Yummy treats from Janice

I bumped into Janice de Belen once and told her that I would catch her show Spoon on Net 25 every now and then. I said that I liked her show and shamelessly expressed my desire to be a guest if schedules permit.

“But I don’t cook,” I complained. “I’ll do the cooking. You do the talking,” Janice shot back in jest.

I love Spoon. I love cooking shows. I’m a big fan of Giada de Laurentiis. Half of the things she blabbers about in her show, I don’t get. She moves about around her kitchen like the ballet dancer Alicia Alonso. She speaks with a seductive accent of an Italian contessa. I know she cooks excellent Italian food. Even if I haven’t tasted her food, I just know. I just know her epicurean talents. I just know that the group of people who get the chance to enjoy the sybaritic experience with her are exceptionally privileged. It’s a telepathic connection between me and Giada. I’m a fan. She’s a culinary star.

Which brings me back to Janice’s Spoon which is so easy to watch. It’s easy on the senses. And you can almost smell the food that Janice and her guests would whip up.

And of course the conversation that goes with the cooking. It’s always scintillating.

And it finally happened. I found a window in my frenzied schedule for my guesting in Spoon.

I was brought to the Iglesia ni Kristo complex where I was to tape my episode of Spoon in a neat, well-equipped studio. I was welcomed warmly and was ushered to the make-up room. I requested just for powder to cover the pesty oil wells on my face.

True to Janice’s joke, I talked more than I cooked. It was a blast. And I realized that it was my first guest appearance in a cook show — ever. Of course I would assist Krissie (Kris Aquino) in our cooking segments in Boy & Kris but that was the farthest I would go in terms of cooking.

Janice and I cooked as we talked. We talked as we cooked.

We talked about life and we cooked paksiw na bangus, my recipe that I would like to share with our readers.

Vegetable Paksiw Bangus

1 large size of bangus

5 pcs. of garlic

1 pc. of luya (slice thinly)

1 cup of suka (white vinegar)

º cup of water

1 tsp. of salt

10 pcs. of paminta

1 pc. ampalaya (slice diagonal)

1 pc. talong (slice diagonal)

Procedure:

1. Clean bangus (don’t remove the scales), slice into five pcs.

2. Place the bangus slice into palayok or thicker casserole.

3. Put some remaining ingredients.

4. Cover the pot until half cook.

      Add the slice vegetable and cover it, slow fire is better.

Thank you Janice! By the way, I eat paksiw na bangus with raisin bread!

It’s devilishly delicious!