Pinasugbo

I have been craving this Southern Philippines snack/sweet but couldn't find a recipe for the syrup. It is thinly sliced saba banana crisply fried and dipped in brown sugar syrup and encased in a piece of white paper cone. You eat the slices one at a time, sometimes struggling to separate the slices and when you are almost at the bottom, you end up eating a portion of the paper because it is super sticky and you don't want to waste good bananas and sugar coating :D

I used semi ripe Thai bananas which somewhat resemble the saba variety although smaller, at 3 x 1 inches, and the taste is not as good. For the paper I used the edible potato wafers for wrapping turrones. The paper is incredibly perfect with the brown sugar syrup. Maybe I'll just brush the wafers with syrup and eat that, heheh, mmm potato and sugar.
The syrup hardened which is not how I remember the pinasugbo. I have to adjust something in the cooking process which is frying and dipping, how complicated could it be? If somebody knows, please, please let me know.

Book Review

I'm off to a bad start in my 2007 reading list. But the year is young and there will be outstanding novels to come, I'm sure.

ABSURDISTAN by Gary Shteyngart ½ star
I borrowed this book when I read that it was one of the New York Times 2006 10 best fiction and The Washington Post Bookworld 100 best fiction. Well, I did not like this book at all, and only finished 1/3 of it. The author tried being: funny, witty, serious, political, but failed in all categories, in my opinion. All the characters are as flat as cardboard cutouts, regardless of the main character being grossly obese, if you can imagine a fat person flat as a pancake. Not one sentence or incident induced a smile, or even a smirk from me. I hate this book! It is so close to being one of the worst books I ever read.

LOVE, LIES & LIQUOR by M. C. Beaton 2 stars
I have read almost all the mystery novels written by this author, both the Hamish Macbeth and Agatha Raisin and 2 in her Edwardian series. The last 2 Agatha Raisin books were not as funny and sharp nor different from the previous ones. It's the same old, same old story line and the non-romance with Agatha's ex/future husband James Lacey is just annoying and boring. I wish M. C. Beaton kills this guy off in her next installment in this series. Or she should take a break from writing 3 books a year!

THE BOOK OF DAVE by Will Self 3½ stars
The book is brilliant, actually, but I'm giving it only 3½ stars because it was difficult to read. I am not an expert in reading cockney or mockney (mock cockney) and reading it felt like trudging through the English mire, I had to read the conversation parts twice, especially at the beginning, to familiarize myself with it. It is still highly recommended, though.

Corned Beef Hash

corned beef hash, steamed rice and boiled edamame for dinner tonight

Today's "corned" beef are actually brined or pickled with salt, pink salt and spices, but the word corned (salt as big as corn kernels) stuck so people still call them corned beef. Mine is actually just beef brisket boiled for 2 hours with salt, peppercorns, bay leaf and mustard seeds. I sliced the cooked beef in half lengthwise, then shredded into thick pieces. For the hash, I diced and fried 4 medium potatoes, then sauteed for 3 minutes 1 crushed garlic, 1 sliced medium onion, and 1 chopped tomato, then added the shredded beef, the fried potatoes, and some of the broth. We Filipinos love it not just for dinner but also for breakfast with fried rice and fried eggs. Whether you use the ready brined/pickled corned beef or uncured beef, it will always be superior to the mushy canned corned beef.

Piaya

After several failed attempts, a lot of wasted flour and shortening, and a very messy kitchen counter, I was finally able to make piaya, the ingredients and procedure I got from inq7.net December 2005 archive, which I discovered is already gone from their site. The piaya is flaky but I could not replicate the paper thinness of the store bought. They also did not puff up because they were thicker than they should be. Nevertheless I am very happy with them and ate 2 pieces, yummy.

This is exactly what was in the inq7 article:

Piaya
½ kilo flour
½ C vegetable shortening
½ kilo muscovado sugar

Mix flour and shortening, cut into 10-gm portions, flatten/press into rounds, put 10 gms muscovado, form into balls, flatten balls and bake.

Update: add a few tablespoons of water to the dough to make it more pliable.