Clam stew

There's some kind of virus going around here that makes people get sick easily. I'm not spared. I feel awfully not well the past days. Although,  nothing really, really that bad. I'm just feeling sluggish, unproductive, and with no much appetite at all. I don't know exactly what's going on with me.

Today, I felt like I needed to eat something that comforts me..something that would make me alive and be my active self again. To be honest, recently I miss the comfort of home. The warmth of my mum's cooking..so that's probably one reason why I'm too weak the past days. Depression caught me again. That never ending homesickness or maybe just the transition of the weather. Nonetheless, I am still fine. I always know how to deal with myself, and cooking and baking is one such relief for me.

Every Sunday we always prepare great lunch for the family.  Today, there's that kind of emptiness in my mind....what to cook and to prepare.  There's only few stocks in my pantry mostly calls for Polish cooking. And, I'm sick and tired of eating the same kind. Then I remember I bought a half kilo of clams from a nearby store just in time for their seafood promotion.  It gets me to the mood to cook . In that instance, I knew what I wanted to eat.  I need to cook something from home, for surely it would kick my blues away.  

Clams isn't a hard one to cook with.  Although here, clams or seafoods is such a pain in the ass. Not only  they cost a lot, but it's not that accessible anytime in the market here. They aren't seafood lovers actually. For that half a kilo of clams it cost  me like 6.99 Polish zloty which is more or less a 2 dollars or more. It wasn't that bad price for me, I would say. It varies in the variety though, and the one bought is just from nearby country, Portugal. 

Clam Stew is such a comforting food for me. And, I know there are a lot of ways on how to prepare this. Usualy in Asia we added fish sauce to make such wonderful flavour, and a white radish to give such sweet kick. Cooked mine with no fish sauce and radish for I run out of stocks, instead substitute it with Polish way of seasong soup or foods with Knorr seasonings and the powdered ones with some dried herbs.  

Clam Stew

You need:

3 cups of water

1/2 kilo clam ( put them in the water overnight)

1 clove garlic 

1 thumb ginger

1 medium onion

2 stalks of onion leaves

1 piece green or red chili pepper 

1 tablespoon of seasoning ( I'm using knorr)

1 tsp. of powdered seasoning (winiary brand)

a handful of spinach

salt and pepper to taste

To cook:

Boil 3 cups of water.  Add in onion, ginger and simmer for about 2 mins.  add in clams. Cover and simmer for 5 minutes. When the clam shells opens, add in seasoning. 

While simmering, chop chilis and onion leaves. Wash spinach leaves. 

After 5 minutes the clam shell should now be open.  Before serving, add in chopped onion leaves, chili and spinach. Adjust taste according to your liking.

The onion makes that sweet pungy taste. It balances the sweet kick of the spicy red chili. Perfect combination! Serve it with steamed rice and surely it will take you to the next level of comfort. If you understand what I mean.

That's how easy it is, right? I'm happy as a clam while eating this, seriously. Eventhough, my Polish family didn't like eating seafoods but watching me enjoying my food that makes them happy. *WINK

Enjoy everyone!

As we say it in Polish, SMACZNEGO! (polish word which means 'enjoy your meal or bon appetite)

Welcome to Ai-tə-rɪz!

Photo credits: to my wonderful photographer friend Louella Panahon-Ricardo

My name is Ai. I'm a (trying hard) baker and cook. I'm no professional. I just have that thrill everytime I whip up and stir something in the kitchen. My love affair with food started at a very young age. 

I grew up in a household where food matters most in every meal. need not to be expensive as long as it is heartily made at home. Growing up, my days are spent playing in the kitchen either helping chopping spices and ingredients or that watching my family preparing meal either for the family or for the small eatery business. At an early age, I'm always experimental with my food. I love to mix them and create a wonderful concoction that I thought would taste better, but always end up taste bitter. All the more, I love to play playhouse where I can engage into the idea of cooking and mixing sometihng with everything we can see in the nearby garden with my childhood friends and miniature clay pots as our toys. It is such a wonderful adventure for me because I get to try cooking in such a young age. By then, I'm beginning to be experimental with foods and helping my Aunt part time with her baking business then.

Furthermore, I honed my passion in baking when I worked at a premium bakeshop in my country where I work as a Human Resources Specialist particularly in the field of training and recruitment. So, it is one of my duty to really know how the products are made from scratch, the formulation they put into , and get to try it first and foremost with my hands to get full grasp of the job, so when training employess, It would be easy for me to let them understand how the work goes. It was a very challenging position for I get to see how a cake made from scratch up to the finish product and get to taste it, if it is worth the quality.

 My love affair with cooking and baking furtherly practiced, and makes more sense to me now that I am a mum.  I love to cook for people I love much more a wonderful boding activity for me and my kiddos. It is my way to entertain them. It's not that hard for me to be left at alone at home, for I find refuge and therapy by simply baking and cooking.

To further pursue my love affair with foods, I'd rather write it down here and share to the blogosphere what I cook, bake, how i find its taste and food finds.

It takes me time to think of a better blog name, for I thought of something with great relevance to eating and myself. And so, AI-te-riz was born. Inspired by the word eateries, from the word eatery. To read it with a bit of an accent ,it sounds like the word eateries. It's like my name Ai is added into it. So, why not made it as a blog name.

Without much ado, Welcome to Ai-te-riz! A place where cooking and baking meets its lover.

I hope you will drop by more often as you can and feel free to drop me a note.

Thank you and wish me all the positive vibes.

Let's get into baking and cooking everyone!

xoAi