One of the things I look forward to in December (besides winter to be over) is the Christmas Market or the Weihnachtsmarkt. Germans are so big in to these markets. Giant Christmas Trees, stalls of different specialty food and trinkets - and the best of all - a seemingly endless supply of Glühwein, basically a hot drink of sweet red wine and lots of nice spices. If you are hardcore, then you put a shot of rum in it. You'll find Christmas Markets all over Berlin. Some are touristy, some are tucked away. Some are simple, and some are extravagant.

It's December 1 and I am home alone so I figured to start the month right and visit my first Christmas Market this season.  First time I did it alone. It was 2 degrees (celcius) out and rainy, accompanied by my camera and music. Turns out it wasn't so bad after all.

On to the photo of the day from Berliner Weihnachtszeit at Roten Rathaus:

Two months ago, I brought home some frozen vegan pork belly made from soy protein and tapioca, bought from the Philippines. The tapioca is just so amazingly and unbelievably close to the texture, chewiness and fat of a pork. Imagine how much Filipino dishes I can veganize with this stuff? However, this fake meat is only available in the Philippines that I already dread the day my supply runs out.

Fortunately, I came across another pork belly style veggie meat at Vihn Loi (asian supermarket)!

But before jumping to the recipe, let me tell you a story.

I tested the PH-bought pork belly by just simply deep frying it and WOW it was amazing. Lechon kawali veganized! And so i thought i can make any pork dish from it. From tapa to sinigang, from afritada to menudo, from adobo to patatim. All of it!

And so I started with Pork Tapa...

And then my heart sank because I failed miserably.

I chopped the pork belly, marinaded in my special tapa sauce, and then fried it. To my horror, it just stuck together in clumps. We still ate it of course - we don't like throwing out food.  It appears that the tapioca got so sticky and wouldn't fry the way I would expect it because it has absorbed my ever so special marinade.

Lesson learned.

The important key to cook this thing is apparently frying it first, and then cook together with the marinade. How fried you'd like it to be would depend on what pork dish are you preparing. In this case, I wanted it to be crunchy in the outside, chewy on the inside so I just fried it enough so that there's still room for the marinade to get absorbed once I throw it in the pot.

Since this PH pork belly is basically the same ingredients as the Vihn Loi pork belly - both having tapioca, it should be prepared the same



Another important note: I usually just eyeball ingredients. Adjust according to your liking.

INGREDIENTS:

SAUCE (marinade)

1/4 cup soy sauce
1/2 lemon
2 Tbsp brown sugar
2  Cloves garlic - minced
Salt and pepper

1 pack Frozen Vegetable Streaky Pork (from Vihnloi) - sliced in to bite size pieces.
1 red long chili - sliced
Spring onion - chopped

1. Heat a generous amount of vegetable oil in a pan.
2. Fry the veggie meat until brown and cooked. Let the meat rest on a paper towel to remove excess oil and set aside.
3. Heat about 1 tablespoon of vegetable oil in a wok.
4. Saute red chili for about a minute.
5. Throw the veggie meat back and give it a good toss for about 10 seconds.
6. Set stove on medium heat. Pour the marinade.
7. Let it sit there and occasionally give it a stir until the sauce is absorbed.

Garnish with spring onions and eat with rice!

Spring has finally began!
Der Früh fängt an!

We officially opened our spring by going to The Green Market Berlin, a vegan lifestyle market that happens only every 3 months. So many cruelty-free goodies, so many awesome vegan food. Watch the summary of our day:

You can probably guess which among the goodies was my favourite  ( =^.^= ).

Snow is like pieces of clouds falling from the sky.

Sour Dough Bread

Pumpkin Spice Latte

French Toast

Bistek Tagalog is definitely in my top 5 Filipino dishes. Just the smell of it takes me back to my mom's kitchen in my good old youthful years. I thought I will never have a taste of it again... until soja rinderfilets of Vantastic Foods came to our lives.


Vantatic Foods Soja Rinderfilets mimics a thinly sliced beef fillet in dehydrated soy meat substitute form. I love the fact that I can now make and enjoy my favourite beef fillet dishes, more healthy and cruelty free.

