Bacalao is a salted fish dish with vegetables that I grew up eating every Good Friday in my hometown, Cavite City. It is one of my comfort food. This dish reminds me of my childhood and gives me the Semana Santa feels. Bacalao is best served with steamed white rice or with hot pandesal.
Sharing with you my BACALAO RECIPE:
Ingredients:
1/2 kilo Dried Salted Cod Fish or any Dried Salted Fish with thick flesh like lapu-lapu or labahita – soak overnight and shred – remove bones
1/4 – 1/2 c extra virgin olive oil
2-4 tbsp atsuete seeds (dry)
4 cloves garlic minced
1 medium sized onion chopped
1 big potato cubed
150 – 200 gms garbanzos or chick peas cooked and peeled
1/4 cup water
1 small cabbage cut in small pieces
1 big red bell pepper diced
patis and freshly ground pepper to taste
Procedure:
In a pan heat the olive oil, fry the cubed potatoes until light brown or half cooked, remove from oil, set aside.
In the same pan with the same oil, fry the atsuete seeds until color is released into the oil. Remove atsuete seeds, discard.
In the same pan and oil, sautee garlic and onions until onions are limp and transluscent, be careful not to burn the garlic.
Place the shredded fish and sautee for about a minute
Add the garbanzos, mix well.
Pour in the water, cover and simmer for about 5 minutes.
Add the cabbage, mix and cook for about 3 minutes.
Put in the semi cooked potato and cubed bellpeppers, mix well. You may add extra olive oil if needed. Season with patis and pepper to taste. Cover and cook for another 5 minutes.
Serve hot with rice or pandesal.
Enjoy!
It is not only a dish but more of a tradition that has been passed on from generation to generation. Hoping that the next generations would love it as much as we do.
Goodbye January… Hello February! I am not yet done with my goals and schedules for 2020 and January breezed thru just like that! Speaking of goals, if one of your objectives this year is to teach your kids a new language or widen their vocabulary, this might help you. This post will be about our Word Bank – a visual board that is used to enhance our kids’ vocabulary. Read on…
A couple of years ago, when my kids were much younger, I wanted to teach them Chabacano – a Spanish based creole and Kapampangan – my husband’s dialect. Then I decided to write down words and post it on the wall for them to see and read. That is when our “Word Bank” was born. In a corner in our home, I’ve placed a board where I wrote words that my kids would read and understand and hopefully they would remember and apply in the future.
What’s in our Word Bank?
Our Word Bank has the following:
A vocabulary English word with it’s meaning
The English vocabulary word used in a sentence
An idiomatic expression and it’s meaning
A common English word translated in Tagalog, Chabacano and Kapampangan
I made it colorful to attract their attention. I would also place drawings to emphasize the meaning of the words.
Materials used for our Word Bank
With a little creativity, research and the following materials, you can do your own Word Bank at home. Things needed are:
Illustration board – the black portion
Colored Chalks
Document Clips
Stick on hooks
Word Bank Samples
Here are some samples of the word bank that I’ve done:
Simultaneous on our Word Bank
Visual Vocabulary Board with the word “Gratitude”
Word Bank – Don’t be too nosy!
1 Corinthians 16:14 on our Word Bank
Schedule
At first I would change the board on a weekly basis but gradually it became a tedious task on my part. So last year’s plan was that I would write bible verses on the first week, idioms on the second, English vocabulary on the third and the dialect translations on the fourth week and there would be a line up of the verses, words and idioms for the entire year so it would be easier on my part, but still it didn’t materialize. It would take me forever to update it!.
2020 Word Bank – Visual Vocabulary Board
I’m planning to start again this year and hopefully I will be able to update it on a weekly basis with the schedule like last year’s:
First Week – Bible Verse
Second Week – Idiomatic Expression
Third Week – English Vocabulary
Fourth Week – English, Tagalog , Chabacano and Kapampangan
Fifth Week – Tagalog saying
I’m excited to make the line up for this year! How about you, do you have plans that you were not able to do last year? It’s never too late to start again, right? We can do it!
Here’s my first entry for our 2020 Word Bank.
2020 Word Bank Romans 12:2
Hope you found some inspiration in this post. Thanks for dropping by and I wish you’d visit again soon. 🙂
Is your child having a hard time
remembering the multiplication table?
These tips might help them memorize their times table easily. Read on…
One of the most daunting task in
primary school is to memorize the multiplication table. Mastery of the times table comes handy in
more complex math topics taught in school and is very useful in everyday living. Those who got overwhelmed in memorizing their
tables find math (in general) as a challenge.
Here are some of the things we did that could help your child in
memorizing the multiplication table:
Put up visuals for familiarization
Most kids are
visual, well, my kids are. They learn
more by seeing. What we did was to post
the multiplication table on the wall where they can see them. We would encourage them to recite the number
table by reading it every day. At first
we would read it with them, then, we encouraged them to read it on their own.
Our goal here is to familiarize them with the set of numbers so that they won’t
be intimidated by it.
Tip: Have a schedule on when to do it and be consistent, focus on one number table at a time.
Skip Count with a tune for retention
Kids learn song
lyrics easily, why not weave skip counting to some tunes that they are familiar
with? We skipped count 6s to the tune of
“Bahay Kubo”, 4s to the tune of “Row, row, row, your Boat” and 2s to the tune
of “How Bad can I be?” from the movie The Lorax. Nowadays skip counting songs are available
online, these would greatly help your children memorize their multiplication
table.
Tip: Make your kids listen to the skip count songs over and over. Play it as background music while they are playing or doing other stuff and in no time they will absorb it, just make sure the lyrics are very clear to avoid confusion.
