Running For Terry

Today, September 19, 2014, my little girl participated in her first Terry Fox Run in school. I understand it was an easy run around the backyard of the school, though I don't know how many laps they ran or how long they took out there.

Of course, always the curious one, I had to find out who Terry Fox was, what the Toonie for Terry was for, and why the annual run?

I discovered this short bio online and found it very helpful in making me understand and empathize more:
http://www.terryfox.org/SchoolRun/legacy_story.html

In summary, Terry was a young boy of 18 who lost his leg to cancer. He endeavored to run across Canada with an artificial leg to raise awareness and funds for cancer research. He was successful in his goal but died when his cancer returned.

Today, his legacy lives on and Terry Fox Runs are held every year in Canada and several other countries in aide of cancer research. The kids in school donated a toonie each for the Terry Fox Foundation.

The article is a better source and more touching than this hurried roundup, believe me. I strongly suggest you read it.

I wish I had read up on him sooner. Maybe then I would have not been too lazy to go back and join Kissy in their run in school earlier today. Well, I'll get my chance next year. My running shoes will be waiting.

My little girl ran for JULIA + TERRY

The Terry Fox Run Logo

Beef with Mushrooms

Hi, all! I wish everyone were having a good day but I heard there's a typhoon over in the Philippines where a lot of my family and friends are, so I hope everyone is safe and dry and warm.

Anyway, I posted my lunch yesterday on Facebook and I've received a couple of requests for the recipe. It's quite simple, really and very easy to make.

I love mushrooms so I put Beef with Mushrooms on my menu list and finally got to do it. Here's how:

Ingredients:

• 1 kilo beef, cut into 1/2 inch cubes                                                                                

                    * I used beef stew cuts. If you want your beef tender, I think you should boil                                             beforehand. This is what I'm gonna do next time.)

• flour for dredging 
• 2 beef cubes in 3 cups water for the beef broth
• 1 medium onion, chopped
• 1 teaspoon parsley, finely chopped
• 2 stalks celery
• 2 cups of mushroom, sliced                                                                                                       

                    * I used Brown Mushrooms (it said on the packaging) for this recipe.

• Salt and pepper to taste

Procedure:

1. Heat oil in skillet ready for frying.
2. Dredge beef in flour and fry until brown.
3. Once fried, lower the heat and pour in all ingredients except mushrooms : onion, parsley, celery and beef broth.
4. Let boil and simmer till your beef is tender (about 30 - 45 minutes).
5. Add salt and pepper to taste.
6. Put in the mushrooms and cook for 5 minutes more.
7. Serve and enjoy!

I couldn't help but enjoy a cup of rice topped with my beef and mushrooms! That was lunch. I had it again for dinner but this time I had bread with it instead. Still, yummy!

Sharing what I learned in the process of preparing this dish,  about differentiating Parsley and Cilantro. I opened the fridge and found 2 almost identical bunches of green leaves which threw me off a little so I did some research and asked how the "pros" could tell them apart.

Chicken Asado

Hello again!

I wasn’t that eager to post my Chicken Asado recipe since I felt, hmmm... it was more of a trial of sorts and it still needed some “polishing”. But, it came out good and a friend is actually asking for a copy (no secret ingredients here! Haha) so here it is now:

Ingredients:

§  1 kilo chicken

§  1/4 cup lemon juice

* I used the concentrated juice (see picture below) ‘cause it’s what we had in the fridge. If you do use the same, you might want to be a little conservative and try to start with a little first and then add on according to taste. I will take note of how much I use next time. J

§  8 tablespoons soy sauce or half a cup

* Again, I’m not too sure about this. I kept on adding so I’m guessing I put in about half a cup. As with the lemon juice, add according to taste.

§  1/4 cup butter

§  1 1/2 cup of tomato sauce

§  1 large onion, diced

§  2 pieces dried bay leaves

§  2 large potatoes, quartered

§  2 teaspoon salt

§  1/2 teaspoon ground black pepper

§  3/4 cup cooking oil

Procedure

1.    Rub the chicken with salt and pepper and let stand for at least 30 minutes to an hour.

2.    Pan fry the chicken. Set aside.

3.    Heat a cooking pot or wok then put-in the butter.

4.    Sauté the onion in butter.

5.    Add-in the bay leaves and cook for a minute.

6.    Pour-in the tomato sauce and bring to a boil.

7.    Add the soy sauce and lemon juice. Stir and simmer for 5 to 7 minutes.

8.    Add the pan-fried chicken and simmer for 10 minutes.

9.    Place the potatoes in and continue to simmer for 7 to 12 minutes.

10. All done! Transfer to a serving dish.

For a small family like ours, 2 adults and 1 kid, this recipe was good for 3 meals.

The lemon juice concentrate that I used.

                                   

For newbies in the kitchen like me, I’m adding something new to learn.

Kitchen Vocabulary:

Pan Fry

       

Pan-frying is one form of frying characterized by the use of just a little or minimal cooking oil. You only need enough oil to grease the pan. Because of the minimal coverage, you must flip the food so both sides can be cooked.

Happy cooking!

Ting