Pros:
- When cooked, the beef fillet is very close to the chewy meat texture.
- Marinade is easily absorbed.
- Doesn't get jaw-breaking chewy when overcooked like the real beef meat. You'll never go wrong.

Con:
- You can taste the soy - of course, it is SOY! But we can fix that.

To remove the soy taste, here's what I do:

1. Boil in a pot of water for 3-5 minutes (or until tender all over).
2. Drain and wash in running tap water. Squeeze excess water.
3. Boil again in veggie broth for about 3 minutes, but this time, water must just be enough to submerge the meat (water is same level as meat? I'm lost for words).
4. Drain using a strainer and then squeeze excess liquid by just pressing with a spoon on the strainer.

Sounds like a lot of work, but trust me it is all worth it.

After these steps, you can cook the beef fillet normally as your recipe instructs.

Here's the recipe for my all time favourite Filipino beef steak (Bistek Tagalog) made from Vantastic Foods Rinderfilets. Just perfect.

A small disclaimer though : I'm well-known for just eyeballing ingredients, so feel free to adjust to your own liking.

Ingredients:
For the marinade:
- 1/3 cup soysauce
- 1 pc lemon or 4 pcs calamansi
- ground pepper

Base:
- 65g of Vantastic Foods Rinderfilets (dry)
- 2 pcs onion, sliced into rings
- 3 cloves garlic, minced
- 1/8 cup water
- pure coconut oil

MARINATE

1. Prepare the Vantastic Food rinderfilets as instructed above.
2. Put the meat in a mixing bowl and add the soy sauce and lemon/calamansi juice. Sprinkle some pepper and mix well. The marinade should be sour and a bit salty so adjust accordingly. If you feel like the meat is not well soaked with the marinade, add more soy sauce and lemon.

Note that the marinade becomes the sauce later, so if you want the dish to be more saucy, add a little bit more soy sauce and lemon/calamansi juice.

3. Marinate for 30 mins.

COOKING PROPER

1. Heat 2 TBSP of pure coconut oil in a pan.
2. Saute onion rings until soft and rings are loose. Remove onions and set aside.
3. In the same pan, fry the beef without the marinade for a few minutes until brown. Remove and set aside.
4. Still using the same pan, add 1 TBSP of coconut oil again and saute the minced garlic.
5. Pour the marinade and bring to a boil. Add 1/8 cup of water
6. Return the meat and simmer for 10-15 minutes or until the soy sauce is cooked and curdled a bit.
7. Add half of the onion and mix well.
8. Season with salt according to your liking. Bistek tagalog is usually salty but don't go overboard.
9. Top with the remaining onions and serve with white rice. Serves 2.

Why pure coconut oil?
I use pure coconut oil to mimic the fat that beef makes. The texture of pure coconut oil for me is a lot fatter than the regular vegetable oil. Pure coconut oil doesn't take like coconut at all so don't worry.

Being born and raised in a country that feels like summer all year long, I didn't use to care about summer at all. Moving to EU has changed me. Summer is now a luxury, a time of the year that must be spent to the fullest and must be cherished. I guess that is the bright side of only having it a few months in a year. I became more appreciative of the season.

Ćevapčići is a dish made up of minced pork and beef, cooked in a grill, comes in different forms and is traditionally found in the southeastern part of Europe (Thank you, Wikipedia).

I think it is important to emphasize that I know nothing about ćevapčići. My first and only introduction to ćevapčići was in its vegan form. I never had a taste of it and so I have no bench mark.


The veggie cevapcici (by Veggie Life) is a regular in our fridge for 3 main reasons:

• Good for frying
• Great for grilling - it is firm and doesn't easily crumble
• Very versatile

I always find myself inspired to take photos whenever I go to Benthuizen, a small town surrounded by farms where my parents-in-law lives. It is always picturesque and peaceful. Today, despite the sad truth that most farms here are dairy and meat farms, I decided to just suck all the beauty and momentary peace in.

Here are some of the stunning views I took in my 5 days of stay.