Flash Cards for instant recall
Given that my
kids are visual, the flash cards helped them grasp it more. At first they used skip counting to compute
but seeing the multiplication number combination in the flash cards over and
over made them recall the answer instantly.
Repetition would make the recall somewhat automatic, when 7×3 is
flashed, they would automatically answer 21 since they saw it repeatedly in the
flashcards.
Tip: To make it more fun, play games with prizes using the flashcards.
Drill Sheets for reinforcement
These written
exercises help to reinforce their knowledge in multiplication. On vacations we would print out a number of
multiplication drill sheets for them to answer. They would have a schedule on when to answer
them. By doing this over and over they
became more comfortable with their multiplication skills and it gave their math
confidence a big boost. There are a lot
of free drill sheets available online for download.
Tip: If you have more than one child, make them check each other’s paper to further sharpen their multiplication skills.
Multiplication Games for supplement
There are tons
of online games and apps that could help your child learn the times table. Using gadgets promotes independent learning;
they can do this without our assistance.
It also makes learning fun for the younger generation.
Tip: Make an arrangement with your children that they have to play the multiplication game first before playing any other game.
Hope these ideas
will help you and your child in memorizing the multiplication table. Please do not expect that they will master it
in a week’s or even a month’s time. Each
person learns differently, cut them some slack if they forget or get confused,
even us adults get confused sometimes though we’ve been using the tables for decades
haha! Remember, always enjoy and have
fun while learning with your kids. Thanks for reading, wish you’d visit again!
If there’s one dish that would remind me of my Mom, it would be morcon. She would make it during special occasions like City Fiesta, Christmas and New Year. Morcon is a beef roulade (roll) stuffed with hotdogs, eggs, cheese, carrots, bell peppers and other colorful ingredients to make it look more appetizing. When served, this Filipino dish is sliced showing the rolled meat with its vibrant filling, smothered in tomato based liver sauce . My version of the morcon is the ‘deconstructed’ one or as I call it the lazy version, haha! I followed Mama’s recipe minus the rolling and stuffing part. The taste brings back fond memories of my Mom and my childhood. Here’s my Deconstructed Morcon Recipe.
Since it’s Father’s Day today in Australia, let me greet all the wonderful fathers out there a Happy Dad’s Day, may you continue to be pillars of strength and source of wisdom and guidance in your family.
Speaking of fathers, one of the best (if not the best) Dad that I look up to is my husband. If it wasn’t for him, I don’t think I would be as hands-on to our kids as I am now. Parenting is hard as it is but having a partner full of wisdom with whom the kids can look up to makes it a lot easier. Here are some of the things I learned from him through our conversations throughout the years:
While watching the kids’ performance in school…
Children’s Christmas Presentation
MOM: Dad,
aren’t they looking for you in your office?
DAD: 10 years from now, nobody would remember that I was not in the
office today, but 10 years from now my kids will never forget that I was with
them cheering for them during their school presentation
Prioritize Family
Your actions will show how much you prioritize your family. It’s very easy to say that you love them and that you’re doing what you’re doing for their sake but being with them physically brings it to a different level. You’re showing them how important they are to you and that assures them that you’re always there for them and it gives them confidence in you as their parent and in themselves as well.
After a trip…
Dad capturing kids’ Central Park experience
DAD: Ma, check the kids’ schedule, plan for another trip. I want to take the kids out.
MOM: But we just got back…?
DAD: Ma, the kids are growing too fast, I don’t want to miss an
opportunity to spend time with them. I
want to take them out as much as I could before I run out of time. They are kids for just a short while and soon
they will have plans of their own.
Invest Time
Life is short and time flies fast. The kids would not be kids for a long time, before you know it they are off to adventures of their own and you’ll be left thinking where the time went and wishing that you’ve spent more time with them. Make an effort, give them your time. Nobody can take those away from them.
After the kids broke or spilled something…
Dad fixing a broken toy
DAD: It’s ok, that’s easy to fix/clean up, don’t worry about it.
MOM: Why didn’t you get mad?
DAD: We don’t want them to shut themselves whenever they do something wrong. We want them to be open to us, to seek our help whenever they are having trouble and not hide it from us or lie about them. We don’t want them to be scared when they make mistakes but rather we want them to feel secured that Daddy and Mommy’s got their back and everything will be okay.
Encourage Openness
Anger will not resolve anything. It will only make things worse. For sure the kids do not mean to break or spill stuff just to make us mad. We don’t want our kids to hide things from us, so we better control our anger, as they say it takes 5 minutes to clean up spilled milk and a lot longer to heal a broken spirit. Let us make them feel that whatever they do, whether good or bad, we will always be there for them.
In a restaurant, after all our orders have been served…
Family Dinner in Fukuoka, Japan
MOM TO DAD: Why aren’t you eating?
Dad: The kids might want some more, I’m waiting so I could give
them mine.
Be Sensitive
Children have a lot of needs, be sure that you’re sensitive enough and always ready to provide for those needs. Sometimes it may require you to give up what you have so they could have them and most of the time it gives greater joy for a parent to see their children enjoying rather than satisfying his or her own need.
After I told our kids the conditions before they could have something…
Serious talk with Dad at the Golden Gate Bridge
DAD TO OUR KIDS: I will give you those not because you are good in school, nor because you did something great. I will give you those because you are my children and because Daddy loves you.
Love Unconditionally
When you do something for someone you love, you do it out of love and not because they did something deserving of that, right? Give, not because they are worthy to be given but because they are your children and you love them and that is more than enough reason, period.
One of my realizations is that if a finite human being is capable of loving his children like this, how much more does our infinite Creator loves us?
And there you have it, some of the things I learned from a wonderful father. Hope you guys enjoyed reading and maybe learned something from this post. Until my next article, thanks for visiting!
