It was stormy last night. The wind was howling like a lone coyote hunting for its supper. The pine trees were swaying in the dark, forming dancing shadows, and any dried brown leaves from the barren trees that clung on to the past season, were now gone. The ground in the backyard formed a stream of water that gushed down into the side fence, flushing into a pool of water.
From the second floor window of the house, I saw a small slit of light peeking through the clouds, illuminating the new day. Viv is already awake and preparing herself for another day at work. She’s been busy lately, with all the demands of running a business office for a media company. Today is no exception, so I proceeded to head for the kitchen downstairs, and fix her baon – the Filipino equivalent of a lunch box. My own love offering to a patient wife, and before they moved out, to our two daughters, just a simple gesture that many parents do for their loved ones.
I’ve been fixing baon for my family and myself for more than 25 years, mostly sandwiches for expediency, but in the last years, I’ve been making something far more adventurous than, at least a bit different from, the regular the ham and cheese combo. It might as simple as adding a piece of red pepper, or the leftover bean dish the night before, or kimchi rice and roast pork loin, to couscous salad with a slice of homemade sourdough bread. Ever since I started working from home, I’ve had more time to be introspective and experiment in the culinary arts. Well, not really as highfalutin as “culinary arts,” but just practical cooking with simple ingredients and baking, specifically bread baking, which is one of my passions.
This morning, as I prepare our breakfast of a slice of toasted sourdough with melted pepper cheese, and pan fried egg in coconut oil, I resolved to make this first blog entry. I intend to post here my thoughts, and offer some tips in simple baking and cooking, even perhaps share some culinary adventures, and other concerns that may prove helpful to some of you. By the way, her baon is a full version of the breakfast – melted pepper jack and stone ground mustard with roast pork loin between two slices of sourdough that I baked two days ago.
Sorry I did not think to take a shot of the actual sandwich or breakfast, but here’s my open-faced cheese sandwich for lunch. Added apples on the toasted sourdough and cheese, some of the leftover black bean couscous salad, and a line of sriracha for a spike.
Homemade multigrain sourdough bread
The rain just stopped outside, although clouds are still lingering overhead. The wind passed and left an eerie stillness in this gray winter day. It’s time to walk our dog Ginger, who is looking at me now, anticipating the cherished event. I better take advantage of this break in the weather, since the forecast predicts the rain to return in an hour. I can also put in my daily mile exercise without my raincoat.
Meet Ginger – we adopted her from a local shelter a couple of years ago.
After that I will come back to check on the ham I just put in the oven an hour ago. I bought this seven pound piece of meat on sale, probably an overstock from the holidays, and thought of making brown-sugared ham. This meat will feed the two of us for a long time.
Brown sugared Ham
6-8 lb butt or shank ham
1 cup brown sugar
Preheat the oven to 225 deg F.
Place meat on a roasting tray or rimmed baking sheet. Dab the ham dry with paper towels. Score the meat by cutting crisscross patterns on the surface. Press sugar around the ham, putting back as much as possible any sugar that has fallen off the meat. Put the ham in the oven and bake for 3-4 hours, or 35 minutes per pound, until the ham browns and the sugar caramelizes.
Take out form oven, let cool, and slice thinly to serve.
BreadQuest 