Pinakbet?

Just came across this blog yesterday by a Filipino food blogger and read his post on his favorite Filipino dish. Ha! It's mine, too! It's the one thing my Mom must cook for me whenever she comes to visit. In fact, I made my cousin, John, make it for me when he came to visit, too! He and Mom have a competition of sorts going on when it comes to food. I think both of their pinakbets are awesome, especially since I'm pinakbet making impaired. What is pinakbet? It is a pork and vegetable stew comprised mainly of tomatoes, eggplant, onions, garlic, bittermelon, chicharron (deep fried pork belly), patis or bagoong (fish sauces) and sometimes okra, lima beans and long green beans. Doesn't sound too hard to make, does it? Well, my first foray into the pinakbet making world ended up sadly like my fellow blogger Burnt Lumpia. It had all the right stuff, just didn't taste the way it should. Luckily, I have some of my Mom's pinakbet squirreled away in individual servings in my freezer that I can take out when I get a craving. After reading Burnt Lumpia's post, however, I feel the need to make some of my very own. Unfortunately, I can't find my notes from the last time she made it. Guess I'll be following Burnt Lumpia's instructions...or call my cousin, John!

What have I been crafting lately? Not a damn thing! Actually, I've knitted 3 dishcloths and crocheted one scrubbie. I haven't quilted or sewn anything although I want to make a tote bag tomorrow.

I found some fabric in my son's school colors and tomorrow is the "Bone" game, which is the biggest rivalry of the year against Rancho HS. This rivalry has been going on since the 1950's when, according to legend, each school claims that they were the ones to discover a dinosaur bone during an archeological dig. The bone was named Sir Herkimer's Bone. It's actually a leg bone from a cow that was painted silver and later bronzed. The two schools agreed that the bone would go to the winning school as the trophy. This game is such a sore spot in my household because my husband graduated from Rancho HS and our son attends Las Vegas HS. My husband refuses to wear anything in LVHS school colors and during the game, refuses to sit on LVHS' side. I think he's being ridiculous! There are so many parents of LVHS players who graduated from Rancho but they support their sons. Argh! Anyway, the JV plays tonight so I'd better get ready to go watch us beat Rancho, huh? Later!