cooking cooking like a rockstar: June 26 2024

there is really nothing much to write about today, i am even surprised by the lack of activity.
it is probably because i got really busy with work that my mind did not wander off to somewhere magical.
i had some considerations to do though, it was regarding which dish to cook for the week.
i know i had to cook, ordering out has hurt my account that much already.
but the dilemma was on what food to cook, i bought lots of veggies last monday.
and i also bought pork tendons (not tenderloins, but just tendons).
but i have plans this weekend, both saturday and sunday so eating in is not an option.
i had to cook a dish, not that much, which can be consumed within the weekday.

i let go of the meat, cooked the veggies.
meat was stored in the freezer, if only i could store veggies in the freezer then more options would open.

behold, pinakbet!

the ingredients were as follows

squash
carrots
bitter gourd (ampalaya in the philippines)
eggplant
shrimp paste (bagoong in the philippines)
dried shrimps for more flavor
tofu slices for protein source
garlic
salt and soy sauce to taste

i am no cooking expert but stir frying is really simple.
stir fried the aromatics then added in the rest of the vegetables starting with the hardest to cook.
which i thought was the squash, but it must probably be the bitter gourd: i'm still not sure till now.
added a little water to soften the veggies and done!
serve when the water reduced.
pinakbet usually have okra, string beans, and tomatoes but i couldn't find any of these when i did the groceries.
there were tomatoes but i wasn't planning on cooking pinakbet when i bought the ingredients, i just dumped in my bag whichever i saw which can be made into a dish.
that is how i usually run.
anyway, hope i can consume everything in four days.

as night went on, i settled with doing cardios in the gym, an hour walking on the treadmill.
i headed out late and had no energy left to do anything else.
i noticed new faces in the gym lately, not that i would interact with them.
i'm an introvert after all, that is against the protocol.