the start of a new blog... why with cheese on top?

puto on its own with cheese on top!

"kung isa kang puto, which would you rather be? with dinuguan, with kutsinta, or on your own with cheese on top?"

this was one of the lines that i got from my best friend. i really can't remember where or when it was joked by him, but up until now it never fails to make me smile, or make the others that i share this with laugh and ponder on the question. yes, mala-beauty pageant ang dapat isagot kaya naman tuwang tuwa mga tinatanungan ko nito.

"...i would rather be on my own with cheese on top because i believe that we should all learn how to be independent, and to be complete even on our own. like a puto with cheese on top..." and i would go on and on with explaining.

most people would answer puto on its own with cheese on it, but there was one particular answer that got me. "ako, puto with dinuguan, kasi mas masarap ako pag may kasamang iba..." thinking about this friend's answer made me think that yeah, we can be independent, but it would also feel good to always have someone there with you. na kapag kasama mo e pakiramdam mo mas masaya, mas okay ang lahat. like dinuguan, it can be eaten on it's own, puto without cheese can be eaten also though not as good as those with cheese, but puto and dinuguan together is like heaven...

so my final answer? "i want to be a puto on it's own with cheese on top, but has the option to be with dinuguan." pak!
so from this line that will always be with me, and since this blog would have the occasional food pics, maybe some recepies here and there, and stuff... i decided to name this blog: with cheese on top. (and some dinuguan!) haha

anyway, just this weekend we went to an italian restaurant in trinoma (with my dad, uncle and 2 cousins) as a treat to them since i wasn't able to give them any food during my birthday. and one of the dishes we tried there is pasta (i LOVE pasta!) and we got their shrimp and mushroom linguine, and we all loved it. and because i kept on craving for pasta with shrimp, i tried to imitate it. about 2 days ago after a shift, pumunta na ako sa malapit na grocery mula sa office, and looked for shrimps. since i'm on a limited budget and the bigger ones are mas mahal kesa sa mga maliliit na hipon, i opted to buy the small ones. it's just at a little bit more than 100 pesos pero madami na kaya yun na. and when i arrived home i cooked it with some mushrooms, loads of garlic, diced tomatoes and oil.

i wasn't able to take a picture dahil tinamad ako so sorry about that. somewhat pomodoro (tomatoes and garlic fried in oil) with shrimps and mushrooms on it... the dish is easy to make and yet it tastes so good! it's convenient. it's like when you get home tired from work (tired, not dead tired) and you want pasta, just cook your noodles, then for the sauce you can just fry all of it in olive oil. just don't forget to stock up on canned diced tomatoes, and make sure your canned mushrooms is all sliced up already if you're feeling lazy to slice it on your own. also, i find peeled garlic to be convenient too. (you know those in sm supermarket stores, those that are peeled and then wrapped with cling wrap?) so if you have peeled garlic already, most of your efforts would just go to mincing it (aside from cooking the noodles, that is...)

i have this friend whose mom keeps a container full of chopped garlic in the fridge. maybe i'll do that sometime so i wouldn't have to chop anymore... but nothing beats the smell of garlic in your fingers from chopping all those garlic. (but not in you mouth though. haha)

my dad enjoyed the shrimps. and since there were some left over spaghetti noodles in the fridge, and half of the shrimps i decided to make another but this time with alfredo sauce (basically just cream and parmesan cheese) and this is what happened:

shrimp and garlic alfredo (cream and parmesan) in spaghetti, one of the dishes i tried with the frozen shrimps i had in the freezer

not as yummy as the one with tomatoes and garlic, but it still was good

i loved the shrimps in pomodoro more than shrimps with cream but it was still nice... i guess our family prefers tomato-based sauces over the cream-based ones...

tomatoes + cheese + garlic = yum! ^_^