They say a picture is worth a thousand words. Well, here is a whole bunch of them. Should be a few thousands in value then?

During the enhanced community quarantine (ECQ) here in Metro Manila, I had no choice but to do some home cooking and some not. I have to survive and I didn’t want to stuff canned goods, hotdogs or ready-to-eat microwavable meals down my throat for the next 30 to 60 days.

It is not my first venture into cooking. I’ve done some in the past. Rarely though. Mostly easy-ish ones such as Pork Adobo (Pork meat marinated in soy sauce and some vinegar and cooked with garlic, laurel leaves and whole black pepper) or baked salmon (If this is even considered cooking?). The results were usually in varying degrees of success (and failures perhaps like the salmon got over-baked or the pork too salty).

Anyway, I had to expand my “cooking skills” so I did not end up eating the same things again and again too. I’ve been learning to cook from my girlfriend for some time. Many times by observation. During the COVID19 lock-down of 2020, I just asked her how over the phone, I think. She’s a great cook, but a messy one in that it would look like a storm dropped by the kitchen afterwards (Hah! Sorry darleng… 😝).

I’ve taken photos of some of the food I’ve cooked (tried to). Honestly, these don’t look too appealing. It has crossed your mind, right? Did my best, I guess. Better to have tried and failed than not at all. And, lastly, I am the only one who ate all of these. So I don’t give a duck.

I recall that I also gave it a try at buttered shrimps, breaded chicken, some variations of nilagang baboy (boiled pork soup) and tortang talong (eggplant omelette). But those are not in the photos here.

Okay, that is not exactly all food down there. There is beer and coffee too. Couldn’t help it. But of course. Two of my favorite drinks. Not the brand, mind you. I’m sure you get what I’m saying.

At the top row on the right side: Salmon with mashed potatoes. Because I didn’t have an oven. It was supposed to be pan-seared but I ended up frying it, I think.

On the following row, first one from the left: Pinakbet. That is a popular Filipino mixed vegetable dish. Usually sauteed in patis (fish sauce) or bagoong (salted, fermented fish). I like the latter variant better.

Top row, right-hand image: I honestly don’t remember what that is. Probably some kind of Pinakbet, yep, but with more sauce that I thought at the time was a great idea. 🤣

Clockwise starting from the left:

• An attempt on making a vegetable salad with salted eggs. Don’t ask me how it turned out. Lol! I still ended up eating it no matter how weird it may have been.
• Fried galunggong. It is a type of mackerel that is common here in the Philippines.
• A sausage? Don’t have to explain that.
• Finally, giniling na baboy. Ground pork dish with green peas, carrots, potatoes and tomato sauce. Although this one I might have missed out on the last ingredient. Can’t remember really how that ended more dark-ish instead of reddish.

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