Nowadays, supermarket freezers are filled with ready-made food. Very convenient to people who doesn’t have time to cook. Not long ago, when I was working full time. I remember the hectic schedule I had. I worked from 7:00 p.m to 4:30 p.m and I always hurried home because I know that my family are waiting for me…hungry. My hubby had been wondering where I got all the energy dahil kararating ko lang nakatayo na kaagad ako sa kusina at nagluluto. He kept on telling me not to bother cooking cause he knew I’m tired. But I simply can’t eat microwave food, it taste like plastic and besides I love cooking. You might not understand me when I say that I find cooking very relaxing. It’s my way of digesting all the stress from work. By the time I served what I prepared…I’m stress free

Okay, what is the relation of this recipe to microwave food? It’s the simpleness, easiness and fastness. Siyempre may kaibahan pa rin because you have to make it yourself. But what I am trying to point out here is the taste and food quality, kahit ito ay lutong madalian. I prepared this recipe for our dinner yesterday. I thought I can keep freeze the half but I was wrong, there was no half left.

Baked Ground Meat In A Loaf (Hackbraten)

What you need:

1 kilo mix ground meat = > 500 grams pork & 500 grams beef (Hackfleisch gemischt)
5 eggs (Eier)
Feta Cheese (1 Packung Feta Kaese)
fresh Parsley (1 Bund frische Petersilie)
1 clove garlic (1 Knoblauchzehe)
1 onion medium size ( 1 Zwiebel mittlere Groesse)
breadcrumbs (Paniermehl)
salt and pepper to taste

*you will also need a loaf pan (Kastenbackform)

How to:

Hard boil 4 eggs before you start off. Thens slice/chop onion and parsley finely. Press or crush garlic and slice Feta cheese into cubes. Blend 1 egg well in a mixing bowl and add onion, parsley, garlic, salt and pepper. Add ground meat and a little amount of breadcrumbs. Knead meat mixture. Add a bit more breadcrumbs if needed, there should be enough amount of breadcrumbs to hold the mixture.

Now, line loaf pan with margarine. Place half of the amount of ground meat mixture (see picture series), peel off hard boiled egg and add it along with sliced Feta cheese on top of meat. Cover cheese and eggs with the rest of ground meat mixture. Meanwhile, pre-heat oven to 200°C. Bake the loaf on the centre shelf for 30-40 minutes, or 35-45 minutes, until it is golden brown. Remove from the pan after baking and place it in a platter and slice.

You can serve baked ground meat with noodles, biled rice, french fries or croquette (Kroketten) along with a cream sauce (Rahmsosse) and salad.

Guten Appetit!!!

What’s up with me lately? Siguro hindi ko na kailangang humingi ng paumanhin sa inyong lahat dahil paulit-ulit ko na itong sinabi ngayong huli. Please bear with me na lang dahil ubod dami ang aking mga gawain. See, I am concentrating with my career of being a housewifeHausfrau and a motherMutter.

Hehehehe…kala niyo na kong ano ha? Well, hindi madali ang maging ina ng isang anak na nagdadalaga na. Yup, paano kasi ang batang ito ay naging mas sumpungin pa kaysa sa akin. Hindi lang yan kundi siya ay mas nangangailangan ngayon ng attention and more guidance. Ay ewan kong bakit ganito ang mga bata dito. I remember when I was at her age…hindi ko makuhang magmaktol dahil kurot ang inaabot ko sa mama ko kapag nakita niyang masasabitan na naman ng basket ang aking nguso. Hindi ko rin kayang mag demand ng attention noon dahil sa dami naming magkapatid. Oh well I have to stop comparing dahil magkaiba nga naman ang aming generation. Iba din ang sitwasyon noon, my mother was busy taking care of us while in my situation now…nakikita ng anak ko na hindi ako busy pero wala akong time para sa kanya dahil sa computer lang ako nakaharap. So how can I tell my daughter to limit her computer activities kong ganun din ako? Okay, dahil sa ayaw kong maging bad example ng anak ko I have to slow down muna.

Si mommy Beng pala ay hindi lang busy sa pag-aasikaso ng mga anak kundi pati na rin sa pakikipag eyeball ng blog friends.

