Have a hot and spicy Valentine!

So... how are you spending your Valentine's? Want to know how I'm spending it? Well... we are going to be at this IT event in EDSA Shangri-La on the 15th and 16th. The ingress is -- you guessed it -- on the 14th! We'll be there practically the entire afternoon and probably most of the night if the set-up doesn't work as planned. Oh well.

But here's a hot and spicy Valentine's to you ... courtesy of my pickled peppers recipe ... version 2!

I have blogged about a pickled pepper recipe last 2005 (wow! time flies!). Check it out here and the result here. The first version involved a fair amount of chopping and cooking. Well, here's another recipe that's simpler to make!

You'll need:
Peppers (used for sinigang)
lasona (small, red onions)
vinegar (preferably cane vinegar)
whole black pepper
sugar
hot water
cold water
And before I forget... when we bought the peppers in Baguio, the first vendor we were going to buy from said "hindi maanghang yan" (my peppers are not the hot variety). We asked if this would be good for pickling, and she said it's better if it gives a little bite. So we got the kind that's on the spicy side. You can't tell the difference straight away between the hot and the regular kind, but the hot one has a darker shade of green.

So here's the way to pickle your pepper...

Wash the sinigang peppers clean.

Remove the stem and slice it into two. Remove the seeds. Is there a way to remove the seeds without touching a lot of them? My fingers are still burning 24 hours after we did this! Plastic gloves, perhaps?
Oh yes. Be careful where you place your hands after removing the seeds. Even after a couple of thorough hand washing, it can still sting! I learned this the hard way.

Guess what I did that made me wary of the power of this pepper.

Remove the skin of the onions. Slicing not needed if they're small.

Submerge the pepper in hot water (preferably freshly-boiled) in 3 to 5 seconds, then remove and pour cold water over it. We were told it's supposed to keep the crispiness of the pepper intact.

Now get the bottles and it's time to stuff in the peppers and the onions! For a regular jam bottle, we added three teaspoonfuls of sugar and around 2 tablespoons of black pepper.

Pour the vinegar and seal it up.
It's recommended that you store the pickles at room temperature for 7 days or more. If you're sure the jam bottles are sealed tight, it's also recommended to keep the bottles upside-down for a couple of days so the pepper at the top will be "cooked". Then bring it back to its right position for the remaining days.

I can't wait to try this out. When it's time to savour the pickled peppers, better have some fried fish handy! Yum yum!

A Hot and Spicy Happy Valentine's, everyone!

Weekend fair

Yesterday afternoon, my wife invited me to join her in her practice driving at South Drive in Baguio (South Drive is a long stretch of road from the former gate of John Hay, passing through the Hyatt Hotel site, and out to Wright Park). So Jo-Lo and I went with her. I wasn't exactly keen on dressing up to go, and I thought we'd be in the car most of the time. So I went with just a pair slippers, shorts, and a shirt on, while baby Jo-Lo wore white shirt and pants that were showing signs of wear from the day's eating of ice cream.

Having finished our afternoon drive, we decided to park at the Orchidarium at Burnham Park and take a leisurely stroll to the market to buy some veggies. We were indeed surprised when we spotted rows upon rows of stalls. Ah, yes. The month-long celebration of Panagbenga (Flower Festival) is upon us.

The tower beyond the clump of trees is the City Hall.
Lots of things are being sold at the booths. Silver jewelry, wood carvings, clothing, toys, food.
This one sells woven items made from newspapers!

The photo below was taken near Rizal Park where an archway welcomes you to trade fair. We were wondering why some of the stalls had a name of a country in it. We soon knew why as the archway read "International Trade Fair."

However, there was nothing international about the fair. All the goods being sold were local (save for some "Made in China" goods). Which prompted local newspapers to criticize the misleading "international" theme.I do hope they remove the country labels and drop the international theme. Nevertheless, there are some nice finds in the trade fair. I wonder if the native sling bags here are cheaper than the one at the Maharlika Livelihood Center? I better check it out next time we drop by again; I want one.

And the diagnosis is...

Maxilliary sinusitis. WebMD defines it as "an infection of the maxillary sinus, which is located in the mid-face". I was having my ears checked, and they found my sinusitis instead. Guess the nose, ears, and eyes are really interconnected, huh? At least the word "chronic" or "acute" is not appended to the diagnosis. I was being asked to go back so the EENT doctor can prescribe medication.

Thanks to everyone who wished me luck on the CT Scan! Unfortunately, I might not be able to see the scan itself; it's up there in Baguio. I'm feeling much better, by the way. The pain in my right ear is not as strong as before, and its recurrence is not as frequent.

Happy weekend!