magic? nah! -- it's saladmaster :p

imagine cooking sinigang without water, and "baking" your favorite betty crocker mix on the stove top without milk nor water.

is that magic? not really.

last saturday, we were invited over a pinoy household to see a cooking demo using saladmaster cookware. a friend's friend asked us to just come over for the free lunch with no obligation to buy any of the products afterwards. free lunch? who says no to free lunch? not us, hehe.

we were first introduced to the products and why we were sitting at the dining area (except for the free lunch) in the first place. the presenter was ms joanne (del rosario), one of only two dealers of Saladmaster products in Singapore, and yes, she is Filipino. (pagdating rito sa sg, nagiging clannish ako, hehe).

joanne

she told us that more than selling the product, she wanted us to learn about how saladmaster can help consumers eat healthy. that was quite believable because we went there just to eat, hehe, and we also learned a lot, some of the things she shared, we already knew but we chose "not to know" because what we do not know won't hurt us, hehe.


i'll just walk you through what was prepared that afternoon, and you could be amazed yourselves :)

joanne was assisted by her husband engr del roasario (the first name slips me as i write this, sorry) and they started with the dessert.

betty crocker's chocolate cake.

1) she poured the cake mix on a mixing bowl
2) then cracked open an egg
3) using the saladmaster saladmachine, she added in shredded zucchini, cabbage and carrots! very fine shreds of vegetables. (we started looking at each other with puzzled looks, we were worried about the vegetables spoiling the taste of the chocolate cake for us :p)
4) as expected, the mixture was dry. but not for long, with constant mixing (chefs call it, fold-in hehe) the magic started and the cake was getting moist every stroke, as though we put water and milk.
5) she pre-heated one of the cooking pots over the stove top (not the oven) before lining the bottom with sliced apples.
6) after pouring the mixture over the apple slices, the no-oven baking started.

that's the cake mixture, lined with thinly sliced apples :)

see how it has gotten really moist?

some 25 minutes later, simultaneously cooking the sinigang and fried chicken. the cake was ready for us to devour.

parang torched creme brulee, pero hindi hehe...

and devoured the cake we did :) naglaho ang mga gulay, even the taste, 100 percent keyk :p

while the cake was baked on the stove top, we saw another magic :) magic sinigang. preparing sinigang the saladmaster way, toss all the ingredients in the pot, just like that, parang salad, hehe. no need for water, if you're using sinigang mix, ibudbod lang rin :) the magic is in the vegetables, niluto sila, hindi sa sarili nilangmantika, kundi sa kanilang sariling tubig. magic nga!

the tomatoes, onions and sili panigang went first

followed by the pork and the other vegetables (labanos/radish, sitao/string beans, pechay)

the sinigang was just left to cook covered, not once, after putting all the ingredients in the pot did they uncover the pot. that way, the presenter said, all the nutrients and flavor are kept inside. see the finished product below, the vegetables were more tasty and flavorful indeed! and the pork was cooked to perfection, malambot at masarap :) hehe syempre pa, pork eh.

if you want more soup, you can boil more broth separately then add to the vegetables :)

sarap ng sinigang!

as we waited for the sinigang, they prepared the fried chicken--cooked using the electric skillet without using oil :)

this electric skillet can also be used to grill :) its special feature, beneath the skillet is a lining of industrial oil that helps even out your cooking

pwede kahit punuin, and you can fry all the chicken in one go (15 minutes on one side and another 15 minutes on the other side, you have to flip the meat yourself, otherwise, magic na talaga un, hehe)

and after 30 minutes, ready na ang fried chicken, crisp and well-cooked hanggang loob :)

may bonus pang oil! that's how much animal fat we got :)
sarap!

the saladmaster has been in business for decades, you can only buy their products through authorized dealers. in sg, one of the two authorized dealers in healthy cooking solutions pte ltd, at 757 geylang road lorong 39, singapore (HP: +65-81983244). they have a different company handling the distribution in the Philippines. joanne went on saying that kris aquino purchased her saladmaster ultimate cooking set in 2007 for a whopping 1 million pi-eytch-pi, hehe! she jokes, ka-level niya si kris since she has the complete set, the same set she uses at home and for work, when she does her demonstrations.

they have the host a dinner/lunch rewards-scheme that gets most moms and cooking enthusiasts in a hosting frenzy. they have gifts for people who open their doors and let the saladmaster cook for them. and i quote from their website --

"Hosting a dinner is easy-and so much fun! Plus, you get rewarded just for opening your home and allowing us to cook for you. We'll cook an entire dinner for you and your friends with absolutely no obligation! We bring the food, do all the cleaning AND reward the hostess with a very special gift from Saladmaster. All you need to do is invite the friends and supply the beverages. It will be a night to remember!"

i think that's how it works even in the philippines. for those interested, i have included links to the website in this entry.

as for me, sarap lang ng free lunch. hehe :)

ang wisdom ni simba

i am not the person who is comfortable with being the center of attention. i took a personality profile test, and it showed (revealing so much more, some of which i am not really happy about hehe)! but here i am posting a picture of me. myself. oo, ako yan! we were experementing on making the eyes smile--whether the eyes can smile and give the impression of a smile even without seeing the actual smile.

ate ana likes this picture, she tells me it's nice. jeri, my 6-year old cousin, jumped in surprise when she first saw it as my profile picture in ym (yes we chat a lot, she uses her mom's YM account). they said it was very real, as though i was about to move out from the screen in one swift move. even miss lebron, who took the picture said, nakakatakot kasi parang totoo, hehe. tita told me, she saw jeri putting her nose on my picture's nose, as if i was there. and i couldn't help but smile. we were nose to nose ;-)

it isn't too obvious that i miss my family a lot eh? i am past the stage where i cried almost every night. besides, hindi naman ganoon kalayo at mayroon namang chat, text at tawag, at kagagaling lang nila mama rito, pero kahit na, iba pa rin kasi.

bakit ako nag eemote? hehe... wala kasi akong magawa. i have nothing to do but find something worthwhile to do. i am actually working on an article (work-related), but i've been getting a serious writer's block on the topic i'm at. pero bakit nga ba? 11 months na kasi ko rito come august 19 and i'd like to think that it is in itself an achievement, i mean, working(?) and living away from home for almost a year is in itself an achievement for someone like me.

i have earlier treated myself to a vanilla-filled lime ice drop (weird, pero masarap, it's one of the few good things that happened this week, a new find for dessert, hehe) to cheer myself up and continue to keep myself on track, despite the intermittent bad weathers i've been experiencing. i have come to realize for the nth time, that all things are passing, nothing is permanent. so if you find youself down in the doldrums, lilipas rin iyan. when you are self-absorbed and enjoying the power and wealth that is not yours to begin with, may katapusan rin iyan. karma is another layer of the same cake, and as far as karma is concerned, it is best to do good and leave the rest to its natural course.

Ika nga sa kwento ni Simba,

From the day we arrive on the planet
And blinking, step into the sun
There's more to be seen than can ever be seen
More to do than can ever be done
 
Some say eat or be eaten
Some say live and let live
But all are agreed as they join the stampede
You should never take more than you give

In the Circle of Life

It's the wheel of fortune
It's the leap of faith
It's the band of hope
Till we find our place
On the path unwinding
In the Circle, the Circle of Life

Roaarrr.