Sha the Wanderlustsha from Greece. Sa wakas natuloy din ang kanyang balak na bumisita dito sa GermanyDeutschland. Hindi ko akalaing matuloy siya dahil ilang beses na ring na postponed ang kanyang flight. She arrived last Sunday, Nov. 13, 2005 pero doon muna siya tumuloy sa pinsan niya sa Darmstadt because I had a seminar in Frankfurt that time. She finally arrived in our place last Wednesday. What we did? Well, what is the common thing Filipinos do in such occassion? Of course kain…lol. My husband bought 2 kilos of Angus Steak that afternoon…and I was so thankful dahil I had very little time to prepare a fancy dinner that evening. So I prepared Steak served with green salad and french bread…and oh we had champagne too.

The next day Thurdays, we were actually planning to visit Miss Suplada.

But we have to move our plan the next day dahil may sakit ang aming mahal na Thekyang. So nag-ikot na lang kami ni Sha sa Venlo, where I saw this cute boots.

Mind you what, I almost forgot din pala na civil wedding anniversary namin ng darling hubby ko. Before heading home…sumaglit muna ako sa grocery para mamili. I was getting nervous dahil wala akong maisip kong ano ang lulutuin para sa aming hapunan. Standing infront of the butcher section…umiikot ang mata ko sa dami ng choices ng meat. Til I saw tenderloin pork, there I got an idea what to cook. Before hubby arrived home, tapos na ako sa ginawa ko…with the help of Sha of course. While I was preparing dinner nga pala, Sha asked me kong ano daw itong hinahanda kong pagkain. I said I don’t know dahil hindi ko alam kong paano ko sabihin sa kanya ang german term nito. In german it is simply called “Schweinelende in Blaetterteig”. Then, as she saw me wrapping the tenderloin slices with the puff pastry…she said “oh that’s Wellington – it’s british”. Hehehe, how would I know it’s originally a british recipe…matagal ko ng alam na lutuin ito pero noong alaw ay wala pang internet so no chance to research it’s origin. I got this recipe from my sister-in-law long time ago. Okay people, this recipe I’m mentioning is super easy and super sarap, I’ll be posting this one in my foodblog but meanwhile be patient muna dahil si mommy Beng ay wala pang time.

Our simple wedding anniversary celebration was fun. We enjoyed our dinner, our drink “Cuvee Speciale Pic Saint-Loup” wine and each others company. We were simply like a big family. Sha, thank you so much for the beautiful bouquet!!!

Friday, November 18, 2005. We arrived late at Miss Suplada’s place. My fault dahil hindi kaagad kami nakaalis ng bahay as planned, tapos heavy traffic pa bandang Breda. Almost twelve o’clock noon na ng kami ay dumating, kaya umalis din kami kaagad papuntang city after saying hello to Hans and Charlie. On our way there…Thess asked us what we like to eat for lunch. She mentioned there’s a Filipino restaurant in Dordrecht…curious as we are…we agreed to go there. We ordered Palabok, Kare-Kare, Pansit Gisado and Sizzling Pusit. After almost 2 hours dining, we went shopping. Thess and I bought a matching shawl for our gown para sa nalalapit na gala in Cologne. I was wondering sometime later dahil parang kami na lang ang naglalakad sa kalsada. Yon pala, all the shops there are closing at 6:00 P.M. Ang lufit! Though mabuti na ring ganun orelse umuwi na naman akong butas ang bulsa.

We went back to Thess’s place and chatted a bit. Hans opened a bottle of red wine, but because I’m the one driving…hindi ako uminom. Yesh yoh! Takot po si ako na mawalan ng lisensiya…it’s part of my freedom to move around yata kaya I really have to be very careful. Takot din akong maka encounter ng polis…dahil baka sabihin niya sa akin na you blow “bitte blassen”. O, ano na naman ang nasa isip niyo? Ewan ko diyan sa inyo but here in Germany, police patrol has always this alcohol testing device with them. It measures the alcohol level you consumed and the limit is 0.5 Promille. Exceeding this limit is punishable with a fine or even with the confiscation of the driving license.

Okay kidding aside, it was already late as we left Dordrecht, kaya it was almost midnite na ng kami ay dumating ng bahay. Sha and I decided to retire to bed early due to her early flight. A pity she has to leave soon…ang dami pa sana naming puntahan.

Blog and eyeball, what does this mean to me? It’s means a whole lot to me…lalong-lalo na at ang mga taong aking na meet ay naging malapit sa akin at sa aking pamilya. It’s exciting and full of joy and fun!!! O ano…sino ngayon ang susunod na makipag EB?