Past dinners...

Fresh from Canada...

After hiding in our pantry this past summer, we finally got around to opening this can of wanna-be Spam...complete with an old fashioned "key" at the bottom to open the can!


Mmmm, "mechanically separated chicken, pork, water, and modified corn starch" to name a few ingredients...

We'll take our chances!

I laid out some ingredients that I thought I could use...

I ended up no using artichoke hearts and the red and yellow bells (bought from Otay Farms Market). The green bell pepper, I am proud to say, came from our backyard.

Bert's nice and neat "dice work" on the Kam.  He said it "felt" different than slicing regular Spam. For one thing, this was much "softer" and less gelatinous than Spam. It was also a darker reddish pink color.

While Bert diced the Kam, I smashed some garlic cloves, chopped up an onion, and sliced up the green and orange bell peppers and got a quick saute going, then added the Kam. Just for a splash of flavor, I added a small dash of teriyaki sauce. We ended up eating this rolled up in these flour tortillas that we bought from Costco. They are "uncooked" and puff up within a minute in the pan. TC enjoyed making "burritos" with this mixture.

As for the taste of KAM? Not even close to Spam at all! This a bit more salty and it tasted kind of "mealy" and too soft for my liking.  Well, we just had to give it a shot! Those peppers were good though! Yay for homegrown!

Another night last week, I bought a whole chicken from Fresh & Easy. This was marked down since the expiration date was the day that I bought it. For $4.27, I went for it. The only thing about this was that I did not have any kitchen twine to truss up the legs.

I seasoned the cavity with salt and pepper and shoved in half of a lemon from our backyard. The outside of the bird was rubbed with a mixture of softened butter, curry powder, turmeric, black pepper, onion powder, garlic powder and cumin. For good measure, I added some under the breast skin. Lastly, I chopped up a few russet potatoes and added that to the pan and brushed them with olive oil before sticking it in the oven. I let it roast at 350 F for about an hour and a half. I had the breast covered with foil for about 30 minutes towards the beginning, then removed it for the last half hour. The skin was so fragrant and crisp. It smelled quite exotic. I think for the next time, I'll do without the cumin and maybe do a five spice powder/star anise flavored chicken.

This was a pretty hearty meal that lasted us half the week. It was delicious eaten in "wrap" form as well. Fun with flour tortillas, I call it.



Sometime last week, I also utilized these packages of ampalaya leaves (bittermelon) and bamboo shoots bought from Seafood City.

I was disappointed with this batch of bittermelon leaves. They were too "mature"; the vines were a bit thick and many of the leaves were not fresh looking. Those must have been hidden or coiled within the package because it looked all right when I bought it. Anyhow, that was a $2.00-something mistake. Out of the whole package, I used maybe one fourth of it and tossed the rest.

I started off sauteeing some garlic and onion in oil, then I added the bamboo shoots and let that cook for a few minutes. I added some chicken broth and the leaves last, then covered the pan with my wok lid to let the leave steam down. I normally would add Chinese Sausage or shrimp to this, but since I didn't have any, made this meatless. A splash of teriyaki sauce finished off the seasoning along with cracked black pepper. This isn't anything really traditional Filipino. I just whipped it together.

The leaves, obviously, were bitter so the bamboo shoots took on that bitterness. I liked it but TC did not.

Another side dish I made a few weeks ago were roasted yams (bought from Otay Farms Market). Just peel them, cut them up, brush with olive oil and season with black pepper and sea salt. I roasted these at 375 F for 45 minutes.

That same day, Bert and TC brought home some fried chicken from the Popeyes in National City...

Man, I haven't had Popeye's in years! This was a welcome surprise!

Oh, that crispy skin! Anyhow, that's what we've been eating for the past week or so...