TBK Tells from farm to table

 

         Drew came to stay and enjoyed his Filipino Breakfast at the Cabins at LVF

I first came across the "Farm to Table" concept when I stayed at the Cabins at LVF in Santa Lourdes a few years back ( https://www.thecabinsph.com/) then run by Beth and Paul. You select the organic produce grown on the farm and they cook and serve it for your breakfast or dinner. You can read more about my stay here:

https://thebritishkabayan.blogspot.com/2020/05/the-cabins-at-lvf.html

As I was writing this Blog , another friend, Gracie, told me the sad news that Beth had died. My condolences to her husband Paul and their family.

A while back my friend Luis suggested I filmed a Vlog at the market here in Puerto so you can see the full story behind TBK cooks and our Online recipe books:

https://thebritishkabayan.blogspot.com/p/recipe-flipbooks.html

https://thebritishkabayan.blogspot.com/p/the-2023-recipe-book.html

In the middle of each week I select a recipe book from my collection. Thanks to the generosity of my friends over the years I now have 58 recipe books 

                               TBK with his 58 recipe books- Photo by Frythy

In addition we have 8 lever arch files of recipes I have downloaded from the internet or cut from magazines , or been given on weight loss programmes. I also have several scrapbooks where I have cut and pasted recipes from newspapers and magazines on my travels around the world.

A sample of the lever arch files full of recipes and scrapbooks

Then there are all the recipes from the cookery lessons I attended around the world ( Malaysia, Cambodia, Vietnam, Thailand , India and the Philippines). 

  Two sets of recipe cards from the courses I did in Cambodia in 2016 and 2019

Sometimes, particularly if I have guests staying or coming to eat I will ask them to choose a cuisine or a favourite dish.

The point I am making is I rarely make the same dish twice- or of I do it will be several years apart.

The next stage is having decided the cuisine I will cook the following week ( and in the case of this Blog and Vlog it's Indian food), I sit with a cup of coffee and a pad of post its and go through marking which dishes I will prepare the following week.

              My menu planner for this week- as I eat the dish I highlight it

Several years ago my friend Jane Frost who saw me do this started giving me every Christmas a menu planner on which to record my choices. The last one ran out a few weeks ago but I copied it on my printer so it will last until I can buy some more. I record special events and reminders ( weigh in, blood sugar measurement, Vets and doctors appointments and when my houseboys will be here) ( yes I feed them too!). Above is the example for this week. Someone asked once what happened if I did not feel like a dish on a certain day. I answered that its just a plan to know what food to buy and prepare. Often something happens at short notice ( Like I found out it was a friends anniversary this week so ordered a cake , and I collected the yogurt at the same time so had the Berry Parfait later in the week.)

                     My handwritten list- which only I can read!

From that I then handwrite a shopping list of ingredients I need which I then type the ones I want Jhoanna to get ( more readily available and available from the market) and send her the list. She then marks the items she will get from the market (Palengke) and the rest she gets from the NCC supermarket next to the market. She keeps the list in her mobile and refers to it as she goes around the market. Then she completes the costs of the items when she gets home. She then emails me the list back so I can enter the cost on my expenditure sheet and pay her when she delivers the food.

Jhoanna also tops up my mobile and Wi-Fi each week ( pay as you go as its called in UK or Prepaid. Here they call it " Load")

Sometimes she also helps with the food preparation ( peeling prawns) that I am not fond of. 

Then you will see my TBK Cooks videos and blogs where I prepare and serve the food or see the final recipes in the recipe book.

So the bit that has been missing until now is going to Market and buying the food. Last Sunday I arranged to shadow Jhoanna as she got our farm fresh shopping at the market. This is a key part of the operation as we need high quality fresh food to make a tasty healthy dish. One of the problems, which I have written about in earlier blogs ( https://thebritishkabayan.blogspot.com/2023/04/tbk-asks-do-you-know-your-onions.html ) , particularly when you are cooking Malaysian, Cambodian, Vietnamese or Indian food is finding the ingredients. The difficult to find items I go in search of and use 3 or 4 specialist shops to find these:

Puerto Deli on Manalo road - great for cheese, freshly baked french bread and sour dough, Frozen Lamb, Salmon and Steaks.

Deli Mart and More , on Malvar road- great for spices, Yogurt, Granola, Muesli, sweets, chocolates , sauces .

Bruno's on Valencia street- great for German and Swiss foods and sauces like Tahini, Apple sauce .

The Cupboard Project on Rizal avenue - great for all your baking needs - all types of flour, nuts, colourings and flavourings and kitchen equipment.

Strangely all four often have problems with their Point Of Sale equipment so take plenty of cash! Much of their food is also frozen as it is imported so you need to allow a couple of days for it to thaw out in the fridge before cooking. 

                                                                   Chef Arnel

For anything else I am fortunate to have a lot of Pinoy Chef friends like Chefs Arnel, Gracie, Mama Jam and Coco so I will ask them if they know where to find what I need. 

For British food ( HP Sauce, Saracens Malt Vinegar etc) the guy at Rustic Café on BM road has been very useful - advising how to buy the items on line which Jhoanna is expert at. We have also bought several items of China this way like sauce boats and Ramekin dishes. 

Chef Poochie also grows a lot of her own vegetables and has donated Kaffir Lime leaves for my curries and she makes organic Yogurt which Chester loves and I use in some of my dishes ( Berry Parfait and Cucumber and Tomato Raita). 

           Chester, the Yogurt dog, after licking Gracie's yogurt container clean

Other ingredients appear only occasionally so when I see them I buy them and Freeze them. I also have a couple of farms to visit that Gracie recommended that sell organic vegetables and herbs ( One is next to Bakers Hill and one on the way to Aborlan.)

So after a year here cooking food from around the world it is becoming a little easier to find what I need . Below you can see what happened when we went to the market . The software I use to edit the videos has had an upgrade and I have not yet paid hence the lack of sound in one part and the watermark!

As usual I always try and stimulate interaction with my readers so if you have a particular dish you would like me to make and record in a future blog or vlog please email me at thebritishkabayan@gmail.com and I will do my best to find your recipe!

                        Photo and Artistic Direction by Frythy!