook Memories of Philippine Kitchens by Amy Besa and Romy Dorotan. On a side note, this book has recently won the IACP's (International Association of Culinary Professionals) prestigious Jane Grigson award held in Chicago. I was fortunate enough to have attended the book launch and purchase a copy which I had signed by Amy herself.

Lechon Kawali
This recipe requires three days of preparing, marinating, braising, air-drying and finally frying. So, to quote the book, "plan accordingly". A good idea would be to make a big batch, considering how long it takes to make, and freeze the boiled pork after step #3.

serves 4

4 pieces bone-in pork belly with skin, about 1 pound (1/2 kilo) each
1/2 cup + 2 tablespoons salt
3 bay leaves
2 tablespoons black peppercorn
1 head garlic, cloves separated, peeled and halved crosswise
1 large onion, quartered
1/2 cup rice vinegar or as needed to coat the pork belly
Canola oil, for frying (I use peanut oil)

Day 1
1. Rub the pork with 2 tablespoons of the salt, wrap tightly in plastic wrap, and refrigerate overnight.

Day 2
2. Rinse the pork, and place it in a large covered pot or Dutch oven with cold water to cover by 2 inches. Bring to boil, skim any foam that rise to the top. Add the remaining salt, bay leaves, peppercorns, garlic, and onion. Reduce the heat and simmer for 45 minutes to an hour or until meat is almost falling off the bone, adding additional water to keep the meat covered if necessary.

3. Preheat the oven to 400 degrees F. Prepare a roasting pan fitted with a wire rack. When pork is ready, remove it from the pot using tongs and transfer to the roasting pan. Pat dry with paper towels and brush all over with the vinegar. Roast the pork for 20 to 30 minutes, turning once. Remove from oven and keep in a cool place for at least 4 hours to dry or alternatively (especially if it is hot and humid), place in the refrigerator.

Day 3
4. Wipe the pork dry with paper towels. Fill a large pot or wok with about 4 inches of oil, enough to submerge the pork. Heat oil to 360 degrees F, using a frying thermometer. Fry pork pieces until skin is blistered and crisp, 5 to 7 minutes. Drain on paper towels. Remove bones and cut meat into 2-inch slices.

Barrio Fiesta Roundup.

Indonesian Fish with Sweet & Sour Sauce

This recipe is from a new cookbook I purchased several days ago. I served it last night as part of a dinner menu consisting of two other dishes. Too bad my camera is still on the blink (charger is not working) because the dish looked very good with the turmeric almond sauce dotted with cherry tomatoes and scallions. This is one dish you simply can't eat alone but, is perfect with steamed rice. I served two kinds of rice - a white and a purple rice from the mountains of Banaue. Purple rice happens to be my favorite and is quite rare. There's only one place I know that sells it in Baguio and even they have a limited supply. The purple rice is grown, harvested and packaged by a cooperative of indigenous Batad women farmers in Banaue's rice terraces. They also grow several other varieties of rice like red, brown and sticky white rice.

Fish with Sweet & Sour Sauce
from Cooking Around the World: Indonesia, by Sallie Morris

I doubled the spice paste and sauce ingredients called for in the book and used 2 cups of water instead of 1.5 cups to make the sauce.
serves 4

2 fillets of red snapper (about 1 kilo)
cornstarch for coating
oil for frying
salt & pepper

for the spice paste:
6 garlic cloves
4 lemongrass stems
2-inch fresh langkawas (galangal)
2-inch fresh ginger
1 1/2-inch fresh turmeric or 1 teaspoon ground
1/4 cup ground almonds

for the sauce:
2 tablespoons brown sugar
6 tablespoons Arenga or cider vinegar
2 cups water
4 lime leaves (optional)
1 bunch Tagalog onions, peeled and left whole or 8 shallots, quartered
2 cups cherry tomatoes or 6 tomatoes, quartered
6 scallions, sliced thinly at a diagonal
2 red chilies (optional)

Grind all the ingredients for the spice paste in food processor.

Season the fish fillets with salt & pepper. Lightly coat in cornstarch and fry in hot oil, about 8-9 minutes each side. Drain on paper towels. Place on serving platter.

Leave a little oil from frying in the pan, add the brown sugar, vinegar and water and bring to a boil. Add the lime leaves, Tagalog onions and spice paste, simmer for 1 minute. Add cherry tomatoes and simmer for 3-4 minutes until sauce has thickened. Add scallions and pour sauce over fried fish.