Tuesday, August 16, 2011

Second of a Series: Practical Tips ni Ka Abe and Ka Melly on Paaralang Bayan sa Himpapawid, Radyo ng Bayan

1. To keep coffee hot longer, first pour hot water to preheat the cup. Empty the cup and pour in the real coffee. Enjoy.

2. If you are using glass for coffee, place a spoon first before pouring in the coffee. The metal absorbs sudden and excess heat that may cause the glass to crack.

3. Be sure oil is hot enough before putting into the pan the thing to wish to fry, say meat or fish. A drop of water will readily splatter when introduced into the pan. Be careful.

4. Get rid of ants in the kitchen. Wipe table, floor, and other surfaces with diluted natural vinegar. Vinegar freshens the smell of the kitchen as well.

5. To know if the honey you are buying is genuine or not, place it in the ref. Real honey does not solidify and has no residue. Fake honey does. Sugar in adulterated honey settles as thick residue.

7. Healthy and hale, take the plunge, or turn off the water heater. Temper your body, once in a while – then regularly. This builds resistance to changing weather conditions.

8. Forgot your toothbrush on a camping trip? Pick a small guava stem; chew to soften one end like brush. Chew young leaves like poultice as paste and astringent. Rinse and you’ll feel fresh.

9. Serve lemonade without tasting and know its sweetness is just right. Stir with calculated sugar. When seeds float, it’s too sweet. If they settle down you need more sugar.

10. To make potato fries crispy on the outside and soft inside, immerse in ice water for a minute or two. Proceed with usual deep frying. Do the same with kamote or sweet potato, gabi (taro), and ubi and sinkamas (yam)

11. Wood ash from firewood and charcoal for cleaning. Removes slime when scaling fish, cleans metals and utensils, and eases disposal of pet droppings. Gather ash after cooking and store in a convenient container. Dispose ash after use as fertilizer; ash is rich in potassium, a major plant nutrient.

12. Keep salt in glass container snugly closed every after use. It is hygroscopic, that is, it absorbs humidity causing it to become soggy. Coffee cakes when exposed, so with sugar. Spices lose their essence.

13. Hang in dry and cool place garlic and shallot onion in bundles to prolong shelf life. In the province. the bundles are hanged above the stove. Smoke is a natural protectant against pests and rot.

14. To hasten the ripening of fruits like chico, mango, guyabano, atis and caimito, rub a little salt at the base of the peduncle (fruit stem). For nangka, drive a stake of bamboo or wood 2 to 3 inches long through the base of the stem. As a rule pick only fully mature fruits.

15. Collective ripening of various fruits is hastened with the inclusion of banana in the plastic pack or container. Explanation: the trapped ethylene gas emitted by banana catalyses ripening.

16. Pry open, instead of pounding with stone or hammer, oyster using the tip of an ordinay knife. Find the hinge behind the shell. This is its Achilles heel. Insert and twist. Poor shell simply opens clean and whole. Eat straight with gusto.

17. When eating banana, observe your friends peel. If peel is in three pieces, that normal - human; if four or more, that's angelic; if two, primitive - and if he removes the peel completely and holds banana with bare hands, that's evolution. Of course, this is just for a lively gathering.

18. Bagoong smells, so with patis. But the best recipes can't be without. Here's what to do. Heat desired amount of water with bagoong to boiling, don't stir. Get rid of the froth. Now you can proceed with the usual cooking of bulanglang, pinakbet, and the like. Walang amoy bagoong o patis. (No trace of the raw smell)

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